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According to our sages of blessed memory Moshiach will be well immersed in the Torah, so how old then will Moshiach be when he is revealed.

As Maimonides states, "If there arises a ruler from the family of David, immersed in the Torah and its commandments like David his ancestor, following both the Written and Oral Torah, who leads Israel back to the Torah, strengthening the observance of its laws and fighting God's battles, then we may assume that he is the Messiah. If he is further successful in rebuilding the Temple on its original site and gathering the dispersed of Israel, then his identity as Messiah is a certainty."

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    I would think that the other items on Ramba"m's list of accomplishments would actually set the presumed age higher than the criterion of immersion in Torah, wouldn't you? Do you have reason to believe that the latter would take longer than the formers?
    – WAF
    Aug 29, 2016 at 14:00
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    Shlomo HaMelech was 12 when he became king.
    – Yishai
    Aug 29, 2016 at 15:46
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    The answer is no one knows judaism.stackexchange.com/a/28187/759
    – Double AA ♦
    Aug 29, 2016 at 16:07
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    why is his age important?
    – Dude
    Aug 29, 2016 at 16:59
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    @double, he was 30, as you well know. No need to speak in riddles.
    – Yishai
    Aug 29, 2016 at 17:49

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There is a teaching based upon Micah 7:15 that much of the final redemption, including the revelation of Moshiach, will follow the same pattern as the first redemption from Egypt.

In the first redemption, Moshe Rabbeinu was 80 years old. So according to this tradition, you could expect something similar.

This is also in keeping with a parallel idea found in Sefer Ohr HaChamah, Shemot 7b which discusses when the Moshiach himself will know for a certainty that he is the Moshiach. It explains that this will take place later in his life. And as it explains there, even then, when Moshiach knows this about himself, many people in the world will still not know it about him.

According to what is taught by Rabbi Chaim Vital there, Moshiach will become aware that he is Moshiach at the time that he merits to prophecy. This, it states, is like Moshe Rabbeinu when he attained prophecy at the burning bush.

To emphasize, tradition teaches that the level of prophecy of Moshiach will rival, but not be as great as Moshe. Since part of the quantification of Moshe's level is how quickly he attained prophecy, it means Moshiach will attain this similar level at or slightly after the time Moshe did. Moshe achieved this when he was 80 years old.

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    In the first redemption, Moshe Rabbeinu was 80 years old. So according to this tradition, you could expect something similar. Should we also expect the Moshiach to be a shepherd or to have a Midianite wife? How far do you want to extend this comparison? || The Or HaChama doesn't indicate that it will take place later in life. It just says that the Moshiach will gradually develop until close to the time of "the end of days" when he will realize he is Moshiach. Although this process is compared to Moshe, there's no reason to think this will specifically happen "later in life."
    – Fred
    Aug 30, 2016 at 1:25
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    If you're going to interpret "shepherd" figuratively, you may as well interpret the age figuratively, too (e.g. wise beyond his years, or like R' El'azar ben 'Azarya, "harei ani k'ven shiv'im shana"), as opposed to saying the Moshiach has to be exactly 80 years old. Or just follow the Rambam's advice instead (Hil. M'lachim 12:2): "וכל אלו הדברים וכיוצא בהן לא ידע אדם איך יהיו עד שיהיו שדברים סתומין הן אצל הנביאים גם החכמים אין להם קבלה בדברים אלו אלא לפי הכרע הפסוקים ולפיכך יש להם מחלוקת בדברים אלו... ולעולם לא יתעסק אדם בדברי ההגדות ולא יאריך במדרשות האמורים בענינים אלו וכיוצא בהן".
    – Fred
    Aug 30, 2016 at 4:55
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    Your understanding of that halacha from Rambam is incorrect. He isn't disqualifying anything in Torah. I didn't say he was, and I'm not disputing that the future redemption will parallel y'tzi'as Mitzrayim. My dispute is that you say the moshiach will be "similar" to 80 years old (by the way: if you're insisting that he'll be Moshe's age, why not exactly 80?), whereas I'm saying that the degree and manner in which the redemption will parallel y'tzi'as Mitzrayim is not specified when it comes to the moshiach's age. And people can read Or HaChama themselves to see what it says.
    – Fred
    Aug 30, 2016 at 5:58
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    Regardless of the semantics of the word "parallel" in English, you're arbitrarily deciding the parameters of the degree and manner in which the final redemption will resemble the redemption from Egypt: "Yes, that means the Moshiach will be the same age as Moshe was. But not exactly, just plus a few years." And if you think this is what the Or HaChama is saying, you're really stretching the meaning of the Or HaChama.
    – Fred
    Aug 30, 2016 at 6:39
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    Actually the concept of paralleling is understood from the Micah quoted. But your application of the concept is not (though obviously you disagree). And I'm quite well aware of this concept and its source from Micha. We seem to be going in circles, so let's leave it at that. Kol tuv.
    – Fred
    Aug 30, 2016 at 8:06
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I believe that Moshiach will be around seventy. David told us that our years would be seventy, maybe eighty if we are lucky. This leads me to believe that he will be close to this age.

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    That wasn't David. It was Moses.
    – Double AA ♦
    Sep 14, 2017 at 13:53
  • And what makes you think Moshiach will be near the end of his natural life?
    – shmosel
    Jul 7 at 1:12

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