Messianic Passages in the Old Testament

as Cited in Rabbinic Literature

Alfred Edersheim

Edited by Robert C. Newman

Introduction

I first read Alfred Edersheim's Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah back in 1969, while I was still a student in seminary. The author's treatment of the life of Jesus, and his ability to help us visualize those times through his use of the rabbinic literature, was quite valuable to me. I was especially helped by his appendix 9, "List of Old Testament Passages Messianically Applied in Ancient Rabbinic Writings." This appendix was used by me on several occasions in selecting passages to include in some of my papers and Power-Point talks on Messianic prophecy. The only drawback I found with the appendix was that, in order to keep the size of Life and Times down to two substantial volumes, it was necessary to give the Old Testament passages only by reference, omitting the quotation of the actual texts. This publication is intended to remedy that problem.

In this work, wherever Edersheim cites an OT passage, I have given the text in full. I have normally used the New American Bible Updated, as this is one of most literal translations of the Bible into English. In a few places where this translation is not close to the quotation in a rabbinic passage, I have used the New International Version or the New King James Version. For Edersheim's citations from the Apocrypha near the end of this work, I have used the New Revised Standard Version Apocrypha. Those not from the NASU are marked as NIV, NKJV or NRA.

For readers who may not be familiar with Alfred Edersheim, a short biosketch is given under his name in Wikipedia, which is dependent on the biographical entry in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, also available on the Internet. In brief, Edersheim (1825-1889) was born in Vienna of Jewish parents, converted to Christianity under John Duncan, studied at Edinburgh and Berlin, served as a missionary and pastor in the Free Church of Scotland, and later in the Church of England. He wrote a number of books on Jewish history and culture, and biblical history and messianic prophecy, of which his best known work is the Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, published in 1883.

Robert C. Newman

July, 2011

Appendix 9

LIST OF OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGES MESSIANICALLY APPLIED

IN ANCIENT RABBINIC WRITINGS

(Book II. ch. 5.)

THE following list contains the passages in the Old Testament applied to the Messiah or to Messianic times in the most ancient Jewish writings. They amount in all to 456, thus distributed: 75 from the Pentateuch, 243 from the Prophets, and 138 from the Hagiographa, and supported by more than 558 separate quotations from Rabbinic writings. Despite all labour care, it can scarcely be hoped that the list is quite complete, although, it is hoped, no important passage has been omitted. The Rabbinic references might have been considerably increased, but it seemed useless to quote the same application of a passage in many different books. Similarly, for the sake of space, only the most important Rabbinic quotations have been translated in extenso. The Rabbinic works from which quotations have been made are: the Targumim, the two Talmuds, and the most ancient Midrashim, but neither the Zohar (as the date of its composition is in dispute), nor any other Kabbalistic work, nor yet the younger Midrashim, nor, of course, the writings of later Rabbis. I have, however, frequently quoted from the well-known work Yalkut, because, although of comparatively late date, it is really, as its name implies, a collection and selection from more than fifty older and accredited writings, and adduces passages now not otherwise accessible to us. And I have the more readily availed myself of it, as I have been reluctantly forced to the conclusion that even the Midrashim preserved to us have occasionally been tampered with for controversial purposes. I have quoted from the best edition of Yalkut (Frankfort a. M., 1687), but in the case of the other Midrashim I have been obliged to content myself with such more recent reprints as I possessed, instead of the older and more expensive editions. In quoting from the Midrashim, not only the Parashah, but mostly also the folio, the page, and frequently even the lines are referred to. Lastly, it only remains to acknowledge in general that, so far as possible, I have availed myself of the labours of my predecessors - specially of those of Schöttgen. Yet, even so, I may, in a sense, claim these references also as the result of my own labours, since I have not availed myself of quotations without comparing them with the works from which they were adduced - a process in which not a few passages quoted had to be rejected. And if any student should arrive at a different conclusion from mine in regard to any of the passages hereafter quoted, I can at least assure him that mine is the result of the most careful and candid study I could give to the consideration of each passage. With these prefatory remarks I proceed to give the list of Old Testament passages Messianically applied in ancient Rabbinic writings.

Genesis

In Gen. i. 2 [The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters], the expression, 'Spirit of God,' is explained of 'the Spirit of the King Messiah,' with reference to Is. xi. 2 [The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord], and the 'moving on the face of the deep' of 'repentance,' according to Lam. ii. 19 [Arise, cry aloud in the night At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street]. So in Ber. R. 2, and in regard to the first point also in Ber. R. 8, in Vayyik. R. 14, and in other places.

Gen. ii. 4: 'These are the generations - twdlwt - of the heavens and of the earth,' taken in connection with Gen. iii. 15 [And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel] and Ruth iv. 18 [Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron]. Here we note one of the most curious Messianic interpretations in Ber. R. 12 (ed. Warsh. p. 24 b). It is noted that the word 'generations' (twdlwt) is always written in the Bible without the w which is the equivalent for the numeral 6, except in Gen. ii. 4 and Ruth iv. 18. This to indicate that subsequent to Gen. ii. 4 the Fall took place, in which Adam lost w - six - things: his glorious sheen (Job xiv. 20: You forever overpower him and he departs; [You] change his appearance and send him away); life (Gen. iii. 19: By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return); his stature (Gen. iii. 8: They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden - either by 100, by 200, by 300, or even by 900 cubits); the fruit of the ground; the fruits of the trees (Gen. iii. 17: Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, `You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life); and the heavenly lights. We have now seen why in Gen. ii. 4 - that is, previous to the Fall - the w is still in twdlwt, since at that time these six things were not yet lost. But the w reappears in the word twdlwt in Ruth iv. 18 [Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron], because these six things are to be restored to man by 'the son of Pharez' - or the Messiah (comp. for each of these six things: Judg. v. 31 b [But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might]; Is. xlviii. 22 [There is no peace for the wicked," says the Lord]; Lev. xxvi. 13 [I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that [you] would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect]; Zech. viii. 12 [For [there will be] peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these [things]]; Is. xxx. 26 [The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times [brighter], like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted]). It is added that although - according to the literal rendering of Ps. xlix. 12 (in Heb. ver. 13 [But man in [his] pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish]) - man did not remain unfallen one single night, yet, for the sake of the Sabbath, the heavenly lights were not extinguished till after the close of the Sabbath. When Adam saw the darkness, it is added, he was greatly afraid, saying: Perhaps he, of whom it is written, 'he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,' cometh to molest and attack me, and he said, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me.' This curious extract at least shown in what context the Synagogue applied Gen. iii. 15 [And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel]. The same occurs substantially in Shem. R. 30.

Gen iii. 15 [see just above]. This well-known passage is paraphrased, with express reference to the Messiah, in the Targum Pseudo Jonathan and the so-called Jerusalem Targum. Schöttgen conjectures that the Talmudic designation of 'heels of the Messiah' (Sot. 49 b, line 2 from top) in reference to the near Advent of the Messiah in the description of the troubles of those days (comp. St. Matt. x. 35, 36 [For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household]) may have been chosen partly with a view to this passage.

Gen. iv. 25 [Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, [she said], "God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him."]. The language of Eve at the birth of Seth: 'another seed,' is explained as meaning 'seed which comes from another place,' and referred to the Messiah in Ber. R. 23 (ed. Warsh. p. 45 b, lines 8, 7 from the bottom). The same explanation occurs twice in the Midrash on Ruth iv. 19 (in the genealogy of David, ed. Warsh. p. 46 b), the second time in connection with Ps. xl. 8 ('in the volume of the book it is written of me' - bim'gillath sepher - Ruth belonging to the class tlgm).

In connection with Gen. v. 1 [This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God] it is noted in Ber. R. 24, that King Messiah will not come till all souls predestined for it have appeared in human bodies on earth.

In Gen. viii. 11 [The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth] the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan notes that the olive-leaf, brought by the dove, was taken from the Mount of the Messiah.

Gen. ix. 27. The promise, that Japhet shall dwell in the tents of Shem, is paraphrased in the Targum Pseudo-Jon. as meaning, that his descendants should become proselytes, and dwell in the school of Shem - which seems to refer to Messianic times.

In connection with Gen. xiv. 1 [And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim], we are reminded in Ber. R. 42, that when we see the nations warring together, we may expect the coming of the Messiah.

The promise in Gen. xv. 18 [On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates] is expected to be finally fulfilled in the time of Messiah, in Ber. R. 44.

In connection with Gen. xviii. 4, 5 ["Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant." And they said, "So do, as you have said."] it is noted (Ber. R. 48, ed. Warsh. p. 87 b) that the words of Abraham to his Angelic guests were to be returned in blessing to Abraham's descendants, in the wilderness, in the land of Canaan, and in the latter (Messianic) days. Referring only to this last point, the words 'let a little water be fetched,' is paralleled with the 'living waters' in Zech. xiv. 8 [And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter]; 'wash your feet,' with Is. iv. 4 (the washing away of the filth of the daughters of Zion); 'rest under the tree,' with Is. iv. 6: 'there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat;' 'I will fetch a morsel of bread,' with the provision, Ps. lxxii. 16: 'there shall be a handful of corn in the earth,' &c. So also the words: 'Abraham ran unto the herd,' are paralleled with Is. vii. 21 [Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep] (which is most significantly here applied to Messianic times); and lastly, the words, 'he stood by them,' with Mic. ii. 13: 'the breaker is come up before them.' [Indeed, this Parashah in Ber. R. contains other similar parallelisms between Gen. xvii. and Messianic times.] The same interpretation occurs in Bemid. R. 14 (ed. Warsh. p. 55 a), the references to Messianic days there being to Is. xiv. 2 [The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors]; xxx. 25 [On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall]; xli. 18 [I will open rivers on the bare heights And springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water And the dry land fountains of water]; vi. 4 [And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke]; and iv. 6 [There will be a shelter to [give] shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain].

The last clause of Gen. xix. 32 [Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father] is interpreted (Ber. R. 51, ed. Warsh. p. 95 a), as referring, like the words of Eve about Seth, to the Messiah - the sin of the daughters of Lot being explained on the ground of their believing that all mankind had been destroyed in the judgment that overthrew Sodom.

The promise in Gen. xxii. 18 [In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice] is also explained Messianically in Bemid. R. 2 (ed. W. P. 5 b), in connection with Num. ii. 32 [These are the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers' households; the total of the numbered men of the camps by their armies, 603,550] where it is somewhat curiously shown in what sense Israel is to be like the sand of the sea.

Gen. xxxiii. 1 [Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids]. The Midrash conjoins this with Is. lxvi. 7 [Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy], and notes that, before the first oppressor was born, the last Redeemer was already born.

In Gen. xxxv. 21 [Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder] the Targum Pseudo-Jon. paraphrases 'the tower of Eder' (at Bethlehem) as the place whence the Messiah would be revealed.

On Gen. xxxviii. 1, 2 [And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her], there are very remarkable Messianic comments in Ber. R. 85.

Gen. xlix. 1 [Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come]. The Targum Pseudo-Jon. notes, that the end for which the Messiah would come was not revealed to Jacob. A similar statement is found in the Midrash on the passage (Ber. R. 98, ed. Warsh. p. 173 a), where it is said of Jacob and Daniel that they saw the end, and yet it was afterwards hid from them. The passage quoted in the case of Daniel is Dan. xii. 4 [But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase].

Gen. xlix. 9 [Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?]. The expression 'lion's whelp,' is explained of the Messiah in Yalkut 160 (vol. i. p. 49 c), no less than five times; while the term 'he couched,' is referred to the Messiah in Ber. R. 98.

Gen. xlix. 10 [The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him [shall be] the obedience of the peoples]. This well-known prediction (on which see the full and interesting discussion in Raym. Martini, Pugio Fidei) is in Yalkut, u. s., applied to the Messiah, with a quotation of Ps. ii. 9 [You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware]. This expression 'Shiloh' is also applied to the Messiah, with the curious addition, that in the latter days all nations would bring gifts to Him. Alike the Targum Onkelos, Pseudo-Jonathan, and the Jerusalem Targum, as well as Sanh. 98 b, the Midrash on the passage, and that on Prov. xix. 21, and on Lam. i. 16, where it is rendered shelo, 'whose it is,' refer the expression 'Shiloh,' and, indeed, the whole passage, to the Messiah; the Midrash Ber. R. (99, ed. Warsh. p. 178 b) with special reference to Is. xi. 10 [Then in that day

The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious], while the promise with reference to the ass's colt is brought into connection with Zech. ix. 9 [Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout [in triumph], O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey], the fulfilment of this prophecy being expected along with that in Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ('I will sprinkle clean water'). Another remarkable statement occurs in the Midrash on the passage (Ber. R. 98, ed. Warsh. p. 174 b), which applies the verse to the coming of Him of Whom it is written, Zech. ix. 9. Then He would wash his garment in wine (Gen. xlix. 11), which is explained as meaning the teaching of the Law to Israel, and His clothes in the blood of grapes, which is explained as meaning that He would bring them back from their errors. One of the Rabbis, however, remarks that Israel would not require to be taught by the King Messiah in the latter days, since it was written (Is. xi. 10), 'to it shall the Gentiles seek.' If so, then why should the Messiah come, and what will He do to the congregation of Israel? He will redeem Israel, and give them thirty commandments, according to Zech. xi. 12 [I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give [me] my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty [shekels] of silver as my wages]. The Targum Pseudo-Jon. and the Jer. Targum also apply verse 11 to the Messiah. Indeed, so general was this interpretation, that, according popular opinion, to see a palm-tree in one's dreams was to see the days of the Messiah (Berach. 57 a).

Gen. xlix. 12 [His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk] is also applied to the Messiah in the Targum Pseudo-Jon. and the Jerusalem Targum. So also is verse 18 [For Your salvation I wait, O Lord], although not in express words.

In Gen. xlix. 17 [Dan shall be a serpent in the way, A horned snake in the path, That bites the horse's heels, So that his rider falls backward], last clause, in its connection with ver. 18 [For Your salvation I wait, O Lord], the Midrash (Ber. R. 98) sees a reference to the disappointment of Jacob in mistaking Samson for the Messiah.

In the prophecy of Gad in Gen. xlix. 19 [As for Gad, raiders shall raid him, But he will raid [at] their heels] there is an allusion to Messianic days, as Elijah was to be of the tribe of Gad (Ber. R. 99, ed. Warsh. p. 179 a). There is, however, in Ber. R. 71, towards the close, a dispute whether he was of the tribe of Gad, or of the tribe of Benjamin, at the close of which Elijah appears, and settles the dispute in a rather summary manner.

On Gen. l. 10 [When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed seven days mourning for his father] the Midrash, at the close of Ber. R., remarks that as they had mourned, so in Messianic days God would turn their mourning into joy, quoting Jer. xxxi. 13 [Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow] and Is. li 3 [Indeed, the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the Lord; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and sound of a melody].

Exodus

Ex. iv. 22 [Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is My son, My firstborn] is referred to the Messiah in the Midr. on Ps. ii. 7.

On Exod. xii. 2, 'let this be the beginning of months,' it is remarked in Shem. R. 15 (ed. Warsh. p. 24 b) that God would make new ten things in the latter days, these being marked by the following passages: Is lx. 19 [No longer will you have the sun for light by day, Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, And your God for your glory]; Ezek. xlvii. 9 [It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and [the others] become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes]; xlvii. 12 [By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all [kinds of] trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing]; Ezek. xvi. 55 [Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will [also] return to your former state]; Is liv. 11 [O afflicted one, storm-tossed, [and] not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, And your foundations I will lay in sapphires]; Is. xi. 7 [Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox]; Hos. ii. 20 [And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord]; Is. lxv. 19 [I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying]; Is. xxxv. 8 [A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it [will] be for him who walks [that] way, And fools will not wander [on it]]; Is. xxxv. 10 [And the ransomed of the Lord will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy,

And sorrow and sighing will flee away]. Similarly on Num. xii. 1 [Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman)] we have, in Shem. R. 51, a parallelism between Old Testament times and their institutions and those of the latter days, to which Is. xlix. 12 [Behold, these will come from afar; And lo, these [will come] from the north and from the west, And these from the land of Sinim] and lx. 8 [Who are these who fly like a cloud And like the doves to their lattices?] are supposed to apply.

On Exod. xii. 42 [It is a night to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations] the Jerus. Targum notes that there were 4 remarkable nights: those of creation, of the covenant with Abraham, of the first Passover, and of the redemption of the world; and that as Moses came out of the desert, so would the Messiah come out of Rome.

On Exod. xv. 1 [Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said,

"I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea."]. It is noted in Mekhilta (ed. Weiss, p. 41 a) that this song would be taken up in Messianic days, only with far wider reach, as explained in Is. lx. 5 [Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you]; lviii. 8 [Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard]; xxxv. 5, 6 [Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah]; Jer. xxxi. 13 [Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow]; and Ps. cxxvi. 2 [Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them."].

Ex. xvi. 25 [Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field"] is applied to the Messiah, it being said that, if Israel only kept one Sabbath according to the commandment, the Messiah would immediately come (Jer. Taan. 64 a).

Ex. xvi. 33 [Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations."]. This manna, it is noted in Mechil. ed. Weiss, p. 59 b, was to be preserved for the days of the Messiah. Is. xxx. 15 [For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength." But you were not willing] is similarly explained in Jer. Taan. i. 1.

Ex. xvii. 16 [and he said, "The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation."] the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan refers to Messianic times.

Exod. xxi. 1 [ (NKJV) Now these [are] the judgments which you shall set before them]. Shem. R. 30, ed Warsh. p. 44. b, 45 a, notes on the word 'judgments' a number of things connected with judgment, showing how Balaam could not have wished the advent of the future deliverance (Numb. xxiv. 17) [I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth], since he was to perish in it; but that Israel should cleave to the great hope pressed in Gen. xlix. 18 [For Your salvation I wait, O Lord]; Is. lvi. 1 [Thus says the Lord, "Preserve justice and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come And My righteousness to be revealed."]; lix. 16 [And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him]; and especially Zech. ix. 9 [Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout [in triumph], O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey], of which a different rendering is proposed.

On Exod. xl. 9, 11 [Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and shall consecrate it and all its furnishings; and it shall be holy… You shall anoint the laver and its stand, and consecrate it] there is in the Targum Pseudo-Jon. distinct reference to the King Messiah, on whose account the anointing oil was to be used.

Leviticus

The promise (Lev. xxvi. 12) [I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people] is also referred to the latter, or Messianic, days in Yalkut 62 (vol. i. p. 17 b).

Lev. xxvi. 13 [I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that [you] would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect] is applied to Messianic times. See our remarks on Gen. ii. 4.

Numbers

The promise of peace in the Aaronic benediction Num. vi. 26 [The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace] is referred to the peace of the Kingdom of David, in accordance with Is. ix. 7 [There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this] (Siphré on Num. par. 42, ed. Friedmann, p. 12 b).

Num. vii. 12 [Now the one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah]. In connection with this it is marked that the six blessings which were lost by the Fall are to be restored by the son of Nahshon, i.e. the Messiah (Bem. R. 13, ed. W. p. 51 a).

In the Jerusalem Targum on Num. xi. 26 [But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp] the prophecy of Eldad and Medad is supposed to have been with regard to the war of the later days against Jerusalem and to the defeat of Gog and Magog by the Messiah.

In Num. xxiii. 21 [He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel;

The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them] the term 'King' is expressly referred to the Messiah in Targum Pseudo-Jon. So also Num. xxiv . 7 [Water will flow from his buckets, And his seed [will be] by many waters, And his king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted] in the Jer. Targum.

In Num. xxiv. 17 [I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab,

And tear down all the sons of Sheth] Balaam's prediction of the Star and Sceptre is referred to the Messiah in the Targum Onkelos and the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, as well as in Jer. Taan. iv. 8; Deb. R. 1; Midr. on Lament. ii. 2. Similarly verses 20 [And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said, "Amalek was the first of the nations, But his end [shall be] destruction."] and 24 [But ships [shall come] from the coast of Kittim, And they shall afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber; So they also [will come] to destruction] of that prophecy are ascribed in the Targum Pseudo-Jon. to the Messiah.

Num. xxvii. 16 [May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation]. In connection with this verse it is noticed that His one Spirit is worth as much as all other spirits, according to Is. xi. 1, 2 [Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord] (Yalkut, vol. i. p. 247 a).

Deuteronomy

Deut. i. 8 [See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them] is applied to the days of the Messiah in Siphré, 67 a.

In the comments of Tanchuma on Deut. viii. 1. [All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore [to give] to your forefathers] (ed. Warsh. p. 104 b, 105 a) there are several allusions to Messianic days.

Deut. xi. 21 [I took your sinful [thing], the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain] is applied in Siphré Par. 47 (ed. Friedmann, p. 83 a) to the days of the Messiah.

In Deut. xvi. 3 [You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt] the record of the deliverance from Egypt is supposed to be carried on to the days of the Messiah, in Siphré, Par. 130 (ed. Friedmann, p. 101 a). See, also, Ber. i. 5.

On Deut. xix. 8, 9 [If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers n if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always--then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three] it is noted, in Siphré on Deut., Par. 185 (ed. Friedm. p. 108 b), that as three of these cities were in territory never possessed by Israel, this was to be fulfilled in Messianic times. See also Jer. Macc. ii. 7.

In Tanchuma on Deut. xx. 10 [When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace] (Par. 19, ed. Warsh. p. 114 b) the offer of peace to a hostile city is applied to the future action of Messiah to the Gentiles, in accordance with Zech. ix, 10 [I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth]; Is. ii. 4 [And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war]; and Ps lxviii. 32 [Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, Sing praises to the Lord]; while, on the other hand, the resistance of a city to the offer of peace is likened to rebellion against the Messiah, and consequent judgment, according to Is. xi. 4 [But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked].

Deut. xxiii. 11 [But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may reenter the camp] is typically applied to the evening of time, when God would wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion (Is. iv. 4); and the words: 'when the sun is down' to when King Messiah would come (Tanchuma on Par. Ki Thetse 3, ed. Warsh. p. 115 b).

Deut. xxv. 19 [Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget] and Deut. xxx. 4 [If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back] are referred by the Targum Pseudo-Jon. to Messianic times. In the latter passage the gathering of dispersed Israel by Elijah, and their being brought back by Messiah, are spoken of. Comp. also Bem. R., last three lines.

On Deut. xxxii. 7 [Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you] Siphré (Par. 210, ed. Friedm. p. 134 a) makes the beautiful observation, that in all Israel's afflictions they were to remember the good and comfortable things which God had promised them for the future world, and in connection with this there is special reference to the time of the Messiah.

On Deut. xxxii. 30 [How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had given them up?] Siphré (p. 138 a) marks its fulfilment in the days of the Messiah.

On Deut. xxxiii. 5 [And He was king in Jeshurun, When the heads of the people were gathered, The tribes of Israel together] the Jer. Targum speaks of a king whom the tribes of Israel shall obey, this being evidently the King Messiah.

Deut. xxxiii. 17 [As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his, And his horns are the horns of the wild ox; With them he will push the peoples, All at once, [to] the ends of the earth. And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And those are the thousands of Manasseh."]. Tanchuma on Gen. i. Par. 1 (ed. Warsh. p. 4 a) applies this to the Messiah. So also in Bemidb. R. 14.

Deut. xxxiii. 12 [Of Benjamin he said, "May the beloved of the Lord dwell in security by Him,

Who shields him all the day, And he dwells between His shoulders."]. The expression, 'he shall cover him,' is referred to this world; 'all the day long,' to the days of the Messiah; and 'he shall dwell between his shoulders,' to the world to come (Sebach. 118 b).

Judges, Ruth

Judg. v. 31: 'let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might,' is applied to Messianic times in Ber. R. 12. See our remarks on Gen. ii. 4 [].

On Ruth ii. 14 [At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar." So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left]: 'come hither at the time of meat,' the Midr. R. Ruth 5 (ed. Warsh. p. 43 a and b), has a very remarkable interpretation. Besides the application of the word 'eat,' as beyond this present time, to the days of the Messiah, and again to the world to come, which is to follow these days, the Midrash applies the whole of it mystically to the Messiah, viz. 'Come hither,' that is, draw near to the kingdom, 'and eat of the bread,' that is, the bread of royalty, 'and dip thy morsel in vinegar' - these are the sufferings, as it is written in Is. liii. 5, 'He was wounded for our transgression.' 'And she sat beside the reapers' - because His Kingdom would in the future be put aside from Him for a short time, according to Zech. xiv. 2 [For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city]; 'and he reached her parched corn' - because He will restore it to Him, according to Is. xi. 4 [But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked]. R. Berachiah, in the name of R. Levi, adds, that the second Redeemer should be like the first. As the first Redeemer (Moses) appeared, and disappeared, and reappeared after three months, so the second Redeemer would also appear, and disappear, and again become manifest, Dan. xii. 11, 12 [From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, [there will be] 1,290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!] being brought into connection with it. Comp. Midr. on Cant. ii. 9; Pesik. 49 a, b. Again, the words, 'she ate, and was sufficed, and left,' are thus interpreted in Shabb. 113 b: she ate - in this world; and was sufficed - in the days of the Messiah; and left - for the world to come.

Again, the Targum on Ruth i. 1 speaks of the Messiah; and again on Ruth iii. 15 [Again he said, "Give me the cloak that is on you and hold it." So she held it, and he measured six [measures] of barley and laid [it] on her. Then she went into the city] paraphrases the six measures of barley as referring to six righteous ones, of which the last was the Messiah, and who were each to have six special blessings.

Ruth iv. 18 [Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron]. The Messiah is called 'the son of Pharez,' who restores what had been lost to humanity through the fall of Adam. See our remarks on Gen. ii. 4.

The Messianic interpretation of Ruth iv. 20 [and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon] has already been given under Gen. iv. 25.

1-2 Samuel

1 Sam. ii. 10 [Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered; Against them He will thunder in the heavens, The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn of His anointed]. The latter clause of this promise is understood by the Targum (and also is some of the Midrashim) as applying to the Kingdom of the Messiah.

2 Sam. xxii. 28 [And You save an afflicted people; But Your eyes are on the haughty [whom] You abase]. In a Talmudic passage (Sanh. 98 a, line 19, &c., from the bottom), which contains many references to the coming of the Messiah, His advent is predicted in connection with this passage.

2 Sam. xxiii. 1 [Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, The man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel] is applied by the Targum to the prophecy of David concerning the latter Messianic days.

2 Sam. xxiii. 3 [The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God]. The 'ruling in the fear of God' is referred in the Targum to the future raising up of the Messiah.

In 2 Sam. xxiii. 4 [Is as the light of the morning [when] the sun rises, A morning without clouds, [When] the tender grass [springs] out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain] the morning light at sunrise is explained in the Midrash on the passage (par. 29, ed. Lemberg, p, 56 b, lines 7-9 from the top), as applying to the appearance of the Messiah.

Kings, Chronicles

The expression, 1 Kings iv. 33 [He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish], that Solomon spoke of trees, is referred in the Targum to his prophecy concerning kings that were to reign in this age, and in that of the Messiah.

On the name 'Anani,' in 1 Chr. iii. 24 [The sons of Elioenai [were] Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah and Anani, seven], the Targum remarks that this is the Messiah, the interpretation being that the word anani is connected with the word similarly written (not punctuated) in Deut. vii. 13 [? Poss iv.11?: You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the [very] heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom], and there translated 'clouds,' of which the explanation is given in Tanchuma (Par. Toledoth 14, p. 27 b).

Psalms

Ps. ii. as might be expected, is treated as full of Messianic references. To begin with, Ps. ii. 1 [Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing?] is applied to the wars of Gog and Magog in the Talmud (Berach. 7 b and Abhod. Zarah 3 b), and also in the Midrash on Ps. ii. Similarly, verse 2 [The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together

Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying] is applied to the Messiah in Abhod. Zach, u. s., in the Midrash on Ps. xcii. 11 (ed. Warsh. p. 70 b, line 8 from the top); in Pirqué de R. Eliez. c. 28 (ed. Lemberg, p. 33 b, line 9 from top). In Yalkut (vol. ii. par. 620, p. 90 a, line 12 from the bottom), we have the following remarkable simile on the words, 'against God, and His Messiah,' likening them to a robber who stands defiantly behind the palace of the king, and says, If I shall find the son of the king, I shall lay hold on him, and crucify him, and kill him with a cruel death. But the Holy Spirit mocks at him, 'He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.' On the same verse the Midrash on Ps. ii. has a curious conceit, intended to show that each who rose against God and His people thought he was wiser than he who had preceded him. If Cain had killed his brother while his father was alive, forgetful that there would be other sons, Esau proposed to wait till after his father's death. Pharaoh, again, blamed Esau for his folly in forgetting that in the meantime Jacob would have children, and hence proposed to kill all the male children, while Haman, ridiculing Pharaoh's folly in forgetting that there were daughters set himself to destroy the whole people; and, in turn, Gog and Magog, ridiculing the shortsightedness of all, who had preceded them, in taking counsel against Israel so long as they had a Patron in heaven, resolved first to attack their heavenly Patron, and after that Israel. To which apply the words, 'against the Lord, and against His Anointed.'

But to return. Ps. ii. 4 [He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them] is Messianically applied in the Talmud (Abhod. Z. u. s.). Ps. ii. 6 [But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain] is applied to the Messiah in the Midrash on 1 Samuel xvi. 1 (Par. 19, ed, Lemberg, p. 45 a and b), where it is said that of the three measures of sufferings [As to these three measures of sufferings, and the share falling to the age of the Messiah, see also the Midrash on Ps. ii. 7.] one goes to the King Messiah, of whom it is written (Is. liii.) 'He was wounded for our transgression.' They say to the King Messiah: Where dost Thou seek to dwell? He answers: Is this question also necessary? In Sion My holy hill (Ps. ii. 6). (Comp. also Yalkut ii. p. 53 c.)

Ps. ii. 7 [I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, `You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.'] is quoted as Messianic in the Talmud, among a number of other Messianic quotations (Sukk. 52 a). There is a very remarkable passage in the Midrash on Ps. ii. 7 (ed. Warsh p. 5 a), in which the unity of Israel and the Messiah in prophetic vision seems clearly indicated. Tracing the 'decree' through the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, the first passage quoted in Exod. iv 22: 'Israel is My first-born son;' the second, from the Prophets, Is. lii. 13: 'Behold My servant shall deal prudently,' and Is. xlii. 1: 'Behold My servant, whom I uphold;' the third, from the Hagiographa, Ps. cx. 1: 'The Lord said unto my Lord,' and again, Ps. ii. 7: 'The Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son,' and yet this other saying (Dan. vii. 13): 'Behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven.' Five lines further down, the same Midrash, in reference to the words 'Thou art My Son,' observes that, when that hour comes, God speaks to Him to make a new covenant, and thus He speaks: 'This day have I begotten Thee' - this is the hour in which He becomes His Son.

Ps. ii. 8 [Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the [very] ends of the earth as Your possession] is applied in Ber. R. 44 (ed. Warsh. p. 80 a) and in the Midrash on the passage, to the Messiah, with the curious remark that there were three of whom it was said 'Ask of Me' - Solomon, Ahaz [The Midrash gives two very curious explanations of his name.], and the Messiah. In the Talmud (Shukk. 52 a) the same passage is very curiously applied, it being suggested that, when the Messiah, the Son of David, saw that the Messiah, the Son of Joseph [On the twofold Messiah, or rather the device of the Jews on this subject, see in the text of the chapter. I cannot but suspect that the words 'Son of Joseph' in the Talmud are a later and clumsy emendation, since what follows evidently applies to the Son of David.], would be killed, He said to the Almighty, I seek nothing of Thee except life. To which the reply was: Life before Thou hadst spoken, as David Thy father prophesied of Thee, Ps. xxi. 4 [He asked life of You, You gave it to him, Length of days forever and ever].

Ps. ii. 9 [You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware] will be referred to in our remarks on Ps. cxx.

Ps. xvi. 5 [The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot] is discussed in Ber. R. 88, in connection with the cup which Pharaoh's butler saw in his dream. From this the Midrash proceeds to speak of the four cups appointed for the Passover night, and to explain their meaning in various manners, among others, contrasting the four cups of fury, which God would make the nations drink, with the four cups of salvation which He would give Israel in the latter days, viz. Ps. xvi. 5 [above]; Ps. cxvi. 13 [I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the Lord]; Ps. xxiii. 5 [You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows]. The expression, Ps. cxvi. 13, rendered in our A. V. 'the cup of salvation,' is in the original, 'the cup of salvations' - and is explained as implying one for the days of the Messiah, and the other for the days of Gog.

On verse xvi.9 [Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely], the Midrash on the passage says: 'My glory shall rejoice in the King Messiah, Who in the future shall come forth from me, as it is written in Is. iv. 5: "upon all the glory a covering."' And the Midrash continues 'my flesh also shall dwell in safety' - i.e. after death, to teach us that corruption and the worm shall not rule over it.

Ps. xviii. 31 [For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God] (in the Heb. verse 32). The Targum explains this in reference to the works and miracles of the Messiah.

Ps. xviii. 50 [He gives great deliverance to His king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever] is referred in Jer. Talmud (Ber. ii. 4, p. 5 a, line 11 from the top), and in the Midr. on Lam. i. 16, to the Messiah, with this curious remark, implying the doubt whether He was alive or dead: 'The king Messiah, whether He belong to the living or the dead, His Name is to be David, according to Ps. xviii. 50.'

Ps. xxi. 1 [O Lord, in Your strength the king will be glad, And in Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice!] (2 in the Hebrew) - the King there spoken of is explained by the Targum to be King Messiah. The Midrash on the passage identifies him with Is. xi. 10 [Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious], on which Rabbi Chanina adds that the object of the Messiah is to give certain commandments to the Gentiles (not to Israel, who are to learn from God Himself), according to the passage in Isaiah above quoted, adding that the words 'his rest shall be glorious' mean that God gives to the King Messiah from the glory above, as it is said: 'In Thy strength shall the king rejoice,' which strength is a little afterwards explained as the Kingdom (ed. Warsh. p. 30 a and b).

Verse 3 [For You meet him with the blessings of good things; You set a crown of fine gold on his head] is Messianically applied in the Midrash on the passage.

Ps. xxi. 3 [For You meet him with the blessings of good things; You set a crown of fine gold on his head] (4 in the Hebrew). Only a few lines farther down in the same Midrash, among remarkable Messianic applications, is that of this verse to the Messiah, where also the expression 'Jehovah is a man of war,' and 'Jehovah Zidkenu,' are applied to the Messiah. [The idea of an organic connection between Israel and the Messiah seems also to underlie this passage.] Comp. also Shemoth R. 8, where it is noted that God will crown Him with His own crown.

Verse 4 [He asked life of You, You gave it to him, Length of days forever and ever] is Messianically applied in Sukk. 52 a.

Ps. xxi. 5 [His glory is great through Your salvation, Splendor and majesty You place upon him] (6 in the Hebrew). The first clause of this verse, Yalkut on Num. xxvii. 20 (vol. i. p. 248 a, line 10 from the bottom) applies to the glory of the King Messiah, immediately quoting the second clause in proof of its Messianic application. This is also done in the Midrash on the passage. But perhaps one of the most remarkable applications of it is in Bemidbar R. 15, p. 63 b, where the passage is applied to the Messiah.

Finally in Ps. xxi. 7 [For the king trusts in the Lord, And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken] (8 in the Hebrew), the expression 'king' is applied in the Targum to the Messiah. On the whole, then, it may be remarked that Ps. xxi. was throughout regarded as Messianic.

On Ps. xxii. 7 [All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, [saying]] (8 in the Hebrew) a remarkable comment appears in Yalkut on Is. lx., applying this passage to the Messiah (the second, or son of Ephraim), and using almost the same words in which the Evangelists describe the mocking behaviour of the Jews at the Cross.

Ps. xxii. 15 [My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;

And You lay me in the dust of death] (16 in the Hebrew). There is a similarly remarkable application to the Messiah of this verse in Yalkut.

The promise in Ps. xxiii. 5 [You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows] is referred in Bemid. R. 21 to the spreading of the great feast before Israel in the latter days.

Ps. xxxi. 19 [How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You,

Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men!] (20 in the Hebrew) is in the Midrash applied to the reward that in the latter days Israel would receive for their faithfulness. Also in Pesiqta, p. 149 b, to the joy of Israel in the presence of the Messiah.

The expression in Ps. xxxvi. 9, 'In Thy light shall we see light,' is applied to the Messiah in Yalkut on Isaiah lx. (vol. ii. p. 56 c, line 22 from the bottom).

The application of Ps. xl. 7 [Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me] to the Messiah has already been noted in our remarks on Gen. iv. 25.

Ps. xlv. is throughout regarded as Messianic. To begin with; the Targum renders verse 2 (3 in the Hebrew): 'Thy beauty, O King Messiah, is greater than that of the sons of men.' Verse 3 [Gird Your sword on [Your] thigh, O Mighty One, [In] Your splendor and Your majesty!] (4 in the Hebrew) is applied in the Talmud (Shabb 63 a) to the Messiah, although other interpretations of that verse immediately follow.

The application of verse 6 [Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom] (7 in the Hebrew), to the Messiah in a MS. copy of the Targum has already been referred to in another part of his book, while the words, 'Thy throne is for ever and ever' are brought into connection with the promise that the sceptre would not depart from Judah in Ber. R. 99, ed. Warsh. p. 178 b, line 9 from the bottom.

On verse 7 [You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of joy above Your fellows] the Targum though not in the Venice edition (1568), has: 'Thou O King Messiah because Thou lovest righteousness,' &c. Comp. Levy, Targum. Wörterb. vol. ii. p. 41 a. The Midrash on the Psalm deals exclusively with the inscription (of which it has several and significant interpretations) with the opening words of the Psalm, and with the words (ver. 16), 'Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,' but at the same time it clearly indicates that the Psalm applies to the latter, or Messianic, days.

On Ps. l. 2 [Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth] Siphré (p. 143 a) notes that four times God would appear, the last being in the days of King Messiah.

Ps. lx. 7 [Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head;

Judah is My scepter]. Bemidbar R. on Num. vii. 48, Parash. 14 (ed. Warsh p. 54 a) contains some very curious Haggadic discussion on this verse. But it also broaches the opinion of its reference to the Messiah.

Ps. lxi. 6 [You will prolong the king's life; His years will be as many generations] (7 in the Hebrew). 'Thou shalt add days to the days of the king,' is rendered by the Targum: 'Thou shalt add days to the days of King Messiah.' There is a curious gloss on this in Pirqé d. R. Eliez. c. 19 (ed. Lemberg, p. 24 b), in which Adam is supposed to have taken 70 of his years, and added them to those of King David. According to another tradition, this accounts for Adam living 930 years, this is, 70 less than 1,000, which constitute before God one day, and so the threatening had been literally fulfilled: In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die.

Ps. lxi. 8 [So I will sing praise to Your name forever, That I may pay my vows day by day] (9 in the Hebrew). The expression, 'that I may daily perform my vows,' is applied in the Targum to the day in which the Messiah is anointed King.

Ps. lxviii. 31 [Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God] (32 in the Hebrew). On the words 'Princes shall come out of Egypt,' there is a very remarkable comment in the Talmud (Pes. 118 b) and in Shemoth R. on Ex. xxvi. 15, &c. (ed. Warsh. p. 50 b), in which we are told that in the latter days all nations would bring gifts to the King Messiah, beginning with Egypt. 'And lest it be thought that He (Messiah) would not accept it from them, the Holy One says to the Messiah: Accept from them hospitable entertainment,' or it might be rendered, 'Accept it from them; they have given hospitable entertainment to My son.'

Ps. lxxii. This Psalm also was viewed by the ancient Synagogue as throughout Messianic, as indicated by the fact that the Targum renders the very first verse: 'Give the sentence of Thy judgment to the King Messiah, and Thy justice to the Son of David the King,' which is re-echoed by the Midrash on the passage (ed. Warsh. p. 55 b) which applies it explicitly to the Messiah, with reference to Is. xi. 1 [Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit]. Similarly, the Talmud applies ver. 16 [May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains; Its fruit will wave like [the cedars of] Lebanon; And may those from the city flourish like vegetation of the earth] to Messianic times (in a very hyperbolical passage, Shabb. 30 b, line 4 from the bottom). The last clause of verse 16 is applied, in Keth. 111 b, line 21 from top, and again in the Midr. on Eccl. i. 9, to the Messiah sending down manna like Moses [See the passage in Sanh. 96 b &c. given at the close of this Appendix.].

Verse 17 [May his name endure forever; May his name increase as long as the sun [shines];

And let [men] bless themselves by him; Let all nations call him blessed]. In Sanh. 98 b; Pes. 54 a; Ned. 39 b, the various names of the Messiah are discussed, and also in Ber. R. 1; in Midr. on Lam. i. 16, and in Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 3. One of these is stated to be Jinnon, according to Ps. lxxii. 17 [a play on the Hebrew verb translated "increase"].

Verse 8 [May he also rule from sea to sea And from the River to the ends of the earth] is applied in Pirqé de R. El. c. 11, to the Messiah. Yalkut (vol. ii.) on Is. lv. 8 (p. 54 c), speaks of the 'other Redeemer' as the Messiah, applying to him Ps. lxxii. 8. In commenting on the meeting of Jacob and Esau, the Midr. Ber. R. (78, ed. Warsh. p. 141 b) remarks that all the gifts which Jacob gave to Esau, the nations of the world would return to the King Messiah - proving it by a reference to Ps. lxxii. 10 [Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents; The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts]; while in Midrash Bemidbar R. 13 it is remarked that as the nations brought gifts to Solomon, so they would bring them to the King Messiah. In the same place, a little higher up, Solomon and the Messiah are likened as reigning over the whole world, the proof passages being, besides others, Ps. lxxii. 8 [above], Daniel vii. 13 [I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him], and ii. 35 [Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth].

On the application to the Messiah of verse 16 we have already spoken, as also on that of verse 17 [above].

Ps. lxxx. 17 [Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself] (in the Hebrew 18). The Targum paraphrases 'the Son of Man' by 'King Messiah.'

Ps. lxxxix. 22-25 [The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him. My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted. I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers] (23-26 in the Hebrew). In Yalkut on Is. lx. 1 (vol. ii. p. 56 c) this promise is referred to the future deliverance of Israel by the Messiah.

Again, verse 27 [I also shall make him [My] firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth] (28 in the Hebrew) is applied in Shemoth R. 19, towards the end, to the Messiah, special reference being made to Ex. iv. 22, 'Israel is My first-born son.'

Verse 51 [With which Your enemies have reproached, O Lord, With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed] (52 in the Hebrew). There is a remarkable comment on this in the Midrash on the inscription of Ps. xviii. (ed. Warsh. p. 24 a, line 2 from the bottom), in which it is set forth that as Israel and David did not sing till the hour of persecution and reproach, so when the Messiah shall come - 'speedily, in our days' - the song will not be raised until the Messiah is put to reproach, according to Ps. lxxxix. 51 [above] (52), and till there shall fall before Him the wicked idolaters referred to in Dan. ii. 42 [ [As] the toes of the feet [were] partly of iron and partly of pottery, [so] some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle], and the four kingdoms referred to in Zech. xiv. 2 [For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city]. In that hour shall the song be raised, as it is written Ps. xcviii. 1 [O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him]. In the Midr. on Cant. ii. 13 it is said: If you see one generation after another blaspheming, expect the feet of the King Messiah, as it is written, Ps. lxxxix. 51 [above].

Ps. xc. 15 [Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, [And] the years we have seen evil]. The Midr. (ed. Warsh. p. 67 b) remarks: The days wherein Thou hast afflicted us - that is, the days of the Messiah. Upon which follows a discussion upon the length of days of the Messiah, R. Eliezer holding that they are 1,000 years, quoting the words 'as yesterday,' one day being 1,000 years. R. Joshua holds that they were 2,000 years, the words 'the days' implying that there were two days. R. Berachiah holds that they were 600 years, appealing to Is. lxv. 22 [They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, [so will be] the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands], because the root of the tree perishes in the earth in 600 years. R. José thinks that they are 60 years, according to Ps. lxxii. 5 [Let them fear You while the sun [endures], And as long as the moon, throughout all generations], the words 'throughout all generations' (dor dorim) being interpreted: Dor = 20 years; Dorim = 40 years: 20 + 40 = 60. R. Akiba says: 40 years, according to the years in the wilderness. The Rabbis say: 354 years, according to the days in the lunar year. R. Abahu thinks 7,000 years, reckoning the 7 according to the days of the bridegroom.

On Ps. xc. the Midrash concludes by drawing a contrast between the Temple which men built, and which was destroyed, and the Temple of the latter or Messianic days, which God would build, and which would not be destroyed.

Ps. xcii., verses 8, 11, and 13 (7, 10, and 12 in our A. V.) [That when the wicked sprouted up like grass And all who did iniquity flourished, It [was only] that they might be destroyed forevermore… But You have exalted my horn like [that of] the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil… The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon], are Messianically interpreted in Pirqé de R. El. c. 19. In the Midrash on verse 13 (12 in our A. V.), among other beautiful applications of the figure of the Psalm, is that to the Messiah the Son of David. The note of the Midrash on the expression 'like a cedar of Lebanon,' as applied to Israel, is very beautiful, likening it to the cedar, which, although driven and bent by all the winds of heaven, cannot be rooted up from its place.

Ps. xcv. 7 [For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

Today, if you would hear His voice…], last clause. In Shem. R. 25 and in the Midrash on Cant. v. 2 (ed. Warsh. p. 26 a), it is noted that, if Israel did penitence only one day [or else properly observed even one Sabbath], the Messiah the Son of David would immediately come. [The whole passage from which this reference is taken is exceedingly interesting. It introduces God as saying to Israel: My son, open to Me a door of penitence only as small as a needle's eye, and I will open to you doors through which carriages and wagons shall come in. It almost seems a counterpart to the Saviour's words (Rev. iii. 20): 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to Him.'] Substantially the same view is taken in Sanh. 98 a, where the tokens of the coming of the Messiah are described - and also in Jer. Taan. 64 a.

Ps. cii. 16 [For the Lord has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory] (17 in the Hebrew) is applied in Bereshith R. 56 (ed. Warsh. p. 104 b) to Messianic times.

Ps. cvi. 44 [Nevertheless He looked upon their distress When He heard their cry]. On this there is in the Midrash a long Messianic discussion, setting forth the five grounds on which Israel is redeemed: through the sorrows of Israel, through prayer, through the merits of the patriarchs, through repentance towards God, and in the time of 'the end.'

Ps. cx. is throughout applied to the Messiah. To begin with, it evidently underlies the Targumic of ver. 4 [The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, "You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek."]. Similarly, it is propounded in the Midr. on Ps. ii. (although there the chief application of it is to Abraham). But in the Midrash on Ps. xviii. 36 [You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your right hand upholds me; And Your gentleness makes me great] (35 in our A. V.), Ps. cx. verse 1, 'Sit thou at My right hand' is specially applied to the Messiah, while Abraham is said to be seated at the left.

Verse 2 [The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, [saying], "Rule in the midst of Your enemies."], 'The rod of Thy strength.' In a very curious mystic interpretation of the pledges which Tamar had, by the Holy Ghost, asked of Judah [Gen. xxxviii. 18] , the seal is interpreted as signifying the Kingdom, the bracelet as the Sanhedrin, and the staff as the King Messiah, with special reference to Is. xi. and Ps. cx. 2 (Beresh. R. 85, ed. Warsh. p. 153 a). Similarly in Bemid. R. 18, last line, the staff of Aaron, which is said to have been in the hands of every king till the Temple was destroyed, and since then to have been hid, is to be restored to King Messiah, according to this verse; and in Yalkut on this Psalm (vol. ii. Par. 869, p. 124 c) this staff is supposed to be the same as that of Jacob with which he crossed Jordan, and of Judah, and of Moses, and of Aaron, and the same which David had in his hand when he slew Goliath, it being also the same which will be restored to the Messiah.

Verse 7 [He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up [His] head] is also applied in Yalkut (u. s. col. d) to Messianic times, when streams of the blood of the wicked should flow out, and birds come to drink of that flood.

Ps. cxvi. 9 [I shall walk before the Lord In the land of the living] is in Ber. R. 96 supposed to indicate that the dead of Palestine would live first in the days of the Messiah.

Ps. cxvi. 13 [I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the Lord] has been already commented upon [under Ps. xvi. 5].

On Ps. cxix. 33 [Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, And I shall observe it to the end] the Midrash remarks that there were three who asked wisdom of God: David, Solomon, and the King Messiah, the latter according to Ps. lxxii. 1 [Give the king Your judgments, O God, And Your righteousness to the king's son].

Ps. cxx. 7 [I am [for] peace, but when I speak, They are for war] is applied to the Messiah in the Midrash (p. 91 a, ed. Warsh.), the first clause being brought into connection with Is. lvii. 19 ["Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near," Says the Lord, "and I will heal him."], with reference to the Messiah's dealings with the Gentiles, the resistance being described in the second clause, and the result in Ps. ii. 9 [You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware].

Ps. cxxi. 1 [I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall my help come?] is applied in Tanchuma (Par. Toledoth 14, ed. Warsh. p. 37 b. See also Yalkut, vol. ii. 878, p. 127 c) to the Messiah, with special reference to Zech. iv. 7 [What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel [you will become] a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"] and Is. lii. 7 [How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news,

Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, [And] says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"].

Ps. cxxvi. 2 [Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting;

Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them."]. In Tanchuma on Ex. xv. i. (ed. Warsh. p. 87 a) this verse is applied to Messianic times in a rapt description, in which successively Is. lx. 5 [Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you], Is. lviii. 8 [Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard], Is. xxxv. 5, 6 [Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah], Jer. xxxi. 13 [Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow], and Ps. cxxvi. 2 [above], are grouped together as all applying to these latter days.

The promise in Ps. cxxxii. 18 [His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon himself his crown shall shine] is applied in Pirké de R. El. c. 28 to Messianic times, and verse 14 [This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it] in Ber. R. 56.

So is Ps. cxxxiii. 3 [It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing--life forever] in Ber. R. 65 (p. 122 a), closing lines.

The words in Ps. cxlii. 5 [I cried out to You, O Lord; I said, "You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living."] are applied in Ber. R. 74 to the resurrection of Israel in Palestine in the days of Messiah.

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes

The words, 'When thou awakest,' in Prov. vi. 22 [When you walk about, they will guide you;

When you sleep, they will watch over you; And when you awake, they will talk to you] are Messianically applied in Siphré on Deut. (ed. Friedmann, p. 74 b).

In Midr. on Eccl. i. 9 [That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun] it is shown at great length that the Messiah would re-enact all the miracles of the past.

The last clause of Eccl. i. 11 [There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later [still].] is applied to the days of the Messiah in the Targum.

Eccl. vii. 24 [What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it?] is thus paraphrased in the Targum: 'Behold, it is remote from the sons of men that they should know what was done from the beginning of the world, but a mystery is the day of death - and the day when shall come King Messiah, who can find it out by his wisdom?'

In the Midr. on Eccl. xi. 8 [Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come [will be] futility] it is noted that, however many years a man might study, his learning would be empty before the teaching of Messiah.

In the Midr. on Eccl. xii. 1 [Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them"] it is noted that the evil days are those of the woes of Messiah.

Song of Solomon (Canticles)

Canticles. Here we have first the Talmudic passage (Sheb. 35 b) in which the principle is laid down, that whenever throughout that book Solomon is named, except in chap. viii. 12 [My very own vineyard is at my disposal; The thousand [shekels] are for you, Solomon, And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit], it applies, not to Solomon, but to Him Who was His peace (there is here a play on these words, and on the name Solomon).

To Cant. i. 8 [If you yourself do not know, Most beautiful among women, Go forth on the trail of the flock And pasture your young goats By the tents of the shepherds] the Targum makes this addition: 'They shall be nourished in the captivity, until the time that I shall send to them the King Messiah, Who will feed them in quietness.'

So also on verse 17 [The beams of our houses are cedars, Our rafters, cypresses] the Targum contrasts the Temple built by Solomon with the far superior Temple to be built in the days of the Messiah, of which the beams were to be made of the cedars of Paradise.

Cant. ii. 8 [Listen! My beloved! Behold, he is coming, Climbing on the mountains, Leaping on the hills!], although applied by most authorities to Moses, is by others referred to the Messiah (Shir haShirim R., ed. Warsh., p. 15 a, about the middle; Pesiqta, ed. Buber, p. 47 b).

Cant. ii. 9 [My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall,

He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice] is Messianically applied in Pesiqta, ed. Buber, p. 49, a and b.

The same may be said of verse 10 [My beloved responded and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along."]; while in connection with verse 12 [The flowers have [already] appeared in the land; The time has arrived for pruning [the vines], And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land], in similar application, Is. lii. 7 is quoted [How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, [And] says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"].

In connection with verse 13 [The fig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blossom have given forth [their] fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along!], in the same Midrash (p. 17 a), Rabbi Chija bar Abba speaks of a great matter as happening close to the days of the Messiah, viz., that the wicked should be destroyed, quoting in regard to it Is. iv. 3 [It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy--everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem].

Cant. iii. 11 [Go forth, O daughters of Zion, And gaze on King Solomon with the crown With which his mother has crowned him On the day of his wedding, And on the day of his gladness of heart], 'the day of his espousals.' In Yalkut on the passage (vol. ii. p. 178 d) this is explained: 'the day of the Messiah, because the Holy One, blessed be His name, is likened to a bridegroom; "as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride"' - and 'the day of the gladness of his heart,' as the day when the Sanctuary is rebuilt, and Jerusalem is redeemed.

On Cant. iv. 5 [Your two breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle Which feed among the lilies] the Targum again introduces the twofold Messiah, the one the son of David, and the other the son of Ephraim.

Cant. iv. 16 [Awake, O north [wind], And come, [wind of] the south; Make my garden breathe out [fragrance], Let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden And eat its choice fruits!]. According to one opinion in the Midrash (p. 25 b, line 13 from the bottom) this applies to the Messiah, Who comes from the north, and builds the Temple, which is in the south. See also Bemidbar R. 13, p. 48 b.

On Cant. v. 10 [(NKJV) My beloved [is] white and ruddy, Chief among ten thousand] Yalkut remarks that He is white to Israel, and red to the Gentiles, according to Isaiah lxiii. 2 [Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?].

On Cant. vi. 10 [Who is this that grows like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?] Yalkut (vol. ii. p. 184 b) has some beautiful observations, first, likening Israel in the wilderness, and God's mighty deeds there, to the morning; and then adding that, according to another view, this morning-light is the redemption of the Messiah: For as, when the morning rises, the darkness flees before it, so shall darkness fall upon the kingdoms of this world when the Messiah comes. And yet again, as the sun and moon appear, so will the Kingdom of the Messiah also appear - the commentation going on to trace farther illustrations.

Cant. vii. 6 [How beautiful and how delightful you are, [My] love, with [all] your charms!]. The Midrash thus comments on it (among other explanations): How fair in the world to come, how pleasant in the days of the Messiah!

On Cant. vii. 13 [The mandrakes have given forth fragrance; And over our doors are all choice [fruits], Both new and old, Which I have saved up for you, my beloved], the Targum has it: 'When it shall please God to deliver His people from captivity, then shall it be said to the Messiah: The time of captivity is past, and the merit of the just shall be sweet before Me like the odour of balsam.'

Similarly on Cant. viii.1 [Oh that you were like a brother to me Who nursed at my mother's breasts. [If] I found you outdoors, I would kiss you; No one would despise me, either], the Targum has it: 'And at that shall the King Messiah be revealed to the congregation of Israel, and the children of Israel shall say to Him, Come and be a brother to us, and let us go up to Jerusalem, and there suck with thee the meaning of the Law, as an infant its mother's breast.'

On Cant. viii. 2 [I would lead you [and] bring you Into the house of my mother, who used to instruct me; I would give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranates] the Targum has it: 'I will take Thee, O King Messiah, and make thee go up into my Temple, there Thou shalt teach me to tremble before the Lord, and to walk in His ways. There we shall hold the feast of leviathan, and drink the old wine, which has been kept in its grapes from the day the world was created, and of the pomegranates and of the fruits which are prepared for the just in the Garden of Eden.'

On verse 4 [I want you to swear, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not arouse or awaken [my] love

Until she pleases] the Targum says: 'The King Messiah shall say: I adjure you, My people, house of Israel, why should you rise against the Gentiles, to go out of captivity, and why should you rebel against the might of Gog and Magog? Wait a little, till those nations are consumed which go up to fight against Jerusalem, and then shall the Lord of the world remember you, and it shall be His good will to set you free.'

Chap. viii. 11 [Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers. Each one was to bring a thousand [shekels] of silver for its fruit] is applied Messianically in the Talmud (Shebhu. 35 b), and so is verse 12 [My very own vineyard is at my disposal; The thousand [shekels] are for you, Solomon, And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit] in the Targum. (It should, however, be remarked that there are many other Messianic references in the comments on the Song of Solomon.)

Isaiah

Is. i. 25, 26, [I will also turn My hand against you, And will smelt away your dross as with lye

And will remove all your alloy. Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city] is thus explained in the Talmud (Sanh. 98 a): 'The Son of David shall not come till all the judges and rulers in Israel shall have ceased.'

Similarly Is. ii. 4 [And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war] is Messianically interpreted in Shabb. 63 a.

Is. iv. 2 [In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth [will be] the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel] the Targum distinctly applies to the times of the Messiah.

Is. iv. 4 [When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning] has been already commented upon in our remarks on Gen. xviii. 4, 5, and again on Deut. xxiii. 11.

.

Verses 5 and 6 [Then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to [give] shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain] are brought into connection with Israel's former service in contributing to, and making the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and it is remarked that in the latter days God would return it to them by covering them with a cloud of glory. This, in Yalkut (vol. i. p. 99 c), and in the Midrash on Ps. xiii., as also in that on Ps. xvi. 9.

Is. vi. 13 [Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be [subject] to burning,

Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.] is referred in the Talmud (Keth. 112 b) to Messianic times.

The reference of Is. vii. 21 [Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep] to Messianic times has already been discussed in our notes on Gen. xviii. 7.

Is. viii.14 [Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, [And] a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem] is also Messianically applied in the Talmud (Sanh. 38 a).

Is. ix. 6 [For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace] is expressly applied to the Messiah in the Targum, and there is a very curious comment in Debarim R. 1 (ed. Warsh., p. 4 a) in connection with a Haggadic discussion of Gen. xliii. 14 [and may God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved], which, however fanciful, makes a Messianic application of this passage - also in Bemidbar R. 11.

Verse 7 [There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this], 'Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,' has already been referred to in our comments on Num. vi. 26.

Is. x. 27 [So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness] is in the Targum applied to the destruction of the Gentiles before the Messiah. Is. x. 34 [He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron [axe], And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One], is quoted in the Midrash on Lam. i. 16, in evidence that somehow the birth of the Messiah was to be connected with the destruction of the Temple.

Is. xi., as will readily be believed, is Messianically interpreted in Jewish writings. Thus, to begin with in the Targum on verses 1 [Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit] and 6 [And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

And a little boy will lead them]; in the Talmud (Jer. Berach. 5 a and Sanh. 93 b); and in a number of passages in the Midrashim. Thus, verse 1 in Bereshith R. 85 on Gen. xxxviii. 18, where also Ps. cx. 2 [The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, [saying], "Rule in the midst of Your enemies."] is quoted, and in Ber. R. 99, ed. Warsh., p, 178 b.

In Yalkut (vol. i. p. 247 d, near the top), where it is described how God had shown Moses all the spirits of the rulers and prophets in Israel, from that time forward to the Resurrection, it is said that all these had one knowledge and one spirit, but that the Messiah had one spirit which was equal to all the others put together, according to Is. xi. 1,2 [Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord].

On the 2nd verse [The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and nderstanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord] see our remarks on Gen. i. 2, while in Yalkut on Prov. iii. 19, 20 (vol. ii. p. 133 a) the verse is quoted in connection with Messianic times, when by wisdom, understanding, and knowledge the Temple will be built again. On that verse see also pirq. d. R. El. 3.

On Is. xi. 3 [And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear] the Talmud (Sanh. 93 b, lines 21 &c. from the top) has a curious explanation. After quoting ch. xi. 2 [above] as Messianic, it makes a play on the words, 'of quick understanding,' or 'scent,' as it might be rendered, and suggest that this word wxyrhw is intended to teach us that God has laden Him with commandments and sufferings like millstones (Myyxyrk). Immediately afterwards, from the expression 'He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, but reprove with equity for the meek of the earth,' it is inferred that the Messiah knew the thoughts of the heart, and it is added that, as Bar Kokhabh was unable to do this, he was killed.

Verse 4, 'he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,' is Messianically applied in the Midrash on Ps. ii. 2, and in that on Ruth ii. 14 - also in Yalkut on Is. lx.

Verse 7 [Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox] has been already noticed in connection with Ex. xii. 2.

On verse 10 [Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious] see our remarks on Gen. xlix. 10 and Ps. xxi. 1.

Verse 11 [Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea] is Messianically applied in Yalkut (vol. i. p. 31 b and vol. ii. 38 a), as also in the Midrash on Ps. cvii. 2.

Verse 12 [And He will lift up a standard for the nations And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth] is Messianically applied in that curious passage in the Midrash on Lamentations i. 2, where it is indicated that, as the children of Israel sinned from a to t, so God would in the latter days comfort them from ) a to t (i.e. through the whole alphabet), Scripture passages being in each case quoted.

The Messianic application of Is. xii. 3 [Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation] is sufficiently established by the ancient symbolic practice of pouring out the water on the Feast of Tabernacles.

In connection with Is. xii. 5 [Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth] the Midrash on Ps. cxviii. 23 first speaks of the wonderment of the Egyptians when they saw the change in Israel from servitude to glory of their Exodus, and then adds, that the words were intended by his Holy Ghost to apply to the wonders of the latter days (ed. Warsh. p. 85 b).

On Is. xiv. 2 [The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors], see our comments on Gen. xviii. 4, 5.

Is. xiv. 29 [Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, Because the rod that struck you is broken;

For from the serpent's root a viper will come out, And its fruit will be a flying serpent], xv. 2 [They have gone up to the temple and [to] Dibon, [even] to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone's head is bald [and] every beard is cut off], xvi. 1 [Send the [tribute] lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion], and xvi. 5 [A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice And be prompt in righteousness] are Messianically applied in the Targum.

Is. xviii. 5 [For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives And remove [and] cut away the spreading branches] is similarly applied in the Talmud (Sanh. 98 a); and Is. xxiii. 15 [Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as [in] the song of the harlot] in Sanh. 99 a.

Is. xxi. 11, 12 [The oracle concerning Edom. One keeps calling to me from Seir, "Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night?" The watchman says, "Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again."] is in Jer. Taan. 64 a, and in Shem. R. 18, applied to the manifestation of Messiah.

Is. xxiii. 8 [Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?] the Midr. on Eccl. i. 7 sees a curious reference to the return of this world's wealth to Israel in Messianic days.

Is. xxiii. 15 [Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as [in] the song of the harlot] is Messianically applied in the Talmud (Sanh 99 a) where the expression 'a king' is explained as referring to the Messiah.

Is. xxiv. 23 [Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And [His] glory will be before His elders] is Messianically applied in the curious passage in Bemidbar R. quoted under Gen. xxii. 18; also in Bemidbar R. 13 (ed. Warsh. p. 51 a).

The remarkable promise in Is. xxv. 8 [He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken] is applied to the times of the Messiah in the Talmud (Moed Q. 28 b), and in that most ancient commentary Siphra (Yalkut i. p. 190 d applies the passage to the world to come). But the most remarkable interpretation is that which occurs in connection with Is. lx. 1 [Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you] (Yalkut ii. 56 c, line 16 from the bottom), where the passage (Is. xxv. 8) is after an expostulation on the part of Satan with regard to the Messiah, applied to the casting into Gehenna of Satan and of the Gentiles. See also our remarks on Ex. xii. 2. In Debar. R. 2, Isaiah xxv. 8 is applied to the destruction of the Yetser ha-Ra and the abolishing of death in Messianic days; in Shem. R. 30 to the time of the Messiah.

Verse 9 [And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."]. Tanchuma on Deuteronomy opens with a record of how God would work all the miracles, which He had shown in the wilderness, in a fuller manner for Zion in the latter days, the last passage quoted in that section being Is. xxv. 9. (Tanchuma on Deut. ed. Warsh. p. 99 a, line 5 from the bottom).

Of Is. xxvi. 19 [Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew [is as] the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits] there is Messianic application in the Midrash on Ecclesiastes i. 7.

Of Is. xxvii. 10 [For the fortified city is isolated, A homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert; There the calf will graze, And there it will lie down and feed on its branches] Shem. R. 1, and Tanchuma on Exod. ii. 5 (ed. Warsh. p. 64 b) remark that, like Moses, the Messiah, Who would deliver His own from the worshippers of false gods, should be brought up with the latter in the land.

Verse 13 [It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem] is quoted in the Talmud (Rosh. haSh. 11 b) in connection with the future deliverance. So also in Yalkut, i. p. 217 d, and Pirqé de R. El. c. 31.

Is. xxviii. 5 [In that day the Lord of hosts will become a beautiful crown And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people] is thus paraphrased in the Targum: 'At that time shall the Messiah of the Lord of hosts be a crown of joy.'

Is. xxviii. 16 [Therefore thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone [for] the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes [in it] will not be disturbed] the Targum apparently applies to the Messiah. At least, so Rashi (on the passage) understands it.

Is. xxx. 18 [Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him] is Messianically applied in Sanh 97 b; verse 15 Jer. Taan. i. 1.

The expression in Is. xxx. 19 [O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you], 'he shall be very gracious unto thee,' is applied to the merits of the Messiah in Yalkut on Zeph. iii. 8 (p. 84 c).

On verse 25 [On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall] see our remarks on Gen. xviii. 4.

Verse 26 [The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times [brighter], like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted] is applied to Messianic times in the Talmud (Pes. 68 a, and Sanh. 91 b), and similarly in Pirqé de R. El. 51, and Shemoth R. 50. So also in Ber. R. 12. see our remarks on Gen. ii. 4.

Is. xxxii. 14, 15 [Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.

Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;

Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,

And the fertile field is considered as a forest]. On this passage the Midrash of Lam. iii. 49 significantly remarks that it is one of the three passages in which mention of the Holy Ghost follows upon mention of redemption, the other two passages being Is. lx . 22 [The smallest one will become a clan, And the least one a mighty nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time], followed by lxi. 1 [The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives

And freedom to prisoners], and Lam. iii. 49 [? My eyes pour down unceasingly Without stopping].

Is. xxxii. 20 [How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters, Who let out freely the ox and the donkey]. The first clause is explained by Tanchuma (Par. 1. ed. Warsh. p. 4 a, first three lines) to apply to the study of the Law, and the second to the two Messiahs, the son of Joseph being likened to the ox, and the son of David to the ass, accordingly to Zech. ix. 9 [Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout [in triumph], O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey]; and similarly the verse is Messianically referred to in Deb. R. 6 (ed. Warsh. Vol. iii. p. 15 b), in a very curious play on the words in Deut. xxii. 6, 7 [If you happen to come upon a bird's nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, in order that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days], where the observance of that commandment is supposed to hasten the coming of King Messiah.

Is. xxxv. 1 [The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus]. This is one of the passages quoted in Tanchuma on Deut. i. 1. ed. Warsh. p. 99 a) as among the miracles which God would do to redeem Zion in the latter days. So also is verse 2 [It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, The majesty of our God] in this chapter.

Is. xxxv. 5, 6 [Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah] is repeatedly applied to Messianic times. Thus, in Yalkut i. 78 c, and 157 a; in Ber. R. 95; and in Midrash on Ps. cxlvi. 8.

Verse 10 [And the ransomed of the Lord will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion,

With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away] is equally applied to Messianic times in the Midrash on Ps. cvii. 1, while at the same time it is noted that this deliverance will be accomplished by God Himself, and not either by Elijah, nor by the King Messiah. [Signor Castelli remarks in his learned treatise (Il Messia, p. 164) that redemption is always ascribed to God, and not to the Messiah. But the distinction is of no importance, seeing that this is indeed the work of God, but carried out by the Messiah, while, on the other hand, Rabbinic writings frequently refer Israel's deliverance to the agency of the Messiah.] A similar reference occurs in Yalkut (vol. ii. p. 162 d), at the close of the Commentary on the Book of Chronicles, where it is remarked that in this world the deliverance of Israel was accomplished by man, and was followed by fresh captivities, but in the latter or Messianic days their deliverance would be accomplished by God, and would no more be followed by captivity. See also Shemoth R. 15 and 23.

Is. xl. 1 ["Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God] is one of the passages referred to in our note on Is. xi. 12, and also on Is. xxxv. 1. The same remark applies to verses 2 and 3.

Verse 5 [Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see [it] together;

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.] is also Messianically applied in Vayyikra R. 1; Yalk. ii. 77 b about the middle.

On verse 10 [Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him.

Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him] Yalkut, in discussing Ex. xxxii. 6 (vol. i. p. 108 c) broaches the opinion, that in the days of the Messiah Israel would have a double reward, on account of the calamities which they had suffered, quoting Is. xl. 10.

Is. xli. 18 [I will open rivers on the bare heights And springs in the midst of the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water And the dry land fountains of water] has been already noted in our remarks on Gen. xviii. 4, 5. Verse 25 [I have aroused one from the north, and he has come; From the rising of the sun he will call on My name; And he will come upon rulers as [upon] mortar, Even as the potter treads clay] is Messianically applied in Bem. R. 13, p. 48 b.

The expression 'The first,' in ch. xli. 27 [(NIV) I was the first to tell Zion, `Look, here they are!'

I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings], is generally applied to the Messiah; in the Targum, according to Rashi; in Bereshith R. 63; in Vayyikra R. 30; and in the Talmud (Pes. 5 a); so also in Pesiqta (ed. Buber) p. 185 b.

Is. xlii. 1 [Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one [in whom] My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations] is applied in the Targum to the Messiah, as also in the Midrash on Ps. ii.; and in Yalkut ii. p. 104 d. See also our comments on Ps. ii. 7.

On Is. xliii. 10 ["You are My witnesses," declares the Lord, "And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me."], the Targum renders 'My servant' by 'My servant the Messiah.'

The promise in Is. xlv. 22 [Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other] is also among the future things mentioned in the Midrash on Lamentations, to which we have referred in our remarks on Is. xi. 12.

Is. xlix. 8 [Thus says the Lord, "In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people,

To restore the land, to make [them] inherit the desolate heritages"]. There is a remarkable comment on this in Yalkut on the passage, to the effect that the Messiah suffers in every age for the sins of that generation, but that God would in the day of redemption repair it all (Yalk. ii. p. 52 b).

Is. xlix. 9 [Saying to those who are bound, `Go forth,' To those who are in darkness, `Show yourselves.' Along the roads they will feed, And their pasture [will be] on all bare heights] is quoted as the words of the Messiah in Yalkut (vol. ii. p. 52 b).

Verse 10 [They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;

For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water] is one of the passages referred to in the Midrash on Lamentations, quoted in connection with Is. xi. 12.

Verse 12 [Behold, these will come from afar; And lo, these [will come] from the north and from the west, And these from the land of Sinim] has already been noticed in our remarks on Ex. xii. 2.

From the expression 'comfort' in verse 13 [Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people

And will have compassion on His afflicted], the Messianic title 'Menachem' is derived. Comp. the Midrash on Prov. xix. 21.

Verse 14 [But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me."] is Messianically applied in Yalkut ii. p. 52 c.

Verse 21 [Then you will say in your heart, `Who has begotten these for me, Since I have been bereaved of my children And am barren, an exile and a wanderer? And who has reared these? Behold, I was left alone; From where did these come?'] is also one of the passages referred to in the Midrash of Lamentations, quoted under Ps. xi. 12.

On verse 23 [Kings will be your guardians, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And [you] will know that I am the Lord; Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame] it is remarked in Vayyikra R. 27 (ed. Warsh. p. 42 a), that Messianic blessings were generally prefigured by similar events, as for example, the passage here quoted in the case of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel.

A Messianic application of the same passage also occurs in Par. 33 and 36, as a contrast to the contempt that Israel experiences in this world. The second clause of verse 23 is applied to the Messiah in the Midrash on Ps. ii. 2, as to be fulfilled when the Gentiles shall see the terrible judgements.

Verse 26 [I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior

And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob] is similarly applied to the destruction of the Gentiles in Vayyikra R.33 (end).

Is. li. 12 [I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies

And of the son of man who is made like grass] is one of the passages referred to in the Midrash of Lamentations, quoted in our comments in Is. xi. 12.

Is. li. 12 [above] and 17 [Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk from the Lord's hand the cup of His anger; The chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs] are among the passages referred to in our remarks on Is. xxv.9

Is. lii. 3 [For thus says the Lord, "You were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed without money."] is Messianically applied in the Talmud (Sanh. 97 b), while the last clause of verse 2 [Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion] is one of the passages quoted in the Midrash on Lamentations (see Is. xi. 12).

The well-known Evangelic declaration in Is. lii. 7 [How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, [And] says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"] is thus commented upon in Yalkut (vol. ii. p. 53 c): In the hour when the Holy One, blessed be His Name, redeems Israel, three days before Messiah comes Elijah, and stands upon the mountains of Israel, and weeps and mourns for them, and says to them: Behold the land of Israel, how long shall you stand in a dry and desolate land? And his voice is heard from the world's end to the world's end, and after that it is said to them: Peace has come to the world, peace has come to the world, as it is said: How beautiful upon the mountains, &c. And when the wicked hear it, they rejoice, and they say one to the other: Peace has come to us. On the second day he shall stand upon the mountains of Israel, and shall say: Good has come to the world, good has come to the world, as it is written: That bringeth good tidings of good. On the third day he shall come and stand upon the mountains of Israel, and say: Salvation has come to the world, salvation has come to the world, as it is written: That publisheth salvation.

Similarly, this passage is quoted in Yalkut on Ps. cxxi. 1. See also our remarks on Cant. ii. 13.

Verse 8 [Listen! Your watchmen lift up [their] voices, They shout joyfully together; For they will see with their own eyes When the Lord restores Zion] is one of the passages referred to in the Midrash on Lamentations quoted above, and frequently in other places as Messianic.

Verse 12 [But you will not go out in haste, Nor will you go as fugitives; For the Lord will go before you, And the God of Israel [will be] your rear guard] is Messianically applied in Shemoth R. 15 and 19.

Verse 13 [Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted] is applied in the Targum expressly to the Messiah. On the words 'He shall be exalted and extolled' we read in Yalkut ii. (Par. 338, p. 53 c, lines 7 &c. from the bottom): He shall be higher than Abraham, to whom applies Gen. xiv. 22 [Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth"]; higher than Moses, of whom Num. xi. 12 [Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, `Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers'?] is predicated; higher than the ministering angels, of whom Ezek. i. 18 [As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about] is said. But to Him there applies this in Zech. iv. 7: 'Who art thou, O great mountain?' 'And He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.' R. Huma says, in the name of R. Acha: All sufferings are divided into three parts; one part goes to David and the Patriarchs, another to the generation of the rebellion (rebellious Israel), and the third to the King Messiah, as it is written (Ps. ii. 7), 'Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.' Then follows a curious quotation from the Midrash on Samuel, in which the Messiah indicates that His dwelling is on Mount Zion, and that guilt is connected with the destruction of its walls.

In regard to Is. liii. we remember, that the Messianic name of 'Leprous' (Sanh. 98 b) is expressly based upon it. Is. liii. 10 [But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting [Him] to grief;

If He would render Himself [as] a guilt offering, He will see [His] offspring, He will prolong [His] days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand] is applied in the Targum on the passage to the Kingdom of the Messiah.

Verse 5 [But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being [fell] upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed] is Messianically interpreted in the Midrash on Samuel (ed. Lemberg, p. 45 a, last line), where it is said that all sufferings are divided into three parts, one of which the Messiah bore - a remark which is brought into connection with Ruth ii. 14. [At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar." So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left] (See our comments on that passage.)

Is. liv. 2 [Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;

Lengthen your cords And strengthen your pegs] is expected to be fulfilled in Messianic times (Vayyikra R. 10).

Is. liv. 5 [For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the Lord of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth]. In Shemoth R. 15 this is expressly applied to Messianic days.

Is. liv. 11 [O afflicted one, storm-tossed, [and] not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, And your foundations I will lay in sapphires] is repeatedly applied to the Messianic glory, as, for example, in Shemoth R. 15. (See our comments on Ex. xii. 2.)

So is verse 13 [All your sons will be taught of the Lord; And the well-being of your sons will be great], as in Yalkut (vol. i. 78 c); in the Midrash on Ps. xxi. 1; and in other passages.

Is. lv. 12 [For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap [their] hands] is referred to Messianic times, as in the Midrash on Ps. xiii.

Is. lvi. 1 [Thus says the Lord, "Preserve justice and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come And My righteousness to be revealed"]. See our comments on Exod. xxi. 1.

Verse 7 [Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples] is one of the passages in the Midrash on Lamentations which we have quoted under Is. xi. 12.

On Is. lvii. 14 [And it will be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove [every] obstacle out of the way of My people."] Bemidhar R. 15 (ed. Warsh. p. 64 a) expresses a curious idea about the stumbling-block, as mystically the evil inclination, and adds that the promise applies to God's removal of it in the world to come, or else it may be in Messianic days.

Verse 16 [For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath [of those whom] I have made] receives in the Talmud (Yeb. 62 a and 63 b) and in the Midr. on Exxl. i. 6 the following curious comment: 'The Son of David shall not come till all the souls are completed which are in the Guph' - (i.e. the pre-existence of souls is taught, and that they are kept in heaven till one after another appears in human form, and that the Messiah is kept back till all these shall have appeared), proof of this being derived from Is. lvii. 16.

Similarly chap. lix. 15 [Yes, truth is lacking; And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the Lord saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice] is applied to Messianic times in Sanh. 97 a, and Midr. on Cant. ii. 13; and Is. lvii. 19 [Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near," Says the Lord, "and I will heal him."] in Sanh. 98 a.

Verse lvii. 17 [He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle] is applied to Messianic times in Pesiqta, ed. Buber, p. 149 a.

Verse 20 ["A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," declares the Lord] is one of the passages mentioned in the Midrash on Lamentations quoted above. (See Is. xi. 12.)

Is. lix. 19, 20 [So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream Which the wind of the Lord drives. "A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," declares the Lord], is applied to Messianic times in Sanh. 98 a. In Pesiqta 166 b it is similarly applied, the peculiar form (plene) in which the word Goel (Redeemer) is written being taken to indicate the Messiah as the Redeemer in the full sense.

Is. lx. 1 [Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you]. This is applied in the Targum to Messianic times. Similarly, it is explained in Ber. R. 1. with reference to Dan. ii. 2 [Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king]; in Ber. R. 2; and also in Bemidbar R. 15 and 21. In Yalkut we have some very interesting remarks on the subject. Thus (vol. i. Par. 363, p. 99 c), commenting on Exod xxv. 3 &c., in a very curious description of how God would in the world to come return to Israel the various things which they had offered for the Tabernacle, the oil is brought into connection with the Messiah, with reference to Ps. cxxxii. 17 [There I will cause the horn of David to spring forth; I have prepared a lamp for Mine anointed] and Is. lx. 1 [above]. Again, on p. 215 c (at the commencement of the Parashah Behaalothekha) we have, first, a very curious comparison between the work of the Tabernacle and that of the six days of Creation, after which the question is put: Why Moses made seven lights, and Solomon seventy? To this the reply is given, that Moses rooted up seven nations before Israel, while Solomon reigned over all the seventy nations which, according to Jewish ideas, constitute the world. Upon this it is added, that God had promised, that as Israel had lighted for His glory the lights in the Sanctuary, so would He in the latter days fill Jerusalem with His glory, according to the promise in Is. lx. 1 [above], and also set up in the midst of it lights, according to Zeph. i. 12 [It will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will punish the men Who are stagnant in spirit, Who say in their hearts, `The Lord will not do good or evil!'].

Still more clearly is the Messianic interpretation of Is. lx. brought out in the comments in Yalkut on that chapter. One part of it is so curious that it may here find a place. After explaining that this light for which Israel is looking is the light of the Messiah, and that Gen. i. 4 [God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness] really referred to it, it is added that this is intended to teach us that God looked forward to the age of the Messiah and His works before the Creation of the world, and that He hid that light for the Messiah and His generation under His throne of glory. On Satan's questioning Him for whom that light was destined, the answer is: For Him Who in the latter days will conquer thee, and cover thy face with shame. On which Satan requests to see Him, and when he is shown Him, falls on his face and says: I confess that this is the Messiah Who will in the latter days be able to cast me, and all the Gentiles, into Gehenna, according to Is. xxv. 8 [He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken]. In that hour all the nations will tremble, and say before God: Who is this into Whose hand we fall, what is His Name, and what is His purpose? On which God replies: This is Ephraim, the Messiah [the second Messiah, the son of Joseph]; 'My Righteousness is His Name.' And so the commentation goes on to touch on Ps. lxxxix. 23, 24, and 26 [But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him. My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted… He will cry to Me, `You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'], in a manner most deeply interesting, but which it would be impossible here fully to give (Yalkut, vol. ii. Par. 359, p. 56 c). In col. d there are farther remarkable discussions about the Messiah, in connection with the wars in the days when Messiah should be revealed, and about Israel's final safety. But the most remarkable passage of all, reminding us almost of the history of the Temptation, is that which reads as follows (line 22 &c. from the top): It is a tradition from our Rabbis that, in the hour when King Messiah comes, He stands on the roof of the Temple, and proclaims to them, that the hour of their deliverance has come, and that if they believed they would rejoice in the light that had risen upon them, as it is written (Is. lx. 1), 'Arise, shine, for thy light is come.' This light would be for them alone, as it is written (ver. 2), 'For darkness shall cover the earth.' In that hour also would God take the light of the Messiah and of Israel, and all should walk in the light of Messiah and of Israel, as it is written (ver. 3), 'The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.' And the kings of the nations should lick the dust from under the feet of the Messiah, and should all fall on their faces before Him and before Israel, and say: Let us be servants to Thee and to Israel. And so the passage goes on to describe the glory of the latter days. Indeed, the whole of this chapter may be said to be full of Messianic interpretations.

After this it will scarcely be necessary to say that verses 2, 3, and 4 [For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about and see; They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried in the arms] are similarly applied in the Midrashim. But it is interesting to notice that verse 2 is specifically applied to Messianic times in the Talmud (Sanh. 99 a), in answer to the question when the Messiah should come.

On verse 4 [Lift up your eyes round about and see; They all gather together, they come to you.

Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried in the arms] the Midrash on Cant. i. 4, on the words 'we will be glad and rejoice in thee,' has the following beautiful illustration. A Queen is introduced whose husband and sons and sons-in-law go to a distant country. Tidings are brought to her: Thy sons are come back. On which she says: Cause for gladness have I, my daughters-in-law will rejoice. Next, tidings are brought her that her sons-in-law are coming, and she is glad that her daughters will rejoice. Lastly, tidings are brought: The king, thy husband, comes. On which she replies: This is indeed perfect joy, joy upon joy. So in the latter days would the prophets come, and say to Jerusalem: 'Thy sons shall come from far' (verse 4), and she will say: What gladness is this to me! - 'and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side,' and again she will say: What gladness is this to me! But when they shall say to her (Zech. ix. 9): 'Behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation,' then shall Zion say: This indeed is perfect joy, as it is written (Zech. ix. 9), 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion,' and again (Zech. ii. 10), 'Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion.' In that hour she will say (Is. lxi. 10): 'I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God.'

Verse 7 [All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you, The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you; They will go up with acceptance on My altar, And I shall glorify My glorious house] is Messianically applied in the Talmud (Abod. Sar. 24 a).

Verse 8 [Who are these who fly like a cloud And like the doves to their lattices?] is Messianically applied in the Midrash on Ps. xlvii. 13.

In connection with verse 19 [No longer will you have the sun for light by day, Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the Lord for an everlasting light,

And your God for your glory] we read in Yalkut (vol. i. p. 103 b) that God said to Israel: In this world you are engaged (or busied) with the light for the Sanctuary, but in the world to come, for the merit of this light, I send you the King Messiah, Who is likened to a light, according to Ps. cxxxii. 17 [There I will cause the horn of David to spring forth; I have prepared a lamp for Mine anointed] and Is. lx. 19, 'the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light.'

Verse 21 [Then all your people [will be] righteous; They will possess the land forever,

The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified] is thus alluded to in the Talmud (Sanh. 98 a): 'Rabbi Jochanan said, The Son of David shall not come, until all be either just or all be unjust:' the former according to Is. lx. 21, the latter according to Is. lix. 16 [And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him].

Verse 22 [The smallest one will become a clan, And the least one a mighty nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time] is also Messianically applied in the Talmudic passage above cited.

Is. lxi. 1 [The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners] has already been mentioned in our remarks on Is. xxxii. 14, 15.

On verse 5 [Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers] there is a curious story related (Yalkut, vol. i. Par. 212, p. 64 a, lines 23-17 from the bottom) in which, in answer to a question, what was to become of the nations in the days of the Messiah, the reply is given that every nation and kingdom that had persecuted and mocked Israel would see, and be confounded, and have no share in life; but that every nation and kingdom which had not so dealt with Israel would come and be husbandmen and vinedressers to Israel in the days of the Messiah. A similar statement to this is found in the Midrash on Eccl. ii. 7.

Verse 9 [Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring [whom] the Lord has blessed] is also applied to Messianic times.

Verse 10 [I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels] is one of the passages referred to in Tanchuma on Deut. i. 1 quoted under Is. xxv. 9. In Pesiqta, ed. Buber, p. 149 a, the verse is explained as applying to the glory of Messiah's appearance.

Is. lxii. 10 [Go through, go through the gates, Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples] has already been referred to in our remarks on Is. lvii. 14.

Is. lxiii. [Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah,

This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." …] is applied to the Messiah, Who comes to the land after having seen the destruction of the Gentiles, in Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 30.

Verse 2 [Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?] has been referred to in our comments on Cant. v. 10. It is also quoted in reference to Messianic days in Pesiqta, ed. Buber, p. 149 a.

Verse 4 [For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come] is explained as pointing to the days of the Messiah, which are supposed to be 365 years, according to the number of the solar days (Sanh. 99 a); while in other passages of the Midrashim, the destruction of Rome and the coming of the Messiah are conjoined with the day of vengeance. See also the Midr. on Eccl. xii. 10.

Is. lxiv. 4 [For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him] (3 in the Hebrew). In Yalkut on Is. lx. (vol. ii. p. 56 d, line 6, &c., from the bottom) Messianic application is made of this passage in a legendary account of the seven tabernacles which God would make for the Messiah, out of each of which proceed four streams of wine, milk, honey, and pure balsam. Then God is represented as speaking of the sufferings which Messiah was to undergo, after which the verse in question is quoted.

Is. lxv. 17 [For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind] is quoted in the Midrash on Lamentations, referred to in our remarks on Is. xi. 12.

Verse 19 [I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying] is one of the passages referred to in Tanchuma on Deut. i. 1. See Isaiah xxv. 9.

To verse 25 [The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the Lord] we have the following curious illustrative reference in Ber. R. 20 (ed. Warsh. p. 38 b, line 6 from the bottom) in connection with the Fall: In the latter days everything shall be healed again (restored again) except the serpent (Is. lxv. 25) and the Gibeonites (Ezek. xlviii. 19).

But a still more strange application of the verse occurs in the same Midrash (Par. 95, ed. Warsh. p. 170 a), where the opening clauses of it are quoted with this remark: Come and see all that the Holy One, blessed be His Name, has smitten in this world, He will heal in the latter days. Upon which a curious disquisition follows, to prove that every man would appear after death exactly as he had been in life, whether blind, dumb, or halting, nay, even in the same dress, as in the case of Samuel when Saul saw him - but that afterwards God would heal the diseased.

Is. lxvi. 7 [Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy] is applied to Messianic times in Vayyikra R. 14 (last line), and so are some of the following verses in the Midrashim, notably on Gen. xxxiii. 1.

Is. lxvi. 22 ["For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me," declares the Lord, "So your offspring and your name will endure"] is applied to Messianic times in Ber. R. 12. See our remarks on Gen. ii. 4.

Jeremiah

Jer. iii. 17 [At that time they will call Jerusalem `The Throne of the Lord,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart] is applied to Messianic days in Yalkut on Joshua iii. 9 &c. (vol. ii. p. 3 c, line 17 from the top), and so is verse 18 in the commentation on the words in Cant. i. 16 'our bed is green,' the expression being understood of the ten tribes, who had been led captive beyond the river Sabbayon; but when Judah's deliverance came, Judah and Benjamin would go to them and bring them back, that they might be worthy of the days of the Messiah (vol. ii. p., 176 d, line 9 &c. from the bottom).

Jer. v. 19 [It shall come about when they say, `Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' then you shall say to them, `As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'] is mentioned in the Introd. to Echa R. as one of three passages by which to infer from the apostasy of Israel the near advent of Messiah.

The expression 'speckled bird' in Jer. xii. 9 [Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me? Are the birds of prey against her on every side? Go, gather all the beasts of the field,

Bring them to devour!] is applied to the Messiah in Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 28.

The last word in Jer. xvi. 13 [So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor] is made the basis of the name Chaninah, given to the Messiah in the Talmud (Sanh. 98 b), and in the Midr. on Lam. i. 16.

On verse 14 ["Therefore behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when it will no longer be said, `As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'"] Mechilta has it, that in the latter days the Exodus would no more be mentioned on account of the greater wonders then experienced.

On Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 ["Behold, [the] days are coming," declares the Lord, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely;

And this is His name by which He will be called, `The Lord our righteousness.'"], the Targum has it: 'And I will raise up for David the Messiah the Just.' This is one of the passages from which according to Rabbinic views, one of the Names of the Messiah is derived, viz: Jehovah our Righteousness. So in the Talmud (Babba Bathra 75 b), in the Midrash on Ps. xxi. 1, Prov. xix. 21, and in that on Lamentations i. 16.

On verse 7 ["Therefore behold, [the] days are coming," declares the Lord, "when they will no longer say, `As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,'"] see our remarks on Jer. xvi 14. In the Talmud (Ber. 12 b) this verse is distinctly applied to Messianic days.

Jer. xxx. 9 [But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them] is Messianically applied in the Targum on the passage.

Jer. xxx. 21 [`Their leader shall be one of them, And their ruler shall come forth from their midst; And I will bring him near and he shall approach Me; For who would dare to risk his life to approach Me?' declares the Lord] is applied to the Messiah in the Targum, and also in the Midrash on Ps. xxi. 7.

On Jer. xxxi. 8 [Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they will return here], 3rd clause, Yalkut has a Messianic interpretation, although extremely far-fetched. In general, the following verses are Messianically interpreted in the Midrashim.

Verse 20 ["Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child? Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him, I certainly [still] remember him; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him," declares the Lord] is Messianically applied in Yalkut (ii. p. 66 c, end), where it is supposed to refer to the Messiah when imprisoned, when all the nations mock and shake their heads at Him. A more remarkable interpretation still occurs in the passage on Is. lx. 1 [Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you], to which we have already referred.

Some farther extracts from it may be interesting. Thus, when the enemies of the Messiah flee before Him, God is supposed to make an agreement with the Messiah to this effect: The sins of those who are hidden with Thee will cause Thee to be put under an iron yoke, and they will do with Thee as with this calf, whose eyes are covered, and they will choke Thy spirit under the yoke, and on account of their sins Thy tongue shall cleave to Thy mouth. On which the Messiah inquires whether these troubles are to last for many years, and the Holy replies that He has decreed a week, but that if His soul were in sorrow, He would immediately dispel these sorrows. On this the Messiah says: Lord of the world, with gladness and joy of heart I take it upon Me, on condition that not one of Israel should perish, and that not only those alone should be saved who are in My days, but also those who are hid in the dust; and that not only the dead should be saved who are in My days, but also those who have died from the days of the first Adam till now; and not those, but also those who have been prematurely born. And only these, but also those who have come into Thy knowledge to create them, but have not yet been created. Thus I agree, and thus I take all upon Me. In the hebdomad when the Son of David comes, they shall bring beams of iron, and shall make them a yoke to His neck, until His stature is bent down. But He cries and weeps, and lifts up His voice on high, and says before Him: Lord of the world, what is My strength, My spirit, and My soul, and My members? Am I not flesh and blood? In that honor David (the Son of David) weeps, and says: 'My strength is dried up like a potsherd.' In that hour the Holy One, blessed be His Name, says: Ephraim the Messiah, My righteous one, Thou hast already taken this upon Thee before the six days of the world, now Thy anguish shall be like My anguish; for from the time that Nebuchadnezzar, the wicked one, has come up and destroyed My house, and burned My Sanctuary, and I have sent into captivity My children among the children of the Gentiles, by My life, and by the life of Thy head, I have not sat down on My throne. And if Thou wilt not believe Me, see the dew which is on My head, as it is said (Cant. v. 2) 'My head is filled with dew.' In that hour the Messiah answers Him: Lord of the world, now I am quieted, for it is enough for the servant that he is as his Master (his reminding us of our Lord's saying, St. Matt. x. 25 [It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more [will they malign] the members of his household!]).

R. Isaac then remarks that in the year when the King Messiah shall be revealed, all nations shall rise up against each other (we have already quoted this passage in another place, as also that about the Messiah standing upon the roof of the Temple). Then follows this as a tradition of the Rabbis: In the latter days the Fathers shall stand up in the month of Nisan, and say to Him: Ephraim, the Messiah, our Righteousness, though we are Thy Fathers, yet Thou art better than we, because Thou hast borne all the sins of our sons, and hard and evil measure has passed upon Thee, such as has not been passed either upon those before or upon those after. And Thou hast been for laughter and derision to the nations for the sake of Israel, and Thou hast dwelt in darkness and in mist, and Thine eyes have not seen light, and Thy light clung to Thee alone, and Thy body was dried up like wood, and Thine eyes were darkened through fasting, and Thy strength was dried up like a potsherd. And all this on account of the sins of our children. Is it Thy pleasure that our sons should enjoy the good thing which God had displayed to Israel? Or perhaps on account of the anguish which Thou hast suffered for them, because they have bound Thee in the prison-house, wilt Thou not give unto them thereof? He says to them: Fathers of the world, whatever I have done I have done for your sakes, and for the sake of your children, that they may enjoy that goodness which the Holy One, blessed be He, has displayed to Israel. Then say to Him the Fathers of the world: Ephraim, Messiah, our Righteousness, be Thou reconciled to us, because Thou hast reconciled They Maker and us. R. Simeon, the son of Pasi, In that hour the Holy One, blessed be His Name, exalts the Messiah to the heaven of heavens, and spreads over Him the splendour of His glory, because of the nations of the world, and because of the wicked Persians. Then the Fathers of the world say to Him: Ephraim, Messiah, our Righteousness, be Thou their judge, and do to them what Thy soul desireth. For unless mercies had been multiplied on Thee, they would long ago have exterminated Thee suddenly from the world, as it is written (Jer. xxxi. 20) 'Is Ephraim my dear son?' And why is the expression: 'I will surely have mercy' [in the Hebrew reduplicated: 'having mercy I will have mercy'], but that the first expression 'mercy' refers to the hour when He was bound in prison, when day by day they gnashed with their teeth, and winked with their eyes, and nodded with their heads, and wide-opened their mouths, as it is written in Ps. xxii. 7 [8 in Hebrew]; while the second expression 'I will have mercy' refers to the hour when He came out of the prison-house, when not only one kingdom, not two, came against Him, but 140 kingdoms came round about Him, and the Holy One, blessed be His Name, says to Him: Ephraim, Messiah, My righteous one, be not afraid, for all these shall perish by the breath of Thy mouth, as it is written (Is. xi. 4). Long as this quotation may be, its interest seems sufficient to warrant its insertion.

Jer. xxxi. 31, 33, and 34 ["Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, `Know the Lord,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."] are applied to Messianic times in Yalkut (vol. i. p. 196 c; 78 c; and in vol. ii. p. 54 b, and p. 66 d).

Jer. xxxiii. 13 [`In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who numbers them,' says the Lord]. The close of the verse is thus paraphrased in the Targum: 'The people shall yet learn by the hands of the Messiah,' while in Yalkut (vol. i. p.105 d) mention is made of a tenfold gathering of Israel, the last - in connection with this verse - in the latter days.

Lamentations

On Lam. i. 16 [For these things I weep; My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One who restores my soul. My children are desolate Because the enemy has prevailed] there is in the Midrash R. (ed. Warsh. p. 64 b) the curious story about the birth of the Messiah in the royal palace of Bethlehem, which also occurs in the Jer. Talmud.

Lam. ii. 22 [You called as in the day of an appointed feast My terrors on every side;

And there was no one who escaped or survived In the day of the Lord's anger. Those whom I bore and reared, My enemy annihilated them], first clause. The Targum here remarks: Thou wilt proclaim liberty to Thy people, the house of Israel, by the hand of the Messiah.

Lam. iv. 22 [[The punishment] of your iniquity has been completed, O daughter of Zion;

He will exile you no longer. [But] He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins!], first clause. The Targum here remarks: And after these things thy iniquity shall cease, and thou shalt be set free by the hands of the Messiah and by the hands of Elijah the Priest.

Ezekiel

Ezek xi. 19 [And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh] is applied to the great spiritual change that was to take place in Messianic days, when the evil desire would be taken out of the heart (Deb. R. 6, at the end; and also in other Midrashic passages).

Ezek. xvi. 55 [Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will [also] return to your former state] is referred to among the ten things which God would renew in Messianic days - the rebuilding of ruined cities, inclusive of Sodom and Gomorrah, being the fourth (Shem. R. 15, ed. Warsh. p. 24 b).

Ezek xvii. 22 and 23 [Thus says the Lord God, "I will also take [a sprig] from the lofty top of the cedar and set [it] out; I will pluck from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and I will plant [it] on a high and lofty mountain. On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a stately cedar. And birds of every kind will nest under it; they will nest in the shade of its branches"] is distinctly and very beautifully referred to the Messiah in the Targum.

Ezek. xxv. 14 ["I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath; thus they will know My vengeance," declares the Lord God] is applied to the destruction of all the nations by Israel in the days of the Messiah in Bemidbar R. on Num. ii. 32 (Par. 2, ed. Warsh. p. 5 b).

Ezek. xxix. 21 [On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am the Lord] is among the passages applied to the time when the Messiah should come, in Sanh. 98 a.

So is Ezek. xxxii. 14 ["Then I will make their waters settle And will cause their rivers to run like oil," Declares the Lord God].

Ezek xxxvi. 25 [Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols] is applied to Messianic times alike in the Targum and in Yalkut (vol. i. p. 235 a), as our in the Talmud (Kidd. 72 b).

On verse 27 [I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances] see our remarks on chap. xi. 19.

Ezek. xxxix. 2 [and I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel] is Messianically applied in Bemidbar R. 13, Warsh. p. 48 b.

Ezek. xlvii. 9 [It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and [the others] become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes] and 12 [By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all [kinds of] trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing] are quoted as the second and the third things which God would renew in the latter days (Shem. R. 15) - the second being, that living waters should go forth out of Jerusalem, and the third, that trees should bear fruit every month, and the sick be healed by them.

On Ezek. xlviii. 19 [The workers of the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it] the Talmud (Baba B. 122 a) has the following curious comment, that the land of Israel would be divided into thirteen tribes, the thirteenth belonging to the Prince, and this verse is quoted as proof.

Daniel

Dan. ii. 22 [It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him] is Messianically applied in Ber. R. 1, and in the Midr. on Lament. i. 16, where it gives rise to another name of the Messiah: the Lightgiver.

Verse 35 [Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth] is similarly applied in the Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 11, and verse 44 [In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and [that] kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever] in c. 30.

Dan. vii. 9 [I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took [His] seat;

His vesture [was] like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne [was] ablaze with flames, Its wheels [were] a burning fire]. This passage was interpreted by R. Akiba as implying that one throne was set for God, and the other for the Messiah (Chag. 14 a).

Dan. vii. 13 [I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him] is curiously explained in the Talmud (Sanh. 98 a), where it is said that, if Israel behaved worthily, the Messiah would come in the clouds of heaven; if otherwise, humble, and riding upon an ass.

Dan. vii. 27 [Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of [all] the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom [will be] an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him] is applied to Messianic times in Bem. R. 11.

Dan. viii. 13, 14 [Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, "How long will the vision [about] the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?" He said to me, "For 2,300 evenings [and] mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored."]. By a very curious combination these verses are brought into connection with Gen. iii. 22 ('man has become like one of us'), and it is argued, that in Messianic days man's primeval innocence and glory would be restored to him, and he become like one of the heavenly beings, Ber. R. 21 (ed. Warsh. p. 41 a).

Dan. ix. 24 [Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy [place].]. In Naz. 32 b it is noted as that referred to the time when the second Temple was to be destroyed. So also in Yalkut, vol. ii. p. 79 d, lines 16&c. from the bottom.

Dan. xii. 3 [Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever] is applied to Messianic times in a beautiful passage in Shem. R. 15 (at the end).

Dan. xii. 11, 12 [From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, [there will be] 1,290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!]. These two verses receive a peculiar Messianic interpretation, and that by the authority of the Rabbis. For it is argued that, as Moses, the first Redeemer, appeared, and was withdrawn for a time, and then reappeared, so would the second Redeemer; and the interval between His disappearance and reappearance is calculated at 45 days, arrived at by deducting the 1,290 days of the cessation of the sacrifice (Dan. xii. 11) from the 1,335 days of Dan. xii. 12 (Midr. on Ruth ii. 14, ed. Warsh. p. 43 b).

Hosea

Hos. ii. 2 [Contend with your mother, contend, For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; And let her put away her harlotry from her face And her adultery from between her breasts] is explained in the Midr. on Ps. xlv. 1 as implying that Israel's redemption would be when they were at the lowest.

Hos. ii. 13 [I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them

And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me," declares the Lord] is one of the three passages referred to on Jer. v. 19.

Hos. ii. 18 [In that day I will also make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field,

The birds of the sky And the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, And will make them lie down in safety] is quoted in Shem. R. 15 (on Ex. xii. 2) as the seventh of the ten things which God would make new in Messianic days.

Hos. iii. 5 [Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days] is applied to the Messiah in the Targum, and from it the Jer. Talm. (Ber. 5 a) derives the name David as one of those given to the Messiah.

Hos. vi. 2 [He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day,

That we may live before Him] is Messianically applied in the Targum.

Hos. xiii. 14 [Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death?

O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight] is applied to the deliverance by the Messiah of those of Israel who are in Gehinnom, whom He sets free; - the term Zion being understood of Paradise. See Yalk. on Is. Par. 269, comp. Maas. de R. Joshua in Jellinek's Beth ha-Midr. ii. p. 50.

Hos. xiv. 7 [Those who live in his shadow Will again raise grain, And they will blossom like the vine. His renown [will be] like the wine of Lebanon] is Messianically applied in the Targum.

Joel

Joel ii. 28 [It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions] is explained in the Midrashim as referring to the latter days, when all Israel will be prophets (Bemidbar R. 15; Yalkut i. p. 220 c, and other places).

Joel iii. 18 [And in that day The mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a spring will go out from the house of the Lord To water the valley of Shittim] is similarly applied in the Midrashim, as in that on Ps. xiii. and in others. The last clause of this verse is explained in the Midr. on Eccl. i. 9 to imply that the Messiah would cause a fountain miraculously to spring up, as Moses did in the wilderness.

Amos

Amos iv. 7 [Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you While [there were] still three months until harvest. Then I would send rain on one city And on another city I would not send rain;

One part would be rained on, While the part not rained on would dry up] is in Midr. on Cant. ii. 13 applied to the first of the seven years before Messiah come.

Amos v. 18 [Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose [will] the day of the Lord [be] to you? It [will be] darkness and not light] is one of the passages adduced in the Talmud (Sanh. 98 b) to explain why certain Rabbis did not wish to see the day of the Messiah.

Amos viii. 11 ["Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord God, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the Lord] is applied to Messianic times in Ber. R. 25.

Amos ix. 11 [In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, And wall up its breaches;

I will also raise up its ruins And rebuild it as in the days of old] is a notable Messianic passage. Thus, in the Talmud (Sanh. 96 b) where the Messiah is called the 'Son of the Fallen,' the name is explained by a reference to this passage. Again, in Ber. R. 88, last three lines (ed. Warsh. p. 157 a) after enumerating the unexpected deliverances which Israel had formerly experienced, it is added: Who could have expected that the fallen tabernacle of David should be raised up by God, as it is written (Amos ix. 11) and who should have expected that the whole world should become one bundle (be gathered into one Church)? Yet it is written Zeph. iii. 9 [For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, That all of them may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder]. Comp. also the long discussion in Yalkut on this passage (vol. ii. p. 80 a and b).

Obadiah

Obadiah verses 18 ["Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame;

But the house of Esau [will be] as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau," For the Lord has spoken] and 21 [The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion To judge the mountain of Esau, And the kingdom will be the Lord's] are applied to the Kingdom and time of the Messiah in Deb. R. 1.

Micah

Micah ii. 13 [The breaker goes up before them; They break out, pass through the gate and go out by it. So their king goes on before them, And the Lord at their head]. See our remarks on Gen. xviii. 4, 5. The passage is also Messianically quoted in the Midrash on Prov. vi. (ed. Lemberg, p. 5 a, first two lines).

The promise in Micah iv. 3 [And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they train for war] is applied to the times of the Messiah in the Talmud (Shabb. 63 a).

So is the prediction in verse 5 [Though all the peoples walk Each in the name of his god,

As for us, we will walk In the name of the Lord our God forever and ever] in Shemoth R. 15; while verse 8 [As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, To you it will come-- Even the former dominion will come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem] is thus commented upon in the Targum: 'And thou Messiah of Israel, Who shalt be hidden on account of the sins of Zion, to thee shall the Kingdom come.'

The well-known passage, Micah v. 2 [But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, [Too] little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity], is admittedly Messianic. So in the Targum, in the Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 3, and by later Rabbis.

Verse 3 [Therefore He will give them [up] until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel] is applied in the Talmud to the fact that the Messiah was not to come till the hostile kingdom had spread for nine months over the whole world (Yoma 10 a), or else, over the whole land of Israel (Sanh. 98 b).

Similarly Micah vii. 6 [For son treats father contemptuously, Daughter rises up against her mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man's enemies are the men of his own household] is applied to Messianic times in Sanh. 97 a, and in Sotah 49 b; also in the Midr. on Cant. ii. 13. And so is verse 15 [As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles] in Yalkut (vol. ii. p. 112 b.)

In Micah vii. 8 [Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me], the expression, Jehovah shall be light to me, is referred to the days of the Messiah in Deb. R. 11, ed. Warsh. vol. v. p. 22 a.

Nahum, Habakkuk

Nahum ii. 1 [The one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road;

Strengthen your back, summon all [your] strength]. See our remarks on Is. lii. 7.

Habakkuk ii. 3 [For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay]. This is applied to Messianic times in a remarkable passage in Sanh. 97 b, which will be quoted in full at the close of this Appendix; also in Yalkut, vol. ii. p. 83 b.

Habakkuk iii. 18 [Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation] is applied to Messianic times in the Targum.

Zephaniah, Haggai

Zephaniah iii. 8 ["Therefore wait for Me," declares the Lord, "For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them My indignation, All My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured By the fire of My zeal."]. The words rendered in our A.V. 'the day that I rise up to the prey' are translated 'for testimony' and applied to God's bearing testimony for the Messiah (Yalkut, vol. ii. p. 84 c, line 6 from the top).

Verse 9 [For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, That all of them may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder] is applied to the voluntary conversion of the Gentiles in the days of the Messiah in the Talmud (Abhod. Zarah, 24 a); and in Ber. R. 88; and verse 11 in Sanh. 98 a.

Haggai ii. 6 [For thus says the Lord of hosts, `Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land'] is expressly applied to the coming redemption in Deb. R. 1 (ed. Warsh. p. 4 b, line 15 from the top).

Zechariah

Zech. i. 20 [Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen]. The four carpenters there spoken of are variously interpreted in the Talmud (Sukk. 52 b), and in the Midrash (Bemidbar R. 14). But both agree that one of them refers to the Messiah.

Zech. ii. 10 ["Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares the Lord] is one of the Messianic passages to which we have referred in our remarks on Is. lx. 4. It has also a Messianic cast in the Targum.

Zech. iii. 8 [Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you--indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch]. The designation 'Branch' is expressly applied to King Messiah in the Targum. Indeed, this is one of the Messiah's peculiar names.

Verse 10 [`In that day,' declares the Lord of hosts, `every one of you will invite his neighbor to [sit] under [his] vine and under [his] fig tree.'] is quoted in the Midrash on Ps. lxxii. (ed. Warsh. p. 56 a, at the top) in a description of the future time of universal peace.

Zech. iv. 7 [What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel [you will become] a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"] is generally applied to the Messiah, expressly in the Targum, and also in several of the Midrashim. Thus, as regards both clauses of it, in Tanchuma (Par. Toledoth 14, ed. Warsh. p. 37 b and 38 a).

Verse 10 [For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel--[these are] the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth] is Messianically explained in Tanchuma (u. s.).

Zech. vi. 12 [Then say to him, `Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord.'"] is universally admitted to be Messianic. So in the Targum, the Jerusalem Talmud (Ber. 5 a), in the Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 48, and in the Midrashim.

Zech. vii. 13 ["And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen," says the Lord of hosts] is one of the three passages supposed to mark the near advent of Messiah. See our remarks on Jer. v. 19.

Zech. viii. 12 [For [there will be] peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these [things]] is applied to Messianic times in Ber. R. 12. See our remarks on Gen. ii. 4.

Zech. viii. 23 [Thus says the Lord of hosts, `In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." '] is one of the predictions expected to be fulfilled in Messianic days, it being however noted that it refers to instruction in the Law in that remarkable passage on Is. lx. 1 in Yalkut ii. p. 56 d, to which we have already referred.

In Zech. ix. 1 [The burden of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place (for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the Lord)] the name 'Chadrakh' is mystically separated into 'Chad,' sharp, and 'rakh,' gentle, the Messiah being the one to the Gentiles and the other to the Jews (Siphré on Deut. p. 65 a, Yalkut i. p. 258 b).

Verse 9 [Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout [in triumph], O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey]. The Messianic application of this verse in all its parts has already repeatedly been indicated. We may here add that there are many traditions about this ass on which the Messiah is to ride; and so firm was the belief in it, that, according to the Talmud, 'if anyone saw an ass in his dreams, he will see salvation' (Ber. 56 b). The verse is also Messianically quoted in Sanh. 98 a, in Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 31, and in several of the Midrashim.

On verse 10 [I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth] see our remarks on Deut. xx. 10.

Zech. x. 4 [From them will come the cornerstone, From them the tent peg, From them the bow of battle, From them every ruler, [all] of them together] is Messianically applied in the Targum.

Zech. xi. 12 [I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give [me] my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty [shekels] of silver as my wages] is Messianically explained in Ber. R. 98, but with this remark, that the 30 pieces of silver apply to 30 percepts, which the Messiah is to give to Israel.

Zech. xii. 10 [I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn] is applied to the Messiah the Son of Joseph in the Talmud (Sukk. 52 a), and so is verse 12 [The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves], there being, however, a difference of opinion whether the mourning is caused by the death of the Messiah the Son of Joseph, or else on account of the evil concupiscence (Yetser haRa).

Zech. xiv. 2 [For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city] will be readily understood to have been applied to the wars of Messianic times, and this in many passages of the Midrashim, as, indeed, are verses 3, 4, 5, and 6 [Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.

In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, [and] all the holy ones with Him! In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle].

Verse 7 [For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light]. The following interesting remark occurs in Yalkut on Ps. cxxxix. 16, 17 [Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained [for me], When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!] (vol. ii. p. 129 d) on the words 'none of them.' This world is to last 6,000 years; 2,000 years it was waste and desolate, 2,000 years mark the period under the Law, 2,000 years that under the Messiah. And because our sins are increased, they are prolonged. As they are prolonged, and as we make one year in seven a Sabbatic year, so will God in the latter days make one day a Sabbatic year, which day is 1,000 years - to which applies the verse in Zechariah just quoted. See also Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 28.

Verse 8 [And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter] is Messianically applied in Ber. R. 48. See our remarks on Gen. xviii 4, 5.

Verse 9 [And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be [the only] one, and His name [the only] one] is, of course, applied to Messianic times, as in Yalkut i. p. 76 c, 266 a, and vol. ii. p. 33 c, Midr. on Cant. ii. 13, and in other passages.

Malachi

Malachi iii. 1 ["Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the Lord of hosts] is applied to Elijah as forerunner of the Messiah in Pirqé de R.Eliez. c. 29.

Verse 4 [Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years]. In Bemidbar R. 17, a little before the close (ed. Warsh. p. 69 a), this verse seems to be applied to acceptable sacrifices in Messianic days.

On verse 16 [Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name] Vayyikra R. 34 (ed. Warsh. p. 51 b, line 4 from the bottom) has the following curious remark: If any one in former times did the Commandment, the prophets wrote it down. But now when a man observes the Commandment, who writes it down? Elijah and the King Messiah and the Holy One, blessed be His Name, seal it at their hands, and a memorial book is written, as it is written Mal. iii. 16.

The promise in verse 17 ["They will be Mine," says the Lord of hosts, "on the day that I prepare [My] own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him."] is extended to Messianic days in Shemoth R. 18.

On Mal. iv. 1 ["For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the Lord of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch."] (in Hebrew iii. 19) the following curious comment occurs in Bereshith R. 6 (p. 14 b, lines 15 &c. from the bottom): 'The globe of the sun is encased, as it is said, He maketh a tabernacle for the sun (Ps. xix.). And a pool of water is before it. When the sun comes out, God cools its heat in the water lest it should burn up the world. But in the latter days the Holy One takes it out of its sheath, and with it burns up the wicked, as it is written Mal. iv. 1.'

Verse 2 [But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall] (iii. 20 in Hebrew) is in Shemoth R. 31 quoted in connection with Ex. xxii. 26 [If you ever take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets], and explained 'till the Messiah comes.'

Verse 5 [Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord] is, of course, applied to the forerunner of the Messiah. So in many places, as in the Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 40; Debarm R. 3; in the Midrash on Cant. i. 1; in the Talmud, and in Yalkut repeatedly.

[From the above review of Old Testament passages, all reference to sacrifices has been omitted, because, although the Synagogue held the doctrine of the vicariousness and atoning character of these sacrifices, no mention occurs of the Messiah in connection with them.]

The Apocrypha

To the above passages we add some from the Apocryphal Books, partly as indicating the views concerning the Messiah which the Jews had derived from the Old Testament, and partly because of their agreement with Jewish traditionalism as already expounded by us. These passages must therefore be judged in connection with the Rabbinical ideas of the Messiah and of Messianic days.

It is in this sense that we read, for example, the address to Jerusalem, Tobit xiii. 9 to the end [(NRA) O Jerusalem, the holy city, he afflicted you for the deeds of your hands, but will again have mercy on the children of the righteous. 10 Acknowledge the Lord, for he is good, and bless the King of the ages, so that his tent may be rebuilt in you in joy. May he cheer all those within you who are captives, and love all those within you who are distressed, to all generations forever. 11 A bright light will shine to all the ends of the earth; many nations will come to you from far away, the inhabitants of the remotest parts of the earth to your holy name, bearing gifts in their hands for the King of heaven. Generation after generation will give joyful praise in you; the name of the chosen city will endure forever. 12 Cursed are all who speak a harsh word against you; cursed are all who conquer you and pull down your walls, all who overthrow your towers and set your homes on fire.

But blessed forever will be all who revere you. 13 Go, then, and rejoice over the children of the righteous, for they will be gathered together and will praise the Lord of the ages. 14 Happy are those who love you, and happy are those who rejoice in your prosperity. Happy also are all people who grieve with you because of your afflictions; for they will rejoice with you and witness all your glory forever. 15 My soul blesses the Lord, the great King! 16 For Jerusalem will be built as his house for all ages. How happy I will be if a remnant of my descendants should survive to see your glory and acknowledge the King of heaven. The gates of Jerusalem will be built with sapphire and emerald, and all your walls with precious stones. The towers of Jerusalem will be built with gold,

and their battlements with pure gold. The streets of Jerusalem will be paved with ruby and with stones of Ophir. 17 The gates of Jerusalem will sing hymns of joy, and all her houses will cry, "Hallelujah! Blessed be the God of Israel!' and the blessed will bless the holy name forever and ever."]. Comp. here, for example, our quotations on Amos ix. 11.

Similarly Tobit xiv. 5-7 [(NRA) But God will again have mercy on them, and God will bring them back into the land of Israel; and they will rebuild the temple of God, but not like the first one until the period when the times of fulfillment shall come. After this they all will return from their exile and will rebuild Jerusalem in splendor; and in it the temple of God will be rebuilt, just as the prophets of Israel have said concerning it. 6 Then the nations in the whole world will all be converted and worship God in truth. They will all abandon their idols, which deceitfully have led them into their error; 7 and in righteousness they will praise the eternal God. All the Israelites who are saved in those days and are truly mindful of God will be gathered together; they will go to Jerusalem and live in safety forever in the land of Abraham, and it will be given over to them. Those who sincerely love God will rejoice, but those who commit sin and injustice will vanish from all the earth] may be compared with our quotations on Ps. xc, Is. lx. 3, and especially on Zech. viii. 23, also on Gen. xlix. 11.

Wisdom of Solomon iii. 7, 8 [(NRA) In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,

and will run like sparks through the stubble. 8 They will govern nations and rule over peoples,

and the Lord will reign over them forever] may be compared with our remarks on Is. lxi. 1.

Ecclus. xliv. 21 [(NRA) Therefore the Lord assured him with an oath that the nations would be blessed through his offspring; that he would make him as numerous as the dust of the earth, and exalt his offspring like the stars, and give them an inheritance from sea to sea and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth] &c. and xlvii. 11 [(NRA) The Lord took away his sins, and exalted his power forever; he gave him a covenant of kingship and a glorious throne in Israel] may be compared with our quotations on Ps. lxxxix. 22-25; Ps. cxxxii. 18; Ezek. xxix. 21.

Ecclus. xlviii. 10, 11 [(NRA) At the appointed time, it is written, you are destined to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. 11 Happy are those who saw you and were adorned with your love! For we also shall surely live]. See the comments on Is. lii. 7, also our references on Mal. iii. 1; Mal. iv. 5; Deut. xxv. 19 and xxx. 4; Lam. ii. 22. In Sotah ix. 15 Elijah is represented as raising the dead.

Baruch ii. 34, 35 [(NRA) I will bring them again into the land that I swore to give to their ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they will rule over it; and I will increase them, and they will not be diminished. 35 I will make an everlasting covenant with them to be their God and they shall be my people; and I will never again remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them]; iv. 29 [(NRA) For the one who brought these calamities upon you will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation] &c.; and ch. v. are so thoroughly in accordance with Rabbinic, and, indeed, with Scriptural views, that it is almost impossible to enumerate special references.

The same may be said of 1 Macc. ii. 57 [(NRA) David, because he was merciful, inherited the throne of the kingdom forever]; while such passages as iv. 46 [(NRA) and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them] and xiv. 41 [(NRA) The Jews and their priests have resolved that Simon should be their leader and high priest forever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise] point forward to the ministry of Elijah as resolving doubts, as this is frequently described in the Talmud (Shekalim ii. 5; Men. 45 a, Pes. 13 a; and in other places).

Lastly, 2 Macc. ii. 18 [(NRA) as he promised through the law. We have hope in God that he will soon have mercy on us and will gather us from everywhere under heaven into his holy place, for he has rescued us from great evils and has purified the place] is fully enlarged on in the Rabbinic descriptions of the gathering of Israel.

Messianic Discussion in the Talmud

Perhaps it may be as well here to add the Messianic discussion in the Talmud, to which such frequent reference has been made (Sanhedrin, beginning at the two last lines of p. 96 b, and ending at p. 99 a).

The first question is that asked by one Rabbi of the other, whether he knew when the Son of the Fallen would come? Upon which follows an explanation of that designation, based on Amos ix. 11 [In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, And wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins And rebuild it as in the days of old], after which it is added that it would be a generation in which the disciples of the sages would be diminished, and the rest of men consume their eyes for sorrow, and terrible sorrows so follow each other, that one had not ceased before the other began.

Then a description is given of what was to happen during the hebdomad when the Son of David would come. In the first year it would be according to Amos iv. 7 [Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you While [there were] still three months until harvest. Then I would send rain on one city

And on another city I would not send rain; One part would be rained on, While the part not rained on would dry up]; in the second year there would be darts of famine; in the third year great famine and terrible mortality, in consequence of which the Law would be forgotten by those who studied it. In the fourth year there would be abundance, and yet no abundance; in the fifth year great abundance and great joy, and return to the study of the Law; in the sixth year voices (announcements); in the seventh wars, and at the end of the seventh the Son of David would come.

Then follows some discussion about the order of the sixth and seventh year, when Ps. lxxxix. 51 [With which Your enemies have reproached, O Lord, With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed] is referred to. Next we have a description of the general state during those days. Sacred places (Academies) would be used for the vilest purposes, Galilee be desolated, Gablan laid waste, and the men of Gebul wander from city to city, and not find mercy. And the wisdom of the scribes would be corrupted, and they who fear sin be abhorred, and the face of that generation would be like that of a dog, and truth should fail, according to Is. lix. 15 [Yes, truth is lacking; And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the Lord saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice]. (Here a side issue is raised.)

The Talmud then continues in much the same terms to describe the Messianic age as one, in which children would rebel against their parents, and as one of general lawlessness, when Sadduceeism should universally prevail, apostasy increase, study of the Law decrease; and, generally, universal poverty and despair of redemption prevail, the growing disregard of the Law being pointed out as specially characterising the last days. R. Kattina said: The world is to last 6,000 years, and during one millennium it is to lie desolate, according to Is. ii. 17 [The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day]. R. Abayi held that this state would last 2,000 years, according to Hosea vi. 2 [He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him]. The opinion of R. Kattian was however, regarded as supported by this, that in each period of seven there is a Sabbatic year, the day here = 1,000 years of desolateness and rest - the appeal being to Is. ii. 17 [The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day]; Ps. xcii. 1 [It is good to give thanks to the Lord And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High], and xc. 4 [For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or [as] a watch in the night]. According to another tradition the world was to last 6,000 years: 2,000 in a state of chaos, 2,000 under the Law, and 2,000 being the Messianic age. But on account of Israel's sins those years were to be deducted which had already passed.

On the authority of Elijah it was stated that the world would not last less than eighty-five jubilees [85 x 49 years = 4165 years], and that in the last jubilee the Son of David would come. When Elijah was asked whether at the beginning or at the end of it, he replied that he did not know. Being further asked whether the whole of that period would first elapse or not, he similarly replied, his meaning being supposed to be that until that term people were not to hope for the Advent of Messiah, but after that term they were to look for it. A story is related of a man being met who had in his hands a writing in square Hebrew characters, and in Hebrew, which he professed to have got from the Persian archives, and in which it was written that after 4,290 years from the Creation the world would come to an end. And then would be the wars of the great sea-monsters, and those of Gog and Magog, and the rest of the time would be the time of the Messiah, and that the Holy One, blessed be His Name, would only renew His world after the 7,000 years; to which, however, one Rabbi objects, making it 5,000 years.

Rabbi Nathan speaks of Habakkuk ii. 3 [For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay] as a passage so deep as to go down to the abyss, reproving the opinion of the Rabbis who sought out the meaning of Daniel vii. 25 [He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time], and of Rabbi Samlai, who similarly busied himself with Ps. lxxx. 5 [Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?], and of Rabbi Akiba, who dwelt upon Haggai ii. 6 [For thus says the Lord of hosts, `Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land']. But the first kingdom (Babylonian?) was to last seventy years; the second (Asmonæan?) fifty-two years; and the rule of the son of Kozebhah (Bar Kakhabh, the false Messiah) two and a half years. According to Rabbi Samuel, speaking in the name of Rabbi Jonathan: Let the bones of those be broken who calculate the end, because they say, The end has come, and the Messiah has not come, therefore He will not come at all. But still expect Him, as it is said (Hab. ii. 3), 'Though it tarry, wait for it.'

Perhaps thou wilt say: We wait for Him, but He does not wait for it. On this point read Is. xxx. 18 [Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him]. But if so, what hinders it? The quality of judgment. But in that case, why should we wait? In order to receive the reward, according to the last clause of Is. xxx. 18 [above]. On which follows a further discussion.

Again, Rabh maintains that all the limits of time as regards the Messiah are past, and that it now only depends on repentance and good works when He shall come. To this Rabbi Samuel objected, but Rabh's view was supported by Rabbi Eliezer, who said that if Israel repented they would be redeemed, but if not they would not be redeemed. To which Rabbi Joshua added, that in the latter case God would raise over them a King whose decrees would be hard like those of Haman, when Israel would repent. The opinion of Rabbi Eliezer was further supported by Jer. iii.22 ["Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to You; For You are the Lord our God."], to which Rabbi Joshua objected by quoting Is. lii. 3 [For thus says the Lord, "You were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed without money."], which seemed to imply that Israel's redemption was not dependent on their repentance and good works. On this Rabbi Joshua retorted by quoting Mal. iii. 7 ["From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept [them]. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the Lord of hosts. "But you say, `How shall we return?'], to which again Rabbi Joshua replied by quoting Jer. iii. 14 [`Return, O faithless sons,' declares the Lord; `For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And I will bring you to Zion.'], and Rabbi Eliezer by quoting Is. xxx. 15 [For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength." But you were not willing]. To this Rabbi Joshua replied from Is. xlix. 7 [Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel [and] its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, "Kings will see and arise, Princes will also bow down, Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You."]. Rabbi Eliezer then urged Jer. iv.1 ["If you will return, O Israel," declares the Lord, "[Then] you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver"], upon which Rabbi Joshua retorted from Dan. xii. 7 [I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half [a time]; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these [events] will be completed], and so effectually silenced Rabbi Eliezer. On this Rabbi Abba propounded that there was not a clearer mark of the Messianic term than that in Is. xxxvi. 8 [Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them]. To which Rabbi Eliezer added Zech. viii. 10 [For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of his enemies, and I set all men one against another].

On this the question is raised as to the meaning of the words 'neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in.' To this Rabh gave answer that it applied to the disciples of the sages, according to Ps. cxix. 165 [Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble]. On which Rabbi Samuel replied that at that time all the entrances would be equal (i.e. that all should be on the same footing of danger). Rabbi Chanina remarked that the Son of David would not come till after fish had been sought for the sick and not found, according to Ezek. xxxii. 14 ["Then I will make their waters settle And will cause their rivers to run like oil," Declares the Lord God] in connection with Ezek. xxix. 21 [On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am the Lord]. Rabbi Chamma, the son of Rabbi Chaina, said that the Son of David would not come until the vile dominion over Israel had ceased, appealing to Is. xviii. 5, 7 [For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives And remove [and] cut away the spreading branches… At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hosts From a people tall and smooth, Even from a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation, Whose land the rivers divide-- To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, [even] Mount Zion]. R. Seira said that Rabbi Chanina said: The Son of David would not come till the proud had ceased in Israel, according to Zeph. iii. 11, 12 [In that day you will feel no shame Because of all your deeds By which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst Your proud, exulting ones, And you will never again be haughty

On My holy mountain. But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people, And they will take refuge in the name of the Lord]. Rabbi Samlai, in the name of Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Simeon, said that the Son of David would not come till all judges and rulers had ceased in Israel, according to Is. i. 26 [Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city]. Ula said Jerusalem is not to be redeemed, except by righteousness, according to Is. i. 27 [Zion will be redeemed with justice And her repentant ones with righteousness]. We pass over the remarks of Rabbi Papa, as not adding to the subject.

Rabbi Jochanan said: If thou seest a generation that increasingly diminishes, expect Him, according to 2 Sam. xxii. 28 [And You save an afflicted people; But Your eyes are on the haughty [whom] You abase]. He also added: If thou seest a generation upon which many sorrows come like a stream, expect Him, according to Is. lix. 19, 20 ["So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream Which the wind of the Lord drives. A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," declares the Lord]. He also added: The son of David does not come except in a generation where all are either righteous, or all guilty - the former idea being based on Is. lx. 21 [Then all your people [will be] righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified], the latter on Is. lix. 16 [And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him] and xlviii. 11 [For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can [My name] be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another].

Rabbi Alexander said, that Rabbi Joshua the son of Levi referred to the contradiction in Is. lx. 22 [The smallest one will become a clan, And the least one a mighty nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time] between the words 'in his time' and again 'I will hasten it,' and explained it thus: If they are worthy, I will hasten it, and if not, in His time. Another similar contradiction between Dan. vii. 13 [I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him] and Zech. ix. 9 [Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout [in triumph], O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey] is thus reconciled: if Israel deserve it, He will come in the clouds of heaven; if they are not deserving, He will come poor, and riding upon an ass. Upon this it is remarked that Sabor the King sneered at Samuel, saying: You say that the Messiah is to come upon an ass: I will send Him my splendid horse. To which the Rabbi replied: Is it of a hundred colours, like His ass?

Rabbi Joshua, the son of Levi, saw Elijah, who stood at the door of Paradise. He said to him: When shall the Messiah come? He replied: When that Lord shall come (meaning God). Rabbi Joshua, the son of Levi, said: I saw two (himself and Elijah), and I heard the voice of three (besides the former two the Voice of the son of Jochai, and said to him: Shall I attain the world to come? Elijah replied: If it pleaseth the Lord. Upon which follows the same remark: I have seen the Messiah come? To which the answer is: Go and ask Him thyself. And where does He abide? At the gate of the city (Rome). And what is His sign? He abides among the poor, the sick and stricken. And all unbind, and bind up again the wounds at the same time, but He undoes (viz. the bandage) and rebinds each separately, so that if they call for Him they may not find him engaged. [The Vienna edition of the Talmud has several lacunæ on this page (98 a).] He went to meet Him and said: peace be to Thee, my Rabbi and my Lord. He replied to him: Peace be to thee, thou son of Levi. He said to Him: When wilt Thou come, my Lord? He replied to him: To-day. Then he turned to Elijah, who said to him: What has He said to thee? He said to me: Son of Levi, peace be to thee. Elijah said to him: He has assured thee and thy Father of the world to come. He said to him: But He has deceived me in that He said: I come to-day, and he has not come. He said to him that by the words 'to-day' He meant: To-day if ye will hear My voice (Ps. xcv. 7).

Rabbi José was asked by his disciples: When will the Son of David come? To this he replied: I am afraid you will ask me also for a sign. Upon which they assured him they would not. On this he replied: When this gate (viz. of Rome) shall fall, and be built, and again fall, and they shall not have time to rebuild it till the Son of David comes. They said to him: Rabbi, give us a sign. He said to them: Have ye not promised me that ye would not seek a sign? They said to him: Notwithstanding do it. He said to them: If so, the waters from the cave of Pamias (one of the sources of the Jordan) shall be changed into blood. In that moment they were changed into blood. Then the Rabbi goes on to predict that the land would be overrun by enemies, every stable being filled with their horses. Rabh said that the son of David would not come till the kingdom (i.e foreign domination) should extend over Israel for nine months, according to Micah v. 3 [Therefore He will give them [up] until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel].

Ula said: Let Him come, but may I not see Him, and so said Raba. Rabbi Joseph said: Let Him come, and may I be found worthy to stand in the shadow of the dung of His ass (according to some: the tail of his ass). Abayi said to Raba: Why has this been the bearing of your words? If on account of the sorrows of the Messiah, we have the tradition that Rabbi Eliezer was asked by his disciples, what a man should do to be freed from the sorrows of the Messiah; on which they were told: By busying yourselves with the Torah, and with good works. And you are a master of the Torah, and you have good works. He answered: Perhaps sin might lead to occasion of danger. To this comforting replies are given from Scripture, such as Gen. xxviii. 15 [Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you], and other passages, some of them being subjected to detailed commentation.

Rabbi Jochanan expressed a similar dislike of seeing the days of the Messiah, on which Resh Lakish suggested that it might be on the ground of Amos v. 19 [As when a man flees from a lion

And a bear meets him, Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him], or rather on that of Jer. xxx. 6 [Ask now, and see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man

[With] his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And [why] have all faces turned pale?]. Upon this, such fear before God is accounted for by the consideration that what is called service above is not like what is called service below (the family above is not like the family below), so that one kind may outweigh the other. Rabbi Giddel said, that Rabh said, that Israel would rejoice in the years of the Messiah. Rabbi Joseph said: Surely, who else would rejoice in them? Chillak and Billak? (two imaginary names, meaning no one). This, to exclude the words of Rabbi Hillel, who said: There is no Messiah for Israel, seeing they have had Him in the time of Hezekiah.

Rabh said: The world was only created for David; Samuel, for Moses; and Rabbi Jochanan, for the Messiah. What is His Name? The school of Rabbi Shila said: Shiloh is His Name, according to Gen. xlix. 10 [The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,

Until Shiloh comes, And to him [shall be] the obedience of the peoples]. The school of Rabbi Jannai said: Jinnon [increase], according to Ps. lxxii. 17 [May his name endure forever; May his name increase as long as the sun [shines]; And let [men] bless themselves by him; Let all nations call him blessed]. The school of Rabbi Chanina said: Chaninah [favor], according to Jer. xvi. 13 [So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor]. And some say Menachem [comfort], the son of Hezekiah, according to Lam. i. 16 [For these things I weep; My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One who restores my soul. My children are desolate Because the enemy has prevailed]. And our Rabbis say: The Leprous One of the house of Rabbi, is His Name, as it is written Is liii. 4 [Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken [or stricken w/ leprosy], Smitten of God, and afflicted]. Rabbi Nachman said: If He is among the living, He is like me, according to Jer. xxx. 21 [`Their leader shall be one of them, And their ruler shall come forth from their midst; And I will bring him near and he shall approach Me; For who would dare to risk his life to approach Me?' declares the Lord]. Rabh said: If He is among the living, He is like Rabbi Jehudah the Holy, and if among the dead he is like Daniel, the man greatly beloved. Rabbi Jehudah said, Rabh said: God will raise up to them another David, according to Jer. xxx. 9 [But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them], a passage which evidently points to the future. Rabbi Papa said to Abaji: But we have this other Scripture Ezek. xxxvii. 25 [They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever], and the two terms (Messiah and David) stand related like Augustus and Cæsar. Rabbi Samlai illustrated Amos v. 18 [Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose [will] the day of the Lord [be] to you? It [will be] darkness and not light], by a parable of the cock and the bat which were looking for the light. The cock said to the bat: I look for the light, but of what use is the light to thee? So it happened to a Sadducee who said to Rabbi Abahu: When will the Messiah come? He answered him: When darkness covers this people. He said to him: Dost thou intend to curse me? He replied: It is said in Scripture Is. lx. 2 [For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you].

Rabbi Eliezer taught: The days of the Messiah are forty years according to Ps. xcv. 10 [For forty years I loathed [that] generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways]. Rabbi Eleazar, the son of Asariah, said: Seventy years, according to Is. xxiii. 15, 'according to the days of a King,' the King there spoken of being the unique king, the Messiah. Rabbi said: Three generations, according to Ps. lxxii. 5 [Let them fear You while the sun [endures], And as long as the moon, throughout all generations]. Rabbi Hillel said: Israel shall have no more Messiah, for they had him in the days of Hezekiah. Rabbi Joseph said: May God forgive Rabbi Hillel: when did Hezekiah live? During the first Temple. And Zechariah prophesied during the second Temple, and said Zech. xi. 9 [Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout [in triumph], O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey]. We have the tradition that Rabbi Eliezer said: The days of the Messiah are forty years. it is written Deut. viii. 3, 4 [He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years], and again in Ps xc. 15 [Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, [And] the years we have seen evil] (showing that the days of rejoicing must be like those of affliction in the wilderness). Rabbi Dosa said: Four hundred years quoting Gen. xv. 13 [[God] said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years."] in connection with the same Psalm. Rabbi thought it was 365 years, according to the solar year, quoting Is. lxiii. 4 [For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come]. He asked the meaning of the words: 'The day of vengeance is in My heart,' Rabbi Jochanan explained them: I have manifested it to My heart, but not to My members, and Rabbi Simon ben Lakish: To My heart, and not to the ministering angels. Abimi taught that the days of the Messiah were to last for Israel 7,000 years (a Divine marriage-week), according to Is. lxii. 5 [For [as] a young man marries a virgin, [So] your sons will marry you; And [as] the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, [So] your God will rejoice over you]. Rabbi Jehudah said, that Rabbi Samuel said, that the days of the Messiah were to be as from the day that the world was created until now, according to Deut. xi. 21 [so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens [remain] above the earth]. Rabbi Nacham said: As from the days of Noah till now, according to Is. liv. 9 [For this is like the days of Noah to Me, When I swore that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor will I rebuke you]. Rabbi Chija said, that Rabbi Jochanan said: All the prophets have only prophesied in regard of the days of the Messiah; but in regard to the world to come, eye has not seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him (Is. lxiv. 4). And this is opposed to what Rabbi Samuel said, that there was no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah, except that foreign domination would cease. Upon which the Talmud goes off to discourse upon repentance, and its relation to perfect righteousness.

Lengthy as this extract may be, it will at least show the infinite differences between the Rabbinic expectation of the Messiah, and the picture of him presented in the New Testament. Surely the Messianic idea, as realised in Christ, could not have been derived from the views current in those times!