Rab. Aha ben Hanina said: God said to Gabriel (Ezekiel 9:4), ‘Go and mark a Tau of ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, so that the angel of destruction may have no power over them. But mark a Tau of blood upon the forehead of the wicked, so that the angel of destruction may have power over them.’ Then the Attribute of Justice said to God, ‘How do the former differ from the latter?’ God replied, ‘The former are completely righteous, the latter are completely wicked.’ The Attribute said, ‘The former could have rebuked [prevented] the latter, and they did not do so.’ God replied, ‘I know that they would not have accepted reproof.’ The Attribute of Justice said, ‘Though you may know it, did the righteous know it?’ [This means that some responsibility rests upon the righteous for the sins of the wicked.] As it is said, ‘The aged, the young, the virgin, infants and women, shall ye slay for the destroyer, but to none shall ye draw nigh that has the mark (Tau) upon him, and with my sanctuary shall ye begin’ (Ezekiel 9:6). Rab. Joseph said: Read not ‘my sanctuary’ [mikdashi] but ‘my consecrated ones’ [mekuddashai] these are the men who have fulfilled all the Torah from Aleph to Tau (beginning to end) (cp. R.T. pp. 271, 272, 166, 167). (Sab. 55a.)
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Author: C. G. Montefiore, H. M. J. Loewe
Keywords: Tau, Mark of the beast, forehead, Mark on the forehead, forehead marked, Marked, Beast's mark, 666, tattoo, seal, Seal of God
Bible reference(s): Ezekiel 9:4, Eze 9:6, Revelation 13:16, Revelation 13:17, Revelation 14:9, Revelation 14:11, Revelation 16:2, Revelation 19:20, Revelation 20:4
Source: Rabbinic Anthology (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2012), pp. 307-8.
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