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— the resurrected ones. Others say they will live a very long time but will not live until the time of the transfer to the World to Come.
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In my view, the most nearly correct position by way of reasoned preference is this third view. Those of the nation who had died — resurrection was promised them so that they could witness the Redemption.
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As for those whom the Redemption overtook while they were alive — they have already witnessed it while alive, and there is no purpose in resurrecting them at the time of the World to Come.
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One proof that lifespans will be long at the time of the Redemption is the verse: "They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat — for as the days of a tree shall be the days of My people…"
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As for what you see Scripture saying: "For the youth who dies at a hundred years will be thought a young child, and the sinner who reaches a hundred will be accursed" — this is by way of approximation and proportion.
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For in our age, since the lifespan approaches a hundred years, we say of one who dies at twenty that he died as a youth. So if the lifespan in that era approaches five hundred years, proportionally one who dies at a hundred would also be said to have died as a youth.
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As for "the sinner" — this is not one who sins against God, for one who sins against his Lord: it makes no difference in his case whether he is twenty years old or a hundred years old.
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Rather, this "sinner" is one who wrongs other people — for people are accustomed to overlook an elder who wrongs them. But a hundred-year-old, relative to a five-hundred-year lifespan, is not yet an elder and they show no deference to him; instead they curse him and treat him with contempt, for in their eyes he is still in the state of youth.
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What a noble promise this is — when in it all the prophets, the righteous, and the rest of the nation are gathered together.
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The Seventh Maamar is complete, with the help of God.