"The Heavens shall rot away (alt.Bible translation, be stirred) like smoke"

[edu]

The following Biblical translation of Yishayahu/Isaiah 51:6 is from http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/15982#showrashi=true

Raise your eyes to heaven and look at the earth from beneath, for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall rot away like a garment, and its inhabitants shall likewise die, and My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished.
Rashi translates:
the heavens shall vanish like smoke: The princes of the hosts of the heathens who are in heaven.
    
shall vanish: Heb. נִמְלָחוּ, shall rot away. Comp. (Jer. 38:12) “Rags and decayed clothing הַסְּחָבוֹת) (בְּלוֹאֵי,” a decayed garment. Another explanation of נִמְלָחוּ is: shall be stirred. This is an expression similar to “the sailors of (מַלָּחֵי) the sea,” who stir the water with the oars that guide the ship. Comp. also (Ex. 30:35) “Stirred (מְמֻלָּח) , pure, and holy.”
    
and the earth: the rulers of the earth.
    
and its inhabitants: the rest of the people.
    
and My salvation: for My people shall be forever. Another explanation is: [It refers] actually [to] the heavens and the earth, and this is its explanation: Raise your eyes and look at the heaven and at the earth, and see how strong and sturdy they are, yet they shall rot away, but My righteousness and My salvation shall be forever. Hence, My righteousness is sturdier and stronger than they.

[edu]

Do you think we could possibly connect this prophecy to some type of an explosion of a nuclear device?
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior:How_Things_Work/Nuclear_Bomb

There are two types of nuclear bombs, fission bombs and fusion bombs. Fission means to break apart and fusion to merge.

The fission bomb works on the principle that it takes energy to put together a nucleus with many protons and neutrons. Sort of like rolling a heavy cart up a hill. Splitting the nucleus up again then releases some of that energy. Some atoms have unstable nuclei which means that they tend to break apart with little or no nudging.

You may have heard of and and that they are radioactive elements. These two have just such unstable nuclei which causes their radioactivity. When a nucleus breaks into two smaller nuclei, a couple of neutrons shoot out. This is the radiation. Naturally occurring uranium and plutonium have atoms constantly undergoing radioactive decay. These are spaced sufficiently far apart so that the neutrons rarely bump into other unstable nuclei.

When a neutron, however, does hit an unstable nucleus, just like someone bumping into a cart at the top of a hill, it causes that nucleus to break apart and send out another couple of neutrons. By increasing the concentration of these unstable atoms, the probability that a neutron from one decay causes another one increases. The concentration where the reaction sustains itself is called critical mass and the reaction then called a chain reaction.

With each step of the reaction, energy is released and another step or two is started, and so an avalanche of reactions and energy release continues until the fissile (unstable) material is spent.

Actually, any nuclei heavier than that of iron (Fe56 which has 56 nucleons, to be precise) will release energy when broken apart. Lighter nuclei on the other hand usually release energy when they merge, or fuse. The most energy is released when two nuclei fuse into a nucleus. Unlike the radioactive elements, getting the two helium nuclei to merge already takes a good deal of energy. Sticking with the analogy of the cart, it is like it's sitting in a hole at the top of the hill and needs a considerable push before rolling down.

The fusion bomb initial energy is created by heating the hydrogen up to a tremendous temperature with a fission bomb as the first stage. In the split second between the initiating fission going off and the hydrogen being blown apart, the temperature causes it to fuse into helium, releasing many times more energy.

I speculate that the breaking apart of the nucleus of the atom might be connected to what Rashi says about rotting away and the other view that the Hebrew word נמלחו in the verse means "stirred away" also can fit what happens in a nuclear blast.

[edu]

Quote from Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan on "The Real Messiah"
http://www.jewsforjudaism.ca/publications/books-booklets---text-only/the-real-messiah-by-aryeh-kapla

The tradition may have even anticipated the tremen­dous destructive powers of our modern technology. Thus, we have the teaching of Rabbi Elazar that the Messianic Age will begin in a generation with the power to destroy itself.22

This is the Footnote source he brings.
22. Pesikta Rabosi, end of No. 1. Cf. Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:29.

[edu]

One scenario that might fit with what Rabbi Kaplan says is found in Midrash Yalkut Shimoni on Yishayahu/Isaiah
I found a reasonably good translation of the midrash on the internet so I will quote it
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/149899#.VZS0WvmqpBc

Iran and Saudis Acting Out Ancient Messiah Prophecy?

Jews familiar with the ancient Yalkut Shimoni notice recent tensions between Iran, Saudi Arabia match prophecy regarding the Messiah.

Iranian Sejjil 2 missile test launch
Jews familiar with an ancient compilation of Aggadic exegesis called Yalkut Shimoni noticed in recent weeks that current tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia matches a prophecy it contains regarding the year in which the Messiah – the King who redeems Israel and the world – is to appear.
 
In particular, the recently revealed Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. and subsequent reports that the Arab nations are pressuring the West to attack Iran, appear to fit the sequence of events predicted in the Yalkut Shimoni.
In to the part of the book dealing with the Book of Isaiah, the following passage appears:

"Rabbi Yitzchak said: 'In the year in which the Messiah-King appears, all the nations of the world are provoking each other. The King of Persia provokes an Arab king and the Arab king turns to Aram for advice. And the King of Persia goes back and destroys the entire world. And all the nations of the world are in panic and distress and they fall upon their faces and are seized with pains like those of a woman giving birth, and Israel are in panic and distress and asking 'where shall we go? Where shall we go?,' and He says to them 'my sons, do not fear; all that I have done, I have done only for you. Why are you afraid? Do not fear, your time of redemption has come, and the final redemption is not like the first redemption, because the first redemption was followed by sorrow and servitude under other kingdoms, but the final redemption is not followed by sorrow and servitude under other kingdoms."
Persia is currently known as Iran, and an Arab king – or the Arab king – can be reasonably understood, in modern eyes, as referring to the king of [Saudi] Arabia, the Arab homeland.

This passage is relatively well-known and oft-quoted, and some modern versions of it substitute "Edom" for "Aram." Ancient Jewish references to "Edom" are nowadays generally seen as referring to Europe or the West. "Aram" refers to a part of ancient Mesopotamia, roughly congruent to the northern part of modern Iraq and eastern Syria. The instability in precisely this area is reportedly what most concerns the Saudis, as a U.S. pullout from Iraq looms and Syria's pro-Iranian regime teeters.
The prophecy bodes ill for much of the world, which, if Rabbi Yitzchak's quote is to be taken literally, is to be destroyed by Iran before the Messiah steps in.

The identity of the compiler of Yalkut Shimoni is not known with certainty but a copy of it is known to have existed 700 years ago, in 1310 CE. The works it quotes are even older, and go back to early Talmudic times.

I don't know why this author commenting on Yalkut Shimoni believes Messiah actively intervenes in this war. If someone has evidence one way or another let me know. As far as Aram is concerned there are actually 2 Arams in the Bible one in the Iraqi region and one in Syria (Aram Tzova)
In addition even if this scenario takes place, I don't have any evidence to prove in which year this happens.