Jewish tradition affirms that Moshiach will gain sovereignty over the land of Israel, gather the Jews there from the four corners ofthe earth, restore them to full observance of Torah law, and, as agrand finale, bring peace to the whole world.

Concerning the more difficult tasks some prophets assign him, such as Isaiah's vision of amessianic age in which the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the calf with the young lion (Isaiah 11:6), Maimonides believes that Isaiah's language is metaphorical (for example, only that enemies of the Jews, likened to the wolf, will no longer oppress them).

A century later, Nachmanides rejected Maimonides' rationalism and asserted that Isaiah meant precisely what he said: that in the messianic age even wild animals will become domesticated and sweet-tempered.