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— that all these promises and consolations were fulfilled in the Second Temple period and have expired, with nothing remaining of them.
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They set up a corrupt premise on which they build their argument: that the strong assurances we see for the Redemption — such as "Your sun will no longer set" and "It shall never again be uprooted or demolished" — are all conditional on the people's obedience being complete.
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They say: this is parallel to what Moses our teacher said to Israel: "In order that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied" — and when they sinned their dominion lapsed and their kingdom ended.
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Likewise, in the Second Temple era some of these promises were fulfilled and lapsed, and others were never fulfilled because the people sinned.
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I took — may God guide you — the premise of these people's argument, namely the conditionality, and subjected it to rigorous analysis, and found it invalid for several reasons.
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The first: Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, made explicit that his promises were conditional — saying: "But if you will diligently keep all this commandment which I command you…" and also: "But if you will truly obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies," and: "And it shall come to pass, because you listen" — and similar passages.
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But these consolations contain none of these conditional clauses whatsoever — they are absolute promises.
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Furthermore, Moses our teacher — peace be upon him — was not content merely to attach conditions with "if you keep" and "if you listen" and leave the reverse to his audience's inference; rather, he himself stated the reverse explicitly, spelling out what would befall them if they did not fulfill — as it says: "And it shall be, if you forget the Lord your God… as the nations that the Lord destroys before you, so you will perish."
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But in these consolations He attached no condition whatsoever — let alone stated the reverse.
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Among them also: He placed these promises on the same footing as the Flood in Noah's time — saying that just as, if people were to sin in the most extreme way, He would not punish them by a flood, since He swore the flood would not recur — but would punish them in other ways —
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— so too: He swore He would not remove your kingdom — as it says: "For this is to Me as the waters of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you."
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So even if the people were to sin, He would punish them as He wills — but not by removing the kingdom.
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Among them also: He has informed us that the people will choose obedience and not transgression, as we explained — and He knows all that will be, as we stated before. It is therefore impossible for there to be any sin or transgression unknown to Him. And if there is no transgression, there is nothing to stipulate against.
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Furthermore, even if there were a condition, it would not harm them — so how much less when there is no condition. And moreover: in the Torah He placed a seal upon it, establishing it as we have explained — and closed with: "When I raise My hand to heaven and say, As I live forever: I will whet the lightning of My sword, and My hand will take hold of justice, I will make My arrows drunk with blood… Praise His people, O nations."
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In light of this explanation, whatever they invoked or were given to believe from the chapter of conditions and stipulations becomes null and void.
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Chapter 8. Having torn out the foundation of what they built, I will now present fifteen arguments against them: five based on the textual proofs, five based on the historical records, and five that reason itself perceives.
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As for the five from textual proofs: The first is that these consolations require all of Israel to be gathered to Jerusalem with not one of them remaining in exile — as it says: "And I will gather them to their land and will not leave any of them there anymore." Yet only forty-two thousand of them returned in the Second Temple era,