100. The mixed multitude are as it is written, “And the people saw, and moved, and stood from afar.” So they will be far from redemption and will see the disciples of the wise, and the holy nation in all this glory, and they will be far off from them. And should they want to bond with them, it is written, “No hand shall touch it, for he will surely be stoned or he will surely be shot.”
At that time, the verse “The Lord alone will guide him and there is no foreign god with Him” will come true in Israel, and proselytes are not accepted for the days of the Messiah. It is also written, “The wicked shall be silent in the dark.” These are the mixed multitude, and this is why the prophet said about them, “They shall not come to the soil of Israel.”
101. Elijah said to Moses, “It is time to rise up and bring about the complete redemption. Speak about me in oath,” meaning swear me to hasten the redemption, “since for you I want to rise, for the Creator has given me permission to be revealed to you in your prison, in your burial, and do good with you, for you are pierced by the iniquities of the people,” as he is among them as though in prison, as it is written, “And he is pierced by our iniquities.”
102. Moses said to him, “Swear in the name of the Lord [HaVaYaH], with all your might, that redemption will not be delayed, for I am in great grief, as it is written about me, ‘And he turned here and there, and saw that there was no man’ helping me, to pull me out of this grief, out of this burial, as it is written about me, ‘And they made His grave with the wicked.’ They do not know me, and I am regarded among them as one of the wicked mixed multitude, as a dead dog that has turned foul-smelling among them, for the wisdom of authors shall become foul-smelling among them in each and every city, and where Israel are dispersed among them among the kingdoms.”
The mixed multitude has become Israel’s shepherds, who are the Creator’s flock, as it is written about them, “And you are My flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men,” and they are unable to do good with the disciples of the wise.
Moses is the Torah [law] and the inner Daat [knowledge] that will be revealed only in the complete redemption. Until then, it is written about him, “And he was pierced by our iniquities,” since the Torah, Moses, was pierced and became hollow, for its internality has disappeared and all we have left is the externality. And I am regarded in their eyes as one of the wicked mixed multitude, as a dead dog that has turned foul-smelling. That is, they distance themselves from the internality of the Torah as one distances oneself from stench. It was said about it, “And the wisdom of authors shall become foul-smelling.”
103. Mighty and sin-fearing men roam from city to city and will not be assisted. The mixed multitude boycott them among them, and in many places, they are given only rationed matter in a way that there will be no rise from their fall, and even fleeting pleasures. All the sages and mighty and sin-fearing men are in grief, distress, and anguish, and are regarded as dogs, as it is written, “The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter’s hands” in the streets, and they find no lodging among them.
104. While the mixed multitude are rich, at ease, joyful, without grief and without any anguish, thieving, bribing, and they are the judges of the people, for the land has been filled with theft because of them. It is written about them, “Her enemies have become the head.” Moses said to Elijah, “In an oath about you, a second time, in the name of the Lord of hoses, the God of Israel, dwelling among the Cherubim, all these words will not fall from your mouth, and with all your might, you will say them to the Creator and to show their urgency.”