In a public talk given in Jerusalem this past Sunday evening, messianic expert, international speaker and Torah scholar Rabbi Mendel Kessin speculated about why the three countries hardest hit by the coronavirus are China, Iran, and Italy. Is it a coincidence? Or could it be Divine punishment?

There is a theme, well established in the Hebrew scriptures, that God judges the entire world.

it is He who judges the world with righteousness, rules the peoples with equity. Psalms 9:8

Rabbi Kessin has spoken in the recent past about how China’s unethical economic practices are linked to their role as the catalyst for the worldwide coronavirus epidemic. According to Kessin, it’s as if God is saying to China, “You want to be one of the instability factors in the world economy? Then I will begin to destroy your economy.” Kessin calls this “a measure-for-measure retribution that God is doing.”

According to Rabbi Mattiyahu Glazerson, the coronavirus is also connected to the common practice in China of eating live animals, a violation of one of the seven Noahide laws. Chinese people also commonly eat many animals that are Biblically unclean.

Kessin reflected on Iran in its role as an international sponsor of terror. “There are so many places in the world that are intensifying their evil,” he said. “At the same time, there are so many places in the world where evil is being punished.”

Iran appears to be collapsing. The government is shut down. The New York Times is reporting that there are at least seven government officials who have tested positive for the virus. Outside of China, Iran has the highest death toll from the virus.

“The two greatest nations contributing to the instability of the world are Iran and China. China is filled with thievery. There comes a time when God says, ‘Enough is enough, and since we are before the Messianic era, I’ve got to clean up the place.’”

But what about Italy? Outside of Asia, Italy currently has the highest number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus. Why might that be?

Kessin believes it’s connected directly to the Catholic church, which has been a breeding ground for replacement theology and anti-Semitism. “I believe Italy is some type of punishment for Christianity. It’s not Italy per se. It’s Catholicism. What Rome has done to Jews… they’ve been killing Jews for 2000 years. You would not believe the number of Jews who died because of Christianity,” he asserted.

Kessin also made the case that the Bubonic Plague, which began in 1347 CE and brought death to a third of Europe’s population, was Divine punishment for the Crusades when innocent Jews were viciously murdered by Crusaders. Interestingly, the Bubonic Plague, also called The Black Death, is believed to have originated in Asia and spread from Italy throughout the rest of Europe.

“We don’t know when God pays back. God can wait for a millennium before He pays back anybody… When justice comes, get out of the way, because God will go after nations. He can wipe out complete nations. Who could imagine China, 1.4 billion people, the second greatest economy in the world, is now bending down on its knees? It’s being destroyed.”

Hark, tumult from the city, Thunder from the Temple! It is the thunder of Hashem As He deals retribution to His foes. Isaiah 66:6

Israeli-born and Monsey, NY-based Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi lectures frequently on world events from a Torah perspective. He agrees with Rabbi Kessin’s assertion that the high rate of infection and death from the coronavirus in China, Iran and Italy are part of God’s agenda for judging nations.

Mizrachi, who is not a native English speaker, told Breaking Israel News, “As always it’s mida keneged mida (measure for measure). You can also add to that that almost all the Chinese are atheist. They support Iran and there are no human rights there; they murdered a lot of people.”

Mizrachi also emphasized that, “Hashem (God) started with these three countries. Eventually, He may go to many other countries and it can become very bad over there as well.”

He also called the rapid spread of the coronavirus an attack on “the comfortable, materialistic lifestyle mainly in America and Europe. Actually it’s a great help for us to do teshuva (repentance) because the #1 enemy and obstacle of the person in avodat Hashem (service to God) is the addiction to comfort and material things. The more materialistic the people become, the less spiritual they are.”

Mizrachi added that, because of a fear of spreading the virus, “already now, all the gathering for sins in the world stopped.”

Kessin spoke in very clear terms about what underlies the constant news reports about the coronavirus.

“This isn’t an accident. A world pandemic, which it may become, isn’t an accident. It’s because there’s a judgement time. Everybody’s being judged. The whole planet… The world is in a makom sakana (a dangerous time). Right now, we are witnessing a frightening time.

“The reason for that, I believe, is because we are entering very close to the Moshiach (messiah) and this is a clean-up time. God is not going to tolerate the enormous amount of corruption, injustice, cruelty and immorality that people are doing.

“You are witnessing a terrible time of retribution. This isn’t chance. This is God,” Kessin asserted.