Note 15 — THE THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES OF OUR CREED. (continued 3)

An opinion is mentioned in the Talmud in the name of a Rabbi Hillel—not the great Hillel, the Babylonian—that “there is no Messiah for the Israelites, because they have already enjoyed the blessings of Messiah in the reign of Hezekiah” (Babyl. Talm. Sanhedrin, 98b). This can only refer to the miraculous defeat of the enemy, and the direct benefits derived therefrom by the Israelites. But the Rabbi by no means rejects our belief that Messiah will come, and with him the universal worship of the One God, the universal practice of virtue in all its forms, and universal peace and prosperity.15 Hillel, however, found no support for his view; on the contrary, his error is at once shown to him, that he forgot the prophets who prophesied after Hezekiah.