The Suffering Messiah

God spoke to the prophet Isaiah 13 years before the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom about a future gathering. Hearing God speak about bringing them back from different parts of the world must have caused great confusion while they were still in the Promised Land.

Additionally, Isaiah foretold how the Messiah would suffer and pay for the sins of mankind and rule the whole world from the city of Jerusalem. He described a future paradise when the scattered tribes of Israel would be brought back to rule, strangers would be a slave labor force, the sun would no longer set and the Lord would be an everlasting light.

The Kabbalistic rabbis eventually developed this into a teaching that the people of Israel were superior to everyone else and Gentiles were created to be slaves to the Israelites. God also warned the people about their rebellion and how they continually provoked Him to anger. God stated that He would mark them for death and only a remnant would be saved.

It was confusing hearing God speak about these stunning revelations in conjunction with the Messiah and they struggled to understand the unknown timeline when these things would take place.