THE

F I FTY-TH I R D CHAPTER

I S A IA H mv

ACCORDING TO

THE JEWISH INTERPRETERS

II . TR AN S LATION S

S . R . DR IVER

AND

AD.

’

NEUBAUER

With an In tr odu c t ion t o th e Tran s la t ion s

R EV . E . B . PU S EY

Regius Professor ofHebrew, Oxford

®xforh anh fimhon 31?ziyéig

AMES PARKER AND 00 . T. O. W E I G E L

l 8 7 7

PR E F A C E .

IT is now more than two years since the R eg ius

Professor of Hebrew in this University invited

Mr. Neubauer to undertake the task of editing a

complete catena of Jewish commentarie s on the

remarkable chapter which has for ag es formed one

of the principal battle-fields be twe en Christians

and their Jewish opponents3

. The reque st was

g ladly acceded to and the collection in the pre sent

volume comprise s not merely commentari e s strict lyso called

,but also extracts relating to the same

subject from works of controversy and other

source s,whether composed in Hebrew or in any

of the other languag e s adopted by Jews from time

to time in the varied homes of the ir exile . The seare arrang ed, as nearly as possible , in chrono log ical

order. In the pag e s that fol low (which, with theexception of a few additional references

,are sub

stantially a translation of the Hebrew preface pre

fixed to the companion vo lume) will be found a

a W ith the addit ion, naturally , of the three verses of the fifty-second

apter, wh ich have been unfortunately severed from it .

3 2

iv PREFACE.

list of the authors cited, w ith Mr. Neubauer’

s own

account of the authorit ie s consulted by him,and

ofthe sources , whe ther print ed or manuscript , from

which in each case the text has be en derived.

1 . The Septuag int , according to Tischendorf’

s third edition(Le ipzig , tog ether with such fragments as remain of the‘ revised ’ versions of Aquila, Symmachus , and Theodotion, as

g iven in Dr. Fie ld’s Hexap la (Oxford, 1 874) b .

2 . The Targum0,or (so -cal led) Chaldee Paraphrase , of Yona

than ben ‘

Uzzie l,according to the printed edit ions, and MSS . at

Paris and Oxford3 . Notices in the Talmud

,whether of Jerusalem or Babylon,

in the Midrash Rabbah,Tanhuma

,and the Yalqut Shim

‘

onid ;

also in Siphré (as c ited by R aymundus Martini e in his ce lebratedwork, the Pug io Fidei) , and the P

’

siqtha (as cited by Hulsius ,in his Theolog ia Judaica ,

1 64 3 , from the 53 1 1 npns ) .

b Here ought strictly to have been added the extract cited on p . 4 1 2, whichshews that already in the t ime of Orig en ( 1 90—2 the applicat ion of the

proph ecy to Israe l dispersed in exile was not unknown among the Jews.0 Informat ion re spe ct ing Jewish literature in g eneral may be found in

Jo st , Geschichte des Judenthumes wad seiner Scotch ( 3 vols. , Leipz ig , 1 85 7—9)

Gratz, Geschichte der Juden, second edition, more e specially vols. v— ix ;Etheridg e , Introd . to HebrewLiterature (London, 1 85 6) and Ste inschne ider

,

Jewish Literature (London , On the Targums in particular, see thearticle in Smith , Diet. of the Bible, iii . p . 1 63 7 if. on the Talmud and otherRabbinical works ment ioned under No . 3 , instructive not ices will be foundin the preface to Neubauer’s La Geographic da Talmud (Paris , 1 868 ) in

Deutsch'

s Literary R emains (London, or Schfirer’

s Lehrbuch derneutestamentlichen Zeitg eschichte (Le ipzig , p. 3 5 if , where the furtherliterature is quoted, among wh ich should be named in particular Zunz , Go ttesdienstliche Vortrc

‘

ig e der Jaden (Berlin, R eference may also be madeto the various article s, M idrash , ’ etc. , in Kitto

’

s Cy clopaedia.

d Etheridg e , p . 409 .

Of this remarkable man, the learned and powerful antagonist ofJudaismin Spain,

in the second half of the thirteenth century, scarcely any account

PREFACE.

4 . The Zohar. Althoug h ag ree ing myse lf with the mostre cent Jewish historians, who assign this book to a far late rdate f

,and be l ieving , in fact, that the writer l ived unquestionably

after the time of Nahmanides (see chap . xx), y et in de ference toothers , and among st them Dr. Pusey, who are stil l of Opinionthat it is of much g reater antiquity, and that its author wasnone othe r than the ‘ Tanna,’ R . Shim‘on ben Yohai

,I have

inserted the extracts from it immediately after those from the

Talmud. In a paralle l column is annexed a Hebrew versionfrom a MS . in the Bodle ian L ibrary

, Oxford (Opp . made

in the year 1 60 2 g .

5 . The Arabi c version of the Ga’onh , R . Sa‘

adyah, the earliestcommentator whose writing s are now e xtant (tenth century) ,according to the Oxford MS . (Poc. This was publishedby Paulus (Jena, 1 790 some various reading s from a MS.

se ems to exist in Eng lish. The Pug io Fide i , a monument of erudit ion and

re search, was first published, with e laborate note s, by De Voisin in 1 65 1

quartum jam saeculum in p ulvere sordido cum blattis et tincts luctans Ray

mundus delitesccbat, write s the B ishop ofLouvain, who discovered the manu~

script . There is another edit ion by Carpz ov Compare Gratz, vii” .1 63 , who refers for further part iculars to Quetif’s Historia ordinis Praedica

torum (Lut . Pan ,i . 397. It should, however, be observed, with refer

ence to the extract from Siphra(p . that the words relating to the Me ssiahare not to be found in the printed edit ions or in the Bodle ian MS . 1 5 0 com

pare Jenning s and Lowe , The Psalms (B ook p . 2 3 9 . But on the quest ionof the accuracy ofMart ini’ s citations , and on the confirmat ionwhich some , atleast , seem to derive from another source , see further be low, pp . xxxu—xxxvi .Jost , 1 1 . 29 1 , iii. 74- 79 ; and especially Gratz, vu z . 2 1 9 466 Franck

,

La Cabbale (Paris , Etheridg e , p . 3 1 2 .

8 See Neubauer, Catal. ofHeb . MSS . in the Bodl. L ibr., No . 1 5 6 1 . The

Zohar was also translated from Chaldee into Hebrew in Spain, as appearsfrom the R efutation of A lfonso di Zamora ( 1 5 20) preserved in the Library ofthe Escurial : see Archives des missions scientifigues ct litté raires, 2m sé rie,v. 428 (Paris,

h The de signat ion g iven to the chiefs of the Rabbinical school at Sora,in Babylonia : Jo st , u. 2 5 2 Etheridg e , pp .

.

2 1 3 , 2 1 8 . The name appears t o bean equival ent expre ss ion to t he Lat in excellentia , used as a t itle ofdignity .On Sa

‘

adyah , see Jost , 1 1 . 2 75—286 Gratz

,v. p . 30 2 fi

‘

.

vi PREFACE .

recently acquired by the Paris Library (No . 1 3 2 5 ) will be foundin the Addenda .

6 . The translation and commentary by the Qaraite i, Yephethben

‘

AliJ'

, a contemporaryk of Sa‘ady ah

’

s, according to the MS ,

No. 5 69 , in the Imperial Library at St. Pete rsburg .

7 . The Midrash known as the Mysterie s of R. Shim‘on benYohai, and according ly attributed to this writer, but compiled,as i t would appear in fact, during the e leventh century.

8 . A notice by R . Mosheh had-Darshan l of Narbonne (e leventhcentury), in his B

’

reshith Rabba— now,unfortunate ly, no long er

extantm— as cited by Raymundus Martini 1 1 .9 . R . Tobiyy ah ben

’Eli‘e ze r (contemporary of R. Mosheh hadDarshano) in his work, the Legah tob, according to the printededition.

1 0 . R . Sh’ lomohYiahaqi, the ce lebrated French commentator,born about 1 0 30 at Troyes

,more famil iarly known as Ra shi D.

Appended is a fragment no long er to be found e ither in the

printed books or in MSS.,but attributed to Rash i on the

authority of Raymundus Martini (Pug . Fid. pp. 3 1 1 ,

1 1 . The Commentary of R .Yoseph Qara, l ikewise a Frenchscholar

,according to MSS. at Paris and in the Laurentian

Library at Florence . These,howeve r, were all injured and

partly erased ; and it was only after the g reater part of both

1 On the Qaraites , the name borne by those Jews who rej ect the traditionsof the Talmud, see Jost, 1 1 . 294

—38 1 Gratz, v. 1 74 ff.

1 His translation of the Psalms has been edited by the Abbé Barges( Paris,k See Pinsker

, I/c uté Qadmoniot (W ien, i . p . 1 69 .

1 I. e .

‘the Preacher Etheridg e , pp. 4 23 , 4 27 see also Zunz , p . 287.

m Se e R . Sh’ lomoh Buber in the Magg id , 1 8 72, p . 28 1 .

n It is possible that th is also may be the B ’

reshith Rabbit and Q’

tannah

cited by Alfonso di Zamora see Archives , e tc. , 1 00. cit .

Zunz , loc. cit . The composition of the Leqah tob was begun, accordingto a note in the Oxford MS . (Hunt . in the year 1 097 see the new Catal.ofHeb. MSS. in the Bodle ian Library

,No . 1 62 .

D See Zunz , Zeitschri‘ftfur die Wissenschaft des Judenthums, Berlin, 1 823 ,p . 2 77 if ; Gratz, vi. p. 77 ff.

PREFACE . vii

volumes were in type that I was fortunate enough to find themiss ing portions in a MS . in the possession of my friend HerrRaphae l Kirchhe im. These wi l l be found in the Addenda

(Hebrew, p . 3 98 ; Eng l ish , p .

1 2 . The Commentary of R . Abraham ’

Ibn‘Ezra

, according tothe printed edit ions and MSS . at Paris

,Parma, and Rome . In

the Addenda, p . 400 , are g iven reading s from some more accu

rate MSS . employed by Lafiado , and also from one which I met

with myself in the L ibrary at Leeuwarden. It is expe cted thatbefore long

’

Ibn‘Ezra’s entire commentary on Isaiah wil l be

publ ished under the editorship of Dr. Friedl ‘ander cl .1 3 . The Commentary of R. David Qamhi [Kimchi], according

to the printed text, and MSS . at Oxford. The Sep her ha-Ga luy

of his father,referred to by him both in his Commentary and

also in his ‘Book of Roots,

’ of which all previous enquirers havesupposed no copy to be in e xistence , I discovered recentlyin the Vat ican Library (No . The author composed it atthe ag e of si xty years : it consists of a series of g rammaticalobservations on the work s of M’

nahem ben Saruq, of Dunashben Labrat , and of R.Ya

‘

qob Tham ; there are annotations to itby B inyamin (ben Y

’

hudah I hope at a future t ime to be ina posit ion to publ ish it . As to the Book of the Covenant, by thesame author, also referred to by his son, a controversial treatisebearing that title has been publ ished at Constantinople underthe name of Yoseph Qamhi 3 it does not , however, contain any

thing re lating to the fifty -third chapter of Isaiah .

1 4 . An extract from the fifth chapter of the Wa rs of the Lord,a work attributed in the Oxford MSS .

,Mich . 269 , Bodl. 5 8, to

R .Ya‘qob bar Reuben, the Rabbanite r, and stated to have been

composed by him in the year 1 1 70 ,when he was twenty, or, according to the acrosti c at the end of the MS ,

when he was thirty-sixyears old. The MSS .Mich . 2 2 1 , Mich . 1 1 3 , Opp . 5 8 1 , have furthe r

‘1 His translat ion has already appeared (London,

r The Rabbanite s’

are the opponents of the Qaraite s,’

so called becausethey acknowledg e the authority of the doctors or Rabbis.

vi i i PREFACE.

been consulted : the last mentioned commence s with the words,Says R. Sa

‘

adyah Ga’on and styles the book the Refutation,

which in fact is also the name by which it is denoted at the end

of Mi ch . 269 Mosheh Kohen cite s it anonymously, and R . ShemTob ben Shaprut (cf. p . 97) ascribes it to R . Yoseph Qamhi.The work is divided into twe lve Chapters, a port ion of the lastofwhich has been printed

1 5 . The Commentary of Mar Ya‘qob ben Reuben, the Qaraite

(a contemporary of his namesake the Rabbanite), known as the

B ook of R iches. For this a Paris MS . has been used,

collated through the k indness of Prof. de Goeje with a MS . at

Leyden1 6 . A translation with short commentary, composed inArabic

by an unknown author, on Isaiah

,Jeremiah , and the Minor

Prophets, from an Oxford MS . (Hunt. At the end ofJeremiah, it is stated that the author completed it in the year1 1 96. It follows close ly the Targum of Yonathant.

1 7. A commentary by a French scholar from an Oxford MS .

(Opp . From some verses at the end it appears probablethat the author may have been R. Eli‘ezer of Beaug enciu, whowrote l ikewise the commentary on Ezekie l , and possibly alsothe one on the Minor Prophets contained

'

in the same Ms.v

1 8 . An extract from the work Yosep h the Zealot by Yosephben Nathan, l

’

Ofiicial, of Sens, who l ived about the middle of the

thirteenth centuryW

. The work exists in manuscript at ParisP3) and Hamburg

8 At least , according to the assert ion ofSte inschne ider, Catalogue ofPrintedHebrew Books in the B odleian Library , col. 203 2 ; but I have not myselfbe en able to find it

,as in the volume referred to by him the leaves that must

have contained it have been torn away.

t On the commentary upon the Minor Prophets, see Mers, Archiv jit

'

r

wissenschaftliche Erforschung en des alten Testam ents, i . 1 1 .0 Cf. Zunz , Zur I/iteratur and Geschichte, p. 79.

V See the new Catal . ofHeb.MSS. in the Bodl. Libr., No . 1 265 .

W Histoire litté raire de la France, xxi . p. 5 09.

PREFACE. ix

1 9 . From the Commentary upon Isaiah by Y’

sha‘

y ah ben

Mal i of Trani, the Elder, a contemporary ofYoseph benNathan’

s,

according to MSS . at Paris and Rome,in the Ang e lica

Convent, C. i . 5

2 0 . The exposition of R . Mosheh ben Nahman of Geronax

(about 1 2 5 0 according to MSS . at Oxford,Mich . 5 0 0

Opp . Add. quo . 1 1 1 at Vienna Y,and two in

the possession of Herr S . J . Halberstam of Bie litz H.

1

who kindly transcribed them for me . This exposition has beenalready published by Dr. Ste inschne ider at the end of his editionof the Wilchuah or R efutation of Nahmanides (Berlin, as

he states himse l f, from the manuscript Mich . 2 89 (nowthough the text appears to me to be derived from some different source . An extract from the Wihhuah is annexed, fromthe MS . and the text as edited by Ste inschne ider

2 1 . From the Commentary of Mar Aharon ben Yoseph , theQaraite , the Elder, author of the Mibhhar on the Pentateuch.

The extract is taken from theMibhhar Y’

sharim,editedby the late

Abraham Firkowitsch (Eupatoria, A short addition fromMSS . at St . Pe tersburg wil l be found on p . 400 (Eng lish , p .

2 2 . A section from the e lder Ni z z a lzon Z,as printed by Wag en

se il in his Tela Ignea Satanae (Altorf, p . 1 0 5 .

2 3 . Chapter 8 , se ction 1 9 of the Touchstone of R . Shem Tob

ben Yiahaq ben Shaprut, of Toledo, whi ch was finished in the

month Iyar,1 3 8 5 , in Tarazona. This treatise is usual ly sub

divided into twe lve chapters, be ing based upon the Wars of the

Lord (see No . which the author te lls us in his Preface wasassigned by some to Yoseph Qamhi. Three MSS . have beencollated for this

,vi z . Mich . 1 1 3 , Mich . 1 3 7 (from which I have

e xtracted the R ep ly to Alphonso , p . and Opp . Add. quo . 72 .

1 See Gratz , v1 1 . 4 1 ff.

7 For a collat ion ofwhich I am indebted to the kindne ss ofDr. Gfidemann,

Rabbi in that city .

1 So called in distinction from the later s z alzon Conquest ’) of

R . Lipmann (No .

PREFACE.

I have also found an abridgment of the treatise by AbrahamEliy yah Kohen in the MS ,

Opp . Add. quo . 1 1 1 , fol . wherethe writer states that he made an abstract of the work composedby Shem Tob against the he retics, and in particular againstcertain of the Christians

,and known unde r the name of the

Touchstone, adding that a treatise bearing the same name had

already been written previously upon different subjects. And

on fol . 7oh he informs us that the Cardinal of Arag on 3,who was

e lected Pope in the year 1 3 1 3 , had a publ i c controversy withthe author . It has not been thought ne cessary to reprint thisabridgment .

2 4 A . The Commentary of R . Mosheh Kohen ’

Ibn Crispin ofCordova

,afterwards of Toledo , also at one period of his l ife a

resident at Valencia,where he composed an answer to a casuis

tical question. He also wrote notes upon the Gate of Heaven

by R. Yi zhaq Israe l i. It is possible that these were his earliestwork .

2 4 B . The forty-second chapter of the Aid to Faith of R .

Mosheh ha-Kohen of Otor-S illas [Torresillas] in the kingdomof Leon, and afterwards of Avila, composed in the year 1 3 75 ,after a disputation he ld by him with two of his compatriots whohad deserted Judaism,

and who by permission of the kingassembled the Jews tog ether for purposes of controversy. He

cites the Wars of the Lord, thoug h without mentioning the

author’s name , and the Moreh Zedeq of Abner b . His own bookhe dedicates to the celebrated Don David ’

IbnYa‘

ishc of Toledo .

I at first was of opinion that the two recensions A and B wereby the same hand, and classified them according ly under one

head ; but I now fee l hes itation upon this point, thoug h the

question cannot y et be regarded as definite ly settled. Three

8 I . e . Pe tro de Luna : see the Wikkuah in the Paris MS ., NC . 83 1 . 4 .

b I . e . Alfonso Burg ensis de Valladolid, Gratz, vi ii . 3 3 7.0 Of the same family as , if no t ident ical with , the Ya'ish who, in conjunc

t ion with R . Mosheh Abode l. pleaded the cause of the Jews before the king(Gratz, ibid . p .

PREFACE.

MSS . have been collated, viz . Bodl. 5 99 Mich . 1 47

and Opp. Add. quo . 74

2 5 . The Commentary of En d Sh’lomoh Astruc of Barce l ona(perhaps son of Nastruc Sh’lomoh

,the son of R . Sh

’ lomoh benAddereth , mentioned in the Bodle ian MS . Regg io 3 2 , fol .from an

-

Oxford MS ,Mich . 5 00 , which contains likewise his

commentary on Ps . cxxxix . The same write r composed also a

commentary on the Law,called mmn ”W1 1 7: (which may be

found in the MS ., Mich . in which he states (fol . 1 77h) that

he had seen the plague of locusts in the year 1 3 5 9 . A com

mentary of his upon Esther is in the possession of my friend,Herr Halberstam.

26 . The Commentary of Maestro Iz aq Eli, the Spaniard, fromMS . 5 9 of the Breslau Seminary. The author

,as appears from

the dedicatory words of some verses addressed to him by the

poet R . Sh’lomoh Bonfed, was an o ld man in the year 1 3 5 9 .

27. The Persian version,dating from about 1 400 ,

written inHebrew characte rs in the Paris MS . 97. This contains nothingnew

,be ing mere ly a literal translation :his rendering s of the crucial

expressions of the orig inal w i ll be found in the note be low 9.

2 8 . Section 2 3 6 of the Niz z ahon of R. Lipmann of Miihlhausen, composed about 1 43 0 , according to the Niirnbergedition f ( 1 644) and a Michael is MS .

2 9 . From the Commentary upon Isaiah by DonYi zhaq Aharhane l

,according to the printed editions . So far as I am aware

,

the only MS . of this commentary extant is in the Library of theEscurial 8 ; but the recent war in Spain has prevented my beingable to collate it with the printed text, which is the more to be

d En, in the language of Provence and Catalan, an abbreviat ion for

Mo'

ssen ( i . e .

s imply ‘my servant m ”,

‘will make to speak .

’

Ste inschne ider, Catal . B odl . col . 1 4 1 0 . It is contained also in the

Oxford MS , Opp . 5 93 . Compare Ginsburg , Commentary on Ecclesiastes

(London, p . 64 .

8 Archives des missions seientifigues (Paris, p . 4 28 .

xii PREFACE.

reg retted as the latter is in many places corrupt. I may mention that an abridgment of Abarbanel

’

s commentary on th isParashah exists in the work called the Glory of God, in theL ibrary of the Talmudical School at Amsterdam the MS . was

finished at Venice on the first day of Shebat, 1 63 7. At the

end of the preface there is a statement to the effe ct that therebe ing no title to the work, R .Abraham

,son of R .Mattathy ah of

Patras, whenwriting a preface to it, cal led i t the Glory of God 1 1 .

3 0 . The Commentary of R . David de Rocca Martino,the

author of the D'

IN mm, in the Oxford MS ,Regg io 2 1 . The

learned Senior Sachs, in his pre face to this work , remarks thatAbarbanel copied Martino without naming him ; but I shouldmyself be rathe r of op inion that Martino abbreviated Abarbanel .Certainly, according to a MS . said to have been inspe cted by thelate Dr. Carmoly at Amsterdam,

David was in Provence in theyear 1 3 60 ; and if this be the fact , I must withdraw myop inion ; but both M . Roest and myse lf have sought in vain todiscover the manuscript in question i.3 1 . The Commentary of R . Sa

‘

ady ah’

Ibn Danan of Grenada(c . 1 according to the OxfordMSS .

,Rodl . 1 08 andMich . 2 84 5.

3 2 . The Mihhlol Yophik of R . Sh’lomoh ben Melekh of Fez

(abouth For transcripts ofthe preface and of the abridgment of the commentary

upon th is chapter (which , however, it would evidently have be en superfluousto reproduce here) , my be st thanks are due to M. Roe st, the learned com

p iler of the Catalogue to Rosenthal’s Library, and to R . Yoseph Kohen_Zedeq . There is another MS . of the same abridgment in the L ibrary at

Parma, No . 75 (se e De Rossi’s Catalogue , No . written likewise at Venice ,in 1 690 . And there is an abridgment of the abridgment in the Oxford MSSMich . 1 0 , 5 , and Bodl. 88 , 6 .

See Berliner’ s Mag azin fur judische Geschichte und Literatur, 1 875 ,

No . 3 5 . W ith due deference to the opinion of Dr. Ste inschne ider, as ex

pre ssed in his preface to the we ; “7 1mmof R . Hille l (Lyck , 1 875 , p . it

is impossible to agre e with him in be lieving that Abarbane l lived subsequentlyto David de Rocca Mart ino , at least until he bring s forward more cog entproofs than he has done h itherto.

J On’

l bn Danan and his writing s, sec further Steinschn.Bodl.Catal. p . 2 1 5 5 .

k Ginsburg , loc. cit . p . 66.

PREFACE.

3 3 . From the Refutation of R . Abraham Farissol ben Mordekhai ofAvignon (born who resided at Ferrara and com

posed th is work in 1 5 0 31. In his preface he states that at the

request of Messer Ercoli, Duke of Ferrara, and of his wife and

brothers,he was prevai led upon to dispute in the ir presence

with two of the most ce lebrated men of that day , Brother Ludovi cus of Valencia, of the Order of the Dominicans, and BrotherMalpita, of the Minors . The disputation was renewed uponseveral occas ions

,and the course which the discussion took is

recounted in his book, which at the urg ent entreaty of Bartolomeo Gog o and other learned men he was induced to write , inorder that they m ight have an opportunity of we ighing morecareful ly the arguments adduced, and of judg ing whethe r itwould be possible to frame a reply to them. It was composedfirst in Hebrew,

and afterwards translated by the author intoItalian. Finding two different re censions of it, I resolved topublish both . That mark edA is from the MS . Mich. 3 0 2 , 5 2 ,

where it is entitled the Shield of Abraham,some lacunae in i t

be ing suppl ied from Mich . 5 49 , 3 7, entitled the Controversyof Faith. The othe r re cension

,marked B

,is from the MS .

Mich . 2 84, 3 6 , entitled Controversy of Faith, and from Mich .

3 1 9 , 4 4 , cal led the Shield of Abraham.

3 4 . From the Vati can MS ,No . 5 09 , fol . 64 .

3 5 . From the Commentary on Isaiah by R. Me ir Aramah(c . entitled the Urim and Thummim

, according to theprinted text and a MS . at Paris.

3 6. Chapter 2 2 of the Bulwark of Truth of Mar Yizhaq barAbraham Troki, the Qaraite according to the printededitions and MSS .

m

37. From the mum:mmn 1 1,an exposit ion of the Prophets

1 Gratz, ix. p . 5 3 .

m This is translated into Spanish and Italian in a Parma MS : see De

Rossi , B ibliotheca Judaica Antichristiana , p . 1 9 .

0 Exod. xxxvi i i . 8 .

xiv PREFACE.

by R . Mosheh ben R . Hayyim Al-She ikh , of Saphed, according tothe printed text.3 8 . From the Armoury of Solomon, a Commentary on Isaiah

by R. Sh’lomoh ben R . Yizhaq, the Levite, of Saloni caaccording to the printed te xt.3 9 . Chapter 4 1 of the Tower of the House ofGod 0

, a polemicalwork of R. Abraham,

the Proselyte , of Cordova (c . translated from Spanish into Hebrew by R. Mordekhai Luz z atto D.

This is taken from an Oxford MS ,Mich . 3 5 6 , the text having

been collated by Dr. Marco Mortara with that of a MS . in the

Rabbinical School at Mantua : the orig inal wi ll be found amongthe Spanish texts at the end of the volume .

40 . From the Jewel of Gold, a Commentary on Isaiah byR . Sh’mue l bar Abraham Lafiado

,of Aleppoq (middle of seven

teenth century) , according to the printed editions. For the

sake of brevity, the exposit ions of Rashi ,’

Ibn‘Ezra, David

Qamhi, and Abarbanel, which are cited by the author almostword for word, have been omitted.

4 1 . From the Qaraite Tatari c version of the Old Testament ,made for the use of Jews resident in a district of the Crimea

,

and dating probably from about 1 6 40 , according to the editionof Eupatoria, 1 8 40 . The translation is a l iteral one

,and is

mere ly g iven here for the sake of completeness T. S ince the

text is difficult to read in Hebrew characters, even with the

addition of points , I have , with the assistance of M . Pave t de

Courteille , member of the French Institute,and of my friend

M . Joseph Halevi, transcribed it into Turkish characters .

4 2 . From the tops man, a short exposition of the Prophetsand Hag iographa by R. Abraham ben R . Y

’

hudah,the Hazan

(about according to the printed text.

0 Comp . Judg . ix. 46 .

P De Rossi , Bibliotheca Judaica Antichristiana, p . 7.

‘l Ste inschne ider, Catal. B odl. CC] . 2433 .

r ” 1 1 17,‘my servant ; ’ my ‘ will make to speak

’

1 1 mumo n,‘ ifthou

g ivest thy soul in place ofa tre spass-offering ?

PREFACE. XV

4 3 . From the Hind sent forth, a Commentary on the Pro

phots and Hag iog rapha by R . Naphtali (Hirsch) ben R. AsherAltschuler, according to the printed text.44 . From the R eforma tion of the World, a Commentary upon

Isaiah by R. Sh’lomoh ben R .Yizhaq de Marini, Rabbi in Padua

(end of seventeenth century) , according to the printed text.4 5 . Part iii, chapter 1 9 of the Furnace of the Faiths, a con

troversial treatise by R . Yi zhaq Lopez of Aleppo, according tothe printed copy. The author does l ittle more than borrow fromthe Wars of the Lord (No . 1 4) and the Touchstone (No . the

extract has,however, been inserted for the sake of completeness.

4 6 . Chapter 1 2 of the ” 1 511 OWN8,also a polemical treatise, by

R . Yoshua‘

Seg re , composed in the year 1 79 1 , when the authorwas twenty-three years old. This I transcribed from a Parma

MS ,NC . 1 2 7 1 and the text has been further collated with the

o rig inal MS . by the Abbate Perreau, sub-librarian at Parma.

After the sheets had passed throug h the press, I found the workmentioned in Senior Sachs’ catalogue of MSS . be long ing toBaron Giinzburg of Paris (No .

— a library which containsalso several o ther works by the same author .

47. The Stronghold of David and of Z ion, a Commentary on

the Old Testament by R.Y’

hiel ben R .David Altschuler,accord

ing to the printed editions . S ince the author (as he te lls us

himse l f in his preface to the First Prophets) professes only tore cord what he had rece ived from his father, I have prefixed thename of the latter to the extract .A series of extracts re lating to Isaiah liii, from larg er works

upon different subje cts :a . From the Arabic Lexicon ofMarD avid ben Abraham, the

Qaraite , a contemporary of Sa‘

ady ah Ga’on t , according to an

Oxford MS , Opp . Add. fol . 2 5 , s. v. 05s . 6. From the Book ofR oots of R.Yonah Abulwalid : see the Oxford edition

, p . 1 1 7 .

8 L e . properly, the Suspended Trespass-afiering ( see p. 307) but the authormeans his t itle to be understood as signifying the Trespass ofthe Crucified one.

Dickute’

Qadmoniot, p . 208 .

xvi PREFACE.

c . From the Letter to the South [Yemen] of R. Moses Maimonides, as g iven in the Qobez . d. From the mm nnn5n, a polemical work composed by a scholar of Narbonne (probably R . Me

’i rbar Shim‘on) in the year 1 2 40, and dedicated to R. Meshul lambar Mosheh 1 1 . Two MSS . have been made use of for this

,one at

Parma and, for the first part, one in the Rabbinical School of

Breslau in the L igqutim of R . Mosheh of Salerno , see

be low (f). e . Chapter 5 of the ruins PM?) of R . Mord’

khai ben

Y’

hosaphah , of Provence, written by him in answer to the convertPaulus Christianus in 1 2 74

V. This I have taken from the Vatican

MS . 27 1 , with which the printed text has also been collated forme by R . Mordekhai Ang e lo di Capua. f. From the Objectionscollected tog ether and added to by R . Mosheh ben Sh’ lomoh ofSalerno (about according to a Breslau MS ,

No . 5 9 .

9 . From the‘

Iqqarim of Yoseph Albo part iv, chap . 1 3 .

h . A poem by R . Israe l (perhaps R . Israe l Nagara, of Damascus,who lived about from the Oxford MSS.

,M . 3 1 0 and

M . 1 89 . i. From the Beg inning of Wisdom,by R. Eliy y ah de

Vidas according to the Venice edition of 1 5 93 . j. Fromthe Shield and Sp ear of R . Hayyim ’

Ibn Musa,of Mag reb, also

from the Bres lau MS . 5 9 . For the transcription of the threelast-named extracts I am indebted to Dr. Freudenthal

,and the

transcript has also been ag ain collated with the orig inal MSS .

by Dr. David Kaufmann. h. A Chapter of an anonymous Warsof the Lord, from a MS . in the Talmudical School at Amsterdamin the course of it , ment ion is made of a commentary on the

Old Testament by R . Ya‘

qob ben R’

uben. This was transcribed and collated for me by the same scholars who k indlylent me the ir assistance for No . 29 . Z. From the Paris MS

,

NC. 1 7. m. From a Parma MS ,NC . 1 090 . n. From the

n Comp . Archives des missions, 1 872, p . 5 5 6 , and Gross in Gratz’s Manatschrifl , 1 875 , p . 1 90 .

V Ste inschne ider in the Mazhir , xvi. p . 42 . The Vat icanMS . is oftenverydifficult to read, and in many places has suffered obliteration.

W Mazkir, xv. p . 86 .

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xvi i i PREFACE.

so penetrated with ideas of a cabbal istic or hag gadic natureas to be scarcely inte l lig ible ; as, for example , the can mm(pp . 1 6—1 9) of R .Hayy im Kohen,

the app” mum: of R.YosephPardo, the n

’

5’

w(Y’

shayah Hurwiz ) and 1 5m pm) of R.Naphtal iHerz Bachrach others

,such as those by the pupils of R . Mosheh

ofDessau (Mende lssohn) and R .Yirm’

y ah He inemann, are mere ly

g lossaries, or not orig inal a third class, aga in, such as that byR . Me

’ir (Liebusch) Malbim, are wholly of a philosophical

character, or resemble the 5mm no ne: of the late GottliebSchwartz, which , in my opinion, does violence to the Hebrewidiom. Lastly, commentaries such as those of S . Cahen, Herxhe imer, or Philippson, be ing written in the vulgar tongue , andin the hands of every one interested in the literature of the OldTestament, i t was evidently unnecessary to reprint.5 1 . Chapter 4 of the Fuente Clara (place and date of publ ica

tion unknown), the only known copy ofwhich, now at ParmaY,is

exceeding ly corrupt, not mere ly through the confusion of simi larlette rs (such as 3 , J, and fl ; n and n; 1 , T, and n and D), butalso from the interchang e of Spanish and Ital ian words

,and

the presence of frequent lacunae. These corrupti ons were so

numerous, that it was impossible to indicate all the corre ctionsthat were needed in order to make the text readable , except incase s where they consisted mere ly in the filling up of the lacunae

It seems probable that the work was written orig inal lyin Hebrew. In decyphering this text I must acknowledg e theassistance I have derived from my friend M . Joseph Halevy ofParis.

In the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg (which I wasrecently commissioned by the University of Oxford to visi t, forthe purpose of reporting upon the second collection of HebrewArabi c MSS. acquired from the late M . Firkowitz sch) , I wasfortunate enoug h to meet with two commentaries of the g reate stvalue , viz .

5 2 . The Commentary of R .Y’

hudah ben Bil‘

am (c . 1 080) onY De Rossi , B ibliotheca Judaica Antichristiana , p . 3 3 .

PREFACE. xix

the Prophets . It is probable that Ben Bil‘

am’

s commentaryembraced the whole of the Old Testament ; for part of that onNumbers and Deuteronomy exists in the Bodle ian Library, andI have found beside s a leaf of his commentary on the Psalms inthe second Pe te rsburg col lection (No . and some from thoseon Job and Danie l (all written inArabic) in the VaticanLibrary,No . 4 2 9 .

5 3 . The Commentary of R . Tanhum ben Yoseph , of Jerusalem (thi rteenth century) . I must here acknowledg e spe ciallymy obligations to the Vice -Dire ctor of the Library, M . A . Th .

Bitschkow,. who most courteously permitted me the freest

access to the MSS .,and also to my friend Dr. Harkavy.

5 4 . A. From the Khoz am’ of R . Y

’

hudah hal-Levi (aboutB . The Commentary of R. Sh’lomoh ben M’

nahem,

also known as Frat Maimon, and contained in his work , theTestimony to Israel, and cited at lengt h in the ir commentarieson the Khoz ari, by his two pup ils R . N

’

thanel ben N’

hemy ah

Kaspi (MS. Mich . Add. 1 1,fol . 74) and R . Sh’ lomoh benY’

hudah

(called also Salmon Vivas of Lune l) , Opp. Add. quo . 1 1 4 , fol . 5 5 .

The composition of the latter commentary was begun in the year1 4 24 , when the author was th irteen years old 2

5 5 . From the Commentary on the Prophets by R . Gershomben Nathan,

written in 1 5 94 : the MS . is in the UniversityL ibrary at Upsala.

Next follow three Spanish texts written in Roman characters,and the Latin of hen ‘

Amram.

A. Chapter 4 1 , in the orig inal (see No . from the Fortalezade l Judaismo y Confusion elel estrano of R .Abraham, the Prose ly te a, of Cordova, according to an Oxford MS b This treatiseis also to be found in Baron Giinzburg

’

s L ibrary, No . 467.

2 See Archives des missions, e tc. , 1 873 , p. 5 73 .

Otherwise called Lorenzo Escudero, according to Dr. Kay serling , Sephardim, p . 2 5 5 .

b Catal.Mortara, No . 1 67 Catal . Coxe, Canon.Miscell No . 5 44 , who saysthat , to judg e from the hand, the MS . must belong to the sixte enth century.

b 2

XX PREFACE.

B . The 2 3rd‘Question ’

on Isaiah from the Conciliaclor ofR . M’

nasseh hen Israe l (about according to the Amsterdam edition of 1 6 5 0 ,

but with occasional corrections , the textas there g iven be ing disfigured by numerous errata.

C . Chapters 2 4—28 from the Prevenciones divinas contra la

va/na Idolatria de las g entes of the physician Orobio de Castro,one of the persecuted Spaniards who , in order to be able to profe ssJudaism Openly,mig rated about the middle of the seventeenth century 0 to Amsterdam, where he composed th is work in supportof the Jewish faith . For the text I have followed an OxfordMS ,

Opp. Add. fol . 29 , and another which came into my hands fromM . Montez inos in Amsterdam. For making the ne cessary corre ctions in the MS ., previous to publication,

I cal led in the

assistance of Senor Lucena, Teacher of Spanish in this University . There is an abridgment of this treatise in Portuguese d,wh ich I had acquired from M . Monte z inos, and from whichthe French translation was made by Henrique z

e but as Portuguese is less g enerally known than French

,it was de emed

suflicient to reprint the last chapter from the French translation, according to the first edit ion.

D . Sections 6 1 3—647, and 840 , 84 1 , from the Gate of Truth,by R . Ya

‘

qob ben¢

Amram, written in the year 1 6 3 4 . The

Hebrew orig inal of this is unfortunately lost , and i t exists onlyin a Lat in translation, in a MS . be long ing to Ball iol Colleg e ,Oxford, No . 2 5 1 . On the first pag e are the words : ‘ Portaveritatis sive compendiaria via ad beatitudinem

,autore Jacob

ben Amram Judaeo hae c porta Domini , justi intrabunt per

0 See Gratz, x. p . 202 .

‘1 Its title is, Explicacao p araphrastica sobre 0 cap . 5 3 de profeta Isaias

feito p or hum coriozo da nacad hebrea emAmsterdam em 0 mez de

Tisry anno 5 43 5 . See the Cardozo Catalogue , Amsterdam, 1 870 , No . 1 3 76 .

It has be en printed twice : once in London, 1 770 , under the t itle I sraelveng e

'

, an exposition naturelle des p rop hé ties heb raiques que les clzré liens

app liquent a [car p ré tendu Messie ; and in Paris , 1 846 .

PREFACE . xxi

eam (Ps . 1 1 7 , v . Anno de orbe condito, 5 3 94 f.’

Latin isst ill so far from be ing in Eng land a dead or unknown languag ethat it has been de emed unnecessary to have this Commentarytranslated ; the text itse lf has, howeve r, for convenience, beenreprinted in the Eng l ish volume .

The re stil l remain four other treat ises to be al luded to .

a . Tratado hecho p or doctor [Elie] ZlIontealto sobre el cap itulo5 3 de Isakias, which l ikewise is in my possession s : this hasbeen omitted, because it is mere ly a discussion on the sin ofour first parents, and not an exposit ion of the entire chapter.I) . Declaraga5 do Cap . 5 3 de Iesay a , by Yizhaq Montealto h °

this I was unable to see,in cons equence of the jealousy of its

possessor ; i t may possibly be a Portuguese version of one ofthe Spanish chapters mentioned above . 0. The 11 5153 nnmi

,a.

commentary on Isaiah , by R. Hil le l ben Ya‘qob ha-Kohen (about1 5 00 1 ) but this, as Dr. Perle s has pointed out j— and through

The following curious note is inscribed on the coverAn Advertisement .

This manuscript was found in the library ofthe very learned Rd. Cudworth ,D . D . Thence it came into the hands ofmy learned friend P. Allix, D .D .

,of

whom I bought it . I have heard Dr. Cudworth say that he bought ofM . ben

Israe l a MS. for £ 1 0 , and I be lieve th is to be the same . It has been thoug htthat M. ben Israe l was the author of it . I cannot affirm that to be so . But

I can afiirm that I take it to be the greatest effort against Christianity thatI ever saw in any language whatsoever. And for that reason I do declarethat it is my will that it be no t sold to any private person for any price howg reat soever, le st by that means it should be printed, without an answer,to the prejudice of Christ ianity . I rather will that it should be burnt, org iven to some public library upon sufficient caution that it be never lent outof the said library , nor transcribed, but locked up by itse lf and consul tedupon occasion, in the library, by such only as shall be allowed by the ownersof the said library.

May 9, 1 700 . R ICHAR D BATH AND W ELLS .

8 Cardozo Catalogue , No . 1 398 .

h l bid., No . 1 405 .

i Se e Steinschneider’

s Catal. of the Hebrew MSS . at Munich , Cod. 365 .

J Gratz, Monatsschrift, 1 875 , p . 368 .

xx i i PREFACE.

the k indness of Rabbi S. Z . Tauss ig , the editor of the 0152) m) ,who transcribed for me the port ion re lating to this Parashah , I amin a positi on entirely to confirm his judgment— is nothing morethan a cento from the earl ier commentators

,and in particular

from Rashi and David Qamhi.It is possible that othe r passag es re lating to the same chapte r

may have escapedmy notice any such wh ich may be indicatedbythe k indness of critics

,I shal l g ladly supply should an oppor

tunity present itself.I cannot end this preface without acknowledg ing the obliga

tions I am under to my two friends, M . Senior Sachs of Par is,and Dr. Schiller-Sz inessy of Cambridg e, who have been of theg reatest assistance to me while the Hebrew sheets were passingthroug h the press .

The above is a complete list of the texts which

have be en edited in vo lume i. For the translations

o ccupying the present volume,with the excep

tion of those from the Spanish , the undersigned

are joint ly responsible ; for the revision of the

translations of the Spanish commentaries, they are

under oblig ations to Mr. H. J. Mathews , ofExe ter

Col leg e , Oxford, to whom they desire to acknow

ledg e their best thanks for the a id which he has

rendered. It has be en the aim of the translators

to render the various texts as literally as was con

s ist ent with Eng lish idiom,while at the same time

reducing in some measure the difiuseness and

tauto log y of expression not unfrequent ly charac

t eristic of the orig inal. They have refrained from

offering any criticisms or comments of their own,

PREFACE. xx i i i

even in cases where defective philology or palpablyfalse exeg e sis might seem to invite or demand

them . And, lastly, they feel that it is only justto record their g rateful recognition of the assist

ance which , through the whole course of the work,

they have derived from the dilig ent and skilful ey e

ofMr. Pembrey,to whom the high character borne

by the Oriental publications of the Clarendon

Press has been for many years due .

S. R. D.

OXFORD, December, 1 876.

PREFACE .

NOTE.

SOME explanat ion ought perhaps to be Offered ofthe orthography emp loyedin the present volume in the transliterat ion ofHebrew words. The currentforms ofmany ofthe more familiar B ible-names are derived, as is well known,through the Vulgate from those adopted by the Septuag int translators, andoften deviate not iceably from such as would be in strict accordance with thepre sent vo calizat ion of the Hebrew text . It was felt that in a work in whichunfamil iar name s constantly occurring would ofnece ssity call for exact transliteration, an attempt might be made to remove the anomaly Of conventionaland unconvent ional forms appearing side by side , and at the same time tosecure throughout forms more thoroughly in harmony with analogy and thestructure ofthe languag e . W hen thus re stored, for example , the proper namesS imeon, Moses, Solomon, Isaac, Jacob, Samue l, Elijah , Isaiah Sennacherib,become , respect ive ly, Shim‘on

,Mosheh , Sh ’lomoh, YizhaqJYa qob, Sh’mu'

e l ,’

Eliyyah, Y’

sha'

yah , Sanhé rib. In the citat ion Of books Of the B ible , however

,the usual orthography has be en adhered to and in some other instance s

also uniformity has not be en completely attained. It only remains to explainthat represents, before a vowel, the soft breathing ; before a consonant , theslight e-sound almost necessarily heard between two consonants occurringtog ether at the beg inning ofa syllable that represents the rough guttural‘

Ain ; that t, 2 , q represent respect ive ly Te t , Zade , and Qoph (as dist inguishedfrom Tau

,Zain

, and Kaph) : lastly , that j has of course di sappeared, be ingreplaced by y ; and that Cheth (ch as in ‘Loch to avoid mispronunciation, is

represented by h .

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CONTENTS .

XIV.— R . Jacob ben Reuben

,the Rabbanite

XV.— Jacob ben Reuben

,the Qaraite

XVI .— Anonymous Arabi c Translation

XVII — R . Eliezer OfBeaug enci ?XVIII .

— R . Joseph ben Nathan (l’

Oflicial)XIX — R . Isaiah ben Mal i (the Elder)XX.

— R . Moses ben Nahman (Nachmanides)XXL— Aaron ben Joseph (the Elder)XXII .— The Older Niz z ahonXXIII .

— R . Shem Tobh ben ShaprutXXIV. A.

— R . Moses Kohen ibn CrispinXXIV. B.

— R . Moses KohenXXV — En Solomon AstrucXXVI — R . Isaac Elijah (Al i ?) KohenXXVII .

— Anonymous Persian TranslationXXVIII . —R . Lipmann (Yom Tobh) of MuhlhausenXXIX — Don Isaac AbarbanelXXX .

—R . David de Rocca MartinoXXXI .

—R . Sa‘

adyah ibn Danan

XXXII .—R . Solomon ben Melekh .

XXXI II .—R . Abraham Farissol

XXXIV .— Anonymous

XXXV.— R . Me ir c

Aramah

XXXVI — Isaac TrokiXXXVII .

-R . Moses Al She ikhXXXVIII .

— R . Solomon ben Isaac Levi .

XXXIX.—R . Abraham, the Prose lyte

XL.— R . Samue l Lamado

XLL— The Qaraitie Tataric TranslationXLII .

-R . Abraham ben Judah HazanXLII I .

— R . Naphtal i ben Asher AltschulerXLIV .

— R . Solomon de MariniXLV .

—R . Isaac Lope zXLVI .— R . Joshua Seg reXLVII .

—R . David Altschuler

CONTENTS . xxvi i

SHORT PASSAGESa . R. David ben Abraham

, the Qaraite

b. R. Jonah ibn Janahc. R . Moses ben Maimond. R. Me ir ben Simeone. R. Mordecai ben Josephf. R . Mose s of Salerno .

g . R. Joseph Alboh. R . Israe l (Nagarah 7)i. R. EllJah de Vidasj. R. Hayy im ibn Musak. Anonymous Book of Controversyl. Anonymous Marg inal Glossesm. Othe r Glossesn. The Book of the Piouso . Midrash Konen .

p . R . Menahem Azariah of Fanoq. R . Hayyim Vitalr . Midrash han-Ne

‘

elam

s . Yalqut (the later)t. Anonymous Book of Controversyu. L iturg ical Piecev. An onymous Buch der Ve rzei chnung

’

w . L iturg ical Piece03 . Levi ben Gershom

y . R . Liwa ben Bezalee l

XLVIII .—Herz Homberg

XLIX.— R . Joseph Passani

L.— Samue l David Luz z atto

LI .-An onymous Fuente Claro ’

LIL— Judah ben BalaamLIII .

—R . Thanhum of JerusalemLIV.

-The Khozari and its CommentatorsA.— Judah hal-Levi

1 3 .— R . Solomon ben Menahem

xxvii i CONTENTS .

PAGELV.

—R . Gershom ben NathanSPANISH , FRENCH , AND LATIN TExTS

A.— Abraham Guer de Cordova

B .— R . Manasseh ben Israe l

C .— Isaac Orobio de Castro

D .— Jacob ben Amram

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

T O TH E

ENGLISH TRANSLAT ION.

THE late p ious Dr. Macbride, ever a g reat lover of the Jewishpeople , endowed (as is we ll known in Oxford) an annualSermon on

‘ the Jewish interpretation Of prophe cy.

’

On one

occasion when I was entrusted with preaching that Sermon, i toccurred to me that we wanted larg er materials than can be

with in the reach of most preachers.

The extracts indeed from the Older writers , which we stil lhave

,are copious, and more complete than they could be made

in these days 3 . Raymond Martini had before him MSS . which,

under the mandate of the king of Arrag on, had been broughttog ether from the synag ogues within his realm. Raymond dePennafort i had founded seminaries for the instruction of members of his order

,in Hebrew and Arabi c, to promote the con

version ofJews andMohammedans b . James I,king ofArrag on,

commissioned Paulus Christianus 0, ‘ of Jewi sh birth and in

structed among them in Hebrew l iterature d,’

among others , tocollect such MSS . as were to his purpose . Paul had g one about

3 Those passag e s only are collected here , in wh ich th is sect ion of Isaiahis directly quoted. W iinsche

,die Le iden des Me ssias , has colle cted into one

the passag es on the suffering s of the Me ss iah from Mart ini,Scho ttg en, and

the re st . Some t imes also the allus ion to th is se ction is contained in the

characterist ic word ( lii i . 4 , 1 1 ) as in the Pesikta Rabbathi, Our Rabbinshave handed down, the fathers Of the world will rise in Nisan and say to

him, Ephraim'

Messiah our righteousne ss, though we are thy fathers , thouart better than we , because thou hast borne our iniquit ies and the iniquit iesof our sons (im : mam mm) , and many and hard judgmentshave passed over the e , wh ich did not pass over the former or the later,’ &c.

(SchOttg . p . 1 3 3 , the Hebrew in W i‘

msche , p . and in the account of a

p ious man, who , when asked why he took suffering on h imse lf, said, Healso must suffer something , since the Me ssiah bore the iniquit ies (mm? 5 3 1 0)Of Israel ,’ Chasidim, p . 60 m Heng st . Christol . ii . 3 5 1 ed. 2 .

b Acta Sanct t . Jan. 27, i . Gratz , vi1 . 27.

0 W olf, B ibl. Hebr. t . i . n . 1 9 1 2 .

d Clement IV in Carpz ov’

s Praef. ; Gratz, vn . 1 3 1 .

XXX INTRODUCTION TO THE

as a missionary, disputing with the Jews, undertak ing to provefrom the Bible and the Talmud, that Jesus was Christ and God 0

He knew thenwhat to se le ct : a king’

s command could not thenbe resisted in Spain, and penalties were annexed to its refusal f.SO the books which Mart ini used

,represent the texts,such as

existed in MSS . of the Jewish synag ogue s in Spain in the latterpart of the thirte enth century 8 . They are spoken ofas Ofthe morere condite h .

’

The latest historian of the Jews attests his capacities.

‘ iHe was solidly instructed in B ibl ical and Rabbinicall iterature , which he had certainly learned from a baptized Jew ,

perhaps from Paulus Christianus he read fluently the writing sOf the Agada, Rashi , Ibn Ezra, Maimuni, and Kimchi , and usedtherefromwhat seemed to him calculated to prove that, not onlyin the Bible , but also in the Rabbinical writing s, Jesus wasannounced as Messiah and Son of God.

’The distinguished

Jewish writer Ben Aderet , who wrote against him i, objectednoth ing to the accuracy of his quotations. In his preface (inwhich he speaks modestly Ofh imse lfk) he says ]

,

‘ I was enjoinedto compose a work from the books Of the Old Testament whichthe Jews rece ive , and from the Talmud, and the other writing sauthentic among them,

—a poniard which should be at handfor Christian preachers and worshippers , e ither in the ir sermonsto cut to the Jews the breadm of the Divine word, or to put anend to the ir faithlessness , ’ &0. Jews of course must lay hold ofany weak points in it ; but they own that ‘n it for the first timeintroduced Christians into the Jewish world of thought.

’

I had hoped that the g eneral statement Of the character ofMartini , and the circumstance s under which he compiled hiswork , would have sufficed. But he has lately been denouncedas one

‘

guilty of impostures ,’ ‘we ll-meaning dishonesty

’

(as i fdishonesty were not ag g ravated when the subject is the faith),audacious alteration of the text,

’

&c. An early father appealedto the heathen emperor as to the calumnies against Christians,‘ OWhat y ou would not do , y ou should not suspe ct others of

e Gratz, l . c . Bosque t Ep. ad Voisin. in Carpz qv Theol. Jud. c. xn.

8 Mart ini was engag ed in writ ing the tenth chapter of his se cond part inA . D . 1 275 (Pug . Fid. fol. but he must have collected hismaterials beforehe beg an.

1 1 ‘ Codices reconditiores, ’ Bosquet Ep . ad Voisin. in Carpz ov, l . c. p. 92 .

Gratz, vii . 1 63 .1 Id. ibid. p . 1 65 , note .

k Prooem. 1 1 . iv. p . 2 ed. Carpz ov.l Ibid. 1 1 . ii i .

m The poniard be ing used as a knife for cutt ing bread.

Gratz, p . 1 64. Tertull. Apol. c. 8 .

ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

doing .

’ Raymond Martini spent near forty years P in his laboursfor the extension Of the truth , which he loved. Although weknow him as a writer, y e t writing was not his exclusive orprominent occupation. He is said to have been President ofe ight colleg es, founded by the king of Arrag on to promote thestudy of the Oriental languag es for the conversion of J ews andMohammedans <1 . He was also for a short time a Missionary inTunis, where he was ve ry acceptable to its king , and y et this,too

,had its perils, for one of his colleagues became a marte

He declared his be l ief that our Lord sput it into his heart to

beg in his work , and he prayed Him to enable him to completei t in such w ise as Should be to the g lory of God, the defence ofthe faith , the true and beneficial conversion of unbe lievers , andto the eternal salvation of himse lf, the least of his order. Itis best to speak plainly. Either Martini was what he hashithert o been accounted, an able and laborious and conscientiousman with vast resources at his command

, which have since beenlost

,or he was a forg er, a l iar, and hypocrite . There is no doubt

of his abil ity . There is a saying that ‘he spoke Hebrew and

Arabic as fluently as Latin t . ’ Did he abuse these powers , lyingin the name of God ?Augustin Justinian,

bishop of Nebio , in his preface to Porchet’

s

‘Victoria,’ the materials Of which Porchet professed to drawfrom Martini

,says 1 1 , ‘What labour

,vig ils, expense , he lps are

necessary to those who would penetrate the se crets of theHebrews

,I have myse l f experienced. But , be ing in whatever

deg ree provided w ith all these , I have myse lf read in the monuments of the Hebrews a g ood part of what is cited by Porchetand Raymond, so that there is no room left for any doubt as tothe truthfulness [tide] of the ir citations . Of this we can g ivefullest proof to any one by testimony of the books , from whichthis pre cious store was taken : almost all of which I haveObtained for myse lf

, and keep carefully,as king s do the ir

jewels .

’

The loss of any book or books, in the time before printingwas discovered, or the variation of texts, when they were only

P He was appointed President A . D . 1 2 5 0, died after A . O . 1 286 . Hissignature appears in a conventus , July 1 , 1 284 , D iago Hist . Praed. Arrag .

i i . 28.

q Herzog , Real-EncyclOpadie x1 1 . 5 70 , Art . Raymund Martino.

Diago, l. c.8 Praef. end, 1 1 . 1 8.

Herzog , ibid. Quoted in Carpz ov’ s Prae f. c . 1 2 , p . 1 04 .

xxx i i INTRODUCTION TO THE

handed down by individual scribes , can surprise no one . In

many subje cts we have to reg ret our losses . In this l ittle volumean exposition Of Benjamin of Nehawend W

,another of Saadyah

Gaon X, both of them ce lebrated writers

, are alleg ed. Theymust have existed in the e leventh century

,but are

,as y et , lost.

The remarkable saying Of Joseph Ben Caspi, I be lieve , is knownat pre sent through the one writer who quotes him Y

. Whatwould have been thought of Mart ini , had be quoted from a book zanterior to the Talmud, of which those who have previouslyquoted it are said to have al leg ed only one saying ? A Jewishcontroversialist 8 , who himse lf supposes I srae l to be the subj ectOf the section

,says , as an admission, that in the Talmud it is ex

pounded of the Messiah It is not to be found in our editions .

’

Dr. Neubauer, who has re cently been employed by the FrenchGovernment to ascertain what remains there are of Jewishl iterature in Spain and Portugal , te lls us, ‘ b There are not morethan 1 0 0 MSS . in those countries , the seat Of Hebrew learningOf all branches during five centuries ( 1 040 to All

_ _bably, wh ich Martini used,must have perished;

It is almost degrading to aIi'

authOP'

Of accredited hone sty todefend him on the g round that fraud would have de feated itsown purpose . We use Martini as a repertorium of extracts frombooks which have been lost. But Martini wrote i t to furnishmaterials for those of his own order, eng ag ed in the like studiesfor the conversion of Jews and Mohammedans

,but chiefly of

the Jews. But the Jews had able controvers ialists . The booksalleg ed were the ir study from early youth . To what end to usefraud which would be patent and rebound in the first disputation ? Passag es quoted by Martini are also quoted

,indepen

dently of him apparently, by a J ewish convert, Hieronymus aS . Fide , who had his authorities from his own Jew ish studie s .

He also quotes from a Genesi magno antiquissimoc;’

but his

quotations, while ag ree ing in the main with those Of Martini,

vary from them,quoting sometimes a text more OfHoly Scripture,

W Quoted by Yepheth b. Ali ; see p . 3 1 .

x Quoted by Ibn Ezra, p . 4 2.

Y Ibn Danan, p . 203 .

2 Tana (P be Eliyyahu, below, p . 385 see W olf, B . H. i . p . 1 47.

‘1 Me ir b. Shim‘on quoting Sotah , 1,below, p . 3 77.

b Neubauer, Talm. and Rabb . Literat . p . 9 , (an extract from the AnnualReport of the Ph ilological Socie ty, London,

c Hieron. aS . Fide contra Jud. i . 2 , in Bib] . Max. Patr. t . 26 , p . 5 3 3 .

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xxx iv INTRODUCTION TO THE

The quotation from the Siphrék and two from R . Mosheh Had

darshen l occur in Hieronymus also , but w ith variations whichshew that his authority was independent OfMartini .In the following volume a passag e from the Talmud is quoted

w ith an addition of two words . In this Martini’s text is so

clearly rig ht, that i t can hardly fail to be accepted. It is one

in which names Of the Messiah are enumerated. W ith one

e xception, each consists of a sing le word.

‘ Shiloh , ’ ‘Yinnon ’

(PS . lxxii . ‘Chaninah ,’ ‘Menahem.

’

In the present text Of

the Talmud the other name has been made leprous of the houseOf Rabbi .’ Such a name could only have found acceptancethrough the absence of g ood MSS . Martim s MS . restores theSense : The Rabbis say , the leprous one

”

[with reference doubtlessto an explanation of ver. 4

In] ; those of the house Of Rabbi say ,“ the sick one

,

”

as it is said,

“sure ly he hath borne our sick

This clear case g ives a favourable impression as toMartini’s t exts .

Formerly, Christians used to charg e the Jews with falsi fyingthe ir MSS . : the tables are now turned, and the charg e has be enmade ag ainst Martini . There is no g round for these mutualcriminations. The Jews had a perfe ct right to enlarg e or contract the ir texts

,which were made for private use , so long as that

text itsel f was no t authoritative,as the Holy Scriptures .

It is notorious that MSS . did represent the ir text more orless accurate ly. Evenwith printed books be fore him, Sch

'

Ottg en

complained of the injuries wh ich the text had underg one . Thus,he shews how

,in a long passag e , the Pe sikta R abbathi and

the Yalkut Shimeoni fi ll up and correct one another 1 1 . He

restores the Pesikta,

‘ in a place very dislocated,’ from the Echa

Rabbathi O and ag ain in some deg ree out of the Yalkut P and

k Be low, p . 1 0 , quoted as Ziphrat in Hieron. i . 1 1 . The spe lling is

throughout very bad but for it he is not re sponsible . The passag e in the

Siphré varying in the present edit ions, I would only add that Edz ardi quo te stwo passag e s, in which ment ion is made of the merit of the Me ssiah (note son the Pug . Fid. p . 866 , l. 7, in W olf, Bibl. Hebr. iv. and that the

Talm. 1 1719 3 0 71 (Hebr. text , p .

‘afllicted himself, ’ is a Jewish , not a

Christian concept ion ofthe Me ss iah (comp.m i rnn‘n 0 1 3 5 Hebr. t ext, p.

No t knowing Of the atoning death , they pictured voluntary self-affliction.

1 That beg inning Says R . B'

rekyah,’

and that In the beg inning ,

’

below,

P 3 3m Se e Levy, Lex. Chald. p . 245 .

0 Horae Hebraicae de Me ssia, pp. 1 27- 1 34.

0 Ibid. p. 1 36 .P Ibid. p . 1 72 .

ENGLISH TRANSLATION . XXXV

the Rabboth (1 . He supplie s from the Tanchuma what Martiniquotes from his Bereshith Rabba f : he restores from one editionof the Pesik ta Sotartas what had clearly been omitted in another t .

He shews how theTanchumamay be supplied out of the BereshithRabba

,as quoted by Martini “, or how the Bereshith Rabba may

be suppl ied in part out of the Yalkut , but more ful ly out of thatof Martini "

,or from the Yalkut alone W . He marks omiss ions

in some editions X he complains also of dislocation and corruptions of the Zohar Y and the Tanchuma Z

. He notices variationsof the ‘

son of David and ‘ house of David in different citationsOf the same passag e

a of the subst itution of the Messiah benJoseph for the Messiah ben David h ; the omission of WM "

1573 0

He uses the modern crit ical canon,that the number of various

reading s imply corruption d. Dr. Neubauer informs me thatdifferent collections and Cop ies of Midrashim are more or lessfull, and that some have been lost. Indeed

,I could not but

think , that Jewish writers who quoted them, g enerally had a

larg er rang e before them,than we have now. However, I would

say that I took upon myse lf the responsibility Of requestingDr. Neubauer to insert the quotations from Martini

,and that

he inserted them (as he placed the extracts from the Zohar) inconsideration Of my wishes, leaving i t to me to defend them.

Amid the various sources of human mistake,we are bound by

the duties of our common humanity,not to assume the very

worst,dishonesty ; but to be l ieve what a person says that he saw

with his own eyes . Enough has been said, perhaps, where

demonstration on e ither side is impossible, Since the extractswere made nearly Six centuries ag o, and the MSS . which Martinihad before him have long S ince perished.

To return . Be sides this g reat and (as I bel ieve on a studyOf near fifty years) accurate repertorium , drawn from MSS .

be fore the invention Of printing , and including extracts fromworks which have since been lost, are the larg e collectanea ofSchOttg en, as also those in Lightfoot, Sommer on the Theology ofthe Sohar, Glassner on the twofold Messiah , Edz ardi’s works, asalso the careful monog raph of Dr. MC Caul on Is. l iii , and others .

But while these brought within the reach of all, the Older

q Horae Hebraicae de Messia, p . 1 97. Pp. 1 0 1 , 1 03 .

9 P . 1 4 1 .t P . 97.

0 Pp . 72, 73 . Pp . 1 6 1 , 1 62 .W P. 1 64 .

x P . 1 8 2 .Y Pp . 1 09, 24 1 .

2 P. 74 .

e P. 227.

b Pp . 2 28, 229 .

«

0

1

I

;23 1 and elsewhere . Se e other variations , ibid. pp. 237, 239 , 240 .

1 5 9 .

xxxv i INTRODUCTION TO THE

traditional interpretations , we seemed to me to have a lessknowledg e Of the later Jewish mind, from the e leventh centuryonwards . It may be that, as , on all subjects in all nations , theorig inal minds are few

,and the mass of writing s are but repro

ductions Of the few, so i t may be he re . However, be th is as it

may , whether or no i t shal l appear that the more recent writersamong the Jews, follow the few leaders , as Rashi , Joseph Kimch i(himse lf followed by his son David) , Ibn Ezra, and Abarbanel ,both in the ir own interpretations and in the ir Objections toChristianity, I thought that we wanted fuller evidence Of the irmind.

Those to whom most had access were very few in number ;and much remained to be added fromMSS . Abarbanel, I found,quoted a commentary on this se ction by a ce lebrated writer

,

Moses ben Nachman 6,which had escaped the vast knowledg e

Of W olf (Bibl iotheca Hebraea) and De Rossi . Dr. Neubauerpointed it out to me in the Michae l collection of MSS . whichhe was cataloguing , as also another wholly unknown. Besidesthe additions from MSS .

,I expected that some of the printed

works might be filled up or corre cted by MSS . Pococke pointedout

,more than two centuries ag o

f,by aid Of the first edition

of Kimchi g on the Prophets, and two Oxford MSS .,that

,from

different causes, passag es directed ag ainst Christianity had been

suppressed in printed editions . But ifwe wish to know any one’

s

m ind,we must know it wholly.

I requested Dr. Neubauer then to col lect for me all Jewishinte rpretations of Is . l i i . 1 3

—lii i . end,engag ing myse lf to have

them printed. This he will ing ly undertook,as an important

l iterary work , and has executed with a fulness which could onlyhave been attained by one with his extensive Oriental learningand knowledg e Of Jewish l iterature . Twenty-e ight h of the larg ere xtracts

,and nine of the shorter

,have been collected from MSS .

in the Bodle ian,and libraries of St . Petersburg , Paris, Rome ,

Florence , Parma, Leyden, Breslau, Upsala. Of the printed com

ments,the fami l iar names of Rashi , Ibn Ezra, Kimch i (and his

epitome , the Michlal Yophi) , Abarbanel, Moses Elshe ikh , w iththose of R. Samue l Lany ado and R . Me ir Aramah

,were probably

It was printed by Ste inschne ider ; see Dr. Neubauer’s Preface , p . ix.

No t . Misce ll. ad Port . Mos. c. 8 ; W orks, t . i . pp . 24 1—249, published

A .D . 1 65 3 .

8 Ed. Pisaur.,A . D . 1 5 1 5 .

h The Fuente Claro is also taken from the one printed copy , which exists.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. xxxvi i

alone in reach of most . Of these , Kimchi , Ibn Ezra, and Me irAramah were collated afre sh, and Saadyah Gaon’

s text wasrestored from the sing le known MS . (that now at Paris has beenacquired since ) .Thus far I should only have deserved the thanks of Hebrew

and Arabic scholars for having sugg ested the work to one so

competent to complete it, who has spared no pains in its

e xecution. I incurred personal responsibil ity by requestingDr. Neubauer to have his col le ction translated into Eng l ishunder his own superintendence . On the one s ide

,the transla

tion,wh ich has been done with g reat and accurate pains, made

the colle ction access ible to those who , although idiomatical lyacquainted w ith Hebrew

,and so

,capable of avai l ing themse lves

Of it, had not had le isure to be come Arabi c scholars,or to read

Rabbinical Hebrew fluently, and so could make l ittle use of theorig inals. On the other side , the translation p laced this amountOf Jewish controversy (as it must be for the most part) w ith inthe reach of persons, men orwomen

,who have not the knowledg e

required to e stimate arig ht any one thing in the book . Yet in

these days, in wh ich almost e verybody reads everyt hing new,

some might use it to confirm the ir unbe l ief some might bediscomforted by the repetition Of denials of the faith in it.I was myse lf startled at the streng th OfB ishop Kidder

’

s protest,and his fears of the effect of one i rathe r common-

place work .

Yet in these days any th ing is but a drop in a rag ing sea. W hilethen I hope that th is book may enable us to understand the

bette r the difficulties of our Jewish brethren, I would, while(owing to the circumstances of the publ ication) I remain strictlyon the defensive , briefly say , why this volume in no way Shakesthe evidence from this g reat prophecy, but rather il lustrates it .It will be observed on examination, that next to nothing

turns upon rendering s of the Hebrew. The obj e ctions raised byJewish controversialists in the follow ing volume

,in only four or

,

at most, five words j, turn on the languag e . Of this hereafter .

i See Preface , p . xxi .

i I do not include nv ( lii . for although the interpretat ions are

different , it is never ment ioned in Jewish controversy, nor does anythingturn upon it . run is, in the Old Te stament , uniformly used Of‘ besprinkling ,

’

most frequently Of blood, but also of the oil , or water with the ashe s Of the

he ifer, in symbolic purificat ion. Al l the meaning s ascribed to it by Jewishinterpre ters are derived from the meaning sprinkle .

’

Two Of the earliest ,Aquila and Theodo tion, have the te chnical word, used in the Greek of the

xxxvi i i INTRODUCTION TO THE

The characteristics, in which all ag ree , are , that there wouldbe a prevailing unbe l ief as to the subj ect Of the prophe cy , lowly

Old Te stament of sprinkling to cleanse , ’ flax/Tia“ . The se render be sprinkle ’

with the accusat ive of the person, wh ich is, as Gesenius Observed, implied bythe proper name nun

2 . O thers, in view of the temporal Me ssias whom they expected, supplysprinkle the blood Of, ’ Yephe th (p . 2 Jehudah b . Bala’m (p . Ibn Ezra(p . Anonymous, xvi . (p . or scatter, ’ Tanchum (p . Aaron b .

Joseph (p . 86) Ibn Crispin (p. 1 0 5 , but explaining scat ter ’

as‘One who

Sprinkle s blood Abarbane l (p . 1 90)‘expel, perhaps with bloodshed, ’ xxxiv.

(p . 2 Mose s Elshe ikh (p . 262) sprinkle , so as to leave very few indeed, ’Lanyado (p . David Altschuler (p . 36

3 . O thers , in the same view, render scatter (as , in sprinkling , drop partsfrom drop) , Symmachus (p . Jonathan (p . Saadyah (p .

‘sprinkle

and scatter, ’ Gershom (p. 5 64) expe l and drive away ,’ Joseph Kara (p . 4 1 )Ibn Mali (p . Jacob b . R euben, Karaite (p . xvi i . (p . scatter,Niz z achon vet . (p . NaphthaliAltschuler (p. m. (p. Herz Homberg (p. 40 2) scatter and conquer (but admitt ing 2 and 6 to be possible ) ,Abarbane l (p .

‘ conquer, ’ Joseph b. Nathan (p . 72) cast down the

horns Of,’ Ra shi (p . Abraham b . Judah (p.

4 . Derived from thi s, is‘ rule , ’ Ibn Shaprut (p . Christ ian in Mosheh

Cohen (p. and Mosheh Cohen (p. Christ ian in Lopez (p .

and Lopez (p. 3 by his knowledg e hold sway over them and gain admittance to the table Ofking s, ’ Meir Aramah (p.

5 . A few render ‘ teaching ’

(again, drop by drop) . Others, ‘will teach

whole some doctrine , ’ Jacob b. Reuben, Karaite (p . his spe ech will dropupon,

’ Moses b. Nachman (p .

‘

preach and prophesy ,’ Shelomo Levi(P6 .

‘ Speak of’

( sprinkling words) , Farissol (p . or‘make to speak,

’

Ibn Dana‘

n (p .

7.

‘Make to speak,’ J . and D . Kimch i (p. Astruc (p . Isaac

Eliyyah (p. Sal. b. Melech (p . Troki (p. Mose s of Salerno(p. Manasseh b . Israe l (p . Pers ian version (p . xi) , TataricKaraite version (p . xiv) , Orobio (p .

8. Segre is, of course, alone in think ing that an is for omitting the 1for euphony (p .

I th ink all th e se rendering s unidiomat ic. In no language would a personsay absolute ly that he be sprinkled nations ,’ meaning that he ‘

shed the irblood, ’ or that he ‘

scattered them,

’

or that he ‘ taught them,

’or that he

ruled over them or that , he made them to sprinkle ,’ meant that he made

them to speak of him.

’

St ill , le t any take wh ich Of them he willed, theg eneral meaning would remain the same , that he , whom they once de spised,did the se thing s which were the acts Of one , who had power over them,

as a,

whole . They,at the same t ime

,by selecting one or other Of the se , shew

that though some of them were Arabic-speaking Jews, the favourite modernexplanation, made them ‘

spring for joy , ’ did not occur to them,as indeed

Go lius’

s exultavit prae hilaritate ’

(re tained by Freytag ) is a slip for the ass

sprung from its night’

s re sting—place .

’

Luz z atto alone leaves the Hebrew tradition for the Germanwith his made to leap, ’ startled,’ pp . 4 1 4 , 4 1 5 . Thoughat variance with the uniform Hebrew meaning , it does not affect the sense .

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. xxx ix

beg inning s , among circumstances outwardly unfavourable , butbefore God

,and prote cted by Him sorrows

,injustice , contempt,

death , which were the portion of the sufferer ; that he was accounted a transg ressor, y et that his suffering s were , in some way ,vicarious

,the just for the unjust ; his me ek S ilence his wil l ing

acceptance of his death ; his be ing with the rich in his death ;his soul be ing (in some way ) an offering for sin, and God

’

s acceptance of it ; his prolong ed l ife ; his making many righteous ;his continued intercess ion for transg ressors the g reatness of hisexaltation

,in proportion to the depth of his humi liation ; the

submission of king s to him his abiding re ign.

Now these are apparent on the surface in translations whichadhere to the lette r. W hatever difference there is in details Of

sing le words, al l these stand out in the translat ion Of Saady ah

Gaon (who is himse lf stated to have interpre ted the whole se ctionOf Jeremiah i) , or the Persian or the Tataric translation 5, or thatof Manasseh b. Israe l k . The question is not

,W hat is the pic

ture ? ’ in this all are ag reed ; but , ‘W hose imag e or likenessdoes it bear ? ’But clearly as all this l ies in the words, none beforehand

would understand how it could be fulfi lled in one person. For

none could tel l beforehand,how death, which closes all on this

earth, was to be the vestibule to a God-

g iven kingdom or howk ing s Should bow down before one who had been the Obj e ct ofcontempt . W e cannot, ’ says one of the later Of these writers 1 ,‘ interpret each individual detai l in it of the Messiah , because wedo no t know all the incidents of his advent , or the pre cisemanne r of the redemption which he wil l accompl ish for Israe land another m says

,that ‘ it was g iven by God as a description of

the Messiah,whereby

,when any should claim to be the Messiah

,

to judg e by the resemblance or non- resemblance to it, whetherhe were the Me ssiah or no .

’

Those of o ld, to whom the later Jews referred as authorities,dwe lt on the one or the othe r s ide of the pi cture ; some on the

i Dr.Neubauer te lls me that thi s interpretat ion is not in his book on the

faith , ’ some Ofwh ich is controversial against Christ ians (Po e . and sug

g e sts that Saadyah may have subjo ined a short commentary to his translat ionof Isaiah as he did to that ofJob (Hunt . 5 1 1 ) and of the Psalms. His translation Ofthe Psalms is found inMSS. , both with and without the commentary ;with , cod. Poc. 28 1 without

,cod. Hunt . 4 1 6 .

1 Ofthe se two last , I was enabled to judg e through the k indne ss ofanother.k Pp . 4 36—440 be low. It is otherwise in the paraphrase , ibid.

1 Ibn Danan, p . 1 1 6.“1 Ibn Crispin, p . 1 1 4 .

xl INTRODUCTION TO THE

v i carious suffering s of the Messiahn, some on his exaltationo,

without attempting to reconcile the two .

The faith in the vicarious suffe ring s survived in the mysticalschool , SO that even a writer!) of the latter part of the s ixteenthcentury, pre serve s , from a work quoted as an authority in theTalmud q

,as having been revealed to their g reat mystical writer

S imeon benYochai, the remarkable saying f, The meaning of thewords “ bruised for our iniquities

”is,that s ince the Messiah

bears our iniquities,which produce the effect of his be ing

bruised,it follows that whoso wil l not admit that the Messiah

thus suffers for our iniquit ies , must endure and suffe r for themhimse lf.’ The be l ief that the Messiah was an Obje ct of contemptsurvives also in the prayers of the German Jews for the first dayOf the Passover s ; his vicarious suffering s are pleaded in the irprayers on the day of Atonement t. It survived also in the

be l ie f of a Messiah ben Joseph , to whom were allotted the

suffering s foretold of the Messiah . Those who place the mysticalbooks at a later date bring down also the date , during which thebe lief in a suffering Messiah continued among them.

But a suffering Messiah,and a Messiah who should de l iver

them from the ir enemies, we re humanly incompatible in the

same pe rs on. Be fore the destruction Of Jerusalem, the Jewsl ooked for the coming Of a Messiah to save it ; afterwards,to restore it. As Christians have l ooked for the coming ofantichrist and the Se cond Coming Of Christ

,so the Jews

l ooked for the ir Me ssiah “. Eve ry token of evil made R . Ak iba

1 1 Jonathan, v. 3 (p. Talmud (p . Midrash Rabba (p . 9) Yalkut (p. 1 0 ,

n . S iphré , in the t ime OfMart ini (pp . 1 0 , Tanchuma, also in Mar

t ini ( p. Pe sikta, in Abkath Roche l, i . 2 , p . 7 ( ibid.) Zohar (p . 1 4 )Bere sh ith Rabba, in Martini (pp. 3 3 our Rabbis ’

in Rash i, ap .

Mart ini ( p . Tana (P be Eliyyahu, as from Shim’on b.Yo chai (pp. 38 5 ,

3 86) Midrash Gonen (p . 394)‘

Asere th Mé mro th Yalkut Chadash

( p. voluntary sufl’ering , Bere sh ith Rabba (p. Sepher Chasidim (ah.

p . xxix) ; contempt , Mysterie s OfS imeon b.Yochai (p . 3 O ther passage s inwh ich suffering s OftheMe ssiah are spoken of, though not in reference to Is. liii ,are in Sanhedrin, di st . Chelek (Mart . fol. 228 ; VViinsclIe , pp . 5 6, 5 7) Pe sikta

Rabbathi (SchO’

ttg en, loci g en. , 1 1 . xcv. p . 1 3 3 ; W iinsche , p . 66) a long passag e .

0 In Jonathan chiefly (pp . 5 , Yalkut (p . 9 , n. 1 , Zohar (pp .

Bereshith Rabba (Mart . p . 3 3 , n.

‘a Midrash Ag gada

’

in Rashi Mart .(pp . 39 , 4 0 ) Midrash Till im on Ps . ii. (Mart. p .

P Eliyy ah de V idas p . 385 .

‘1 Tana d’

he Eliyyahu, quoted Sanhedrin, fol . 97, 1 , l . ult . Of the durationofthe world for 6000 years 2000 years , void (tohu) 2000 , the law ; 2000,the days of the Me ssiah . See Martini ii. 1 0 init fol. 3 1 5 .

r Pp. 3 86 , 387.5 P. 398 u. Pref. p . xvi i . t P. 399 w. Pref. ibid.

Gratz apolog ise s for the expectat ions among the Jews , which were so

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xlii INTRODUCTION TO THE

nations .

’

The stress is laid on the dispers ion, not on the suffering , (for the Christians were at this time , w ith the Jews, theObj ects of persecution.) The Jew anticipated that his nation,not the Christians , were to be the converters of the world. But

this was no fixed opinion as to the meaning Of the se ction.

S . Athanasius,archbishop Of a city where the Jews

,even after

the mutual massacres of Jews and Romans under Adrian, were

in considerable numbers, says, that the Jews interpreted Is.vn. 1 4

Of one of themse lves , and Deut. xviii . 1 8 of one of the prophets,and C as to the words , He was led as a sheep to the slaughter ,

”

instead of learning from Philip, conjecture them spoken of Esaiaso r some other of the prophets , which have been.

’In the dialogue

between S . Greg entius, archbishop of Taphar inArabia Fe lix , andHerban

,a teacher of the law,

’

about A .D . 5 4 2 , when S .Greg entius

alleg ed this se ction d, Herban is reported to have expressed himse lf as perplexed between the declaration OfGod by Moses Of

His Unity and ‘David and Isaiah [in this section] speakingin truth of him who is called Christ .

’Benjamin of Nehawend,

a phi losophic Karaite of much reputation (A .D . 800- 8 2o ) e stillbe lieved that the section re lated to the Messiah f. Many

,Ibn

Ezra says 8 , in the middle Of the twe lfth century,

‘explained it

Of the Me ssiah,’

on the authority of a traditional saying of theRabbis. These then must have l ived posterior to those Rabbis,on whose authority they rested, y et prior to any extant authorwho quotes them. Saadyah Gaon, at the revival of the study ofHoly Scripture , inte rpreted the whole section Of Jeremiah h ;Judah b. Balaam thinks this possible , and ridicules Moses benGecatalia

’

s opinion that it mig ht be Hezekiah i.The interpretation which survived the long est was that which

e xplained of the Messiah the first three verses of the section.

This also came to be objected to . The g reat traditional g loss ion the words li i . 1 3 , The Messiah Shall be highe r than Abraham

,

“ l ifted up”

above Moses, “ loftier than the ministeringang e ls,

’

seemed too g reat to be interpreted of a mere man. The

Christians in the ir disputations wi th the Jews, alleg ed them as

0 Against Arians, i . 5 5 , p . 2 5 9 Oxf. Tr.d D ial. l l . in GallandiB .P.xi. 6 1 4 .

Gratz, Geschicht e d. Juden, v. 203 , 204 ; and Note 1 7. ii i, Note 1 8.

i i.

According to Yephe th b . Ali (below, pp . 1 9,8 Be low, p . 43 .

1 1 Ibid.1 Be low, p. 5 5 1 .

J Abarbanel quote s it from ‘ the Midrash of R . Tanchuma,’

p . 1 65 . InMart ini’s t ime it was in the Bereshith Rabba on Gen.xxviii . 1 0 . It is quotedfrom the Yalkut , p. 9 .

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. x l i i i

only fulfilled in Jesus, since they cannot be true ,’ Abarbanel kreports them,

except of the First Cause , who is loftier than theloftiest .

’

Apart from those who quote the saying , withoutexplaining its meaning l , they said

,

1 . That the words did not mean ‘

g reate r than,’

but ‘

g reatfromm,

’

i.e . that the person spoken Ofderived his g reatnessfrom Abraham, Moses, and the ministering ang e ls, i . e .

that the se ass isted him to his g reatness. The chie f writerwho so explains it, says that the rendering above ” g aveoccasion to error on the part of the here tics [Christians] ,pointing , as they do certainly

,to the Godhead of the

Messiah .

’

2 . One , he ld in g reat respect, said that the ang e ls were theRabbis 1 1 .

3 . Abarbanel admits that the Rabbis did mean to explain theverse of the Messiah O, but only as applying to it thetradit ions which they had rece ived respecting the Messiah

,

without supposing it to be its meaning P. Another quotesa saying of our doctors q, ’ Men do not reply to a Hag ga

dah,

’ though why he should cal l it so I know not . Anothersays that ‘whatever justice there may be in expressionsOf our wise men,

they are alleg orical f.’

4 . Others say boldly that ‘the just and perfe ct man is every

way superior t o th e ang e ls5 . Ibn Kaspi (A.D . 1 2 80 an ardent admirer of Maimo

nides and a g ifted fanatic for ph ilosophic thought t,’

parted with it altog e ther, and said that those who

3 Below, p . 1 5 6 .

1 Rashi (who had only heard of it), p . 39 ; Joseph Kara [early in twe lfthcentury] (p . Abraham b. Judah Chaz an (p. both referring it toIsrae l.m Isaac Eliy yah Cohen (pp. 1 38, 1 39) is followed by the unknown writer

xxxiv. (p. Abarbanel rejected it as no t agre e ing with the words of theM idrash , as did Isaac Arama, A .D . 1 492 (quoted by Lanyado , p . andLanyado (pp . 297

1 ! En Bone t (Yedayah haPenini, A .D . 1 298 ; W olf, i . n. 677) inAbarbanel,p . 1 5 4. rejected by Abarbanel (ibid.) and Lany ado (p .

0 Pp . 1 65- 1 68 .

P P. 1 63 .

‘1 Mosheh Cohen, p . 1 24 ; so Chanm b . Musa, p . 386 .

1“

Abraham Farissol (p .

S Moses de Coucy ( in Lipmann, p . 1 5 I ) , with whom common sense agrees '(Lipmann , as inde ed the Talmud says Of the righteous or Israel as awhole ; Moses b . Nachman (pp . 84 , 85 , and notes) .Gratz , vii. 340—3 4 5 .

xl iv INTRODUCTION TO THE

expounded the section of the Messiah g ave occasion to the .

heretics to interpret it of Jesusu.

’

Passani objects ‘Vto

bring ing the Midrash into the text and says that‘Scripture never bears any other than the Simple and

natural meaning ; a different supposition would not al lowus to reply to Ep icurus

’

[the Christian] .6 . A few only

W,on the g round of it, continued to explain the

whole section of the Messiah ; one , who speaks g lowing lyof its meaning , thinks that the section ‘ re lates at onceto the Mess iah and any righteous one X .

’

Those,however

,who would explain the section Of the Messiah

were met by the g reat paradox of prophe cy beforehand, ‘HOW

can the same be put to death and prolong his days and re ign 2’

Hence Moses b. Nachman supposed a readiness only to die y ;Ibn Crispin, Of nearness to death z

; Herz Homberg , of the irdevi ce to slay him a

;’

and the Rabbis explained the last verseof Moses b

,although (as Moses Elshe ikh hints c) they thereby

contracted an Obl igation not easily discharg ed, Of conne cting i tw ith what preceded. Moses Elshe ikh himse lf follows the unanimous opinion of our Rabbis d, in interpreting the se ction of theMe ssiah , y e t so g reat was fe lt to be the difficulty of admittingthe death of the Mess iah, that be extended the interpre tation, asto Mose s

,to all the verses which spoke of death 8 .

From this difficulty they were freed as soon as they couldsat isfy themse lve s to interpret the prophecy of any class Ofmen

,

some of whom had died, or of any one man except Jesus. The

exaltation could be re legated to the future . Of the manyinterpretations sugg ested, that which explained it of themse lveswas too flattering to national fee ling not to be extensive lyadopted. It might naturally have be come universal, but for itsunsatisfactoriness .

The new interpretation beg an with Rashi . Rashi’s authority

u Ibn Danan, p. 203 .

V P. 406.

W Moses h . Nachman (p . Ibn Crispin (pp . 92 , Astruc (p .

SO also Levi b . Gershom and R . L iwa of Prague on lii. 1 3 (p . Ibn

Danan supposed that the section alluded to the Messiah covertly (p. 203 ) bya se cre t and h idden interpre tat ion (p.

1 De Marini , pp . 3 24 , 3 25 .Y Pp . 82, 83 .

2 Pp . 1 1 0 , 1 1 3 , 1 1 4 . They introduce actual deaths of Israe l, pp. 8 2 , 1 1 1 .

8 P . 403 . He adds,‘Not actually kill him, e lse how should he see se ed,

have long days Saadyah ibn Danan is oblig ed to interpre t the words ofnearne ss, w illingne ss , purpose , ’ as to Hezekiah , pp . 2 1 1

,2 1 2 , 2 1 4 .

b See pp. 8 , 1 0 .c P. 270 .

d Pp . 25 8- 274 .

9 Pp . 269—279

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. xlv

is put forward by some who followed him,w ith Ibn Ezra

,J . and

D . Kimch i , who we re later than be , but no one before him. His

g reat Talmudical studies,which se em to have been his earl ie st

occupation, did not sug g est it . On the contrary, in his notes onthe Talmud he followed the olde r tradition. In that g raph i cstory

f,in which Joshua b. Levi is reported to have made dive rs

enquiries of Elias and Simeon b .Yochai as to the coming of theMe ssiah, and was told to ask himse lf

,and that he would find

him sitting at the g ates of Rome among the poor who bare(DMD) sickne sses

,Rashi explains the words ‘bearers of sick

nesses’

by reference to th is section of Isaiah . Bearers of s icknesses , i . e . stricken (01mm) , and he too is stricken (yam) , as i tis written

,

“ And he was wounded for our iniqui tie s , and it iswritten

,

“And our si cknesse s he bare .

”

But if Rashi wrote hiscommentary after A . D . 1 096 g , the hideous massacre of Jews inSpire , W orms

,Maintz

,Cologne , by the wild profligate swarm

which g athered, after the first Crusaders were g one h , might we l lhave occasioned i t . ‘Before the time of the first Crusade , theJews in Germany ’

(says their learned apolog ist and historian i,who counts as oppression any disparity of condition betweenthem and any people among whom they sojourned) were ne itherin a condition of Oppression nor contempt , nor were shut out

from holding landed property.

’

In what has been cal led ‘the

i ron ag e OfJudaism j,

’ there was too much occas ion for representing them (asfar as man was concerned) as guiltless sufferers .

The interpf’

e tation was rece ived by most subsequent commem

tators. I t would indeed have been a strang e except ion to thelanguag e of the prophets, and of Isaiah himse lf

, who , in thislater part of his book too, upbraids his people with the ir w ickedness k

,their neg lect of Godl , the ir dulness and blindness

f Sanhedrin, dist . Chelek, fol . 98 , col . 1 . In Martini, as printed, fol . 28 1 ,

th e are not extended so as to include all wh ich is now attributed to Rashi .8 Gratz place s the b irth ofR ash i in the year when the last Gaon was put

to de ath by the Sultan, A . D . 1 040 (vi . 70 and Rash i died at 75 . Helived then nine teen years after the se wickednesse s .

h Albertus, Hist . Hieros. i . 1 26— 1 29, quoted by Gratz , vi . 393 . The bishopOfSpire and archbishop OfMaint z tried in vain to defend the Jews .

i Gratz, vi . 90 , where h e de scribe s the ir independent condit ion at Spire

,

granted by the bishop and confirmed by the emperor Henry IV .

j Milman, Hist . Of the Jews, t . iii, b . 2 4 .k xliii. 24 , lvi i . 3— 1 3 , lix. 2 — 1 5 , lxiii. 1 7, lxiv. 5 , 6 [Heb., 6, 7 Eng ]

1 xlii i . 22 , 23 , lxv. 3 , 7, 1 1 , lxvi . 1 7.

m xlii . 1 9 , 20 ,lvi. 1 0— 1 2 .

xlvi INTRODUCTION To THE

hypocrisy 1 1, idolatries, and disobedience 0 , and who tells them

,

DYour iniquities have separated between y ou and your God ’

it would have been a strang e contradiction had he , in the midstOf th is, described them as God’s righteous servant , who shouldbear the S ins Ofall the world besides ; (Christians and Mohammedane

,as they say , Edom and Ishmae l and that we

, whenconverted

,upon the ir prosperity and our own ove rthrow, at the

coming Of their Me ssiah,should own that they suffered in our

stead,the just for the unjust , and atoned for us. It is strang ely

contrary to the ir solution of othe r prophecies , or Ofthe disappointment Of the ir own expe ctat ions, which point to an earl ier comingof the Messiah during the time of the Second Temple , viz . thathis coming was delayed by the ir sins, that he would come if theyrepented ( 1

.

However,this enabled them without scruple to accept all the

most characteristic parts of the l iteral interpretation. Theyinterpreted of Christians the disbel ief in the ir mission ; they putin our months the confession

,that they bore the suffering s which

we deserved, while we thought them afflicted by God that thesufferer described [themse lve s] g rew up in the presence of God,as a root out of the dry g round, invis ibly supported by Him ;that he was despised and rejected ; that his countenance was somarred as scarce to retain the human form ; that he [i. e . someIsrae lites] actual ly suffered (as martyrs, some said

,for the true

faith in God) ; that he [i. e . such Of them] actually suffereddeath

,and was [were] buried with the rich ; that king s [i. e . such

as should l ive at the coming of the Messiah] should acknowledg ehim that he Should intercede for the transg ressors . About allthis there is no question. Indeed

,such is the force of the

prophet’

s words, that the right faith is, by God’

s g ood providence

,Often embalmed in the ir paraphrases, and the ir languag e

would often express our be l ief,if we substituted the name of

Jesus ’ for Israe l .’What is meant by vicarious suffering 1 s matter of comment ;

and,in this

,they vary among themse lves, and, of course , differ

n xlvii i . 1 , 2 , lv1 1 . 3—5 , lxi. 8, lxv. 5 , lxvi . 3 .

xlviii . 1 8 , 1 9, lxv. 2 , lxvi . 4 .P lix. 2 .

<1 For our iniquitie s, which have beenmany, those ofthe years have passed,which have passed’ (Sanhedrin, Chelek , fo l. 97, col. 1 , 1 . ult .)

‘For our

iniquitie s the Me ssiah came not at the end of the 4000 years ’ (Rashi , ibid.

Martini , ff. 3 1 5 , 3 1 6 ; Abodah Zara, fo l. 9 , col. 1 med.) In Edz ardi, AbodahZara, pp . 65 , 66 , and 244, 246 .

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. xlvii

from us . They cannot,as Jews, accept the belief, imperfectly

he ld by the ir own fore fathers , that One suffered for us as the

prop itiation for our sins. But the Death , the Vicariousne ss ofthe Suffering s, and the Intercession they do be lieve . It wil l setthis before the eyes

,to concentrate the ir saying s on these three

subjects,— the actual death, the vicariousness, the intercession,scattered over these 5 7 1 pag es r.Amid this amount Of ag reement, the Objections of Jewish

controversial ists to its be ing a prophe cy of Jesus , proceed, forthe most p art, upon rendering s Of the Hebrew, identical withours . The literal meaning of the words is assumed, and this isalleg ed to be incompatible wi th the history of Jesus or with theChristian belief in regard to Him.

If the facts Of the Gospe l had been untrue , if Jesus had not

risen again, norwere l iving and re igning now, then this prophecyOf Isaiah would

,as they urg e , not have be long ed to Him, since

the subject Of the prophecy was to ‘

prolong his days S,’ to be

‘

exalted exceeding ly t ,’ to ‘

reignU,

’ ‘ intercede ’

abiding ly ‘ fortransg ressors .

’ Jewish controversialists could not but assume

the untruth Of the Gospe l history (for if they had‘

believed the

Resurre ction, they must have be lieved in Jesus) . But this is

not a question as to the literal meaning of the words of theprophecy ; the Objections presuppose the same interpretation ofthe words .

Nor would the prophecy ag ree w ith our faith , unless our

Lord had be en ‘

perfect Man,Of a reasonable soul and human

flesh subsisting .

’ If,according to the Apollinarian heresy, as is

Often repeated or implied by the Jew ish controversialists V, His

1'

See Note at the end of the se R emarks , p . lxvi sqq.

3 W hat will be the meaning of “

prolong ing ofdays wh ich is untrue ofhim ? ’ Ibn Ezra (below, p . Kimchi (p . SO R . Jacob b . R euben (p.

Moses b . Nachman (p . Ibn Shaprut (p . Lipmann (p . Abarbane l

(p. Troki (p . Segre (p . Me ir b. Shim'on (p . Mordekhai(p. Moses Sal. (p . IbnMusa (p . Milchamoth Adonai (p .

Buch . d. V erz . (p. Orobio (p . Aaron b. Joseph (p .

‘ Je sus was not lifted up , except upon the cross,

’ Kimch i (p . IbnCrispin (p . Abarbanel (pp . 1 5 8, Trok i (p . Naphthali Altschtfler (P LOpez (PP 343. Me ir b . Shim

‘on (PP 3 75 .

7thi s Messiah of the irs is nowhere , ’ Mordekhai (p .

0 Mose s b .Nachman (p. IbnEzra (p. Milchamoth Adonai (p.

V It is said by Mose s Cohen,

‘You yourse lves maintain that his soul wasthe Godhead within him (p. how can y ou say that his soul died at

all,when, according to your cre ed, it was not his soul (i. e . his Divinity )

wh ich was affl icted by death, but only his body ? ’ (p . They next have

xlvi i i INTRODUCTION TO THE

Godhead had been to Him in the place Ofa son], the objectionswould have been valid, that1 .

‘Whereas he whom the prophe cy describe s, should understand

,

“ the body cannot understand x.

”

2 . If he is God [and not man] , to whom could he intercede Y'l’

3 . How could it be considered as a future fact that he shouldbe exalted ? Is not the Godhead always exalted Z

How can he be first in a state of depre ssion a ?’

How can it be said that he will understand,since the

Godhead always understands b “l"

6 . How does his rece iving a reward ag ree with his nature 0 2’

Need the Almighty be reassured by such promises d l’

7.

‘ If he is God, he could not be a servant e 2’8 . How could i t be said of him

,that he did no violence , since

God could not do it f ’l ’

9 .

‘How can God be termed despised, forlorn of men,and

stricken g 2’

C3“?

to admit that th is intellig ence of his is what they call the Father (Lipmann,

p . How should tre spass be attributed to his soul , i . e . to his pure and

abso lute Godhead ? ’ (Abarbanel , p . It can only apply to his soul ; inother words , to the Godhead ’

(Lopez, p .

‘ If he was God,both in

body and spirit, he could not be termed servant ’ (Meir b. Shim'on, p .

It is implied in, ‘ It is taught in your relig i’on that only his fle sh underwentdeath

’

( Ibn Shaprut , p .

‘ If they say that he is termed a servant inre spect to his body ; God, in respect to his nature as a spirit (Troki , p . 243 )‘the travail Of his soul is an unsuitable expression , for y ou hold that hisD ivinity never endured travai l or suffering , but only his manhood ’

(Lopez,p . How could it be stated with any proprie ty of the Almighty , thathe was cut Off out of the land Of life ? ’ (Mordekhai, pp . 3 80 ,

‘How

can the expre ssion “ make s his soul a tre spass-Offering be in any way appli

cable to God ? ’ (Ibn Musa, pp. 387,Ibn Ezra (p . Ibn Crisp in (p . L ipmann (p. Abarbane l

(p Lppe z (p. 3 43)K imch i (p . Troki (p. Lopez (p .

5 R . Jacob b. Reuben (p. Ibn Shaprut (p. Ibn Crispin (p .

Abarbane l (p .0 R . Jacob h. R euben (p .b Ibn Shaprut (p . Abarbanel (p.

Lipmann (p . Lopez (p .

d Mordekhai (p.

9 R . Jacob b. Reuben (p . Joseph B ’

khor-Shor (p . Ibn Shaprut

(p. In the ir theory Of the Trinity, thisman was of the substance Of theCreator ; how could he be called his own servant Ibn Crisp in (pp . 1 00

,

Mose s Cohen (p . 1 Lipmann (p . Abarbanel (p . Troki (p .

Naphthali Altschuler (p . Lopez (p. Segre (p. 3 Meir h . Sh im'on( pp. 3 75 , Ibn Musa (p. Buch. d. Verz . (p. Aaron b . Joseph(RJ oseph b. Nathan (p .

8 Lipmann (p. Ibn Shaprut (p. Niz zachon vet . (p .

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INTRODUCTION TO THE

Or if the forg iveness of sin involves the removal of all temporalconsequences.

Other objections apply equally, whateve r be the subj ect, andto the i r own explanations also

,as

,that it is a contradiction

that the same should be fair andmarred 8 —at different times ,of course .

Abstract arguments— as that the Incarnation is impossible t ;or against the doctrine of the Atonement“ ; or that Je sus, if theMessiah , ought to have removed temporal death ; or to haverepaired Adam

’

s sin entire ly or that mankind ought to havebe en sinless afterwards v ; or that the Atonement is an en

courag ement to sin W— are irre levant to this prophecy, or presuppose the same meaning of its words. The ignorant criticismsupon our Lord’s teaching X

,or fiippancy in which they sometimes

indulg e Y, are still less re levant .The argument from the context is also obviously not an

argument from languag e . It excludes the Me ssiah from be ingthe subject of the g lories at the close of chap . li i

,as much as

from the humi l iation in the g reater part of chap . l i ii . It involvesalso a denial that the prophets spoke of any Messiah at all.

For plainly a mention of the De l ive rer could not otherwise beout of harmony with prophe cies of the de l iverance . It be camerather a popular obje ction Z

.

Ibn Shaprut (p .

‘ If the Jews only executed the pleasure of God in

putt ing him to death , did not they do W hat was right and fitting ?’

Segre(p. Orobio (p .

‘ It says,The Lord was pleased to bruise him,

and y et they throw the guilt of his crucifixion on us ; but if God in his

wisdom was pleased through him to accomplish the re storation of the world,why should men be punished for fulfilling his purpose ? ’ Anon. (p .

Abarbane l recognises the principle as to Jo siah, ‘ Because God was pleasedto bruise him, it was He , rather than the archer, who caused him his sickne ss(p. y e t as to our Lord, he says , Ple asure is only used ofwhat is done

W ithout assignable cause , not ofwhat is done with definite purpose (p .

repeated by Lopez (p .

R . Jacob b . R euben (p . Niz z achon (p. Ibn Shaprut (pp . 92 ,Mose s Cohen (p . Segre (p .

Abarbane l (p .

Abarbanel (p. Segre (p. Orobio (c. xxv) .Orobio (pp . 465 ,

W Older Niz z achon (p .

x Chiefly in Orobio.

9 As,that our Lord was not silent before his persecutors, because he

prayed to God, S egre (p . repeated by Mosheh ofSal. (p .

2 It occurs first in Mose s Cohen (p. then in Lipmann (p.

Abarbane l (p . Troki (p . Lopez (p. Mordekhai ( p.

Buch . d. V erz . (p . Orobio (p . Ibn Amram (pp . 5 34 ,

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. l i

These exceptions ag ainst our faith d o not touch upon the

l iteral meaning of the words. The criticisms which would affectthe i r meaning are but four : 1 . That the word rendered g rief a

’

is only used in Holy S cripture of bodi ly ai lment,and is no t used

metaphorically . 2 . That the word rendered on him b ’

is plural ,and, be ing plural , prove s that the subje ct

,e lsewhere throughout

the section spoken of in the s ingular, must be a virtual plural ,i . e . a collective , not an individual . 3 . Some make the same

inference from the use of the p lural , l it . deaths C.

’

4 . That theword ‘

seed d’

is never used metaphorically, but always of thephys ical descendants of a person.

Obj. I . You wi l l not find in your own New Testament, thatyour Messiah ever had a pain, even a head-ache , up to the dayof his death : the very terms here employed, pain and si ck «

ness were not realised in his person, and so cannot apply tohim. Ans. Isaiah doe s use the word in this very section ofmental i lls (not actual sickne sses) , and of the suffering s laidupon the person spoken of in it. ‘Our sicknesses he bore e , ’whereas one cannot bear the actual bodily ailments of another ;and

,

‘ It pleased the Lord to bruise him : he hath put him tog rief f,

’

both of which manifestly refer to the first,

‘acquainted

with g r ief.’ It is also so used in the opening of Isaiah g , and e lse

where h , as are other derived forms ; as , contrariwise, ‘ healing’

is used with regard to mind or estate . It is probably a metaphorof all languag e , as be ing , from the re lation of mind and body,the languag e of nature . Inde ed

,the object ion would not have

been worth noticing , but for the positivene ss of those who use it,and that Abarbanel and the author of the mar are amongthose who make it . Those who interpre t the se ction of thepe ople often repeat that it re lates to ‘

the suffering s of exile ione notices that mental pains are farmore g rievous than bodily .

a s'mliii . 2 .

b 1 73 5 liii . 8 . W mnliii. 9 .

d R . Jacob b . R euben (p. He is followed by Ibn Shaprut (pp . 93 ,Abarbanel (p . Isaac Lopez (p . Moses of Salerno (p .

Milchamoth Adonai (p.

liii . 4 . 1 0 .3 Is. i . 5 .

h Hos. v. 1 3 , Jer. vi. 7, x. 1 9 , Eccl . v. 1 6, vi . 2 ; the verb , Is. Ivn . 1 0 ,

Jer. v. 3 ; part Eccl. v. 1 2 , 1 3 ; Nif., Am. vi . 6, Is. xvi i . 1 1 , Jer. xxx. 1 2 ;Hif., Prov. xi ii . 1 2 . Abarbanel himself not ice s that it is used of Josiah'smortal wound, 2 Chron. xxxv. 23 (and so not of cont inuous sickness or sickne sse s) , p . 1 9 5 .

See e . g . Troki (pp . 244 , 24 5 , Ibn Ezra (p . quoted by Abarbanel (p.

l i i INTRODUCTION To THE

Obj. 2 . m5:they say , I . is a plural and,2 . be ing a plural ,

i t must re late to the subject of the se ction,and so shews that

the subj ect must be a colle ct ive,not an individual . Ans . 1 . There

is no g round to assume that ID’? is a plural ; nor, 2 . i f it wereassumed to be so

, does anything require that it should be understood Of the subje ct of the section.

1 . W ith regard to 1 73 5 be ing ne cessarily a plural , Kimchi , whoorig inated the argument, at another time denied it . In his

challeng e to the Nazarenes he says k , Moreover the prophe t says“ to them (m5) but then [if it re lated to Jesus] he ought tohave said to him

, 15 for 1 735 is plural, be ing equivalent to omB.’

In his Grammar he says 1 , ‘moccurs as the affix of the grd persons ingular, as in Job xx. 2 3 , xxii . ‘For 0 and 1 [1 723] containsin itsel f the Sign of the plural noun, and indicates the masc . sing .

also . For D is the Sign of the grd person masc. plural, and the1 of the grd masc . S ing . and therefore it) is used both of manyand of one .

’

L’

Empereur observed, that the Chaldee versionand the LXX also render Job xxu. 2 in the sing . and Levi b.

Gershom and Me ir b. Aramah so render it in Job xx . In Ps.

xi. 7,‘the [LXX and] Chaldee rende r it in the s ing . in Is. xl iv.

1 5 , the Chaldee again [the LXX is missing ] ; in Job xxvu . 2 3 ,

Ibn Ezra and Levi b. Gershom so explain it .’

Abraham Farissolm,

on this p lace , prefers the s ingular wil l then be singular for1 5, as PS . lv. 20 and often.

’ R . Judah b . Bala‘

m n [e leventh cen

tury], By 1 735 he means 15 , i . e . that his misfortune came to himfrom the sin of the people , not what he deserved himse lf.’R . Tanchum 0

g ives the choice of its be ing singular (which hep laces first) or plural . NaphthaliAltschuler has , For the transg re ssion of “ my people

”had this “

stroke come upon the

Messiah P.

’

In the Milchamoth Adonai , it is admitted as pos

sible : ‘W e ce rtainly find 105 used occasionally as a singular,as Ps. xi . 7, but only as an anomaly Gershom

,though inter

preting it of Israe l , explains it as a singular, 1 ‘5Nf.

Of modern critics,one who himse lf renders

,

‘For my people’

s

k See p . 5 5 .

1 Poco cke quote s th is passage from Kimch i’s Grammar, f. 266 . 1 , V en. , 8vo ;note s on the PortaMosis, c . 8 , on this sect ion, as alleg ed by l’Empereur againstAbarbane l . Elias on Mose s Kimchi , Shebile haddaath (pp . 240 , admitsthe fact as to Job xx. 23 , xxii . 2, but would limit the use to the se two places.m P. 2 2 5 .

v P . 5 5 1 .0 P. 5 5 6 . P P . 3 22 .

q P. 389 ; but he still says , Had he meant Je sus, he ought to have saidupon him.

”

Hebr. texts, p. 397.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. l i i i

sin, the plague for them and says, corresponds to ”Dv,’

h imse lf lays down 8,

‘ It cannot be denied that the very o ld

VJ: is sometime s used by some poets in the sense of a singular,in very li ttle words, as 1 13 5 for 1 5 “ to him,

”

as if in it the 1 ofthe singular we re especial ly heard through, PS . xi. 7, Job xxii . 2 ,Dent . xxxiii . 2 , twice ; Is. xliv . But ,

2 . In fact, nothing turns upon i t. The rendering , ‘ for thetransg ress ion of my people a blow came to them ’

(whereby thethem refers to people in the same verse), is just as natural as‘ came to him .

’

If the word is rendered to them,

’

the obvious meaning wouldbe (as Ewald says) that it refers to ‘my peop le

’

in the same

clause . This makes a complete sense in itse lf, without intro

ducing the anomaly,that

,whereas the subje ct of th is se ction is

spoken of in the singular, sixty times in verbs and pronouns(and three times in this very verse) , it is to be spoken of oncein this one verse in the plural and that the king s,

’

al leg ed tobe speaking in the plural ‘

we, our,

’ fourte en times previously,should in this one verse speak in the singular, my people ,

’ i . e .

the people of each of them. This double anomaly is to takeplace in four words

,without any indication in the context .

Those who were before Spoken of in the s ingular are to bespoken of in the plural, and those Spoken of in the plural are to

3‘

Ewald ad loc. Proph . iii . 98 .

8 Ewald,Lehrb. 24 7, p . 625 ed. 8 . In his e arlie st Grammar he said,

Exceeding ly probably it is sing . Job xx. 23 , xxvn. 23 , where the whole con

text of ten t o twenty verse s, in wh ich the sing . occurs throughout, spe aks forit . But it is certain in Is. lii i . 8

,in which the sing . alone appears ; Is . xliv.

1 5 , where the plural does no t at all suit the sense ; and the poe t himse lfexplains 1 0 5 in the same connect ion (ver. 1 7) by 1 5 ; Ps. xi . 7, where his

countenance can only re late to God. Hab. ii i . 4 explains 1 73 5 , Deut .

xxxii i . 2,by Krit . Gramm. p . 365 . Bottcher acknowledg e s the use of

1 0 for the s ing . (not in Gen. ix . 2 6, 27, Is. xxx. 5 , Ps . lxxiii . 1 0 , where ,’ hesays

,

‘ it might refer to the plural meaning of the co llect ive s in thenor in Ps . xxvi ii . 8 , or Job ix. 23 , but in Deut . xxxii i . 2 , (as explained by Hab .

iii. Is. xliv. 1 5 , li ii . 8 , Ps. xi . 7, Job xxii . 2 , xxvii . 23 (Ausf. Lehrb . n. 878 ,2 . a , t . ii . p . W hile the Ae thiopic use of mo as a singular se ems for

the t ime shaken by Platt’

s N . T . (London, 1 820 ) and Dillmann (Bo ttcher,l. c. note Phoenician inve st igators (Ewald, Movers , Me ier, S chlottmann,Schroeder) have recognised the m as a form of the 3rd pers. pron. s ing .

Ewald (Z KM . iv. p . 4 1 6) and Schroeder (d. Phoen . Sprache , p . 1 5 3 , note 1 )have recognised the

‘mo as a re lic of Phoenician in Hebrew, and Schroeder

owns the mo as exi st ing , beyond quest ion, as a real sing , Gen. ix. 26, 27,Deut . xxxiii . 2 , Job xx. 23 , xxii . 2 , xxvii . 2 3 , Ps . xi . 7, xxviii . 8 , Is . xl iv. 1 5 ,and here . Hitzig also maintains that here is singular, p . 5 73 .

liv INTRODUCTION To THE

be spoken of in the singular. Yet though this objection founde leven adherents, among them Abarbanel t

,nearly twice as

many take the one or the other of the interpretations , by whichthe ‘ to them’

would refer to the people , e ither as a continuoussentence

,for the transg ression of my [God

’

s] people there wasa plague to them u

,

’ or in two halve s, whereby ‘the stroke to

them ’

should refer to ‘my peOpleV’

in the same verse . It

t The argument beg ins with Kimchi , followed by R . Jacob b. Reuben

(p . It is used in proof that ‘ it cannot be,as some say , in view of the

Me ssiah ,by Jacob b . R euben, Karaite (p . Ibn Shaprut (p . Mosheh

Cohen (pp . Abarbane l (p . Abraham of Cordova (p .

Lopez (p . Mordekhai (p . Manasseh b. Israe l (p . Orobio(p . ( y e t referring 1 13 5 to ‘my people ’

in the same verse (p. and

rendering in the sing . for clearne ss . ) It is no t used by Lipmann (p .

nor by Me ir b . Shim on (p . and Rash i apparently refers the to them ’

to the pe ople ’in the same verse for the transgre ssion of his people , the

stroke of exile had fallen up on the just who were among them’

(p.

n Symmachus , ‘He was cut off, and for the injust ice of my people therewas a plague upon them

’

(p . Theodotion, He was cut Off, on accountof the defection of my people be touched them'

( ibid.) Jonathan, ‘He willcause &c. and transfer to them the sins which my people have committed’

(p . Saady ah Gaon, He was cut Off, and for the transgre ss ion of my

people the stroke was upon them’

(p . So the Persian versionverbat im. Ibn

Ezra (as the more correct) , For the transgre ssion of my people the strokew ill come upon them [the (p . 46 and note .) In Ibn Shaprut

( p . 98) the Christ ian’

s rendering , ‘ Because the murderous blow,wreaked

upon him, is a blow for them,

’ i . e . they will be in perpe tual exile ’

(p.

is not excepted against , although the argument is. Abarbanel ,‘ For the

transgression of my people ’

(wh ich was the cause of his [Josiah ’

s] death)‘ the stroke came upon them

,

’ viz. upon Israe l themselve s, because it wasthey who were stricken ’

by his death even more than he h imself (p.

Ibn Danan,‘The prophet says , “

a stroke upon them,

”

because the boilfrom which he suffered would have injured them still more , had he diedfrom it

’

(p . Farissol g ive s th is as a second alternat ive , having preferred the singular (p . Mo sheh Elshe ikh, Hitherto the just one had

be en stricken for the pe ople ’ s transgre ssion, but henceforth the stroke wouldbe upon themselve s ’ (p . Lanyado ,

From that moment , for the transgre ssion ofmy people the stroke was to fall upon them, i . e . upon my pe ople ,and no t upon the righteous, as it had before , when they were suffering for it ’(p . He was cut off for the sin ofmany people [tribe] , plague [sickness] came upon him,

’

Tataric version . Marini , ‘For the transgre ssion ofmy

people , there is a stroke upon them, (viz. upon my people , for he adds)‘

a

saying which is the reverse ofZeph . 1 1 1 . 6 , 7’

(p. The Christ ian in Segre(p . 3 5 7) rendered ,

‘ For the transgre ssion of his people , there was a strokeupon them.

’

Segre doe s not make it one ofhis ten obj e ctions (pp. 3 5 8V Yephe th b. Ali, All th is trouble came upon him be cause of the trans

gression of my people , for whom this stroke was, i . e . who de served it ’

( p . Anon. xvi , W hen my people abandons the transgression whichhas lighted upon them'

(p . Anon. xvi i , He seemed to have been cut

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. lv

apparently became a traditional objection, used without muchthought ; for Abarbanel, when interpreting the section of an

individual [Josiah] , and Mordekhai do not themse lves understand the to them to refer to the subject of the se ction.

Obj. 3 . The argument that 13 1 11 13 , ‘his death ,’

should be rendereddeaths

,

’

and so impl ie s that the subje ct of the section is not one ,butmany, is used by LipmannW : Observe , he does not say death

,

”

but deaths y et a sing le man cannot die more than once .

’An s.

There is no g round to lay any emphasis on the plural in mm ,

death ,’ any more than in nun, ‘ l ife .

’ Many nouns in Hebreware used in the plural, where we ,W e sterns, could hardly accountfor it . The plural is used of a condition, as a period of l ife , or acondit ion of body X . There is then no reason why [3 1 71 13 (i f thereis any stress on the plural) should not mean ‘

the state of death ; ’as 13 1 1 11 ,

‘ the state of life .

’

And th is ag rees better w ith the

usual meaning of 3 ,

‘ in’ or at .

’In the only other case in which

the plural o ccurs, Ezek . xxviii. 1 0,it is used of an individual ,

the prince of Tyre (ibid. and ‘a s ing le man could not

’

(inLipmann

’

s words) ‘die more than once Y.

’The earlier inte r

pre ters render in the singular Z . Those who explain the section

ofl’

because of the transgression ofmy people , [because of] the stroke wh ichshould have be en theirs ’ (p . Mosheh b . Nachman

, He has be en cut

off— for the transgression of my people— an event wh ich will be a severeblow to them

’

(p . Ibn Crispin,

‘1 13 5 refers to my people : from the

transgre ssion of my people , (wh ich was) a blow upon them, since in oonssquence of it many plague s fe ll upon them ’

(p . Lanyado , He was cutoff, and slain “ for the transgression of my people , the stroke intended‘ for them

’

be ing borne by him instead (ofMe ssiah ben Joseph) , (p .

Alternat ive rendering in Lanyado , On account of the transg ression of myp eop le, for wh ich the righte ous was to be taken away ’ (p . Passani,‘ The attribute of judgment laid upon him the iniquity of them al l, as the

text says , for the transg ression of my p eop le, even the stroke wh ich shouldhave fall'en upon them

’

(p. Luz z at to ,‘ 1 73 17 is here for D 13 37 as Ps.

cxliv. 2 ; for the transgression of the p eoples, who were themse lves l iable tobear the stroke which was borne by him , 1 13 5 371 : which was a stroke tothem ;

’ rej ecting the rendering , ‘a stroke came upon them,

’as what woul d

no t be expre ssed by 5 31 3 ) (p . Mordekhai , He was cut off, for the

transgre ssions ofmy people , a stroke to them ’

(p .

W Lipmann (p .

x As 0 1 1 7 1 , ag e , 0 1 73717, 0 1 1 31 3 , youth ; 0 5m , maidenhood ; n‘nb . bfide '

hood, Jer. ii . 2 , embalming , Gen. (Ewald, Lehrb. g 1 5 3 a) ;

U ‘WSQP, blindness.

7 Luz z atto , I see , uses this expression against its meaning ‘ death ,

’in Ezek .

xxviii. 1 0 , but doe s not say what other meaning it can have (p .

1 1 1 13 1 is rendered by the singular, ‘ his death’

by the Septuag int (and

lvi INTRODUCTION To THE

of a collective , Israe l, of course understand ‘ deaths ’ of theindividuals, who come under that collect ive 8 . But no one ,

except Lipmann, uses i t as a controversial argument. Thosewho interpret the section of an individual

,whether the Messiah,

or Jeremiah,or Hezekiah, or Josiah , must e ither regard i t as

virtually s ingular, or find some other emphasis for the plural, orassign some othe r meaning for the whole word. If reg arded as

a plural , the explanation of Herz Homberg (since the affix iss ingular) is more natural b, ‘ the plural deaths ” is used, becausep iercing him as cruel men do

,through and through b, they

would,so to speak , be putting him to death ag ain and again ;

’

much as we might say , a thousand deaths in one .

’

The Christian martyrs underwent tortures, each of which might haveended l ife . The more popular explanation among mode rns c hasbeen that sug g es ted by some before Ibn Ez ra d ; bui lding overa g rave ,” TIDE for ” T1 103 which, however, 1 3 a meaning for whichthere Is no proof. Those who adopted any of these interpretations

,manifestly had not Lipmann

’

s obje ction.

there is no variation in the other Greek versions) ; ‘the death Of utter

de struct ion,

’ Jonathan (p.

‘ his death ,

’

Saadyah (p.

‘ in his dying ,’

Pers . and Tataric vers. ; how the Me ssiah wil l re sign himself to die , ’ Ye phe thb. Ali (p.

‘ in his death ,’ Joseph b . Nathan (p . Abarbane l (ofJosiah,

p . Marini (p . Lopez (p . Mosheh of Salerno (p.

Passani (p . Tanchum (p.

a A meaning is g iven to the plural by R ashi,

any form ofdeath’

(p .

‘some ,

’

in Ibn Ezra, ‘of tho se who died in exile ’

(p.

‘ the plural isemployed, because they used to be put to death in many ways, ’ Kimchi(p .

‘ he will expect them to slay him by stoning , &c. Th is is why1 1 1 1 1 0 is plural, ’ Moses b . Nachman (p . various kinds of death

,

’

Ibn

Crispin (p.

‘the prophe t uses death in the plural because they con

demned them to different forms of punishment ,’ A struc (p . Sh

’

lomob . Me lech (p. various kinds of death ,

’ xxxiv. (p. 2 Troki(p .

‘ in all his deaths,’

Lanyado (p.

‘any form of death ,

’

Naphthali Al tschuler (p . Segre (p . David Altschuler (p .

‘ death

in two forms ’ [of his person and substance ], Mordekhai (p. 3 80)‘the ir

various deaths , ’ Manasseh b . Israel (p . Gershom (p.

b Herz Homberg (p. In like way the anonymous l . (p .

‘ that

they were often put to death , after be ing p ierced through and through ,

’

afterhaving suffered crue l torture s ’

(quot ing another Rabbi by his initials, Z A B) ,and Lanyado , he was no t to be put to death speedily, but tortured by everyconce ivable me thod of producing a severe and painful end ; and hence theprophe t says no t “ in his death ,

”but in his deaths

”

(p.

Ge senius,The saurus, p . 1 88 ; Ewald (Proph . i ii . 95 ) Bottcher.d P . 4 7. This was adopted by Jacob b. Reuben, Karaite (p. xvi.

( p . Abarbane l apparently (p. of ‘ high place s, ’ Saadyah Ibn Danan(p 2 1 3 )

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lvii i INTRODUCTION TO THE

The obj ection is in truth a mere press ing of the primaryphys ical meaning , which practical ly becomes obsolete . If disciples , not be ing sons

,can be cal led sons, they may be equally

cal led seed.

’ They are physically ne ither : metaphorically, theymay be called by e ither name . D isciples are called sons

, as itis said

,

“ And the sons of the prophets went out ,”

says one towhom they are wont to defer l . ‘ It becometh man to takeheed to and love his disciples for they are the sons , who profitin th is world and the world to come m.

’ ‘Honour fathers and

the wise ; for they are the parents of all n .

’ Isaiah himse lf usesthe W OId in a bad sense ,

‘se ed of evil—doers [much as we should

say brood ’ corrupt children0;’

and‘ children of transg ression,

seed of falsehood p .

’

Few probably would [with Gesenius] thinkthat ‘

the seed of the serpent‘l’

meant ‘the serpent tribe

’

as

propagated naturally, and was not rather like the g eneration ofvipers r

’ of whom our Lord speaks . Yet in these cases the wordstands with a g enitive , ‘ the se ed of : in this section

,as in the

Psalm,i t stands absolutely

,

‘a se ed.

’

In an Old comment s on‘ I wil l g ive it to the e and to thy

seed,’ i t is said

,

‘ Thy seed are those l ike unto thee and the

proselyte is called son of Abraham t,

’

and W hoever confessethtwo worlds ’

[i. e . this and that to come]‘shal l be cal led thy

seed, and whoever confesseth not two worlds shal l not be cal ledthy seed u.

’In the Yalkut R eubeni it is said

,I will g rant him

children of the law,children di l ig ent in the study and perform

ance of it V .

’

Kimchi raised the objection as to our Lord alone . It would

and have long days as Ezekie l says, ‘ I will increase them with men like a

flock ,’ xxxvi . 3 7 (p . Naphthali Altschuler vague ly, He shall see se ed

in this pre sent world, and prolong his days in the world to come ’

(p.

The older Niz z achon has no t the argument (pp . 90 , nor Abraham of

Cordova (p . nor Salomo de Marini (p. nor Passani (p .

Abarbanel paraphrases, He shall see the seed ofhis nation much mult iplied ’

(P 1 84 )1 Maimonide s, Yad. Talm. Torah , c. i. n. 2 , in Pococke Porta Mosis, c. 8,

on th is se ct ion. Ge senius , who approve s of the correction of Maimonides ,quote s Schulz ( in Paulus Re isen vii. as saying that in the East , Christ iansare said to be of the family (3 b ) of the Messiah ,

’

Ge s. Einl . t . i . p . 1 25 .

m Id. v. 1 2,ibid.

1 1 Id. Comm. ad Peah,c . I

, 1 , ibid.

0 Is. i . 4 .P Ibid. lvii . 4 .

q G en. ii i . 1 5 .f S . Matt . i i i . 7.

8 Bere shith Rabba major in Gen. xi ii . 1 5 , in Mart ini P. F. fo l. 30 2 .

Mas secheth Bikkurim Hieros . , ibid. fo l. 303 .

n R .Yoden b . R . Shallum in Bere shith Rabba on Gen. xxi . 1 2 , ibid.

P. 396 .

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. l ix

probably to the Jews involve , that the section should not be longto the Messiah . For with the ir exalted be l ief of him,

they couldnot have pictured him as a married man with a larg e family ;stil l less, that the reward of his suffering should be to havea numerous offspring , like Ahab with his seventy sons .

I have not included under th is head of languag e the objection that he was not cut offfrom the land of the l iving ,

’

on the

g round that ‘ the land of the l iving is Judaea ,and the Crucifixion

was in Jerusalem. For although some who explain the se ctionof Israe l

,do interpret ‘ the land of the l iving

’ of its land W,this

is ‘

so manifestly an appl ied meaning , that Lipmann x only and

one follower ? use it to swe l l the list of objections . On the otherhand Z

,some take it in its uniform primary sense of this l ife , and

deny it to be a fitting saying as to Almighty God a.

W ith regard to the word “

1 1 13 11 , as to whi ch moderns,

declining to understand ‘ the rich man’ of ‘

the rich man ofArimathea

,

’

mentioned in the Gospe ls, have g iven such wildinterpretations contrary to the uniform use of the languag e , ormade conje cture s contrary to all authority, it is noticeable , thattwo only say that it must be interpreted according to the contextall the re st render it in its Simple and uniform sense ,

‘ rich .

Of the se two,Ibn Ezra shews that he accepted the word in its

natural meaning , br ay me is l ike 13 1 1 1 13 1 me, and alludes to thenations who, as compared with Israe l , are wea lthy .

’

Abulwalidaccounts it to signify wicked ’

in no other way than e lsewhere‘wise

,

’ i . e . literal ly ne ither but in the one place he must meanthat it is used of those who are wicked, in the other of those whoare wise 0 In (Is . l i ii) it is not from this meaning , but from the

meaning of D‘Wf l who are mentioned with it, and so in daw e y

‘The land of the living ’

is explained of ‘ the land of Israe l ’ by Yephethb. Ali (p . Rashi (p . Joseph b . Nathan (p . de Rocca Mart ini(p . Naphthali Altschuler (p . Moses of Salerno (p . Man.

b . Israe l (pp . 439 , Clear Fountain (p. Orobio (p . and Ibn

Amram (rest ing on Ezek . xxx n. 24 p . 5 43 .

Of ‘ this life,

’Ibn Ezra (p . Jacob b. R euben,

Karaite (p . IbnMal i (p. Mose s b . Nachman (p . Ibn Shaprut (p . Ibn Danan

(p . Troki (p . Lanyado (p . de Marini (p . David Altschuler (p. Mordekhai (p . Herz Homberg (p . Passani (p .

alternat ive ly of e ither,Kimch i (p . Aaron b . Joseph (p . Abarbanel

(pp. 1 80, Abraham b . Judah Chazan (p .

P 1 49z Lopez (P

Mordekhai (p . Milchamoth Adonai (p.

b Be low, P 47.

Book ofRoots, col . 5 5 4 Oxf.

d Eccl. x . 6 .

1x INTRODUCTION To THE

set in a low place, he means by it, “ the wise 9 , viz. because it iscontrasted with 53 D folly .

”

Salomo ben Melech says of Abulwalid

’

s g loss ‘ It is not allowable to abandon the usual signification rich

,mere ly on account of the paralle l clause .

’

The obje ct of these remarks is s imply defensive , that any whocal l themse lves Christians might not be perplexed in their be l ief,or confirmed in the ir unbe lief

,through this volume , which be ing

the defence of Jewish controvers ialists for not accepting thisse ction of Isaiah as be ing fulfilled in Jesus, must ne cessarily beto a g reat extent Anti-Chris tian. Those for whom these remarksare chiefly written would not be benefited by anything saidagainst the prominent misinterpretation in the volume . For

they do not be lieve in i t already . To be lieve in it would involvea be lief in prophecy, beg inning before the first coming of ourLord

,and stretching out nearly two thousand years, and for the

most part not y et fulfilled : only they ought no t to use Jewishinterpretations while disbe l ieving them. One only thing it maynot be without its use to observe , because i t illustrates the

unique character of the sinless sufferer pourtrayed by Isaiah .

Granted all which the Jews say of the ir suffering s at the handsof the Romans

,or o ld Persian fire-worshippers, or Mohammedans

(which fe l l stil l more heavily on Christians), or in later t imes ,of Christians

,ill-instructed in the ir relig ion,

in the now past‘ iron ag e of Judaism,

’

a feature of the p icture , very prominentin Isaiah

, y et least real ised in them,is the meekness of that

sufferer. This is not said in the sl ightest disparag ement ofthem. They expected a Messiah , who should free them byconquest from the yoke of the nations and so the ir history wasrather like that of the ir l ion—hearted forefathers

,the Maccabees

,

than the silent and pat ient suffere r pourtrayed by Isaiah.

One thing more may be observed, that the Jewish controversialists, collected here , did not satisfy the J ewish mind bythe ir interpretations. This is impl ied by the ve ry variety ofthem. The majority indeed of those who profe ssedly interpre tthe section

,follow Rash i and his followers, Ibn Ezra and the

two Kimchis, in interpre ting it of themse lves f. Yet not a few

0 See be low, p . 2 1 9 . The root occurs seventy-seven t imes in the O ld

T e stament .

Its is not only a different word, but is only used of stumbling , ’

never in amoral sense . The conjectures puny (Ewald) , $ 1 1 11 1 17 (Bo ttcher) onlyshew that the ir interpre tat ion did not suit the text.

This Parashah the commentators agree in explaining of the Captivity,althoug h the singular number is used in it throughout .’ l bn Crispin (p.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION . xi

went against the stream. The Karaite s only varied the application by interpreting the section of the w ise of the ir own sect g , ’on the g round of some persecution which they met with ; as

some Rabbini c Jews thought it was the righteous among them 11,

or any just man i ; some , that it was Jeremiah j, or Isaiah himself k some

,He zek iah 1 one , Job m some, the seed of David in

Rashi , Jos . Kimchi, D . Kimchi, all with one voice explain the ent ire pro

phecy ofIsrael . ’ Abarbane l (p . The majority of commentators , R ashi,

Ibn Ez ra, D . Kimch i, Abarbanel, agree in ho lding , ’ &c . , xxxiv. p . 2 29,

‘ the

correct explanat ion, as g iven by D . Kimchi, R ash i , and other expo sitors.’Lopez (p . Those who follow it are Joseph Kara, R . Jacob b . R euben,

Jo seph b. Nathan, Ibn Mali , Ibn Shaprut , Isaac Eliy yah Cohen, Lipmann,Martino , Farissol, xxxiv, Me ir Aramah , Troki , Abraham of Cordova, Abrahamb . Judah Chaz an,

Lopez, Segre , David Altschuler, Me ir b . S ime on, MoshehofSalerno (p . Hay y im b. Musa (p . l. (p . m. (p . Luz z atto

(p , Clear Fountain (p . Manasseh b. Israe l (p . Orobio (pp .

4 76 Ibn Amram (pp . 5 3 2 Khoz ari and its Commentators (pp .

5 5 9 Gershom b . Nathan (pp. 5 64 The Persian Translat ion has,From the bond of exile and from judgment he was snatched.

’

The Tatarichas

,I believe

,no indicat ion.

8 In Yephe th b . Ali (p . Jacob b . Reuben, Karaite (p . Aaron b.

Joseph , Karaite (p .

h Rashi (p. Me ir Aramah (p. R . Abraham b. Judah Chazanp

Some in Ibn Crispin, contradicted by him (p . 99) Lipmann'

(p .

each individual among the just ,’ Mosheh Cohen (p . 1 I 7) a very good man,

’

She lomo Levi (p. 275 ) the righteous worsh ipper ofGod, ’ Lanyado (p . 30 5 )‘this g ood man,

’

Ibn Janah (p.

‘one , ready to suffer martyrdom for

love ofGod,’ Anon. t . ( p.

j Saadyah Gaon in Yepheth b. Ali (p . who says that he lost his sensesin so do ing but it is pronounced attract ive by Ibn Ezra (p . 4 andMenahemb . She lomo Me iri ( se e p . ofwhom again Abarbane l says , ‘W hat goodne ss or exce llence they see in it

,I do no t understand.

’

I cannot see a sing leverse wh ich really po ints to him

’

(p . he himself write s against it ,as does Herz Homberg briefly (p. Jehuda b . Balaam thought it

quite probable (p.

k Ibn Ezra ap . Luz z atto , p . 4 1 3 . And Ibn Ezra h imself, according to thereading rece ived by Dr.Neubauer (p . 44 wh ich se ems to me the be st ,or my servant will be (sum) the prophet , and thi s is nearer than that ,’ viz.‘every servant of God who is in exile , ’ &c. But apart from this reading ,Ibn Ezra says at the end Of chap . li ii , that the subject of chap . lii i is thesame as that of xli i . 1 , xlix. 3 , 1 . 6 but he expressly says on xln. 1

, Mostcommentators say that

“ my servant ”

is the righteous of Israe l , and the

Gaon says that he is Cyrus ; and in my eyes it is certain that it is the

prophe t who speak s of h imself, as in xlix . 6 ,

1 Saadyah Ibn Danan, as a revelat ion to h imself (p . and in part bythe Rabbis (p . but typ ically of the Messiah (pp . 20 2

,20 5 , 206,

m Eliezer the German in Luz z atto , p . 4 1 3 .

l xi i INTRODUCTION To THE

ex ile and the Messiah, so that all the expressions of contemptre fer to the seed of David in exile

,and all the g lorious thing s

to the Messiah 1 1 some divided the suffering s and the g l ory , inl ike way , between the Mess iah ben Joseph and the Messiah benDavid 0

; some are divided be twe en two opinions P ; two thinkthat there is a furthe r reference to the Messiah Q ; one P, thatthere se ems to be considerable resemblance and al lusion to thework of the Christian Messiah

,and to the events which are

attested to have happened to him,so that no other prophecy

can be found,the g ist and subje ct of which so immediately

appl ied to him ;’

some think that it relates to the Messiah and

the people tog ether s ; some suppose i t to be an e cho of thedissat isfact ion expressed by the saying , There is a just man and

it g oe s i ll with him t.

’ Throughout there are those who stil linterpreted the se ction of the Messiah P; and among them it isremarkable

,that Maimonide s retained here in the simple faith of

his forefathers" Interpreting of the Messias the words , He cameup as a sucker

,&c.

,as we l l as the g lories , at Him king s will

shut their mouth,’ and the prophecy of the Branch in Zechariah ,and the coming of the Lord to His temple

W in Malach i ; and

as also Passani (p. Ibn Danan had, at one t ime , ‘not thought it ad

missible to apply the prophecy to the King Me ssiah , for reasons which anyintellig ent man can find out

’

(probably as too near the Christ ian interpretation) . Hille l said that there was no Me ssiah for Israe l, because they hadenjoyed him in the days of Hezekiah. Sanhedrin, quoted p . 294, note a .

Mose s b . Gecatalia, p . 5 5 1 .

n Karaites in Yepheth b . Ali (p .

0 Some in Abarbanel (p . in Lanyado (pp . 303 in NaphthaliAltschuler (p .

P Abarbanel, of Israel (p. or Josiah (p . 1 87) Saadyah Ibn Danan, at

one t ime , Israe l or Jeremiah (p . Mordekhai,Israe l or the Me ssiah

(p 3 7 1q lgn Danan and Passani (note Abr. Farissol , beg . p. 2 20 .

9 W hen he spe aks of the people , the King Me ssiah is included in it ; andwhen he speaks of the King Me ssiah , the people is includedwith him,

’ A struc(p .

‘ including any righteous also, ’ Sal. de Marini (p .

t Ment ioned by Farisso l (pp . 2 20 ,

‘ I have found some expo sitorswho suppose &c. , and others [not the Christians] who apply it confidentlyt o the King Me ssiah

,

’&c.

Moses b. Nachman, as a controversialist, of Israel (p . Ibn Crispin(pp . 99 , A struc (p . Mose s Elshe ikh (p . R . Naphthali Altschuler (p . and the hymn-writer R . Israel Nagara (p . 385 ) see alsoFarissol (no te t ) .

V In his Igg eret Teman,a letter written A.D . 1 1 72 to the Jews in Yemen.

Se e Gratz , vi . 304 , note 2 .

Pp . 274. 275

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. lx i i i

y et that he , idolised by so many, had not apparently the sl ightestfollowing in this. He he ld to th is faith, although he said that‘ X expectations of the Messiah had always brought misfortuneon the house of Jacob ,

’

discourag ed all calculation of his coming ,mentions three false Mess iahs who rose up in forty years

,

e lse unknown, y et mentions a fami ly tradition, that prophecy,as a precursor of the Me ssiah

,would burst out anew in 1 2 1 6 .

But manifold and laborious as was the ir search , they we reengag ed in an impossible problem,

to find any counte rpart tothis g reat prophecy, except Him whom it foreshadowed. Theywere no t inte llectually se cond-rate men who fe lt the difficulty.

The sceptical Ibn Ezra, who is described as Ya man of remarkable inte lle ctual g ifts, vivid, talent ed, but w ithout warmth,

’

beg ins his solution with , z This Parashah is an extreme lydifficult one . Our opponents say that it refers to the ir God.

’

Ibn Crispin complains of a the forced and far-fe tched interpretations, of which others have been guilty says, that those whointerpret the Parashah collective ly, ‘ b distort the passag e fromits natural sense , ’ since ‘

the singular number is used throughout,’

and whereas the prophet calls the people Israe l my servant,’

he

here says my servant ’ only. These expositors ,’

he says,

‘shut

the doors of the l iteral interpre tation against themse lve s, andwearied themse lves to find the entrance .

’ He himse lf g oes backto ‘ c the teach ing of our Rabbis, the King Messiah.

’ R . Isaacb. Eliy yah Cohen, while speaking strong ly ag ainst the Christianinterpretation, says d, I have neve r in my l ife seen or heard ofthe exposition of a clear or fluent commentator, in which myown judgment, and that of others who have pondered on the

same subj ect,might complete ly acquiesce .

’

He Speaks the

judgment of others his contemporaries also . Ye t his own

interpretation is one of the most forced, and seems only designedto bring into the se ction forced allusions to our Lord. Saadyah

Ibn Banzin (a contemporary o f Abarbanel who is praised ino ther respects

f,says g

,I set before myself the notes of those

1 ‘ In France , about A .D . 1 087 ; Cordova, about A . D . 1 1 1 7 ; Fe z , aboutA .D . 1 1 27 ; Gratz, pp. 30 8 , 309 .

7 In Gratz, Ge sch . vi . 1 83 sqq. Gratz says ofhis crit icism on the Pentateuch ,

‘ It is a quest ion, which was in earne st , his scepticism or his beli ef? ’ ibid.

p. 1 92 .

2 P. 43 .a P. 1 00 .

b P. 99 .

c P . 1 00 .

d P. 1 38 .

1 460— 1 5 20 ; Gratz, viii . p . 3 27. Gratz, ibid. p . 3 20 .

8 20 2 .

lx iv INTRODUCTION To THE

who had commented upon the Parashah Beholdmy servant, and

pondered over them, and examined the Opinions they contained.

But all alike,I found

,lacked solidity and soundness.

’

Farisso l

apolog ises for those who interpreted i t of the Messiah,hW hat

eve r justice there may be in the expression of our wise men, whoappl ied the prophecy to the Messiah

,it should be bo rne in mind

that although they themse lve s and the ir words are both truthfulal ike

, y et the ir object was alleg orical .’ Moses Elshe ikh

,

writer,’

W olf says i,of much reputation among the Jews,

’

says i,

‘The verses in this Parashah are difficult to fix or arrang e ina l iteral manne r, so that the various parts, from the beg inningto the end, may be combined and conne cted close ly tog ether.The commentators I see g oing up and down among them, and

y e t ne ither ag ree ing on the subject to which the whole is to bereferred, nor disentang ling the words upon any simple plan.

’

He himse lf then in his ‘ humi l ity, set himse lf to apply to it astraightforward method

,according to the l iteral sense of the

text, such as ought to be adopted by one who would rightlyunite the several words and periods, and determine what view

'

is leg itimate , what not .’

He interprets it of the Messiah ; y et ,when he comes to verses 9—1 2 , wh ich speak of the death , hesays k , The se verses are all of them hard

,though we shall not

touch on everything which might be noticed.

’

She lomo Levisay s

l,

‘Throughout this prophecy, all the commentators exertthe ir utmost on its interpretation,

and are at no smal l variance as

to its import.’ He expresses himse lf dissatisfied with all which

he had fo'und. Even in later times, R . Naphthali Altschuler “!expresses his surprise that ‘ Rashi and R . David Kimchi havenot with the Targum app lied them to the Messiah likew ise .

’

Herz Homberg argues on the g round of the singular, againstRashi and Ibn Ezra 1 1

. Passani expresses his surprise at forme rcommentators, and says 0, ‘Not one of the e xplanations is incomplete accordance with the languag e of the text, or succeedsin satisfying us still less the ’ Christians. He thinks that, l ikeall other prophecies, most of Isaiah

’

s also point to the latterdays

,when the Messiah shall have appeared, but exhorts to

caution how any so interpret it, ‘ Take heed, O wise men,in

your words,even though the languag e be meant to be meta

phorical and indirect .’ R . Tanchum seems to be carefully

Bibl. Hebr. i. p . 808 3 P. 25 9.

'

k P. 269.

m P. 3 1 9. Pp. 406 , 40 7.

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BRIEF ExTRAcTs , IN WHICH THE JEW ISH COIIMENTATORS WRITE ( 1 ) ORTHE VICARIOUSNESS or THE SUFFER INGS MENTIONED IN THIS SECTION,

( 2) THE ACTUAL DEATH or THE SUFFERER OR SUFFERERS, ( 3 ) OF HIS

OR THEIR CONTINUED INTERCES S ION.

a . The vicariousness of the suffering .

‘ Sure ly he carried our s ickne sse s and bare our pains — but he waswounded for our transgre ssions, bruised for our iniquitie s ; his de struct ionis our compensat ion ; and by h is s tripe s we are healed — God laid upon

him the iniqui ty of us all .— If his soul becomes a tre spass-offering forsin—He w ill bear the ir iniquit ies ,’ Saad. Gaon, pp . 1 7, 1 8 .

‘By the wordssurely he hath carried our sicknesses they me an , that the pains which hefe ll into were merited by them,

but that he bore them instead — God

appo ints his servant to carry the ir sins , and by doing so light en the irpunishment , that Israe l mig ht no t be complet e ly exterminated.

— By the

Me ssiah bearing th em they would be de livered from the wrath wh ichre sted upon them , and enabled to endure it, ’ Yeph e th b . Al i, pp . 23 , 24 .

Israe l suffered,in order that by his suffering s atonement mig ht be made

for all o ther nat ions ; the sickne ss which ought to have fallen upon us,was

carried by him .— He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for

our iniquities the chastisement of the p eace that was for us fe ll upon him,

h e was chastised that the who le world might have peace— He enduredpuni shment as though he had been a sinner h imse lf, and for the sake of

others bare the sin of many,

’

Rashi , pp . 3 8 , 39. They have be en carry ingsickne sse s and pains , wh ich for our iniquit ie s should have be en borne byus ,

’ Joseph Qara , p . 4 2 .

‘ Israe l was numbered with those who transgre ssedag ainst G od, and carried the sin of many , because throug h his pains theG ent ile s had

peace , and the sin which they ought to have carried was

borne by him,

’

Ibn Ezra, p . 48 .

‘ Th e sickne ss and pain, wh ich ought tohave fallen upon us, has fallen upon them, and they are our ransom and

the price of our atonement . W hi le they were in exile , we thoug ht thatthey were smit ten by G od for the ir iniquity ; but now we se e that it was

not for th e ir iniqui ty , but for ours , as it is said, He suffered pang sfor ourtransg ressions,

’ Kimch i , p . 5 2 . If thou, Lord, make his soul , as it were ,a trespass

-qfi

’

ering , then as eve ry tre spass-offering mak e s some atonement ,so the work of this w ise ” one will atone for the iniquit ie s Of Israe l , ’ Jacobb . R euben (Kan ) , p. 63 . B y his knowledg e my se rvant Israe l uill makemany righteous in a rig hte ous law,

and their iniquities he will bear inobtaining the ir forg ivene ss , ’ Anon. xvi . p . 65 . W e were thinking , that allthe se chastening s had fall en upon him because ofhis own iniqui ty : now wese e that that was no t the cause : th e s ickne ss that ought to have comeupon us , came upon him ,

and through them atonement was made fo i us ;h is chastening s were for our transgressions, and they resulted In our peacethe Holy One did not, as he would have oth erwise done , de stroy the W OI ldfor our iniquit ie s ; andwh i le Israe l was beaten and killed (as In Ps . xliv . 23 )fo r God ’

s ho ly name , we were healed by his stripe s, ’ R . J o seph b.Nathan , pp .

He nas numbered with the transg ressors , bore chastening s as thoug h

lN'

l‘

llODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

he had be en a s inner and transg re ssor h imse lf, ’ ibid. p . 74 .

‘ It was our

s icknesses which he bare, and wh ich made him s ick and pained him.

’The

Lo rd caused the iniquity of us all (we all had incurred penalt ie s becauseof him) to meet up on him,

’

Ye shay ah b . Mal i, p . 76 . By his stripes we

were healed, because the stripes by wh ich he is vexed and distre ssed w illheal us : God w ill pardon us for his right eousness : and we shall be healedbo th from our own transgre ssions and from th e iniquit ies of our fath ers , ’Mosheh b . Nachman, p . 8 1 . They thought that the only obj e ct ofIsrae l’sexist ence was , as Mohammed said, to bear th e pains and misfortune s of theworld

,and that all the ir iniquit ie s and transg re ss ions were carried by him

as thoug h he had been the scape-g oat , ’ Ibn Shaprut , p . 9 5 ;‘ he will bear

and atone for their iniquities, when the exp iat ion fo r his own s ins and hisfathers (by wh ich is me ant the exile w ith its attendant miserie s) has be enaccomplished, ’ id. p . 96 .

‘H e also carried the sin ofmany for, be s ide s hisown sins , he bore (according t o Lam. v. 7) the sins ofhis fathers and those

of his sons as we ll, ’ id. ibid. fin . It w ill be as though he had borne all

the sicknesse s and chast isements which fall upon us. Or, perhaps , carrymay mean tak e away

,

”

forg ive (as Exod. x . from his pity and hisprayers for us , he will atone for our transg re ssions, ’ Ibn Crispin , p . 1 0 8 ;‘ by the t

weal s break ing out on his fle sh in consequence of his anxie ty forus , God w ill have mercy upon him, and, by sparing him for the sake ofhis

suffering s endured on our account , h eal us , ’ id. p . 1 09‘ because we had in

our exile incurred the extremest penalty , behold it was as thoug h th ispenalty , wh ich had be en de served by all of us

,had be en laid by God upon

him,

’ ibid.

‘ his soul will treat itse lf as guilty , and so re ce ive punishment

for our tre spasse s and transg re ss ions ,’ id. p . 1 1 2 will atone for them (forIsrae l) in the perfect ion ofhis nature , unt il the ir sins de part from them and

they are left g uiltle ss ,’ id. p . 1 1 3 . All the suffering s and sicknesses , th eywill say , wh ich we oug ht to have borne for our iniquit ie s , have been borneby the righteous for our sake

,

’ Mo sheh Coh en , p . 1 1 7 ;‘ verse 5 applie s to

e ach individual right eous man : by th e stripe s and suffering s wh ich e ach

bore , atonement was made for all Israe l,

’

id. p . 1 1 8 ; the se rig ht eous one sin Israe l were not bruised with suffering s and sickne ss, except at the pleasureof the Creator , in order that— secondly , they m ight bear the s ins of thosewho transgre ssed in Israe l , ’ id. p . 1 1 9 ;

‘ if the righteous have sufferedpunishment as though the re were g ui lt in the ir souls , ’ ibid.

‘Even thetransgre ssors among them will exclaim , that th e righteous bore all the se

suffering s and persecut ions in the pre sent world on account of theiriniqui t i e s, that by t hose suffering s Israe l’s g uilt was atoned for

,

’

id. p. 1 20 .

‘ The chastisement of our peace was upon him, be cause , except for the

merits of the righ te ous, the world had not be en pre served, but wo uld havebe en laid waste by the Ho ly One for the nat ions ’ sins — By his stripes wea re healed, for s ince punishment came upon th e righteous without cause

,

and simply on account Of the Gent ile s who sinned, th erefore the A lmig htycuts short the punishment of th e Gent ile s before the t ime : thus they arehealed by the stripe s of the righ te ous ,’ L ipmann , p . 1 5 0 . H is death wasnot caused by his own iniquity, but by th e wickedne ss of h is g enerat ion,

’

Abarbane l (of Jo siah) , p . 1 89‘the pain and s ickne ss which for our

transgressions we ought t o have rece ived, were borne by that just one forus

,

’

id . p . 1 92 th e blow , wh ich the y th emse lve s ought for the ir iniquit ie sto have rece ived, was made to fall upon J osiah by the hand of PharaohNe cho ,

’

p . 1 94 ; he ca rried the sin ofmany , and died for the iniquit ie s ofhis people , ’ id. p . 1 97.

‘Because the trouble s wh ich had come to him,

0 2

lxvi i i mrnonucriou TO THE

and which he had borne, were for their iniquities , ’ Martino, p. 20 1 . He

[Heze kiah] was perfectly just , so that his pe ople were de livered for hismerits, and he carried the s ins and transgre ss ions, wh ich they had committed in the days of his father, ’ Ibn Danan, p . 2 1 4 . Now ofa certaintywe perce ive that th is servant Israe l has suffered the punishment for iniquitywhich ough t to have be en carried by us, and borne the pain which for our

de eds we ough t to have endured, ’ Farissol , p . 2 24 ;‘since he bore the

punishment, although unjustly , we are healed, and e scape the reward of our

iniqui tie s ,’ ibid the Lord broug ht on the se rvant the pe nalty and re tri~

bution which we ought to have paid,’

id. pp . 2 24 , 2 25 ;‘this happine ss

w ill come t o him as an equivalent for the penalt ies he had endured in placeof the G ent ile s , ’ id. p . 2 26 .

‘ If he [the just] is entang led in the iniquityof his g enerat ion, repentance is no t w i th in his power, and he must die inconsequence ; hence it is said

,The Lord was p leased to bruise him, as

though for its own iniqui tie s. I not ice two thing s 1 . that he is ri ghte ous

2 . that he sees and is satisfied with many and sore trouble s, and that nothingshort o fde ath can se cure atonement for him : th is be ing so

,it follows that

he must suffer, not for his own s ins,but for those of the people .

— By his

knowledg e he will justify the just : if he does this , however, he w ill beartheir iniquities , i . e . hear them on th e ir behalf

,

’

R . M e ir Aramah, p . 242 .

The calamit ie s , in wh ich the chast isements of exil e consisted,did no t come

upon him for his own iniquity , but the pains and sickne sse s (under wh ichimag e th ey are here repre sented) wh ich ough t in just ice to have fallenupon us

,fe ll inst e ad upon him,

’

Trok i , p . 25 1‘ by the clause , carried the

sin ofmany , it is s ig nified, that not only was h e no t w icked, as th e Gent ile simag ined, but in his rig hteousness he even bore and carried the sin of

many among the Gentile s, as it is said, And their iniquities he will bear,’

id. p . 2 5 6 . W hat w e had se en before meant no th ing except that he wascarry ing our sicknesses , and that his suffering s were for the pro tection ofhis

g enerat ion, ’ Mose s Elshe ikh, p . 264 ;

‘ he carried our sicknesses, i . e . h e

was ready to carry them of his own accord,

’

id. p . 266. The suffering s ofthe ri gh teous cannot atone for the spe cial s ins of the individual , but each

man w ill have to pay h is own part icular penalty for them after death ; theiniquity ofus all, however, i . e . the iniquity common to our whole race , theLord laid upon him, viz . upon th e rig hte ous, who is punished for the

iniquity of his own ag e ,’

Sh’lomo L evi , p. 28 2.

‘The suffering s of the th irdkind are such as do l iberate a g enerat ion from its guilt , and effect atone

ment for it ; and this is what will be the case w ith the g enerat ion of the

Me ssiah — The chastisement of our pea ce was upon him, and by his stripeswe are healed , imply ing , as it doe s, that we are ent ire ly fre e from all iniquity[may allude ] to the third, or, in other words, to the g enerat ion of the

M e ssiah,’

p . 283 God here [ve r. 1 2] mak e s his final declarat ion re spectingthe rig hteous one who is to atone for his g enerat ion,

’

id. p . 286 .

‘He

h imself carried our sicknesses and bare our pains, and by saying he himself,the prophe t indicat e s that the right eo us , o f his own w ill

, was pleased tocarry them for Israe l. —W e though t him stricken o fGod for his own s ins,whereas in reality h e was stricken for ours , be ing h imse lf just and perfe ct, 'Lany ado , p . 306 fthe rig hteous, voluntarily and of his own accord, bearsthe s ickne sses ofhis g enerat ion, in order to merit the never-ending pleasureof making atonement for them,

’

id. p . 307.

‘ Israe l suffered in order thatby his suffering s atonement might be made for all the wicked,

’

AbrahamChazan, p . 3 1 5 .

‘Now we se e that this was no t a consequence of his

depress ion, but that he suffered in order that by his suffering s atonement

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. lx ix

might be made for the who le ofIsrae l as it is said of the prophe t Micah ,

that th e blood issuing from him made atonement for all Israe l , ’ Naph thali

A ltschuler, p. 3 2 1 (who also ment ions the Me ss iah b . Jose ph, and the

be lief of the pre sent unse en suffering s of the Me ssiah for Israe l , in the

Gemara) . He carried ou/r sicknesses ; for it was w e who were re allys ick and the ult imate cause of h is suffering s , and all the punishment s

spoken of should have come right ly upon us ,’

Sh’lomoh de Marini , p . 3 29

‘ he will bear their iniquities, as the rig ht eous bears those of his own

g enerat ion, ’ id. p . 3 38 . Previously , we [the Gent ile s] imag ined that

suffering s had be en sent upon Israe l,as a punishment by th e Almighty ,

and there fore thought him “stricken, smitten ofG od, and afflicted.

”

Th iswas no t so however ; they were endured by him on our account . Or w e

may tak e another l ine,and suppose that they are words of Israe l , spoken

by them in reference to the ri ght eous ; which case they thorough ly suit .

They wi ll then expre ss Israe l’s confe ssion, that the suffering s, wh ich the youg ht for the ir o nn iniquit ie s to have endured, were borne by the rig hteousfor the ir sake— by his stripes we a re healed, by the stripe s of the rig hteouswe are forg iven— we fo llowed the stubbornne ss of our heart

, but the Lord

laid upon him, the righte ous , the iniquity of as all ,’ Lope z, pp . 3 5 0 , 3 5 1 .

‘All the se sickne sse s and afflict ions only befe l the right eous , t o cleansethem from the iniquity they had commi tted, and to make atonement for

the transgre ssors in Israe l ; for the righteous mak e th atonement for his

g enerat ion, as we learn from the case of Josiah , ’ id . p . 3 5 2 ;‘ in the ir

de ath they atoned for th e s ins of many,

’

id. p . 3 5 3 ; th e transgre ssors inIsrae l will perce ive that all the suffering s of the rig ht eous were on th e irbehalf, that through the ir death the ir own sins mig ht be forgiven ’

&c.,id.

ibid. The chastisement & c., the suffering s wh ich ough t to have come uponus, in order, by blott ing out our iniquity , to perpetuate our peace , fe ll uponhim,

and by the strip es wh ich came on him th e plagues of our iniquity werehealed, the y were atoned for and so dispersed, ’ David Altschul er, p . 3 70 .

He, e ither th e servant Jacob,or the Me ssiah who will be king over the

se ed of Jacob , was wounded or bruised for the iniquity of the Gent ile s , inorder that he m ig h t rece ive the penalty on the ir behalf, ’ Mord

’

khai b .

Y’

ho safah , p . 3 79 .

‘ The sicknesses and pains which ought to have fallento our lo t , were borne and carried by him instead — by his strip es , the

stripe s which he bore when stricken, we are healed, ’ Mosheh of Salerno ,p . 38 2 . Some time s misfortune s ligh t upon the right eous, not as a punishment

,but for the sake ofa who le nat ion, that atonement may be made for

it .—G od bring s suffering s on the jus t , as a sat isfaction for the evil de st ined

to affl ict a who le pe ople , that it may thus be averted : as our R abbis say ,The de ath ofthe rig hte ous work e th atonement .

”

W hen th e prophet says ,Surely he carried 81 0 he means— they [the suffering s] do no t fall upon them[the rig hteous] for any sin they may have committed, but as an atonement

whe ther for al l the world, or for th e entire people , or for some sing le city ,Yoseph Al bo, p . 3 84 .

‘They wil l not at first perce ive , that whatever heunderwent was in consequence of the ir own transgre ssion, the Lord havingchosen him to be a tre spass-offering , l ike the scape -g oat which bore all the

iniquit ie s of the house of Israe l, ’ Herz Homberg , p . 40 1 ;‘my servant w ill

be righ teous for many , adventuring his soul fre e ly for the g eneral good,

and not sparing his own life,if o thers might be benefited through his death ,

but enduring the burthen of the ir s ins,in order to re le ase them from punish

ment ,’

id. 404 .

‘All perce ived that he [Hezekiah] was woundedfor the irtransgressions, and bruisedfor the ir iniquities, to make atonement for them

9 3

lxx INTRODUCTION TO THE

unto G od for the attribute ofjudgment, display ing itselfbefore them, laid

upon him the iniquity of them a ll, as the text says , for the transg ression ofmy people, even the stroke wh ich should have fal len upon them,

’

Yacob

Passani, p . 409 ;‘ because he bare the iniquit ie s of the ag e ,

’

id. p . 4 1 0 .

‘ In fact it was they themse lve s [the Gentile s] who had rather be en deserving ofpunishment , and that, throug h Israe l’s meri ts

,in acquie scing in

the ir affl ict ions as just , G od had pre served them— unti l the t ime of the irde liverance should arrive

,wh ich would be for the benefit of the whole

world,

’

Luz z atto , p . 4 23 . By his knowledg e &c., Israe l suffers oppressionfrom the Chr ist ians who are healed by those suffering s, ’ Clear Fountain,

p . 4 3 2 .

‘ W hereas he suffered the s ickne sses and suffering s which we

de served for our s ins, his trouble s appear to have be en the cure ofourse lve s ,the Lord seems to have transferred on him the punishment of us all ,

’

Manasseh b. Isr. Paraphrase , p . 438‘ ifhe offer his soul as an expiat ion,

’

id. p . 4 39 .

‘The meaning is that he was prostrated by our sins , and

stricken by our offence s , just as thoug h he were punish ed for us . Thiseminent saint , wh ile bearing the chast isements which came upon him as a

trial (since he had commit t ed no sin) , attracted to h imse lf, as it were , allthe chast isements clue to us

,and g ave us peace for them ; thus they came

upon him, and by his strip es we were healed. W e have already explainedthe poss ibility of God’

s act ing in such a way , in virtue of a subst itutiondecre ed by him ,

’ Y’

hudah b . Bal‘am, pp. 5 5 0 , 5 5 1 any one would thinkthat there was some evil in him, for wh ich he was punished , wh ereas infact he was carrying the sin of others , ’ id. ibid.

‘All his affl ict ions , all thepunishment and suffering s of capt ivity which fe ll upon him, were for the irs ins and transgre ssions , in virtue of the justly merited judgment of God.

It is thus that when the y have paid the debt wh ich God has adjudg ed t obe due from them, he then sends them a person who w ill guide them and

deliver them,

’

Tanchum, p . 5 5 6 . His calamit ie s are not the consequence

of his own de eds,but on account of the mult itude ofour sins and iniqui

t ie s,’

Sh’lomoh b. Menahem, p . 5 6 1 his stripe s are healing for us , because

h e bears what oug ht to have be en borne by us ,’ id. ibid . By the suffering sof Israe l atonement w ill be made for all nat ions ,’ Gershom, p . 5 65 ;

‘ the

p eace which we enjoyed was not owing to our rig ht e ousne ss, but becauseIsrae l for the ir iniquity had re ce ived upon themse lve s the punishment

which oug ht to have come upon us,’id. ib id the Almighty , unwilling to

de stroy his world,is repre sented by the prophe t as punishing Israel ; fo r

Israe l suffered in our stead,’

id. ib id.

b. The actualness of the death.

‘He gave h imself over to whatever burial the w icked Gent il e s mightdecre e : for the Gent iles used to condemn the Israe lites to be murderedand then

’

&c ., R ash i , p . 3 8 . Some explain “ in h is deaths”

of those who

died in exile , ’ Ibn Ezra, p . 4 7 ;‘all the interpre ters say that this verse

[ver. 1 2] alludes me taphorically to those who perished in defence of the

doctrine of the D ivine Unity , ’ id. p. 48 .

‘They were ever killing Israe l ,wh ile in exile , just as thoug h he had done wrong , although he had

done no vio lence , and althoug h there was no word of guile in his mouth .

Th e meaning of in“ is that he g ave himself voluntarily to death ; theyw ere ready to re lease him

,if he would renounce his own law— but rather

than do this, he me t a vo luntary de ath, ’ Kimch i , p . 5 3 ;‘ because in exile

he re sig ned h imse lfto death at the hands ofthe Genti les , ’ id. p. 5 5 .

‘And

ENGLISH TRANSLATION. lxx i

when he reached the g ate s of death , he made his g rave with the wickedhe means to say that he was wicked, and consequently had to me et the

death of th e w icked, and die in his sin, thereby accept ing the sentence

passed upon him,

’

Anon. xvi i . p . 69 . He made his grave at the will of thew icked, g ave h imse lf up to be buried at the ir decre e when the vile st of

the people murdered him , because ofGod’s ho ly name , Joseph b. Nathan,

p . 73 .

‘ The rich in Israe l used to k ill them,

’ Y’

sha’

y ah b . Mali, p . 77.

‘ The stroke had befallen them,and the just had be en deprived of life

,

because of their people ’

s transgre ssion, ’ Ahron b . Yoseph, p . 88 ‘or the

sense may be , that the y made the ir grave like men proved to be wicked

by trial, and sentenced to death,and lik e the rich man dying in his s ins , ’

id. ibid. W henever they saw a sing le wealthy Jew,they would se e k

some misch ief ag ainst him to kil l him,

’

Ibn Shaprut , p . 96 as a rewardfor his having poured out his soul to die for the sanct ity ofGod’

s name .

’

id. ibid.

‘Many of th e just and p ious were slain,and those who buried

them gave or ass igned them the ir g rave s with the wicked, ’ Ibn Crispin, p . rr 1 .

‘The righteous suffered various forms of death, after the manner in whichthe wicked condemn those who are judicially condemned, ’ Mosheh Cohen,

p . 1 1 8 ;‘ how often did the Israe l it e s re sign themse lve s to death for the

holy name,

’

id. p . 1 20 .

‘The prophe t use s deaths in the plural, becausethey condemned them to different forms of punishment

,

’

Astruc, p . 1 34 .

‘W e de sp ised him and pained him st ill more by slay ing him with the

sword, ’ Eliy y ah Cohen , p . 1 4 3 . Because he poured out &c ., an allusion

to the rig hteous who died in capt ivity on behalf of the sanct ity of God’sname

,

’ Lipmann, p . 1 5 1 .

‘Even after the ir burial the w icked he athen

used to drag them forth from the ir tombs — Israe l was persecuted by th ew icked even to the tomb,

’

Abarbanel , p . 1 8 1 ;‘ while in exile

,he poured

out his soul to die for the sanct ity ofthe holy name ,’

id. p . 1 86 his [Josiah’

s]death is spok en of as his grave or burial because , inasmuch as every deadman is buried, death itse lfmay be spok en ofas burial

,

’

id. p . 1 95 . So that

those be long ing to it would be “ drawn and cast out ,”

and not de emed worthyofproper burial, ’ Mart ino

, p . 200 . By g iving h is grave with the wickedis sign ified that he g ave himselfup to mart yrdom for the sake ofGod’

s ho lyname the expre ssion “ w ith the rich derive s its force from the fact , that

the wealthy are murdered for their riche s , and not for any wickedne ss thatmay be in them,

’

Sal . b . M e lech, p . 2 1 9 .

‘ Supposing beforehand that healway s made

'

his grave w ith the wicked, so that his final reward should be“ in the underworld beneath , the grave of the w icked be ing preparatoryto the punishment of Gehenna

,

’

Farisso l, p . 2 26 .

‘ The wealthy amongthem the y afi‘licted and murdered by various k inds ofdeath the rich inhis deaths

”

are added because the Gent ile s used to murder the Israe lite s ,to secure the ir weal th, ’Anon. xxxiv. pp . 236 , 2 3 7. Nothing short ofdeathcan secure atonement for him, so he must suffer ’ &c.

, M e ir Aramah , p . 24 2 .

Israe l was ready t o re sign h imself to death and burial for the D ivine Unitywe [the nat ions] were ince ssantly framing fraudulent devices ag ainst himto put him to death

,

’

Trok i, p . 2 5 4 .

“ He ,” i . e . Mose s,

“made his g ravewith the wicked

,

”

for he was buried in profane ground, in order to bringthem in with him [into the future Mosheh Elshe ikh , p. 27 1 . He

gave , i . e . allowed his burial and death to take place at th e hands of th e

wicked ,

’Sh

’lomo Levi, p . 284

‘ inasmuch as he poured out his soul to die ,

and in so do ing carried the sin ofmany , ’ id. p . 287‘ in return for his having

poured out his soul to die , ” and vo luntarily choosing death rather thanlife , ’ id. ibid. At the t ime whenwe smot e him [Israe l] mortally, ’ Abraham

lxxii INTRODUCTION TO THE

Cordov. p . 292. He was cut off out ofthe land of the living , and slain“ for the transgre ssion of my pe ople ," the stroke intended for them be ingborne by him instead,

’

Lany ado , p . 30 2 ;‘ he was no t to be put to death

speedily , but tortured by every conce ivable method of producing a severeand painful end and hence it is that the prophe t says no t “ in his death .

”

but in his id . ibid. He res ig ned himse lf to whatever form of

burial mig ht be decre ed against him by the wick ed,who were ever con

demning the Israe lite s to be murdered— he consented to be slain accordingto the will of the wicked

,he preferred to mee t de ath for the sake Of the

Uni ty ofGod, ’ Abraham b. Yehudah . p . 3 1 6 .

‘He re signed h imse lf to beburied in whatever manner the w icked might de cre e , who were alwayscondemning Israe l to be murdered, ’ Naphthali Al tschuler, p . 3 2 2

'

o r [ifinterpreted of the Me ssiah] ‘when the wicked man die s, the Me ssiah w illdie li kewise

,

’

id. ib id.

‘ Of the j us t who were to be found at all periodsin Israe l, and who were put to de ath in the cause Of truth , no t one everfe lt anxie ty o r se emed to be sensible ofall that he was suffering , ’ de Marini ,p . 3 3 7. He made his g rave , referring to the rig hte ous who were slainl ike g uil ty persons condemned by the sentence ofa court &c . , Lopez, p . 3 5 1‘ because be poured out his soul to die , by underg o ing martyrdom for the

ho line ss of God,as our own eyes se e in Spain and Portug al, ’ id . p . 3 5 2 .

W e made them buy the ir sepulchre s at a full price— like the wicked whoare treat ed wi thout any consideration ’

&c. , Seg re , p . 365 . He was cut Off

from the land of l ife , his suffering s acce lerat ed his death ,

’

David Altschuler,p . 3 7 1 . H e made his grave with the w icked, for t hey Spilt the ir bloodthus they re sig ned themse lve s to martyrdom,

’ Mordekhai b . Yhosafad , pp .

3 79 , 3 80 .

‘He made his g rave , entrust ed his death to the hand of the

w icked ; he w ould never comply with false worship, but preferred death, ’Mosheh of Salerno , p . 383 .

‘W hen he was led to the slaug hter, he wastaken thither from prison &c., Anon. l . p . 39 2 . He died before his t imethroug h the ir slaying him,

’

Ibn Janah , as cited by Kimchi , ibid .

‘He was

put to death without ,the authority of the g overnment , and w ithout the

sentence of a court of judgment ; any one that found him murdered him,

ifhe so cho se , ’ Luz zat to , p . 4 2 1 . H e made h is grave Israe l,who died

fo r t he law and the holy name ofGod, mak e the ir grave wi th the wicked,which is inde ed the case in this long exile , ’ Clear Fountain, p . 4 3 3 ; the se

passag e s prove that Israe l w ill be just ified by the ir confidence in God, andby the ir martyrdom, no t by that of the pre te nded Me ssiah

,

’

id. ibid. ; the

martyred people poured out its so ul unto death ,

’ ibid. p . 4 34 .

‘He was

buried with malefactors— h e g ave h imselfup to death for the sanctification

of my name,

’ Paraphrase ofManasseh b . Israe l , pp . 4 39, 4 40 ;‘we have

frequently condemned this people to death ,

’

id. p . 446 .

‘ Suffering de athw ith ignominy , and amid the imprecat ions of the populace , ’ Orobio , p . 5 08‘they judg ed him,

condemned him , and often murdered him,

’

id. p. 5 1 7.

And why were th ey slain and e xpe lled from the land of l ife IbnAmram,

p . 5 43 ;‘ he laid down his life fo r God and h is holy law,

’

id . p . 5 47.

His merits were no t known , nor h is perfect ions and exce llences de scribed,

unt il aft er his death,and his departure from the land of the living , i . e . the

pre se nt world Of sense ,’

Tanchum, p . 5 5 5 .

‘He made his grave with thewicked in an unclean land,

and his death wi th th e rich &c. , Sh’lomoh b .

Menahem, p . 5 6 2 . W hatever form of death was thus se le cted for Israel,Israe l rece ived it he endured the death &c . , Joseph Kara, p . 5 70 .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

lxx iv INTRODUCTION TO run

fo r the transgre ssors because in every place that Israe l transg ressed, heinterceded fo r them

, Mo sheh Elshe ikh , p . 2 74 . A lthoug h at the t ime of

his murder he was ranked, in the s entence re ad out to him , w i th the

g e nerality ofother transgre ssors , y e t h e too k no count ofit,knowing truly

t hat he “ carried the sin o fmany , ” making it , as he did, his constant habi tto “ intercede for transg re ssors , ” in order that atonement migh t be made

for them,

’

Sh'lomo Levi

, p . 287 ;‘ he interceded for the transgre ssors, ”

i . e . for th e people in the wi lderne ss , who , although cont inually vexing him,

he used to pray mig ht be converted,

’id. p . 288 . He

“ interceded for thetransg re ssors, ” to call down ble ssing s upon the ir land, notwithstanding the

fact that they had transg re ssed ag ainst him,

’

Abraham b . Y’

hudah Chazan,

p . 3 1 7. H e carried th e sin ofmany , and interceded for the transgressors,praying cont inually that the world might be re stored throug h the e stablishme nt of the k ing dom of the A lmighty, and that all men mig ht call uponthe name of the Lor ,d to serve h im w ith a who le he art ,’ Marini , p . 3 39 .

In the ir live s th ey sou<rht for me i cy on the transgre ssors , no tw ithstandingthe oppression wh ich the y had endured at the ir hands , ’ Lopez, p . 3 5 3 .

Though , li ke David [Pa xxxv. he was ever making intercession and

supplicat ion on behalf of the transg re ssors who smo te him,

’ Mordekh ai b .

Y’

ho safah, p . 3 80 .

‘He will intercede for the transg re ssors and for th ose

wh o rise up against him,

’

Herz Homberg , p . 40 5 . H e interceded for thetransgressors , that the ci ty might no t fall into the hands of the k ing of

A ssyria, ’ Paesani , p . 4 1 0 .

‘And made interce ssion fo 1 the transg re ssors(r i i e n as Jer. xxxvi . So Ibn Ema, Kimchi , Aba1 bane l .— Israe l willbe rede emed through the ir own merits in the endurance of suffering and

de ath , in forg iving the ir persecutors , and in praying for them, as thought o shew that they loved the nat ions , and, althoug h they rewarded them evil

,

s till bare no ill-w ill towards them ,

’

Luz z atto , p . 4 28 . Israe l prays for thew e lfare ofthe nat ions underwhose rule they live , as commanded, Jer . xxix. 7.

The nat ions will exclaim , W ho hath be lieved ”

&c . that the abased and

humiliated pe ople will pray for us Clear Fountain, p . 434 . He bore theoffence of many , even pray ing for the very transgre ssors from whom he

rece ived. injurie s , ’ Paraphrase ofManasseh b . Israe l, p . 440 . The prophetat tribute s four merits t o them ,

—4 . having observed the precept of Je r.

xxix . 7, and this too so carefully , that in al l the ir prayers , they pray for theh ealth of the prince , and the p eace ofthe k ing dom o r province where in theyre side , and, what is more , it may be even for the we lfare of those fromwhom they are rece iving insult and wrong ,

’ Manasseh b . Israe l, p . 448 .

H is interce ss ion w ill avail that the divine just ice w ill p i t ifully pardon thenat ions the ir abominable s ins , even those the y commit ted ag ainst Israe l,for Israe l, full ofth e love ofG od and of his divine Spirit , w ill pray for therebe llio us, w ill be the mediator of peace be tween the Lord and the nat ions ,pray ing for them , no t with an ineffectual prayer, but one so effe ctual that

his entreat ie s will always have a happy re sult in mankind be ing benefited, ’Orobio , p . 5 3 1 .

‘H e will pray the Lord for the wicked sons of Israe l,

transgressors of the law,and daily deprecates for them ,

’

IbnAmram, p . 5 48 .

1 mm intei ceded and prayed for them, as b . Bal am,

p . 5 5 1 H e made interce ssion for those w ick ed ones who thoug h t evil ofh im ; in h is humil ity he doe s no t hate them for the ir behaviour towardshim , o r fo rsak e them and wi thdraw h imse lf from them, but interceded fort hem ( 17 1 1 9 1 l ike m en Jer. vii . Tanchum, p . 5 5 7.

‘He will intercedew ith the Almig hty that he would bring t hem forth out of exile for the iro wn meri t , ’ Sh'lomoh b . M’

nahem, p . 5 63 .

‘ The ir iniquit ie s he wi ll bear,

ENG TRANSLATION. lxxv

as happens g enerally wi th the ri g hteous, one interceding for o thers that

they may e scape unpunished,

’ Gershom , p . 5 67‘for the transg re ssors who

were suffering the prophe t intercededw ith the Alm ighty , and the Almightythroug h his means g ave prosperity to the world, ’ id. ibid.

ADDITIONAL NOTE ON PAGE xxx 1 v , NOTE k

IT has be en sug g e sted to me that some might like to se e the passag e of

the Siphra d’

R ab as it stands m the printed text , and so to compare it w iththat wh ich Mart ini found in his MS . or MSS . (Dr. Neubauer found it for

me,xi i . 20 . InUg o lini

’

s The saurus it is in t . xiv, p . dcccxxx) . It now runsR . J ose said, If thou art minded to know how g reat is the reward of the

rig ht e ous in the world to come, g o and learn from the first man, upon

whom was laid only one neg at ive commandment , and he transg re ssed it ;se e how many deaths were inflicted upon him and upon his g enerat ions,and Upon the g enerat ions of his g enerat ions to the end of his g enerat ions,and wh ich attribut e is g reater, the attribute of goodne ss or the attributeof veng eance ? He sai th , the attribute of goodness . If the attribute of

veng eance be the le ss , se e how many deaths were infl icted upon him and

on his g enerat ions, and on the g enerat ions of his g enerat ions unto theend ofall g enerat ions. H e who turne th from the unclean ( 5 1 1 : L ev. vi 1 . 1 8)and from that wh ich remaine th over [ofthe sacrifice] (ann nLev .vii. 1 6 , 1

and humble th h imself on th e day of atonement,how much more doe s he

merit for h imse lf and for his g enerat ions , and for the g enerat ions of his

g enerat ions unt i l the end ofall g enerat ions Admitt ing fully the right ofthe J ews to adapt the ir text s for the ir own private use

,and to erase the

ment ion of ‘th e merits of the Me ssiah ’

when the y no long er be lieved them ,

th e omission se ems to me to have spoi led the argument . As it stands in

Martini , the contrast is clear,be twe en the one sin of one h ithe rto s inle ss

[Adam] and the merit of the S inl ess Sufi'

erer. But since every righteousman has commit ted many more sins than Adam

,th ere is no contrast

be twe en his one disobedience and the ir Observance of a few commands .

To me it se ems inconce ivable , that a mind wh ich could conce ive so g randa contrast as that be twe en God’s attribute s of just ice and mercy couldhave sunk to so poor a contrast

, and have imag ined (contrary t o fact )that two or thre e ritual Observance s could have be en meritorious for all

g enerat ions , whereas Eze k ie l declare s , that the father’s observance of themoral law would not avai l to the sonwho habitually broke it . The passag e ,as it stands in the printed t ext, se ems to me to indicate an omission, suchas Mart ini ’s t ext supplie s , ‘

the merit of the M e ssias be ing a known phrase( se e no te k ) . Ag ain Mart ini’s observat ion,

‘ It is much to be no ted, that

the Targum says , The Lord says to his W ord,

”

when David said,

“ The

Lord sa id unto my the pre sent text having ‘ by his W ord, ’ no t‘to his W ord, 1 8 quot ed as

‘a fair sample of Mart ini ’s comments .

’ Ye t

lxxvi INTRODUCTION To THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

Mart ini'3 text , which was also independently that ofH ieronymus aS . F ide ,and pi oduced in a discussion ( 0. Jud. i . 8. init . B . P . xxvi . has the

advantag e , that it is a paraphrase , vshich the printed text is no t . In the

printed t ext , there is no Hebrew to correspond to the paraphrase ‘ by his

word, ’ and no Chalde e to corre spond to the words paraphrased ‘ to my Lord.

’

In Mart ini ’s t ext, the Hebrew and Chalde e corre spond. The idea of the

Prie sthood of the W ord was known to the J ews . Ph ilo says , There are,

it se eme th , two t emple s ofGod. The one is this world, in wh ich also th ereis a h igh-prie st , His F irst B eg ot ten D ivine W ord l

.

’

I have no doubt thatw ant ) : crept into the modern text as the common phrase , whereas there isno occas ion e lsewhere for the dat ive , wh ich is in th is place a paraphrase forthe Hebrew dat ive .

8 De Somnus , Opp . i . 65 3 , Mang .

I . THE SEPTUAG INT,AQU ILA

,SYMMACHUS ,

AND THEODOTION.

LII .

1 3 Behold my servant e shal l have understandingb,and

shal l be exalted and g lorifiedC exceeding ly 1 4 In what manner

many will be astonishedd at thee , so dishonoured will thy formhe of men

,and thy g lory 6 of the sons of men f

,

‘5so shal l

many nat ions marve l s at him,and king s shall holdh the ir

month : be cause those to whom it had not been told concerninghim w ill see

,and those who have not heard wi l l understand.

LI II .

1 Lord, who bel ieved our report ? and to whom

was the arm of the Lord revealed ? 2W e announced [him]as it were a child before him

, [he was] l ike a root in a thirstyland i. He hath no form nor g lory j : and we saw him,

and he

had no form nor beauty,but his form k was 3without honour

and fading away beyond [any of] the sons of men ] ; a man set

in a plague , and knowing how to carry sicknessm, be cause hiscountenance is turned away from himn

,he was dishonoured

8 A. S . my slave .b A. shall be made to posse ss knowledge . °A. S . Th .

shall be lifted up and he ld on high .d Th . marve lled.

0 A. his visag eand his form.

f S . beyond the sons Ofmen.8 A. Th . he will sprinkle S .

be will fl ing away.h A. close up .

i A . he shall come up (or, shall be told of)like a child rece iving suck before his face , and lik e a root out of the impassable land S . he came up like a shoo t before him, and like a root out of thethirsty land Th . he will come up like a sucking ch ild before him,

and likea roo t in th e thirsty land.

jA. dist inct ion.

k S . he had no form or reputation that we might know him, ne ither looks that we might de sire him.

1 S .

set at nought , and the most insig nificant ofmen.

“1 A. a man Ofpains andknown to illne ss ; S . a man full of labour and known to disease ; Th . 11 .man

ofpaints and known to s ickness .1“A. his face was as though h idden.

2 THE SEPT.,AQ. ,

SYMM.,AND THROB . [l ii i . 4

and e steemed not 0 ‘This man carries our sins,and is pained

for us, and we thought that he was in labour, and in a plague ,and in afiliction p .

5 But he was wounded for our s ins , and

made sick q for our transg ress ions the chastisement of our peacewas upon him,

by his stripes we were healed.

6All we like sheepwent astray

r,each man wandered on his own way : and the

Lord de livered him over to our s ins 8,

7and be by reason of his

be ing afilicted t Openeth not his mouth : like a sheep he was

led to the S laughter “, and as a lamb dumb before her shearer,so he Openeth no t his mouth .

8 In his humi l iation his judgment was taken away : his g eneration who shall declare ?because his l ife is taken from the earth , for the iniquities of mypeople he was led off to death V

.

9And I will g ive W the wi ckedxfor his g rave and the rich for his death : because he did no

iniquity, ne ither [uttered] dece it w ith his mouth .

1 0And the

Lord desireth to purify him )? from his plague ” ; if y e g ive [anoffering ] for sin

, y ouraa soul shal l see a long - l ived seed.

The Lord also desireth bb to take away‘fc ” from the labour

of his soul,to shew him light and form [him] with intelli

g encedd

,to justify the just that serveth many well ee ; and

their sinsff he will bear 88 .

1 2 Therefore shal l he have many

0 Th . and we e steemed him not . P S . Sure ly he took up our sins, andendured our labours but it thought him to be under the touch [of leprosy](A. touched Th . beaten plagued by God by God also inA. and

humiliated.<1 A. he was defiled by reason ofour defect ions

,bruised

f A . verg ed aside S . turned Off; Th. inclined away .

3 S . and the Lordmade the iniquity ofus all to me e t upon him.

t S . he was brought near, andhe was obedient . S . to sacrifice . S . for he was cut off out of the land ofthe living , and for the injust ice of my people there was a plague upon themTh. because he was cut off from the land of the living , on account of thedefect ion ofmy people he touched them.

WA. S . Th . he will g ive . S . the

impious. YS . to have mercy on him.” S . in his wounding .

“ A. S . Th

his .W A. Th . insert by his hand.

0° S . the pleasure of the Lord shallpro sper in his hand.

dd A. S . Th . he shall see , shall be filled (S . satiatedin his knowledg e . S . that ministere th to many . S. impiet ies.

8 ” A. shall carry ; S . shall take up Th. took up .

—l i i i . THE SEPT . , AQ. , SYMM ., AND THEOD . 3

for his inheritance , and Shall divide the Spoi ls“! of the

strong ; because his soul was del ivered ove r unto death,and

he was numbe redn among st the transg ressors ii, and because

he bore kk the S ins of many,and for the ir transg ressions was

delivered up

“1 A. booty. A. S . was counted.1 1 Th . he ld alooffrom the impious.

U‘A. took away ; S . Th . took on him .

1 1 S . re sisted the disobedient .

li ii . 2 . c’

wqy y ez’

Aajuev. Cf. the note below on ver. 1 1 wadorar. 5 . A. Bq Aw

p e’

vos . The word is regarded as connect ed with 5 5 11 , 5h : we shall find thesame view recur in some of the other commentators. 7. wpo onve

’

xoq , i . e .

115 1 ) for iDJJ: cf. 1 Sam. xii i . 6 LXX . 8 . sis Och/af ar . It is possible , asIh ankel conjecture s (Vorstudien an der Sep t , 1 84 1 , p . that fallingperhaps at the end ofa line , or having accidentally a stroke after the 1was incorrectly taken by the translators as an abbreviat ion for 1 1 1 13 17 , i . e .

to death : Franke l compares Hos. xiv. 3 (ma y for O ’WD) , Ps. iii. 8, Num.

vii . 88 (H!) or "1 9 resolved wrong ly into 1 0 . k adapt'

oat. From the

sense attaching to 14 3 1 in Aramaic ( Chalde e and Syriac) , where it is equivalent to the H eb. rm to be clear or pure. It is no uncommon occurrence forLXX to interpret a Hebrew word in accordance with the signification borneby a word externally re sembling it in the Aramaic dialect Spoken at the t imewhen the translat ion was made . Cf. , for example , Ps. vii . 3 Av-rpovjue'vov,ll. 6 rati ng s , 1x. 1 0 ékm

’

fios,lxi. 8 1 1

'

s, lxix. 2 1

,civ. 1 1 Is . xxxviii . 1 3 nape

Nah . iii. 8 é -romé oaz Qoh . i . 1 7wpoar’

pems, 1 1 . 8 oivoxoov s at or’

voxoas ,

1 2 Bovkfi.“mube ing connectedwith 5 5 11 . 1 1 . WAdO'at .

171 W (ifread as Hif.) might naturally be rendered by nafioaz and it was sug

g e sted long ago by L . Cappe llus (quoted by Schleusner) in his Natae Criticae

p . 60 b, that the latter was the term actually used by the translators,and that the corruption is to be attributed to the Greek copyists. There are

certainly several instance s in LXX of corrupt ions re sembling the one

before us, which it se ems reasonable to assign to this source , e specially if,as is somet ime s the case , the alteration was in any way facilitated by thenature of the context . In the Psalms alone , for instance , cf. iv. 8 aaprroi) for

k arpofi, xvii . 1 4 belo wfor vio'

bv (both sug g ested by the context ) , xxxi . 1 6 nkfipozfor mupoi, xxxix . 6 vaAards for fl ak arords , xliv. 1 3 dAaAc

'

vy/xaaw ( l) for

dAAdynacrw,xlix. 9 éxom

’

aaev for intim acy,lxxviii . 5 4 al. Cf. also Deut .

4 THE SEPT. , AQ., SYMM .

,AND THEOD . [l i i i . 1 2

xxxiii . 28 e’

ni ‘

yfis for 1 Sam. ix . 24 . Prov. xxxi . 2 1 etc.,and W ellhausen

D er Text der BB . Samuelis p . 8 , who cite s a curious instance frouJudg . v. 8

,as we ll as some Ofa similar nature from the Pe shito . W he ther thi

same explanat ion can be adopted for ver. 2 , c’

wrjy'

y er'

Aanev for dVG’

TGtAG y e’

v, idoubtful. juév is no t a word Often used by LXX ,

and certainly doe s no

s eem required there it se ems more probable , therefore , e spe cially as A. be

a variant dvappqerjo erar, that the ir rendering orig inated in some corrupt ion 0'

Obscuri ty in the H ebrew text wh ich they employed. 1 2 . 6 . c’

me’

oxe-ro

l . e . l’ JDJ.

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6 THARGUM or YONATHAN. [l i i i . 6— 1 2 .

increased upon us,and by devotion to his words, our s ins wil l

be forg iven us .

6 All we l ike She ep had been scattered,we had

each wandered off on his own way ; but it was the Lord’

s g oodpleasure to forg ive the sins of all of us for his sake . £7He prayed,and he was answered

,and ere even he had opened his month

he was accepted : the mighty of the peoples he wi ll de l iver upl ike a sheep to the slaughte r and l ike a lamb dumb before hershearers ; there Shal l be none before him opening his mouth orsaying a wordD

SOut of chastisements and punishment he w illbring our captives near ; the wondrous th ing s done to us in

his days who Shall be able to tel l ? for he wil l cause the

dominion of the Gentile s to pass away from the land of Israe l,

and transfer to them the sins which my people have committed.

9 He wi ll del iver the wicked into Gehinnom,and those that are

rich in possessions into the death of utter destruction, in orderthat those who commit Sin may not be e stabl ished, nor speakde ce its with the ir mouth .

1 °But it is the Lord’s g ood pleasureto try and to purify the remnant of his people , so as to cleansethe ir souls from sin these shal l look on the kingdom of the irMessiah , the ir sons and the ir daughters shall be multipl ied, theyshal l prolong the ir days, and those who perform the Law of theLord shall prosper in his g ood pleasure .

1 1 From the subje ctionof the nations he w i ll de l iver the ir souls

,they shall look upon

the punishment of those that hate them, and be satisfied withthe spoil of the ir king s : by his wisdom he w ill hold the guiltless free from guilt, in order to bring many into subject ion tothe law ; and for the ir sins he will intercede .

1 2 Then will Idivide for him the spoi l Of many peoples, and the possessionsof strong cities shall he divide as prey, be cause he de l ivered up

his soul t o death,and made the rebe llious subje ct to the Law :

he shall intercede for many sins,and the rebe llious for his sake

shall be forg iven.

III . THALMUD .

a . THALMUD OF JERUSALEM .

R . Yonah says,It is written

,I w il l allot him a portion with S1

the many th is refers to R .

‘

Aqibha3,who introduced the study

v

of the Midrash,the Halakhoth

,and the Haggadoth

b

b. THALMUD OF BABYLON.

1 . The Messiah— what 1 8 his . The Rabbis say , The s.

leprous one [; those ] of the house ofR abbid [say , The s ick one],as i t Is said

,

‘ Sure ly he hath borne our si ckne sses ,’

etc.

a R .

c

Aqibhawas one of the most ce lebrated Rabbis of the school ofJabneh(Jamnia) , and a great ag itator during the war of bar-Cokhebha (bar-Co z iba).

He is considered by the Jews to have been, like Ezra, a re storer of the law,and is even some t imes compared to Moses. Se e J . Derenbourg , Essai sur

l’

histoire et la g eographic de la Palestine, Paris , 1 867, p . 3 96.

b Some account of the meaning of these terms may be found in Smith’sDiet. of the Bible, i i i . 1 640 or Neubauer, La g eog raphic da Talmud, Paris,1 868 , p . xiv.

The other names of the Me ssiah mentioned in th is passage are, Shiloh ’

with reference to Gen.xlix. 1 0 until Sh iloh come Y innon with referenceto PS. lxxii . 1 7 His name shall endure for ever before the sun [was

created] his name was Yinnon Haninah ’ in reference to Jer. xvi. 1 3 whereno Haninah (favour) will be g iven (31 1 1 instead ofms of the text , wh ich wasthe reading Ofthe earlie st translators) to y ou M’

nahem,

’son ofHezekiah,

in reference to Lam. i . 1 6 the Comforter (M nahem) that should restore mysoul is far from me .

’See for the text of this passage , as we ll as for some

other name s of the Me ssiah according to a Midrash , W iinsche , Leiden desMessias, Le ipz ig , 1 870 , p . 62 sqq.

d Rabbi , ‘master, ’ is the t itle of R . Yuda the Saint (about 1 80 the

redactor of the Mishnah .

8 THALMUD . [l i i , l i i i .

2 . Rabbae state s on the authority of R . S’

horah that R. Huna

said, The Holy One bruise s w ith chast isement every one in whomhe has pleasure , as it is written,

‘And the Lord was pleased t obruise him,

he made him to be sick .

’

It mig ht however be thought ,that th is was the case even w i th those who do not accept thechastisement willing ly ; the words are there fore added,

‘ If his

soul make s a trespass-offering ,’ for as the trespass-offering im

pl ies a knowledg e of the sin, so the chastisement to come by the

pleasure of God oug ht to be known by the person who has torece ive i t. Wh en,

then,he had re cei ved them so

,what is his

reward ? ‘He shal l se e se ed,and leng then days and more

over that the study of the law shall be e stabl ished by his hands ,as it is written

,

‘And the pleasure of the Lord shal l prospe r inhis hand.

’

3 . R . Shimlaif established the following Midrash : Why did

Moses our Teacher desire to enter into the land of Israe l ? wasit that he wanted to eat of its fruit

,or to take his fi ll of its

g ood thing s ? No : Moses said,Many are the commandments

enjoined upon Israe l , and only in the land of Canaan can theybe performed : let me , then, enter the land, in orde r that theymay all be performed through my aid. So the Holy One saidto him

,Dost thou se ek anything except to re ce ive a reward ?

I wi ll regard thee as thoug h thou hadst performed them : forthus it is written

,Therefore will I divide him a port ion w ith the

g reat ,’

e tc. ;‘ I wi ll divide him a portion among the g reat,

’

might bear the meaning l ike those who come last , no t like thosewho come first ; i t is therefore added

,W ith the mighty he will

divide spoil ,’ l ike Abraham

,Isaac, and Jacob, who were [the first

and] mighty in the law and the commandments : ‘ be cause hepoured out his soul to die

,

’

he was ready to die , as it is said,But if not, blot me I pray the e ,

’

e tc. (Ex . xxxii . 3 2 ) he was

numbered with the transg ressors,’ for he was numbered with

0 Rabbawas a Babylo nian doctor, who lived about 260 A . D .

R . S lnimlai was a doctor of Pale stine , who flourished about 2 30 A . D .

those that had transg ressed in I srae l that they might turn to

repentance— for via means mere ly to p ray or intercede,

as

Jer. vii . 1 6 .

c . MIDRASH RABBAH .

Anothe r explanation (of Ruth 1 1 . 1 4) — He is speaking of theking Messiah Come h ither

,

’

draw near to the throne and eat

of the bread, ’ that is, the bread of the kingdom ; ‘and dip thy

morse l in the vineg ar,’ this re fers to the chastisements, as i t is

said, But he was wounded for our transg ressions, bruised for ouriniquities .

’

I have eaten my honey comb with my honey (Cant. v . 1 ) be

cause the Israe l ites p oureol out g the ir soul to die in the captivity,as it is said

,Be cause he poured out his soul to die .

’

d . YALQUT .

1 . Who art thou, 0 g reat mountain (Zech . iv . 7 This refers

to the King Messiah . And why does he cal l him ‘the g reat

mountain’

l’

be cause he is g reate r than the patriarchs, as it issaid

,My servant shal l be high , and lifted up , and lofty exceed~

ing ly—he wi ll be h ighe r thanAbraham,

who says,I raise high

my hands unto the Lord’

(Gen. xiv . lifted up above Moses,

to whom it is said,

‘Lift it up into thy bosom’

(Num. xi .loftier than the ministering ang els , of whom it is written, The irwhe els were lofty and terrible ’

(Ez . i . And out of whomdoes he come forth ? Out of David.

2 . I will tell of the institution (P3 . Already are the

words [concerning my servant] told in the institut ions of the Pentateuch

, of the book of the Prophe ts, and of Hag iog rapha in the

8 There is a play h ere on the word as.“‘ honeycomb ,

’

which , by the similarity of sound

,recals the expre ssion nwrn pour out , ’ employed by Isaiah .

1 0 TIlALMUD . [l i i , l ii i .

Pentateuch where are they told ? ‘ Israe l is my firsthorn’

(Ex .

iv. 2 2 ) in the prophets , whe re ? Behold my servant wil l dealprudently,

’

and near to it,My servant whom I uphold (xlii . 1 )

in the Hag iog rapha, where ? ‘The Lord said to my lord,’

and

The Lord said unto me (Ps. ex . 1 , i i .3 . T DD) (Ps . 1 1 . According to another view th is means

,I

have woven him h,

’ cf.mop Jud. xvi . 1 4 i . e . I have drawn himout of the chastisements . R. Huna, on the authority of R. Aha,

says,The chastisements are divided into three parts : one for

David and the fathers , one for our own g eneration, and one forr

the King Me ssiah ; and this is that which is written, ‘He was

wounded for our transg ressions,’

etc.

4 . Another view i. Therefore I w ill divide him a portion withthe many,’ — Moses wil l come at the head of eve ry assembly whatever, even that of the masters of the Thalmud, and rece ive wi theach of them his reward

,as it is written, And he came at the

heads of the people’

(Dent . xxxi i i .

According to Raymund Martini.

e . SIPHRP'

; 5.

R. Yo se the Gal ilaean said, Come forth and learn the

righteousness of the King Messiah and the reward of the justfrom the first man who re ce ived but one commandment

,a pro

hibition, and transg ressed it : cons ider how many deaths wereinflicted upon himse lf

, upon his own g enerations, and upon thosethat followed them

,t ill the end of all g enerations. Which

attribute is the g reater, the attribute of g oodness , or the attri

bute of veng eance ? He answered, The attribute of g oodness is

h ‘ The two verbs Tan and 1 0 ) are here interchang ed, ’ VVunsche , p . 73 .

For the rendering ‘woven, ’ cf. Aquila $6zaodp 77v, Jerome orditus sum the

verb “

ID: is treated as though it were connected with “

1 3 0.

1 This passag e is preceded by the extract from the Thalmud ofBabylon,b. 3 .

3 Pug io Fide l, p . 674 .

THALMUD .

the g reater, and the attribute of veng eance is the le ss ; how muchmore , then, wil l the King Messiah

,who endure s affl ict ion and

pains for the transg re ssors (as it is written, ‘ He was wounded,

’

e tc.) justify all g ene rations and this is what is meant when it issaid, ‘And the Lordmade the iniquity of us all me et upon himk

f. THANHUMA 1 .

R. Nahman says,The word man

’

in the passag e , Every man a

head of the house of his fathers (Num. i . re fers to the Messiahthe son of David, as it is written, Behold the man whose name

is Z emeh ’

(the branch) where Yonathan interpre ts, Behold theman Me ssiah (Ze ch . vi. and so it is said

,

‘A man of pains’

and known to sickness.

According to Hulsiusm

g . P’

SIQTHA.

The Holy One brought forth the soul of the Messiah,and said

to him,Art thou wi lling to be created and to redeem my sons

after 6000 years ? He rep lied, I am. God repl ied, If so , thoumust take upon thyse lf chastisements in order to wipe awaythe ir iniquity, as it is written

,

‘ Sure ly our s icknesses he hathcarried.

’

The Messiah answered,I wi ll t ake them upon me

g ladly.

k The argument is this : IfAdam’

s g uilt entailed such consequences uponall his descendants, and the attribute ofvengeance or just ice is st il l not so

potent as that ofmercy, how much more will the suffering s of the Me ssiahredound to the advantag e of all mankind ! Compare the similar reasoningofSt . Paul , R om. v. 1 5

- 1 9, and Delit z sch’

s note , in his intere st ing edit ion of

this Epistle in Hebrew (Le ipzig ,1 Pug io Fide i , p . 664 .

m Theologia Judaica, p . 3 28 .

IV . ZOHAR .

Section

He beg an and said,B ehold my servant

,e tc. Happy is the

port ion of the just, to whom the Holy One reveals the paths ofthe law for them to walk in ! Come

,consider the exalted

mystery of th is verse , as it has been explained before : whenthe Holy One created the world, he made for it the moon

,and

caused its l ig ht to be small,s ince it had none of its own at

all ; it rece ived therefore its light from the sun and throug hthe power of the upper luminarie s . During the time that thesanctuary was standing , Israe l , the priests , the Levite s , and

the people never ceased offering g ifts and burnt -sacrifices and

other rite s , tying knotsa,continuing blessing s , and keeping

up perpetual light . But afte r the sanctuary was desolated,the

l ight be came dark and the moon was no long er illumined bythe sun (for the sun was w ithdrawn and shone no more) ; norwas there any day over which curse s and affl ictions and pains ,according to the saying of the Rabbis , did no t hold sway . Ofthattime , however , when the day shal l arrive for the moon to sh ine ,the pas sag e speaks , which is a mystery of faith

,

‘ Behold myservant shall deal prudently

’— my servant

,viz . who suddenly

wakes and starts up as one who sme l ls a (sweet) savour and

rouses himse lf up to contemplate it. He will be high, above theupper l ight of (all) the luminarie s , as it is written,

He will be highthat he may have mercy on y ou

’

(Is . xxx . 1 8 ) he will be lifted

a This refers t o the knots of the phylacterie s ; se e Thalmud ofBaby lon,B

’

rakho tli , fol .

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1 4 z onax. [l i i , l i i i .

lands among st the heathen,what do we find written ? ‘Behold

the ir strong men cry in the stree t,the messeng ers of peace weep

bitterly ’

(Is. xxxii i . all weep for this, and join in lamentat ion and mourning for the Shekhinah carried into captivity .

And as the moon was chang ed from what she had been,so also

her master no long e r gave his light , but was chang ed l ikewise ,as i t is written,

‘ The sun was dark in his g oing forth’

(Is.

xi ii . 1 0 ) and it is to this that the words refer, So marred was

According , however, to anothe rexplanation,

the countenance ’ is that of the servant (the moon),whose form and features were chang ed from what they oncewere . And according to a third, i t is the heavens that are

meant, which after the sanctuary had been laid waste , no long erpreserved the ir orig inal form : and so it is written (Is. 1 .

I wil l clothe the heavens with blackness , and wi ll make sackcloth the ir covering .

’

his countenance beyond man.

’

Section 5mm.

Happy is the portion of the just in this world and in thatwhich is to come l The souls which are in the g arden of Edenbelow g o to and fro every new moon and sabbath

,in order to

ascend to the place that is cal led the Walls of J erusalem.

After that they j ourney on and contemplate all those that arepossessed of pains and sicknesses and those that are martyrs forthe uni ty of the ir Lord

,and then return and announce it to the

Messiah . And as they tell him of the misery of Israe l in the i rcaptivity, and of those w icked ones among them who are not

attentive to know the ir Lord, he lifts up his voice and weeps

for the ir wickedness : and so it is written, ‘He was woundedfor our transg re ssions,

’

etc. Then those souls re turn and abidein the ir own place . There is in the g arden of Eden a

“

palacecalled the Palace of the sons of s ickness : this palace the

Messiah then enters, and summons every sickness,eve ry pain,

and every chastisement of Israe l ; they all come and re st uponhim . And were it not that he had thus lightened them off

l i i , l i i i .] z onau. 1 5

Israe l and taken them upon himse lf, there had be en no man

able to bear Israe l ’s chastisements for transg ression of the lawand th is is that which is written, Sure ly our s icknesses he hathcarried.

’

Section sumin.

In this Parashah,O faithful shepherd [Mose s] , God Speaks of

thy gathering to the other world But here there is a

g reat mystery, in be ing buried, name ly, in unseemly fashion,in

a‘ dry land where no water is ’

water ’ here signifying the

law) , without form or beauty. W hoever looks at this kind ofburial [exclaims] ,

‘W e see him,but he has no form that we

should desire him therefore th is prophe cy, Behold my servant ,

e tc.,allude s to him Where thy bride is , there thou shalt be

united with her, l ike a true brideg room. Hadst thou not been

buried out of the Holy Land,and far from thy bride

,Israe l

would never have come forth from captivity ; and therefore it issaid, 551m: Nim thou wast made p rofane

’

[from sh] in thyburial c for the transg ressions and iniquit ie s of Israe l .

Section urns .

The children of the world are members one of another. Whenthe Holy One desires to g ive heal ing to the world, he smitesone just man among st them,

and for his sake heals all the rest.Whence do we learn this 1 From the saying , He was woundedfor our transg ressions,bruised for our iniquities,

’

1 35 &D‘

Uinfliznl i,

i . c . by the letting of his blood— as when aman bleeds his armthere was heal ing for us— for all the members of the body. In

g eneral a just person is only smi tten in order to procure heal ingand atonement for a whole g eneration and this is the mysteryof the saying , There is a just man and it g oes il l with him,

[a wicked man and it g oes we l l w ith himd.]

By be ing buried, name ly, away from the Holy Land.

4 Cf. Thalmud of Baby lon, B ’rakho th , fol . W iinsche , p. 1 0 1 .

1 6 ZOHAR . [l i i , l i i i .

Section ems .

At the time when the Holy One desires to atone for the sinsof the world

,lik e a phys ician who to save the other limbs

,

ble eds the arm,he smites the ir arm and heals the ir whole

person : as it is written,

‘ He was wounded for our ini

quities,’

etc.

S ection NEH “D.

Thy bride [i. e . the law] , O faithful shepherd, was g ivenby the Holy One to Abraham and to Isaac thatshe might be true to thee at the t ime when thou comest to herat the last redemption, as it is written, That which was

,is that

whi ch shall be ’

(Ecol. i . Be cause they (Israe l) produced and

wrought g ood thing s for thee , thou hast borne for the ir sakese ver so many strokes in order that ,\Messiah the son of Josephmight no t be slain And therefore it is written

,He was

wounded for our transg re ssions, and by his stripes we werehealed.

’

Section mm“3 .

the faithful shepherd, of whom it is said, ‘And the man

Moses was exce eding ly afiiicted’

(Num . xn . for he bore the

we ight of the sixty myriads of Israel . Ofhim,too

,it is written

,

From the place of his habitation he looked forth’

(Ps . xxxii i .And also

,w ith re fe rence to the g enerat ion of the second cap

t ivity , But the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all.’

S ection mm.

Come,cons ider the cong reg ation of Israe l , how it is called

a lamb,as it is said, Like a lamb that before her shearers is

dumb .

’

W hy was it dumb’

i Be cause while the other nationsruled over it

,it was deprived of spee ch and made dumb.

V . R . SA‘

ADYAH GAON.

LII. ‘3 Behold my messeng er shall have unde rstanding , and

be hig h and exalted and lofty exceeding ly. And as

many will be desolated at him,so w i ll his countenance be marred

beyond any of them,and his form beyond the sons of Adam

1 5and so w il l he scatter many nations ; at him king s shal l shutthe ir months : for they will have seen th ing s such as had not

been told to them,they will consider that of which they had

never heard the l ike .

LIII .

l W ho hath be l ieved this our report ? and upon whomwill the might of God be revealed 1 2W ho before this will g rowup l ike a sucker

,and l ike a solitary root out of the dry g round,

wh ich has no form nor come l iness , and when we see i t hasno looks so that we should desire it ? 3 So is he despised and

cut off from men ; possessed of pains and known to s ickness,

and like one be fore whom faces are h idden ; so he is de spisedand we e steem him not .

4 Sure ly he carried our sicknesses, andbare our pains : and we did e steem him afflicted, smitten ofGod, and punished.

5 But he was wounded for our transgres

s ions,bruised for our iniquities ; his destruction is our compen

sation ; and by his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheephad g one astray

,and eve ry one had turned to his own way ;

and God laid upon him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was

tossed to and fro,and he was punished, y et he opened not

his mouth ; like a lamb which is led to the slaughter and like a

sheep which before her shearers is dumb, so he opened no t

his mouth .

8From prison and from judgment he was snatched

1 8 1 1 . SA'

ADYAH GAON. [l i i i . 9— 1 2 .

away , and who shal l declare anyth ing concerning his g eneration “

l— until he was cut off out o f the land ‘ of life,and for

the transg ression of my people the stroke was upon them .

9And

he made his g rave w ith the evildoers , desiring to die,and with

the rich in his death , although he had done no violence,

ne ither was there any de ce it in his mouth.

1 °And God was pleasedto make him afraid and s icken him

,— if his soul become s

a trespass -offering for sin,and he sees a noble seed

,his t ime

[of life] wil l be long , and God’

s pleasure shal l prosper in hishand. And from the travail of his soul he shal l see a reward

,

and shall be satisfied by it, and by his understanding shall therighteous , as also my messeng er, justify many

, and he w il lhear the ir iniquit ie s.

‘2The refore I wi ll g ive him a portion withthe g reat, and he shall divide spoil with the s trong , because helaid bare his soul unto death , and [was numbered] a with the

transg ressors and he bare the sin of many,and] a made inter

cess ion [for the transg ressors] a

a The copyist evidently passed the words be twe en the two w i n ki .

'

vi . YEPHETH BEN ‘ALl .

LII .

1 3The commentators differ concerning th is se ction. The

Fay y umia lost his senses in applying it to the prophets g eneral ly,

or,according to some authorities

,in suppos ing that it referred

to J eremiah in“

particular . His explanation is not indeed ofa kind towards which any one would fee l attracted : and we

shal l shew the manner in which it may be refuted : fer th isman attempted the task of interpre ting the book of the prophe ts upon a plan of e volving the ir meaning out of hisown head

,and consequently failed to arrive at any consistent

view. Some of the learned Qaraites apply the prophecy to

the piousb of the ir own se ct

,resting the ir view upon two

arguments : In th e first place , be cause the ir history answersto the de scriptions g iven in th is se ction ; and se condly, becauseof the word 1 73 5 , which is p lural .

(

Others of them think the

subj e ct of it to be David and the Messiah, saying that all the

expressions of contempt , such as many were desolated at thee , ’

refer to the seed of David who are in exile ; and all the g loriousthing s , such as behold my servant wi ll be prosperous

’

and ‘so

shal l he sprinkle ,’ refe r to the Mess iah . As to my sel f, I am

incl ined,with Benjamin of Nehawend, to reg ard it as alluding to

the Me ss iah,and as Opening with a description of his condition

in exile , from the time of his birt h to his accession to the

R . Sa‘

ady ah Gaon ofFayy um.

b The early Qaraite s applied the term Dfr nizm (Dan. x1 1 . 3 ) to'

the membersof the ir own sect , in part icular, to those dwe lling in Jerusal em see Neubauer,

‘

Aus der Petersburg er B ibliothek , p . 7.

0 2

20 YEPHE'

I‘

H BEN‘

ALI . [Hi 1 3

throne : for the prophet beg ins by speaking of his be ing seatedin a position of g reat honour, and then g oes back to re late all

that will happen to him during the captivity. He thus g ives usto understand two thing s : In the first instance

,that the Mes

s iah wi ll only reach his h ighest deg ree of honour after long and

severe trials ; and secondly,that these trials will be sent upon

him as a kind of sign, so that,i f he finds himse lf under the

yoke of misfortunes whilst remaining pure in his actions,he

may know that he is the desired one , as we shal l explain inthe course of the section. The express ion ‘ my servant ’ isappl ied to the Mess iah as i t is appl ied to his ancestor in the

verse,I have sworn to David my servant ’ (Ps . lxxxix . as

we have already explained on Is . xli . 8 0. The prophet mentionsin this verse four g rades of dignity which he will rise to sue

cessively : 1 . 5mm which describes his prosperity at the beg inning of his career

,when he w il l be victorious in war, a term

used also for his forefathe r David ( 1 Sam. xvii i . 2 . Di‘

l‘,

which means he will sit upon the throne of Israe l at the timewhen our lord Elijah will anoint him

,— this also is applied

to David (Ps. lxxxix . 20) 3 . NWJi, referring to the time whenhe will re ign over the entire world, as i t is said, Let him havedominion from sea to sea

’

(Ps . lxxii . 4 . are: nan, whichmeans he wi l l reach the highest rank possible ; hence the additionof the word "

IND. In having the last two expressions applied tohim

, I mean NW.) and nan, the Me ssiah has the advantag e overhis ancestor, as we have explained upon Is . ix . 6 d.

0 On the passag e refe rred to the author says “ in? is employed in Scripture in three sense s ( I ) for the king , who ho lds all under his sway , which isthe most common signification of the term ; (2) for the true worsh ipper of

God, such as Moses (Josh . i . ( 3 ) for the servant who has attained a posi

t ion ofsuch power as to have none his equal ; and in this sense Nebuchad

ne z zar is called my servant ” (Jer. xxv. 9 , xxvii . The expre ssion , as used

of Israe l , embrace s all the se meaning s .

’

‘1 On this passag e Ben'

Ali wri te s as fo llows : ‘The prophe t means that

the dominion of the Messiah will be greater than that of any other kingof Israe l ; for David and Solomon ruled over Israel and the kings of

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22 YEPHETH BEN‘

ALI . [l i i i . 1

him,l ike the saying of the Que en of Sheba, ‘

the hal f was not

told to me ’

( 1 King s xi . the phrase wi l l then intimate thathis g l orious re ign cannot be described ; 3 . (a word [1mm ]must he re be suppl ied) , what they had neve r be en told the like

of: there have been inde ed in Israe l and in othe r nations king sof whose doing s they have heard, but when they witness there ign of the Mess iah they w ill know that there was never any

king in the world l ike him.

LIII .

lHere beg in Israe l’

s words,in just ification of the lan

guag e of the last verse . They ask , in the ir amazement , W h ich ofthe nations be l ieved the report that was among st us ? not one

of them ; for they all ag reed that there would be for Israe l norecovery. Uponwhom has the arm of the Lord be en revealed 1i . e . through which nation has the mig ht of God revealed itse lfwhom neverthe less each one of them boasts to be his master andprote ctor ?

2 Israe l turns back now to describe the manner of the Messiah ’

s

birth,comparing him to a young twig or sucker because he is

one of the children of David, and to a root be cause he w ill become

a root l ike his father David. So says Ezekie l (xvn. 2 2,

From the top of his suckers I wil l crop off a tende r oneand it shall become a g oodly cedar.

’

The expre ssion ‘ he cameup

’

can be explained in two ways : 1 . He came up out ofhis p lace l ike a sucker spring ing out of a tree : the placeintended is Jerusalem ; there fore it is said ‘ be fore him

,

’ i . e .

before the Lord, the pronoun re lating to the word Lord ’

in the

preceding verse . Or 2 . The Messiah came up out of captivity.He then adds

,

‘And like a root out of the dry earth,

’

meaningthat he re sembles a root emerg ing ,

s ickly and weak , out of thearid soi l . This comparison re lates to the beg inning of his care er ;and the same is the case w i th the words he had no form nor

come l iness ’

which in no way refer to the period of his sickness . In th is respe ct he differs from his fore father

, who duringthe time that he was king , when g reat multitudes g atheredround him, and he was consequently we l l known, had both form

YEPHETH BEN(

ALI . 23

and come l iness. In the ne xt words Israe l describe s how whenthey looked at him they saw in him ne ithe r maj esty

,no r come

liness, nor beauty, y e t they des ired his company, instead of flee ingfrom i t and h iding themse lves , as the words in the verse fol lowing imply that they did afterwards .

S He was‘ despised,

’ i . e . humble in rank on account of his

poverty ,‘ holding aloof from men

,

’ i . e . not mix ing with themin the ir banquets and amusements— a natural re sult of exile

, as

it is said, He s itteth alone and keepeth silence (Lam . i i i . 2 8 )and ‘

a man of pains,’ i . e . affl icted by them ,

his suffering s be ingdistributed under two heads : 1 . human, signifying externalcomplaints , l ike pustules ; 2 . i. e . internal ones

,such as a

fever. ‘ L ike one from whom there is a h iding of faces’

may

be explained in two ways : 1 . l ike a man who has arrived at

such a condition of affl iction and mut i lation that men h ide theirface s from him ; 2 . l ike one from whom God had w ithdrawnhis mercy

,i . e . his blows resemble those with which the wicked

are affl icted. The repetition of the word m3 : can also be ex

plained in two ways : 1 . de spised on account of poverty, and

despised in rank ; 2 . desp ised in his own eye s,as it is said of

the right eous (PS . xv. He is desp ised and contemned in hisown eye s ; ’ and despised in the eyes of others, as they say ,‘And we esteemed him not

,

’ i . e . we did not regard him as

the expected one .

‘By the words ‘sure ly he hath carried our sicknesses,’ they

mean that the pains and sickness wh ich he fe ll into were meritedby them,

but that he bore them instead : the next words y e t we

did e steem him,

’

e tc.,intimate that they thought him afllicted

by God for his own sins,as they distinctly say , smitten of God

and afflicted.

’

And here I think it ne ce ssary to pause for a few

moments,in order to explain why God caused these sicknesses

to attach themse lve s to the Mess iah for the sake of Israe l. We

say that God makes known to the people of the ir own t ime theexce llence of the prophets who inte rcede for a period of adversity in two ways : 1 . whilst Israe l ’s empire lasted, it was.

24 YEPHETH BEN‘

ALI . [l i i i . 4

shewn in prayer and interce ssion,as in the cases of Moses ,

Aaron, Samuel , David, El ijah , and Elisha, whose prayers for the

nation were accepted by God, as it is said,

‘ They called uponthe Lord and HE answered them ’

(PS . xcix . z . in a timeof captivity and extreme w ickedness, though the ir interce ssionleft no such trace s as the se , y e t the burden of the nat ion’

s sinswas l ightened such was the case with Ezekie l whenGod oblig edhim (iv. 4) to sleep 3 90 days upon his le ft side and 40 upon theright one he carried on the first occasion the iniquity of Israel ,and on the se cond the we ight of that of Judah it is plain fromthis how g reat the ir iniquity must have been,

as in fact it issaid

,The iniquity of the house of Israe l and Judah is exceeding

g reat’

(Ezek . ix . 9 ) And g reat is the iniqui ty of the daughterof my people

’

(Lam. iv. and in other passag e s s imilarly.

The nation deserved from God g reater punishment than thatwh ich actually came upon them,

but not be ing strong enoughto bear it (as Amos says

,vii. 2

,

‘ O Lord,forg ive , I besee ch

thee ; how can Jacob endure , for he is small ’l ’) the prophet hadto alleviate i t . Inasmuch now as at the end of the captivitythere w il l be no prophe t to intercede at the time of distress,the time of the Lord’s ang e r and of his fury

,God appoints

his servant to carry the i r sins,and by doing so l ighten the ir

punishment in order that Israel might not be complete ly exterminated. Thus from the words he was wounded for our transgress ions, ’ we learn two thing s 1 . that Israe l had committed manys ins and transg re ss ions , for which they deserved the indignationof God ; 2 . that by the Messiah bearing them they would bede l ivered from the wrath which rested upon them, and be

enabled to endure it,as it is said

,

‘And by associating withhim we are healed.

’

God indeed will affl ict the Messiah withlong er and severer sicknesses than Ezekie l ; but this is owing tothe period in wh ich he l ives and to its requirements, and in

g iving him the rank of a prophet , he wil l bring his exce llenceto ligh t. W e have no doubt then that Israel ’s reward is wi thGod for this world as wel l as for the next one

,as we shal l

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26 YEPHETII BEN‘

ALI . [l i i i . 7

mean that each is occupied with the necessi ties of life and wi the stablishing his f0 1 t une . And whilst God look s upon the ir work ,

and they do no t th ink of the ir s ickne sses , the ir guilt is thrownupon this guide , as i t is said

,

‘And the Lord laid on him the

iniquity of us all .’

The prophet does no t by m:mean iniquity ,

but punishment for iniquity, as in the passag e , Be sure your sinw il l find y ou out

’

(Num. xxxii . 2 Here the words of Israe lend

, and the rest of the se ct ion contains , as the context shews,the spee ch of God himse lf.

7 ' 8 In the se two verses seven th ing s are enumerated whichGod brought upon the Messiah be s ides the pains and s icknessesmentioned before 1 . an,

i . e . the exaction of tribute and fine swhich were laid upon Israe l . 2 . min, i . e . deg radation and

defamation— this word follows according ly WI) . 3 .

‘He was

led l ike a sheep to the s laughte r,’

alluding to the times whenhis l ife was endang ered ; the comparison to a She ep is true inthree respects : he does not know that they sought to slayhim

,or that he was be ing led to the slaughter ; he has nobody

.to assist him by taking up his cause ; and he has no power tode liver himself. 4 . And like a lamb which be fore her sheare rsis dumb,

’ referring to the time s both of taxation and of slaug hter ,when all customaiy usag es are in abeyance ; the repetition ofthe phrase ‘

y e t he opened not his mouth ’ re fers to the doubleperiod, both while taxe s are exacted from him and he suffersdefamation

,and also when he is dragg ed away to violence and

exe cution w ithout any possibil ity of conciliation. 5 , 6 . Fromprison and from judgment

,

’ implying that he w il l be imprisoned,condemned by the judg es , and loaded with infamy, as it is said

,

For I have heard the slander of many ’

(PS . xxx i . Thereare thus thre e couplets, each consisting of two paralle l expressions : 1 . man an ; 2 . 5mmmm ; 3 . ear/ismawn. npSmeans

that he is l iberated from prison by the mercy of God. The

words ‘and who shal l de clare his g eneration

’

mean,Who can

describe the mult itude of misfortune s wh ich will befal theMe ssiah and Israe l in th is g eneration ? 7. He was cut offout of"

— l i i i . YEPHETH BEN‘

ALI . 27

the land of life ,’ which may be explained to signify e ither thathe despai red of h imse lf on account of the numbe r of the se misfortunes

,or that he was cut off from the land of Israel

,whi ch is

the ‘ land of life ’ for this nation. And the concluding words ofthe verse are God’s confirmation of what Israe l had said

,

‘ he

was wounded for our transg ressions z’

all these seven troubleswhi ch came upon him were be cause of the transg re ssion ofmy

people , for whom th is stroke was,

’ i . e . who deserved it ; for 1 73 5refers here

,as is clear from the context

,to Israel .

And he made his g rave w ith the w icked.

’ This meansthat he sometimes despaired so much of his l ife as e ither to digfor himse lf a g rave among st the wicked (i. e . the wicked Israelites) , or at least de sire to be buried among st them. The g ene ralsense is that he resigned himself to die in e xile ; for thosewho die at the time of de l iverance wil l not be buried with thewicked, since the latter are to be slain during a period ofmisfortune

,as i t is written

,

‘All the sinners of my people Shalldie by the sword ’

(Amos ix . By the rich ’

are meant thepowerful men among the Gentiles who are rich while Israe l inexile is spoken of as

‘

poor and needy at that time some of

them wi ll perish , and the prophe t here declares how the Messiahw ill resign himse lf to die , and be buried in the ir tomb. The

addition ‘because he did no violence ’

is intended to mark the

difference between the Messiah and those wicked Israe l ites whohad perished after perpe trating violence and de ce it : he means

to say that though he made his g rave with them he had stillnever participated in the ir actions.

1 °It was said above,The Lord laid upon him the iniquity of

us all,

’

and the prophet repeats the same thought here , sayingthat God was pleased to bruise and si cken him

, though no t

in consequence of Sin . By the word bruise ’

he points back tothe languag e of Israe l in ver. 5 , he was bruised for our iniquit ies , ’ and ‘made s ick ’

(firm) is paral le l to ‘wounded’

(55m )The prophe t next says, ‘When his soul makes a trespass-offering ,

’

indicating thereby that his soul was compe lled to take Israe l’

s

28 YEPHETH BEN(

ALI . [l i i i . 1 1

g uil t upon itse lf, as i t is said be low,And he bare the sin of

many ’

(ver. Another commentator howeve r understandsthe phrase as meaning that his soul g ave itse lf in place of atrespass-offering ,

’ i . e . he g ave himse lf up free ly to be slain.

But for myself I prefe r the former explanation,which also ag re es

better with the sense and the spirit of the languag e . Herethe narrative of the state of the Messiah ends

,and the account of

the rewards g iven to him beg ins . In the first place , he will seesced e , and leng then day s . The words ‘

and the pleasureof the Lord wi ll prosper in his hands ’ embrace three facts :1 . The destruct ion of the powe rful , as i t is said

,

‘He w i l l dohis p leasure upon Babylon and his arm upon the Chaldeans ’

(xlvi i i . 2 . Israe l ’s de l ive rance from exile,and the g lorifying

of the law and God’s name,as w e have explained on Is . xlii . 2 1

,

The Lord is we l l p leased to magnify the Law and make it g lorious .

’

3 . The restoration of Je rusalem and the rebuilding ofthe temple , as w il l be explainedf on the passag e , For the Lordhath p leasure in the e (Is . lxi i. All these three facts will beaccompl ished by him,

in accordance w ith the promise , ‘shall

prosper in his hand.

’

“ This verse is the comp lement of the pre ceding one : there i tis said, Because he had done no violence and here he adds

,

By his knowledg e shal l my righteous servant make manyrighteous,

’ indicating these thre e thing s : 1 . That he wi l l advance in knowledg e till he arrives at truth itself : according lythe prophet says knowledg e , not unde rstanding or wisdom

,

be cause it is by knowledg e that absolute truth is g rasped.

2 . That he is a righteous servant,i . e . knowledg e and practice

in his case coincide,instead of disag ree ing as in the case of others

(PS . 1 . 3 . That he wil l lead others to repent, and make them

0 Marg . no te in MS . :‘ It se ems to me that a word should here follow

which has be en omitted by the scribe .

’

The fo llowing is the note referred to : n: ” 3 9 11 means “ I have pleasurein her to-day , and do no t hate her as before , I therefore cause my g lory to re

turn to her and this is the meaning of the Lord hath pleasure in thee .

“

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3 0 YEPHETH BEN‘

ALI . [l i i i . 1 2 ;

chronolog ical order is sometime s reversed : thus , ‘ Behold my

servant wil l prosper’ re fers to the latter part of his care e r,

whilst all that follows,l iii . 2

,

‘And he came up before him,

’

e tc.,down to ‘ he Shal l see seed

’

(ver. describe s his conditionduring exi le . I must here g ive a compendious account of thewhole of the Messiah’s care er ; i t is as follows — His fi rstadvent will be from the north

,as we have explained upon

xl i . 2 5 g , I have raised one up from the north and he came ;’

then w ith his arrival in the land of Israe l the period of affl ictionand violence will cease from Jacob

,and at the same time all

the th ing s mentioned in the present section w il l happen to him .

Every g ood quality wi l l be umted in him,but in spite of all

th is the people wi ll not recognise in him the wi ll of God. For

his sake,however

,God will de liver Israe l from all his affl ictions :

and when the season of redemption comes,our lord Elijah wi l l

appear to the people and anoint him,and from that moment he

w il l beg in to be prosperous, as it is said,Behold my servant

shal l prosper.’

His force s wi l l then spread in every dire ctionand be victorious

, as we have explained on l i i . 1 5 ; and then at

last Israe l wi l l dwe l l in safety. W hen news of th is reaches Gog ;they will rush forth and ‘

g ather themse lves tog ether against theLord and ag ainst his Anointed but when he prays to God in

8 The note is as follows From the prophet ’s saying , firstly, from the

north ,

”

and then from the sunrising , we learn two thing s 1 . that we must

no t imag ine the person spoken of in ver. 2 as raised up from the east to be

different from the one ment ioned here as raised up from the north ; 2 . that

the conqueror who will arrive from the east is ident ical wi th the one who is

to arrive from the north . The apparent diversity may be explained in twoways : Either his orig in wi ll be from the east , and he is then brought up inthe north

,whence his actual arrival will take place , or rice rersa ; or e lse we

must suppose that the north and east are mentioned tog e ther for the purposeo f shewing that the point from wh ich he will appear is a distant cornerformed by the junction of the se two quarters . Another commentator, how;ever, g ive s it as his opinion that the Me ssiah will come from the east

,but

that the prophe t Speaks of the north be cause this is a name of Babylon,as it

is said (Je r i . Out of the north the evil will bre ak forth .

l i i i . m ] YEPHETH BEN‘

ALI . 3 1

the midst o f his people, God wi ll come to him with de liverance,

as his forefather prophesied The Lord answer thee in the dayof trouble

,

’

etc.,with the rest of the psalm (Ps . xx ) . And then he

wil l be high and exalted and lofty exceeding ly and afterwardsthe promise announced by God wi l l be fulfil led, ‘ Therefore Iwi ll divide him a portion w ith the g reat and last of all heshal l see seed and leng then days .

’

Such is the narrative of hishistory arrang ed in due order. And notice how to each of hissuffering s and actions a reward or counterpart is assigned, exceptto the one my servant wi l l be prosperous .

’ Thus,to as many

have been de solated at thee ,’

the counterpart announced is, so he

will sprinkle many nations to if his soul makes a trespass-offering ,

’

he w i ll see se ed and leng then days to ‘by his knowledgemy righteous se rvant shal l make many righte ous,

’ I will dividehim a portion with the many .

’ Thus every detai l of his history is provided with its counterpart : but to exhibit this fullywould occupy us too long . Many of the paral le ls have beenalready mentioned by Benjamin of Nehawend in the pre face tohis commentary on the Canticle 11 . W e shall only add that thereturn to the idea of his death

, expressed in the W ords be causehe laid bare his soul to die ,

’

has two objects : I . to sum up

the ScOpe and obje ct of the whole section ; 2 . to introduce thefinal addition and made intercess ion for the transg ressors .

’

Space does no t permit us to pursue the explanation of this sec

t ion in g reater detail , as the reader wil l already have beenwearied by its leng th ; we have therefore adhered to the same

compendious form adopted in our commentary e lsewhere .

h On B enjamin of Nehawend,se e Pinsker, I/ickute Kadmom'

ot, i . p . 44 ;

Neubauer,Aus de r Petersb. B ibl. p . 6 ; or Gratz , Geschichte, vol . v . Only a

few fragments , preserved as extracts, have come down to us .

VI I . MYSTERIES OF R . SH IM‘

ON BEN YOHAI a

And Armilaus b wi l l j oin battle with Messiah,the son of

Ephraim0,in the East gate and Messiah

,the son of Ephraim,

w il l die there , and Israe l wil l mourn for him. And afterwardsthe Holy One w ill reveal to them Messiah

,the son of David,

whom Israe l wil l desire to stone , saying , Thou speakest false ly ;already is the Messiah slain, and there is none other Mess iah tostand up (afte r him) : and so they will de spise him,

as it iswritten

,Despised and forlorn of men but he w ill turn and

hide himself from them according to the words, ‘Like one

hiding his face from us.

3 J ellinek , B eth ham-Midrash part i ii . p . 80 .

b Armilaus (perhaps R omulus, or the barbarous Greek e’

pryp e’

Aaos) repre

sents in Ag gadic tradit ion the great enemy of the Me ssiah , and according toa late Midrash is ident ical wi th Antichrist . S ee Hamburg er, Real-Ency clop .

fur B ibel and Talmud ii . p . 73 .

c On the ‘ Double Me ssiah,

’

see W unsche, pp. 1 09 (f. , who refers to the

exhaustive treat ise ofJ . M . G lae sener, Commentatio de g emino Judaeorum

Messia, (Hilde siae e t Lipsiae , Me ssiah ben Ephraim (or ben Yoseph )appears in the later Jewish writ ing s as the forerunner ofMe ssiah ben David

,

who w ill be g in the work of Israe l’ s de liverance and re storat ion. but beforecomple ting it will‘ be slain before the walls ofJerusalem by the formidablehosts ( somet ime s spoken ofas .Gog and MagOg) assembled against him underArmilaus . Thereupon, the Israe lite s (as the text says) will mourn for him(Ze ch . xii . IO ) ; but Me ssiah , the son of David, W ill cont inue the strug g le ,

de stroy the wicked ’Armilaus wi th the breath of his nos trils (Is . xi . and

lead Israe l Victoriously into Jerusalem . The idea of the second Messiah wasprobably sugg e sted by the languag e ofZe ch . xi i . IO .

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3 -l« B’

nnsum i RABBAII OF n. mosnsn HAD-DARSU N. [lii, liii.

is that wh ich is written,

‘The re is l ig h t sown for the righteous’

(PS . xcvii . I I ) . R . Abba says , ‘And wi th him dwe lle th light’

(Dan. ii . 2 2) this is the ligh t of the K ing Messiah and so it issaid

,

‘Fo r with the e is the fountain of life,in thy l ig ht do we

se e l ig ht’

(Ps . xxxvi . 1 0 )— that is , the lig ht of the Me ssiah .

The se passag es teach how the Holy One watched the Messiahand his g eneration,

and kep t them hidden underneath the throneof his g lory . Satan said, Lord of the world, this l ight hiddenbeneath the throne of thy g lory— to whom does it be long ? The

Holy One answered,To the M ess iah and to his g eneration.

Satan said,Lord of the world, suffe r me

,and I wil l be an

adversary unto the Messiah and his g eneration: The Holy Onesaid

,Thou canst not prevai l against him. Satan answered

,

Lord of the world,suffer me , and I will prevail . The Holy One

said,If this is thy intention, I wi l l destroy Satan out of the

world, but not a s ing le soul be long ing to that g eneration wi l l I

destroy . Forthwith the Holy One began to make a covenant withthe Me ss iah : O Me ssiah

,my righteousness, said he , the iniquities

of those who are hidden be s ide thee will cause thee to ente r intoa hard yoke : thine eyes shal l see no light, and thine ears shal lhear g reat reproache s from the nations of the world ; thynostrils shal l sme l l il l savours

,thy mouth taste bitterness

,and

thy tongue cleave to thy gums ; thy skin shall hang uponthy bones, and thy body g row weak in g rief and sighing . A l t

thou willing to accept th is ? if so , it shal l be we l l ; but if no t,behold

,I drive them d from me for ever. Said the Messiah

, Lordof the world

,I accept it j oyfully, and will endure these chastise

ments,upon condition that thou g ive st l ife again to those

who die in my days, and to those who died from the timeof the first man until now ; and that thou save st in my days notthe se only

,but those also whom wolve s and l ions have devoured

,

an d who have been swallowed up in waters and rivers ; and

no t only the se,but such also as were born out of due time ;

d I. c . the souls hidden under the throne .

1 ii, liii.] B’

RESHITH RABBAH or n. MOSHEH IIAD-DARSIIAN . 3 5

nor again these only , but those also whom thou thoughtestto create but who were not created. The Holy One repl ied,I w il l do so : and for thwith the Me ss iah accepted the chastisements of love , as i t is written, He was Oppressed, and he wasafilicted e

’

And Jacob broug ht her into the tent of Sarah his mother(Gen. xxiv . This is the King Messiah

,who be long ed to

the g eneration of the wicked, but rej e cted them,and chose

the Holy One and his holy name to serve him with all his

heart,and appl ied himse lf to seek for mercy for Israel , and

to fast and humble himse lf on thei r behalf, as i t is said,

‘He

was wounded for’

our transg ressions,’

e tc. And when Israe l issinful , the Messiah seeks for mercy upon them,

as i t is written,

‘ By his stripe s we were healed,’

and,

‘He carried the sin ofmany

,and made intercess ion for the transg ressors f.

’

e Pug io Fide i , p . 3 3 3 (comp. Yalqut on Isaiah 1x. gf Ibid. pp . 43 0 , 67 1 .

IX . LEGAH TOBH.

Let water stream from his bucke ts a ’

(Num. xxiv. 7)— fromthe poor who are in Israe l : hence they say ,

‘ Be careful withthe chi ldren of the people of the land [i. e . the poor] , be causefrom them'

doth the law g o forth b .

’ ‘And let his seed

be on many wate rs the kingdom of Israe l is to be aboveall the kingdoms of the earth. May his king be h igh above(or, from ) Agag z

’ from the days of Agag , king of Amalek ,the kingdom of Israe l took its rise .

‘And le t his kingdombe exal ted

,

’

in the days of the Messiah , of whom it is said,Behold my se rvant shall prospe r ; he will be high and exalted

,

and lofty exceeding ly.

’

8 There is a play here upon the word V 5W0 ,wh ich is interpreted as though

it were po inted v‘

gfy p.

b Thalmud ofBabylon, Nedarim 8 1 8 .

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3 8 n. SH ’LOMOH YIZHAQI (RASHI) . [l i i i . 5

of [DR— but now we perce ive that this was no t mere ly a

consequence of thei r own depression : ll srael suffered in orderthat by his suffering s atonement might be made for all o thernat ions : the s ickne ss wh ich ought to have fallen upon us was

carried by him. ) We indeed thought that he had be en hatedof God : but it was no t so ; he was wounded for our transg ressions, and bruised for our iniquit ies ; 5

the chastisementof the p eace that was for us fe l l up on him ; he was chastisedin order that the whole world might have peace .

6All we

like she ep have g one astray : it is now revealed how all the

Gentile s have e rred. Yet the Lord le t h imse lf he entreated byhim (asp rie r, in French) , and propit iated for the iniquity of usall

,in that he refrained from destroying h is world.

7He was

Opp ressed under oppre ssors and persecutors , and answered, viz .

with words of treachery (surp arler , in French ) he endured,but

was silent , l ike a she ep led to the slaug hter which opens no t its

mouth,and like a lamb whi ch be fore her shearers is dumb. The

words VD nns' N5 1 be long to the ‘she ep .

’ 8 The prophet herepubl ishe s the g lad tiding s of Israe l

’

s re lease , representing the

Genti les as announcing i t in the latter days when they see him

taken from the confinement in wh ich he had been kept by the irhands

,andfrom the judgment or sentence which he had hitherto

borne . His g enera tion,i . e . the years of weariness and toil

wh i ch had passed ove r him,who could declare ? for from the

fi rst he had been cut of and exiled from the land of the

living , i . e . the land of Israe l ; because for the transg ressionof his p eop le the strohe of exile had fallen up on the just whowere among them.

9He g ave h imse lf over to whatever burial thewicked Gentiles might decre e for the Gentiles used to condemnthe Israe l i te s to be murdered and then buried l ike asses in the

be llies of dog s. He ag re ed, then, to be buried according tothe judgment of (rm) the w icked, refusing to deny the l ivingGod ; and according to the judgment of (nu) the rule r he gavehimself up to any form of death which had been decreed uponhim

,because he would not deny God by perpetrating violence and

—l i i i . B . sn’

lo mon viznao i (RAS III) . 3 9

doing evil , l ike all the nations among st whom he was a sojourner :neithe r was there any deceit in his mouth

,se . in consenting to

the worship of idols as though they had be en God.

1 0But the

Holy One was p leased to bruise him,and to lead him back into

prosperity : so for th is cause he brought him into s ickness . He

then says,I wil l see whe ther his soul is so consecrated and

devoted to my holine ss as to re turn itself as a trespass—ofi ring

for all his rebel l iousness i f so,I w il l then pay him his reward

,

and he shall see seed,etc. OWN, as in the h istory of the Ph ilis

tines ( 1 Sam. vi . is the fine or satisfact ion wh ich a man g ivesto one against whom he has committed some offence (in Fr.

amende) .1 1 Of the labour of his own soul [i. e . of his own work]

he ate and was sat isfied he did not plunder or rob other peopleby his knowledg e my servant ever meted out faithful judgment toall that came to be tried before him

,and

,as happens w ith the

righteous always (as it is said Num. xvii i . I ) , bare their iniquities .

"2 Therefore , i . e . be cause he did this,I wi ll divide him an

inheri tance and a lot among the grea t, se . with the earlypatriarchs, because he p oured out (men as Gen. xxiv. 2 0 ) his

soul to die,and was numbered with the transg ressors, i . e . endured

punishment as though he had been a sinner or transg ressorhimse lf, and for the sake of others bore the sin ofmany . And

in virtue of his suffering s— be cause throug h him the worldrece ived prosperity— he intercededfor the transg ressors .

According to Raymundus llfarlini.

‘Behold my servant shal l prospe r .

’

Our Rabbis apply thisto the Me ssiah : Behold

,they say , the Messiah was stricken

,

as i t is written,He carried our si ckne sse s and bare our pains ,

’

and he stood at the gate of Rome among st those affl ictedw ith si ckne sse s

,as is said in the t reatise Sanhedrin,

in the

se ction E eleg . He wi ll be h igh , and lifted up, and loftye xce eding ly .

’ I have heard that. the re is a. Midrash Ag g adah ,which expoun ds this verse as fol lows : The Holy One will

40 1 1 . SH LOMOH YIZHAQI (RASHI) . [l i i . 1 3 .

make the Messiah higher a thanAbraham,of whom it is wri tten,

‘ I raise high my hand to the Lord’

(Gen. xiv . lifted upabove Moses, of whom i t is said, ‘As a nurse lifts up and carriesthe young one

’

(Num. x i . and lofty exceeding ly abovethe ang e ls, 0f\ whom i t is said

,

‘ The ir whee ls were(Ezek . i .

0 1 1 1 be ing used transitively .

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42 n. rosnrn QARA . [l i i i . 3,— 6 .

up its branches and produce s fruit and be comes a noble cedarin the same way Israe l sprang up out of the dry earth ofhis captivity. And we g az e up on him ; but the countenancewhich we se e now is not l ike the coun tenance which he hadformerly .

3He was most desp ised and forlornest of men ; for

y ou can find no people in the world touched by pains and s ickness such as Israe l ’s. Thus in t ime past, while the i r Creatorhid his face from them

,he was desp ised and we esteemed him

no t ;4 but now we se e that they had se rved the faithful God

,and

kept the law of Mose s , and observed just ice and rig ht , and thatthey have been carrying sicknesses and pains which for our

iniquities should have been borne by us y e t we , when we saw

him smitten,affl icted

,and stricken, kept saying that this smiting

and this stroke had come upon them from God, be cause theyhad not adhered to his ordinance s and statutes .

5 It was not,

however,as we thought : he was wounded among the nations

for our transg ressions : for it cannot be supposed that Israe l ’sown iniqui ties occasioned the ir devastat ion,

when we now se e

them high and exalted above eve ry man ; since they kept thelaw of truth

,what could have caused them to be wounded

and bruised for our iniquities ? The chastisement up on him

was our p eace ; i . e . by the humi l iation involved in Israe l ’sbearing the yoke of fore ign kingdoms

, peace was se cured forus ; because the Holy One created for himse l f one just nationin the world

,wh ich carried on itse l f all iniquities in order that

the whole world mig ht be pre se rved ; and by his strip es therewas healing for us .

6All we like sheep have g one astray : theseare the words of the nations

,as they confess

,saying , Now we see

that we have been ke eping a statute of vanity,and have adhered

to a law of falsehood b

b Eras ed in the MSS .

XII. R . ABRAHAM IBN‘

EZRA.

This Parashah is an extreme ly difficult one . Our opponentssay that it re fers to the ir God, suppos ing the servant ’ to sig ni fyhis body : this, howeve r, is not possible , for the body cannot‘understand ’

even during a man’

s l ifetime . Moreove r,i f the ir

view be corre ct, what wil l be the meaning of ‘

see ing seed ?’

for be (the ir God) saw no son ; or of ‘

prolong ing days ,’

whichis equally untrue of him ; or of ‘ dividing spoil with the

strong ?’

The proof of its proper meaning lies in the passag esimmediate ly be fore (Iii. 1 2 , where ‘

y ou’

s ignifies Israe l), and

immediate ly afterwards (l iv. I,where ‘

the barren one’de sig

nates the congr eg ation of Israe l) ; similarly my servant means

each individual be long ing to Israe l, and consequently God’

s

servant,who is in exile . But many have explained it of the

Mess iah,because our Rabbis have said a that in the day when

the Sanctuary was laid waste,the Me ss iah was born

,and that he

was bound in fe tters (Jer. xl . Several of the verse s,however

,

have then no meaning , for instance , ‘ despised and forlorn ofmen

,

’ ‘ taken from prison and judgment, ’ ‘made his g rave w iththe wicked

,

’ ‘wil l see se ed, and prolong days .

’ R . Sa’

ady ah

interprets the whole Parashah of Jeremiah ; and this interpre tation is attractive . Jeremiah ‘

scattered b many nations ’

by the word of prophecy which was in his month (i . 9 f. ,cf. v. I 4) he ‘ came up be fore him l ike a sucke r, ’ for whenh e began to prophesy he was a youth (i . 6)

‘the Lord laid

upon him the iniquity of us all,

’

and he‘ carried the sin of

many,

’

when he stood before God to speak g ood for them,and

to turn away the wrath from them (xviii . 20 ) he was ‘ led l ikea sheep to the slaughter,

’

as he says h imse lf (xi . and he

‘ divided spoil with the mighty,’

when the captain of the guard

Midrash Ekhu, i . 1 6 .

b So Sa’

adyah renders nr z see p . 1 7.

4 k 1 1 . ABRAHAM IBN’

EZR,A . [lll . 1 3

g ave him ‘ victuals and a portion of meat ’ (xl . But in

my judgment the Parashah is more intimate ly conne cted withthe context

,for what obj e ct can there be in mentioning J ere

miah when consolat ions addressed to Israe l form the subje ct ofthe prophet

’

s discourse both before and after ? In fact, he iss imply speaking of each one of God’

s se rvants who is in exile ;or , which is more probable , my servant ’ may mean Israe l as awhole

,as in xli . 8 .

LII.

1 3xlfy servan t shall understand that he will y et be hig h

ag ain. NW) is N it‘al . 1 “WDDW as Lev. xxvi . 3 2 every one who

see s the servant of God will be astonished. The word many

al ludes to the nations ; and after {3 the copula must be sup

p l ied So marred was mm is then an adje ctive ; and inform DN

’

FIC re sembles 13m. The phenomenon alluded to iswe l l known : how many nations are there in the world who

th ink that the feature s of the Jew are disfigured and unl ike thoseof o the r men

,and ask whether a Jew has a mouth or an ey e !

This is done,for example , in the countries of Ishma

‘

e l and ’

Edomd.

“5anin is the continuation of NWJWDi‘ i': as it was true that hiscountenance was marred in the eyes of all who saw him

,so will

the time come for him to take veng eance of them and sprinkle

them, i . e . shed the ir blood. And then king s will shut their

mouths i . e . because of him for what had not been toldthem they will then have seen

,be cause it never entered into the

heart of the nations to suppose that there could eve r be

de liverance for Israel .LIII .

1 Then they will say , Who ever believed that th ing swould happen in accordance with this report that we hear ?up on whom was the arm of the Lord ever revealed as it has be enrevealed upon these ? 2 Each of God’s servants be long ing toI srae l (or the whole of Israe l) was sp ring ing up before him like

0 So our edit ions : but Ibn ’

Ezra,as Friedlander sugg e sts, may probably

have read in to wh ich in fact occurs in a MS . of the B odle ian L ibrary,assig ned (se e Neubauer, Catal . No . 69) to the l g th century .

d I . e . among Mohammedans and Christians .

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4 6 R . ABRAHAM IBN‘

EZRA . [l i i i . 6

sent broug ht back word that the whole earth was ‘sitting

still and at re st, ’ that the ang e l answered and said,Until when

w ilt thou no t have mercy on Jerusalem ’

(Ze ch . i . I I wh ichimplies that J erusalem w ill no t rece ive me rcy during the wholetime that the nat ions are at rest. 6All we

,e tc. at last, then,

they confe ss the truth,exactly as in Jer. xvi . 1 9 ,

‘nothing

but l ies have our fathers inherited.

’

The words bear referenceto the false suppos ition of ver. 4 . 1 ? ”a is from p35 , Gen. xxviii .1 1 and pp is here used in the sense of p enalty for sin, as

I Sam . xxviii . I O , Gen. xv. I 6 , Lam. iv . 6 . Others renderman

made to intercede,cf. Je r. vii . 1 6

,understanding m: in its

usual acceptat ion of iniquity the sense of the whole w il l thenbe that Israe l interceded with God

,in order that there might

be peace in the world,cf. J er. xxix . 7 ; but 113) in this case

ag ree s but harshly wi th wan.

7m: Nit‘

al. He op ened not

his mouth : there is no ne ed to interpre t these words , for everyJew in exile exempl ifies the ir truth in the hour of his affl ictionhe never opens his mouth to speak, even though he alone is justamong st them all for he has no care in this world except forthe service of God ; he knows no prince or dignitary who w il lstand before him in the breach when men rise up against him (Ps .

evi. 2 3 , cxxiv . 2 ) he opens not his mouth at any time .

8Fromconfinement, etc. : God

,howe ve r

,will redeem Israe l, i . e . the

rig hteous of them. He was taken : God took him out ofprison,

where he was confined under a condemnation of veng eance . rime» l ike rrw Job xu. 8 :

‘who announced to themen of his g eneration that it would be so 2

’

for he was alreadycut of from the land of life . my was these are the words ofeach separate nation

,

‘the stroke that has fallen upon Israe l

is owing to our transg ressions’

(like WJ‘W/DD 55mmver. 5 ) or,

as is more corre ct,

‘ for the transg ression of my people the

stroke will come upon them f,

’— m5 be ing equivalent to m5 for

f I . e . upon the various nat ions . Ibn‘

Ezra considers that , had Israe l alonebeen intended, the sing ular upon him would have be en employed.

— l i i i . 1 1 . ABRAHAM IBN 4 7

or up on them.

9Some explain rmm in his deaths’

of those whodied in exile ; but others derive i t from me ; Dent . xxxii i . 2 9 ,i . c . the building ere cted over a g rave : rmm w ill then be

paralle l to map. may mat is paral le l to {3 ‘w rm, and alludesto the nations who , as compared with Israe l, are wealthy. In

my opinion the real meaning of the verse i s this : it isintended to describe the distress of the Israe lites in exile

,which

was so intense that , l ike Samson (Judg . xvi . they desiredto die with the nations among st whom they dwe l t— the sense ofand he made be ing and he made in his own mind, i . e . purp osedto make

,cf. Josh . xxiv. 9 . And that th is desire arose inde ed

from the ir distress is shewn by what follows , because he did noviolence

,etc. , for the Gentiles il l - treated Israe l g ratuitously,

and not on account of any evil de ed or word of wh ich theyhad been guilty— a V iew which will also accord equal ly withe ither signification ofmug . If it be objected that in mm the

games is unalterable (as in 1 73mm; Deut . xxxiii . and thattherefore ” 1 1 73 3 cannot be derived from it, it may he repl ied thatthis word can assume two forms in st . constr . like D‘WD, fromwh ich we find both ”D‘WD (Gen. xl . 7) and also ”D“ ? (Esth .

ii . 2 11 0To bruise him

,i e to chasten him in captivity :

1N3 1 is Pi‘e l . l ike (Gen. xxxvu . 4 ) and ”Sun is from fish , butformed after the manner of verbs N” 5 , cf. nimhnnDent . xx ix . 2 I .

If his soul, he continues, puts its trespass before God, i . e . if heconfesses his sin— or

,in othe r words, if his soul puts be fore him

the fear of the Lord— he wi l l se e sons and prolong his days ,so that he and they tog e ther will see the salvation of God. The

prophet speaks here of the g eneration wh ich wil l return to the lawof Godwhen the end, the advent of the Messiah ,

has taken place .

And the Lord’

s p leasure shall p rosp er in his hand, alluding tothe Law

,when the nations are converted to the true re lig ion .

1 1 F or the travail of his soul,i . e . as a reward for what he

has endured,he will see— e ither, that is , his desire or prosperity

g Name ly , e ither literally and he made or and he purp osed to make .

48 R . ABRAHAM IBN‘

EZRA . [l i i i . 1 2 .

g eneral ly— until he is sa tisfied,because by his knowledge he will

justify many , viz . the nations whom Israe l will teach to fulfi lthe law. And the meaning of his bearing their iniquities is thatIsrael

,acting in a diffe rent manner from that in wh ich the

Gentile s had acted towards them,will share in the pain suffe red

by the latter for the i r s ins. Or and this is,I think

, pre ferable ,as the next verse seems to shew— the meaning may be thatIsrae l will pray to God for the Gentile s in th is case

,cf. Zech.

xiv . 1 7.

1 2All the interpre ters say that this verse alludes metaphorically to those who perished in defence of the doctrineof the Divine Unity

, D'Zfi (as Esth . i . meaning the g reat ones

(i . e . the prophe ts) , and waist: denoting the patriarchs ; the

sense according ly is that those who died in that cause wi ll havea portion with the prophets . Al though true in itse lf, however,such a sense does not ag ree with the rest of the Parashah, andin my Opinion the meaning is rather th is I will g ive Israe l aportion of spoil and p lunder from many nations (me beforeDum p signifying from,

as Ex . i x . as a reward for hishaving poured out his soul to die .

’

Some, however, explain

mpn in the sense of uncover,exp ose op enly . I prefer the sense

here g iven (cf. Gen. xxiv. 2 0, althoug h there the conjug ation is

different ) , which is also confirmed by Ps . cxli . 8,where my evi

dently means to p our out. Thus Israe l was numbered with

those who had transg re ssed against God, and carried the sin ofmany , because throug h his pains the Gentiles had peace ; and

the sin which they ought to have carried was borne by him.

He also interceded for the transg ressors , i . e . the Genti les ;as i t is said

,Jer. xxix . 7,

‘And seek y e the peace of the citywhither I have caused y ou to be carried away captives.

’ I havenow explained for y ou the whole Parashah in my Opinion theexpression my servant (li i . 1 3 , li i i . 1 1 ) denotes the same personwho is the subje ct of xli i . I

,xlix . 3 ; cf. and the mystery is

to be understood as I hinted in the middle of the book (ch . xl ) .Thus all these Parashas are connected intimate ly tog ether.

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5 0 R . DAVID QAMR I . [l i i i . 1

of the x. at“ has the sense of sp eaking , l ike qinn, which meansboth to sp rinkle or drop (Judg . v. 4 ) and also to sp eak (Mic .i i . The verb has a causative force , fera p arle r in French .

The prophe t means to say , As they were astonished at his

depression, so will they now be astonished to se e his g reatness,and wil l be talking of it continually. At him king s will shut

their mouth— even to king s , as it is said lxii . 2 , w ill his g loryappear in its g reatness. 1 8 5 13

” is e ither to op en,as Cant . i i . 8 ,

where rap signifies the opening out of the steps in leap ing ,or to shut, as Deut . xv . 7. Either meaning is poss ible here the

k ing s may op en the ir mouth to te l l of his g reatness, or close

their month by placing the ir hand upon it in amazement . For

they w ill see then more of his g reatness than wha t had beentold them

,and perce ive more of it than they had heard of.

LIII.

1 Then the Gentile s will say , Who was there thatbelieved the rep ort wh i ch we heard concerning him from the

prophe ts’ l ips, or from those who spoke in the ir name ? W e

never be lieved what we are now see ing with our own eyes .

And up on whom was the arm of the Lord ever revealed as itis now revealed upon him ? Or ”D 517 may be spoken con

t emptuously , meaning , W ho was he that the arm of the Lordshould be revealed upon him ? 2

e 3 as Hos . xiv. 7 : Israe lwas like a sucker w ithout beauty spring ing up out of a rootin the dry soil . In my op inion,

however,the allusion is rathe r

to Israe l ’s coming up out of exile,which was as surprising and

wondrous as for a sucker to spring up out of the dry g round, orfor a tree or herbag e to flourish there . Sucker and root areparalle l terms for the expression of the same idea ; and the

meaning of was is that Israe l was continually before God, andso nearer to him than any other nation. Yet while in captivityhe had noform and no come liness form ’

meaning of course a

beaut iful form : and we looked a t him, but he had no beauty

in his looks his countenance was deformed and disfigured,unl ike other men’

s. mmmm the preceding stands in placeof two :

‘we did no t desire him,

’

but rather loathed him.

- l i i i . n. DAVID QAMHI . 5 1

3 Not only did we not desire him,he was even desp ised in our

eyes . D‘W‘N 5m ; i . e . the most insignificant of men,or

,

perhaps, forlorn of men, because they would not associate

w ith him. The p ains and sickness spoken of are the suffering s of exile ; and WW” means that he was taught and accustomed to have the yoke of e xile pass over him. And we were likemen hiding their faces from him we would not look at him

because of the loathing we felt for him, and we accounted himfor nought. 4 The prophet Ezek ie l (xvii i . 2 0) says the son

shal l not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father forthe iniquity of the son : afortiori, therefore , one man cannotsuffer for another man

,or one pe ople for another people ; what,

then, is the meaning of his carry ing our sicknesses etc. W hatJeremiah says in his Lamentations

,Our fathers sinned and are

not,andwe hear the ir iniquities ’ (v. is not paralle l ; this, firstly

,

resembles rather Ex. xx . 5 , visiting the iniquity of the fathersup on the children, i . e . when the children still cont inue to adhereto the works of the ir fathers, according to the addition as

regards them that ha te me for it is a judgment from God

when the son bears both his own iniquity and his father’sas we l l : and, se condly

,Jeremiah is speaking in the style of

mourners, whose words, spring ing out of the midst of pain

and distress,are not regulated by measure and we ight . Here

the phrases put into the mouth of the Gentiles, such as he

hath carried our sicknesses ’ e tc.,are mere ly the expression

of the ir own thoug hts ; it is not asserted that Israe l actuallybore the iniquity of the Gentiles

,but the latter only imag ine it

to be the case when they see , at the time of De l iverance , thatthe faith which Israe l adhered to was the true one , wh i lethat which they themse lves had adhe red to was the false ;according ly they say (Jer. xvi. Our fathers have inheritednothing but falsehood.

’

Here,then

,they ask

,What can be the

cause of the pains endured by Israe l in captivity ? they cannotbe attributed to the ir own iniquity, for they adhered to thetruth

, whereas we who enj oyed peace and tranquill ity, quietudeE 2

5 2 R . DAv1 D QAMnL [l i i i 5

and security, were adhering to falsehood i t follows, therefore ,that the sickness and pain which ought to have fal len upon us

has fallen upon them, and they are our ransom and the price ofour atonement. W hile they were in exile

,however, we thought

that they were smitten by the hand of God for the ir iniquity ;but now we see that it was not for the ir iniquity but for ours,as it is said

,He suffered pang s for our transg ressions .

’ 5 551 11 13is Po‘le l, from the same root and with the same meaning as 5 1 11

(Ps. xlvii i . for N3 7 ?) cf. Ps . cxli ii . 3 . is equivalent to1 353 the whole of us

,cf. Jer. xiii . 1 9 D‘D15W i . e . it is carried

away, an entire or comp lete captivity ‘the chastisements which

were to have come upon us,have fallen, the whole of them,

uponhim.

’

Others explain in its ordinary meaning :‘the

chastisements which ought to have come upon us for our s inswhile we were a t p eace have fal len on him.

’

1mm : is frommum (Ex . xxi. only without the Dag esh.

‘ Stripe’ l ike

stroke,

’

ve r. 8 , is used metaphorical ly of the suffering s in exile .

We were hea led, as Ex . xv. 2 6 ; or he may allude to the misfortunes which would fall upon the Gentiles, but prevai l only fora time : the Gentiles would then be healed

,while Israe l would

be left in calamity.

6 Like the sheep , those, viz . without a

shepherd ; he uses the article to point to the particular kindof sheep who would g o astray, those, viz. without a shepherd.

Each people turned after its own g od but now we see that allwe had g one astray , while Israe l had been in possession of thetruth . yuan i t is the penalty which lig hts upon them, and i tis God who causes it to do so when he sends misfortune uponthem. 11 1) means here the p enalty of sin :

so Gen. xv. 1 6 .

7He was p ressed (for money, as 2 King s XXIII. 3 5 , Deut . xv. 2 )and he was afilicted, se . bodily (for his body was affl icted withstripes) y et notwithstanding this, he opened not his mouthwas not permitted to cry out and complain at what we weredo i ng to him, but was as a sheep led to slaughter , which doesno t open its mouth and cry ; and as a lamb dumb before hershearers . The simile of the sheep is intended to express his

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5 4 R . DAVID QAMIII . [l ii i . 1 0

the unity of the Godhead.

1 °Stil l in his pains and suffering swh ile in captivity we trace noth ing but the operations of thedivine p leasure Israe l himse lf adhered to the Law,

which is alaw of faithfulness (cf. and suffered martyrdomon behalf of it ; since his pains cannot imply that he wascaught in his own iniquities, we must suppose that it was thedivine pleasure thus to bruise and sicken him : we do not understand all the mysteries of God’

s purposes . (In 1sh ? ! the thirdradical N is wanting : although the verb is g enerally N

’s, the

word before us is formed and pronounced as though it wereN” 5 .) Only this do we see clearly, that he will rece ive a full

reward for the misfortune he has endured ; if, then, his soulg ives itse lf in place of a tresp ass

- (fi ring (as he says above ,‘with the he will see much seed, as the prophetZ echariah says of them (x . 8 , and Ezekie l (xxxvi . he

wi ll leng then day s, as is said at the end of the book (lxv .

and by Ze chariah (viii . 4 ) and whereas during the exile it wasthe Lord’

s pleasure to bruise him,in return for th is the Lord’

s

p leasure shall p rosper in his hand,for he will multiply him and

do g ood to him exceeding ly — At this point the words of theGentiles cease , and those of God beg in.

1 1 For the travail

of his soul which he bore in exile , his reward shall be thathe wil l see and be satisfied, i . e . he wil l see prosperity so as

to be satisfied therew ith. My servant ’ here stil l means Israel,

as we said at the beg inning of the Parashah and my“: denoteshis knowledg e of the Lord, as xi . 9 , Jer. xxxi. 3 3 . My servant

I srael,who will be righteous and know the Lord

,will

, by

his knowledg e, make righteous many nations,as it is written

,

Is. i i . 3 , ‘He wil l teach us of his ways, and we wil l walk in hispaths and by his righteousne ss will bear the iniquities of theGentiles

,for by it there will be peace and prosperity in the

whole world, even for the Gentiles.

1 2The mighty and the

strong are here Gog and Mag og , and the people s who comew ith him to Je rusal em,

as is described by Zechariah (x1 1 .And this g lorious fortune wi ll be his because he p oured out

—l i i i . R . DAVID QAMHI . 5 5

his soul to die : i . e . because in exile he resigned himself todeath at the hands of the Gentile s : the i r wealth will befor his wealth wh ich they had taken

,and the ir soul for his

soul , for, as Ezekie l write s (xxxix .

‘All the host of Gogand Mag og wil l die there .

’ mm is to p our out,as Gen. xxiv.

2 0 , but in a different conjugation and ‘with the transg re ssors’

is l ike ‘with the wicked

,

’

as we have explained the words inver. 8 . And he carried the sin ofmany this may be supposedto refer to the time of the captivity ; he means to say that Israe lbore the consequences of the sin of many , i . e . of the Gentile swhen they sinned against him , and he bore the suffering s whichthe ir sin occasioned ; cf. Ex . v. 1 6 . Neverthe less

,he continued

interceding for the wicked who were transg ressing against him ,

and’

sought blessing s on the ir land from the Lord ; cf. Jer.

The Hif. of p1 5 is used with the same idea of suppl ication or prayer in lix . 1 6

, Jer. xxxvi . 2 5 . The reference may ,however

,be to the time of de l ive rance : the meaning will then

be similar to that assigned to the words, ‘He will bear theiriniquities

,

’

in the last verse .

I should l ike to ask the Nazarenes [Christians] who explainthis Parashah of Jesus , how the prophe t could have said, He

shal l be lifted up and lofty exce eding ly ?’ If th is alludes to the

fl esh,Jesus was not

‘ l ifted up’

except when he was suspended

upon the cross if it refers to the Godhead, then he was mightyand lifted up from the beg inning [so that it could not be said

,

He will be l ifted up] . Moreover,the prophet says to them

ver. 8 , but then he ought to have said to him for 1 13 5is plural , be ing equivalent to £1 715 . Ag ain he says, He shal l seeseed if this refers to his flesh , then he had no se ed ; if tohis Godhead

, as the l iteral sense is inappropriate , they explainthe word seed as al luding to his disciples, although his disciplesare nowhere spoken of as e ither sons or seed. He says, too ,He shal l leng then days but in the flesh he did not lengthendays

,and if he says of his Godhead that as a reward [for

suffering ] he will have long life,are not the days of God

5 6 3 . DAVID QAMIII. [l i ii . 1 2 .

from everlasting to everlasting (cf. Ps. xc . Lastly,he says ,

‘ And he interceded for the transg ressors ;’

but if he is Godhimse l f, to whom could he inte rcede "

I— Our Rabbis a explain itof Moses, supposing that be ‘

poured out his soul to die ’

whenhe resig ned himse lf to death (Ex. xxxii . that he was

numbered with the transg ressors’

because he was numberedw ith those who died in the wilderness , that he bore the sin ofmany ’

when he made atonement for the mak ing of the g oldencal f, and that he ‘ interceded for the transg ressors

’

when he

sought for mercy on the transg ressions of Israelb

See above , p . 8 .

b The MSS. cont inue with the translation of Yonathan (see No .

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5 8 R . JACOB BEN REUBEN (THE RABBANITE) . [lii, 1 iii.

forlorn of men or again, that if Isaiah says that he has‘no form nor comel iness

,

’ J eremiah can call him a‘ flourish ing

olive tree , beautiful with we ll-formed fruit .’

2 . Consider whether the g eneral conne ction of the versestends to favour your arguments : i t se ems to me to g o farin the oppos ite dire ction. IVith respect to the meaning of thefirst two verses

,in which the prophet says that the ‘

servantshal l prosper,

’

the words ‘ many were astonished ’

and ‘his

countenance was marred ’

must in accordance with the contextrefer to the time before his success and the attainment of hi skingdom,

while the expression ‘he w ill sprinkle many nations,

’

i . e . will expe l them from the ir kingdoms, must allude to theperiod following hi s success . But now when in your argumenty ou assert that this your Messiah is God, and that all the

essence of the Godhead res ides in him,in what sense can y ou

understand the se verses ? and how does the prophet announce ofhim

,as a future fact , that he w ill be exalted, l ifted up, and lofty

exceeding ly ?’

Is not the Godhead (as it is written,Is . lvi i . 1 5 )

hig h and exalted continual ly ? Who supposes that God couldfirst of all be in a state of depression, affl iction,

and disfigurement,out of wh ich he would afterwards raise himself, and be exaltedabove those who knew him ? W ere this the case , we should nolong er be able to recognise him as omnipotent ; for althoug hwe know that he is represented as saying (Is . xxx ii i . I o) , Noww ill I arise , now w ill I exalt myse lf,

’

y e t we clearly must notsuppose the word now to imply that he was not exalted preV iously , because i t is the custom of Scripture to use suchlanguag e repeatedly, as ‘Arise

,O God

’

(Num. x .

‘Awake,

why sleepe st thou ?’

(Ps . xliv. To express the idea of g reatness or might , the Creator is often spoken of in terms strictlyappl icable only to what possesses a body but far be it from us

to find him described in any passag e whatever as be ing in a

condition of depression or disfigurement .3 . According to your view,

the prophet declares that he was‘despised and forlorn of men

,

’

a‘man of pains and known

lii, l i i i .] , R . JACOB BEN REUBEN (THE RABBANITE) . 5 9

of s ickness now it seems to me that no one would be called‘ known of sickness ’ or a

‘man Of pains’

except a man who

suffe red from severe s icknesses continually and I know,in fact

,

that y ou w ill not find e ither in your own New Te stament,or in

the words of the wise men of your own rel ig ion who tel l y ouabout the Messiah and his deeds

,or

, in fact, in any book in theworld, that he ever had a pain— even a headache— up to theday of his death when he was de l ivered into the hands of thosethat smote him : we see then that the very terms themse lveswhich are here employed, ‘

pain’

and ‘sickness

,

’

were not

real ised in his person,and consequently cannot apply to him.

The chastisements which he endured in the hour Ofdeath wouldnot be spoken of as a

‘s ickness, ’ but rather as an

‘attack ’ or

‘blow ’

as I King s i i . 2 5 , 2 9 . And again, instead Of

saying he was‘smitten of God, ’ he should rather have said

he was smitten Of men ,

’

as was the fact only one visited withvarious kinds of diseases is said to be smitten of God.

4 . If these verses refer to your Messiah,who y ou say is God,

then they contain themse lves the refutation Of your assertions.

It is written,He was smitten of God it follows then— and

your own mouth assents against y ou— that God smites him and

he is smitten by God how then can it be said that he is h imsel fGod ? Again, i t is written that the Lord ‘ laid on him the

iniquity Of us all as the patient, then, he is inferior to Godwho is the ag ent. The same conclus ion will be drawn from the

words,

‘ The Lord was pleased to bruise him he was the

bruised,and God the bruiser ; again then he is inferior to

God. But y ou assert that he is God himse lf ; it appears thenthat the witnesses whom y ou cite g ive the ir w itness againsty ou, and attest the contrary of what y ou affirm.

5 . It is said,There was a stroke for them ’

(1 73 5 ) but if thisrefers to the Messiah it oug ht to have been ‘ for him ’

(15 ) for15 is s ingular, but the prophet uses 1 13 5 , which is plural . Againit is written W ED) OWN own tax, and even though this ve rseshould mean (as y ou alleg e i t doe s mean) because he made his

60 R . JACOB BEN REUBEN (THE RABBANITE) . [lii, 1 iii.

soul a trespass-Ofl'

ering’

(or: be ing equivalent to 1D, as Ex . xxn.

2 4 , where , inasmuch as it is a duty to lend, we may renderB ecause thou must lend

,etc y et we know as a fact that he did

not prolong his days upon the earth or see seed rathe r Ps . lv.

2 4 was fulfilled in him,for he did not reach half the ag e usually

attained by man,which is seventy years . Moreover , the prophet

each time cal ls him my servant (which , as appl ied to the Godhead, is a term of indignity) understand then and know trulythat, as I once repl ied to y ou before , when we saw that Godappointed his servant ’ as a.witness (xlii i . so here the same

expression is used Of no one except Israe l, who were ‘afflicted

and smitten ’

by the hands of the Gentiles ; and of whom, therefore , the whole Parashah is to be expounded unhesitating ly ;Israe l be ing called my servant

,as in xliv. 2

,and many other

passag e s.

And so we cannot take your arguments into considerationyour View is not to be substantiated ; it has never existed and

never been created.

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62 JACOB BEN REUBEN (THE QARAITE) . [li i i . 6

wounded, was troubled, and wept for our iniqui ties, becausehe was g rieved at them. According to another View,

terrified and

trembling ; cf. 551m: Prov. xxvi. 1 0 . The chastisement forbreaking the law,

the Observance of which would be our peace ,fe l l to his share . 1 11 1 1 3 1 3 1 if he had associated himse lfwith us ashe did before [by his union with us], he would then have healedus, and de l ivered us from exile . According to others, if we hadassociated ourse lves w ith him [by our union with him] , weshould have be en healed. R . Yonah c explains the word as an

infinitive with pronominal suflix, ‘by bruising him comparea Hos. xi. 3 .

61 1 1 1 5 11 , i . e . heard his prayer, and took

away from us the iniquity of us all. Or,caused to meet

,

brought upon him,troubles at the hands of the Gentiles

for our iniquities .

7 v.1 3 the rulers oppressed him . my:mmevery one cursed him. 5 11 1 3 ; like a lamb

,because they se ized

his riches and possessions .

8 The Lord rescued him from the

prison-house , and the punishments Of reveng e . W ho is able totel l the years of weariness which passed over him ? Who is tobe found in his g eneration to recount the evils which befel him13 1 1 11 r

‘

iND from the happ iness and enjoyments Of the world.

The word 1 13 5 shews that by the wise (Iii. 1 3 ) must be unde rstood more than one : the statement cannot therefore be made ,

as is asserted by some,in View Of the Mess iah .

9As he ex

perienced the long duration Of the exile,the expe ctation g rew

upon himd that he would die in captivity with the wicked.

Wh enever the authorities sought tribute of the rich that we rein exile

,the latter imposed it upon the ‘wise , ’ who thus had

to pay as much as the rich themse lve s did if then the rich paidone p iece Of g old each

,they paid the same . 1 1 1 1 1 13 3 means his

bust 1 °He bruised,i . e . humbled him

,so that he became as

one who was sick . According to others , he bruised himse lf, Viz .

in infl icting upon himse lf sackcloth and fasting . Or 1x3 1 may

0 See his Book of Roots (ed. Neubauer, Oxford, i . co l. 208 .

d Lit . ‘he made or p ut it in his heart that cf. above , p . 46 .

JACOB BEN REUBEN (THE QARAITE) .

be an infinitive refe rring to MD) cf. Job xxxn . 2 . If his soulthe soul of the remnant

,makes as it were a tresp ass

-ofi ring to

its Lord— the verb be ing transitive , and the soul ’ its subjector, ‘ i f thou

,Lord

,makest his soul as it we re a trespass

i . e . if the fasting s which he underg oes are accepted before theeas a trespass-Offering , then, as every tre spass-Offe ring make s someatonement, so the work of this w ise ’

one w ill atone for the iniquities of Israe l . He will see seed

,whe reas he thought that he

would pe rish in exile,the prophet now declare s that he wi ll be

in this very different condition : 1 1 for the affliction Of his soul,

he will see prosperity and be satisfied with pleasure s ; and by his

knowledg e or instruction my servant, the just one , will justifythe many

,and bear

,i . e . take from them the ir iniquities .

1 2Be cause of his servi ce and ministry,I wi ll g ive him a double

inheritance among st the many,as i t is said (Is . lxi . In their

land they p ossess the double. Or, I will divide him a portion inthe midst Of the g reat— he shall re ce ive a possession in the citymentioned in Ezekie l : and with the mighty he shall divide the

sp oil wh ich the Messiah and his sons will take , and some Of i twill be g iven to these wise ’ ones. He was numbered with thetransg ressors, so. in the penalty which befel them.

LII.

1 3 Behold,my servant the Branch shal l g o in the right

way , he shal l be high and exalted and lofty exceeding ly . As the

g enerations of Israe l had been deso lated for many years at the

sight of thee , be cause his looks were marred almost beyond man,

and his form beyond the sons OfAdam : so shall he sprinkle theblood Of many nations

,before him k ing s shal l shut the ir mouth

and be dumb for that which was not told them they have seen,

and that which they had not heard they have observed.

LIII .

1 Who hath be l ieved our report ? and upon whom exceptus has the arm Of God been revealed ? 2And the rig hteous ofIsrae l came up like a sucker before him to suck in his knowledg e ,and he Of them that was firmly rooted in the commandments,l ike a tree stretching out its roots to spring s of water, out ofthe dry g round of the captivity ; he hada form and come liness ;we behe ld him, and [saw that] he had the look of prophecy,and found his appearance ful l of beauty.

3 Desp ised in his owneye s

,and keeping apart from men, he makes the ir king s sick,

and by his crying for them causes each to become a man ofpains and known to s ickne ss ; God hides his mercy from themas he hides his face from us in the time of wrath ; he makesevery one of them despised and so esteems him not .

f surely

for our Offences (which were our sicknesses) he has Obtainedforg iveness, and our sins

,which were the cause Of our pains, he

bare in Obtaining it y et we did esteem ourse lves to be each ofus bruised for his iniquities, smitten of God, and punished.

” He will build our sanctuary,which was de livered up for our

11 The author apparently understood N’? in the sense of 1 5.

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XVII.

LII.

1 3 Behold my servant, i . e . those who correct and ‘make

many w ise ’

( cf. Dan. xi. 3 3 , xii . and who sig h and

g roan’ for all the wickednesses of the people (cf. Ezek . ix .

will in those days be very p rosperous. The expression ‘my

servant ’ connects the passag e with 1 . I o and mention is heremade Ofhis affl iction and sicknesse s

, as in Ps. lxxi ii . I 4 , and as

y ou may see in the cases OfElijah,Jeremiah , and, in fact , all the

prophets— even Moses (Num . xi. You may see,too

,how

Daniel endured misery and sickne ss on account of the destruot ion of his people , and sought mercy for them with fasting ,weeping , and wailing ; and all the prophets did the same . And

this is what is here meant by the stroke , ’ and the stripe ,’

and

the chastisement,

’

and the bruising ,’

and the sickness.

’

The

prophets also were desp ised and Of no estimation in the eyes ofthe nations

,and all that saw them mocked at them even the ir

own people de spised them, saying that they were smitten for

the ir own iniquity and sin, and that there was no salvation forthem in God

’

(PS . i i i . The De ity here de clares that hisservant was not smitten and chastised for his own iniquity, butthat he sighed and g roaned for the wickedness of his pe ople ,and suffered humiliation and affl iction

,and humbled his soul in

order to seek mercy for them.

1 "B ecause many in the past wereastonished a t thee

,because thou wast despised and forlorn of

men,a man Ofpains and known to sickness, and were in wonder

at thy form and countenance,because thou wast not like other

men, so wil l thy looks be esteemed (norm) above those of

l i i . 1 5 - l i i i . XVII . 67

the rest of mank ind, and as many were astonished at thee,and

did not e steem thee , but , on the contrary,removed thee from

them,so now wilt thou, too, sp rinkle and cast away from thee

many nations . me n, as always, means esteemed and p recious,as w as (Ex . xxix . cf. Lev. xxi i . 2 5 , Mal. i . 1 4 , in bothof which places norm swuifies fat and . precious, as I haveexplained in my commentary on those passag es, although theform of the word is irregular. A different sense may be

obtained by conne cting “

tr/N: with the 1: which immediate lyfollows it, as Ex. i. 1 2 as they were astonished

,viz . in the past,

at the humiliation Of his countenance,so now wil l his coun

t enance be esteemed and thought g reat . 1 5At him— at the

terror of him,at his exaltation and regal majesty even king s

will close their mouths : they wi ll be unable to speak a

word or to open their lips ; for what was not told them by

o thers they will have seen from him, and what they had not heard

from others they will have understood from him. The prophetthen speaks as follows respecting what is thus told them by

him.

LIII .

1,2 Who etc.

,the languag e of incredulity or surprise , as

Gen. xxi. 7, If it had been said to us that this man was thusprosperous and thriving after he had been despised and forlornOfmen

,a man Of pains and known to sickness, who would have

believed the rep ort And up on whom was the arm of the Lordever revealed so as for him to be turned to another man (cf.I Sam. x. as it is now revealed upon this one

,who , like the

suckers of a tree before God, and like a root spring ing out Of

the dry earth, rises up and g rows g reat out of the midst ofs i cknesses and chastening s ? and who before had no form and

no come liness and no beauty when we looked at him,but is now

so g raceful and come ly that we ourse lves de sire to be l ike him.

3E e was desp ised by every one , forlorn ofmen,and known

,i . e .

trained and accustomed, to sickness, and was as though the HolyOne were hiding hisfacefrom him and chastening him inang erand displeasure . Thus was be among st us in the past : 4 but

F 2

68 xv1 1 . [l i i i . 5

now we know that he was not smitten for his own iniquity and

transg ression, but that it was our sicknesses— those which forour sins we ought to have endured— that he carried, sigh ingand g roaning , and afflict ing h imse l f with si ckne ss (as Amosvi. 6) on account of the calamity wh ich was about to fall uponus and the misfortune which was to be our l ot . And the painwherewith we should have let our heart be pained for our

misfortune he bare ; but we laid not our calamities to heart,we abandoned ourse lves to luxury and pleasure , ‘

slaying oxenand k ill ing sheep , eat ing flesh and drinking w ine

’

(Is . xxi i.thinking , l ike the women in Zion and Samaria (Amos vi. I ) ,who did no t expe ct evil to come upon them ,

that to-morrow wi l lbe as tod ay (Is . lvi . I 2 ) , and saying (cf. Jer. xxi . W ho

shall come down against us ? or who shall enter into our habitations ? And therefore did we e steem him stricken and smitten

of God and afl icted— thoug ht that for his s ins the De ity wasthus chastening and bruis ing him.

5 But he was just, and waswounded (551 11 as Is . l i. 9 )for our transg ressions the chas tening s

which,instead Of the peace that as we blessed ourse lves in our

heart (Jer. xx iii . 1 7) we looked forward to , we ought to havefelt and suffered in s ickness for our calamity

,were all up on him

and not upon us : he was s ick and bruised, we were care lessand se cure . And by his strip es and sickness

,which we ought

thus to have laid to heart and made our own,we were healed

,

though we did not perce ive it ; for we kept saying , Peace , peace ,when there was nO peace (Jer. vi. I 4 , viii . though the trueprophets, who saw what would happen, g roaned, stricken downand s ick ; and hence we were healed.

GWe all went astray

like sheep ,each pursuing after his own advantag e ; but the

Lord caused the iniquity of us all to meet as Jer. xv. I I )upon him,

in that he afflicted and humbled himse lf with g roaning s and sickness on account Of our calamity.

7He was

opp ressed with pains and chastening s, and with the reproachesand contempt and shame and spitting which we heaped uponhim ; y et he op ened not his mouth

, but accepted the judgment

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70 XVII . [l i i i . n ,1 2 .

justice and for his afllicted with judgment (Ps . lxxn . 2,

“Then for the chastening s which he thus bore in the past,he wi ll see seed

,he will p rolong and have his fill of life ; by his

knowledg e he will jus tify many , and del iver the affl icted fromhim that is too strong for him,

and the iniquities of the many ,

the sins which one man commits ag ainst anothe r, he will bearall w ill rest upon him ; he will carry the ir ‘ cumbrance , and

burden, and strife ’ (Deut. i . and upon him will it devolveto order all thing s, for ‘ his lips wil l keep knowledg e , and

teaching will they seek from his mouth ’

(Mal. ii . umun isleurs fmfaits in French .

1 2Therefore I will divide him richesand honour

,because he p oured out (esvida) his soul to die for my

sake , and was numbered with the transgressors in sickness and

chastening s, as though he had been really guilty, and had

accepted the condemnation passed upon him as just . But he

carried the sin or gui lt of many and the ir pain ; and intercededfor transg ressors, prayed for them to me that I would havemercy on them, although it was through them that he himselfwas smitten.

XVIII. R. YOSEPH BEN NATHAN .

This Parashah is applied by the heretics to the Nazarene .

A very learned apostate came once into the presence of theg reat R.Yoseph E

’khor-Shor a How,he asked, canst thou meet

the evidence of this Parashah ? He repl ied, O fool , th ine earsshal l bear that which thou utte rest from thy mouth : the prophetcalls him his servant

,

’

but if he is God,how could he be

termed a servant ? At once the apostate rent his clothes and

rolled himse lf in ashes and repented [of his apostasy] . Then hespeaks of the ir having seen what had not been told them,

’ i . e .

the wondrous and mighty acts of the De ity but do they possessno record of the Creation as told in Genes is

,and of what God

did to the g eneration of the De lug e , and to the g eneration of theDispersion, to Pharaoh and the king s of Canaan, and the cleavingof the R ed Sea, and all the miracles and mighty acts which wereachieved before the birth of the Naz arene

‘

l Again he says,For the transg ression of my people was he stricken but did

he meet death for any othe r cause but in order to wipe out the

sin of our fore fathers in having eaten of the tree of knowledg e,for which all were g oing down into Gehenna ? This be ing so

,

however, he ought rather to have written, For the transg ressionofAdam and Eve was he stricken .

’

Ag ain he says, ‘Althoughhe did no violence :’ but if he is God, towards whom couldhe behave violently ? do not all belong to God 2 God is judg ehe setteth down one and raiseth up another ’ (Ps . Ixxv.

8 A ce lebrated French Rabbi of the twe lfth century . A commentarycomposed by him on the Pentateuch is st ill extant .

72 R . YOSEPH BEN NATHAN. [l i i . 1 3

THE EXPOSITION.

LII .

1 3Behold my servant sha ll p rosp er. He means Israe l ,who is called God’s servant

,as xlii i . I O

,xl iv I

,xlix . 3 . S'JW' is

to be prosp erous , as Deut . xxix . 8 , I Sam . XVIII . I 4 . He shall be

high and exalted,be cause the ir horn w i ll be e xal ted in honour ’

(Ps . cxi i . 1 4As many were astonished, viz . at Israe l ’s depression

,as it is written

,He hath broken the covenant

,

’

etc.

(xxxii i . and rightly so (73 as Num . xxvii . because his countenance was marred bey ond ma n, so he will conquer (cf. lxii i . 3 )many nations 1 5

a t him king s will close their mouths (Job v. I 6 )they will be dumb

, and not know what to say ; for what was not

told them have they seen,as though to say , they only knew of the

depress ion of Israe l , they had no t seen his g reatness .

LIII .

1 Who believed our rep ort 2 who was there that be lievedth is prophe cy ? and up on whom was the arm of the Lordrevealed ? 2Like a sucker or young plant wh ich bursts forthand spring s up , and like a flower rising out of the dry earth, so

was Israe l born (lxvi . 8) and sprang up . He had no form and

no comeliness— he was formerly despised ; and that which wasseen in him had no beauty . m'mrmRash i explains ‘

and can

we desire him ? ’ but had Isaiah intended this he would havewritten 1 17 773 1 3) m

'

ll-‘m? must mean the most desirable or love ly

part of his body, which in Israe l was disfigured and had no

comeliness ; as men say of a person who is plain,The most beau

tiful part of this man is ug lyb 3He was desp ised, and we

esteemed him not so speak the king s concerning Israel , becausehe was a man of p ains, and broken by sickness (cf. 1mmJudg .

vi ii . and because he was as one hiding hisfacefrom us, by

wh ich is meant that he was ashamed of his depressed condition.

Yet we esteemed him smitten of God— we were thinking thatall these chastening s had fallen upon him because of his own

iniquity.

‘But he carried our sickness : now we see that that wasno t the cause : the s ickne ss wh ich oug ht to have come upon us

,

b He treats 'Jas a p tcp . Nif

'

al with suffix .

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R . YOSEPH BEN NATHAN. [l i i i . u , 1 2 .

tresp ass -ofl’

ering , if it is g iven to me for the sanctification of myname— OWN is a p enalty or fine, as 1 Sam. vi. 3 , 8

— then I toowill pay him his reward : he shal l see seed and leng the n day s,

and the p leasure of the Lord shall p rosp er in his hand, so thatfor having performed we l l the pleasure of the Lord, be wi l lrece ive for all his toil a full return 1 1 He did no t plunde r androb

,but ate and wasfilledfrom the labour of his own soul : and

by his knowledg e he justified the just, meted out righteousjudgment to all who came before him

,and bare their iniquities

(compare Num. xvi i i . 1 2Therefore, because of his doingthis

,I will divide him a p ortion or inheritance with the g reat

(i . c . with the patriarchs), because he p oured out (Gen. xxiv. 20 )his soul to die, and was numbered with the transgressors, borechastening s as though he had been a sinner and transg ressorhimse l f

,and made intercessionfor them for

,in consequence of

these chastening s, there came through his instrumental ity prosperity for the world.

XIX . R . Y’SHA

‘

YAH BEN MALI .

LII.

1 3 Then (run) Israe l shall p rosp er (5'3W' as 1 Sam.

xviii . 1 4) as many were at first astonished a t thee,amazed at

the magnitude of thy depression, and as the countenance ofIsrae l was marred bey ond man,

etc. The hireg in “NV/D is in

place of shureg for all the vowe ls are interchang eable . And his

form bey ond the sons of men : his form was altered from whatit ought to have been : “S h is pointed as the gutturals usuallyare ; 15255 (as though for Is. i . 3 1 , is similar 1 5 S o now

will he shew himse l f mighty, and sp rinkle many nations,i . e .

expe l and scatter them from his land,l ike a man sprinkling

water, without one drop touching another . At him king s will

close their mouth they wi ll have no pretext for speaking for asit had never been told them by the prophets of the ir g reatnesshave they now seen

,and what they had not heard from any man,

have they p erceived and spoken of to one another.LI II .

1 Who believed our rep ort— the report which we

were hearing about Israe l, that he would be exalted and shewhimse lf mig hty over all ? And up on whom hath the arm of the

Lord been revealed, to do wonders and signs for them as he has

done for Israe l ? 2For Israe l came up like a sucker before him :

l ik e a. young shoot which at first is not seen or noticed, but after

a l ittle time appears as a g reat tree ; and like a root standingin the dry earth, which men think to be withered and to have nohope (Job xiv. but which at length shoots up and bearsclusters of boughs and branches ; so Israe l , depressed during theircaptivity, are now exalted above all. At first he had no form

76 R . Y’SHA

‘

YAH BEN MALI . [l ii i . 3

and no comeliness , and we looked a t him,but there was no

beauty that we should desire i t, and e xclaim,How lovely the

beauty of th is Jew ! 3 He was desp ised and forlorn of men, forevery one w ithdrew from him

,and hid hisface so as no t to look

at him he was despised, and we esteemed himfor nothing .

4But

i t was our sicknesses which he bare, and which made him sickand pained him and this was the reason why he had no beauty.

Ye t we esteemed him stricken of God, thoug ht that it had beenhis pleasure for him thus to be affl icted : 5 but he was woundedin our transg ressions, it was reckoned a g reat transg ression on

our part by the Creator when we were the occasion of hiswounds : he was bruised in our iniquities, for when we bruisedhim

,our act was counted an

‘ iniquity for the judg e’

(Job

xxxi . 2 8 ) NQWD is the same as NQl'm

,the g ames be ing in place

of sere,as in Tjfi

‘

(Ps . cxii . 2 ) our p eace was removed and takenaway [from MD] from off him— we gave him no rest ; and in

his strip es we were hea led— as we infl icted upon him injuries andblows

,i t seemed to us as thoug h we had ourse lves be en healed,

so g reatly did we rejoice at his calamity . mumis l ike minn,except that the aspirate is rafe.

6All we like sheep had g one

astray , each afte r his own way , and there was none to holdus back but the Lord caused the iniquity of us all— we all had

incurred penalties because of him— to meet up on him (1735 .as

Gen. xxviii . 7mmmm rm; as though i t had been W}:

mmmm: mm is Nif‘al,the fem. occurs lvii i . I O .

8From

sovereignty (cf.“

18 17 1 Sam. ix . 1 7) and judgment he was takenaway , for his ancestors had been sovere igns and judg es and the

g reatness of his g eneration who could tell (rime: as Ps . cxlii i .for he was cut of (of. WTlJ

’? Ps . cxxxvi . 1 3 ) out of the land of the

living , and because of the transg ression of my p eop le was this

s troke up on them a.

9And he made his grave with, or like , » the

3 Some explain th is as follows — B ecause of the transg ression ofmy peop le,i . e . the suffering s they infl icted on him

, the stroke was to come up on them.

[Inserted from ano ther MS ]

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XX. R. MOSHEH BEN NAHMAN .

V1 3 1) mm. The right view respecting this Parashahis to suppose that by the phrase my servant

’

the whole of Israe lis meant

,as in xl iv . 2

,xlix . 3 , and often. As a different op inion,

however, is adopted by the Midrash , which refers it to the Messiah,it is nece ssary for us to explain it in conformity with the viewthere maintained. The prophe t says

,The Mess iah, the son of

David,of whom the text speaks, wi ll never be conquered or

perish by the hands of his enemies. And, in fact, the textteaches this clearly.

INTERPRETATION.

LII.

1 3Behold my servant shall understand. For,at the time

of redemption the Messiah wil l perce ive and understand the end,and know when the period for his coming is at hand, and

the time has arrived for him to reveal himse lf to the cong regat ion of those that are waiting for him. is used in the

same sense as by Daniel, xii. 9 f., where the meaning is thatthere w il l be some among the wi cked who wil l display the i rwickedness by reproach ing the footsteps of the Messiah ’

(Ps.

lxxxix . 5 2) on account of his long tarrying , and by refusingto bel ieve in him at all ; thus they wil l not perce ive theend

,but will g o astray after any one who may claim to be

the Mess iah : ‘ those that understand,

’

on the other hand,

wil l be attentive for the true end, and look for it expectantly.

In ag reement with the words of Danie l , Isaiah says the Messiah,

the servant of the Lord,wi l l understand : he wi ll perce ive

l i i . R . MOSHEH BEN NAHMAN. 79

the end,and forthwith wil l rise up and be exal ted

,and his

heart wi l l be lofty in the ways of the Lord ’

(2 Chron. xvn . 6) tog o and gather tog ether the outcasts of Israe l , not by streng thand not by might, but by his Sp irit

’

(Ze ch. iv. trusting in theLord, after the manner of that first redeemer who came toPharaoh with his staff and scrip (cf. 1 Sam. xvn . and smotehis land with the ‘

rod of his mouth ’

(Is . x i . And so i tis said in the Midrash, He wi l l be h igher than Abraham, moree xalted than Moses

,and l oftier than the ministering ang els ;

’

the Messiah,that is

,wi l l be higher than Abraham,

who was an

expounder of the be l ief in God, and, in spite of the oppositionof the k ing , g ained prose lytes in the land of Nimrod : for theMessiah w il l do more than he did ; he wi l l prose lytize manynations. And he wil l be more exal ted than Moses Moses wentin unto Pharaoh

,that g reat and wi cked king , who said

,I know

no t the Lord (Ex . v. and,although only a shepherd and the

humblest of men,was not afraid of him,

but brought forth hispeople out of the ‘ furnace of iron ’

(Deut. iv . 2 0,Jer. xi .

But the Messiah wil l do more than Moses : for he wi l l stirhimself up against the king s of the whole world, so as to bringforth Israe l from the ir hands

, and to execute veng eance uponthe Gentiles. And he wil l be loftier than the ministering ang els,for although these exe rt themse lves di l ig ently in the redemptionof Israe l (like Michae l, Dan. x . 20 , y et the Messiah wil lachieve more than the whole of them tog ether . And wisdomw ill accompany this e levation of the Messiah , and his nearnessto God : for ne ithe r Abraham

,whom the g lorious and fearful

Name speaks of as his friend (Is. xli . and with whom also hemade a covenant ; nor Moses, who was nearer to the De ity thanany man ; nor the ministering ang e ls, who stand round abouthim on his right hand and on his left ’ ( 1 King s xxn .

approach so closely to the knowledg e of the Almighty as the

Messiah for of him i t is written that he came to the Ancientof days

,and that they ‘brought him near before him’

(Dan.

vii. but of the ang e ls it is only said that ‘ ten thousand

80 R . nosnsn BEN NAHMAN. [Iii i 4

7times ten thousand stood before him. And hence Isaiah write sthat he will be high in the understanding enabl ing him to com

prehend the Deity, and exalted and lofty in the knowledg e of hisblessed name , more than all who were born before him : though tobe ‘

g reater than the ang e ls’

is said also of others, besides theMessiah

,who are righteous.

1 4The text continue s, refe rring sti llto the Messiah

,As many were astonished a t thee. The ir astonish

ment was shewn by mocking him when he first arrived, and

by asking how one‘ desp ised,

’ ‘meek and riding upon an ass’

(Zech . ix . could conquer all the king s of the world who hadlaid hold upon Israel

,and rescue him from the ir hand : so

acted Pharaoh towards Moses, when he mocked him,as he says

(Ex . vi . How wil l Pharaoh l isten to me ?’ 1 5 As they said

,

The visag e of th is man is marred, so they wil l say now that hisspeech will drop (mi) upon them,

and they will open the ir mouthwide for the rain of his word (Job xxix . 2 2 , The king swill close their mouths

,and even in the chamber of the ir heart

(Ezek . vii i . 1 2 ) wil l be afraid to speak of him,saying each to his

ne ighbour , Even in thy thought curse not a king (Qob . x .

LIII .

1 When the report of the Messiah comes among the

people , who is there among them that will believe it The arm

is that wh ich he will cause to journey at the right hand of theR edeemer

,just as it is said that he caused the arm of his maj esty

to journey at the right hand of Moses’

(Is . lxiii . 1 Up on whomhas th is arm been revealed so that he might be lieve in him ?2 For at the beg inning he was like a small tree springing up

out of the dry earth,which never g rows g reat enough to put

forth boughs and to bear fruit : he was desp ised, for he had no

army and no people, but was meek and riding upon an ass,

’

l ike the first rede emer Moses,our master

,when he entered into

Eg ypt with his wife and children upon an ass (Ex . iv.

3 He

was p a ined for the iniquities of Israe l , which occasion his

tarrying ,and hold him back from becoming king over his

people and known to sickness, because a man who is s ickis continually distressed with pain.

1 51 11 is here used of the

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82 R . MOSHEH BEN NAHMAN. [liii. s

quickly,etc., but kept silence . So wi ll the Messiah g ive no answer,

but keep Silence , and cease not to entreat for Israe l, saying toall the king s of the nations, Thus saith the Lord, let my peopleg o that they may serve me .

’

But he , like a sheep led to the

slaughter, wil l think in his heart, Even though they slay me,

I wi ll perform the mission of my Creator, as i t is my duty to doso said and didAnanias , Mishae l, and Azariah (Dan. i i i . 1 8 ) and

in the same way our Rabbis say , W hoso g ives himself up to die ,trusting that a Sign will be wrought for him, there is no Signwrought for that man.

’ Je remiah speaks S imilarly of himse lf(xi . and also the sing er Asaph (Ps. lxxiii . 1 4 , of. lxxxviii .8He wil l think himse lf taken away from rul ing over his people ,and from be ing a prince and judg e over them, and will wonderwho there wi ll be to declare to his g eneration the ways of theLord, and announce that he has been cut off out of the land ofthe l iving for the transg ression of his people,— an event whichwill be a severe blow to them. The passag e says in his praisethat he wil l not g rieve about his own l ife

,but only for the loss

Israe l wil l sustain by his death .

9

111 3 is used of thinkingg enerally, as Qob . i . 1 3 , 1 Sam. i . 1 6, and of sp eaking , as Lev.

xvi. 2 1 , Deut . xi. 2 9 . The prophet says, He will think in hisheart that his g rave wi l l be with the wicked among the Gentiles,for he will say , They wil l assuredly kill me , and in this p lacewi ll be my tomb. nap does not refer to the g rave in whichhe was actual ly buried, but only the g rave in which he

expected to be buried : so Is. xxii . 1 6, Gen. 1 . 5 (where Jacob

speaks of his g rave , though he was not buried in it y et) . Further,the wealthy Israel ites, who take no pleasure in him, will g ive himmany forms of death, for he wil l expe ct them to slay him bystoning , or burning , or murder, or hang ing , l ike those whoperished during the three days

’

darkness in Egypt . And this isthe reason why rmn, deaths, is plural . Yet he did no violence

,

viz . to the wicked who are mentioned,i . e . to the Gentiles

,for

he never attempted to rob them of anything that be long ed tothem ; ne ither was there any deceit in his mouth towards the

—l i i i . R . MOSHEII BEN NAHMAN. 83

wealthy Israe l ites.

1 °But the Lord was p leased to g ive himhappiness through the distress which he endured

,so that re cog

nising in himse lf the presence of guilt and sin,his soul might

make a trespass-ofiering ; but his merit was imperfect, and

so all this hefe l him in order that i t might become complete .

nivn DN are the words of God, and express his wish If he wi llonly bear all this

,and humble himse lf

, so as not to be conten

tions, and reason concerning my attributes ! I will then g ivehim his reward, measure for measure

,that he may see seed,

’

e tc. UN is used, as Jer. xv. 1 9 , in the sense of 0 tha t He

sha ll see seed : in him W il l be fulfi lled the promise, PS . xlv. 1 7.

He shall leng then day s , viz . for ever and ever,as it is written

(Ps . xxi. ‘Leng th of days for ever and eve r and so it issaid in the Pirqé of Rabbi Eliezer, ‘As it is written (Ps . lxi.

His years Shal l be as many g enerations.

’

And the p leasure ofthe Lord sha ll prosp er in his hand because he wil l accompl ishthe Redemption in which the Lord finds his pleasure, and wil lteach all the Gentiles to understand and know’

the Lord : thisis what is meant by the p leasure of the Lord, as it is written,‘ In these is my pleasure

’

(Jer. ix. 2 3 [241 1 Because (y

’

the labour which he saw (experienced) in himsel f, and because hewas satisfied with shame instead of g lory

’

(Hab. i i. therefore by his knowledge he will justify the just, he will know and

re cognise who are the just that oug ht to be redeemed ; and so

in all his judgments he wi ll find out the just, as it is written,He will not judg e by the sight of the eyes, etc. (Is. xi . 3 , 4 , etc.)and our iniquities, i . e . those of the many who are mentioned,he will set in order

,viz . by disposing them to repentance :

cf. 1 King s xi. 2 8 , where 53 0 is equivalent to the disposition orarrang ement of affairs (Ex. v.

1 2Therefore I will divide hima portion with the many because ‘ the whole of many nations ’

(PS . lxxx ix. 5 1 ) wil l be his portion and inheritance , and fromamong the Gentiles he will divide the strong as sp oil for hispeople and servants

, because he emp tied his soul of everythingfor death, i . e . be resolved in his mind and resigned hims e lf to

G 2

84 R . MOSHEH BEN NAHMAN . [l i i i . 1 2 .

die . my as Ps. cxli . 8 , Do not pour out my soul , 1 . e . Emptyit not of its hope which it long s to see real ised : the aecomplishment of one

’

s pleasure is spoken of as afilling of the soul(Ex. xv. and Simi larly the frustration of a desire is called itsemp ty ing . The prophet continues : And because he was numbered with the transg ressors , expected, as I have stated, to bereckoned among st them,

and carried the sin of many — whathappened to him at that time was not for his own s ins, but forthe sins of others— andfor transg ressors yuan, i . e . (according towhat is said above

, ver. 6 ) a llowed the iniquity of s innersand transg ressors to light upon himse lf. There is, however,no mention made in the Parashah that the Messiah would bede livered into the hands of those who hated him, or that hewould be slain

,or hung upon a tree ; but that he should see

seed and have long l ife , and that his kingdom should be highand exalted among the nations, and that mighty k ing s should beto him for spoil .

Extract from the ‘Refutation .

’

Friar Paul said, Behold the ir wise men say that the Messiahwil l be more g lorious than all the ang els this can be realised innone except Je sus, who is God himse lf, and has fulfi lled whatis said in the Haggadah, He will be high and exalted, and loftyexceeding ly— higher than Abraham,

more exalted than Moses,and loftier than the ministering ang e ls.

’

I repl ied, But our wise men say this constantly of the righteousin g eneral , affirming them to be g reater than the ang e ls 3 . Mosesour master said to the ang e l, In the place where I dwe l l , thoumust not standb : and of Israe l as a whole it is said thatthey are more be loved than the ministering ang els The

author of that Hag gadah, however, meant to say that our father

Thalmud ofBabylon, Sanhedrin, fol . 93a.

b Midrash , P'

tirath Mosheh (decease ofMoses) , according to the Yalqut,on Pent . 940 .

c Thalmud ofBaby lon, Holin, fol.

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XXI . AHRON BEN YOSEPH (THE ELDER) .

LII.

1 3 5pm will be p rosp erous, as 1 Sam. xviii . 30 . My ser

vant : some suppose that the prophet refers here to Israe lcol lective ly ; but i t is better to apply the word to those whoare described in ver. 1 1 as

‘bearing the vesse ls of the Lordbecause the wise [p . 6 1 ] sufferedmore severe ly in captivity, andresigned themse lves to death for the sake of God

’

s holy name : theprophet addresses his consolations to the individual Israe l itesrather than to the nation as a whole . It is not consistent withthe natural sense of the Parashah to refer it to the Messiah :for the Messiah cannot be termed forlorn of men.

’

NWJ is Nifal.1 “Up on the e : the prophe t passes from the 3rd to the z ud person.

So marred ! in mockery and contempt : because the form and

features of Israe l were disfigured and unlike those of other men.

ria is not an abstract noun or a passive part iciple , as mostexcept ourselves are of opinion, but is formed l ike mitt/“1D,

2 Chron xxiv 7 as an adjective : and man resembles 15mgJer. xxn. 1 3 . So will he sprinkle (an) the blood of many

nations : from amazement king s will close their mouths at him

(cf. rnpn Deut . xv . for what was not told them of old theysee now in the majesty of the servant of the Lord.

LIII .

1 Israe l is the speaker : Who, if he had heard it onlywithout having se en i t, would ha/ve believed that the servant ofthe Lord would be thus exalted ? or have imagined on whomthe arm of the Lord had been revealed ? 2

1 21 5 5 ; this refersback to mun"73 , viz . who would have be lieved before this thathe would g row up l ike a sucker ? others suppose it to mean

l iii. 3 AHRON BEN YOSEPH (THE ELDER) . 87

before God, but this is no t so natural . Who,

’

the prophet asks,could have believed that a root would spring up out of the dry

earth ? ’ an allusion to God’s del ivering his servant from captivity , and bring ing him to such wonderful majesty and honour.He had noform, viz . previously to this chang e, nor beauty , thatwe might desire him: according to others, however, the negativemust be understood twice , so that the meaning wi ll be , and we

did not desire him.

’ 3 He was desp ised in consequence of thetemptations which bese t him in the world

,and without reputa

tion in the presence of men. 51 11 is an adj ective in stat. constr. ,

l ike “QC! I Sam. xxi. 1 6 . A man of p ains, because of the il ltreatment of the Gentiles, and known to sickness (vi

-nis in stat.

as followed naturally from his l ife of weariness and toilthe mass of men would not look upon him,

because he was despised and we esteemed him not.

4 The languag e of his tormentors W e ourse lves were the cause of his sickness and pain,which his p iety forced him to endure : y et we esteemed him

smitten of God, think ing it was God who had been the cause ofit. 5 55mo means to bemade sick. N3 1 }: is not derived from nm,

for then it would have been po inted NQ'

lD. The chastisement of

our recomp ense— the chastisement which was our due— fell uponhim : and as we infl icted on him stripes and blows (manna) itbecame visible to us that we were healed. The word mann:ought properly to have Dag esh in the 3 .

6As soon as theyre cognise the truth, they acknowledg e i t openly, as in the similarconfession (Jer. xvi. Our fathers have inherited falsehood.

’

Others suppose the verse to be spoken by the remnant of theIsraelites who had incl ined after a we ll-known be lie f 3 , eachfollowing his own choice . man made to meet ; cf. v.1 5 Gen.

xxxu . 2 . 31 1) has here the sense of penalty, as Gen. iv. 1 3 , 1 Sam.

xxvi ii. I O . is Nifal, from the same root as wan,op

pressor the words opened not his mouth refer to the sheep.

’

8 The writer means the school of the Rabbanite s, which he refrains frommentioning openly.

88 AHRON BEN YOSEPH (THE ELDER) . [lii i . 8

3m y is a substantive , for he was confined in captivity he was

taken from confinement to confinement,and from judgment to

judgment b and who could tell (ume as Ps . cxli i i . 5 ) the troubleswhich befel the g enera tion of those that served and feared God ?for he was cut of from the land qf life , i . e . the land of Israe l,from which the nation was exiled : and because of their transg ression did this stroke come up on them. Or the words may beunderstood as follows — Who would speak of the ir g eneration(by mentioning them in prayer) after they had be en cut off fromthe land of the l iving ? for the stroke had befallen them and the

just had been deprived of l ife , be cause of the ir people’

s transg ression.

9He made his g rave D‘v'd'

lnme , i . e . in whatevermanner the worshippers of stars and conste llations 0 might condemu any individual Israe lite . The idolaters are termed the

rich, be cause in the ir hands Israe l resembled the affl i cted and

ne edy mm is plural, cf. Ezek . xxviii . 8 . Or the sense may be

that they made the i r g rave l ike men proved to be wicked bytrial and sentenced to death

,and l ike the rich man dying in

his sins.

1 °But the Lord was p leased to bruise him like1 7 3“Gen. xxxvii . in order to increase his reward, and sick

ened him with long -continued s icknesses (bun, without N,like

mun Jer. xxxii . When (me as Is. iv. 4) his soul makes a

trespass- (fi ring , by acknowledg ing that the chastisements whichcome upon him are owing to some guilt, and so justifying God,he will see his seed

, when it prolongs its day s : or the subject of“

MN” may be the same as that of men [he will leng then days] .For the labour which he imposed on himse lf

,he will see

prosperity, and be sa tisfied with the pleasantness of the Lord(Ps. xc. and by his knowledge— the power to g rant signsfor the confirmation of his words- he will justify him that isjust. The word ‘many ’

is used,in order that no one may

He means to say , that he was released from one place of punishmentonly to be transferred to another.

0 A Rabbinical expression, signify ing idolaters.

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XXII . THE OLDER NIZZAHON.

LII.

1 3 The whole of this Parashah is interpreted by the hereticsof Jesus

,who was punished and put to death for the ir sake , and

so forth : but the reply to all this is not far to seek ; i t iswritten,

‘He shall be high and exalted, ’ which impl ies thatJ esus had not been so before .

1 “It is also written that ‘his

countenance was marred beyond man,and his form beyond the

sons of men but if he is God, why then did his countenancefal l ? and if it be answe red

,Be cause they smote him and be caus e

of the distress he endured, still if he is God, how could hisfeatures on this account have suffered disfigurement ? 1 5 If theprophet had meant to say that he would gather many nationsto his re lig ion, he should have written r ip” (wil l bring near orattract), rather than up (wil l sprink le or scatter) . For what

was not told them have they seen : but do they not affirm thatall the prophets prophesied of him ?LIII. 1 Up on whom was the arm of the Lord revealed 2 see

then how the work of Jesus'

had never been revealed e ither tothe wise men or to the prophets 2He had no form, etc. Do

they not de clare that these words in the 4 5 th Psalm, Thou art

fairer than the children of men,

’ refe r to Jesus, whereas herethe prophet says of him,

He was despised and forlorn of men ?’

And if it be said that during his lifetime he was fair, and thatthe words he had no form nor comeliness refer to his conditionat the time of death

,the reply is this, that if he were God, what

k ind of death could have affected him,and what chang e in the

beauty of his countenance could have happened to him ? 3 This

l ii i . 4 , THE OLDER NIZZAHON. 9 1

verse also affords a refutation of the Christians : for everyone knows that before Jesus was put to death and hidden fromthe eyes of creation, men esteemed him for nought, but thatafterwards they went astray and followed him

,saying he had

ascended up to heaven : here , however, the prophet says, If hehad not hidden his face from the children of men, we shouldhave esteemed him not .

4He hath carried our sicknesses . To

what does this refe r ? If y ou say that he carried (or took away)the ir iniquity, was there then no taking away of sin before thebirth of Jesus ? y et Scripture speaks of sins be ing taken awayand forg iven, as Ex . xxxiv . 7, Num. xiv. 2 0

,and

,with reference

to the offering s, Lev. iv. 2 6 . And if y ou still say that by thisforg iveness they were de livered, not from Gehenna

,but only

from [temporal] punishments and chastening s, consider howthe ir punishment cost them the ir l ives (Ex. xxxii . and

how i t is written, ‘And there fell of the people on that day about3 000 men it is p lain, then, that the ir forg iveness did not savethem from punishment ; what object then could i t have hadexcept , sure ly, to de l iver them from Gehenna ? 5 They assertthat all his suffering s were for the i r iniquities, in order toredeem them from the judgment of Gehenna : but , accordingto the ir own teach ing , there was no necessity for him to sufferupon this account

,for they say that even those men who are

free from [actual] transg ression or iniquity, g o down to Gehennai t follows then that, unlik e the person here Spoken of, Jesuscannot have been compe lled to underg o death for our trans

g ressions, but rather in order to annul the decree that all, g oodand bad al ike

,must g o down to Gehenna. And if y ou next

asse rt that he endured all this because of the iniquit ies com

mitted by the faithful , for which his death atoned, then noneof the faithful are bound by the commandment, ne ither havethey any cause to g rieve over the commission of robbery, stealing , murder, or adultery, since by his death all crimes are alreadyatoned for. And thus his g oodness be comes a mischief and a

curse to the whole of creation.

XXIII. R . SHEM TOBH BEN SHAPRUT.

THE TRINITARIAN : In this Parashah it is asserted that justas the exaltation of God’s servant had been g reat, so the humiliation which succeeded it was g reat l ikewise (li i . 1 3 f.) that hewas to rule over many nations (ver. 1 5 ) that he was desp isedin the eyes of the Jews ( liii. 1 that he was God, smittenand affl icted (ver. that by his stripes the sin of Adam washealed for us (ver. 5 ) that he met death for our sakes (ver.

that he met i t voluntarily (ver. that there was no one who

knew his g eneration, i . e . his seed, and that death came uponhim in consequence of the transg ressions of the people (ver.

and that he was hung be tween two thieves (ver. In a word,the whole passag e , rightly expounded, bears witness in everyl ine to the history of Jesus our Messiah and to the thing s thathefe l him.

THE UNITARIAN I have five obj ections to make against theposition that this Parashah was spoken with reference to Jesus1 . You have said that the Psalmist de clares of him,

‘Thou art

fairer than the children of men (xlv. and Jeremiah also (xi.1 6) calls him a

‘ flourishing olive-tree, beaut iful with we l lformed fruit

,

’

and now y ou say that he is alluded to in the

words ‘so marred was his countenance ,

’

and ‘despised and

forlorn of men these two assertions contradict each other.2 .

‘He shal l be high and exalted, and lofty exceeding ly z’

how

is this said of God ? was he not high and exa lted from all

e ternity (Is . lvii. And think no t to refute me by the

words, ‘Now will I arise,

’

e tc. (Is. xxxiii . i t is plain that

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94 R . SHEM TOBH BEN SHAPRUT. [ML 1 3

The comp iler says : S ince the Nazarenes make a g reatpoint of this prophe cy for their re l ig ion, so much so indeedthat, in my estimation

,it se ems to be founded upon it

,i t

is my intention to be a l ittle diffuse,and to add four oh

jections of my own : I . If it al ludes to Jesus,how is it that

Isaiah says ‘he will unde rstand ? ’ from this i t is evident thatpreviously he must have been devoid of any such attributebut how can such languag e be used of God ? 2 . If the wordsn~n5N nan: mean

,as y ou say , that he , God, was smitten

,then

this contradicts the teaching of your own re lig ion : for y ouassert that only his flesh suffered. 3 . How can God in any

sense be said to be smitten ? 4 . The expressions in l i ii . 1 1 , 1 2imply plainly that his soul endured labour and death this alsocontradicts what is taught by your own rel ig ion, viz , that onlyhisflesh underwent death .

It is evident that the whole Parashah has reference to I srael,who were smitten and afflicted by the hands of the Gentiles,and who are called ‘my servant

,

’ Jer. xxx. 1 0,and by Isaiah

himse lf,xliv. 2 1 and often.

LII. 1 3 In sp ite of Israe l’

s be ing new a people ‘ fool ish ’

(Jer.

v. 2 1 ) and despised, a time wil l arrive when they will rise tog reat dignity, and be p rosp erous (5’DW‘ as 1 Sam. xviii.“ As til l now the nations had told of Israe l’s shame

,and as

they had been marred in countenance, and i ll-favoured in form,

so henceforth they will have dominion ove r the ir enemies, andmany king s— and afortiori the rest of the people— wil l declarethe ir dignity and honour.LIII.

2The ir appearance, when returning from exile withdisfigured countenances, is compared to that of a young p lantwhich

,as it first shoots up, is without form or beauty : y et, in

Spite of this, the Gentiles will in the future desire them,and say

to one another in amazement, This is the people which bare theyoke of exile ! 3 I’Ve thought that he was desp ised and forlornof men

,e tc. The reference is here to the depression of Israe l

among the Gentiles,and to the manner in which the latter

- 1 iii, R . SHEM TOBH BEN SHAPRUT. 9 5

thought of him as a man of p ains, and known to sickness,saying that they we re liable to a we ll-known complaint, viz.emerodsa, as has been alreadymentioned above

,III . 1 0 at the ir

ignoble and loathsome appearance we , as it were , hid ourfa ces .

4 They thought also that the only obje ct of Israe l’s existencewas

,as Mohammed said, to bear the pains and misfortunes of

the world, and that 5 all the ir iniquities and transg ressions werecarried by him,

as though he had been the scape -

g oat , and thatfrom him they were to rece ive chastisement or corre ction, whenthey were at p eace, i . e . that they were then to be warned not

to S in, lest the same fate should hefe l them which Israe l’s sin

had drawn down upon him. By his stripes we ar e healed

because they thought that every one who oppressed Israe l washealed from his iniquit ies.

6 This has re ference to the ir bel iefthat we slew Jesus because by his death all the ir iniquities are

atoned for, whereas we , by the same death,are loaded with

the penalty of them all. 7 The allusion is to Israe l who enduredthe ir exile with a cheerful countenance, and listened in silenceto the reproaches cast upon them.

8 The Genti les took themand oppressed them and plundered the ir riches, whether by WW ,

i . c. by violence , or have ,i . c . by unjustly condemning them.

And if we had attempted to re late the lot of each separateg ene ration of them,

who would be able to recite the long tale ofthe ir weary life up to the time when the final annihilation cut

them off from the land of life ? For the transg ression of my

p eop le, etc. : e ither the words of the Gentiles declaring thatmisfortune would fall upon Israe l because of their iniquity, andthat therefore it woul d be the i r duty to destroy them ; or thewords of God shewing how all the ir trouble s had come upon

a The sense here g iven, though not the one most usually borne by theH ebrew Weseth, se ems fixed by the passag e referred to , where the authorremarks (with reference to Ps . lxxviii . that there were two causes whichrendered the Jews peculiarly liable to such complaints, name ly, the me lanche ly produced by constant depre ss ion ofmind during exile , and the ir sedentary habits.

96 R . SHEM TOBH BEN SHAPRUT. [l i i i . 9

Israe l (who are the Lord’s p eop le) because they had s inned and

transg ressed, and therefore he had hidden his face from them ;otherwise

,indeed

,the Gentiles would have had no power over

them,as it is said (Dent . xxxii . Except the ir rock had sold

them,

’

etc. Ver. I O speaks to the same effect : All the ir mise ry,i t says

,was the Lord’

s doing as a chastisement for the ir transgression. The first o f these two explanations se ems to mepreferable .

9 The manner of the Gentiles was to adopt towardsthe Jews a course of persistent wickedness, so that wheneverthey saw a sing le wealthy Jew they would seek some mischiefagainst him,

in order to k ill him and secure his riches, althoughthere was no violence in his hands, or dece itfulness in his

mouth . After this he would be buried in the g raves of thewicked, like men executed for some crime . They would do thesame even to such as were not wealthy

,declaring that they were

wealthy, and must possess riches.

1 °The Lord, then, was p leasedto bruise him; 1 1

y et for the labour which he endured in exileand accepted cheerfully, he will be satisfied with the portionallotted to him, knowing , as he does, that in virtue of it he wi lljustify many so that they wil l ‘ behold the pleasantness of theLord, and meditate in his temple

’

(PS. xxvii . he will bear

and atone for their iniquities , when the expiation for his own

s ins and his fathers’ (by which is meant the exile with its at

tendant miseries) has been accompl ished. Cf. Lam. iv. 2 2

(which is the reverse of Gen. xv. 1 6) and for the sons bearingthe iniquities of the ir fathers, Lam. v. 7.

1 2He wi l l be worthyto divide the sp oil of his enemies

,as a reward for his having

p oured out his soul to die for the sanctity of God’s name . And

he was numbered with the transg ressors, viz . when condemnedby the Gentiles, as is described in ver. 9 : he also carried thesin of many, for bes ides his own sins, he bore (according toLam. v. 7) the sins of his fathers and those of his sons as we ll ,and intercededfor transgressors : Israe l interceded (Jer. xx ix . 7)for sinners and transg ressors ; cf. Ps. xxxv . 1 3 . S here meansfor the sake of . as Gen. xx. 1 3 .

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98 R . SHEM TOBH BEN SHAPRUT. [l i i , l i i i .

for his blows to produce sick ness . Nor,in fact

,is it ever

asserted in any of the Gospe ls that he did s icken from them,

or that he was even smitten severely, but only that they struckhim on the face by way of insult moreover, by your argumentthe expression ought rather to have been ‘ known to smiling s .

And if, as y ou assert, the words ‘

Stricken and smitten ’ referto his condemnation and punishment, the prophet ought ratherto have written ‘

slain and put to death ;’ for the penalty he

then paid did no t consist in oppression or smiting s, but in

death . Again, i f the ‘ transg ression of my people’

means the irtransg ression in killing him,

he ought not to have cal led themmy p eop le, because he must have counted them as his enemieshe ought rather to have said ‘

the pe ople’

absolute ly [or hispe ople], cf. Ex . xxxii. 7 (Dent . ix . Moreover, s ince evenafter the transg ression which they had committed, he still callsthem his people, it is plain that Israe l

’

s name did not perish , asy ou say was the case . And your asse rtion that his seed means

his discip les is untrue , because the word is invariably employedin connexion with carnal birth : as I have stated in its properplace , it is impossible that the prophet should designate thedisciples as sons

XXIV . R . MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CRISPIN .

This Parashah the commentators ag ree in explaining of theCapt ivity of Israe l , although the singular number is used in itthroughout. The expression my servant they compare rashlywith xl i. 8 , ‘ thou Israel art my servant ,’ where the prophet isSpeaking of the people of Israe l (which would be Singular)here

,however, he does not mention Israe l

,but says Simply my

servant ; we cannot the refore understand the word in the same

sense . Again in xli. 8 he addresses the whole nation by thename of the ir father Israe l (or Jacob, as he continues, ‘Jacobwhom I have but here he says my servan t al one , anduniformly employs the singular, and as there is no cause con

straining us to do so,why should we here interpre t the word

co l lective ly, and thereby distort the passag e from its naturalsense ? Others have supposed i t to mean the just in thispresent world, who are crushed and oppressed now

,but who

in the future wil l have understanding , and ‘shine as the

brightness of the firmament’

(Dan. xii . but these too, forthe same reason

,by altering the numbe r, distort the verses

from their natural meaning . As then i t se emed to me thatthe doors of the l iteral interpretation of the Parashah wereshut in the ir face, and that ‘ they wearied themse lves to findthe entrance , ’ having forsaken the knowledg e of our Teachers

,

and incl ined after the ‘Stubbornness of the ir own hearts

,

’

and

of the ir own opinion, I am pleased to interpret it, in accordH 2

1 00 R . MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CR ISPIN. [l i i , l i i i .

ance with the teach ing of our Rabbis, of the King Messiah,and w i ll be careful

,so far as I am able , to adhere to the l iteral

sense : thus, possibly, I shall be free from the forced and far

fe tched interpretations of which o thers have been guil ty. In

the course of my expos i tion,I shall allude to the phrases in it

which w i ll convince the man of inte ll ig ence that it cannot(as is done by our opponents) be explained with refe rence toGod ; thus, in addition to the exposition itsel f, I shal l be en

abled to offer a reply to the ir obj e ctions.

lil y servant. I may beg in by remarking that we find thisterm used in Scripture of an individual prophe t, as Mose s

(Num. xi i . and Job (i . of all the prophets g ene rally (Amosiii. and of the whole of Israel (Lev. xxv . In each of thesecases , it is p lainly appl ied to the sons of men born of humanparents but we do not find i t used of ang e ls, known clearly tobe such

,because i t is only appl icable to one who enslaves him

se lf assiduously to the service of God, and dire cts both hisperson and his thoughts ‘ to se rve him with all his heart and

w ith all his soul ’ and with all the members of his body (forth is is the meaning of ‘

all his l ike the faithfulservant of whom it is said

,

‘W ith all my streng th have I servedyour father ’

(Gen. xxxi . who keeps himse lf aloof fromserving any besides, and who therefore , because i t is his own

choice to serve him,is called the servant of the Lord. This

service is implanted in the heart , as i t is written (Deut. xi.‘And to serve him in all your heart it cannot

,therefore

,be

predicated of an ang el , i . e . of any of the abstract inte l lig ences,for it has its seat in a bodily organ, in the heart, and nowheree lse

,and an ang e l has no body or bodily streng th . Afortiori,

then, the express ion cannot possibly be appl ied to the substance

of the Creator himse lf, as is done by our opponents in the irtheory of the Trinity

,according to wh ich, this man was of the

substance of the Creator . For they hold that the whole [Godhead] is of one substance

,but that i t is divided into three

persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, that the Son took

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1 02 R . MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CRISPIN. [l i i , 1 3 .

‘exaltedfl above the exalted ones of Levi ’ (cf. Num. iii. 3 2 )who was a prophe t such that ‘

none arose l ike him in Israe l(Dent . xxx iv. who ‘

saved ’ Israe l ‘w ith a g reat salvation ’

( cf. I Chron. xi. 1 4 ) when they came out of Egypt, and the

report of whom spread into all p laces until ‘ the dukes of Edomwere confounded before him

,and trembl ing se ized the mighty

men of Moab, and all the inhabitants of Canaan me lted away ’

(Ex. xv. But this one wi l l be exalted far above Mosesfor when he g athers tog ether our scattered ones from the fourcorners of the earth, he wil l be exal ted in the eyes of all the

king s in the whole world, and all of them wi l l serve him, and

wil l exalt him above them, as Danie l prophesies concerning him,

All nations, peoples, and tongues shall serve him (Dan. vii. I 4 ,

He wil l be loftier than Solomon, whose dignity was so

lofty that he is said to have ‘sat on the throne of the Lord ’

( I Chron. xx ix . and our Rabbis sayb that he was king overboth the upper and the nether world. But the King Messiah

,

in his all-comprehending inte llig ence , will be loftier thanSolomon. Exceeding ly above the ministering ang e ls, be causethat same comprehens ive inte l l ig ence wil l approach [God] morenearly than the irs. For it is an exceeding ly high privileg e , thatone whose nature is compound and material should attain to a

g rade of intellig ence more nearly D ivine than that whichbelong s to the incorporeal ; and so it is said of him that ‘ his

streng th is g reater than that of the ministering ang e ls,’

becausethese have no impediment in the exe rcise of the ir inte llect,whereas that which is compound is continually impeded in

consequence of material e lement in its nature . According lythe g rade of his inte ll ig ence be ing such as this, he I S said tobe ‘ lofty exceeding ly,

’

and his streng th to be ‘

g reater than theang e ls .

’ It is probable , however, that this Mess iah wi l l not be

A. V .

‘ chiefover the ch ief,’ but the word rendered chief (elsewhere alsoprince) means properly ‘

one lifted up or exalted.

’

In the text the phraseis applied to Eliezer, not to Moses .

b Thalmud ofBabylon, Sanhedrin , fol . 20b

.

lii. n. MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CRISPIN. 1 03

born in the midst o f the captivity of Israel , in one of the manyplaces all over the earth where they are bowed down beneaththe Gentiles

,because there , be ing in such a state of subjection,

i t would be impossible for a man to be born who would attainto this hig h e levation ; but there are , pe rhaps, spots in the

world, where Israe l dwe l l in tents (Jer. xxxv . 7) in the midstof the wi lderness

,far away from the dominion of the nations

thoug h still in ex ile from the ir own land ; and these may

represent a part of the Israe l ites whom Sanhé rib, king ofAssyria,carried away captive to Chalach and Chabe r (2 King s xviii . 1 I ) ,and who were afterwards j oined by the famil ies of the house ofDavid, and, in particular, by that pure tribe out of which the

King Messiah is destined to arise . And when this ‘servant

of the Lord ’

is born,from the day when he comes to years of

discretion, he wil l continue to be marked by the possess ion ofinte llig ence enabling him to acquire from God what it isimposs ible for any to acquire unti l he reaches that he ightwhither none of the sons of men

,except him,

have everascended : from that day he wil l be counted with his peopleIsrael , and wi ll share the ir subjugation and distress ; ‘ in all

their affl iction (Is. lxii i. 9) he will be exceeding ly afflicted and

because of the ir be ing outcasts and scattered to the ends of theworld, his g rief wi l l be such that the colour of his countenancewill be chang ed from that of a man, and pang s and s icknesses wi ll se ize upon him (for g reat g rief, as physicians know,

by producing me lancholy, subjects a man to many diseases)and all the chastisements which come upon him in consequenceof his g rie f will be for our sakes, and not from any deficiency orsin on his part which mig ht bring punishment in the ir train,because he is perfe ct, in the completeness of perfection, as Isaiahsays (xi. 2 Truly all his pains and sicknesses wi l l be forus ; continually will he be prostrating himse lf, and stretchingout his hands to God on our behalf, and praying him to hastenthe time of our redemption, unti l in compassion upon him

,

and in order to shorten the intense g rie f fe lt by him for us,

1 04 R . MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CRISPIN. [hi [ 4

the Creator speeds’

the time of our del iverance . This is whatthe prophe t means when he says ( 1x.

‘ In its time, I wi ll

sp eed it he wil l sp eed to redeem us, before the time comes ;and that because of his compassion on the affli ction wherewith‘ he was affiicted

’ for our sakes . And so g reat wil l be his g riefand pain endured thus on our behalf, that those who see him

wi ll despise him,thinking that in consequence of his many

deficiencies and sins God brought all those chastisements uponhim

, or e lse that they we re intended as chastisements of love ;for they wi l l ne ver be lieve that such suffering s could be causedmere ly by g rie f. And because of the ir attributing them tothese deficiencies and sins , he will be despised in their eyes,and they wil l count him as nothing , not perce iving the g reatperfe ction that is in him,

who w ill be a compassionate fatherto have compassion on us

,even more than Moses our master

,

and in the multitude of his compassion for us wil l draw tohimself all those sickne sses and chastisements

,until the Creator

hears his praye r, and looks upon all his pain, and has com

passion on us for his sake , and speeds our redemption, and

sends him to rede em us . And then at last the Creator wi l lassign him his reward for all the g rief which be he re for us,and wi l l ‘multiply his seed, and prolong his days, and dividehim a port ion in the earth among the g reat, and g ive him the

spoil of mighty nations .

’

Such is the meaning of the Parashahas a whole I may now explain each verse separate ly for itse lf.1 4As many were desolated a t thee : he means Israe l who are

sitting in desolation on account of the de lay which h indersthe approach of the Messiah . So marred was his countenancebey ond man : i . e . so much was he himself also pained and

g rieved at the de lay in his coming to redeem us,that his

countenance g rew disfigured beyond any man’

s,and his form,

from the same cause , more than the forms of other men. The

prophet beg ins in the and pore. at thee,and then proceeds to

speak in the 3 rd his countenance : he ought properly to haveused the 3 rd pers . from the first

,at him

,but it is customary

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1 06 n. MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CRISPIN. [l i i i . 1

the same sense here,it wi ll mean that , as his countenance was

marred beyond man,he wi l l make many nations speak of it,

when he comes forth to redeem us,and they wil l ask

,

‘W i ll aman whose form and countenance is thus marred

,come to save

and redeem a pe ople so numerous as Israe l who are dispersedin every corner of the but afterwards, when he comesto fight ag ainst the king s and to rede em Israe l from the i rpower, and when they behold his mig ht and the miracles hewi l l perform,

they wil l shut their mouth in silent amazement,see ing in him marve ls which had never been told them

, and

discerning high attributes which before they had never heardof. (Or, upon the other view, they wil l Op en their mouth

,in

order, viz . to te ll of his g reatness, as I have explained.)LIII . 1 Who ha th believed our rep ort 2 who was able to be lieve

the report which we heard of him,when they said to us that

,

as the prophets had announced, he had at last come to redeemIsrae l ‘with a mighty hand, and stretched-out arm

,

’

until wesaw the matter with our own eyes ? And the arm of the Lord

,

upon whom has it been revealed 2 The arm,be ing the principal

and strong est limb, is used metaphorical ly for streng th, as Ps .

lxxxix . I 4 ,‘Thine is an arm with might !

’The meaning thus

is, Upon whom of yore was the might of the Lord revealed, so

as for him to rule by means of it over all the sons of men,

as it is now seen upon th is Messiah,and as it has never been

seen upon any besides him ? 2 This verse states how the servantof the Lord g rew up, viz . like a branching tree which hadSprung up out of the dry earth and come to maturity beforehim

,i . e . before his appearance , and which

,as the branches

rose out of the roots, we perce ived had sprung up in defi ciencyof water. Or

, perhaps, he may be compared to both the

branches and to the root separate ly, each of which sprang up

out of the dry g round, and without e ither form or come liness.

The King then, through the g rief and sorrow which he bore on

our account from the time of his coming to years of discretion,and which clung to him until it left him no form or come liness,

- l i i i . R . MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CRISPIN. 1 07

resembles e ither the branching tree coming up out of a rootplanted in the dry earth , or both the branches and the roottog ethe r, which sprang up out of the dry soil . Sue/oer is used

for the boughs and branches of a tree,as Ps . lxxx. 1 2 . The

passag e must be understood as if it had run thus -And he

came up l ike a sucker and l ike a root out of the dry earth,

be fore him ( i . e . which we noticed g rowing up before he ap

peared), which had no form and no come l iness the comparisonis thus between the servant of the Lord and these. And we

shall see him, etc.,i . e . from the moment when we see that he

is come to redeem us,although his countenance is unl ike that

of other men, be cause of the chang es marked upon it by hisg rief (as we have already explained) , y et on account of hismighty wonders, the g reat and de sirable de eds he will perform ,

and the salvation with which he will save us,we sha ll desire

him— desire to draw near to him and behold him. Otherssuppose that the two clauses are paral le l, the force of theneg ative extending over both the last words ‘we shall see

him, but there will be no beauty that we should desire himon account of his marred and altered countenance we shallnot desire to look at him.

3 Despised, and forlorn of mendesp ised, name ly

,in the eyes of the world because of his

loathsome appearance . Forlorn ofmen means e ither forlorne st,

i . e . the most insignificant of men,or e lse forsaken by men,

who will re fuse to associate with him for the reason justg iven. A man of p ains and known to sickness , i . e . possessedof pains and destined to sicknesses : so all that see him wil lsay of him. They wil l also

,it continues, on account of his

loathsome appearance , be like men hiding their faces from him

they wil l not be able to look at him,because of his disfigure

ment . And even we, who before were long ing to see him,

when we see what he is l ike, shall desp ise him til l we no

long er esteem him,i . e . we shal l cease to think of him as a

Redeemer able to redeem us and fight our battles because ofall the effects which we see produced by his weakness .

‘ Surely

1 08 1 1 . 1 1 05 1 1 13 1 1 KOHEN IBN CRISPIN .

"

[l i i i . 5

our sicknesses he ha th carried. The se words explain the causeof his suffering s ; they all come upon him on account of theg rief and sorrow wh ich he w ill fe e l for the sicknesse s causedby our iniquit ies : it wi ll be as though he had borne all the

s icknesses and chastisements wh ich fal l upon us . Or, perhaps,‘ carry ’ may mean take away , forg ive, as Ex . x . 1 7 ; from his

pi ty and his prayers for us he wi l l atone for our transg ressionsand our p ains he ha th borne, viz . as a burden upon himse l f,cf. 1 King s v . 2 9 ; i . c . all th e we ig ht of our pains he wil l carry,be ing himse lf pained exce eding ly by them. And we esteemed him

s tricken,smitten of God, and afl icted. W e shall not be l ieve

that the re could be any man ready to endure such pain and

g rief as would disfigure his countenance , even for his ch ildren,much less for his people : it wi l l seem a certain truth to us

that such terrible suffering s must have come upon him as a

penalty for his own many shortcoming s and errors : and therefore we shal l account him ‘

smitten of God in other words,

we shal l consider them to have been sent upon him dire ctlyfrom heaven.

5 But it is not so ; they are not a penalty sentfrom God

,but he was pang ed for our transg ressions (551 11 7:

from Sm,Ps . xlvii i . 7 al.) —

pang s, as of labour,wil l se ize him

for the distre ss that has come upon us for our transg re ssions .

He was bruised for our iniquities , i . e . crushed and broken,as

Ps . cxlii i . 3 , ‘He hath bruised my l ife down to the ground,’

Lam . i i i . 3 4 , Is . lvn . 1 5 : his g rief for our misery wi ll be so

g reat as quite to break him down. The chastisement of our

p eace : some rende r ‘ the chastisement of the whole of us, ’ understanding obs in the sense of comp leteness , entire ty , cf. 1 King svn . 5 1 , Gen. xv . 1 6

,xxxiii . 1 8 , Deut . xxv. 1 5 : others, howeve r,

adhere to the meaning p eace,— the chastisements which oughtto have come upon us wh ile we were at peace have as it werefallen upon him . And by union with him we are hea led

,i . e .

although he is in the utmost distress from pain and sickness,

y et by union and nearness to him, we are healed from all the

diseases to which our afflictions g ive rise . Others explain

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1 1 0 1 1 . MOSHEH KOHEN iBN CR ISPIN. [l i i i . 9

anxiety whether he wi ll be brought out to execution, has causedhis complexion to chang e . In the same way , he is like one

who stands at the bar before his judg es , and they condemnhim to death so that his features alter at the prospect . Thusthe words npS nawnm firm: mean ‘ he is like one taken out ofconfinement, and from the p lace of judgment (and led awayto “

13? is to detain,or confine and so is the

place where men are detained and prevented from g oing out

cf. Judg . xiii . 1 5 , 1 Sam. xxi . 8 (where means that Doegwas detained before the Lord to pray), Jer. xxxii i . 1 , xxx ix . I 5 .

nmw~signifies to tell,as Ps . cxliii . 5 : ‘

who wil l be able to te l lof all the g reatness and the g lory which wil l be shewn to hispeople by his means in his g eneration ?

’

the expression is

hyp erbolical , resembl ing Gen. xxi. 7. For he is cut of; etc. The

nature of th is Me ss iah is exceeding wondrous : it is composedof two contradi ctory e lements. His soul is ‘

cut off from the

land of the l iving in other words, i t is derived from the livingang e ls who exist for eve r, i . e . from the abstract inte ll ig ences :these form the source from wh ich his own inte llig ence emanates,and g radually, in virtue of its comprehens ive wisdom,

ascendsto an elevation,

wh ich,as we have explained above , none e lse

has ever attained. His body , on the other hand, is composedof g rie fs and pains and s i cknesse s— of g rieffor the transg ressionand affli ction of his p eop le (which was so g reat as to disfigurehis appearance), and of pains and sicknesses g reater than thoseof other men. And i t is an indication of his pe rfection thathe doe s not care for the pain of his own body ; for herecognises its proper rank, and its deficiencies

,in this nether

world— a world which has no permanence and continueth not

in one stay, but is ever chang ing from one nature to another.

Such a merciful father is he to us that,as he sees us in the

misery of exile , the vig our of his body forsakes him,and for

Our sake he ‘enters into the thi ckness of the beamd ’ to g rieve

d A phrase signifying‘ to do the impossible .

’

- l i i i . 1 1 . MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CRISPIN. 1 1 1

for us and to pray for us,unti l he redeem us from our exile .

And,there fore , all that hear of him,

or know him,w il l marve l

at him exceeding ly, because never in the world had a prophetor wise man been heard of who was compounded of two naturessuch as these . In this exalted perfe ction he will continue til lfor his merits

,and in compassion for his g rief, and because of

his wondrous nature , the Lord hastens the time of our re

dempt ion, according to the words which I have explained, ‘ Ithe Lord, in its time , will speed it,

’ i . e .

‘when its time ap

preaches, be fore the day when i t should actually arrive , I wil lhasten its advent . ’ Thus the text states the reason why nonecan declare his g eneration, because , name ly, he is ‘

cut orderived, from the land of the l iving and from the transg ression ofmy people . The last word 1n5 refers to ‘my people from

'

thetransg ression of my people , (which was) a blow to them

,

’

sincein consequence of it

,many plagues fe ll upon them.

9Here i tis stated what these p lagues were : many of the just and piouswere slain, and those who buried them gave or assigned themtheir g raves with the wicked. And y ou can think of no heavierblow to fal l upon my peop le than that they should be buried‘with the wi cked as though be long ing to the ir company ; as i tis said of Abner, ‘Was Abner to die as a fool ( 2 Sam .

iii. 3 In the same way the rich are spoken of,as slain

miserably by various kinds of death , and afterwards buried incontempt with the wicked, ne ither the ir riches nor the ir honourprofiting them anything . The whole phrase wi l l thus mean,that the g rave of my people was with the wi cked, and that therich also among them were assigned at the ir death a burialp lace with the wicked as we ll . And all this was inflicted uponthem because they had done no violence, and there was no deceit

fulness in their mouth.

1 °The reference is now again to theKing Messiah , of whom the prophet had been speaking at the

beg inning : we cannot, he says , attribute the sicknesses and

pains, which befel him after his perfe ction was known in the

world, to any inherent defe ct in himse lf ; they are the chas tise

1 1 2 1 1 . MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CR ISPIN . [l i i i . 1 1

ments of love whe rewith the Lord was p lease d to bruise himby the ag ency of sickness e (or pe rhaps , and to make him sick“5m be ing written de fective ly for a n) . I Vhere ment ion is

made of ‘the Lord’

s pleasure ,’

we cannot arrive at the ful lmeaning ; God

’

s own wil l none but himse lf can complete lycomprehend, though we attribute the pains and sicknessspoken of to this cause , because we canno t credit that a man

should ever for his own people , or even for his sons,be suffi

ciently distressed to bring them upon h imse lf. If his soulmakes itself into a trespass

-ofi ring , implying that his soulwill treat itse lf as guilty, and so re ce ive punishment for our

tre spasses and transgr ess ions . He sha ll see seed,etc. : as

though the Creator said,

‘ If he has done this for my people ,behold his reward is with him,

he sha ll see seed,he shall leng then

day s in opposit ion to what the world thought of him, who

imag ined from his prostration that he was destined to have nose ed

,and that it was impossible for him to have long life , the

Creator,whose thoug hts are not as our thoughts, promises that

‘ he shal l see seed, and prolong his days ;’

he wil l restore himto the days of his youth , and he w ill g ive him his seed and

leng then his days . And the p lea sure of the Lord,he shall

p rosp er with his hand, i . e .

‘ the pleasure of the Lord is that

he shall prosper in all the work of his hands the reward forall the afflictions which he imposed upon his body for theLord’s people is , that he w ill recover streng th and vig our so

as to have seed,and enjoy long life , and prosper in whatever

he sets his hand to . This verse affords a cog ent reply to ouropponents, shewing convincing ly that the Parashah does not

speak of God, as the ir arguments assert that it does ; even ifi t be urg ed that God

’

s people are called sons (as Deut . xiv.

and s imilarly that the prophets’

disciples are called the sons ofthe prophets (2 King s 1 1 . 3 although this argument might bevalid if the same te rm sons had been used here as we ll

,it is

nevertheless impossible that ‘seed

’

can be employed with

0 ~5 rmbe ing taken as a noun, with sickness.’

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1 1 4 R . MOSHEH KOHEN IBN CRISPIN. [l i i i . 1 2 .

g rief and pain which he bore for Israel , and also,the prophet

adds,for himse lf

,the punishments which came upon him be ing

such that those who saw him imag ined him to be l ike the

transg ressors and counted him among them : all this befel himbecause of the g reatness of his love and compass ion for hispeople Israe l . Yet he in his perfection carried the sins ofIsrae l the many , until he made expiation for them and removedthe ir sins from off them. He also interceded for the trans

g ressors ( i . e . for Israe l) : the se words explain in what way he‘ carried the ir sins,

’

viz . by making intercession for them. 1 135

means to pray or entreat, as l ix . 1 6,Gen. xxiii . 8, Jer. xxxvi . 2 5 .

This prophecy was de l ivered by Isaiah at the divine commandfor the purpose of making known to us someth ing about thenature of the future Messiah , who is to come and de l iver Israe l ,and his l ife from the day when he arrives at discre tion unti lhis advent as a redeemer

,in orde r that if any one should arise

claiming to he himse lf the Messiah , we may reflect , and lookto see whether we can observe in him any resemblance to thetraits described here : if there is any such resemblance

,then

we may bel ieve that he is the Messiah our righteousness ; buti f not, we cannot do so .

The explanation of this Parashah, referring to the Messiahspeedily to be revealed in our own days

,is now completed.

Says Sa‘ady ah [Ibn Danan] , the scribe : I have here transcribed an exposition of this Parashah : perhaps an answer maybe found in it against the heretics who interpre t it of Jesus.It is my intention to keep mysel f continually at the doors ofthe learned ; and

, so far as my abil ity can command,I shall

fol low the saying of our Rabbis, And know now how to rep lyto Epicurusf,

’ though it does not seem to me to be right or permissible to apply the prophecy to the King Messiah (for reasonswh ich any intel lig ent man wi ll easily find out) : it must , in fact,be re ferred e ither to Israe l as a whole , or to Jeremiah .

Aboth,

1 1 . On Epicurus, ’ the g eneral t itle for those who reje ct andde spise the Jewish faith , se e Buxtorf, Lex. s. v.

—1 1 1 1 . n. MOSHEH KOHEN. 1 1 5

Says the Apostate : Although y ou are seeking and searchingafter me to refute the arguments which I bring against y ouconcerning the coming of Jesus our Messiah

,I wil l now adduce

some clear proofs from the prophe cy of Isaiah , shewing how heis come and how he underwent g reat suffering s, and was afte rwards condemned to death for the redemption of his creatureswho were in Gehenna

,and how he saved them from the power

o f the ir we ll -known adversary [Satan] (as I have said above) , intowh ich they had fal len in consequence of the ‘ orig inal

’

sin com

m itted by Adam and Eve,which could not be atoned for except

by the ag ency of one g reater than our first parent. And‘ it is

impossible that there can be any g reater than Adam exceptJesus our Messiah . who is man and God. If, therefore , y ouw il l confess the truth , y ou w i ll have no val id answe r to thep roofs I shal l bring forward.

LII. ‘3 The first verse of the Parashah your learned men inthe Thalmud expound thus He wil l be higher than Abraham,

more exalted than Mose s, and loftier than the ministeringang e ls .

’

Who , now,is g reate r than Abraham,

more exaltedthan Moses, and loftier than the ang e ls, except Jesus our

Messiah , who is both man and God ? 1 4 As many , e tc. ;

As his g reatness was wonderful , so marred was his fle sh and

his form from the sufl’

ering s and death at the time when theycrucified him

,so wi l l he rule over many nations

,and king s

wil l close the ir months at him, be cause (as was indeed the fact)the miracle s and wonders which they saw him perform had

never been told them.

LIII . 11 1 11 11 1a is to be taken in its ordinary sense .

2 He

had no form,and we e steemed him not

, for he was despised inthe eye s of the Jews

,and was a man of pains and known to

sickness ; by these are s ignified the suffering s which the Jewsinfl icted on him.

3 God h imse lf,then,

was smitten and afi icte d,viz . by hearing our iniquit ies for our advantag e .

‘ Through his1 2

1 1 6 R . MOSHEH KOHEN. [l ii i 5

death, the orig inal sin,in consequence of which [even] the

righteous were de l ivered to Gehenna, was healed to us .

5 Be

fore he came , the children of the world were wandering aboutlike sheep without a shepherd : each had turned after his ownway , to do what was right in his own eyes ; they were likeblind men g roping for a wall (Is. lix. But the Lord laid

up on him the iniquity of us a ll,he was de livered up to death

to atone for our s ins : and (ver. 6) he me t death wil ling ly forthe redemption of our souls : there was none (ver. 7) who coulddiscern any se ed wh ich came from him

,and for the trans

g ression of my people death fe ll upon him ; lastly , at his

crucifixion (ver. two malefactors were hung be s ide him.

Now see in what way this whole Parashah from beg inning toend has re fe rence to Jesus our Me ss iah ; for y ou cannot denythat eve ry sing le word in it was fulfilled in him, both g enerallyand in particular.The author answered : You think in your heart that none

of the proofs which y ou have brought forward to shew thatthe Parashah was spoken with reference to Jesus your Messiahadmit of any answer ; but do no t the portions preceding and

following it , as we ll as what it contains itse lf, make your reasoning value less, and prevent its standing or be ing confirmed ?Again the author answered : Do not condemn me if I

protract my reply here : I am forced to do so,because in this

Parashah they press the ir obje ctions upon us more close ly thanin any of the ir other refutations ; I would urg e , then, the followingthoug hts. Do not the preceding verses al lude to the g atheringin of our exiles in the future (1 1 1 . 1 2 , ‘For not in haste ,

’

and

the consolat ions of Jerusalem ? and is i t not written afterwards,‘Rejoice, O barren woman

,

’

etc. (l iv. I,2 , 3 and ag ain,

This is as the waters of Noah,

’

etc. (l iv. 9 , in the middle,

then, the prophet describes what the nations will say of Israe l

g eneral ly at the time when this gathering takes place , and whatthe nations and the multitude of Israe l wi ll say of the righteousin particular, when they see them inve sted with dominion and

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1 1 8 n. MOSHEH KOHEN. [l i i i . 6

applies to each individual righteous man : by the stripes and

suffering s which each bore , atonement was made for all Israe l .6 The transg ressors in Israe l are here represented as saying ,All we hk e sheep have g one astray after ‘

the obstinacy of ourown heart but the blow and the suffering s which ought tohave come upon us

,have been all laid b y the Creator upon

him : for the righteous are always involved in the iniquity of

the g eneration [in which they l ive] . 7 A description of thep ious Israe l ites among the Gent iles : ‘ oppressed and afliicted,

many of them were slain,and others i ll -used by condemnation

and persecution,and men were devising against them to blot

out the ir name from the world, except for the mercy of Godwho would not abandon them to the ir power, and to the terrorof the king s, as it is written,

For thy sake are we slgin all the

day long , thoug h we have not dealt false ly with thy covenant ’

(Ps . xl iv . 2 3 , th is fidel ity is al luded to in the words, ‘he

opened not his mouth,

’ viz . for the purpose of casting forthwords of imp iety ag ainst heaven.

8All day long the Gentileskept them in confinement

,or condemned them by cruel sen

tences : who, he continues, can tell of all the weary vexationsand suffering s which each g eneration of them endured in exilefor the sacredness of Heaven ? how many of the righteous weremurderously slain

,and cut of in the midst of the ir days ! for

the s trokes wh ich ought to have come upon us for our transgress ions fe l l upon them ! 1 73 5 is plural , as by the he lp of GodI shall explain further on .

1‘The righteous suffered variousforms of death

,in accordance wi th the manner in wh ich the

wi cked kill those who are judicially condemned,and whose only

burial is to be cast forth for the dog s . If y ou ask,Is it not

plain from the expression his g rave in this verse that theyburied them ? how then do y ou assert that they we re not

bur ied ? I wi ll shew y ou a verse l ike th is [in wh ich the wordburial is used imprope rly] , J er. xxii . 1 8 , where i t is said ofJ ehoiakim that he ‘

shall be buried with the burial of an ass,

drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of J erusalem.

’

Or we

— l i i i . a . MOSHEH KOHEN. 1 1 9,

may interpre t the words differently,

and suppose that the

Gentiles treated the murdered Israe lites as i t is the customto treat malefactors condemned to death by a judicial sentence ;in other words, that instead of burying them in the sepul chresof the i r fathers

,they threw them by themse lves on to dunghills ,

in order that they might not render the g round pestilentialand offensive . And with the rich in his dea th : the righteousIsrae l ites thus murderedwere treated l ike the rich andwickedmanwho dies without repenting during his l ifetime , and every one thencurses both him and his ag e ; so they did to the Israe lites , andtherefore it is said, W ith the rich in his death— comparing Israelt o the rich in his death

,and no t in his burial

,for the ri ch are

mostly buried in pomp. And so,in spite of the ir having done

no violence,they infl icted on them all the harm possible , which

it was in the power of the ir hands to effe ct 1 °Yet theserig hteous ones in Israe l were not bruised with suffering s and

sickness except at the pleasure of the Creator, in order that,firstly, retribution might be exacted from them for the few

iniquities which they had committed secondly, that they mig hthear the sins of those who transgr essed in Israe l (because , as welearn from the case of Josiah who

,thoug h perfectly rig hteous ,

was slain in the iniquity of his own g eneration, the righteous areimplicated in the sin of the ir own ag e ) , and

,thi 1 dly , that they

might attain future g reatness and dignity in the pi esent world in

the eyes of the Gentiles,and also as the ir ‘

exceeding g reat reward’

in the world to come . Elsewhere,also

, the prophe t speaks

(Amos iii. 2 ) of those whom the Lord honours and cares foras be ing ‘ visited ; ’ and simi larly Solomon says (Prov . i i i.‘W hom the Lord love th

,he correcteth.

’

If his soul,e tc. 5 i . e .

If the righteous have suffered punishment as though there wereguilt in the ir souls, to compensate for this they will , each one ofthem

,see seed

,e tc.

uand in return for the travail of his soul

,

and because he bears their iniquitie s, each shal l see and be

satisfied, etc .

1 2 Then, because of all this, I will g ive him a

g oodly p ortion out of the spoil of many , and the mighty he

1 20 R . MOSHEH KOHEN. [lii i . 1 2 .

shall divide as spoil, viz . all the nations who will advance inbattle (Zech . xiv. 2) against Jerusalem, the people of Gog and

Mag og , whom they will ‘spo il and plunde r

’

(as is described inEzek . xxx ix. because he p oured out his soul to die— howo ften, namely, did the Israe l ites re sign themse lves to deathfor the sake of the Holy Name ! And he was numbered with

the transg ressors : for the p ious in Israe l were punished and

treated as offenders. And made intercessionfor transg ressorsin the ir death they atoned for the iniquities of the many, and inthe ir l ives entreated for mercy upon the transg ressors, _

although

oppressed by them ; as we may see from the case of David, whosays with reference to those who were seeking his hurt, ‘ Insteadofmy love , they hate me, but I g ive myself up to prayer and,‘As for me

,when they were sick , my clothing was sack cloth,

’

etc.

(PS . cix. 4 , xxxv. Here then y ou have a series of clearproofs that the whole of this Parashah , from beg inning to end,refers to the recompense of g ood with which the Creator will inthe future reward Israe l for the chastisement and stripes enduredat the hands of the Gentiles in this world : the honour and

g reatness which he wi l l then g ive them to inherit wil l be suchthat all the nations

, with the rest of the mass of the Israe l ites,wil l be astonished at the ir dignity and rank, as it is written(Dan. xi 1 . while even the transg ressors among them wi llexclaim that the righteous bore all these suffering s and persecut ion in the present world on account of their iniquities , that bythose suffering s Israe l

’

s guilt was atoned for,that a redeemer

would come to them for the i r sake , see ing that they were eve rpraying to the Creator and entreating for me rcy on behalf of thetransg ressors in Israe l . And this is the simple , l iteral sense

borne by this Parashah .

Your own position, on the contrary, which affirms that theParashah alludes throughout to Jesus your Messiah , is nu

tenable in ever so many respects . Did I not point out to y ouabove , how immediate ly before the Parashah beg ins (1 1 1 .the prophe t had predicted the g athering tog ether of our exiles ,

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1 22 n. MOSHEH KOHEN. [l i i i . 1 2 .

for it is written,He that is hang ed is accursed of God ’

(Deut.xx i . ‘And his g eneration who can te ll ? ’ You say thatthis means there is no one who can discern any seed sprungfrom him : here your own mouth shall condemn y ou, and no t Ifor it is written of him immediate ly afterwards , that ‘ he shal lsee seed.

’The word dor

,howeve r

,which y ou explain ‘

g eneration

,

’

does no t signify ‘seed,

’

but is used to denote the men

be long ing to any particular pe riod, as Qoh . i . 4 (the men of eachag e pass away

,and are succeeded by those be long ing to the

next ) , Dent . i . 3 5 , Ps . 1xxii. 5 , and often. Again, if, as y ou

say , he rose again the third day , and ascended up into heaven,

and is equal with the Father, and l ive s for ever and eve r— fory ou say that he is ‘ very God — how is it that he was cut off

from the land of the l iving , i . e . from the land of g lory, wh ichis s imilarly styled the ‘ land of the l iving

’

in Ps . cxvi . 9 ? Ag ain,at the end of the verse , for 173 5 (wh ich is plural , Lam. i .Isaiah oug ht to have used the s ingular and if y ou reply thatin adopting the plural he means to allude to the manhood and

the Godhead of your Messiah (which y ou call his humanity and

divinity), y ou de stroy your own argument,because it is a g reat

point in your re l ig ion that the flesh only,and not the Godhead,

endured suffering s and death . The next verse also nullifies yourassertion

,that he came of his own accord

,and by his own

pleasure , to mee t death for the redemption of his creatures : ifthis had been the case , the prophet must have said, Yet he waspleased to crush himse l f but it is plain, on the contrary

,that

the ‘

pleasure’

was not in him ,but in the Creator . And

,if he

is God,how can y ou attribute any

‘ trespass’ to him ? If y ou

say that the phrase , ‘ to make his soul a trespass-offering ,’

means

mere ly that he was put to death , ‘body ’-or

‘ flesh ’ ought tohave stood in the place of ‘

soul , ’ because y ou yourse lves maintain that his soul was the Godhead within him

,which in this

case must have suffered death ; and if y ou say that OWN, afterthe manner of Scripture , signifie s the ‘

sin’ itsel f

,then his

Godhead is no l ong e r free from sin. Again,how are the words

l i i i . n. MOSHEH KOHEN. 1 23

‘ he shall see seed’ fulfi lled in him ? where is the seed which he

saw ? If the sense be that y ou yourse lves, be ing his children,are the

‘seed

’

spoken of, then the prophe t ought to have said‘ ch i ldren ’

and not‘se ed for the word seed is only used in its

l iteral and primary sig nification,of what in your languag e is

termed esp erma ; and how ,in this sense , can your God be said to

have se ed ? Moreover,in what way did he ‘

prolong his days ,’

when y ou yourselves assert that he was put to death when butthirty-three years old

,when,

there fore,he had not reached the

half of his days ? I f it be supposed to be his Godhead, which ,l iving for eve r and ever

,

‘

prolong s its days,’ i t must be recol

lected that ‘ leng th of days’

is an expression appl icable only toflesh and blood, wh ich l ives for many days, and then dies , as i tis written, That he may prolong days in his kingdom (Deut .xvii . 2 0 ) and ag ain, up on the earth (xi . 9) and in the law aboutbirds’ nests, xxii . 7, cf. Josh . xxiv. 3 1 in all these passag e s ,as it seems, the expre ssion is used only of persons liable todeath

,but how can y ou say of him who lives for eve r

,that he

w i l l p rolong his days ? And from the words , ‘the pleasure of

the Lord shal l prospe r in his hand,’ it is plain that he was not

the Lord himse lf. Nor can ver. I I refer to him : y ou yourse lvesde clare that he neve r endured travai l or pain : it was only hisflesh that suffered, and not the soul, which y ou say is the seatof his divinity. And if it is true that the next words were spokenof your Messiah

,when was it that be ‘ divided spoil with the

many ? ’ If it was while he was in the flesh,in the form of a

man, te l l me what was the battle that he fought, and who werethe ‘many ’

and the ‘mighty’

with whom be divided it ? y ouwill not find it so stated anywhere

,e ither in the Old Testament

or in the Gospe l . And if y ou say that it was after his death,

when he was God, that be divided spoil , how can y ou use suchan expression of God ? and who could have ‘divided him his

portion,’

be cause,by your arguments

,he is h imse l f God ? The

Creator certainly putteth into possess ion and maketh rich,and

g iveth in abundance and divideth spoil to a man as it seemeth

1 24 n. MOSHEH KOHEN. [l i i i . 1 2.

right in his eyes,but how could y ou say that the Creator sup

ports or assists himse lf by such a process ? woe to the man whobe l ieve s at all in a thing l ike this , for there is no intellig entperson in the world who can tolerate it. And how can y ou

assert that J esus ‘

poured out his soul to die,

’ or met deathvoluntarily and without any coercmn, for the redemption of hiscreatures

,when your own Gospe l testifies the reverse ? for it

says that he was in fear and dread of death,Tristis anima mea

,

luctavit e t timnit de morte ; and ag ain, in the same place , thathe prayed to his Father, saying , Father

,let this death pass from

me, y e t not my wil l but thine be done

’

(Mat . xxvi . 3 7 as

though it were not in his own powe r to cause it to do so .

Be sides, at the time of his crucifixion,it is said in the Gospe l

that he was ‘

g rieved even unto death,

’

saying , ‘My God, my God,why hast thou forsaken me ?

’

e tc. : how then can y ou maintainthat he gave up his soul to die voluntarily ? How

,in fact

, can

y ou say that his soul died at all, when, according to your creed,

i t was no t his soul ( i . e . his D ivinity) which was afflicted bydeath , but only his body ? And, lastly, as to the Hagg adah , He

shall be higher than Abraham,more exalted than Moses

,and

loft ier than the ministering ang e ls,’ to which y ou refe r, al leg ing

that such titles of rank and dignity cannot be predicated of anyman in the world except Je sus, who was both God and man

,

although y ou adduced i t at the beg inn ing , I have postponedreplying to it till now,

because I thoug ht it of the highestimportance to answer y ou first on the point of the l iteral sense ofthe prophe cy, s ince the Hag gadah , as the name implies, R omancein French

,does not offer any bas is for a reply. And had I

wished it,I should not have answered it at all : because our

doctors say , Men do not reply to a Hag gadah ; for what webe l ieve in the Thalmud to contain the basis of our faith, are suchordinances as those re lating to marriag e (Qiddnshin), divorce

the Levirate (Y with the rest of the ritualregarding clean and unclean, etc.

, which has been laid down forus by the Rabbis ; these, thereforc, we are all bound to observe

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1 26 R . MOSHEH KOHEN. [l i i i . 1 2 .

them. The ants, howeve r, came and ate a hole throug h the

rock so that it fe l l down upon his neck ,and upon his attempting

to throw i t off,it broke his teeth this is that which is written

(Ps . i i i . ‘The teeth of the w icked thou hast broken ’

(wherefor man hast broken, read hast caused to hang down).How,

now,is i t possible to accept th is Haggadah in its literal

sense ? there is no one in the whole world so s imple as to be l ievethat any man born could pluck up a mountain extending overthree parasang s, and raise i t above his head. W e can onlysuppose , there fore , one of two thing s . W e may suppose , firstly ,that the author of this story spoke hy perbol ically :

'

Og may

possibly , for the purpose of kill ing some of the Israe l ites ,have taken up some hu‘

g e stone , although no t so larg e as

the twent ieth of a parasang , and flung it at them : eventhen

,however, the hyperbole would be excessive . In the

same way our Rabbis te ll us that in both the Law,the

Prophets, and the W riting s, hyperbolical passag es are to befound

,which cannot be interpreted l iterally : thus in the Law

we read of ‘ cities built up to heat en’

(Deut . i . in the

Prophe ts, how ‘the earth was cleft at the voice of them ’

( 1 King s i . in the W riting s, that ‘the whole city was

moved at them (Ruth i . Similarly,also

,in the Thalmud

,

in the account of the ve i l of the Temple , we read how 3 00

priests used to wash it (Thamid, fol . -2 9 M l ) and we hear be sidesof the enormous size of the g olden vine which Herod placed inthe sanctuary, and of the apple - tree which stood in the midstof the altar

,respe cting which there is a hyperbol ical saying by

Rabba. In Babhd Bathra Rabba says,I once saw a frog as

larg e as Acra Hag roniae0

. How larg e was Acra Hag roniae ?

As larg e as sixty houses . But a serpent came and swallowedup the frog , and then a she-raven came and swallowed up the

serpent , after wh ich she flew away and settled on a tree . Come ,consider how g reat must have been the streng th of th is tre e .

0 Se e Neubauer, Ge’og r. (Ia Ta lmud, p . 34 7.

l i i i . a . MOSHEH KOHEN 27

Ag ain, Rabba, the g randson of Hannah,said : Once upon a

time , as we were trave l l ing on board ship, the ship was forthree days and three nights between the two fins of a fish

,

the fish moving against the wind, and the ship with it . If y outhink that it did not g o fast, l isten to what R . Dimi said W e

went sixty parasang s during the time it takes to boil an egg ;

and a horseman having shot an arrow,the sh ip kept ahead of

it . Anothe r story by the same Rabba is this : W e were oncejourneying on shipboard, when we saw ag ain a fish

,in the ear

of wh ich a smal l insect had settled : the fish died,and was

thrown on shore by the sea : it then, firstly, laid waste sixtycities ; next, sixty cities ate of it ; and, lastly, sixty cities preservedi t in salt

,and from the bal l of its ey e extracted three hundred

flasks of oil ; when,after a twe lve-month , we came there again,

we found that its bones had been sawn up, in order to bui ldw ith them sixty cities . And there are many Hag gadahs suchas these . Or

,secondly

,it is poss ible that in the Hag gadah alluded

to,the de sign of its author may have be en to hint at some othe r

meaning : it is said,for example , that

e

Og was Elieze r Abraham’

s servant, and we may suppose that he was desirous ofg oing to fight against Israe l , trusting in the merits of the threepatriarchs, who are called mountains

,as in Micah vi. 2

,

‘Hear,

O mountains,the contention of the Lord and that the prayers

o f Israe l are l ikened to ants,be cause the ir power l ies in the ir

mouth and is weak e lsewhere , while the merits of c

Og wereowing to the service which he had done to the patriarchs. And

in the same way , the languag e of our wise men may be no lesshyperbol ical, when they say , He w ill be higher than Abraham,

more exalted than Moses,and loft ier than the ang e ls : they

may mean to imp ly that the e levation and digni ty of the justin Israe l

,in the days of the Mess iah , w ill be so immeasurably

g reat that , hyperbol ically, i t can be spoken of in these terms.

And s ince y ou have adduced a proof from the saying s of ourwise men of blessed memory , I also w il l adduce one from the

same source,to shew that this Haggadah refers to the rig hteous

1 28 R . MOSHEH KOHEN. [l i i i . 1 2 .

in Israe l (Sanhedrin,fo l . Says R.

’

Acha,The righteous

are g reater than the ministering ang e ls ; this is clear fromthe verse of the Law,

‘And he wrestled with the ang e l and

prevailed ’

(Hos . x1 1 . 5 , cf. Gen. xxxu. W e may ao

cording ly reasonably infer, that the dignity of the righteous issuperior to that of the ang e ls, because , man having been createdout of the four e lements

, the evil imag inat ion orig inating in

matter and the affections of the animal soul shew themse lve s.

w ithin him : he,however, subdue s his imag ination, and keeps

his desires in subje ction,fortify ing and streng thening his.

inte l lig ence ag ainst the material e lement in his nature,and

devoting h imse l f to inte llectual study and the service of hisCreator. Now is not the righteous man who acts in this wayg reater than the ang e ls ? for the ang els are not made of matte r

,

and there is no cause for surprise in the ir be ing free from sin.

The same Rabbi appeals afterwards to the prophecy of Zechariah(xi i . 7, who says simi larly

,The house of David shal l be as

God,as the ang e l of the Lord before them.

’

You have now,in

this verse,a confirmation of the Haggadah which says they wi l l

be loftier than the ang els and also proofs from the Thalmud,

as we l l as by log ical reasoning , that both it and the Parashahunder discussion

,refe r to the exaltation and honour wh ich wi l l

accrue to Israe l in the time of our Mess iah , whereas your own

arguments are left without anything to rest on .

Says the transcriber Although all these arguments are clearto him who understands

, and are suflficient as a reply to Epicurus,I see that the o ld fathers have stil l left space for any man of anintell ig ent and an inquiring mind to gain renown in. For

,

with respe ct to this Haggadah , I fe e l there is somethingattractive and satisfactory in the explanation g iven by the

g reatest among the wise men of our nation,and one whose

name is known in Israe l,the wise and perfe ct Don Isaac

Abarbane l : I think,therefore

,that now is the time to mention

it here , in order that ‘ he that reads may run through it.’ It is

as follows [see p .

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1 30 R . SH’LOMOH ASTRUC . [lit 1 4

that it wi ll depend on the inte ll ig ent powers which be long tohim and are his m inisters, and which tend to attach themse lvesto God

,so that he wil l be like the ang e l of the Lord of hosts .

Ofhim,also

,i t is said, that ‘ his ang e ls he will appoint for thee

to keep thee in all thy ways ’

The prophet,speaking of Israe l as a whole

,says , Just as all who saw thee

were amazed at the g reatne ss of thy distress, and said,W hat is

the heat of th is fierce ang er (Dent . xxix . 2 4 ) that is upon thispeople more than upon any other people ? and

,Is th is the city

which men used to cal l the perfection of beauty (Lam. i i .[so w il l they now be amazed at thy g lory] : for as be fore the

Lord gave ful l measure in smiting thee , so w il l he now g ivethee ful l measure of prosperity, so that the dignity of thisAnointed One

,when he is anointed

,wil l surpass that of all

others who are anointed, by the radiancy of his countenancewh ich w i ll shine l ike that of Moses (Ex . xxxiv. By

‘ his

form,

’ i . e . Ka'r’

egoxfiu, his beautiful form,he means the form of

his garments , which will be more beautiful than those of anywho came before him ; or perhaps by ‘ form ’

he may intendto signify inte llig ence .

1 5 As the Gentiles ‘

gnashed the teeth ,saying , W e have swallowed them up

’

(Lam . i i . and a s

amazement se ized some of them as they saw the ir distre ss and

asked whether this was the c ity which was called the perfectionof beauty, so will the Lord abundantly cause many na tions to

sp eak of the dignity of the people and his Me ssiah . anis froma. root signifying ‘ to speak ,

’

and is equivalent to the Spanishfa rd p arlar ; the meaning is, that God wi l l force them to speakabout the Messiah . K ing s , he continues, will close their mouths(rap as Job v . so as no long er to te l l of the ir own dignity,but only of the digni ty of the Messiah : they themse lve s wil lbe as if they had never been born. Or rap may mean

‘ tostreng then onese lf, ’ as in Cant. i i . 8 ; the sense wil l then be

,

‘ they w ill exert themselves so as to speak of the dignity of theMessiah .

’

After this,the prophet g ives a reason why the king s

and nations should thus speak, viz . be cause that which had not

—l i i i . a . SH’

LOMOH ASTRUC . 1 3 1

been told them they have seen, i . e . they have se en in this Mess iahwhat had never been to ld them of any man born : and that

which they had never heard of as be long ing to any created be ing ,they have p erceived in him . Such are the words of the Gentilesand the ir king s.

LIII .

1,2A continuation of the words Spoken by the Gentile s

and the ir king s : Who, at the time when our exaltat ion and

prosperity se emed se cured to us, would have be l ieved thisrep ort brought to us

,who are now in utter depress ion and

disg race ? such a wondrous chang e could indeed have been

anticipated by no one . And up on whom was the arm of the

Lord ever revealed to raise him to such dignity as this Messiah ?who came up like a sucker in pride and streng th , as though ithad roots in spite of the dry g round in which it g rew,

and

notwithstanding that til l then it had been devoid of form and

comeliness . For when we looked a t him,and g azed upon his

countenance , it had no beauty ,and we did not desire him.

1 11 1 73 71 31 oug ht strictly to have been 1 :1 7a N53 : he means tosay that there was noth ing in him calculated to cause us todesire him. Or, the meaning may be , and now we de sire him,

’

viz . on account of the many desirable qual ities which he possesses.

3 He was desp ised and forlorn of men ,i . e . he was not

permitted to enter the society of men,because he was a man

of p ains , and broken by sickne ss . 171 1 ” as Jud. vii i . 1 6 ; orperhaps the word denotes that he was so we l l known g enerallyfor the sicknesses which he endured, that in impre cations menwould say , May such a one be like him ! The next words ass ignthe reason why Israe l was thus rejected and cast aloof and

hated in the ir eye s : they say ,‘When we saw the face-hiding ,

i. e . the manne r in which God hid his face from him,and

carried him far away captive among the Gentiles , he was thendesp ised and cast aloof by us

,and we este emed him not— he had

no value in our eyes.

’

Or,

‘We did not think of him that Godwould ag ain open his eyes and have mercy upon him

,after

having thus reje cted him and removed him far from his own

x 2

1 32 R . sn’

Lomon ASTRUC . [l i i i . 4

territory ; and therefore this prosperity and g reatness, which is4 The nations and the ir

k ing s are stil l the speakers : We will atone for the ir blood the

pains and distresses wh ich have befallen them are owing to our

now his,is wonderful in our eyes .

transgr essions’

(in accordance with the confe ssion,All we like

sheep have g one a stray ) : the prophet’

s obj ect is to shew beyondreach of doubt , when the various nations are g iven up eachto its appointed fate , whe ther to the sword

,or to famine , or to

battle,and when Israe l are settled in the ir midst, and do not

dese rve to be de l ivered by a spe cial providence , that theyw i ll be involved in the calamity on their (the Gentiles’)account . And so the next verse says

,

5 He was wounded for

our iniquities, e tc.,i . e . his be ing wounded and bruised by the

pains which we caused him was a penalty upon him, and afterthat

,his iniquit ies and transg ressions be came ours

,according as

it is written,

‘All those that eat him will be guilty’

(Jer. 1 1 .

Our Rabbis say also, ‘He desires to lay waste his house,

and to wash his hands on that man a’

The verse continues,$51? "

1 0179 , i . e . e ither the p eace that was for us was re

moved and taken away from them or [the remova l of our p eaceis upon, i . e . is to be attributed to , him], ‘

all the time that ourpeace was taken away from us, and th is affl iction came instead

,

we kept complaining of him, and saying that he was the causeand occasion of the harm which befel us .

’

By his s trip es we

are healed: they thoug ht that if they we re to infl ict upon him

a Gittin, fo l . 5 6 . The context re lates to the de struct ion of the T emple‘God sent ag ainst them Nero Caesar : when he arrived, he shot an arrowtowards the East , it fe ll in Jerusalem he sho t one towards the W e st

,it fell

likewise in Jerusalem ; he shot towards the four winds of heaven, and eacht ime it fe ll in Jerusalem. He said then to a ch ild, R epeat me your texts .

The child answered :“ And I will lay my veng eance upon Edom [Rome]

by the hand ofmy people Israe l (Ezek . xxv. Nero said, The Holy One(ble ssed be He 1) wishes to destroy his temp le, and to wash his hands upon

the man who doe s it ; so he fled away, became a Jew,and from him R .Me ir

was de scended. He then sent against them Ve spasian,

’

e tc.

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1 3 4! R . sn’

Lomon ASTRUC . [l i i i . 8

arrived, they wil l speak and say that when he was oppressedand afflicted and prayed to God, he was answered and his prayerfor the removal of the calamity heard and accepted, but thatneverthe less ‘when we condemned him he was dumb, and, like

a sheep led to the slaughter, op ened not his mouth.

’Or the pas

sag e may describe the evil they did to Israe l, how he was

opp ressed and afi icted and bruised,and could not op en his

mouth : the following words then assign a reason for thisdepression of Israe l , and for the ir be ing debarred from speaking .

8An avowal of the ir w ickedness in having depressedIsrael

,and exalted themse lves : now

, however, they repent ofwhat they had desired, and the ir words assign the reason whyIsrae l had been dumb before them,

and why they had despisedthem

,viz . because they saw that the people were taken away

from sovereignty and judgment.“my is from the same root as

W1 3 3)" I Sam. ix . 1 7. The next words describe what they wi l lsay when they see the prosperity and success of this MessiahWho would tell of him,

as we did,that he would be cut out of

the land of the living , i . e . out of the future world, or that thestroke of exile

,which fe l l up on them,

was caused by the ir transgressions ag ainst my p eop le, and against our Saviour who rescuedthe souls from Gehenna Or

,Who wi ll say now what we said

to them whilst they were in exile,when my people attributed

to them (as they then be lieved) transg ression in having con

demned th is man [i. e . J esus] ? 9 They declare here how the

people of the King Messiah were buried in the same p lace withthe wicked who are condemned to death by the sentence of a court ,and how they were with the rich in the ir death, be ing slain without any g round of justice

,like a rich man murdered, because

envied, for the sake of his wealth . And the prophet uses ‘deathsin the plural, because they condemned them to different forms ofpunishment— all

,however, unjustly, since , as the prophet adds

,

he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his

mouth. Or the last words may close the confession of the irown machinations, in condemning Israe l ‘ because he had done

_ 1 i ii , m ] R . SH’LOMOH ASTRUC . 1 3 5

no violence for what they did to him was done w ith an observ

ance of the usual forms of just ice .

1 0After that they add,The

s ickne sses which God sent upon Israe l were because he desiredto bruise him

,and corre ct him,

in orde r that,if he laid

the g uilt up on his soul,and returned to the Lord

,he might

have mercy upon him,and g ive him seed and leng th of days ,

and make him prosper in all his p leasure these are stil lthe words of the Gentiles and the ir king s . Or [if D’wn be

the 2nd pers ], they may be supposed to address one another,

If y ou think now as y ou thought before, and stil l intend to laya trespass -offering upon the soul of th is pe ople , bel ieving that itis g uilty in itse lf, and that it wi l l have no reward but that '

its

soul will perish— if all this be so,how then has God exhibited

towards him such providential care , permitting him to see seed,and p rolong his day s , and p rosp er in the Lord’

s p leasure, as he

is doing now ? W e see sure ly that it is for his own g ood thathis he ifer has been hurt b , and that he has borne all his mis

fortunes for the perfecting and correction of himse lf. ’ And thisis what is meant by the next verse :

1 1 Israe l,the Gentiles

here declare,wi l l enjoy prosperity, and be sa tisfied with

the perfect ion of his soul : for my servant, this Mess iah,will

justify him that is truly just, as they say , Unti l Elijah come ,’

and wi l l proclaim to the many his righteousness . Their ini

quities also he will bear : as he says,

‘ I w il l bear and put in

safety ’

(Is . xlvi . in order for men to know that the Lordcorrected him and de livered him because he loved him .

Having now finished his account of what the king s and nationsw ill say when they see the success of the Messiah and of thepeople , the prophet passes back in order to complete what God hadsaid abov

e,He shall be h igh , and exal ted

,and lofty exceeding ly,

’

by the addit ion of ver. 1 2,wh ich says

,

1 2B ecause he p oured out

his soul to die,i . e . to endure afflictions— people in distre ss are

b Comp . Ex. xxii . l o : a particular instance is chosen for the purpose

of typ ifying the various forms of loss and damag e to which Israel wasexposed.

1 3 6 R . SH’

LOMOH ASTRUC . [l i i i . i z .

cal led ‘sons of death

,

’

Ps . lxxix. 1 1 , cu. 2 1 — and be cause hecarried the sin of many (as he says , ‘ I have done it

,and I wil l

carry ,’

Is . xlvi . viz . the sin of the Gentiles , as was said above(ver. and was numbered with the transg ressors, therefore Iwill g rant to him that he may divide sp oil with the many , i . e .

with Gog and Mag og , who are a people mighty in number (asDavid says

,Ps. i i i . The meaning of he was numbered with

the transg ressors’is that he was among the ir number at the

time of the ir punishment,and that ‘ in all the distress ’ of the

Gentiles ‘ he was distressed ’

(lxiii . or, perhaps, that the

Gent iles considered Israe l to be long to one class with the transg ressors who perish . It is said, lastly , v'JD’ {NW/1 5 5 , i . e . e ithe rthat in the eyes of the transg ressors he was smitten te rribly ;or that he was constantly beg g ing and praying for mercy at the

hands of the transg ressors, i . e . of the Gentiles who were everaffl icting him ; or, thirdly, that by his prayers he was makingintercess ion even for them

,althoug h they had transg ressed

against him,and done him injury. Or the prophe t may mean

that now the Messiah will devote himse lf to shewing mercy tothe Gentiles

,and will be anxious to pardon them and re store

them to prosperity. we» e ither means he wil l intercedefor thetransg ressors ; or it may have a transitive force

,as though to

say he wil l compe l them to ‘ re turn upwards’

(cf. Hos. vii. 1 6,

xi. and pray to him,as he says, For then wil l I turn to the

people a pure languag e , that they may all call upon the name ofthe Lord, to serve him w ith one consent ’ (Zeph . i i i . 9) 0 thenmay our eyes behold and our heart be g lad Amen andAmen.

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1 3 8 n. Y IZHAQ i

ELIYYAH KOHEN . [l i i . 1 3

are they ashamed even to Speak with us in the ears of thepeople in the languag e of both Jew s and Sy rians

b. W e hear

but are si lent , in all assembl ies and concourses flattering them ;y et they reproach and revile us be fore the eye s of all

,but we

are not abashed or put to confus ion, e ither at themse lves or at

the noise of them ’

(Ezek . vii . for we know that, since theyare not in the least deg re e assured firmlv of the truth of the irbe lie f, it is imposs ible that they can have set the i r mind tomake their heart and the ir mouth ag ree . And inasmuch as Ihave neve r in my l ife e ither seen or heard of the expos ition ofa clear or ‘ fluent commentator, in whi ch my own judgment and

that of others who have pondered on the same subj e ct mightcomplete ly acquiesce , I have re solved, with the help of my Godupon me ,

’ to discove r and publish the true sense for the benefitof every one who possesse s the intell ig ence to understand ; andto shew that it is as wide ly removed as possible from the

strang e conception alluded to,whi ch only seeming ly approxi

mate s to it,in order that the reproach and nakedness of its

advocate s may be made the more evident.LII.

1 3 The prophet, speaking in God’

s name , cal ls Israe l myservant

,as above , xli. 8 , xl iv . 1

,and as we often find him called

e lsewhere , both by Isaiah himse l f and by other prophets as we ll .Here he de clares that

,although at the time spoken of, Israe l is

in g reat depression, and his exertions unsuccessful, y et the dayswil l come when he will prosp er (Burn as 1 Sam. xviii . 1 4 ) in all

that he sets his hand to . He will be high, and exa lted,and

lofty exceeding ly . Inasmuch as the three words employed all

represent variations of the same g eneral idea of laudation, our

doctors expound each minute ly , saying , ‘He will be h ig h aboveAbraham

,exalted above Moses

,

“ lofty above the m inisteringang els.

’

By th is , however, they g ive occasion to error on the

part of the heretics, who exclaim that such expressions are sufh

cient, pointing , as they evidently do , to the Godhead, which the

b Is. xxxvi . 1 1 he means to say in bo th Hebrew and Spanish .

— l i i . n. YIZHAQ ’

ELIYYAH KOHEN. 1 3 9

Christians conceive to have been united to the body of theMess iah

,who was

‘ hig he r than the ang e ls .

’

But God forbidthis to have been the intention of our Rabbis : the ill em

’

s

denote [not comparison or superiority, but] derivation, and

Elevation and dig nity ,must according ly be rendered by ‘

from.

it is meant,will come to Israe l from Abraham and Abraham’

s

merits,who was the high father of a mul titude of nations, ’ and

our father in particular, and the imprint of whose nature shouldbe discernible in us all . He wi l l be exalted ‘ from Mose s

,

’

be cause from Moses , who exalted himse lf ove r Pharaoh and

Egypt , over Sihon and Og ,and ove r the king s of Midian,

he

will rece ive the power of triumphing over his enemies . And

he will be lofty ‘ from the ang e ls,’

be cause these w il l raise himup and he lp him , as they helped him in the days of old

,

and both when he came forth out of Egypt, and at othe rtimes

,wrought for him,

at God’s g ood p leasure , marve llouss ig ns and wonders

,as we be lieve , throug h God

,they wil l

work for us l ikewise .

1 4 They were astonished a t thee, O my

servant,and the ir wonder at thy depression was so g reat that

they exclaimed, His countenance is marred bey ond man, and his

form bey ond the sons ofmen in these words they g ive vent tothe ir surprise at Israe l ’s marred and disfigured form . By the

wordform, the notion is conveyed of the qual ities or attributesof the soul

,by which human society is pre served : the meaning

be ing , that in Israe l these attributes are marred and distortedmore than in any other men.

1 5 The prophet means to say that hisappearance and form ,

and the wonderful expression which he wil lwear at the t ime of the de l iverance , when the destined period ofunequalled prosperity has arrived for him,

wi ll cause the nationsto proclaim his dig nity and praise . D‘J

‘

l means nobles,as Jer.

xxxix . 1 3 and the nations are those colle cted from among all

peoples, the ir residuum,so to speak , who cannot trace the ir

descent from any sing le ancestor. To the se,and especially

to the ir king s, Isaiah’

s predictions, as I shal l presently shew,

may be referred : for these nat ions in particular have always

1 40 n. Y IZHAQ ’

ELIYYAII KOHEN. [l i i . 1 5

hated us , and made us wanderers upon the earth ; and

the ir chief, the Caesar of the Roman empire , laid waste our

Sanctuary, and led us captives from our land,the ir hatred of us

increasing still more , after they had accepted for themse lve s andfor the ir se ed

, the be l ief al luded to [i. e . Christianity] . nr has

a causative force, be ing formed from nu, and appl ied meta

phorically in the sense of sp rinkling or dropping words ; it isthus equivalent to fa rd parlor/r in Spanish . At him king s will

shut the ir mouth,i . e . the king s of this people : the g esture

be ing that of one who fee ls astonishment or surprise at what iswholly above his comprehension,

and who at first closes his l ipsforcibly and contorts his whole countenance and expression inamazement, but afterwards speaks out . In the same way theseking s wi ll close the ir months in astonishment at the marve llousand splendid prospe rity which wil l then be visible among st us .

For,he continues , the ir eyes wi ll suddenly behold such a degree

of exaltati on as had never been told them,because , had they

heard of it previously, they would have had a foretas te of whatit would be l ike

,and would not have fe lt such wonder when

they actually saw it . The hearing spoken of in the next wordsdoes no t mean the hearing of the car, but (as Ex . xxiv. 7 and

often) the reception and understanding of the heart : what hadnever entered into the ir hearts to imag ine or conceive , they wi l lthen understand.

LIII .

lHere the king s commence speak ing : Who, they ask ,

can credit this rep or t which we now hear and understand ? and,

Who ever believed that the arm or might of the Lord would berevealed upon him to whom it has now disclosed itse lf just atthe time when he was laid low in complete exhaust ion and

insignificance ? The reve lation is the one alluded to above(1 1 1 . where it is said

,

‘The Lord hath laid bare his holy arm

before the eyes of all the Gentiles,’

e tc.

2And who of thech ildren of men would be l ieve that one who before it, i . e . beforeth is

, was like a sucker,would spring up ,

and rise to suchdig nity ? for a young shoot may be planted in such a way as

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1 42 s . vrzuao’

EL1 YYAH KOHEN. [l i i i . 5

from our l ips, and was compe lled by terror to endure . Or,

more probably , the meaning may be,that we thought him

stricken for the transg ression and blow infl icted by him (aswe conce ived) upon God

,crucified, smitten

,and afll icted at

his hands.

5 Not only,however, was he wounded for our

transg ressions , i . e . wounded by hearing th em,and bruised by

the we ight of our iniquities (as is stated) : we went on topain him still more g rievously than before ; for ever and

anon , when p eace was removed from us,we laid the blame

of its removal up on him, saying that our distress all cameupon us in consequence of his iniquity and because he dwe ltin the midst of our land. But i t was not as we imag ined our

peace did not depart from us on his account ; on the contrary,

because of his union with us , and be cause we threw the blame ofour calamities upon him,

and he was smitten by us both inword and de ed

,he prayed to his God, and God for his merits

sent forth heal ing . And this is what the nations say here , Andby union with him we were healed. mun is a mixed form

,

derived from man (Job xxxiv . 8) and mun, l ike nnnnnwn

(Ezek. vi ii . which is formed s imi larly from nine/n and

mnnwn.

6 Like sheep without a shepherd we have a ll g oneastray in a work of errors ’ (Jer. x . 1 5 , l i . 1 8 ) y et it is not afte rthe proud (Ps. xl . 5 ) that we have g one , but we have a ll turned

after the way of the man,

’

whose end was that God caused the

iniquity of us a ll to meet up on him by the judgment of an

earthly court . The prophet alludes here to the death [ofJesus], whose re l ig ion was such as to be a source of g reat‘ iniquity

’ to us all. The expression must thus be referred tothe Godhead

,its incarnation

,suffering s , and death : for it is

impossible that every man d should turn after his own way , and

do what is right in his own eyes,in a place where there are king s

rul ing and punish ing the evil de er : and this is a proof that

d Instead of the usual translat ion, W e turned every man after his own way ,R .

’

Eliy yah , for the reason here assigned, prefers to construe differently , The.man [i. 9 . Jesus] we have turned after his way .

’

- 1 i ii . n. Y IZHAQ ’

EL1 YYAII KOHEN . 1 43

it is the king s themse lves who are here speaking . W e musttherefore suppose that the pronoun in ‘ his way

’

points to the

we l l-known ‘ man’

[Je sus], a suppos ition wh ich is confirmed bythe fact that the number of the letters in W ith [

‘the man

’

] isthe same as the number formed by the letters of his name

the letters themse lves be ing also identical in the two cases , nwith N be ing treated as equivalent to i ; and just as our wisemen take off one letter from his name

,saying , There is no salva

t ion for himc,

’

so the prophe t omits n [in W hen] in order that noone should think it poss ible for man to be ever associated withGod. The inte l l ig ent w il l understandf! 7 Nor was i t enoug hthat he was opp ressed and afilicted by bearing our sickne sses,and that he Op ened no t his mouth : we despised him, and painedhim st ill more by smiting and slaying him w ith the sword

,and

plundering him of all his riche s . According ly it is said,He

was led like a sheep to the s laug hter, and like a lamb,e tc . ; as

though to say , At one time he suffered by be ing butcheredl ike a she ep , at another by his wealth and possessions be ingtaken from him [like wool from a lamb] . Notwithstandingthis, he never op ened his mouth to complain of his wrong s be foreany of the judg es or the king , because even the authorit ies tookp leasure in the w i le s of the transg ressors ag ainst him,

thinkingthat the hope of his soul had perished.

8He was taken away

from the coercion of the coercer (i . e . the king ) , and from the

judgment of the judg e for, since the Christ ians are accustomed

in g eneral to be subj e ct to two king s , the k ing and the priestthe former having powe r over the body, and be ing cal led the‘ coercer, ’ as 1 Sam. i x . 1 7 ; and the latte r having to deal withthe soul

,and being termed the judg e

’— the prophet here speaks

with reference to each of the se offices at once,saying that he

was removed from both. The king s are the same as those

0 Ps . ii i . 3 the spe lling “U ”

,in lieu ofmu“ , se emed to our author to have

been selected intent ionally fo r the purpose of severing all appearance ofconnexion be twe en the name ofJe sus and salvat ion '

f I. e . (pwudvra avveroi’

o i .

1 44 n. YizuAQ’

ELIYYA] I KOHEN. [l i i i . 9

al luded to in Is. ln. 1 5 . Of the men of his g eneration, he nextasks , among all nations of the earth

,who or whe re was the

man that could intell ig ently conclude tha t he had been cut of out

of the land of the living ? The transg ression of my people con

s isted in the ir entertaining an opinion the reverse of the truthit thus caused a stroke to fal l upon them,

be cause he ‘ is the

righteous, and I and my people are the wi cked ’

(Ex . ix .

And ‘the land of the l iving

’

is the world of spirits, as Davidwrites

,

‘ I shall walk before the Lord in the lands of the living’

(Ps . cxvi . and I have done g ood in my works in order thatI may walk there , because I make men believe when I speak ,

’

i. e . I justify many and inspire them w ith right be l ie fs by mywords~ mmxn be ing here causat ive— ‘ I have sung aloud ’

(myas Ex . xv. 2 1 or Is. xxvn . 2 of p raise) , as thoug h to say , I havecomposed song s and antiphons many in order that men may use

them for praye r and praise I said inmy alarm — if I was se izedwith alarm be cause ofmy distress , I put my trust sole ly in the Lord,that he might de liver me , and said, All men are l iars

,

’

and,

‘Vainis the help of man.

’ 9 The subject of In” ) is my pe ople’

(ver. 8 )not only did we beset him all his life long with perse cution, vexation, and contempt he gave up his own body to be buried in thetomb of the wicked

,judg ing himse lf to be a wi cked man

,

‘

poorand l ightly e steemed ’

( 1 Sam . xvii i . 2 who for his dece itfulness and violence ought not to rece ive any honour. But whenone of his own people died, he treated him as a rich and honourable man

,shewing him respect and burying him in a dis

tinguished spot, prepared beforehand near himself. And all

this contempt was heaped upon him because he had done no

violence , and be cause there was no deceit in his mouth in all

his behaviour toward the person who is here hinted at [Je sus] .Up to th is point are the words of the king s, confe ssing the irtransg ression, and speaking on behalf of themse lves and the irpeOple : in the next ve rse the prophe t makes a chang e , and

beg ins to speak in the name of God.

3°But the Lord was

p leased to bruise him and to sicken him wi th the rod of exile ,

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1 46 R . YIZHAQ,

’

EI.IYYAH KOHEN. [l iii . 1 2 .

g reat and noble who are in the and carried the sin ofmany . For all th is wil l be so no more : he wil l no long erbe afraid of them as he was once , but wi ll fall up on them and

destroy them out of the world, rendering the ir desert upon the irheads, if they do not return to what is g ood, but cleave stil lto the ir wickedness . Thus wil l Israe l rej oice in the ir king

’

(Ps .

cxl ix . 2 ) and‘ j oy and g ladness shal l draw near ’ (Is . xxxv.

Then thou shalt te l l how that be l ief is finally destroyed and

swal lowed up, which teaches that the L iving , the Sel f-subsistent,and the Eternal, consented to underg o chang e and death so as

for men to make his death a cause of weeping year by yearthroughout the ir g enerations 8 . Then

,too

,we shal l not ourse lves

weep any more over the desolation of our g lorious sanctuary,which was buil t to last for ever, nor be a reproach and proverbto the Gentiles as it is written (Is. xxv. He hath swallowedup death for ever, and the Lord God wil l wipe away tears fromoff all faces l ’

g Al luding , ofcourse, to the Observances connected with Holy W e ek .

xxvm a. R . LIPMANN or MUHLHAUSEN .

LII .

1 3At this point the Christians open the ir months withoutmeasure ’ (Is. v . and explain the Parashah of the Nazarene :their position can

,however

,be refuted both from the contents of

the Parashah itse l f and also from what pre cedes and follows it .The preceding context speaks of the redemption of Israe l, ofg athering them from exile

,and bring ing them to their own

land, Is . lii. I , where the words ‘uncircumcised and unclean ’

point, as I have explained above to the days of theMessiah ; for how can it be said that the ‘

uncircumcised and

unclean ’do not come there now ? is not Jerusalem at present

fil led with all the he re tics in the world ? Then he continues,

‘Ye were sold for nought,’

e tc. (Is . lii . 4 alluding to theIsrael ites who went down into Egypt , and to those who were ledcaptive to Chalach and Chabe r by the k ing of Assyria, as is

narrated in the book of King s (II . xvii. 6 , xviii . These and

the foll owing verses down to l ii . 1 2 make it p lain to every one towhom God has g iven eye s to see and a heart to understand, thatthe Parashah beg inning with the next verse must refer likewiseto Israe l’s redemption from captivity. And this conclusionis confirmed by the words immediate ly succeeding it, Shout,O barren one

,

’

etc. (Is . l iv . all of which refer to the same

occasion when the re -g athered ex iles wi l l be many for howcan the passag e be exp lained of the mother of the Nazarene is i tnot written, The woman

‘ that hath not borne , ’ whereas all admi t

For XXVII see the preface .

L 2

1 48 R . LIPMANN or MUHLHAUSEN.

that the mother of the Nazarene did bear ? In the same way ,

the desolated citie s ’ (ver. thy redeemer ’ (ver. etc.,down

to ‘ the waters of Noah ’

(ver. all point in the same direction,and al lude to the days of the Messiah , as , by the he lp ‘of God,I shal l explain be low, 2 3 7, on Is. l iv . 1 7. Again, at the

beg inning of the Parashah , the expression my servant occurs ,and still they asse rt that there is only a Trinity in the Godhead,viz . the Father

,the Son

,and the Sp irit ; but i f at one time they

make the second Person into a servant, and at another intoa son

,then the Godhead is no t threefold but fourfold ; and is it

not also a dishonour for them that he is called ‘servant ? ’ for

the servant is not of the same spe cies with the man,as the son

is with the father. Then,after having interpreted the term

servant ’ of the Nazarene,they are , in consequence , re luctantly

compelled to explain it further of his carnal body ; and thisinvolves the e rror of suppos ing that the body ‘has intel lig ence

’

for i t is not the flesh,even in a l iving man (as is we l l

known to all educated persons ) , but rather the intel lig encew ithin it

,that is the seat of understanding . They next have

to admi t that this intellig ence of his is what they cal l theFather ; for if they allowed it to be something different, and

separate from the inte ll ig ence of the Father, then the Unity ofthe Godhead would be lost , and all the ir bel ief about the Trini tybeing one , and not two or three

,would be overthrown. It

is,more ove r, surprising that he is termed desp ised and forlorn

of men,

’

and stricken,

’ i . e . w ith the plague of leprosy : for howcan they apply such expressions to the ir God ? And by ex

plaining the se cond verse of the Parashah with minute exacti

tude , in which the prophe t says a t thee rather than a t him,we

may see that, as I shal l immediate ly shew,he was addressing

those to whom the prophe cy re lates, i . e . Israel . Then he

says ‘smitten of God, ’ because the subject spoken of had been

smitten by him : whereas to support the erroneous view of thosewho apply the phrase to the ir God, the order of the two wordsmust have been reversed : it must have be en ‘

smitten God’

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1 5 0 R. LIPMANN or Mh’HLHAUSEN.

him by the title expressive of his lowl iness, as a worm (xl i .The exile he speaks of e lsewhere under the imag ery of ‘

stripes’

and ‘blows :’ cf. above , xxx. 2 6, and at the beg inning of the

book,i . 6 : the expression must therefore be understood here in

the same sense .

I t is an establ ished usag e for Israe l to be called my servant, ’

in the singular, as I have explained, though the term doesnot include all Israel, but only the righteous amongst thembecause the wicked, not doing what is right , are not in g eneralGod’s servants. The prophet addresses Israe l and says thatas the nations

,of whom there are many , saw what a mult itude

l of g reat and just ones were brought low in exile , so at the hourof redemption they will be amazed at them and wi ll say , W e

thought them to be gui lty of transg ressions themse lves, but , onthe contrary

,they bore ours because when the Holy One sent

pestilence and famine and his other judgments into the worldfor the sins of the Gentiles

,the righteous who had not offended

were struck in consequence (as I have explained under theParashah irrsn [Deut . xxxn. 1 They wi ll say

further,The chastisement of our p eace was up on him

, because ,except for the merits of the righteous, the world had not been

preserved, but would have been laid waste by the Holy Onefor the nations’ sins : the ir tranqui llity, then, has its basis and

support in the merit of the righteous . By his stripes we are

healed,for

, s ince,as I have explained, punishment came upon

the righteous without cause, and s imply on account of theGenti les who sinned, therefore the Almighty cuts short thepunishment of the Gentiles before the time : thus they are

healed by the stripes of the righteous. All we like sheep have

gone astray : be cause it wi ll become clear to them that the irown be l ief has been an e rror

,and they wi l l come round to ours ,

as it is said,

‘ In that day the Lord God wil l be one , and his

name one’

(Zech . xiv. which , with the he lp of God, I shal lexplain in 2 5 9, on Zephaniah . He— viz . the servant

,i . e .

the righteous— w as oppressed, and was like a sheep led to the

R . LIPMANN or MuHLHAUSEN. 1 5 1

s laughter. Up to this point the prophet describes how the

Gentiles wil l speak in the future : he now beg ins to speak inhis own person. Who will decla re his g eneration ? 1 . e . who can

te l l all the suffering s of the g eneration of this servant, and hisperse cution during the captivity ? And for the transg ression,

e tc. The conjunctionb adds a fresh reason for what had oc

curred : he means to say , that not merely because of the Genti les did punishment fall upon the righteous , but also for thetransg ression of my people was there a stroke upon them— the

transg ressions of the wicked [among st them] were partly alsothe cause of the rig hteous be ing in exile . The ‘

servant, ’ heg oes on, made his grave with the wicked, i . e . in accordance withthe ir plan and judgment 0 and with the rich

,as though to say ,

not by the judgment of king s and princes only, but even bythat of ordinary wealthy men, who l ikewise exercised authorityover him . His dea th is paral le l to his g rave : he gave himse lf upinto the ir power, not only for burial but also for death . He

sha ll see seed,and leng then day s. These words are a proof that

by the‘servant ’ are de signated the righteous in the days of the

Messiah . Because he p oured out his soul to die. An al lusionto the righteous who died in captivity on behalf of the sanctityof God’s name : because he ‘ keepeth mercy for thousands

’

(Ex.

xxxiv.

The Parashah is also alleg orically expounded of the Messiah ;but I have endeavoured to explain it in its natural sense . Its

Midrash is as fol lows He shal l be higher than Abrahammore exalted than Moses

,loftier than the ministering ang els .

The misbe l ievers,however, err

,asserting that there is none

hig her than the ang e ls save God alone : but this objection ismet by R. Mosheh of Coucy (with whom common sense ag re es) ,who points out that the just and perfect man is in every respe ctsuperior to the ang e ls : because the ang e ls are perfect throug h

5 R . L ipmann is quoting from memory ; there is no and in the Hebrew.

C Comp . above , pp . 3 8, 73 , 88.

1 5 2 R . LIPMANN or MUHLHAUSEN.

be ing devoid of all evil passion,whereas any one who

suffe rs from evil passions, and is neverthe less perfect"

in

sp ite of them, is altog ether be tter than they are . Nor is thereany occasion to object, that the perfection of a man cannotresemble the perfection of an ang e l : because in Joshua (v . 1 4 )i t is said

,

‘ I am the captain of the Lord’s host : now am I

come,

’

which is explained by our Rabbis thus, ‘Now I am comebut Moses thy master had no pleasure in me , as i t is written(Ex. xxxii i . If thy [God

’

s] presence doth not g o , take us

not up hence d,’

which they further explain by saying that Moseshimse l f took the place of the Metatronje : since then the Messiahis more exalted than Moses

,it is evident that he is also loftier

than the ang e ls.

d Cf.Qamhi : mam mn us mo re mamm mmins : any armvow

s h mm mm (Ex. xxiii . 20) “

pm: n'mu was run

’

z~mv m mm in

1 m 1 : Nb»: y en m s n”

:pn5 m ummy"

1 5mmnan. The argument is

th is : The ang el who appeared to Joshua was the same who had been sent’

(Ex. xxiii . 20,of. xxxi ii . 2) to accompany Moses : Moses , however, rejected

him,desiring God’

s own presence instead ; a dist inction is thus shewn to

exist betwe en God and the highest ang e ls , which renders it possible for theperfect ion of the latter to be reached approximately by man.

Comp . above , p . 1 3 .

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1 5 4 DON e nAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i , lii i .

’

Ibnt

Ez ra,as also R . Menahem [ben Sh

’ lomoh] Me’iri

,speaks

of this interpretation as‘exce llent ;

’ though what may be theg oodness or exce l lence that they see in it, I do not understand.

Rashi, however, and R. Joseph Qamhi, and his son, the g reatR . David Qamhi, all with one voice explain the entire prophe cyof Israe l . W e ought, therefore , to ascertain at the beg inning ofour exposition the true purport of the prophecy, as regards thesubject to whom it refe rs.

2 . The second que stion is to inquire into the meaning of theMidrash on the first verse , He shal l be hig her than Abraham,

more exalted than Moses, and loftier than the ministeringang e ls ;

’ for although this is explained of the King Mess iah,

i t is extreme ly difficult to understand how any child of mancan be exalted above Moses , of whom the Law bears witness

, saying , ‘No prophet ever arose in Israe l l ike him’

(Deut .xxxiv . I o ) still more so

,then, how any one

‘ born of woman ’

can assume a position higher than the ang e ls, whose substanceadmits of nothing above it e xcept the substance of the FirstCause : from the latter expression, in fact, Christian teachershave attempted to e stabl ish the ir doctrine of the D ivinity of theMessiah . Nor can the difficulty be met as was attempted bythe learned En Bonet a

,who explained ‘ministering ang els

’ tomean the learned

,saying , ‘W ho are the ministering ang els ?

Our Rabbis for how could -it ever enter any one’

s thoughtsto speak of the ir dignity as above that of Abraham and Moses ?And the view cannot be supported by what is alleg ed in proofout of Scripture : for the ver. Ezek . i . 1 8 speaks simply of thehost of heaven how then can it be used as an argument for thes ignification Rabbis3 . The third question is this : If, as the expositors say , the

prophe cy is intended to apply to Israe l , why is Israe l describedas a man— e . g .

‘his countenance , ’ ‘he was desp ised, ’ ‘a man of

pains ? ’ because, although a whole people, as constituting a

sing le unit, is frequently spoken of in the singular, y et it is not

R .Y’

dayah ha-Penini, ofBeziers .

l i i,l i i i .] DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL. 1 5 5

termed a‘man for a man would be one of the individuals

specified, and the term by which a particular part is described isdifferent from that which must be used to describe the whole .

4 . The fourth question is concerned with the expressionswhich speak of some one as bearing the sins and iniquit ies ofothers. If these refer to Israe l, viewed in re lation to the othe rnations

,then a g reat difficulty arises in connexion with the

divine g overnment of the world, in accordance with which,to

adopt Ezekiel’

s words (xviii. ‘a son shall not bear the

iniquity of the father,and a father shal l not bear the iniquity

of the son :’

how much less then can one nation bear theiniquity of another Nor can Israe l even be said to have bornethe s ins of the nations while in captivity ; for what Jeremiahsays (Lam. v . Our fathers sinned, and are not

,and we bear

the ir iniquities,’ wil l not apply here , but resembles rather Ex.

xx . 5 ,‘ visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children,

’— vis it ing

it, namely, if and while the children persevere in the deeds ofthe ir fathe rs.

5 . The fifth question. W hen the prophet says, ‘But we

thought him stricken,smitten of God, and afliicted,

’

as thoughhe were not so really, how can this be applied to Israe l ? for inthe captivity, when the people we re punished for the ir iniquities,Israe l was indeed stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

’

How

then can it be impl ied that this was not the case ? The prophetadds

,If his soul makes a trespass

-ofi ring ; as though it weredoubtful whether Israe l was punished for his sins ; y et that thiswas the case is evident from the testimony and warning s ofthe prophets . So also in ver. 8 it is said, For the transg ressionof my p eop le was he s tricken

,but Israe l’s stroke was for the ir

own transg ressions, and not for those of other nations.

6 . The sixth question re lates to ver. 1 1 . It is clear thatthere is nothing in the whole passag e to determine what see ing

’

has to do with the ‘ labour of his soul,’ or what connexion thereis between ‘be ing satisfied ’

and ‘see ing ,

’ or of whom it is saidthat he wi ll ‘ justify many.’— Our conclus ion must be that the

1 5 6 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL . [l i i , l i i i .

text requires to be handled with the g reatest care . For

my own part, I shal l endeavour throughout to explain the

prophe cy in such a manne r as to answe r the six questions justpropounded. The purport of the prophe cy, as a whole , w il l bediscovered if we can ascertain the true meaning intended bythe prophet , not alleg orically, but in accordance with what itsnatural sense sug g ests to a fair and straightforward judgment .W e must therefore examine each of the opinions mentionedunder the first head, and inquire whether they ag ree with thel iteral sense of the words , and w ith the g eneral tenor of thewhole Parashah .

The Op inion he ld by the learned among the Nazarenes, then,

is that the prophe cy refers to Jesus of Nazareth , who was putto death at the end of the second Temple : that to him the

words app ly, ‘He shal l be high , and exalted, and lofty exceeding ly

’ —according to the Midrash , Higher than Abraham,more

exalted than Moses,loftier than the ang e ls

’-words which

cannot be true except of the First Cause , who (Ecol. v . 7) is‘ loftier than the loftiest z

’ that of him it is said, ‘He was

stricken, smitten,

’

etc. because he was God,and was also stricken:

smitten, and affl icted : and that,be cause he cance lled the penalty

resting upon human souls for the sin of the first man,he is

spoken of as bearing the ir iniquities,’

and carrying the sin ofmany

,

’and ‘ interceding for transg ressors,

’

as is explained at

g reat leng th in the ir commentaries. This op inion, however, ifproperly examined

, possesse s many weak points. I . It isasse rted that our first parent, in ag reement w ith his sin, was

punished sp iritually by his soul descending to Gehenna, and

remaining there for ever ; but this is nowhere stated in Scripture , e ither at the time when the commandment was g iven tohim

,or in the narrative of his punishment and curse . And the

proof adduced for it from the words, ‘ Thou shalt sure ly die ,’

can be shewn to have no force,from the paralle l place where

Nathan says to David,with reference to the affair of Bathsheba,

The son that is born to thee shall sure ly die ’ ( 2 Sam. xii. 1 4)

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1 5 8 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL . [l i i , l i i i .

of us : how much more then is the supposition se lf-contradictory— as in fact is the normal case with the g enerali ty of the irarguments— that the De ity should be come incarnate ? For it isimpossible that the First Cause , who is infinite power, shouldtake flesh, and so become finite

,to cance l a spiritual penalty not

mentioned in Scripture , wh ilst the penalties which are men

tioned there, should continue to be inflicted upon mank ind.

Many other weak points could‘

also be charg ed ag ainst the

above-mentioned strang e idea, as in fact has been shewn inthe amplest way by R . Hasdai in his Spanish work on the con

troversies of re lig ion, a work which has been already translatedinto Hebrew. Now

,i f the fact [of the incarnation] is impossible

in itself,how can the prophet

’

s words be supposed to referto it ?In addition to this, however, the simple sense of the words

themse lves w il l not bear the interpretation put upon them.

And this for several reasons. I . How could the prophet say

of God, 2 If this means ‘ to acquire knowledg e or inte ll ig ence ,

’ then God, just be cause he ' is God, knows from all

eternity even that which is shrouded in darkness how then can

the prophet testify of him,he will be inte llig ent,

’

as thoug h hewere devoid of intel lig ence now , but that the t ime would comefor him to acquire it ? And if the word signifies ‘

prosperity’

or ‘success ’

(as 1 Sam. xviii . what was the success whichcame to him as something new ? was it in thing s carnal or inthings spiritual ? for successful ’ and not successful ’ are termswhich cannot be rightly predicated of the First Cause . Moreover, so far as the manhood [of Jesus] is concerned, it is evidentfrom the history of his last moments, that he did not havesuccess. 2 . He is called ‘my servant .’ Now how could God cal lone who was of the se lf-same substance with himse lf

,his

‘servant ? ’ be cause ‘maste r ’ and ‘

se rvant ’

are two distinctterms

,each exclusive of the other . And it cannot he replied

that the word is used re lat ively to his manhood, be cause boththe prosperity

’

named previously and the ‘exaltation ’

men

l i i,l i i i .] DON Y IZHAQ ABARBANEL . 1 5 9

tioned directly afterwards are attributes appli cable to him onlyin so far as he is (as the Christians think ) God : the expression‘my servant

,

’ therefore,which stands between the two b , must

perforce be understood in the same sense . An object is moreover, not defined or described except by its ‘ formfor example , is so called not on account of his material body,but because of his rational soul even the refore , from the po intof view of those who assert that God became incarnate , hecould never be termed a servant ; his name would, on the con

trary , always be one in some way connected with his ultimateform 0

. It has also already been pointed out by R . Abraham’Ibn

‘Ezra that ‘servant ’ cannot we l l denote the body, because

the body, even whilst l iving , possesses no

‘

prudence’ or ‘ inte l

lig ence .

’

3 . Isaiah says,He wil l be high and exalted, ’ the verbs

be ing , as y ou know,all future . I wish I could learn whether

this ‘exaltation ’

was to shew itse lf in thing s pertaining to thebody (relative ly to his manhood) , or in those pertaining to hisGodhead : for, in so far as ~ his manhood was concerned, heenj oyed no exaltation or dignity, but rather suffered humiliation and death— which , in fact, the Christians say themse lves isforetold in this very prophe cy ; while i f, on the other hand, thewords re late to his Godhead

,then the announcement is an

idle one, for God, just be cause he is God, is for ever high and

exalted, and inhabiteth eternity (lvi i. I 5 ) how then can a

period be predicted when he wi l l become high and exaltedafresh ? 4 . He says that his ‘

countenance was marred beyondman and ag ain, that ‘he had no form or come liness, ’ e tc. Suchphrases shew that he was troubled natural ly by me lancholy, andwas also of weak constitution

, and a feeble frame . This accountof him, however, though in ag reement with what is stated here ,is not in accordance with fact : for Jesus was young and hand

In the Hebrew the order is, Behold prosperous-shall-be my servant ,he-shall-be-high, ’ e tc .

L e . with his el60s as God, rather than wi th his {buy as man.

1 60 DON YIZHAQ, ABARBANEL. [l i i, l i i i .

some , —even the ir own teachers saying that his constitution wasof a normal state . And if the words have reference to hisdeath, every one

’

s countenance is altered when he is dead : hecould not

,then

,on this account alone

,be spoken of as ‘marred

In the same way the words ‘no form and no

come l iness ’

would be used of one who is y et l iving , and who dis ordinarily called ‘

a man of pains’

and ‘ known to sickness,

’

by wh ich are meant the pains and s icknesses which he was

accustomed to, and wh ich he habitually bore : of such,how

e ver, the re cords about Jesus do not say a sing le word. 5 . He

says, ‘He hath borne our sicknesses and carried our pains.

’

These express ions cannot be understood of the suffering s borneby the souls of the just in Gehenna for the sin of the ir firstparent, from which Je sus re leased them : because a spiritualpenalty is never called ‘

sickness and stil l more, because it is

said that he ‘bore ’

and ‘ carried them— for even the Christiansdo not venture to affirm that the Godhead bore the pains ofGehenna. The natural sense of the words is that he to ok uponhimse lf the sicknesses which he removed from them according lyit is said, ‘W e thought him smitten, stricken of God

,and

afllicted’—he was not stricken and smitten himse lf. If

, again,the words be understood of the suffering s inflicted upon Jesusat the time of his death , then the te rms themse lves present adifficulty, for the death brought about by the Jews did not

consist of ‘si cknesses ’ or ‘

pains ;’

and the last clause,

‘by his

stripes,’

etc.,a g reater difficulty still— as thoug h such s ick

nesses and pains had been the irs, but he had taken them uponhimse lf, and so they had been healed ! 6 . How can i t beasserted that the prophe cy refers to Jesus of Nazareth , and

that the words ‘ he was cut off out of the land of the living’

al lude to his death, when we find it said, For the transg ressionof my people , there was a stroke upon them 2

’

1 73 5 is plural ,and indicates that the Parashah alludes .not to an individual

,

beyond men.

4 Reading mm and for mann and respect ively.

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1 62 DON Y IZHAQ,ABARBANEL. [lii, l i i i .

‘his,

’ the refore , cannot refer to God] . 1 0 . He says,

‘ThereforeI will divide him a portion with the many but even if this beexplained of the many nations who have accepted his doctrineand re lig ion, what can be done w ith the clause which follows ?did this man ever carry on war and divide plunder or‘spoil ?

’

It wil l be clear now from the se ten considerations,each

drawn from the words of Isaiah themse lves, to say nothing ofothers derived from the same source , that, in accordance with itssimple and straightforward sense

,and as rightly understood

,

this prophe cy cannot possibly be interpreted as is done by

Christian expositors . Such is the first part Of the interpretation of the Parashah .

As regards the course taken by Yonathan and our other wisemen, who interpre t it of Messiah our righteousness, I do not

know whether in saying this they mean Messiah the son ofJoseph , who they be l ieve is to come at the commencement ofthe de l iverance

,or whether they intend Messiah the son of

David, who is to arrive afterwards. In e ither case , however,the natural sense of the words wi l l not admi t of such an explan

ation. Of Messiah the son of Joseph , who is to die at the

outset of his career,it could no t be said that he would be hig h

and exalted, and lofty exceeding ly ;

’

such dignity as this hewould never even acquire , still less maintain. The subject ofthis prophe cy is further spoken of as having a countenancemarred beyond men

,

’

as be ing despised,’ ‘

a man of pains andknown to sickness y et all th is forms no part of the descriptionof the Messiah as g iven by our own Rabbis why , indeed, shouldit ? The meaning Of ‘

with the rich in his death ’

is also not tobe ascertained. And how could it be said of him that he wil l‘ leng then days,

’

when he was to die at the beg inning of hiscareer ? If

, on the other hand, our Rabbis have in view Mes

siah the son of David, then a difficulty arises from the words‘marred beyond man

,without form or come l iness, ’ for Isaiah

himself,so far from calling him despised or ‘ forlorn of men

,

’

lii, l i i i .] DON l nAQ ABARBANEL. 1 63

describes him as God’s chosen one , in whom his soul del ights'

(xli i . and as the ‘rod out of the stump

’ of Jesse, uponwhom ‘

the Spirit of the Lord re sts’

(xi. and unto whom‘ the Gentil es wi ll seek ’

(ver. Then again, how could hebe said to have ‘borne our pains,

’ or to be ‘stricken and

smitten ? ’ rathe r,he is to be a righte ous king— not ‘

strickenand smitten

,

’

but ‘ rig hteous and victorious ’

(Ze ch . ix. And

if this is the case , what can be the sense of the verses whichteach how he wil l bear suffering s and death for Israe l’s sak e ?

A further difficulty is caused by ver. 8 ; for Messiah,the son

of David, wi ll possess ‘sovere ignty and right ,

’ instead of be ingtaken ’ from it nor will he be cut off out of the land of life ,

’

but rathe r re ign there : the plural m5 ‘upon them,

’ ought alsoto be the singular is ‘

upon him.

"And

,lastly, the words,

made his g rave with the wicked,’are contradicted by what the

prophe t says above (xi. ‘and the p lace of his rest shall be

g lorious.

’In a word

, the interpretation of Yonathan, and ofthose who follow him in the same op inion, can never be con

sidered to be the true one,in a literal sense , because the

character and drift of the passag e as a whole wi ll not bear itthese learned men were only concerned with alleg orical or

adventitious expos itions, and hence mere ly appl ied the tradit ions they had rece ived respe cting the Messiah to the presentpassag e, without in the least imag ining such to be its actualmeaning . For although our Rabbis explain the first verse ,‘ Behold my servant wi ll deal prudently,

’e tc.,

of the KingMessiah, y et the verses whi ch remain they apply exclusive ly toIsrae l ; and the same thing is done also by Yonathan, whointerp rets the first few verses of the Me ssiah

,and the rest o f

the chosen just ones. This transition is the less difficult,s ince

many of them expound the words, ‘ I wi ll divide him a portionw ith the many, ’ of Moses, our master, who died with the g eneration of the wilderness : but they do not on this account affirmthat the whole Parashah relates to him. And R. Mosheh benNahman, although he explains it of the King Messiah

, states

1 64 DON YIZHAQ,ABARBANEL. [l i i , l i ii .

that in his opinion it was uttered orig inally with reference tothe cong reg ation of Israe l .As to the opinion of the Ga

’on,who suppose s the prophe cy to

allude to Jeremiah , I cannot in truth see a sing le verse whichreally points to him. How is i t poss ible to explain of Je remiahthe verse , He shal l be high and exalted, and lofty exceeding ly ,

’

or,‘King s will shut the ir months at him ?

’— for at the time

when he lived the appearance of a prophet was nothing unusual .Or how could i t be said Ofhim

,that he ‘ bare our sicknesses , ’ or

that ‘by his stripes we were healed,’ or that the iniquity of us

all was ‘ laid upon him,

’

as though he suffered the entire penalty,and Israe l escaped free ? Nor do we read in his history any

thing of his be ing stricken ‘ for the transg ression of my people ,’

or of his ‘making his g rave with the wicked,’

still less of his‘see ing seed,

’

and having long life , or ‘dividing spoil with themighty not a word of all this can be substantiated from the

history. I indeed wonder g reatly who can have led the Ga’oninto this Opinion, and am surprised both at him and at the

scholars who applaud his exposit ion. W e conclude , then, thatall these:methods of interpretation are al ien to the subject, andhave no basis or support in the words of Scripture .

The opinion which ought to be adhered to,as be ing the true

one,is to be found by one of two courses . The first is in har

mony with the view which refers the prophecy to Israe l, who iscal led God’s servant, as xli . 8 , xlv. 4 . Th is course is at once sugg ested by what is said above, ‘For the Lord g oeth before them(1 1 1 . which must ne cessarily al lude to Israel, and by whatfol lows afterwards

, Shout, O barren one’

( liv . which alludesto Israe l l ikewise : this be ing so, the intermediate portioncannot but be explained in the same way , and allude to Israe las we ll

, exactly l ike that which immediate ly precedes and

follows it. The Parashah may then be divided into three parts .

In the first, extending from li i . 1 3 to the prophet describe s the prosperity of the people of Israe l , and explains howit wi l l be one of the consequences of the ir subjection and

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1 66 DON Y1 znAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i , l i i i .

which accounts for the Mem before ‘Abraham,

’ ‘Moses,

’

and

the Ang e ls,’

by assert ing that it is not the Mem of superiorityor comparison (‘ above or ‘ than but the Ill em which indicates the cause or source , from which the predicate named

proceeds, and that the intention of the Rabbis was thus toexpress how three kinds of perfection would be united in the

King Messiah ; firstly, the natural perfection which descendedupon him from Abraham secondly, the perfection acqui red byhabi t

,and derived from Moses , in whose law he would be we l l

versed and thirdly, a divine perfe ction to be shed down upon

him in g reat abundance from the Lord out of heaven. But

w ith this explanation, the words of the Midrash itse lf do not

accord. I have already stated my own view in the treatisewhich I have composed, ent itled, The Salvation of his Messiah(II . 1 1 1 . and wi ll here repeat for y ou the substance of it.Our wise men magnify the dig nity of the Messiah under three

aspects. 1 . In re lation to God, they affirm that he will l ovehim,

and walk after him,and cleave to him, and direct all his

actions to his service , de claring that in these respects the

Me ssiah wil l attain a hig her eminence even than Abraham our

father, who forsook “ his land,and his kindred

,and his fathe r’s

house,

”in order to follow after God, and who rece ived the seal

ofa holy covenant, saying , I am the Lord’s ”

(Is. xl iv. who

to perform the D ivine command proceeded to bind his only son,

and who , after the victory over the king s, was no t penetratedby any fe e ling of pride , or a thirst for the g lory achieved bythe ir conquest

,or any des ire of the ir spoil , but said

,

“ I raisehigh my hands unto the Lord, that I will not take , ” etc. (Gen.

xiv. 2 thereby implying that the g lory he loved was not

carnal or material . The King Messiah,howeve r

,will be higher

in the fear and love of God even than Abraham as the

prophet says (Is. xi. 2 , 3 , “ The sp irit of the Lord shal l restupon him, the spirit of knowledg e and the fear of the Lord,and his de l ight shal l be in the fear of the Lord,

”

and righteousness shal l be the g irdle of his lo ins, etc. 2 . In re lation to the

l ii,l i i i .] DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL. 1 67

p eople , whom the Messiah, be ing mighty to save ( lx ii i . wil lredeem and rescue, it is affirmed that he wil l be “ l ifted up aboveMoses — not , however , in virtue of his rank as a prophet , orlawg iver, or of any of the other offi ces by which that lordof the prophets is e levated above the rest of mankind, butfrom the fact of his colle cting tog e ther the seve ral captivitiesof Israe l , and then redeeming and conducting them into the irland. For although Moses, our master, broug ht Israe l forth out

of Egypt and carried them to the land which the Lord had

sworn unto the ir fathers as a nurse lifleth up and carrieth a

suck ing child (Num. xi. 1 y et the future del iverance wil l beg reater even than this : be cause in Egypt, the Israe lites wereat least all collected on one spot, and near to the ir own land

,

whereas the King Mess iah wil l gather tog ether the outcasts ofJudah and Israe l , who are scattered abroad

,from one end of

heaven to the other. In view of the perfection thus to beexhibited re lative ly to the people , they say ,

“ He will be liftedup above Moses, appeal ing in proof of the Midrash to the

words addressed to him (l. “Lift it up in thy bosom, as a

nurse lifteth up a sucking ch ild, wh ich refer to the de l iveranceof the nation

,and the ir guidance to the promised land. 3 . In

re lation to the Gentiles, i t is asserted that he wi l l prevai l overthem and destroy them ; for although the ir heavenly princes(Dan.x. 1 3 , 20 , 2 1 ) w ill pour down all blessing s upon them,

still thehand of the King Messiah wil l prevail, till the armies of the sky

are annihilated before him. And so our Rabbis say , The Lorddoth not aveng e himse l f upon any nation unt il he has aveng edh imse lf upon its God The King Mess iah wi ll be in the midstof his peop le as one of the host of heaven, or as one of theprinces who prote ct the various nations upon earth ; for justas the se heavenly princes rece ive abundant power according tothe i r rank , and shed it down upon the nations they protect,and just as the ir own streng th joins battle with that of the

8 See Mehhilta, on Ex. xv. 1 .

1 68 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i . 1 3 .

other princes who come to oppose them (as is described in

Danie l,x. 2 0,x1 1 . so the King Me ssiah w ill rece ive power from

the First Cause in abundance,and wi l l pour down upon his

people prosperity, g lory , and continual peace , putting to noughtthe forces of all those prince s who Oppose him. And

, therefore ,they rank the Me ssiah tog ether with the ministering ang els,meaning by these , the guardian princes of the various nations,upon each of whom are conferred abundant ble ssing s by the

Creator, but who wil l be inferior in dig nity to the Messiah .

And this upon two accounts ; firstly,be cause the abundance

destined for the Mess iah is sent down upon him dire ctly fromGod, whereas, in the case of the other princes, it is transmittedthroug h a series of inte rmediate ag enc ies and se condly

,be cause

when the cris is comes, the streng th of the othe r nations will bede stroyed and avai l them nothing— the cord of mercy be ingsevered which had before been extended to them out of heaven

,

while the streng th of the Messiah,on the contrary

,w i ll increase

and be confirmed,God pouring out upon him a spirit from on

hig h”

(xxxi i . And so,because the Messiah as he fights

with the other nations will annih ilate the powers of heaven,they say that he is “ loftie r than theSuch is the explanation of this Midrash

,which commends

itse lf to me , when the first verse is expounded of the KingMessiah ; and with it our second question rece ive s its solution.

After these pre liminaries, we may proce ed to the exposition ofthe text

,in accordance with the first method mentioned above,

which supposes it to allude to the cong regation of Israe l .LII. These verses form the first subdivision of the whole

Parashah,in wh ich the prophe t re late s the successes which wil l

attend the nation at the time of its redemption the promise ofredemption had been just g iven (ver. and here the exaltedtitles are described, to which the people of Israe l will possess a

claim “

at the period of its fulfilment . Israe l is addressed as mys ervant, because of the many g rievous years of exile which itendured for the honour of God, without forsaking his ordi

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1 70 DON YIZHAQ,ABARBANEL. [l i i . 1 4 .

now,while in exile , it is like a

‘ foolish people ,’ l ike a

‘si lly

dove without sense,

’

y et , at the t ime of redemption, it wil lacquire knowledg e , or, as the ang e l says to Danie l (xu .

‘ They that are prudent, shal l have understanding .

’

W ithreference to the second he say s, he sha ll be hig h : this re latesto his rising up out of the afilietion and depression of exile , andadvancing to the royal throne . The ve rb to be high is used ofthe subjugation of territory and e levation to the throne , as

Ps . xxxvii . 3 4 , He wil l raise the e on high to inherit the earthand xcu. 1 1 ,

‘My horn is high, l ike the horn of a buffalo itis as though the prophet had said

,This people , which hitherto

has been in the deepest depression, will at that t ime attain toroyal power, and be exce eding ly exalted.

’

W ith reference tothe th ird he says

,and lifted up ,

which alludes to prophecy, asin 2 King s ix. 2 5 ,

‘And the Lord lifted up against him this burden,’

as thoug h to say , that al though Israe l had continued ever so

many years in exile without any prophet, y et y ou wil l see thet ime come when he w il l again beg in to prophesy, and to rece iveand lift up the burden from God.

“

And with reference to thefourth he says

,a/nd lofty exceeding ly , i . e . although in captivity

Israe l were far removed from the ir God,at the time of the

del iverance he wi ll raise himse lf aloft. The word lofty is not

corre ctly used except in reference to the e levation arising fromadherence to God

,according to the use of the term Job xxii . 1 2 ,

‘ Is no t God’s the loftiness of heaven ? ’ Ps . cxi ii. 5 , ‘Who makethlofty his dwe lling Qob. v . 7,

‘Loftier than the loftiest.’ Thus,in concise languag e , the prophet announces the four promisedprivileg es of which the future nat ion wi ll be de emed worthy .

In this verse there is an instance of what I have often named

to y ou, the habit of the prophets to speak at one moment inthe second person, and at another in the th ird : so here , Isaiah ,addressing Israel , says at thee

,thoug h the re st of the Parashah

is in the third person, his countenance ’ ‘ he w ill sprinkle ,’

e tc.

The answer to ‘As they were astonished, is not so marred .

but so will he sp rinkle, the meaning (as the commentators

l i i . 1 5 .] DON m uag ABARBANEL. 1 7 1

explain) be ing this, that as many nations were astonished at

thee (according to the prediction of Mose s, our master, in hisimpre cation,

Lev. xxvi . astonished,namely , at thy depre s

s ion and evil destiny , and the attacks of thy enemie s (and this,too

,not without reason, so marred was Israe l ’s countenance

beyond man, and his form beyond the sons of men) ,1 5so

,in

Sp ite of be ing thus minished, he wil l sca tter and conquer manynations : in other words, the exaltation of Israe l at the latterend wi l l be in exact proportion to the ir previous humil iationand de cay. mr,

however,may perhaps have the same force as

lxiii. 3 , and sig nify that he will shed or ‘sprink le

’ the ir blood.

R . David Qamhi and his father exp lain the word,like WE) ”

‘drop,’Amos vu . 1 6 etc.,

of sp eech, the meaning then be ing ,that he wil l cause them to speak about himse lf, from astonishment at his sudden e levation. This view is sugg ested by thefollowing war» i . e .

, properly, ‘ they will speak wi th g reatbounds or leaps

’ respecting him,and by the words, what had

not been told them they have seen, i . e . what had never been toldthem at any t ime , as having happened -to any othe r people ,they now see realised in Israel, and what they had not hea rd ofas having ever occurred before , they now p erceive in his casethe last clause repeating the former in different words . Itwould be more correct, in my judgment, to explain ‘whathad not been told them have they seen

,

’ of the privi leg es

g ranted to Israe l while the first Temple y et stood, and

‘whatthey had not heard of they have perce ived,

’ of the new l ifethey entered on at the time of the second Temple . And th isis the only suitable way according to the l iteral sense of theverses, thoug h Rashi supposes the meaning to be , that theking s w ill close their months in amazement . In case , howeve r,y ou do no t l ike to assume this transit ion from the second tothe third person, y ou may explain the words a t thee as not

refe rring to Israe l at all, but to the nations ; for having justbefore (li i . 1 1 ) said, Touch not that which is unclean,

’

meaningby this the Gentiles, whose corruption will cause them,

at the

1 72 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i i . 1 .

time of the ir destruction and fall,to be treated as unclean

, the

prophet here continue s, As many were astonished a t thee,i. e .

‘As many, 0 thou unclean enemy, were astonished at thee in

thy fall,so was his countenance— the countenance of Israel my

servant —whom he has just ment ioned marred beyond men ;and as thou didst corrupt Israe l , it is only just that so he

should sprinkle many nations , in order that W hat thou hastdone to others should be done to thee , and that thy dealing stowards them should come back upon thy own head.

’— Here thefirst subdivision ends.

LIII . This forms the se cond subdivision,in which the

prophet narrates the languag e of the king s as they cry out in

the ir amazement Who,they say , hath believed our rep ort and

up on whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ? The questionre lates to the occurrence of two new and marve llous facts . The

first of these is the ruin of hig h and mighty nations who havefallen from heaven so that the fire consumeth them : who

believeth the rep ort of our exaltation and imperial power, nowthat we are like fish caught in a net

,or like the cities which

God ove rthrew in the day of his fierce ang er ? (cf. Deut . xxix .

R. Abraham ’

Ibn‘Ezra

,however, explains the first part

of the question thus — W ho ever be l ieved this report which wenow hear of the success and prospe rity of Israe l ? The secondof these new facts is the reve lation of the arm and power o fthe Lord— upon whom ? It might have be en expected that i twould be revealed upon the possessors of some exal ted or king lyoflice, but the Lord chose rather ‘

a people spoiled and des

pised’ for it to be revealed to . Th is , then, is the se cond

wonde r,that

,afte r the Holy One had willed to ‘ create a new

thing in the earth,

’

and to shew forth his infinite power , thereve lation was made to a people depre ssed and desp ised.

Anothe r explanat ion is,however , also possible : inasmuch as

,

at the time alluded to,all the inhabitants of the world wil l

re cog nise that ‘the kingdom is the Lord’s, ’ and that the law

of Mo se s is the truth,they wi ll repent and g ive up the ir old

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1 74 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL. [l i ii 3

any more the beauty which is peculiar t o children,and which

makes men love to play with them ; for he has no form and no

comeliness, i . e . no fair or beautiful form,and we looked a t him

,

and can therefore attest ourse lves that this is so,and that no

superiority or perfe ction can be discerned in him. If,then, i t

is the case,that he thus has no beauty , could we be expe cted to

desire him, be ing such a child as he is — All this is intendedto emphasize the ir first expression of wonder , He came up like

a suckling before him.

3 They wi ll furthe r say , He was despised

andforlorn ofmen, i . e . despised by other nations, and desertedby men, viz . by men of valour, so that none were left in hismidst. The phrase BMW 51 11 may , howeve r, also be interpre ted ceasing from men

,in allusion to the edicts by which the

Gentiles expe l led Israe l from the ir lands,each k ing and city

say ing , Rise up, and g o forth out of the midst of my people ;such expulsions would be included in the expression,

because ,when they took place , Israe l ceased to dwel l among st men. Itis

,then

,as thoug h they had said

,Not only has Israe l no form

or come l iness that we should desire him,but we even despise

him and expe l him from our lands,be cause he is a man of

pains and known to sickness. R . Abraham ’

Ibn’Ezra main

tains that the ‘

pains’and ‘

s ickness ’ intended are the miseriesof the captivity. It is more correct to say , that on account ofthe severity of the captivity and its attendant miseries, theJews

,more than othe r men

,laboured under a continual suc

cession of s icknesse s — whether me lancholy or emerods i (towhich they are said to be espe cially liable ) , or fevers attendedby fits of perspiration, which we also know from experienceattack them : to all these the Jews were so much exposed, andsuffered so much more from them than other nations , that it issaid, The Lord shall make the pesti lence cleave to thee (Dent .xxviii . in allusion to the persistent character of suchdiseases. And, therefore, the prophet appl ies to them the term

D ’n nnn Du seems to have dropped out after rnmwn.

l i i i . DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL . 1 75

7‘man o f pains and these pains were such,that we hid our

faces from him in order not to see him,because he was desp ised

and we esteemed him not. Or, perhaps, the meaning is, that thep ious among them were hiding the ir faces, so as no t to lookupon the features of a Jew : for this would have been accountedby them as

‘ iniquity for a judg e .

’

The Nazarene expositorsreject the idea that was can be used of a peop le , alleging that it denotes some definite individual , and not a wholespecie s or . g enus ; in truth , however, this obje ction arises fromnothing but thei r slende r acquaintance with Scripture for

,is

i t not written, ‘And the men k of Israe l were mustered (Judg .

xx.

‘And the men of Israe l went out ’ (ver and similarlyvers. 2 2 , 3 8 , xxi . 1

,1 Sam. xii i . 6 , xiv. 24 , xvu. z

,and often ?

And who can exclude the expression here from the same categ ory ? Israe l having been throug hout the Parashah spoken of,as by a parable , in the singular , this fact, of itse lf, causes himnecessarily to be treated as an individual man. Or

, perhaps,we may say that W‘N is not used in the Parashah w ith referencet o Israe l at all : in li i. 1 4 , ‘ beyond men

,

’ other people are clearlyintended, and in the present verse the meaning may be thatno t only was he despised and forsaken by all the noble

,hand

some , and robust men among the Gentiles, but even the man

who , in his own person, and by natural constitution, was dis

figured and loathsome from the impurity of illness, was likeone hiding his face from Israe l : an unclean alien

,who could

be designated as a‘man of pains and known to s ickness

,

’

was,

neverthe less, as one who hid his face from him. 1 before "momwill then be equivalent to am ,

as in the many paralle ls adducedby R . Yonah 1 .— The prophe t next names , similarly

,

‘the des

pised,’ i . e . the man of no reputation and of insignificant rank ,

k Lit . ‘and the man of Israe l ,’ — the verb be ing indifferently e ither sing .

or pl . This peculiarity of the Hebrew idiom is some t ime s pre served literallyin the LXX ,

as xai o’

wfip éweoxe’

mycm v, Judg . xx. 1 7, e tc.

See the Riqmah, p . 2 2 (ed. Goldberg ) .

1 76 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL . [l i i i . 4 .

in order to indicate that there were such among the Gentiles,who

, though poor and affl i cted themse lves , stil l he ld Israe l inno e stimation whatever . He says

,

‘We e steemed him not,

’

in

the plural, to shew that he desires to embrace the whole ofthem ; as though he had written, ‘ Smal l and g reat al ike

, we

he ld Israe l in no e ste em.

’

Or ‘ desp ised’may be explained

as referring to Israe l ; the complete sentence wi ll then run

thus — He was despised and forsaken of men,and even the man

of pains and known to sickne ss hid his face from him, becausehe ( i . e . Israe l) was despised among st us, and we esteemed himnot . According to Rashi, the words D‘JD

‘

ih DDD mean thatIsrael , when he saw h imse lf desp ised and depre ssed, strickenand afflicted, hid and concealed himself from the eyes of theGenti les

,in order that they might not l ook at him. And this

view is correct . 4 The king s now enumerate,in their discourse

,

th e various kinds of calamity and misfortune which Israe l suffered in captivity : these are four in number . The first com

prises the bodily hardsh ips which the Gentiles imposed uponthem : of these i t is said

,He hath

‘carried our sicknesses,and

borne our p ains . The true explanation of these words , in myop inion,

is no t, as is done by the commentators , to re fer the

pronoun to the nations,as though the sicknesses and pains

were to be fe l t by them ; for a state or condition may be spokenOf as be long ing to the ag ent who is instrumental in creating it,no less than to the recip ient upon whom i t is produced Ac

cording ly it is said,I have heard thy praye r

’

(Is. xxxv 1 1 1 .‘A prayer by the afflicted

’

(Ps . ci i . where the person praying , or in affliction, is the author of the prayer ; but also

,

‘ Iwi ll make them g lad in the house of my prayer

’

(Is . lvi .where the prayer is attributed to God as be ing its recipientand similarly

,Thou art my king , 0 God

’

(Ps. xliv . i . e . the

king who re igns over me , but , ‘ I have set my k iri'

g’

(n .

viz . the king whom I have appointed as my deputy. So , again,

the de struction o f Sodom and Gomorrha is some times assignedto God who brought it to pass, as, ‘Like God’s overthrow of

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1 78 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i i . 6

W e infl icted all this misfortune upon Israel , be cause by thefault Of those who were our teachers

,and who expounded and

determined for us our law,all the instruction (corre ction) which

they imparted for the perpetuation of our p eace was directedagainst him,

i . e . against Israe l they taught us, namely, incessantly that by his s trip es we were he aled ; in other words, thatwhen the ‘

stripes of a wound,’

which are the ‘ clearing of ane vil ’ (Prov. xx . were infl icted on him, there would be healing and peace for our souls : on this account

,therefore , we were

desirous for his destruction.

6 In spite , however, of the nationsbe ing various, Edom,

Ishmae l , etc.,and the ir re lig ions different,

there was still one point common to them all— they had all set

the ir heart to do evil to Israe l according ly, the king s are represented as saying , ‘ In our laws and re lig ions, all we l ike sheephave g one astray,

’ or,in the words of the prophet (Jer. xvi .

Our fathers have inherited nothing but vanity.

’

And the Lordhath laid upon him, etc.

,i . e . Israe l re ce ived the wickedness of

them all upon himse lf : the ‘ iniquity of us all’is like ‘

our

iniquities ’ just above , for m) is not'

used of the penalty of sin(as the commentators alleg e ) , but rather of the foul and wickeddeeds wrought against Israe l . By the words the Lord laid up onhim

,these are here attributed to the De ity

,in order to indicate

that God has ‘Ordained ’ Israe l ‘ for judgment, and established

him for corre ction ’

(Hab . i . 1 2) in captivity, and so to endurepunishments at the hand of the Gentiles ; or, perhaps, theymay be de signed as the express ion of the ir own conviction thatthe misfortunes which fe ll upon Israe l, whether natural oraccidental , we re all sent by Providence for the evi l of the irdeeds and their false re lig ion, and not for the wickedness ofthe Gentiles themse lves, in accordance with what they say

above , But we esteemed him stricken of God and afflicted.

’ Itis plain from this passag e , that the sicknesses which ought tohave fallen upon the Gentiles, were carried by Israe l instead :

it is no t,however, said that Israe l rece ived the penalty which

ought to have fal len on the Gentiles for the ir sins (although this

—l i i i . DON n znAQ ABARBANEL. 1 79

is what the Christians be lieve to be the op inion held by theJews) , for it does not appear to have been the prophet

’

s in

tention to speak about this : rather,as I have explained, the

s icknesses and pains are not referred by him to the ir author,

but are treated as belong ing to the re cipient in whom theyreside . And by this observation,

the fourth question, proposedabove

,is closed.

7 The first class of Israel’s misfortunes,those

viz . affecting the body , be ing now concluded,the prophet

proceeds to the second class, affe cting the ir property, and com

prising oppress ive tribute and taxation, with other forms ofspol iation and plunder, from which Israe l suffered continually.

Of this he says, He was opp ressed and he was afl icted, where‘Oppression

’

(WJJ) signifies the extortion of money, as 2 King sxxiii . 3 5 , Dent . xv. 2 ; if so, howeve r, the two forms of pers ecution are conj oined, that, viz . affecting his body, and thataffe cting his substance , so that the meaning is

,

‘He was op

pressed or plundered of his riches , while or though, at the same

t ime , afi icted in his body .

’

Still , in spi te of this, he Opened

not his mouth,but was as a she ep which men lead off to

s laughter, but which emits no cry : in the same way , the

Israelites bore in sil ence the violence done to the ir bodies.Of those touching the ir substance he continues, And as a lamb

,

from whom her shearers remove the wool, so was Israe l dumb,and opened not his month before those who spoiled him. And

because two comparisons are here instituted, one re lating to thedeprivation of l ife, and the other to the deprivation of sub

s tance,the words he opened not his mouth ’

are repeated twice .

It is possible , however, to interpret the opening part of thisverse , ‘He was oppressed and he was afiiicted

,

’

entire ly of the

plunder of his substance, understanding it to mean that theIsrael ites were affl icted by imprisonment and chains until theyg ave up what was required of them.

8 In this verse the thirdk ind of misfortunes are described, how,

viz . while in exi le,

Israe l possessed ne ither king ly power, no r the staff of judgment,nor authority to create or maintain courts of justice , such as

1 80 DON YIZIjAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i i . 9 .

they posse ssed before in the i r ow n land and therefore the

prophe t says truly, From coercion,i . e . from sovereignty ( 1 Sam .

ix . and from judgment, i . e . from the Sanhedrin and the

divine right conferred by the law,Israe l was taken away . And

because it might occur to an objector to ask how he can say

taken away , as though previously Israe l had enj oyed both,

whereas,in fact

,they had been for long years in exi le

,w ithout

the prerog atives of e ithe r sovere ign or judg e , subjected to the

laws of the Gentiles, he adds,And his g eneration who shall

declare ? i . e . Who indeed can te l l of the dignity and privileg eswhich be long ed to Israe l

’

s g eneration in the forme r days,now

that he is cut of from the land of life, i . e . the land of Israelwhere once he enjoyed the rights of sovere ig nty and judgment ?is he no t of a truth shorn of them all through the wickedne ssof the nations who came up against him,

made havoc of him,

and se ized his land ? He continues, On account of the trans

g ressions of our nations,i . e . Babylon and Edom

,who cut Israe l

off from the land of life , the s troke of devastat ion and depri

vation of rights passed over them,i . e . Israe l for althoug h the

prophet in this Parashah g enerally addresses Israe l in the

singular, y et here he makes i t his aim to characteriz e them by

the plural term web, in order to render it clear that the individual mentioned throughout is not some isolated man

, but the

whole nation colle ctive ly. Or, perhaps, 1 73 5 is used for thepurpose of alluding to the double destruct ion which befel Jerusalem and the Temple, the first [unde r Nebuchadne zzar] and

the se cond [under Titus] . Rash i explains his g eneration etc.

as follows ‘The years during wh ich Israe l remained in captivity,and the wearying vexations which came over him, when cut

off from the land of life , who can te ll ? for they are more innumber than the l ocust, and cannot be counted.

’

And hereends the enumeration of the third class of misfortunes .

g The

prophe t now passes on to the fourth class , describing how ,even

in their death , they had no se curity or freedom from the w ickedness of the Gentile s : the Psalmist indeed say s,

‘Fre e among

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1 82 DON e nAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i i . 1 0 .

that Israe l was in captivity under Edom [Rome], suppose thatall these misfortunes were occasioned by the murder of the manwho was put to death towards the end of the second Temple :the Jews acted then in accordance with justice , and becausethey did no violence by perverting judgment and rescuing himafter he had been justly condemned, many troubles and mis

fortunes came upon them. Calamities befel them also among stthe Ishmae lites [Mohammedans] because they would neveracknowledg e the fundamental truths of the i r law, or acceptthe doctrines of the ir relig ion. The meaning of the wholewill then be

,Because he did no violence when Jesus of Nazareth

was put to death , he was persecuted by Edom ; and becausethere was no deceit in his mouth, by uniting with the Ishmaelites in the ir re lig ion, he experienced at the ir hands subjugationand ill-usag e .

“H 3 These verses form the third subdivision ofthe Parashah, and contain the words of the prophe t himse l f.For the interpretation of the first verse , the methods adoptedby the commentators not commending itse lf to me

,three

different courses have sug g ested themse lves : the first two ofthese , for reasons which wil l be explained, I do not adhere to ;the third I have ‘ taken hold of

,and wi ll not let it g o .

’

The

first course is to assume an inversion, and to conne ct the con

ditional particle ‘ if ’ with what precedes : the sense w ill thenbe,

‘ If the Lord is pleased to bruise him, i . e . to punish himwith exile

,his soul will make a trespass-offering .

’

In otherwords : Know and be l ieve that all this proceeds only fromIsrae l ’s sin and the guilt Of his own soul : there are no chastisements without iniquity ; if, therefore , the Lord is pleased tobruise Israe l , and to sicken him by plagues of every de scription,do no t

,l ike the Gentile king s, th ink that all this came upon

him because he had done no violence , and there was no dece itin his mouth ; on the contrary, his soul wi l l make a trespassoffering , and we must be l ieve that he endured the suffering s ofexile for his s ins . And then' i t is added, after his iniquitieshave been blotted out by these suffering s, he sha ll see seed

,at

l i i i . DON YIZHAQ, ABARBANEL. 1 83

the time,viz . of del iverance

,when the i r seed will be multiplied

exceeding ly, as Ezek ie l (xxxvi . 3 7) and Ze chariah (x . 8,1 0) both

declare, and leng then day s, as Isaiah says (lxv .

‘As the

days of a tree shall be the days of my people ,’

and (ver.

‘The youth shal l die a hundred years o ld and the p leasur e ofthe Lord sha ll p rosper in his hand, because by his means thek ingdom and power of God wi l l be manifested in the world.

But I have abandoned this interpretation, be cause i t is not in

accordance with the accents,which connect ‘ if ’ with the word

following i t by Mag gef. The second course is to derive bunnot from aSn to be sick

,but from the same root as unbnn

(xxxviii . 1 6 ) to be p lump and healthy , as though the prophetsaid

,And the Lord

,who was p leased to bruise Israe l in exile ,

restored them ag ain to l ife and health by del ivering them : and

there fore (so the next words imply) , although much guilt and

sin attaches to him,he wil l st il l be worthy Of g reat and long

prosperity. But this interpre tation l ikewise is unsatisfactory ,because the root of ”Jb ’snn is D5 11 , whereas that of burnis nSn:”Sm therefore cannot have the meaning of DBn, since if thiswere the case , the Mem be ing radical , it must have been writtenDtma. The third course seems to me to be the corre ct one .

The prophet , as though replying to the king s, says z— Israe l’se xile

,althoug h we concede that it is caused by his sins

,is not

perpe tual ; the Lord wi ll not make a full end of his people and

his inheritance , so as to remove them from his face for eve rit is rather for the purpose of chastising him ‘

as a man chastise th his son which is what is meant by the words, The Lordis pleased to bruise him.

’

And these chastisements do not takethe form of death

,as they often do with a man who in his

vexation slays his ne ig hbour, but take the form of s icknesswith an abundance of remedies and cure s for

, as the Psalmistsays, ‘ It is my sickness

,the years of the right hand of the Most

High’

(Ps . lxxv1 1 . 8 by which he means that it was not

complete and s imple annihi lation which had come upon him,

but that he had mere ly ‘ become s ick ’

(Dan. viii . even

1 84 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL . [lii i . 1 1 .

though his sickness might seem inve terate and more protractedthan the ‘ years of the right hand of the Most High,

’ i . e . yearsas nume rous as his power could bring forth ; so here , by making

him sick,the prophet impl ies that it was sickness and not

annihilation which God had decreed against him . And therefore

,

‘although his soul makes a trespass i . e . althoug h

Israe l is sinful and guilty, he will, neve rthe less, be healed of hissickness, and see the seed of his nation multiplied, and leng thenday s throughout a l ife of continued prosperity ; and

,in addition

to th is,the p leasure of the Lord, which is, that all the children

of the world shal l come,as Zephaniah says (i i i . to recognise

his Godhead, shall prosp er in Israel’

s hand, because out of Zionshal l g o forth a law

,and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem ’

(Is . i i . The g reat R. Abraham ’

Ibn°Ezra explains the verse

as follows — The Lord was pleased to bruise and s icken himthrough exile ; but if Israe l wi ll make his soul a trespass-offering and confess his sin, saying , l ike Joseph

’

s brethren (Gen. xln .

‘ Truly we are guilty , and therefore all this distress hathcome upon us

,

’ then,after th is repentance , God wi ll redeem

him,and he shal l see seed, and leng then days . But the expla

nation which I have g iven is more correct . It is now plain ( 1 ) thatthe words, But we esteemed him smitten of God and afflicted,

’

and,‘For the transg ression of my people there was a stroke

upon them,

’

express the ideas of the Gentile king s who do not

know the ways of the Lord ; and (2 ) that the words, ‘ If hissoul ’ e tc.

,are unquestionably spoken in the prophet

’

s own

person,meaning , that if he attribute s guilt to his soul

,truly

even after having had his iniquities blotted out,he wi l l see

seed and have long life . And if all this be true,then our fifth

question wil l have been solved.

1 1 Here the prophe t statesby what merits Israe l

’

s guil t wi l l be atoned, so as for him tosee seed and leng then day s , and how the Lord’s p leasure , theinstruction of the Gentiles and the ir be ing brought under thewing s of the Shekhinah, will p rosp er in his hand. The threeverbs P‘WR‘, VDW‘

, nsr do not, in my op inion, refer to the

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1 86 DON YIZHAQ,ABARBANEL. [l i i i . 1 2 .

possible to explain the verse of the future— the three verbshere corresponding to , and expanding the three promises ofver. I O . Thus

,as there it was promised, ‘He shal l see seed

,

’

so here it is added, flfore than the travail of his soul which heexpe rienced in exile (the 73 be ing the Mem of superiority orcomparison, as Eccl . vii. 1 , Prov. vii i. he shall see seed at

the t ime of de liverance : as there it was said, He shall leng thendays

,

’

so here it is added, He sha ll be satisfied— shal l always diean old man and full of years (l it. satisfied of days) and as therei t was predicted that

‘the Lord’

s pleasure ,’ i . e . the bring ing in

of the Gentiles to cal l upon his name, should ‘

prosper in hishand,’ so here i t is added that by his knowledge and wisdom

,

Israe l mg servant, the righteous one , shall make many righteousby turning them from the ir own lying be liefs, and leading themto ‘

everlasting righteousness’

(Dan. ix . no t desisting on

account of the ill-treatment rece ived at the ir hands during exile(for such is the meaning of the last words, viz . although now,

during the exile,he bears their iniquities) . The sense of this

difficult passag e wil l by this time have been made clear, and so

the sixth question is solved.

1 2 The first part of this verse isassigned by the commentators to God, or to the prophet speaking in his name : but it is better to regard it as the prOphet

’

s

prayer entreating God to divide him (pSn as xxxiv . 1 7) a p ortion with the many , i . e . that Israe l may rule ove r many nationsamong the Gentiles , and that God may g ive them to him as an

inheritance . So , too , by the mighty , are meant the mig htynations who will come up ag ainst Israe l in the days of Gog and

Mag og , and whose spoil the Holy One wil l g ive into the handsof Israel . Four causes are then assigned for Israe l

’

s beingworthy of these favours. The first is, that wh ile in exile bep oured out (Gen. xxiv. 20 ) his soul to die for the sanctity of theHoly Name the second is

,that the Gentiles , at the same time

,

then classed him with the g enerality of transg ressors and reneg ades, with ‘

plenty of indig nation and contempt’

(Esth .

and therefore his reward wil l be that he wi ll rise to g reatness :

l i i i . m ] DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL . 1 87

the third is, that he carried the sin of many , i . e . not that heatoned for the ir s ins, but that in rece iving injury from the

Genti les, he took upon himsel f the ir wickedness and evil deedswhich are the sins and iniquities ’

spoken of : and the fourthis

,that when he was in captivity, he made supp lica tion to the

transg ressors, and entreated them l ike servants whose ‘eyes are

towards the hand of the ir master ;’

and therefore it is in theorder of justice that in the same place where formerly he fe l ldown at the ir feet in supplication,

he should now rule overthem, and divide the ir spoi l . paw has the same force as in

Jer. vu. 1 6,viz . to entreat. Perhaps , however, the meaning may

be, that in captivity Israe l interceded with God for the peace

and prosperity of the Gentiles, as it is said in the Prayer of theMassafm for the NewYear, And let all the children of the fleshcal l upon thy name , to turn to thee all the wi cked of the earthlet all the inhabitants of the world acknowledg e and knowthat to thee every kne e shall bow,

’

e tc. and similarly by Jeremiah (xxvn.

‘And y e shal l pray for the peace of the city.

’

Others explain v’JD‘ from 1 King s ii . 3 1 , supposing the meaningto be

,that he s lew and made havoc of the transg ressors among

the Gentiles ; but this view is not corre ct . Such is the expla

nation of this Parashah , according to the first method, which

appl ies it to Israe l ; and the questions arising in connexion withthis view have been new answered.

The second method is to re fer the entire prophe cy to Jos iah,king of Judah , who ‘ did that which was right in the eyes ofthe Lord

,

’

and l ike whom there had been no king be fore him ’

( 2 King s xxii . 1 , xxiii . and who , when Phar‘

oh Necho, k ing

ofEgypt , came up to fight against the king of Assy ria, wouldnot allow him to pass through his land, but went out ag ainsthim to battle , and was slain by the archers ( 2 Chron. xxxv. 2

and to whom Jeremiah (Lam . iv. 2 0 ) alludes as having perished

“1 The Mussaf (lit .‘Addit ion ’

) consists of the devot ions which followmorning prayer (Shahrith) on the Sabbath and certain fe stivals.

1 88 DON YIzHAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i . 1 3 .

in the iniquity of his g eneration. And because,in view of the

integ rity Of his life , his death was strang e and surpris ing , theprophet utters over him this Parashah , for y ou w ill find be l ow

,

in the Parashah D'nwrm ( lv i . I o - lvii . how he allude s againto Jos iah , saying , ‘The righteous hath perished, and no man

layeth it to heart,’

e tc. (lv1 1 . I ) ; and in the book of Lamentations

,he laments over him in the words (iv . The breath of

our nostrils,the Lord’s anointed

,is caught in the ir p its,

’

e tc.

Nor is there anything remarkable in this prophecy coming inthe midst of a series of promises of the future redemption ; forthe prophecies in this book are not all of them connected orre lated to one anothe r

,but each separate prophecy and each

separate promise uttered by the prophet stands by itself, as maybe seen from their contents. Even were i t othe rwise , however ,i t might be reasonably supposed that after he had said above(li i . ‘There shal l no more pass through thee the uncircum

cised or the unclean,

’

and warned the nations (ver . 1 1 ) to ‘

g o

out from thence,and touch not that wh ich was unclean

,

’

the

prophet was here shewn the g reat calamity wh ich would accom

pany Phar’

oh Necbo ’s passag e through the land of Israe l at thtime when Jos iah was slain

,in order to have an Opportunity

of declaring that nothing l ike it should occur again at the timeof the future redempt ion, be cause then none uncircumcised orunclean should pass through any more . The prophe t beg insby describing in the first verse

,in the name of God, the in

t eg rity Of the king 5 in the next verse fol lows the account ofhis death ; and in the third the manner in which he was aveng ed.

He relates,firstly

,how Josiah was a servant of the Lord in all

his deeds,as it is said in the Chronicles (xxxiv.

‘And

Jos iah took away all the abominations and made all thatwere pre sent in Israe l to serve the Lord the ir God, all his daysand describes how he had understanding , i . e . was wise and

learned in the ways OfGod and in the book Of the Law, as is

told in the narrative . And since David, too , is called ‘the

servant of the Lord ’

( 2 Sam . vu . 5 and is stated to have had

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1 90 DON YIZHAQ,ABARBANEL. [l i i . 1 5

of men, i . e . by his mighty men of valour, and the archers whoshot him. The verse thus means

,that his death did not take

place (as such perfect piety might have seemed to require ) atthe hands of heaven

, but that he was marred and slain by thehands of men for the sin of his people .

1 5 After re lating hisdeath, the prophe t announces the promise of veng eance to beexecuted by God upon Phar

‘

oh and upon Egypt , saying , So shall

he sp rinkle many nations,i . e . As these sons of men, these

Egyptians , shed the blood of Josiah , so shall God for his sak e

sprinkle the blood of many nations : for although ‘blood ’is

not expre ssed in the text, it is, neverthe less, virtually containedin the word ‘

sprinkle ,’

which involve s the idea of sprinkl ingblood. Turning next to Phar‘oh Necho, the ‘man

’

by whosehands the countenance Of Josiah was marred, Isaiah says

,At

him king s will shut their mouths,etc., alluding to the g reat

destruction wrought by Nebuchadnezzar and the king s whowere w ith him upon Phar

‘

oh and all Egypt shortly after Josiah’

s

death ( 2 King s xxiv. I, 7, and because the ‘ king s

’ of theearth did not be lieve that the realmOf Egypt would be com

pletely and utterly destroyed,he therefore adds

,For tha t which

had not been told them have they seen, and that which they hadnot heard they have p erceived.

LIII . ‘After this, the prophet beg ins in the name of Israel

to complain for the death of Josiah, saying , Who ha th believedthis evi l rep ort of the death of Josiah ? for there is no one who

can believe that Israel would have ‘ turned the ir neck in the

presence of the ir enemies,

’ or that ‘ the ir king would have diedbefore them (cf. Mic . i i . It is

,however, possible to suppose

that the 5 in nnmnvS assigns the cause : Who is there thatbe l ieves in the real ity of this g reat misfortune ? No one bel ievesin i t, because of the report we had of the integ rity, the justice ,the purity, the piety, and the re l ig ion promoted by his handsfor by reason of all this, God should rather have rescued himfrom the snare of the fowler, ’ and let him be mighty over his

e nemies , ’ and ‘ trample the young lion and the adder under

—li i i . z .] DON ri znaq ABARBANEL. 1 9 1

foot but,in fact

, the reverse happened, and the arm, i . e . the

powe r, of the Lord became a he lp to Phar‘

oh Ne cho,so that

Josiah was slain. Such, namely, is the meaning of And the

a rm of the Lord,upon whom has it been revea led ? in othe r

words,Was Phar

‘

oh Necho so much juster and more uprightthan Josiah that the arm of the Lord was revealed uponhim l— the contrast between the perfection and g oodness ofJosiah

, and the i nferiority and wi ckedness of Ne cho sugg estinga complaint over the harshness of divine Providence whichordained that Josiah should be righteous , but that i t shouldg o i ll with him,

Ne cho be wicked,but that it should g o we l l

with him 2 This righteousness is now described : from his

youth,from the time when he was a sucking child, he directed

h imse lf unswerving ly to the service of God, to walk before himin the integ rity of his heart,

’

as i t is re lated in the Chronicles( 2 Chron. xxx iv. 3 ) how,

while ye t a lad,he began

‘ to seek theGod of his fathe r David.

’

The prophe t dilates upon his perfections, saying how he was like a root out of the dry land,

because his fathers Amon and Manasseh were evil, and s innersbefore God exceeding ly, so that when Josiah became king , theland was all droug ht and darkness, filled with idols and strang eworships ; Josiah, however, came forth as

‘a lily among st the

thorns and as a root out of the dry land,’

but now,when the

misfortune comes home to him,and the terrors of death fal l

upon him,he has no form and no beauty , i . e .

‘the complexion

ofhis face is chang ed,’

he has no long er any form,or the regal

majesty which before had rested on him,and when we see him

,

we shall not behold in him the countenance he had before (ashe says above

,His countenance and form were marred) , y et ,

because he is be loved of his people , he adds, and we shall desire

him,because after his death men’

s des ire for him became g reat.And observe that, while in the book OfKing s the account of hisdeath is g iven briefly, in the Chronicles ( 2 Chron. xxxv. 2 4) itis re lated that it did not take p lace immediately afte r he waswounded, but that he was carried to Jerusalem s tricken and

1 92 DON Yi z h aq ABARBANEL . [l i i i . 3

smitten,and ma rred in countenance and form, and there died.

3 After describing the perfections of Josiah, the prophet thendepicts the insignificance of the man who caused his ruin

,

Phar‘

oh Necho . In view Of his bodily defects he says, He was

desp ised andforlorn of men : for Ne cho was not a valiant man

‘mighty in deeds’

( 2 Sam. xxi i i. but lame n in his feetfrom g out ; and as above (Iii. 1 4) he speaks Of him as a

‘man,

’

so here he terms him ‘a man Of pains .

’

For this cause he wasthe more despised and l ightly esteemed in our eyes

,so that we

hid our faces from him and did not listen to his words when hesent to Josiah

,saying (2 Chron. xxxv.

‘What have I to dow ith thee

,O king of Judah ?

’

etc.,but re fused his counsel

, be

cause he was desp ised and we esteemed him not.‘Ye t it was

not Necho’s hand wh i ch fe l l upon Josiah to slay him : it wasour sicknesses which

’

he carried— we,and not Necho

,caused the

pain and sickness which he bore . In the expressions our s icknesse s

,our pains,

’

the pronoun indicates the source from whichthe sicknesses and pains proceeded, the meaning being thatthe ir sins, and not the power of Phar

‘

oh, occasioned his death .

Or the pronoun may po int back to the possessor, as though tosay , The pain and s ickness which for our transg ressions weought to have rece ived, were borne by that just One for us, andthe refore we thought that he was smitten and put to death bythe hand Of God, and not by the hand Of Phar

‘

oh Necho.

5 Thus,be cause he was wounded for our transg ressions , bruised

for our iniquities , so that his death was for the wickedness ofhis g eneration, God, who judg es the whole earth

,and not

Phar‘

oh Necho,was the real ag ent in it, Phar

’

oh was but the

instrument, l ike the sword in the hand of the executioner. The

proof Of th is l ies in the words our p eace [which rested] up onhim was removed, i . e . by his death the peace and the confidencewhich we reposed in him while he was stil l al ive came to an

n Probably an inference from the name Necho , wh ich differs but slightlyfrom the Hebrew word here rendered ‘ lame

,

’ viz . neché,lit . smitten.

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1 94 DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL. [l i i i . 7

he was wounded for our transg ressions, to obviate this Objectionit is added

,All we like sheep did g o astray ,

etc.,i . e . althoug h

Josiah removed the h igh places and the strang e idols from the

land so that the people no l ong er worshipped them g enerallyand in public as in the days before , y et in part icular cases and

secretly the worsh ip of them was still practised, as our Rabbissay in Ekhah rabbc

’

lthi o . And the Lord made to meet (or , imp ing e) up on him the iniquity of us all ; the blow which theythemse lves oug ht for the ir iniquit ies to have re ce ived, was madeto fal l upon Josiah by the hand of Phar

‘

oh Ne cho .

7 The nextpoint related in this dirg e concerning the patience of Josiah ishow

,notwithstanding that he saw himse lf oppressed, i . e . ex

t ernally beset by perils during the war,as wel l as inwardly

afl icted, stricken, and smitten,he still op ened not his mouth to

‘ curse his day ,’

ne ither out Of his anguish ‘ascribed fool ishness

to God, ’ but in his patient endurance was as a sheep— the male

of the flock— which,while led to the slaughter, in addition to

its own fate , sees the lamb, its mate,dumb before her shear/rers ,

y et be ing naturally a patient animal,utters no cry, e ither for

its own impending slaughter, or for the fleecing Of its mate .

In the same way Josiah saw his people and his camp opp ressed,pursued, and spoi led by the ir enemies l ike the shorn lamb

, and

behe ld himse lf afl icted and stricken,and brought to die in Jeru

salem after the manner Of the sheep led to the slaughter ; nevertheless he op ened not his mouth to complain Of the divinedispensation. Upon this explanation the words opened not his

mouth wi l l refer the first time to Josiah, and the second timeto the male she ep and the :J

'

in 5m: will not be the Caph ofcomparison, but the C'aph which indicates time, as Ex. ix. 2 9,

1 Sam. ix . 1 3 .

8 The prophet still continues his complaint,saying , From sovereignty andfrom judgment he was taken away ,

because at his death he ceased to be king and to exercise judgment and justice ; and when God had deprived him of these

0 No t to be found in our editions.

- l i i i . DON YIZHAQ ABARBANEL . 1 95

prerogatives , who could then pray for and protect his g eneration ? Or

,who could declare and teach them the knowledg e

and fear Of the Lord, after he had been cut of out of the land ofthe living ? Therefore also it is added with truth

,thatfor this

transg ression of my p eop le (wh i ch was the cause of his death)the stroke came up on them, viz . upon Israe l themse lves, becauseit was they who were ‘

stricken ’

by his death even more thanhe h imse l f ; for Josiah experienced no further harm except thatGod 9

assigned him his grave with, and through the instrumen

tal ity Of,the wicked Egyptians . His death is here spoken Of as

his ‘

g rave or ‘

burial be cause,inasmuch as every dead man

is buried, death itse lf may be spoken of as burial . Or the

meaning may be , that God made the w icked Egyp tians to be theinstrument and cause Of his burial taking place : they were inthe position of men who cause the dead to be buried. Or the

words may be explained of the burial of the body of Josiah bythe side of Amon,

and Manasseh , and his fathers,who were

wicked, or of the ch ildren of Judah and men of Jerusalem,who

were worsh ippers of false idols . God also made Phar‘

oh Ne cho,

the rich,who ruled over the treasure s OfEg ypt , the instrument and

mediate cause of his death , as is signified by the words, the richin his death ; since , owing to his insignificance , the prophe t doesnot term him ‘ king

’ or ‘mighty man’

(because he did not

ach ieve his conquest by the sword) , but rich, which is a name

appl ied to a king , as by Solomon, Eccl . x . 2 0 . The last words,

because he did no violence,etc.

,allude to Josiah’s be ing ‘

perfectand upright , a fearer of God and removed from evil .’ Josiah

,

however,did not die for his own iniquity, but because God was

p leased to bruise him,as it was be

,rather than the archers

,who

caused him his sickness. It may be observed that the same

word to be sick] is used by Josiah in speaking of h imse lfat the time when he was wounded, 2 Chron. xxxv . 23 , Take meaway, for I have been made sick exceeding ly.

’

The whole forceof the complaint l ies in the fact that his death took place , notby judgment and justice

,but at the pleasure and wil l of the

1 96 DON rl znAQ ABARBANEL . [l i ii. 1 1 .

Most High ; and in order to intensify it y e t more , there isadded

,If his soul

,e tc.

,i . e . since Jos iah , though we l l-seeming

with both God and man,was thus bruised by the Almighty,

i t will fol low that if, on the contrary, he had been a man of

guil t and sin (for this is the meaning of, If his soul were to

make a tresp ass-ofi ring ) , his days would not have been short

ened, but he would see seed and leng then day s , i . e . would haveseen children’

s ch ildren ,and lived to o ld ag e and hoary hairs

,

and the Almighty would not then have been pleased to bruisehim

,as he actually did ; rather, through his be ing s inful and

guilty, it would be the Lord ’

s p leasure that' Jos iah should

p rosp er by his hand,and conquer his enemie s instead of being

conquered by them,and slay them in the same manner in

wh ich,in fact

,he was slain himse lf. All this is said in irony

,

which is the habitual resort Of indignant lamentat ion,as in

Job’s complaint at the prosperity Of the wicked,xxi . 7—9 .

1 1 Having now finished his account of Israe l’s complaint, and

the ir murmuring s against the Lord for the slaying of Josiah,Isaiah proceeds to g ive the words of the Almighty

’

s reply .

F or the travail of his soul— the travail,viz .

,wh i ch resulted in

his death— this wi ll be his reward,he sha ll see and be satisfied,

i . 6 . shall see the ‘ light of life’

(PS . lvi . I 4) , and be satisfied witha

‘satie ty Of j oys ’

(Ps . xvi . the entire phrase be ing an

allusion to the soul’s spiritual reward in the future world (ashe proceeds at once to describe ) . Josiah

,he says, deserved

rightly th is reward Of the Most High, because , by his knowledg eand understanding , my servant Jos iah , when stri cken and smitten at the hour of his death, justified the Jus t One Of the worldto many , i . e . publ i cly, and in the presence of many people ,justified the judgment against h imse lf, so as to preserve ihviolatc the sanct ity of God. For

,as our wise men say in the

t reat ise Ta°

ainothP,when Josiah was brought , stricken down

,

to Jerusalem,Jeremiah dire cted his ear towards him so as to

P Fo l. 2 2b .

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XXX . R . DAVID DE ROCCA MARTINO .

LII .

1 3 This Parashah may be divided into thre e partS ' the

first extending from l i i . 1 3 to li i . 1 5 , the second from 1 1 1 1 . 1 toli i i . 9 , the third from li i i . I O to the end.

Thefirst of these parts is spoken entirely by the prophet, andfalls into two subdivisions. Of these

,the first contains the pro

mise of the future prosperity and exaltation Of the affl icted con

g reg ationuaddressed as in xliv . 2 by the title Of servant : th is iscomprised in the first verse . The se cond subdivision announcesthe nation’

s succe ss in terms of a proportion, de claring that thissuccess wil l be in the exact rati o of its previous depress ion and

distress ; more over, pre cisely as the depression was infinite lyg reat, so will the subsequent prosperity be infinite ly g reat l ikewise . This is included in the next two verses, 1 4 , 1 5 .

The second part contains the confe ssion and acknowledgmentwhi ch will be made by the king s Of the Gentiles when they see

the success and safe ty of Israe l : this part falls into thre e sub

divisions . In the first,consisting of three verses (l iii . 1 the

astonishment of the king s is (lescribed when they see how the

‘ dry bones’ revived and rece ived from God prosperity. The

last words, He was desp ised, and we esteemed him n ot,exhibit in

a summary form how seve re were the ir humil iat ion and suffering s , and how g reat the contempt in which they were he ld :nevertheless the arm of the Lord was revealed Upon them in

a mysterious and wonderful manne r . The second subdivision,

cons isting Of verse 4 , re counts the confe ssion of the k ing s , whenthey exclaim

, W e are verily g uilty, in that we saw the ir

lii,liii.] R . DAV ID DE nocca MARTINO. 1 99

anguish ; it is we , and not,as we imag ined, they, who have

s inned. The third subdivis ion enumerates in detail the variousforms of distress and affl iction which befel them. These are

four in number : 1 . those affecting the body, i . e . martyrdom ;2 . those affe cting property , viz . tribute and taxes ; 3 . depri

vation of the rights of g overnment and execution of justice ; 4 .

contempt shewn for the dead by forcing open the ir sepulchres .

The first of these four is described in verse 5 , he was woundedfor our transg ressions, alluding to those who we re put to death ,and endured blows and stripe s for the sake of God’s holy name ,‘the chastisement Of our peace was upon him,

’

al luding to thesuffering s which fe ll on them ; forwhile the Gentiles enjoyed peaceand tranqui l lity, Israe l were in s igh ing and g reat distress ,

’

the

strip es be ing those of men smitten and bruised by exile . And

because their distress was so keen,they se ize the opportunity

Of confessing (as Joe l says, iv. 2 1 , I wi ll hold guiltless the irblood

,which I he ld not gui ltless All we like sheep ,

etc.,

excus ing themse lves and craving for pardon, saying , 0 let us notperish for the l ife of these men ; for thou, O Lord, hast onlydone that which it was thy pleasure to do . The se cond form Of

distress, which affe cted the ir possessions , is mentioned in verse 7,whe re the words, He was opp ressed, and he was afilicted, are an

allusion to the ir be ing se i zed and thrown into prison until theyhad paid the tributes and burdens imposed upon them. The

prophet adds,Like a sheep ,

bound by its feet when led to theslaughte r-house , they led him off to prison until a ‘

present’ for

his redempt ion should be ‘ brought to him that is to be fearedand like a lamb which before her shearers is dumb

,in allusion to

those who incessantly year after year laid burdens upon them,

leaving them robbed like a shorn lamb. The first of the twoclauses will thus refe r to unusual or extraordinary burdens.

The third form of distress follows in verse 8 . The authorityand functions of g overnment were taken away from him he had

no powe r to make new laws,or alter the judicial procedure , or

dispose anything afresh in the presence of his contemporaries ,

200 n. DAVID DE ROCCA MARTINO . [lii, liii.

owing to the fact that he had been expe l led and cut Off from the

land of life in which was the Polished Hall a, where laws wereg iven and judgment announced to Israe l : since , furthe r, thise xile from the land of l ife was notably and principally caused bya g reat blow which befel the nation at the same time , the finalconfess ion is appended,

‘ For the transg ression of my people ,(which was) a blow to them [to The fourth form ofdistress , re lat ing to the mode of burial , is described in verse 9at times it would be the lot of the nation, or despised

’

servant, ’

here spoken of, to be ranked with the wicked, and the rich whoanswereth roug hly

’

(cf. Prov. xviii . so that those belong ingt o it would be ‘ drawn and cast out

’

(cf. Jer. xxii . and not

deemed worthy of prope r burial . He re ends the se cond part ofthe Parashah .

The third part, verse s 1 0 — 1 2,is occupied by the words of the

prophe t, and falls into three subdivisions . The first of these,

comprised in verse 1 0,announce s how the servant ’ will accept

his chastisements in love,and justify the judgment passed upon

him,because the Lord was p leased to bruise and afflict him

,

though not so far as to annihilate him,or utterly annul his

covenant with him then, after his wisdom has thus de creed,he

w il l natural ly find his de light in the Lord’

s p leasure , so that[instead Of bring ing any more affl iction on him] i t wil l nowresult in his prosperity and fre edom. For G od ‘ killeth and

make th alive,he bring e th low and also lifte th up

’

( 1 Sam. i i .7 , and ‘ heale th the stroke of his wound ’

(Is . xxx . The

se cond subdivis ion, consisting of verse 1 1,describes how the

se rvant,

’

so soon as he realise s his de l ive rance and freedom,wil l

be g in to proclaim his righteousne ss in publi c before the eyes ofthe nations : fo r just as be fore the latter had condemned themse lve s

,confe ssing that they had ‘

all g one astray like sheep,’

so

now the se rvant , who is the subj e ct of the prophe cy , will main

The building 1 1 1 which the great Sanhedrin he ld it s S itt ing s see Neubauer ,

( H “g r . ( la Ta lmud, p . 1 44 .

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XXXI . R . SA‘

ADYAH IBN DANAN.

Says Sa‘ady ah , son OfR . Maimun,Ibn Danan Behold in the

Lord’s compassion on me,he hath put in my heart inte llig ence

and knowledg e to comprehend and understand the words of thew ise who expound the Scripture s, to consider attentive ly thing sse cre t and sealed up, and to solve hard and difficult problems :he hath also brought me forth and set me outside the cityof chatterers and praters , and of all them that are pe rplexedand confused. And my mouth and tongue have resolved not toutter words w ithout sense , or to raise the ir voice ‘ in storm and

tempest,’ or exhibit an ang ry countenance ; but , like the wise

(Eccle s . ix . that I should publish my words ‘ in quietness,’

and of the uprightness of mine heart’

(Job xxxiii . 3 ) address mycompanions and friends .

I was perusing the book of the prophet Isaiah , and when Icame to the Parashah Behold my servant

,I set before myse lf

the notes of those who had commented upon it, and ponderedover them and examined the opinions they contained. But all

al ike , I found, lacked solidity and soundness as was the morepalpable , s ince each differed from the rest in the subject to whomhe supposed it to refer, some expounding the Parashah of thecong regation of Israe l as a whole , and others

,in one way or

another, of the King Messiah, who will speedily be revealedin our days . This

,in fact

,is done by our Rabbis

,who, in the

section Heleg3,on the words To the increase of g overnment

(Is . ix . expound as follows - The Holy One sought to make

‘5 Sanhedrin,

R . SA‘

ADYAH IBN DANAN . 203

He zekiah the Mess iah ; and [to make ] Sanherib, Gog and Mag og :and the here tics explain it of their Me ss iah

,by the ir method of

interpretation discovering in i t arguments relating to his passionand death ,

and the ir false be lief in him,which

,however, have

be en refuted oftent imes with unequivocal proofs by learnedJews . One of these , R . Joseph ben Kaspi , was led so far as tosay that those who e xpounded it of the Messiah

,who is shortly

to be revealed, g ave occasion to the heretics to interpret it Of

Jesus. May God, howeve r, forg ive him for no t having spokenthe truth ! our Rabbis

,the doctors of the Thalmud

,de liver

the ir opinions by the powe r Of prophe cy, possessing a traditionconcerning the principle s Of interpretation,

so that the ir wordsare the truth. The principle which every expositor ought torest upon is never to shrink from declaring the truth ; in orde rthat such as are foolish may no t err : for our God wil l notde stroy anything out of his world for the sake of fools whoworship his creature s . And now I w il l make known what hasbeen communicated to me from heaven

,how

,name ly

,the

Parashah was orig inally uttered w ith re ference to He zekiah ,king of Judah and Israe l

,but

,be ing ‘

a word spoken deftly b’

(Prov. xxv. neverthe le ss al ludes covertly to the KingMe ssiah . In this respe ct the Parashah Ba laam (Num . xx ii .

xxv . 9 ) forms a paral le l to it , speaking , as it does , ostensibly Of

king David,but alluding covertly to the Mess iah . And

,s imi

larly ,there is no doubt that the building of the temple in

Ezekie l refe rs to the th ird Temple as we l l as to the se cond ;for though our Rabbis

,in the tract Jll iddoth 0, adduce from i t a

proof respe cting the construction of the latter, the gatheringtog ether Of all the tribes, the division of the land into thirteenparts (Ezekie l xlviii), the g ates named after the twe lvetribes (xlviii . and the installation-Offering s which are

spoken of (chap . xlv) , have hithe rto ne ithe r existed nor been

created. It is beyond doubt,then

,that this prophe cy, be ing

b And according ly capable ofa double meaning .

C n. 5 .

204 a. SA‘

ADvAn IBN DANAN .

likewise a word spoken deftly,’

while i t refers dire ctly to these cond Temple , is at the same time intended to point covertlyto the third : because , though the hopes and expectati ons ofthe g eneration in whi ch Ezekie l l ived we re centred in the

former, y et the aim Of the prophet and the scope of his pre

dictions extended to the latter ; and God forbid that, whenpromising prospe rity, a prophet should assume an extravagantor hype rbol ical style , wh ich in g eneral is only adopted by themfor proverbial saying s, or in de clarations of terror, or rebuke .

The central idea in the Parashah is the g reatness Of king He zekiah

,his prospe rity, his righteousness , the merits wh ich accrued

to him therefrom at the time when he and his people weredel ivered from the hand Of Sanherib

,and the troubles wh ich

came upon him subsequently from Sanherib and his hosts.

Now Isaiah’s prophecies were composed with the View of describing the fall of Sanherib and of his army . From the ParashahHo Assy ria (Is. x . 5 ff.) to the Parashah Sanherib(xxxvi . 1 iii),he treats of various events conne cted with his h istory, accordingto the visions rece ived by him on different occasions at one timespeaking of the fal l Of Sanherib h imse lf ; at another, Of the fal lOf Babylon with him (for Babylon was contiguous to Assy ria,and

,at the time in question, under the dominion of Sanherib) ;

then ag ain of the g reatne ss and g oodne ss Of He zekiah ; thenOf the exile of the ten tribe s ; next of the events of the Babylonian captivity . After all th is he annexes the Parashah Sanherib (Is . xxxvi . 1 ff.) for the purpose of exh ibit-ing how,

in the

destruction Of Sanherib and his host,his own predictions had

been fulfilled,tog ether w ith an account Of He zekiah ’

s sickness,

of the miracle wh ich was wroug ht when the sun went back,and

o f the prophe cy utte red by himse lf at the t ime when the embas

sag e from the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem . Thenfollow chaps . xl . I — li i . I 2

,relating similarly to diffe rent subj ects

,

ording to the visions re ce ived by the prophet , some describingth e prosperity and tranquill ity during the days of Hezekiah

,

and others (as I believe) announcing the sal vation which was to

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206 R . SA’

ADYAH IBN DANAN. [l i i . [ 4

upon the ir inhabitants out of heaven, so that all we re burnt upfor in the case of the Assyrian soldie rs

,while the ir sp iritual

nature was consumed, the ir bodies were preserved al ive . And

so our Rabbis expound Is . x . 1 6, Under his g lory he shal l k indle

a burning ,’ of a conflag ration of the soul but preservation of the

bodyd

. But the simple sense of the text is this, that he wouldbe high and exalted on account of his success

,and lofty at his

latter end exceeding ly : and so it is written in the book ofChronicles (II . xxxii . 2 5 ) that his heart was lofly

’

and e levatedafter he had been cured of his sickness and was confirmed inprosperity.

1 4The Holy Spirit te lls the prophet —or e lse theprophet says so to h imself— how many of the people wereastonished and surprised at the promise of Sanherib

’

s fal l beforeJ erusalem,

because he had taken all the fenced cities of Judah ,and laid s ieg e to the capital (Is . xxxvi . I ) , so that they wouldnot be l ieve Isaiah’s words. Or

,according to another explana

tion,the pe ople expected that the prophet

’

s intercession wouldde live r them,

so that the wicked among st them were astonisheda t Isaiah , saying , W hat do we care about a prophet who wi llnot rescue us from th is distress ? In a similar strain

, Jchoram,

son of Ahab, exclaims (2 King s vi. 3 x), ‘ If the head of E lisha,

son of Shaphat, shall stand on him this day because he thoughtthat Elisha

,if he chose , could raise the sieg e , and so liberate

him. So marred, etc. The countenance of the ‘

servant ’

( i . e . He zekiah) was marred, and his form disfigured, on accountof the trouble and pain endured by him,

and the fasting and

affl iction which he unde rwent ; for the iniquities of the people,and the ir deeds in the days of his father, filled him with fear

,

lest perhaps they might have caused the fatal de cree to bepassed against them. Scripture states, however, that his prayerwas accepted (Is. xxxv n. 2 1 fit), and that his righteousnessstood him in g ood stead, although the people attributed hissucce ss to the merits of David his father. 1 6The promise to

d Sanhedrin,

R . SA’

ADYAH IBN DANAN .

007

He zekiah , how,for his merits in the endurance of distress

,

and in trustful dependence upon his God, he should decla re tomany nations and king s , when they ask him about the miraclewh ich was done in the earth ’

(and which they wi l l know of,

s ince it ‘made the earth to tremble and kingdoms tothe providence of his God towards him, and the sig ns and

wonders which he wrought . Or mv 33 may mean ,He wil l make

them a sh about the miracle , for both he himse lf and the prophetswith him had the reputation of posse ss ing g reat wisdom : and

just as the king of Babylon sent to enquire concerning it ( 2 Chron .

xxxii . so other k ing s and princes will enquire likewise .

Those king s, however, who have the design of g oing up againsthis land

,and fighting against him,

will close their mouths,and

desist from speaking against him,in alarm

,le st that which.

happened to the army of Sanherib should happen also to themfor tha t which had not been told them have they seen— they saw

the g oing back of the sun,before they had be en told of the

miracle vouchsafed to He zekiah,and that which they had not

heard they have p erceived— the destruction, without sword orbattle

,of such a vast host as that of the Assy rians, had never

been heard of,though now they knew that it had taken place .

Or both clauses may be paral le l , intimat ing that the fal l of Sanherib had not been told them

,and that the y had not heard of it.

LIII .

1 But even i f what had happened in the former days( i . e . the fal l of the Assyrian) were told them, who would believe

a rep ort such as that would be ? or up on whom of the nationswas the arm of the Lord ever revealed to work for them a

miracle so g reat as this ? 2And he came up as a sucher beforehim

, for through the merits of the righteous shepherd [David]he flourished like a blooming tree ; and so it is written, Thereshal l come forth a rod out of the stump of Jesse , and a branchout of his roots shal l be fruitful ’ (Is . xi. As a root out of thedry earth because Hezekiah was just

,and p ious, and w ise , and

followed after the Law and the commandments di l ig ently, notwithstanding that he had been brought up in the house of

208 R . SA‘

ADYAH IBN DANAN. [liii. g

his father , the wicked renegade Ahaz ; for he reje cted all his

fathe r’s deeds, and from his youth accustomed himsel f to adhereclose ly to the law of the Lord. The righteous is spoken ofas a

sucker and root,and the w i cked and his house as the dry earth

,

after the manner of Deut . xxix . 1 8 . He had no form or come

liness,be cause during his youth he was in such constant g rief

and distress on account of the deeds of his father that this,

coupled w ith the fire which his father made him pass throug hwhen he was small , caused him to be ai l ing . Our Rabbis have ,in fact, a tradit ion to the effe ct that he was anointed by hismother w ith the oil of the salamander 6

,and so preserved from

the flames,while all Ahab’s other sons perished in the fiery

oven which he made them pass through in honour of the idol ;and thatwhen e levated to the throne he had none of the maj e styg enerally possessed by a king

’

s son,because he had always been

disputing with his fathe r. And now,Isaiah continues

,we see

him,but do not fi ll our eyes with the sight of him,

because,

in our l ove for him,the desire of our heart is that no evil ey e

Should g ain powe r over him : the re fore we see him and desirehim -we have no wish except that he may enj oy long l ife , andthat our sons may resemble him in be ing righte ous, and prudent,and g ood.

3He was desp ised, viz .,by Sanherib and Rabshakeh

,

who treatedwith contempt his kingdom,his worship, and his con

fidence in his God, saying , W here are the g ods of Hamath and

Arpad’

l’

(Is . xxxvi . 1 9) and,

‘Where is the king of Hamathand the king of Arpad (Is. xxxvii . Give pledg e s to mymaster

,and let not He zekiah dece ive y ou

’

(vers . 8, e tc. and

ceasing from men,because he de sisted from fighting , and re lied

upon prayer, although in the eyes of Sanherib he seemed to beentire ly destitute of streng th , for he speaks of him (ver. 1 4 ) as

not be ing able to del iver them. A man of pains and known tosichness because he was pained in heart and distressed at the

reproache s cast at him by the ‘attendants of the king ofAssyria ’

Se e Buxtorf, s . v. NWWJD'm.

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21 0 R . SA‘

ADYAH IBN DANAN. [li i i . 5— 0

ne ss and prayers protected both himse lf and them ; but the

people did not possess his faith, or have confidence in his

righteousness and devotion to God, for among st them stil lling ered some wicked ones from the days ofAhaz . By

‘smitten

ofGod,’

the prophet means to say smitten severely the Divinename is added for the purpose of intensifying the meaning , asin the expressions ‘ flame of Jah ’

(Cant. viii . ‘mountains ofG od

’

(Ps . xxxvi . 5 But he was pang ed and bruised for theiniquities and transg ressions committed in the days of his father,when they forsook the Law and the service of God the inst-ruc

tion of our p eace— i. e . of the Law and the commandments

was up on him ; he undertook the office of instructor, and byhis constant efforts brought back the nation to g oodness, e stablishing a multitude of schools in wh i ch the Law was taught andenforced. Our Rabbis thus expound as follows ‘And the y oke

shall be destroy ed because offa tness (Is. x . i . e . the yoke ofSanherib by the fatness of Hezekiah . W hat did he do ? He

affixed a sword at the entrance to every place of study , saying ,Every one who doe s not occupy himsel f with the Law shal lbe p ie rced through with this sword. They sought, therefore ,from Dan to Beersheba

,

’

etc h And by his associations we werehealed ; by the companies which he brought tog ether in the

different schools for th e study of the Law,those who attended

them were healed for the ir transg ressions (as Is. vi. t o ) , as

though to say , Through the ir study of the Law,to promote

which Hezekiah thus forcibly associated them,they rece ived

pardon for the ir iniquities, be ing made aware that they hadbeen healed (i . e . forg iven), by the g reat de l ive rance from San

herib.

6All we like sheep had g one astray— all had erred in the ir

counsels, one saying , L et us serve the king of Assyria another,Let us g o out and fight ? a third, Let us g o out and escape !Each had turned after his own way , i . e . the way sug g estedby himse lf. Or

, according to another view,the expressions

‘l ‘ Sank , The quotat ion cont inue s , ‘and none was found ignorant of it .

’

R . SA‘

ADYAH IBN DANAN. 21 1

have reference to the day s of Ahaz, be fore Hezekiah had con

verted them to the way of the Lord, when they went astray likesheep ,

each to his own way ,doing what was rig ht in his own

eyes , and not enquiring of the Lord. Yet the Lord through himcondoned the iniquity ofus a ll — let himse lf he entreated by him ,

and rece ived his prayer, forg iving the ir iniquity and savingthem l)

"a means to receive p ray er, just as 1735 means to p ray(Jer. v1 1 . the same difference existing be tween them as

between any ; and V ivi . And 1 3 signifiesfor his sake. 7He was

opp ressed, viz . by Sanherib, and he was afl icted by the reproachesof Rabshakeh

, y et he Opened not his mouth to answer them,as i t

is written, For the king’

s commandment was , saying , Ye shal lnot answer him ’

(Is. xxxvi . as a lamb he was led to the

s laug hter, for, l ike Zedekiah who rebe lled against Nebuchad

nez z ar,he had been destined to be del ivered into the hands

of the king of Assyria, and would indeed have be en del ive red tohim except for the salvation of the Lord. And possibly also thewicked among the people spoke of him as be ing thus about tobe de livered up , and slain by Sanherib for having rebe l ledagainst him. As a lamb dumb before her shearers , so he op enednot his mouth : his captains and servants kept devouring hissubstance

,and wished to submit to the king of Assyria ; but

He zekiah,though he knew of it

,was si lent, trusting with all

his heart in his God. It is the custom of king s during war ora sieg e to double and even quadruple the ir soldiers

’

pay .

8For

his sovereignty andjudgment he was chosen. wry has the sense

of regal p ower, cf. I Sam. ix. I 7, and nps signifies to take orchoose

,as Dent . iv. 2 0 : the meaning of the phrase be ing that

because Hezekiah attended to the laws of the realm,and

observed the judgment of the Law,to do what was g ood and

right in the eyes of the Lord,God had chosen him and raised

him to power ; for Hezekiah was.

both k ing and a father ofthe Court . And who could teach his g enera tion the Law,

as

3 Se e , for example , G en. xxv. 2 1 comp . Gambi , s.v.

"my .

21 2 R . SA’

ADYAH IBN DANAN . [l i i i . 9

Hezekiah could, if he had succumbed to his sickness and been cut

of out of the land of the living - as he says,Jah

, Jah, in the

land of the l iving I shall not behold (Is . xxxviii . 1 I . ) nmwis

a transitive verb with a double obje ct : to make others medita tein the words of the Law . For the transg ression,

e tc. : as thoug hto say that for the people

’

s transg ression he was s ick and in

dang er of death , and that for the ir iniquity a just ruler, such

as he was, was nearly lost to them : the sense thus resemblesthat of Is . lvii . I , Because of the wickedness, the just is takenaway.

’

The prophe t says , A ‘strok e k

’

upon them,because the boil

from which he suffered would have injured them stil l more hadhe died from it s ince for the death of this ‘just ’ one they wouldhave been exposed to terrible calamities, and to the l iabil ityof having the ir iniquitie s visited upon them.

9Already hadg reat distress come upon him when he was first besieg ed inJerusalem,

and when he seemed to be buried in the m idst ofthe wicked hosts bes ieg ing him,

i . e . the Assyrian army. He zekiah’s tomb is [spoken of by anticipation] l ike Shebna

’

s

(Is. xx1 1 . 1 6) 1 . And the rich— i. e . s imply the king , as Eccles .

x . 2 o— was on his high places through fear of Sanherib,He zekiah was constantly offering prayer and supplication in

his h igh places, i. e . in the Sanctuary and the School . The formof the Temple was that of one hal l rising above another, like so

many high places . And all these troubles, arising from San

herib’

s presence and Hezekiah ’s sickness, were not owing to

any injustice which he had committed wh ile g iving judgment inhis court

,or to any de ceitfulness in his mouth, declaring itse lf

in the laws of his realm ; 1 °but happened because the Lord choseto bruise and sicken him for his refusal (as our Rabbis re latem)to be fruitful and multiply since

,althoug h his intention was

e xce llent,viz . that no wi cked son might proceed out of his

k The word is used technically of the stroke of leprosy , Lev. xiii . throughout (A. V . plague1 Comp . above

, p . 82 .

m Yalqut, King s, 242 .

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21 4 R . SA’

ADYAII IBN DANAN. [l i i i . 1 2 .

the allusion is to the presents sent to him by the king s and

captains ; because aft er the g reat miracle had been wroughtfor him he became among st them as a prince of Godn phn,like mm, is thus used of division into e ither equal or unequalportions . Because he p oured out his soul to die : when the

s ieg e was first begun by the king of Assyria, some of Hezekiah ’scaptains treacherously formed the plan of winning Sanherib

’

s

favour at the price of the ir master’

s head Hezekiah,however,

reasoned that if a miracle were wrought for him,all would

of course be we ll, and if his sin caused events to take a differentturn,

~he would die in the service of his God : he thus, so to

Speak , ‘

poured out his soul to die .

’

And he was numbered withthe transgressors , viz . when Sanherib put him into the same

categ ory with the king s of Hamath,Arpad, and Sepharvaim

(Is. xxxvn . and when Rabshakeh accounted him a transg ressor, saying (ver.

‘ Is not this he,whose high places and

altars Hezekiah hath taken away ? ’ .But he bare the sin ofmany

— he was perfectly just, so that his people were de l iveredfor his merits

, and he carried the s ins and transg ressions whichthey had committed in the days of his father : contrary, therefore, to what Sanherib and Rabshakeh expected, the people werenot

'

on his account involved in any disaster. And made intercession for the transg ressors— he was constantly praying on

behal f of his g eneration,and oftentimes God let himse lf be

entreated by him 1 )”t expresses continued action,but Scripture

does not mention all the deliverances and wonders which werevouchsafed to him. After the fal l of Sanherib, and victoryof Hezekiah

,numbers bel ong ing to Israe l gathered themse lves

tog ether from distant part s, and coming to the land of Israe land Jerusalem

,united themselves w ith the poor of the people

whom Shalmanez er had left, and thus the whole country fromDan even unto Beersheba (which, as appears from I Sam . i i i .

1 1 To whom, therefore , it was fi tt ing that presents should be g iven : cf.

Gen. xxii i . 6 .

l i i i . R . SA’

ADYAH IBN DANAN. 21 5

20,are its boundaries) became consolidated and settled. And

so it is re lated how Hezekiah ‘sent to all Israe l and Judah ’

(2 Chron. xxx . 1 , cf. Our Rabbis say in the section He leqo,

that in the days of Hezek iah search was made from Dan untoBeersheba

,and 10

,he re igned ove r both Israe l and Judah like

David his fathe r,and that this is the reason why Isaiah has

annexed to this Parashah the one beg inning Shout, 0 barren one

where Jerusalem is thus addressed,because a vast multitude

from Israe l were collected in her, so that the city was firmly andcompactly establ ished, and her inhabitants we re more numerousthan those of the kingdom of Samaria. For this reason the

prophet bids her shout and be g lad at her populous condition,l ike a barren woman

,because she had not brought forth the

crowds which peopled her, but they had come to her from othe rcities break forth into sing ing and cry aloud ’

is then paral le lto shout,’ be ing added with the view of intens ifying the

meaning . For more are the children of the desolate— the children of Samaria, whose kingdom was laid desolate

,and whose

king went into captivity,’

are now more numerous in Jcrusalem than the native s of the capital . The children of the marriedone are here the people of Jerusalem, who were victorious and

in tranqui l prosperity, under Hezekiah,the ir ‘ just ’ and success

ful’ king . In this comparison, the people or city is l ikened to

a woman,and its king to her husband, while the nation whose

head and sovere ignty have both perished is l ikened to a desolatewidow. In the succeeding verses, the prophet describes thesettl ing of the rest of the land ; but the remaining portions of

the book re late mostly to the third Temple , to be bui lt speedilyin our own days.

Says the author Behold, we have explained the several parts

of this Parashah in an e legant and plausible manner ; and the

interpretation here g iven is the one that is revealed and open toall, but there is a secret one

,sealed and treasured up in its

0 Above , p . 2 1 0 .

2 1 6 R . SA’

ADYAH IBN DANAN. [l ii i . 1 2 .

midst, which sees throughout allusions to the King Me ssiah

(who is assuredly to be spe edily revealed in our own days) .And in the same sense it is expounded by our Rabbis : wecannot

,however

,interpre t each individual detail in it of the

Messiah,be cause we do not know all the incidents of his

advent,or the pre cise manne r of the redemption which he w i l l

then accomp l ish for Israe l . Stil l, what our Rabbis teach in

this respect, we must accept, for, like all the ir othe r opinions , itwil l be true and right ; but any one who imag ine s himse lf ableto apply every s ing le parti cular in the Parashah to the Messiah ,is in error

,and fee l ing after darkness rather than light, as is the

case with the heretics who strugg le vainly to refer it to the irMessiah in detai l . W e se e then the ir error and de lusion, whi chhas already more than once been sufficiently replied to by our

wise men. May God, for his name’

s sake,lig hten our eyes with

the i l lumination of his Law,and bring us forth out of darkness

into light, and redeem us with a perfect redemption

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21 8 R . SH’LOMOH BEN MELEKE . [l i i i . 4

sickness . anon, a substantive . innate/nN5 1 , the verb means toesteem : we did not in the least appreciate or value him.

41 31 5 11 ,

a subst .,with the Ycd of the plural dropped. the burden

and we ight of the pains pressed heavily upon his shoulde r.5 55 11 13 , a partcp . of the quadrate form from a verb p” p,signifying wounded ; or possibly from a verb 1

"

p, in the sense

of p ang ed, cf. 5 1 h , Ps . xlvi i i . 7 , e tc. ND‘ID,

as Ps . cxlii i . 3 .

1JD1’7W our p eace , as though to say , The chastisement which

should have come upon us wh i le we were in peace fe l l uponhim. But R . Yoseph Qamhi explains i t to mean the whole ofus

,l ike nmbv ri 5m,

Jer. xi i i . 1 9 , i . e . a whole or completecaptivity : the sense wil l then be , that the chastisements whichshould have come upon us fel l wholly on himb . inaunm,

l ikeM 1 3 11 , Ex . xxi. 2 5 , except that the Dag esh is omitted : it signifiesa slit or cut, the same root being used in the Jerusalem Targumfor r un-m, Dent . xiv. 1 . From the languag e of our Rabbis i twould appear that a stripe or wound is called mun, when theblood coagulates underneath

, without breaking out ; for theysay ,

‘What is a m anwhich never disappears ? It is a bruisewhere the blood

,though it does not break out through the skin,

neverthe less coagulates beneath it.’ It is called a mun, because

the blood is collected tog ether in the wound i tse lf 0. W e werehealed— in the same sense as Ex . xv. 2 6.

G

IN? ) (with Pa thah)l ike the sheep, viz . the sheep which are w ithout a shepherdthe definite art icle is therefore inserted, because the sheep whichhave no shepherd are those which g o astray. yuan, it is thepenalty which lights upon them,

and God who causes it to doso

,viz. when he sends misfortune on them 1

.1137means here the

penalty for sin, as Gen. xv. 1 6 .

7m: to Opp ress , viz . for money,as 2 King s xxii i . 3 5 , Dent . xv. 2 . my: was afl icted in the

body— alluding to the stripes he used'

to underg o . nbsm,

b Comp . above, p . 5 2 .

0 Above , p . 1 09 . The author's words agree closely with those ofQamhi,Book of Roots , s. v . m an n.

R . sn’

Lomon BEN HELBEH. 21 9

JIIil‘

el, be ing perf. Nif‘

al . 8am,

the place where he was con

fined, by which the prophet means the captivity . new ,i . e .

the exile,when judgments were infl icted upon him : from all

this he was taken and redeemed.

’

J1 1fi1'

1 hm who was therethat said his g eneration would ever attain such g reatness ? cf.Gen. xxi . 7. mmv is to tell or declare , as Ps. cxl iii . 7 in bothplaces the formis Po

‘le l,from me . ilfy people : each separate

nation is supposed to say this ; the stroke had fallen uponI srae l, not for the ir own transg ressi on, but for that of thenations . W en, considered by R . Yonah f1 to be equivalent tomm wicked; but it is not allowable to abandon the usual siguification ‘ rich

,

’

mere ly on account of the paralle l clause . The

prophet says that through be ing slain be cause there was ‘no

violence in his hands,’ he died before his time , l ike the wicked,who (Ps . lv. 2 4)

‘do not l ive out half the i r days, ’ be ing put todeath for the ir wickedness. In the same way , the words withthe rich in his death mean that he perished l ike the rich whoare murdered for the sake of the ir wealth . By g iving his g rave

with the wicked is signified that he g ave himself up to marty rdomfor the sake of God’

s holy name : for if he had denied his ownLaw,

and transferred his alleg iance to the irs, they would havere leased him : and the expression with the rich derives its forcefrom the fact that the wealthy are murdered for the ir riches

,

and not for any w ickedness that may be in them. rnin, pluralfrom ” ID the Waw becoming quiescent : the p lural numberindicates how death was sometimes produced by repeated stabbings, sometimes by severe tortures ; in time of persecution,

too,

some were burnt, others murdered, others stoned : they wereready to me et any form of death for the Unity of God.

1 ° 1 5m,

pronounced l ike a verb N’s, with the th ird radical dropped in

writing , although the root is in g eneral n” 5 . T

‘

ix’ will make

others p rolong , with a causative signification, for the ir long lifewil l be owing to him and his obedience to the commandments

4 B ook ofRoots, col . 5 5 4 (see below, Note b).

220 R . su LOMOH BEN MELEKII. [l i i i . n ,1 2 .

see the root . “WW” mar ,

i . e . he will see prosperity, so as to besat isfied with it . man to p our out

,as Gen. xxiv . 2 0

,though in

a different conjug ation.

1 2171 351 1 to intercede or entreat, as l ix . 1 6 ,

Jer. xxxvi . 2 5 , similarly in Hif l l . The meaning is that Israe lused to intercede for the transg ressions, as i t is said (Jer. xxix .

And seek y e the peace of the city whither I have led y ou awaycaptives .

’

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222 R . ABRAHAM FARISSOL. [l i i , l i i i .

to be an e cho of the murmur of dissatisfaction expressed bythe saying , There is a just man and it g oes i ll with hima z

’

and

others who apply it confidently to the King Messiah,who wi l l

be equally a servant of God and the Me ssiah— an op inion sharedby our Rabbis in the Midrash , when they say , alluding to hisdig nity and g reatness, He shal l be higher than Abraham,

moreexalted than Moses

,and loftier than the ministering ang e ls .

’

W e shal l ourse lves , however, w ith no le ss confidence,suppose

that it refers properly to the cong reg ation of Israel , which theprophe t addresses by the term servant

,in the s ingular number

,

e xactly as we find him doing , by habit and preference , in manyof his previous prophecies . Thus he says above , ‘Rememberthese thing s , 0 Jacob, and Israe l ; for thou art my servant : Ihave fashioned thee , thou art my servant - languag e whichshews

,beyond the possibility of doubt, both that the prophet is

addressing the cong regation of Israe l, and that he applies to itthe name of servant : the verse so adapted to establish thisoccurs in the forty-fourth chapter of Isaiah [ver. In

addition, howeve r, to this passag e , which has been shewn to beso important for proving that Israe l is spoken of by the particular and individual term servant, many others can also befound

,likewise pre ceding the Parashah at present under dis

cussien, in wh ich,adopting the same standpoint, he adopts

naturally the same appe l lation. For instance,But then Israe l

art my servant’

(xli.‘Now

,therefore , hear, Jacob my servant

’

(xl iv. and a l ittle below the verse just quoted (ver.

‘ Ihave formed thee

,thou art a servant to me , O Israe l, thou shal t

not be forg otten by me : I wipe out as a cloud thy transg ressions,

’

e tc. (by which he means to say that the iniquitiesof the cong regation wil l be pardoned) ; and immediate lyafterwards (ver.

‘ For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob.

’

Under these circumstances,it having be come clear from the

prophet’

s own words that the subj e ct of the Parashah is the

0 Above, pag e 1 5 .

l i i . 1 3—llil. L ] R . ABRAHAM FARISSOL . 223

cong regation of Israe l , we are necessarily bound to interpret itaccording ly, in ag reement with what was his real design. And

so,when at the end he says, Jlfy servant shal l justify many, we

must not force ourse lves to the be lief that a different subject isrefe rred to . W hatever justice the re may be in the expressionsof our wise men who appl ied the prophe cy to the Messiah , itshould be borne inmind that although they themse lves and

the ir words are both truthful al ike,sti l l the ir object was an

alleg orical one . But for ourse lves we shal l explain it whollyof Israe l , who is called a servant

,because the ir distress and the

leng th of their captivity are the subj ect of complaint : we shallalso discover in it the languag e of the Gentiles after the re

demption has arrived, when they wil l beg in to express the

utmost amazement at the pains and calamities we had pre

viously endured, saying that they , rather than Israe l , ought tohave underg one such penalties and punishments as those . In

this way we shal l succeed in avoiding a l ong exposition.

LII.

1 3 The prophet , speaking in the name of God, says, Beholdmy servant, i. e . my servant Jacob and the cong regation of Israe l ,shall p rosp er he shall be high and lifted up ,

viz . in the futureexaltation.

1 4 As many peoples and king s were astonished a t

thee, O cong regation of Israe l , and amazed that the countenanceofGod’s servant should be marred bey ond man

,and his form

bey ond the sons of men, saying in contempt, as they stil l docontinual ly, when they see a Hebrew

,

‘He has the face of aJew !

’ 1 5so the time wi l l come when many nations will speak

of him be ing Hif‘

il and appl ied to sp eaking , l ik e rpm ,

Mic. 1 1 . 1 1 — and king s express amazement with the ir l ips at themighty salvat ion vouchsafed to him ; for that which had not beentold them— how

,name ly

,such g ood fortune would one day

real ly be the irs— they now have seen,and that which they had

not heard they have p erceived, for the Gentiles and the ir k ing shave never heard or imag ined, ne ither do they be lieve , thatIsrae l wi ll ever be saved.

LIII . ‘The Gentiles and k ing s now say , Who hath betiw ed

224 R . ABRAHAM FARISSOL . [l i i i . 2

this rep ort which we hear ? and upon whom hath the arm of the

Lord been revealed ? upon this servant, who before was despised,dispersed, and rejected, 2 but now g rows up in prosperity, like a

root spring ing up in exile to produce fruit upwards,’

althoug hbefore he had neither form nor comeliness

,nor the exquisite

beauty of a man tha t we should desire him.

3 He was in truthdesp ised and forlorn ofmen

,exposed to accidents and sickness

in his depre ssion he kept his face unceasing ly hidden from us ;

he was despised and we accounted him for nought . All this issupposed to be spoken by the Gentiles : 4 then, when they see thesalvation of Israel

,and the ir peace budding forth , they continue ,

Surely he hath carried our sicknesses,etc.

,i. e . now of a certainty

we perce ive that this servant Israe l has suffered the punishmentfor iniquity which ought to have been carried by us, and bornethe pain which for our deeds we ought to have endured : y etwe

,while he was in exile in our midst

,thought that all his

calamitie s and suffering s were occasioned by his be ing s tricken,

smitten of God, and afl icted with troubles proceeding from the

Lord out of heaven.

5 But he— the nations are stil l Speaking , asin the preceding verse— was made sick and punished in our

stead : the correction of our p eace, i . e . the sentence of peaceobtained by us

,should properly have rested upon him— he

ought to have continued in peace and happiness rather thanwe but now

,since he bore the punishment

,alth oug h unjustly,

we are healed,and e scape the reward of our iniquities. For,

since it is clear from the ir having attained such prosperity, that,in spite of the ir suffering s, they were neverthe less right in the i rbe l iefs, we perce ive that we , and not Israel , were the guilty thatwe transg ressed and were rebe llious in the subj ection wherewithwe subje cted them, although we still rece ived no retribution at

the ir hands. Of a truth,they w ill then continue , all we like

sheep have g one astray in our false opinions concerning him ; asJeremiah says (xvi.

‘ To thee w ill come nations from the

ends of the earth,and say , Our fathers have inherited nothing

but vanity but the Lord laid up on him the iniquity ofus all

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226 R . ABRAHAM FARISSOL . [l i i i . 9

its regular plural force , be ing equivalent to 0715 . Or 105 them,

may re fer back to Israel, according to the sense of ver. 4 ,

He carried our sicknesses d’ 9As

,above

,the nations are repre

sented as supposing him to have been ‘cut off from the land

of life,

’

so here they are represented as supposing beforehandthat he always made his grave with the wicked, e so that his finalreward would be ‘ in the underworld beneatli ’— the g rave of thewicked be ing preparatory to the retribut ion and punishments ofGehenna now

,howeve r

,they perce ive the ir supposition to have

been false, because e he did no violence , and there was no deceit inhis mouth.

1 oAt th is point the truth is stated in the prophet’

s

own words : The Lord was p leased to bruise and sicken him,

so as to see whether he wouldmake his soul a tresp ass-ofleringin other words , whe ther the se rvant ’ would justify the judgment passed upon him

,in orde r that he might be worthy to

see seed, i . e . to see his children live long , even in exile,and

leng then day s, without be ing cut off for ever in captivity, andthat at last the Lord’s p leasure, his holy Law,

might prosp er inhis hand.

“ For the travail which his soul had experiencedin exile

,he will now see happiness and be sa tisfied with his

prospe rity and the knowledg e in which he w il l g row g reat andw ise

,multiplying unde rstanding , as it is said

,

‘The earth shal lbe fi lled with the knowledg e of the Lord,

’

so will my servant(the same servant mentioned above ) make many rig hteous, fortheir iniquities did he bear . The last words shew that thishappiness wi ll come to him as an equivalent for the penalties hehad endured in place of the Gentiles : cf. ver. 4 , Our sicknesseshe hath carried.

’ 1 2The refore, says the prophet in the name

of God, because of the calamities he has endured, fl will divide

In B i . e . that he had to endure the penalty and reward ofthe wicked ;and , more over, was with the rich in his death, i. e . that the port ion of his

soul would then be like that allo tted to wealthy robbers : this Opinion concerning him was false because , e tc .

In B simply I will divide him spo il and plunder with many , even with

great and mighty king s ; and th is shall be the port ion of the servant . ’

—l i i i . m ] R . AB RAHAM FARISSOL . 227

him the spoil of Gog and Mag og , tog ethe r with many mighty

king s : and this w ill be accomplished for him in the latter day sf,because he poured out his soul to die, and re ce ived chastisements g of love g , and moreover was numbered by the Gentilesamong st the transg ressors and the wicked, and carried the sin ofmany (as is said above ) and interceded for the transg ressors ;for not only did the cong regation of Israe l bear the retributionwhich properly and rightly should have fallen upon others,who had i ll-used them and kept them in subje ction, but theywere in the habit of praying for the g ood estate of the k ingdomh and of the very transg ressors who i ll-treated them,

and

for the prosperity and richness of the crops, after the mannerof the g eneral prayers which we stil l use daily in captivity. Or

the meaning of the last words may be this, that i in the daysof the redemption

i,they wi ll intercede for the transg ressors j

in order that they mayk be healed

,and forg iven, and k be

converted. Such,then

,1 is the right method of exposition to

pursue in the present Parashah , to pay , name ly, close attentionthroughout to the prophet

’

s meaning , for the purpose of ascertaining who is the servant ’ that wil l instruct them the servantis the nation

,suffering and smitten l for the ir sins more than

any other people , by whose stripes and blows it appears m clearlymthat the Gentiles wil l all be healed, and e scape altog ether thepenalty which the ir rebe l l ion deserves . And so they say of theMahometans , the whole tribe of Arabs and Turks, that they wi llnever rece ive any penal ty for the ir rebe ll ion, but wil l alwaysdwel l n se cure ly in the world, enjoying every blessing from the hostof heaven 1 1

. Hence also it be comes plain that Israe l alone wasdestined for punishment— possibly be cause through their be ing

8 Only in A.h Abhoth ,

iii . 2 .i after the capt ivity , A .

3 B adds , who ill-used them.

k Only in A.

1 is the preferable view. At that t ime . too , the nat ions will be amazed at

the blow ofexile and the other calamit ie s which perpe tually befe l Israel, B.

m even at the pre sent day , B .

npeaceful ly, with ‘

no breaking in, and no complaining in the ir stree ts, ’ B .

228 R . ABRAHAM FAR ISSOL. [l i i i . 1 2.

smitten others are to be healed. This exposition has alreadybeen hinted at by the authors of our traditions, as also in thelearned Cuz ariO, who explain that it is a natural and regularordinance of God for the most precious, the most indispensable ,and the most active member of the body to be smitten and

require curing : and hence that in any complaint, Pthe mostvital parts, and, in particular, the l iver (which is the fountain ofa man

’

s l ife blood), suffer p most quickly and most severe ly, andmust there fore be bled and purg ed, in order that the othermembers may be healed. Whoever, then, understands in whatway Israe l, the people near unto Him,

’

is the heart of the wholeworld, and Israe l

’

s territory the fountain of all lands (becausefrom its sufficiency the whole world drinks), wil l also understandthis

,and perce ive how by their strip es all besides were healed.

W e have already explained above the principal reason why

Israe l suffe red more than other nations, viz . because theyhad re ce ived the commandment, and because , in fact

,they

existed for the purpose of obeying the Law— a law,which

was g iven to us, and not to any other nation ; as i t is written,‘An inheritance to the cong reg ation o f Jacob

’

(Dent . xxxi ii . 4 )and

,

‘Who de clareth his words unto Jacob ’

(Ps . cxlvn .

Hence for the ir perverseness they were punished beyond any

other people who had not rece ived any such law : and according ly Amos says, You only have I known out of all the fami liesof the earth ; therefore I will visit upon y ou all your iniquities ’

(Amos i ii. - May the Lord purify us and save us

Yehudah ha-Levi , Cuzari, n. 36 .

P In B : the great monarch, the heart , suffers.

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230 xxx iv. [lii 1 3

Rabbis intend by the ir Midrash to imply that he would be

g reater than Moses and the ang e ls there is no need to supposethat the Mem must denote superiority or comparison it may inthis p lace signifyfrom, as 1 Chron.xxix. 1 4 . The ir meaning wouldthus be that his prince ly nature would owe its orig in to hisbeing of the seed of our fathe r Abraham,

his power of prophe cyto his be ing a disciple of Moses our master

,the permanency of

his law and the penetration of his intellect to the ang els beingamong st the members of his household.

LII.

1 3 The prophet says that the nation 51 3 1221 . Thisword wefind used both of ‘

underst-anding ,’

as in Isaiah himself,xl i . 20

,

and also of prospe rity’ or success

,

’

as 1 Sam. xviii . 1 4 . In the

present place y ou can interpret it in whichever way y ou prefer ;since we find both promised to the nation in different passag esJeremiah

,for instance (xxxi . says

,All of them shal l know

me and Isaiah (xlviii . ‘He shal l make his way prosperous .

’

Shall be high : this word is used of victory over enemies,as

Mic . v. 8 : according ly it is here promised that the nation shal lbe high above its enemies and shall Subdue them. And exalted

the g ood name that trave l leth afar is thus designated : Scripture ,for instance

,says of He zekiah (2 Chron. xxxii . that he was

exalted in the eyes of all the earth and in the same way the

prophe t here promises that the nation will be exalted in the

eyes of eve ry one,and that its name wi ll g o forth into all the

world : the same promise occurs often beside s, as Jer. xvi . 1 9 .

And lofty exceeding ly : the man who does not turn to the

vanities of this world, but fixes the desire of his soul whollyon inte lle ctual studies

,and directs his inte ll ig ence upwards

is said to be lofty : thus Scripture says of Jehoshaphat ,king of Judah ( 2 Chron. xv n. 3 how ‘

the Lord was withhim

,

’

etc. ,and ‘ his heart was lofty in the ways of the Lord and

so it is promised here that Israe l wi ll no t ‘ turn towards theproud, and such as incl ine after lying

’

(Ps . xl . but will e levate his inte llig ence upwards so as to gain understanding and

knowledg e of the ways of the Lord.

1 ‘ Isaiah says that at the

—l i i i . h ] xxx 1 v 23 1

t ime of the captivity all who saw them were astonished and

confounded at the ir fal l ; so it is written ( 2 Chron. xxix .

And the Lord’s ang er was upon Judah and Jerusalem,and he

del ivered them to trouble , astonishment, and hiss ing ,’

in accordance with the prediction de l ivered by Moses (Dent . xxviii .‘And thou shal t be come an astonishment, a proverb, and a

by-word

,

’

e tc. And this astonishment, he g oes on, arose from

the irform be ing marred,in the words of the Mourner (Lam.

iv . The ir form is be come darker than the Nile,they are no t

known in the streets.

’ 1 5 The verb 0m,analog ously to is

used of anyth ing moved forcibly and irregularly from placeto place : thus , Is . lxi ii . 3 , ‘And the juice of them was shaken

upon my garments 2 Kings ix . 3 3 ,‘And some of her blood was

shaken upon the wal l ;’ occurs in a s imilar signification,

Dent . xix . 5 , 2 King s xvi. 6 . Here the prophet says that as

during the exile men had been astonished at Israe l,so now their

g reatness , extending as it does from one end of the earth to theothe r

,wil l expe l many nations from the places of the ir abode .

It is possible that th is term nm, which is most frequentlyapplied to blood, is chosen w ith the view of indicating that theexpulsion will be attended with bloodshed. At him king s will

shut their mouth : when they hear of Israe l ’s g reatness, theking s of the earth (as Micah says, vii. 1 6 ) ‘wi l l be confoundedand put the ir hand upon the ir month .

’

For that which was nottold them, etc. : the prophet himse lf says ( lxvi . ‘Who hathheard such a thing as this ? who hath seen thing s l ike these ?

’

on account of all these th ing s they wi ll shut their mouths— theywil l have no mouth to speak with , afte r see ing what they hadnever, during the ir whole l ives, imag ined that they wouldbehold.

LIII .

1 Then they wi ll each say to himse lf, Who ever believed thatwe should hear a report such as we are hearing now ? So Habakkuk says (i . Behold among the Gentiles , and regard, and

wonder marvel lously for I work a work in your days,which y e

will not be lieve , though it be told y ou.

’

And this amazement

232 xxx 1 v. [l i ii . 2

w ill be increased among st them when they perce ive how the

arm and might of the Lord had been revea led to ‘a people

despised and plundered,’

as Isaiah h imse lf de clares (xl ix . 7) had

been the case with Israe l h itherto .

2For wonderful to te l l, hehad suddenly begun to flourish like a sucker

,i . 6 . like a twig

from a tree planted in the earth , and like a root out of the dryearth 1 . e . l ike the root which remains concealed in the g roundwhen the tree is pulled up, so that the passers-by cannot see it ,‘tnCl do no t suppose it to be them-thoug h presently it puts°orth its shoots and becomes a g reat tree such w ill be thelanguag e used of Israe l, when, after having be en long dried up ,i t has ag ain produced fruit upwards: You find Hosea speakings imi larly (xiv . I wi ll be as the dew unto Israe l : le t himflourish as the li ly, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon ! let hissuckers spread, and his beauty be as the olive !’ He had noformand no comeliness the se words allude pe rhaps to the wise menof I srae l and the Sanhedrin for the g lory of a nation consistsin its wise men. Our Rabbis have this Midrash : W hile a

righteous man is in a city, he is its g lory, its ornament,and its

splendour : when he leaves it, its g lory leaves it, its ornamentleaves it

,its Splendour leaves it b and so y ou find that when

Israe l was carried captive from the ir land,the Mourner says

(Lam. i . ‘From the daughter of Z ion all her splendour isdeparted,

’

where our Rabbis say , This refers to the Sanhedrin,which went into captivity

c. And we saw him

,but there were

no looks [to gaze at] . These,too

, are the words of the Gentilesand the ir king s , saying that ‘during the exile we did not gaze at

him,because he was desp ised in our eyes : now

,however

,we

desire him,and long to be as he is .

’

So Balaam says (Num .

xxiii . 1 0), ‘May my last end be like his !’ and the Psalmist(Ps. ex u.

‘ The wicked shall see,and be vexed : his teeth

he wi l l gnash and me lt away : the desire of the wicked shal lperish ,

’— for this Psalm relates to the heathen who are devoted

b B ’

ré shith Rabba, 68 .c Eltha , i . 6 .

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234 XXXIV . [li i i . 5

accepting the chastisements which we laid upon them and whichthey bore — for ‘

our sicknesse s ’

doe s no t denote the s icknessesborne by the nations

,but the sickne sse s which they inflicted

upon others : the pronoun some t ime s indicates the ag ent, as

my blows’

(Ex . ix . and‘my bruise

’

(Gen. iv . wherethe ag ents are God and Lamech respective ly . In the same way

the Psalmist says (xxx ix . 1 Remove thy stroke from off me,

’

meaning the stroke wh ich thou hast brought upon me ; and

so here the nations are the ag ents, and declare how Israe l borethe sicknesses which they themse lves had occasioned. So Jeremiah says (x .

‘W oe is me for my hurt ! Truly this ismy s ickness, and I must bear it and the Psalmist ( lxix.

‘ For thy sake I have carried reproach, shame hath coveredmy face .

’

Yet we,they continue , thought that the calamities

which befel him in exile at our hands [were sent of Gedd], forsee ing him stricken

, we conce ived him as be ing without hope :so the Psalmist says (lxxxviii . I am esteemed as those thatg o down into the pit and again, speaking in the name of thenation (cxl . De l iver me, O Lord

,from the evil man

,from

the man of violence preserve me , who imag ine mischie f in the irheart .’ 5 For our transgressions . The word transg ression is

used, as by Jacob, Gen. xxxi . 3 6, or Joseph’

s brethren,l . 1 7,

of a trespass or offence committed by one man against another :the Gentiles therefore say , W e now re cognise that he was

wounded by us ; for though we did not suspect it before , inwounding him we ‘ transg ressed and rebe l led.

’

And so Jeremiahsays ( 1 . ‘Al l that found them have devoured them : and

the ir adversaries say , W e are not guilty, because they havesinned ag ainst the Lord.

’ It is we l l known also how manyour suffering s in exile were the Psalmist says (lxix .

Him whom thou hast smitten they perse cute , and tel l the painof those whom thou hast wounded.

’

B ruisedfor our iniquities ,

fo r if we bruised him,then iniquity came upon us : the Psalmist

4 Some such words as the se seem to have dropped out in the Hebrew.

- l i i i . xxxw . 23 5

says, Thou hast bruised us in the place of drag ons’

(xliv. 2 0 )and, They bruise thy people , 0 Lord, and affl ict thine heritag e(xciv . And the chastisement of our p eace, continue the

nations,meaning the chastisement they had infl icted upon Israe l ,

was up on him; i. e . Israe l prayed for our peace , in order that wemight be hea led, s ince we were no t ourse lve s worthy to enj oy ite xcept throug h the intervention of the miseries which befel him,

and, by so doing , produced all our present prosperity . For

while they were in exile,the Israe l ites used to pray for us

,

as they were commanded to do by the prophets this Jeremiahsays (xxix . Entreat for the peace of the city whither I havetaken y ou captives, and pray for it unto the Lord y ou knowalso the saying of our Rabbis, ‘ Tyre was not filled until afterthe desolation of Je rusalem e

.

’ 6The prophe t predicts how

in those days the Gent iles w il l acknow ledg e the ir error, and

confess it with the ir lips . And Isaiah says ( 1 1 . ‘ In thatday a man shall cast his idols of s ilver

,and his idols of g old,

’

e tc. and ag ain (xxix . They that erred in sp iri t shal l come

to understanding .

’

But the Lord, etc. as thoug h to say , Now

we see that it was God’s will that we should all sin against them,

though far be it from us to say that God was himse lf the causeof the ir thus sinning , as Job says

,

‘Why hast then set me as

a mark f for thee ? ’ (vi. 7 Here a fresh class of the calamit ies infl icted upon Israe l is described by the Gentiles : how

,

name ly, they oppressed him day after day by the impositionof taxe s and othe r burdens

,as Scripture says

,

‘ They devourIsrae l w ith the ir whole mouth ’

(Is . ix . 1 1 ) and,Thou makest

us l ike she ep to be eaten ’

(Ps. xl iv. 1 1 ) for Israe l was oppressedand afflicted by them,

without opening his month . As a sheep .

The nation is fre quently spoken of as a sheep ; for example ,

by Je remiah ( l . He re the Gentiles declare that in spiteof the mise ry they had occasioned to Israe l , the latter had no

9 Cf. Ezek . xxvi . 2 .

f Lit . a meeting -place for the arrows, —the substant ive corresponding tothe verb in the t ext , caused to me et .

23 6 xxxw . [l i i i . 8

mouth wherewith to cry out ag ainst it— ia the words of thePsalmist

,I am dumb

,I open no t my mouth

’

(xxxix . and,‘ I am be come as a man that he are th not

,and in whose month

are no reproofs’

(xxxvii i . “The king who rules ove r a

people is called a coercer (m y ) , as when the Lord says to

Samue l,This same shall reign over my people

’

( 1 Sam. ix .

Here it is described how Israe l was deprived of sovere ign and

judi cial power, i . e . of the judg e s and rulers appointed by the irLaw, in accordance with the prediction, ‘And there is nonecoerced or re leased’

(Dent . xxxii . And so the Psalmistsays (lxxxix .

‘ Thou hast made his purity to cease ,’ i . e .

removed the priest who judg es and purifies [i. e . acquits], ‘and

cast his throne down to the g round,’ i . e . cast down the ir throne

so that they are without a king . But now who is able to tell ofthe g reatness of his g enera tion ? because , in the eyes of thenations , he seemed to have been cut of out of the land of the

living . So Isaiah writes ( lx .

‘Whereas thou hast beenforsaken and hated

,etc. ,

I will make thee a j oy of many g enerations and the Psalmist (xlviii . ‘That y e may te l l it toan after g eneration and Joe l (iv .

‘But Judah shal l dwe l lfor ever, and Jerusalem to all g enerations .

’For the transg res

sion ofmy p eople . The king s of each nation of the earth confessthat the blows wherewith they had smitten Israe l arose fromthe transg ression of the i r own people , and not from any offenceon Israe l’s part : this has been already intimated by Isaiahh imself (xlvi . ‘Remember this

,and shew yourse lve s firm ;

bring it again to mind, 0 y e transg ressors and in anotherplace (i . ‘The destruction of transg ressors and sinners .

’

9Anothe r of the calami ties which the nation endured was

be ing buried in a fore ign land. Amos says to Amaziah(vi i. ‘ Thou shalt die in an unclean land and the prophetHosea (ix .

‘ Egypt shal l gathe r them up, Memphis shal lbury them.

’

And the wea lthy among st them they affl icted and

murdered by various kinds of death , in order to devour the irriches, as Zechariah says (xi . 4 Whose possessors slay them,

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23 8 xxmv. [li i i . : z .

of the Lord that every one by his knowledg e will justify the

just ; and this, not merely among st those of his own people , butam ong st many , exactly as Micah also proclaims how the nationwi ll ‘ judg e among st many peoples, and rebuke strong nations ’

(iv. And their iniquities , those , name ly, of the many,

’

he

will bear,i . e . each individual member of the nation wi l l bear

its iniquities for himse lf ; they w ill no long er need God to takeaway the ir iniquities as he had done hithe rto (for one of hisblessed attributes is his readiness to forg ive sin) : accord ing lyEzekie l writes (xxiii .

‘And they wi ll put your lewdnessupon y ou,

and the sins of your idols shal l y e bear ’ 1 2The

prophet now proclaims how the reward for all the travai lwhich had passed ove r them during exile

,is with the Lord ;

for he will g ive them the wealth of the Gentiles— as the prophetZechariah forete l ls (xiv . I ),

‘ Thy spoil shall be divided in the

midst of thee and Isaiah (1x.

‘ Thou shalt suck the milk ofthe Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of king s.

’

And all thiswill be awarded to them because each one of them had g ivenh imsel f up to die for the service of God

,—as the Psalmist says

(xliv . 2‘For thy sake we are slain all the day long , we are

counted as sheep for the slaug hter .

’

He was numberedwith the transg ressors ; for all the Gentile s ranked them in the

same categ ory with the wi cked : g o and learn how the ‘adver

sar les of Judah ’

wrote an accusation,

’

and sent it to the Persianmonarch , requesting ‘

search to be made ’

in the records of thestate , in orde r that it might be discovered how the city had everbeen rebe llious, and hurtful to king s and prov ince s

’

(Ezra iv . I,

vi . 1 5 ) y ou see from this that our nation was always considered,by those who knew it, to be rebe llious and apt to transg re ss fromits alleg iance . Now, therefore , the reward is promised, I willdivide him a p ortion with the many . And made intercessionfor the transgressors, as the Psalmist says (lxx n. He shal lpray for him continually : for we find we used in the sense

of interceding (as Jer. vii It may also, however, s ignify tos trike or stay ( 1 King s 1 1 . 2 9 , and often) in the latter case the

l i i i . xxx 1 v 23 9

meaning wi ll be that he will slay the transg ressors, as Isaiah ,speaking as one bring ing g lad tiding s to the nation

,says

(xxx . And there shall be upon every lofty mountain rivers ,streams of water, in the day of the g reat slaughter, when the

towers fall . ’

XXXV . R . MEIR ARAMAH .

LII .

” My servant. In a preceding chapter (Ii. 1 9 ) the

prophet (using the singular number) had made the announcement to Israe l , ‘ Two thing s are come unto thee ,’— the first

,

affe cting the ir possessions, be ing desolation and destruction ;the se cond, affecting the ir body, be ing the famine and the sword ;and such is the ir lot to-day : a but afterwards he de clares thatthe ir condition w i ll be turned into one of joy and g ladness ,saying (l ii . ‘How beautiful upon the mountains

,

’

e tc. He

explains, however, that this wi l l only take place after the lapseof long years meanwh i le the people need watch ing and warningnot to ming le with the heathen and hence the command (ver.

‘Depart y e , depart, come forth thence ; touch not the un

clean,

’

w ith the explanation,

‘ For y e shal l not come forth inhaste .

’

Here the prophe t fore te lls that , as the whole nationare to meet with contume ly and reproach among the Genti les,so

,or rather to a g reater deg ree , will the wise mee t w ith con

tume ly and reproach in Israe l itself— whe ther as affecting the irsubstance or the ir persons : it wi ll, however , as he explains,redound to their advantag e ; and according ly Israe l may hopeone day to obtain authority over the Gentiles. And this is thesense of Behold my servant shall prosper ;

’

but what followsa,1 ‘As many were as tonished a t thee, refers to Israe l, when he wasde spised and reje cted in their eyes .

—LIII .

3 8 0 marred,viz

'

. as

compared with other men, was the countenance of this ‘wise ’

one : y ou know the conditions under which he l ived : ‘ Thoushal t eat a morse l with salt , and drink water by measure ; thou

Se e the addition, p . 387 (Hebrew text ) .

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242 R . MEIR ARAMAH. [l i i i . l o— i z .

be ing indicated by the words Like a she ep led to the slaug hter ,the latt er by those which follow,

As a lamb which before hershearers is dumb.

1 OA demonstrat ion that by comprehendingthe meaning of suffering s fall ing on the just for his sins (forthere is none so just as never to commit sin) we can understand those which fe l l upon him for the sin of the people thatis here spoken of. The prophet de clares that the former willnot issue in death for eve ry one is aware that a righteous man

repents and confesses his guilt ; and when he does this, he re

ceives mercy from heaven, l ike He zekiah, and lives. But if heis entang led in the iniquity of his g eneration, repentance is notwithin his power, and he must die in consequence ; hence it issaid

,The Lord was p leased to bruise him

,as though for its

own iniquities (as we have just explained) when,then, his soul

lay s a trespass-ofiering , viz . upon itsel f, and re cognises its guilt,it will of necessity see seed and leng then day s, for the p leasureof the Lord will p rosp er in his hand, so as to make atonement for him . For myse lf, however , I notice two thing s :I . that he is righteous , that he sees and is sa tisfied withmany and sore troubles,

’

and that nothing short of death(as I have said) can secure atonement for him : this be ing so

,

i t follows that he must suffer , not for his own sins,but for those

of the people .

1 1 According ly the next verse says, Of the travail

of his soul he shall see and be satisfied, referring to the misfortunes spoken of ; and

,By his knowledg e he will justify the

just : if he does this . however , he will bear their iniquities,

i . e . hear them on the ir behalf. 1 2An explanation that thesuffering s are no crime in him ; for in a world that is whollyg ood the Lord will pay him his reward among st the mighty and

the s trong , be cause his deserts wi ll be g reat : he then (as theysay ) wi ll be

‘ higher than Abraham,more exalted than Moses ,

and loftie r than the ministering ang e ls,’ for there is no dignity

more e levated than that of him who sanctifies the name ofHeaven

,by be ing involved in, and suffering for, the iniquity of

his ag e .

XXXVI . YIZHAQ TROKI.

LII.

‘3 From this verse,as also from lii i . I

, with those whichfollow as far as li ii. I 2 , the Nazarenes argue to prove that Isaiahpredicted of Jesus of Nazareth : of him,

they affirm,he says

,He

shal l be high and exalted,and lofty exceeding ly, for the lan

g uag e here empl oyed is appl icable to liim al one and none besides.

In the same way they suppose him to be referred to in the words,He carried our sicknesses, e tc. ; and

,He was wounded for our

transg ress ions : because Je sus suffered affl iction for the ir sak es

to save the ir souls by his death from the power of Satan, whoruled over them. In reply it may be shewn that the ir argumentis not valid : for whereas the text says

,

‘Behold my servant,

’

how can they apply this to Jesus of Nazareth ? since they themse lves

,according to the ir own absurd tenets, assign to him De ity ;

and how could God in any prophecy be called a servant ? Ifnow the objector maintains that he is termed a

‘servant ’ in

respect of his material body, and God’

in respe ct of his natureas a sp irit, we must reply that i t has already been irrefragablydemonstrated in I O that even from the point of view of theg ospe l Jesus of Nazareth is not God, and stil l less so from hisown standpoint : he neve r in any place speaks of himse lf as

God,as will be furthe r shewn in the se cond part of this treatise ,

by a detai led examination of the individual expressions used by

the Evang e lists . It must in addition he remembered that thewords , He sha ll be high, etc.

, were not fulfi lled in him : since hewas condemned to death like any other common man among thepeople. Nor was the predicti on, He sha ll see seed, shall leng then

R 2

244 YIZHAQ TROKI . [l i i . 1 3 .

day s , eve r fulfilled in him : he had no seed ; and it cannot besaid that his disciples are here meant by his seed,

’ for we neve rfind disciples termed seed but only sons . just as teachers are

spoken of as‘ fathers the term seed is restricted to the de

scendants of a man , who come forth out of his loins. S imilarlywe do no t find that he ‘ had long l ife for he was put to deathwhen thirty-thre e years old. And they cannot leg itimately referthis expression to the Godhead because the De ity is not determined by length of days : he is the first, and he is the last , andhis years have no end. Then

,again, of whom will they interpret

the verse,Therefore I will divide, e tc/2 who are the many and

the mighty that are made his equals, and with whom,as they

imag ine , he is to divide spoi l ? And when i t is said,And made

intercessionfor transg ressors , to whom did he intercede for themi f

,as the ir fond be lief. wil l have it , he was God himself 2 And

there are many place s simi lar to these . The truth is, the wholeParashah

,down to li ii . 1 2 , was spoken prophetically to Isaiah

with reference to the people of Israe l , who were enduring theyoke of exile

,and who are called my servant, in the s ingular,

as frequently e lsewhere , Is . xl i . 8, 9 , xl iv. I , z , 2 1 , xlv. 4 ; and as

we find also to be the case in the prophecy of Jeremiah , xlv i. 27,2 8 ; and in the Psalms, cxxxvi . 2 2 . You see that in all thesepassag es Scripture de signates the Israel itish nation as a servant

,

or as God’s servant , in the singular. And so when the Ten

Commandments were g iven we observe that the Almighty spoketo men in the singular number [‘ I am the Lord, thyGod,

’

e tc.] If now they argue from the text, Surely he carried

our sicknesses , e tc.,and assert that it was never at any time

e ither seen or heard of that the people of Israe l bore sicknessor pain, or rece ived stripes for the iniquity of other nations (foreven the calami ties and chastisement which they did endurewere for the ir own sins

,and not for those of other people ) , the

reply is clear that i t is a common custom in the mouth of theprophets to describe the miseries and humil iation of the captivityunde r the imag e of sickness or wounds, as Is. i . 5 , 6 , xxx . 26

,

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246 YIZHAQ TROKI . [l i i . 1 3 .

in treating them as our slaves ; and, indeed, they were everpraying and interceding for our peace and the prosperity ofour kingdoms we however

,on the contrary, thought that these

troubles had fal len upon them because of the g reatness of the iriniquity ( i . e . the murder of the Messiah and of God). Thus farextend the words of the Gentiles .

To this it may be added that the nations of the world, be ingas insignificant in the eyes of the Creator as the animals, do nothave their sins providentially visited upon them from heaven

,

except when they e ither do harm to Israel , while engag ed in

exe cuting God’

s pleasure , or perpetrate some g reat enormity,such as was committed by the g eneration of the Flood, or bySodom and Gomorrha : in such cases the Almighty vis its the iriniquity, and consumes them utterly. Israe l , however, is treateddifferently in his love for us, God demands the penalty for ouroffences in this life little by l ittle , by means of exiles and partialpunishments, without making a full end of us as he assures us,when he says by the mouth of his prophet (Jer. xxx . I I ) , I amwith thee , saith the Lord, to save thee : I wi l l not make a ful lend of thee ; but I wil l corre ct thee in measure, and will nothold thee altog ether guiltless ;

’

and similarly inAmos (i i i . and

the Proverbs (iii. ‘W hom the Lord loveth he correcteth .

’

The reason of this is that Israe l is the choicest of human kind,just as the heart is the choicest organ in the body a when

,

there fore , they are in exile in the mids t of the nations, l ike theheart in the midst of the other organs, they bear all the calamit ies which fall upon the Gentiles in whose midst they are ,

exactly as the heart bears the bitterness and anguish of all thebody in the centre of which i t resides . And so it is written(Ps . cvi. 3 5 They were ming led with the Gentiles

,and

learned their works , ’ etc and again (Prov . xiv. I O), The heartknoweth the bitterness of its own soul .’ As

, moreover, in timeof trouble it is the heart alone which experiences the anguish of

Compare above , p . 228 .

l i i . YIZHAQ TROKI . 247

g rief and distress, so in time of prosperity it is the heart alsowhich alone experiences the delights of g ladness and j oy ; and

this is what is meant when in the verse from the Proverbs it isadded

,

‘And no strang er ming leth in its joy.

’

Further, as theheart is the most important part of the body, so is Israe l themost important of all the nations ; and as by bleeding someve in which orig inates in the heart the whole body is healed, soby union with Israe l heal ing is secured for all nations, so soonas they come after us and j oin themse lves to us, as it is written

(Is. xiv. I ) ,‘And strang ers shall be j oined with them,

’

e tc. And

it is admi tted that God chose Israe l to be his pe culiar people(Ex. xix. 5 ) he therefore gave them his law to teach them the

way in which they should walk, and the deeds they should dohe also (because ‘ his mercy is over all his works ’

) put it intheir hearts to instruct the rest of the world, as he says in thesame passag e ,

‘Ye shall be to me a k ingdom of priests ;’

and

again (Is . lxi . ‘Ye shal l be named the priests of the Lord.

’

Scripturethus addresses the whole Israe l itish nation by the titleof priests, in order to teach us that as the priests and Levitesused to g ive the people instruction in the Law and the Com

mandments (as it is written, Deut . xxxii . I O , They shal l teachJacob thy judgments, and Israe l thy so Israe l w ill be theteachers and instructors of the nations

,among st W hom they are

dispersed, in the words of the living God ; as it is written(Ps . xcvi . ‘ Te l l his g lory among st the heathen and (cv .

‘ Praise the Lord, cal l upon his name ; declare his doing samong st the peoples :

’

and as the Levite s and priests weresupported by the offering s and tithe s of the Israe l ite s

,so wi l l

the people of Israe l be supported in the future by the g ifts ofthe Gentiles, in recognition of the services done to them whilein exi le

,and as a reward for the ir instructions ; and this is what

is meant when in the same passag e from Isaiah it is said,Ye

shal l eat the riches of the Gentiles,and in the ir g lory shal l y e

boast yourse lve s .

’

From this it fol lows that no‘

blessing orSp iritual prog ress can possibly accrue to the nations of the

248 YIZHAQ TROKI. [l i i . 1 3 .

world, except through the mediation of Israe l, as i t is written‘And in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed(Gen. xxii . 1 8 , xxvi. and again, In the e and in thy seed shal lall kindreds of the world be blessed ’

(xxviii . 1 4) and as we

have explained in 1 3 . You se e , then,that this people was

chosen by the Almighty to be his port ion and his inheritance ,as it is written

,

‘For he hath chosen Jacob unto himse lf, andIsrae l as his own possession

’

(Ps . cxxxv . and,

‘For the Lord’sportion is his people , Jacob is the lot of his inheritance

’

(Dent .xxxi i . and, in addition, to be likewise a guide to othernations, instructing them in the way of the Lord : according ly,to them alone was g iven the divine law to shew them the rightway , for when the leader walks on the g ood road, then all thosewho follow after himwi l l attain the ‘haven of the ir des ire whilethose who do not fol low him,

or are forsaken by him,wi ll most

certainly g o astray. W hoever,therefore , wishes to g o on the

right way must take hold of the skirts of the leader’s garment ,in order not to be deserted and le ft to wander away from the

path intended by God to be adhered to . And this is what isdescribed by Ze chariah in his prophecy concerning the future(viii. 2 3 ) In those days shall ten men out of all languag es ofthe nations take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying ,W e wi ll g o with y ou, for we have heard that God is with y ou.

’

Moreover,of the g oodness which the Lord will then bestow upon

the guides , he wi ll bestow also by the ir mediation upon thosethat follow them

,as it is written, And it shall be

,if thou g o

with us, that what g oodness the Lord shall do unto us,the same

will we do unto thee ’

(Num. x.

— a promise which we findfulfilled in Jethro’s seed (Jer. xxxv.

‘ Thus saith the Lordof hosts

,the God of Israe l , Jonadab the son of Rechab shal l

not want a man to stand before me for ever,

’

a declarationresembl ing the assurance made to Israe l (Is . lxvi . 2 2) that, l ikethe new heaven and the new earth , the ir seed and the ir nameshould stand before God for ever. S imilarly, various vexationsand accidents of the road will befal the leaders travel ling in the

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25 0 Y IZHAQ TROKI . [l i i . 1 4

above as the ‘uncircumcised and unclean z

’ from thatt ime onwards he will be high and exalted

,and lofty exceeding ly

the idea of e levation is expressed in every form in order toindicate that our future exaltation wil l be the highest possible or imag inable even for the choicest of the human kind.

1 4 newis to be astonishe d, as Ezek. xxvii i . 1 9‘As many were

astonished a t thee,be cause of thy depression and the length of

thy captivity, until they said one to another, Of a truth (3: as

Num. xxvn . 6) his countenance is marred beyond that of any

other man,and his form more than the rest of the ch ildren of

men (for it is a custom of the Gentiles,when they see a man

very much disfigured, to say , This man is as ug ly as a Jew

1 5so wi ll they then be astonished at the g reatness of our e xaltation

,commenting upon it among st themse lve s, and saying , Who

hath be l ieved our report ? etc. (lii i . I , with the verses following ) ,while the ir kings, amazed equal ly at our success, will close theirmouth, and put the ir hand upon the ir lips ! ar has a causativeforce

,and signifies to make to sp eak, from qm,

Mic . u . 6 . And

the meaning of rap is to shut or close, as Job v . 1 6 . The idea ofthe whole is simi lar to that expressed by the prophet Micah(vn .

‘The nations shal l see and be confounded at all theirmight ; they shal l lay the ir hand upon their mouth ,

’

becausethey wil l see in our e xaltation more than what had been toldthem from our l ips, and p erceive in our g reatness at that timemore than what they had heard from the prophets

’

words .

LIII .

1 When the Gentiles behold the prosperity of Israe lthey will say , Who of us believed the rep ort wh ich we heard ofhim from the prophets ? y et now we are see ing with our own

eyes more than we then heard. And even what we heard wedid not be l ieve

,how,

name ly, the arm of the Lord would berevealed upon him ; because he seemed in our sight to be insignificant and despised.

2 But it is not to be wondered at, i f we

failed to be l ieve : his ascent to the e levation he now holds was

Compare above , pp . 44 , 49 .

_ 1 i i i , n ame; mom. 25 1

not accomplished by a natural process but in a marve llous andmiraculous manner, like the g rowth of a sucker out of a root inthe dry ground : while he was in captivity, the re was no one

who conce ived the possibility of his ever emerg ing from it : tothe ey e of human intel l ig ence it seemed impracticable , becausehe had no form or come liness, and no beauty of face , but wasmarred and disfigured beyond all other men. Therefore we hadno desi re or long ing to look upon him,

but desp ised him,and

he ld him in abhorrence .

3 How indeed could we do otherwise ,when he was the most desp ised and insignificant ofmen 2 for itwas his lot to be enduring continually every mental sufferingand eve ry bodily wrong — such were the chastisements of thecaptivity , here spoken of metaphorical ly as pains and sickness

,

and in his humiliation and depression we would not look at him,

but spurned and depreciated him,till we would esteem him for

nought .

4 The nations continue declaring their convictionSince we now have it confirmed by ocular proof that the truthis with Israe l , and that all we like sheep have g one astray, i tfollows that the calamities in which the chastisements of exileconsisted did not come upon him for his own iniqui ty, but thatthe pains and sicknesses (under which imag e they are here re

presented) , which ought in justice to have fallen upon us,fe ll

instead upon him. We, however, thought that he had been stricken,

smitten and afi icted by God, for his unbounded spirit of rebe llionagainst him ; but it did no t happen to Israe l thus : they weresmitten (as the next verse states) for our iniquities and transg ressions, not for their own.

5 551m: th is is the passive partie.

Po‘ le l fromW:(Ps. xlviii . 7 al.) The meaning of the chastisementof our p eace was up on him is this The present world is aworldof alteration and chang e, and its g oodness is not perfect or comple te ; it has no peace that is free from suffering , no prosperityunruffled by vexations and strife

,no j oy untouched by sorrow

and sighing ; all its happiness and all its delights are com

ming led with misfortune and g rief..

So we,they say , saw that

whi le the peace fe ll to our lot , the chastisement attending i t fe l l

25 2 Yi znxq TROKI. [l i i i . 6

upon him : he rece ived bruises and stripes, i . e . the penalties ofe xile

, and we received medicine and healing ,— in other words ,prosperity and power . N5

“

! has the same sense as in Ex . xv. 2 6 ,‘I am the Lord that healeth thee ,

’

as he had said before,

‘Therefore I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I havebrought upon the Egyptians.

’

And mun is to be explained as

Is. i . 6,except that there the word has Dag esh, while here this is

omitted. It is possible , however, to derive it from “

innwith thesense appertaining to the word in Hos . iv. 1 7 iminnwill thenbe a substantive with SUffiX of the th ird person, formed likeinfill ? and the meaning wi l l be that by be ing in one union and

fe l lowship w ith us, he used to intercede with God for our adver

sities, and God used to hear his prayer and send forth heal ingfor our wounds.

6 In this ve rse the Gentiles all confess the iriniquity, which is at last revealed before the sun, saying , Nowwe are sure that the truth has been all along with Israel andnot with us ; for a ll we like sheep w ithout a shepherd have g oneastray , we have turned each after his own way , i . e . each hasturned to its own g ods , but now we know that these were no

g ods, as it is written, Unto thee wil l the Gentiles come fromthe ends of the earth

,and will say , Our fathers inherited nothing

but l ies ’

(Jer. xvi . and immediate ly afte rwards,verse 20

,

‘ Shall a man make g ods unto himse lf, and they are no g ods’

l’

For this we had been l iable to an infinite penalty, had not

the Almighty caused the p enalty of us a ll to meet up on him.

According ly till now he has performed our service for us, carriedour yoke, and borne our pains ; but hence forth it is we who,voluntarily and heartily, shall have to do work for him,

as it iswritten (lxi.

‘ Strang ers shall stand and fe ed your flock s ; ’

and (xl ix . 2 King s shall be thy nursing fathers, and queensthy nurs ing mothers,

’with many other passag e s of simi lar im

port . 7 When he was under our power in exile,he was un

ceasing ly oppressed and afilicted ,

’ we oppressed him for money,

exacting from him ‘tribute,and excise , andway -tolls’ (Ezra iv. 1

and much in addi tion by every description of fraudulent device

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25 4 YIZHAQ TROK I . [l i i i . 9

to indicate that each separate nation wi ll use this languag e , inorde r to indi cate that the stroke came upon Israe l for its transgression and not for the irs .

9 Israe l was ready to re sign himse lfto death and burial for the sake of the divine Unity, as it iswritten (Ps . xliv .

‘ For thy sake we are slain all the day7long we were incessantly framing fraudulent devices against

him to put him to death, just as the wicked are put to death fortheir crimes : s imilarly we were in the habi t of murdering thewea lthy by various contrivances for the sake of his riches ; andeven the poor Israe lite was invested by us with the reputationof be ing rich, and tortured cruel ly for the purpose of forcinghim to disclose where his money was secreted. And all thisoccurred, a lthoug h he had done no violence ; he was not put todeath for any wickedne ss that he had committed, but simply

“

in

orde r that we might se cure his wealth ; and also because hewould not confess to our lying be lief, nor by acknowledg ing i tutter deceitfulness with his mouth, at a time when a sing le word— though spoken in dece it

,and thoug h his heart might no t be

in accordance with the declaration of his lips— would have beensufficient to re lease him from any one of the varied forms ofdeath to which we might have sentenced him.

1 °S ince,then

,he

thus maintained his adherence to the divine law, and evincedhis will ingness to meet death under whatever form,

we can

assign no cause for his pains and calamities in captivity, exceptthat God was in this way p leased to bruise and sicken him

,in

order to humble and try him,that it might be ‘well with him at

his latter end,’ i . e . at the time of redemption, as we now see

to be the case : if therefore his soul g ives itse lf in place of atresp ass

-

ofi'

ering (as the prophet said, made his g rave with the

wicked) , as a reward for doing this , he will see seed ( i . e . muchseed, just as stature, Num. xiii . 3 2 , means larg e stature ) ; andthis is what Ze chariah alludes to when he says (x. I willh iss to them, and g ather them,

and they shal l increase as theyhave increased and (verse

‘ I will bring them into the landof Gilead and Lebanon, and place shall not be found for them

— li i i . m ] YIZHAQ TROKl . 5 5

and again (Ezek . xxxvi . ‘ I will increase them with men likea flock .

’

In the same way it is promised that he shal l leng thenday s , as i t is said in this very book (lxv . As the days of atre e shall be the days of my people and by Ze chariah (vi i i .Each with his staff in his hand for very ag e .

’ If so , then, the

p leasure of the Lord, who had thus bruised Israe l in exile inorder to do g ood to him at the time of redemption, is that hesha ll p rosp er with his ha nd: for God will multiply him, and ble sshim exce eding ly, as it is written, ‘And he wil l do thee g ood,and multiply thee above thy fathers (Dent . xxx .

— Here thewords of the Gentiles terminate , and the Almighty commence sspeaking .

1 ‘For the.

travail of his soul, which he endured inthe capt ivity, he w ill rece ive a g oodly re compense , which he willsee

,and be satisfied therewith ; as also by his knowledg e of me

(as it is written, Jer. xxxi . 3 3 , ‘All shall know me, from the

smallest to the the righteous , i . e . my servant Israe l,willjustify many nations , as it is said (Mic . iv. He wil l teachus of his ways and we will walk in his paths and he in his

righteousne ss will bear the iniquity ofmany nations, for throughit there wil l be peace and prosperity in the world, includingeven the Gentiles .

‘2 Therefore I will g ive him his lot and portion with my servants , the famous ones of the earth, i . e . withthe patriarchs and holy prophets ; by this is meant his spiritualwe lfare

,which is placed above the temporal ; and B'n

'

i must beexplained as Gen. xxv . 2 3 , The greater shal l serve the smaller.’

Aft erwards, he will enj oy temporal we lfare, in accordance withwhat follows, and the mighty he shall divide as sp oil, where the‘mighty

’

are Gog and Mag og and the nations accompanyingthem

,who w ill come up to fight against Jerusalem and there

perish themse lves by various forms of death , as a punishmentfor those which they had infli cted upon Israe l . And so i t iswritten,

‘ I wil l p lead ag ainst him with pe stilence and withblood and an overflowing rain, and g reat hailstones, fire , andbrimstone will I rain upon him and upon the many peoplesthat are with him (Ezek . xxxviii . And aft er this Israe l wil l

25 6 l nAQ TROK I. [l i i i . 1 2 .

divide their sp oil and take of their wealth , in return for whatthey had taken from him during the captivity ; as Scripturesays, ‘And they shal l spoil those that spoiled them,

and rob

those that robbed them (Ezek . xxx ix . and, The wealth ofall the heathen shal l be gathered tog ether , g old and silver andappare l in g reat abundance (Zech . xiv . This

,then

,will be

Israe l ’s recompense for his readiness l

to meet death at the handsof the heathen ; the ir soul shall be for his soul, and their wealthfor his weal th (which they had robbed him of) , because, as theprophe t says, he p oured out (my as Gen. xxiv . 20 ) his soul to die,and because he was numbered with the transg ressors (as is saidabove , ‘And g ave his g rave with the viz . through theGentiles holding him in the e stimat ion of an evil-de er, hated byGod. And therefore there would be g iven him an ample sharein that rich and copious portion reserved for those that fear theLord, and esteem his name

,as did the holy patriarchs and many

also of the prophets, the worthies of the nation. By the clause,carried the sin ofmany , it is signified that not only was he notwicked

,as the Gentiles imag ined, but in his righteousness he

even bore and carried the sin of many among the Genti les, as itis said, ‘And the ir iniquities he will bear. ’ In like manner, heused to pray to God on behalf of the Gentile transg ressorsalthough they caused him the g reatest suffering s, he neverthe lessinterceded and suppl icated for the ir peace and the prosperity ofthe ir kingdoms

, entreating the Almighty to g ive the rain ofthe ir land in its season

,as the inspired prophet enjoins, ‘And

seek the peace of the city whither I have led y ou away captive s,and pray for it unto the Lord (Jer. xxix . 7) and our Rabbis

,

Ho , thou that prayest for the peace of the kingdom f, etc. ; and

as we Jews repeat continual ly in our prayers, 0 our God,that

art in heaven, g ive life and peace to the King our master ; 0our God, that art in heaven, g ive peace in the earth ; 0 our

God,that art in heaven

, g ive peace in the kingdom ; 0 our God,

f See Abhoth, iii . 2 .

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XXXVI I . R . MOSHEH EL-SHE IKH .

LII.

‘3 The verses in this Parashah are difficult to fix or arrang ein a plain and l iteral manner, so that the various parts, from the

beg inning to the end,may be combined and conne cted closely

tog ether, ‘ the head with the leg s and the inwards thereof.’

The

commentators I see g oing up and down among them,and y et nei

ther ag ree ing in the subject to which the whole is to be referred,nor disentang l ing the words upon any simple plan. I therefore ,in my humil ity, am come after them not with any sense of thewisdom that I am about to utter, but mere ly with the obj ect ofapplying to its e lucidation a straightforward method, in accordance with the l iteral sense of the text, such as ought to bechosen by one who would rightly unite the several words and

periods, and determine what view is leg itimate and what not .

I may remark , then, that our Rabbis with one voice accept andaffirm the opinion that the prophet is speaking of the KingMe ssiah

,and we shall ourselves also adhere to the same view

for the Me ssiah is of course David, who , as is we ll known,was

‘anointed

,

’

and there is a verse in which the prophet, speakingin the name of the Lord

,says expressly, ‘My servant David

shal l be king over them (Ezek . xxxvn. The expression myservant, therefore , can be justly referred to David : for fromwhat is expl icit in one place we can discove r what is hidden orobscure in another . Although now we shal l not cal l attentionto everyth ing in the text that might deserve it (s ince much isalready before the eyes of all) , no one will fail to notice

,how

l i i . R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH . 25 9

in the introduction the prophet says at once,Behold my

servant sha ll prosp er, instead of employing the phrase , ‘ Thussaith the Lord,’ as at the beg inning of every other Parashah .

Our Rabbis say that of all the suffering which entered into theworld

,one thirdwas for David and the fathers

,one for the g enera

tion in exile , and one for the King Me ssiah 3 . If we examine themeaning of this saying , we shal l see that there are punishmentsfor iniquity

, and also punishments of love , the latter be ingendured by the rig hteous for the w ickedness of his own g enerat ion. Now those who do not know how far the reward of therig hteous really extends feel surprised at this

,asking , Is it the

Lord’s pleasure that e ithe r one man should sin,or a whole

g eneration 2 and wondering whether it can be true that he wil lbe wroth with a just and perfe ct man who never sinned

,and

heap on him the iniquities of all wrong -doers, in order that theymay rej oice , and he

,the just

,be pained ; that they may be

‘stalwart in streng th ,

’

while he is stricken and smitten ; thatthey may exult at his calami ty, and mock during the ir feastsat his distress, while he is smitten for the ir sakes. In orderto put an end to the ‘ fear from this thing ,

’

God de clares inthese verses how far the merits of those who thus suffer for thes ins of the ir own ag e extend the ir effects, adducing a proof fromthe ease of the Messiah who bore the iniquities of the childrenof Israel , and behold his reward is with him.

’The Almighty

argues with Israe l (whom he has h ithert o been addressing ,l i i . 1 1 saying to them in tones of love (and, l ike one talkingwith a be loved son, using the singular number) : Did I not

promise that the Lord would go before y ou, and the God ofIsrae l be your rear-ward ? and wi l l y e not marve l that all yours ins have not been ‘

scoured and flooded away ’ to the extentof really deserving such g reat blessing s ? 0 that we had beencounted worthy to walk in affl ict ion

, and after that to build forourse lves the sanctuary (as were those who bui lt the second

a Compare p . IO W iiuschc , p . 73 .

260 R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH . [l i i . 1 3 .

Temple by the permiss ion of Cyrus) : but look and learn howg reat is the power of the man who suffers for a whole g eneration y ou shall then see from the exaltation wh ich I shal l conferupon the King Messiah how vast are the benefits of the chastisements of love to him that endures them. Behold my servant

( i . e . the Me ss iah ) will p rosp er,— for this is the meaning of star) "in this passag e , as I Sam. xvi i . 1 4 ,— and this prosperity of hiswil l extend through four worlds, viz . the l ower world, the worldof ang e ls , the world of stars

,and the highest world of all

,in

each of wh ich the same prosperity will attend him. He wil lbe high in this world ; exalted in the world of stars— as was

Joshua , when he said, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon,

’

etc.

(Josh . x . and lofty in the world of ang els, who wi l l ‘ haveacce ss to his audience ’

(for he will not be inferior to kingSolomon

,as the Rabbis say

b,W hy was not Solomon reckoned

among st those who ruled ove r the world ? Be cause he was k ingover the powers that are on hig h , i . e . ove r the ang e ls, as it iswritten

,I Chron. xx ix . 2 3 ,

‘And Solomon sat on the throne ofthe exceeding ly , be cause prosperity wi ll accompany himin the uppermost world as well , in the presence of God, accordingto the saying of the Rabbis on Ps . 1 1 . 8 , that he will be ‘ l ike a

dear son, de lighting h imse lf before his Creator 0 he says therefore

,Ask ofme

,e tc.

,be cause of the g ood fortune wh ich is to be

his in each of these four worlds . Such is the meaning of th isfirst verse of the Parashah , the last four words of which , as hasnow been explained, corre spond to these four spheres of power.Our Rabbis say further, He shal l be higher than Abraham,

of whom it is written (Gen. xiv .

“ I raise hig h my hand toGod ; l ifted up above Moses , of whom it is wri tten (Num.

xi . “And they shal l lift the burden of the people with theeand l oftier than the ministering ang e ls, of whom it is said (Ezek .

i . “ The ir whee ls were lofty It is not w ithout a purposethat Abraham

,Moses

,and the ang e ls are here mentioned : thoug h

b Thalm. Bab.,Meg illah, u

".

C Compare Buxt . s . v. man.

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262 R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH. [l i i . 1 4

The whole,howeve r

,as I understand the ir method, g oeth unto

one place .

’ If now we return to the words of the text, we shal lse e that what God says to his only son Israe l is this

,that he

w ill prosper in four different worlds .

1 4 From what source ,however

,does he merit all this is it not because , as many were

astonished a t thee ( i . e . at Israe l) in the two desolations [of theTemple] , so that every one that passed by ‘

was astonished and

hissed ’

at the terrible disasters accompanying the two chastisements described in the Law

,when even the strang er coming

from a far land, when he saw the plagues of that land and the

sicknesses laid upon it,was to hiss and ask in amazement ,

W herefore hath the Lord done thus ? what meaneth the heatof this g reat ang er ?

’

(Deut . xxix . 2 2 According to thedeg re e of the ir amazement, then, so was his countenance marredfrom man

,in consequence of the magnitude of his suffering s :

by this expression the prophet means to say that it seemed to bemarred to those who gazed upon it ; for man can never discernin a face the imag e of God, but only skin and flesh : the nextphrase also

,and his form from the sons of men

,has a similar

import, and does not at all imply that his form was marred inthe eyes of God, who see th that which is Sp iritual . Or the

words may signify that his countenancefrom man was marred,

i . e . what was derived in i t from man,to the exclusion of

that wh ich was derived from the Almighty (viz . the imag e ofGod) ; and

,again, that his form from the sons of men was dis

figured, but not what came to him from above 1 5 As the fourhig h prerogatives assigned to him in ver. 1 3 became his in con

sequence of his suffering s, so, through the same instrumental ity ,he will sp rinkle many nations , i . e . by these his deserts he wil l‘sprinkle the juice of them

’

(Is . lxiii. that is,the ir blood,

wh ich will stream before him ‘ like a breach of waters.

’

And so

brill iant will be his career before the eyes of the heathen, thata t him king s will shut their mouth, th inking that none of hisdeeds can be adequate ly described ; they will therefore closethe ir lips and refrain from speak ing . And all this wil l be

—l i ii . z .] R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH . 63

caused by the ir having seen wha t had never been told them ; forvery many predictions wh ich had been uttered by the prophe tsre spe cting events that would happen to them,

had never reachedthem ; for what the prophets spoke and wrote they did no t

usually communicate to a nation itse lf,they only heard of it in

process of time : but now they se e all clearly accomplishedby the Messiah. Hence also those who had not heard of any

of the deeds to be done by him beg an now to a ttend ; forwhen the king s saw terrible deeds of which they had neverheard done by the Messiah

,they observed attentive ly, in orde r

to discove r whe ther the matter was really as it had appeared tobe

, or no t : for the i r astonishment was so g reat that they werealmost incredul ous

,and looked close ly and careful ly, doubting

whether even the ir eyesight had not dece ived them.

LII I .

1 The Almighty, however , says that there is no need

for surprise at the ir attitude of incredul ity in presence of thesemarve ls ; for who believed our rep ort— the report, name ly, whichwe made known to y ou from heaven

,but which the king s had

no t heard of ? so fearful was it,that in the eyes of every one

who did hear it,it was too wondrous to be true ; and up on

whom was the arm of the Lord revealed as it was upon the

King Messiah ? The sum of the whole is that he obtained thishonour for himse lf owing to his merits in enduring for Israe l(as has been said) chastisements of love .

2 The contents of thisand the following verses shew unmistakably that they are the

words of the prophe t, as i t we re instructing or guiding thepeople , and not the words of God : this is plain both fromthe phrase , We saw him

,but he had no beauty that we could

desire him,which would not be suitable for God to use with

re ference to himse lf, as also from the two expressions, Weesteemed him not

,in the next verse , and (verse Our sicknesses

he carried. From the fact of the Rabbis expounding the previcus verses of the Me ssiah , it may be seen that these speak

of the righteous who endures in the present world the chastisements of love ; and therefore I maintain that up to this point

264 R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH. [l i i i . 2 .

we have had the words of God announcing the gr eatness of theMessiah in return for his suffering s , and designed to set forththe exalted dignity of him by whom those chastisements are

borne . Here , howeve r, the prophe t seems to set before us the

words of Israe l endorsing the D ivine de claration,and affirming

in the ir own persons its entire truth ‘The “ tried saying of thethey exclaim

,

‘which he has made known to us con

cerning the King Mess iah,has opened our e ars and removed

the bl indness of our eyes ; we behe ld a man,just and perfect,

bruised and deg raded by suffering , despised in our eye s , and

plundered verily before God and man,while all cried

,

“ God

hath forsaken him he must sure ly,therefore

,we thought, be

despised l ikewise in the eyes of the Almighty, and th is is whyhe hath made him an offscouring and refuse ”

(Lam. i i i .But now the Lord hath awakened our car, and taught us thatthe chastisements of love are infinite ly g reat ; henceforward,then, will “ his streng th be magnified, when we see him just

,

and humble in sp irit, stricken, and smitten : for then we shal lall ag ree in concluding that what

'

we had seen before meantnothing except that he was carrying our sicknesses ; and thathis suffe ring s were for the protection of his g eneration.

’

Suchis the substance of what the prophet puts into the peop le

’

s

mouth . And first of all they say , He came up as a sucker,etc.

i . e . we see one who was as a sucker with water for it to suckup , and g rowing g reat and tal l ; he was like this , however, onlybefore him,

viz . be fore the Lord (named in verse I ) for thoughthis just and perfect sufferer flourished and g rew g reat beforeGod in the upper world, y e t in the earth which we see be low

,

he was as a root coming forth out of the dry earth, and not a

sucker (because there was no water for him to ‘suck ’

up ) .

Be ing l owly, there fore , in the sight of our eyes,he was without

form and comeliness in the world : his form was darkened ’

by

the blackness of his suffering s (of. Lam . iv . and‘ his own

leanness bare witness in his face ne ither had he any beautythat we could de s ire him on account of his righte ousness, but,

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266 R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH. [li i i . 4

and was thus punished for his sins. According ly he was bothdesp ised in his own eyes

,and we esteemed him not .

‘Yet in

truth the cause of this ‘ face -hiding’

lay not in him, but in the

peop le ; for, as we learn from the express ion used in the pre

ceding verses, he (Nm) carried our sicknesses , i . e . he was readyto carry them of his own accord, like R . Eleazar

,the son of

R . Simeon,who said, Come brethren, come friends g l’ Again,

as‘

pain’

was associated with sickness ’

in verse 3 , so here it isstated that he bore the former as we l l

,and was not l ike the

man who exclaimed, ‘Ne ither them,nor the i r reward h !

’

We,

howeve r, thought that he was not hearing them of his own

accord,but that he was stricken and smitten of God, by a judg

ment of retaliation for his iniquities, and not out of love,as

was the case with R. Eleazar. The prophet says stricken, with

al lusion to the expression ”5mSM”,and smitten

,because he had

at the same time called him mamas was : we supposed hims tricken

,name ly

,with the stroke s of men ( i . e . through the

powers of impurity) which fall upon a man as a cousequence of one of those matters for whi ch such stroke s are

appointed ; smitten of Godwhen afterwards God seemed to smitehim

,not from any des ire to infl ict upon him a chastisement

of love , but in virtue of his attribute of justice , because he hadnot repented of his iniquity ; and afi icted, when last of all (asis stated in verse 3 ) he was despis ed in his own eye s on accountof the humil iation and affliction which had be fallen him. Suchis the signification of the thr ee expressions, s tricken,

smitten ofGod, and afllicted.

5 It was not so in fact,however : it was

because he was wounded for our transg ressions that he was‘ broken by sickness ;

’

and because he was bruised for our

8 I . e . invited his friends to see him, as though noth ing were the matterse e Thalm. Bab Babka M

’

g i’

ah ,h Al luding to a saying ofR . Yohanan

’

s (Thalmud of Babylon, B ’

rakhoth,

fo l. 5b) , who when asked during an illness W hether his suffering s were

pleasant to bear in view of the reward they would bring after them, replied,that he found no pleasure e ither in the suffering s or in the ir reward.

—l i i i . R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH . 267

iniquities that he be came a man of pains (for he was strickenfor our ‘ transg ressions ,

’

and smitten for our iniquities’

) and

he was ‘afliicted

’

with poverty, be cause— and this is the chie freason for wh ich he was ‘ despised

’— the chastisement of our

p eace was up on him : his be ing wounded and bruised for our

iniquit ie s had mere ly the negative eflect of rescuing us frompunishment in order for us to enjoy positive peace and prosperity , further suffering s we re needed, and these consisted inhisbeing ‘

afl‘licted’

with poverty. To express this, it is said thatthe chastisement of our p eace was upon him : and i t was we l l thatthis additional chastisement should rest upon him ; for wh i le thedire ct consequences of our sins had been averted by his s icknessand stripes, something stil l was needed in order to confer peaceupon us. Or the sense of the passag e may be as follows : Ifhe had ‘ carried our sicknesse s, ’ it would have been sufficient toremove misfortune from us

,but not to procure us prosperity

but we do possess prosperity ; doe s it not follow then that hemust already, at some time or other, have suffe red sickness,be ing made sick (55 11 73 ) for our transg ressions , that pain musthave l ighted on him, be ing bruised for our iniquities, and thathis calamities were prolong ed, be cause the chastisement of our

p eace was up on him,and in order to benefit us positive ly

for,so far as the me re removal of suffering was concerned, we

were long ag o healed by his strip es.

6All we like sheep had

g one astray — l ike sheep wh ich all follow aft-er the ir leader, sothat if the leader strays

,they all stray with him

,be cause of

the unity of the whole flock ; as the Rabbis say , W hen the

shepherd is ang ry with his flock , he makes the ir leader bl ind i.’

The prophet says, W ould that only one had g one astray,and

that only the un ity of the rest had led them after him ! forunion

,thoug h it be w ith some thing evil , is a g ood, as it is written

(Hos. iv.

‘Ephraim is joined unto idols ; let him alone,

” here ,h owever, there is in two respects a difference for the worse for

Thalm . Bab . , Bdbha Qdma ,

268 R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH . [l i ii. 7

in a fl ock only one g oe s astray, but in our case , as we learn fromthe expression All we like sheep,

’ there were many straying ; ina flock also the g eneral e rror results from the unitedness of thewhole body, but the phrase , ‘Each turned to his own way ,

’

shews that with us this was not so,but that it resulted from

the separate action of each individual . Had it indeed been

o therwise , our guilt (as the passag e from Hosea indicates )would not have be en so g reat . But see now the mercy of Godafter we had individually g one astray

,he might have been

expected to punish us individual ly l ikewise (for every man byhis own separate iniquity creates an accuser to ‘ light

’

upon himfor the purpose of punishing him) ; y et the Lord did not look tothis

,but counted us as one man

,reckoning up the iniquity of us

a ll tog ether, and causing it to lig ht uponthis just one , who wasaccording ly sufficient to bear the whole of it, which would not

have been the case had each one’s iniquity been re ckoned up

against himse l f. 7 In the B’

reshith R ahhd k,the Rabbis say ,

There is a drawing nigh that is for prayer ; as it is written( 1 King s xvii i. ‘And Elijah drewnigh .

" but although hispraye r [for rain] was heard before his Creator, y et his pietyprevented him from praying for a removal of his own calamity ,or complaining of the bitterness of his suffering s, as he mighthave done had the saying , ‘Ne ither them,

nor the ir reward,

’been

his mode l . Elijah resembled rather Rabbah , who , althoughboth he and R. Hisda were men of the g reat est piety, prayed,and there came rain

,and prayed again, and there came rain 1 5

and y e t in spite of this, when all his household were enduringthe ‘

sixty pains’

[fe lt by the tooth that hears its ne ighboure ating , and has noth ing itself he did no t pray for any

alleviation of his suffering s. In l ike manner the prophe t sayshe re that the prayer of this just one was heard by God, thatwhen he drew near (WJJ) for the purpose of praying , he was at

k C . 93 .

1 Thalm. Bab . , Ta’

anith,“1 Thalm. Bab Babha Qdma,

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270 R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH. [l i i i . 9 .

Rabbis , I see , have in two places 0 expounded verse 1 2 ofMoses our master, each Midrash ’

possessing its own particularfeatures ; and we may at least admit that the passag e doesal lude to him

,though any one adopting this opinion is bound

to explain what connexion subsists between the verse relating toMoses and those which precede it. I think myse lf that properly these refer to him likewise : after having stated that thejust one did g ood to his ag e , not only during his lifetime , bycarrying the ir sicknesses

,but also in his death , when because of

drought andjudgment he was taken out of the world in order tomake atonement for them

,the prophet now proceeds to ask , W il l

not the heart of man ‘be embittered ’

when it reflects that forthe suffering s endured in this present l ife , the just one oughtat least not to miss enjoy ing e lsewhere the reward for his obe

dience to the Law and the Commandment ; whereas by dyingfor his g eneration he will be cut off from the Law and the

Commandments, and so debarred from happ iness both in thisworld and in that which is to come ? He therefore says, And hemade his g race with the wicked, i . e . I wi ll shew y ou an instanceof this in the chief of all the prophets, and the choicest of allcreation, who, by still suffering after his death , endured a heavierpenalty than others who had suffered for the ir g eneration : forhe ‘made his g rave with the wicked,

’ i . e . Moses, who , as our

Rabbis say P, was buried away from the Promised Land, tog etherw ith the wi cked ones who died in the wilderness : for thesewere unworthy to enter into the world to come , had not Mosesborne the disg race of be ing buried by the ir side , in order thathe might bring them into it with himself. And we cannot bewrong in interpreting the wicked here of those who perishedin the wi lderness for the sin of the spies ; for the Rabbis themselves explain he was numbered with the transg ressors (verse 1 2 )similarly. Moses was not , however, buried sole ly with thesein the wilderness rested also Qorah , who was ‘

rich,

’

with all

0 Above , pp . 8 , 1 0 .I' Sotah , I 4

“.

l i i i . R . MOSHEH EL- SI-IEIKH. 27 1

those who perished with him,when they complained that Moses

and Aaron had killed the people of the Lord (Num . xvii .w ith all the se Moses made his g rave , in order to bring theml ikewise into the future world. For it is we ll known that evenQorab and his deaths , i . e . those who died in his cause , w i l l allrise up with him since , as our Rabbis say <1

,it follows certainly

from the words of Hannah ’s prayer, ‘The Lord bring eth downto the Underworld, and bring eth up

’

( I Sam. i i . that Qorabwi ll return and come up from the Underworld, and afortiori,those who perished with him, and in fact the whole g enerationof the wi lderne ss. The prophet appeals thus to a known casehe

,i . e . Moses, made his g rave with the wicked, for he was buried

in profane g round in order to bring them in with him [into thefuture world], and that, not only with the g eneration of thewilderne ss , but also with the rich [viz . Qorab] in his deathsamong st those , that is, who perishedwith him— in order to bringthem in l ikew ise , because he had done no violence, l ike those who

perished in the desert , which alone might have caused him to beleft behind, neither was there any guile in his mouth, when hesaid, ‘But if the Lord create a new thing ,

’

etc. (Num. xvi . in

a word, he s inned ne ither wi th the disbe lieving Israe lites , nor inany thing that he uttered in the matter of Qorab ; on the con

trary , he acquiesced for the ir advantag e in the indignity ofbe ing buried away from the Promised Land.

1 °But y ou wil lask

, W hy should God do these two thing s, both bruising and

sickening the just one during his l ife for the iniquity of hisg ene ration, and then cutting him off from the world on accountof its sin ? the Almighty can have no concern lest vexation shouldcause him to sin. To meet this, the prophe t continues : Youknow, indeed, that the Lord was p leased to bruise and sickenhim for the iniquity of his g eneration 3 y et afterwards if hissoul is prepared to die , and thereby to make itsel f a trespassofiering on the ir behalf, he wi ll no long er fee l the trial , but

‘1 Sanhedrin,l og h .

272 R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH. Lu “ . n

rather rejo ice ; for God w il l comfort him w ith other words,

saying , He shall see seed,shall leng then day s : he will even

devote himse lf to the Law and the Commandments and p rosp er

(wh ich is what is meant by the p leasure of the Lord shall

p rosp er in his hand), because there is no disannull ing of the Lawin the chastisements of love (whi ch are what are sent to protectan ag e from punishment) he wi ll thus be blessed both in thisworld and in that which is to come . God now speaks,

adding a further promise to the prophe t’

s words, For the travailofhis soul

,etc. There is a saying of the Rabbis r on the verse ,

Prov. xxxi . 2 5 , ‘And she laugheth at the future , ’ that at the timewhen the just are taken out of the world they are shewn the irreward

,the ir soul is satisfied

,and they themse lves then fal l

asleep ; and this is what is written in the same place that thesoul of the just suffers hardship, because it can no long er in thepresent world pursue studiously the practice of the Law,

and

his body suffers hardship , be cause it must g o and decay in the

g rave . Therefore the Almighty shews,

each man how his soulwill reap satisfaction for all that he has done (and this is themeaning of ‘ the ir soul is and how his body

,for

what he has enjoyed, will be left as one asleep (and this is themeaning of ‘ they themselves wi ll fall And so it issaid here Le t not the owner of this soul fee l vexation at dyingfor the iniquity of his g eneration, al leg ing that it was his desireto live long er in order to satisfy himself with further acts ofmerit : wi ll he not

, for the travail of his soul,wherewith he

laboured unto the day of his death , when he is taken away,see

something wh ich w il l satisfy him ? by his knowledg e— or willI promise that the just one , i . e . my servant, shalljustify many ,and that he shal l bear their iniquities .

‘2 For I will divide him

a portion with the many,that he may re ce ive a portion in the

world to come with the many who by his means are mee t torece ive a reward for the ir suffering s : and because he after

B’

reshith Rabba, c . 6 2 .

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274 R . MOSHEH EL-SHEIKH. [l iii . 1 2 .

said, ‘How long refuse y e to keep my statutes and my ordinances (Ex . xvi. classing him thereby with men who hadprofaned the Sabbath

,as our Rabbis say

8,For the sake of

one leaf, a whole branch is often injured i . e . on account of thewicked, the righteous is revi led. According ly, i t is said thathe was numbered with them

,

’ i . e . be fe lt no anxiety in havingg iven his soul for them, and, besides this, that ‘he carried the '

sin of many,

’

as God said to him,

‘Go, g et thee down

’

(Ex .

xxxu. as though to say , Descend from all thy g reatness,because Israe l has sinned ; but still

,in spite of this, ‘ he made

intercession for the transg ressors,’

because in every place thatIsrae l transg ressed he interceded for them. And this is theprophet

’

s meaning when he writes, And he carried the sin

of many , and made intercession for the transg ressors .

5 Thalm. Bab .,Babha Qc

‘

zma, Compare Buxtorf, s . v. R 1 1 3 .

XXXVIII . R . SH’LOMOH LEVI.

Says Sh’ lomoh, son of the honourable and exalted R .Yizhaq,

of the house of Levi (may the merciful God preserve and de l iverhim !) Throughout this prophecy, all the commentators exerttheir utmost upon its interpretation, and are at no smal l variancerespe cting the import of it . I myse lf also

,

‘with the latter

ones,

’ have had a similar expe rience ; I have laboured hardmany years, and even now ‘my witness is in heaven, and my

record in the hig he st,’ that the thirst of my desire has not

been satisfied w ith what the net of my speculation has broughtup for me out of the spring s wh ich extend themse lves at the

foundations of their writing s. He who would have at his com

mand the whole multitude of diverg ent Opinions re spe cting it,must apply h imse lf to the commentary of the blessed Don

[Yi zhaq Abarbanel], and to the excellent words which he hasuttered. To me

,however

,who am ‘

afflicted and of a brokenspirit,

’

the obje ct of the prophet seems to be to describe ing eneral the varied forms of suffering to which the righteous are

e xposed, and, afte r having done this, to exhibi t to us in par

ticular how they all ult imate ly result in the g reater perfe ctionof the sufferer : he according ly declare s that the man who is

perfect in theory (which is what he means by 5mm) wi l l also beperfe ct in practice , because he wi l l be God

’

s servant , i . e . wi l l beone who performs his commandments. In other words

,his

meaning is this : Jlfy servant who obeys my commands, not as

though they were merely human precepts to be learnt by rote(Is . xxix . but with intellig ence and reason

, wil l assuredly

276 R . SH’LOMOH LEVI. [l i i, l i i i .

be high and exalted and lofty exceeding ly . By this he, perhaps,intends to say that he wil l be e levated above all the worlds.

In reference to his e levation above the lower world, he says,he will be high ; and this is possibly what the Rabbis meantwhen they said, He will be higher than Abraham,

’ forAbrahamcal led himsel f ‘dust and ashes ’ (Gen. xviii. Alluding tothe intermediate world, he says

,and exalted, viz . above Moses ;

for,according to the Cabbalists, the attribute of Moses is called

heaven, ’ and of him the words were spoken, Thou didst g o upon high

’

(Ps . lxviii. according ly the R abbisa te ll of thenumerous times that Moses went up into the mount. And

,

alluding to the world of ang e ls, the prophet continues, and lofty .

In addition to this,however, the Rabbis mean by the ir Midrash

to express in what way such a man is perfe cted in the threee ssentials of the faith he is high through the sufficiency of Goddeclared to him by Abraham, exalted throug h the law fromheaven de livered by Moses our master, and lofty through thatprovidence which, as Maimonides b has remarked, may be shewnto exist by reason : these are they that sit first in the kingdom,

and behold the king’

s face ’

(Esth. i . being the constantobje cts of his providential care ; indeed, some hold that, whena elos interprets ”JD my face ,

’

Ex. xxxiii . 2 3 ) by that which isbefore me, he means to allude to the ang els. Or high may alludeto the perfe ct manner in which his private conduct is guided,exalted to his behaviour in publ ic towards other men, and loftyto the theoretical principles which regulate both. Our Rabbis

,

in the Midrash Tanhuma , have expounded the verse of theK ing Messiah, saying , He shall be highe r than Abraham,

’

e tc. but although the righteous Don [Yi zhaq Abarbanel] hasg iven a corre ct explanation of this Midrash , i t appears to methat its meaning is rather th is, that, in spite of all Abraham

’

s

nobi l ity of character,the Messiah will be more noble stil l : for

Thalm. Bab ., Sanhedrin, I I I“.

b Guide des Egaré s , iii . 1 30 ff. ( ed. Munk ) .

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278 R . SH’LOMOH LEVI . [l i i . x3

account for by supposing that the latter are alluded to in whatfollows, ‘Who art thou

,O g reat mountain ?

’

which is imme

diately explained to mean that he wi ll be g reater than the

patriarchs for Isaac,they say , was g reat in the prerogative of

might (wh ich hence is named as his special attribute) when he laidhis neck upon the altar (in accordance with the saying , Who isthe man of might ? The man that subdues his own naturalimpulse

c) and Jacob was g reat in the prerog ative of truth as

Scripture says, Thou gavest truth to Jacob’

(Mic. vii. 1 3 In

the book Zohar, sectionmad, the words My servant sha ll haveunderstanding are refe rred to the attribute of royalty, which ishigh, because it rece ives its l ight from intellig ence (run) ; and

exalted, because it partakes of the attribute of mercy belong ingto Abraham ; lofty , because of Isaac ; exceeding ly , because ofJacch

,— the meaning being that when the righteous man who is

an inhabitant of this nether world is a true worshipper of God,all his acts are regulated by the Shekhinah that dwel leth herebe low,

and by its commandments and throug h such service ofhim he is made a servant of the Lord.

1 4 This verse,as we l l as

the last, is supposed to be spoken by God himse lf, reminding theprophet how many were astonished at him,

when he went naked

and barefooted ’

(Is. xx. l ike one despised and forlorn,and

wondered whethe r he could stil l possibly be the ‘servant ’ who

is spoken of, at a time When his countenance was marred bey ondany man (words describing his evil temperament) and his formbey ond the sons of men (describing his defective constitution) .The first of these expressions refers to his evi l temperament,regarded as inherent in himse lf ; the latter to his defe ctive constitution, regarded also as derived from his parents : in sayingbey ond man

, too, the prophet characterizes the imperfection ofhis nature in not possessing what ought properly to havebelong ed to him as a man

,and in saying bey ond the sons ofmen

he characterizes his imperfections as a member of a species the

C Abho th, iv. 1 .

d Compare above , p . I 2 .

—l i i i . z .] R . SH’LOMOH LEVI . 279

distinction here drawn is noticed in the chapter On temp eraments in the ‘ Canone , ’ g . v.

1 5Although , however, he is thuscircumstanced

, and although it appears that the imperfection ofhis physical constitutionwould preclude him naturally from prophesy ing , or instructing others, neverthe less, as reg ards bothquantity and quality he will sprinkle, i . e . preach and prophesyto many nations not unsuccessfully because of him king s will

close their mouths, so as not to speak (or, perhaps, will leap and

hasten to te ll wondrous accounts of him,because he wil l be per

fecting them in knowledg e ) :for what had not before been told

them theywi l l see, i . e . understand from him,andwith qui ckened

faculties of apprehension p erceive what they had not heard.

More precise ly it should be said that the instruction to the‘many nations ’ w ill be concerning quant ity, and that to theg reat ‘ king s

’ concerning qual ity ; for after hearing his wordsthey wil l shut the i r mouths

,inasmuch as through his ag ency

they will perce ive by the sense of sight thing s which had neverbeen told them

,and apprehend by the ir inte ll igence what they

had never heard in the company of other men.

LIII .

l The'

prophet now adduces a proof in support of whatGod had said to him : At the beg inning of our restoration, i . e .

of the restoration of the people of Israe l , who, at the time thatwe were mak ing bricks in Egypt, resembled men in a conditionof deg radation, and sold in perpetuity as slaves

,who believed

the rumour or fame of us which went out into the world and

for whose sake ("D by ) was the stretched out arm and mightyhand of the Lord revealed in Egypt ? 2 Suddenly

,before the

Almighty, the people of Israe l came up out of the land ofdrynessand the shadow of death

,

’ i . e . out of Egypt, war/m in

other words , as though it had long been possessed of root andbranches (or, perhaps, the sense may be that it rose so rapidlythat the branches g rew up first

,and its root only extended itself

afterwards, in consequence of be ing planted in a dry soil) y et

9 Viz . ofAvicenna : see 1 . i i . I .

280 R . sn’

Louou LEVI. [li i i . 3

owing to its deg raded state , we noticed that it had no form orperfe ction in the ordinary attributes of mankind ; nor comeline ssin g raceful acquirements and that

,although in ful l possession of

streng th and might and all external blessing s , it still had no

beauty that we might desire it. Or the prophe t may mean

to say that it had no form or come liness,but nevertheless we

gaz ed up on it ; and that it had no beauty, but still we desired it.Or

, again, he may mean that it g rew up like one that suckedwith his face (for it is impossible to suck from a root whichis planted in the dry soil) -according to the saying that a

man is l ike an inverted tree,because all his nutriment is

sucked in from above , and hence the countenance always looksupwards. The words had no form,

etc. ,refer to the root— he

had no form, viz ., in the arrang ement of his various l imbs no

beauty in the union between his mental and his physical frame ,or in the adaptation of the various parts of the body to one

another ; no comeliness in his disposition g eneral ly.

3 The

prophet here appl ies his‘

comparison explicitly, stating that thesame wil l be the case with the man of understanding , i . e .

the servant ’ of the Lord, who is despised on account of his defective constitution and frame,— a const itution which sums up

the defe cts of a whole species, but does not exist in individuals,since it is not produced by differences of subje ct, or climate , orprovince , or country, e ta— ac cording to the classification to befound in Avicennaf. He calls him a mom. ofp ains , for the blowsand bruises visible in him ; and because ofhis evil temperamenthe describes him as known of sickness, meaning to say that hiscondition was such as not to make it difficult to recognise him.

And be cause we hid our faces from him, so as not to look uponhis pain, he was despised by us, and we esteemed him not . Or

the meaning may be that he had as i t were hidden his face fromhim

,i . e . from God ; or that he, viz . God

,had hidden his face

from him, after his suffering s had left such marks upon him ;

See ‘ Canon,

’

ibid.

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282 R . sn’

Lonon LEVI . [l i i i . 6

his strip es, i . e . by the common maladies of mankind, we werehealed and cured of our sicknesses.

6 The prophet here explainshis meaning , and says that we were suffering from two kinds ofs ickness, one common to

,and shared by , our whole race

, and

impl ied in the comparison to a sheep— which sugg ests that we

are all g one astray tog ether ; the other corresponding to theparticular sins of the individual , and indicated by the wordswe have turned each after his own way . Now the suffering s ofthe righteous cannot atone for the special s ins of the individual,but each man wi l l have to pay his own part icular penalty forthem after death : the iniquity of us all

, however, i . e . the

iniquity common to our whole race , the Lord laid upon him, viz .

upon the righteous who is punished for the iniquity of his own

ag e . In the Ya lga t there is quoted a Midrash from the Aggadahof Samue l — Says R . Huna in the name of R. Aha : The chastisements are divided into three parts, one for David and the

patriarchs, one for the g eneration of our present exile , and one

for the King Messiah,as it is written, He was wounded for our

iniquities,’

and,But I have set my king i,

’e tc. Now the plain

sense of the first of these passag es shews that it cannot includeall three parts, but only the last ; and hence , inasmuch as already

,

according to the opinion of the Rabbis, the verse speaks of theMessiah , it demonstrates also that he wil l suffer. The same con

e lus ion is al so arrived at from the words of Ps. 1 1 . 6 , one of theexplanations of which, I have drawn him out of the chastisements, ’ clearly involves the fact of his suffering . To me

,how

ever,the saying seems to g ive an assurance that my V iew of

the Parashah, that it re lates, name ly, altog ether to the suffering sof the righteous, is sound and true . Of these suffering s thereare three kinds First

,the chastisements of love , or trials such

as those underg one by the patriarchs : with whom, on accountof his dignity, is reckoned David also , for in reality David’ssuffering s were for the purpose of making to a certain extent

1 Compare above , p . 1 0 .

— l i i i . R . SH’LOMOH LEVI. 283

atonement for iniquity ; the man, moreover, who refle cts on the

nature of extraordinary trials wil l see that he , too, came to atonefor Israe l’s guilt by a spe cies of trial , as I have myse lf describedby the he lp of God. The suffering s of the se cond kind are thoseendured for the iniquity of a whole g eneration,

which y et do notl iberate i t from its gui lt in such a case , possibly, the righteousonly perishes, in order that his contemporaries may be the moreimpl icated, as happened, in fact, with the g eneration at presentsuffering exile : those of the third kind

,on the contrary, are

such as do liberate a g eneration from its gui lt, and effe ct atonement for it and this is what will be the case with the g eneration of the Messiah . Perhaps, then, the expression woundedforour transgressions may allude to the first of these ; bruised forour iniquities, to the second ; the chastisement of our p eace was

upon him,and by his strip es we are healed, implying , as it does ,

that we are entire ly free from all iniquity, to the third, or, inother words, to the g eneration of the Messiah . Thus

,if your

eyes perce ive aright, y ou may see that the verses of the Parashahag re e pe rfectly tog ether, and indicate the three divisi ons thathave been menti oned. As to the appl ication of Ps . 1 1 . 6 to theMessiah , the term ” 11 a has been expounded ( I ) in the sense ofanointing , so as to indi cate his perfection in wisdom (for anointing with oil signifies plenitude of inte llig ence ) ( z ) in the senseof p ouring out (31 3 e Ex. xxxii . so as to indicate the com

pleteness of his external blessing s, such as riches ; (3 ) in the

sense offixing (as in mm: Judg . xvi. 1 3 so as to indicatehis irresistible strength (4 ) in the sense of making g reat (as inthe phrase ms ”D‘OJ Mic . v. so as to indicate his g lory ;lastly, in the sense of drawing out from suffering , to indicate hisperfection in all mental qual it ies, which are notoriously made

perfe ct by suffering . The whole of this appl ication y ou will findin the Yalgut on Ps . i i . 6 , g . v.

7 The prophet now refers to themany righteous who suffer in the present exile , being slain orburnt for having not done violence . Each one of them

,he says

,

was brought first of all to the court of judgment, where he was

284 R . sn’

Lonon LEVI . [l i i i . 8

oppressed and afi icted, viz . with crue l blows, while'

being ledbefore the judg e ; after this he was taken to prison, but heop ened not his mouth. Next he was brought out thence to becondemned to death

,and was as a sheep led to the s laughter ; at

the same time all his riches were confiscated,according to the

words like a lamb which before her shearers is dumb, i . e . a lambwhich if she were to cry out would only be shorn partially, butbe ing silent, is shorn completely ; l ike such a lamb the righteouswas shorn of all his possessions, and like her also without openinghis mouth.

8 In this se izure both the king and the judg es madecommon cause , they all united to do injury to Israe l ne itherhinde red the other, although it is a frequent occurrence both forthe judicial power to rebuke the k ing , and for the k ing to rebukethe judicial power. This persecution, however, with the victim

’

s

subsequent death , affected those also who were stil l left al ive ;for who was there to teach and instruct his g eneration, that hehad been cut of from the land of the living , i. e . from the

righteous among st them with whom he had been associating ?[no one for

,for the transgression of the rest ofmy p eop le , i . e .

ofthe wicked, the stroke fe ll upon them, vi z. upon the righteouswho were l iving , and were the friends of the murdered man.

All these , as has been said,are the words of the prophet .

9 He g ave , i. e . allowed, his burial and death to take place at thehands of the wicked he also at his death gave up all his riches(for they had been confiscated to the wicked kingdom) , althoughhe had done no violence for his g oods to be se ized, and althoughthere was no deceitfulness in his mouth for him to be murdered. Even ‘while it is y et high day

’

are the righteousmurdered in our present exile by men who devise against themschemes of wrong because they have done no violence , and thereis no dece itfulness in the ir mouths.

’The passag e I have already .

quoted from the Aggadah of Samue l proves, as was said, the

truth of this explanation apply thyself to it, and see and understand for our fathers have told us how these words, spoken as

they are in truth, were fulfilled in the ir own cases in the pro

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286 R . SH’LOMOH LEVI. [l i i i . n

it his pleasure , to rece ive his chastening s inte ll ig ently, and likea man presenting a trespass-offering , who performs the act in

full knowledg e of what he does and with the assent of his inte lle ct .’ Th e explanation there g iven of 11 52" ’

n ran, viz . his

doctrine shal l be establ ished in his hands,’

is also compatiblew ith my own, for it is God the instructor who teaches knowledg e to man that is instructed ; the man instructed is also thelearner (disciple ), and the doctrine taught, which is the Lord’s

pleasure or wil l ,’

is e stabl ished in his hands. In saying shall

see seed, e tc.,he denies that his seed will be like that of

R . Yohanan, of whom i t is said in the Gemara, that he hadmany sons

,but they all died and in declaring that his doctrine

wi ll be e stabl ished in his hand, they affirm that his chastening s

wil l not be such as to involve any interruption of the Law. In

the book Z ohar, se ction arm, the verse is explained to signifythat the Lord was p leased to pur ify him ; and i t is furtherstated that the subject of own (sha ll make ) must be ‘his soul

,

’

as otherwise the prophe t must have employed OW ” and

also that the Lord’s pleasure’

is the.

Law, which is to prospe r

in his hand.

1 1 The last verse spoke of the chastening s thatcome as a correction for sin ; the present verse speak s of thosewhich come of love, for purposes of trial . As he beholds, it says,the travai l of his soul

,he will be satisfied, i . e . will de l ight and

exul t in the thought that he is righteous, and God’s servant,

my messeng er whom I send’ from -this time onwards to make

many righteous, to restore them by a comp lete conversion, and,in the manner before explained, to bear the ir iniquities.

1 2God

here makes his final de claration respecting the righteous one

who is to atone for his g eneration,or who is tempted in orde r

that by his trial the people may learn to know the Lord and towalk in his law,

l ike Abraham when he was binding Isaac uponthe altar : Behold, I will divide him in the world to come a

portion like the portions of the many who returned throug h hismeans to the Lord for there were many whom be justified

,and

the merits of them all shal l attach themse lves to him. Moreover,

- l i i i . m ] R . sn’

Louon LEVI. 287

in the present world, he shal l divide sp oil, i . e . riches and honourand external g oods with the mighty , i . c . with rulers for

,inas

much as he p oured out his soul to die , and in doing so carried thesin of many , I will al lot him in the next world a portion as

g oodly as be those who were rendered fit to attain i t throug hhim and since in this world he was numbered with the trans

g ressors (e ither because they were appointed 1 to rule over him,

or because he was thought to be one of them himse lf), but y etentreated them to amend the ir ways (or, made intercession forthem) , therefore with the mighty shall he divide sp oil. It isfurther clear that it is be cause he sanctified my name among themany

,that God promises to allot and g rant him a port ion in

the ir midst,so that they wi ll be unable to withhold it from him.

And because his murderers and those who would se ize his spoilare mighty and strong , therefore he wil l divide the spoil of hisenemies in the ir very presence (mx) and then distribute it tohis own re latives and friends, in return for his having p ouredout his soul to die, and voluntarily choosing death rather thanl ife and although at the time of his murder he was ranked

,in

the sentence read out to him, with the g enerality of other transgressors, y et he took no count of it

,knowing truly that he

carried the sin ofmany , making it, as he did, his constant habitto intercede for transgressors, in order that atonement might bemade for them. In Sotah, I , R. Shimlai expounds thisverse as fol lows : Why , he asks, did Moses long to enter intothe Promised Land ? etc .m This quotation shews the truth of myinterpretation of the last verse ; for the Rabbis explain i t ofMoses our master, concerning whom the saying g oes 1 1 , ‘Moseswas worthy himse lf, and made many others worthy as we l l the

merits of them all shall attach themse lves to him.

’ They de clare,

too,that it would never have entered into his mind to be desirous

of eating of the fruit, and of being satisfiedwith the g ood thing s

1 A play upon mm and mum .

m The entire Midrash will be found above , p. 8 .

1 1 Compare p . 273 .

288 R . sn’

Lonon LEVI . [l i i i . na.

of the land of Israel,except that he might be enabled to testify

to them how the Almighty had performed his promise that itshould be perfe ct, not only in what was pleasant, but also inwhatwas useful (these being what are signified by its fruit

,

’ for mi lkis use ful and honey pleasant) , and also g ood (indicated by theexpression g ood thing s,

’

descriptive of the abundance with whichit is blessed) , for w ithout his testifying i t, all this was beforethem, and it was perfectly we l l known to him to be so ; but

i t was still his wish to fulfil there the commandments himse l f,

and so to e levate them out of a condition of potential ity into oneof action. God therefore said to him

,Dost thou at all seek for

anything except to secure a reward — i. e . to bring these com

mandments into action ; for a reward’

is g iven not for a merecapacity, but only for a completed act I will bring it to passupon thee, as thoug h thou hadst done them,

for s ince thou art he

who causeth Israe l to do them,it is as though thou hadst done

them thyse lf.’ Therefore I will divide him a p ortion with the

many— a portion the same as theirs , viz. of the Israe lites who

enter in,whe ther with the latter, ’ in which case , apart from the

literal sense , there wi ll be an al lusion to the re compense of theworld to come, or ‘

with the former, ’ which will refer to therecompense in the present world. Now the patriarchs wereworthy of both these rewards, of the temporal no less than of thee ternal and Moses our master wil l

,in addition

,he he ld worthy

in the resurre ction, because he ‘

poured out his soul to die ’

for the sin of the g olden calf (Ex . xxxn . 3 2) and therefore theyapply to him the words bare the sin of many , etc., because hewas numbered w ith those who perished in the wilderness, andalso (according to one interpretation) the saying , W ith howmany trials did the g eneration of the wilderness vex him But

furthe r,he interceded for the transg ressors, i . e . for the people

in the wilderness, who, though continually vexing him,he stil l

used to pray might be converted. There is besides quoted in theYa lgut, a Midrash from Siphré , which applies the verse to Mose sour master in another way for, inasmuch as all the perfections

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XXXIX . R . ABRAHAM OF CORDOVA.

4 1 . An exp osition of Isaiah III. I 3—l i ii . 1 2 .

The third opinion, appropriated by the wise men of Edom,

is that the Parashah is descriptive of the Messiah,i . e . of Jesus,

whose foundation, In the writing s of Isaiah, rests securely uponGod

, according to the words, Who hath believed etc.

,the whole

of which the Nazarenes assert that the prophet meant to applyto the Messiah , describing him,

as he does, as ‘without form orcome liness .

’ They then affirm and be l ieve that the person inwhom all this languag e was fulfi lled was Jesus of Nazareth , whowas stricken

,smitten, desp ised, and killed throug h sickness of

heart at the sins of the human race, and that this is what theprophet attests when he adds immediate ly afterwards Sure lyhe hath carried our sicknesses

,and borne our pams,

’

etc.

(verses 4 , I shal l reply first of all by pointing out how

it is a re cognised custom of Scripture to speak habitually ofthe whole nation by the name of an individual— addressingit at one time by the name of Jacob, at another by that ofIsrae l , and cal l ing it on one occasion Zion, on another Jerusalem

, and so forth . For instance, in accordance w ith this principle, Scripture says (Dent . V i . ‘Hear, O Israe l

,the Lord

our God is one God.

’

The same practice seems to me to havebeen adopted by Isaiah, when he likens our nation in her desolation and mourning

’ to a man stricken and smitten of God in

fact, he opens his prophe cy with the words, Israe l doth not

know, my people doth not consider ’ (i . adding immediatelyafterwards

,in the p lural numbe r (ver.

‘Where can y e be

smitten more ? ’ etc. ; and again be low,

‘For the iniquity of his

R . ABRAHAM or CORDOVA . 29 1

covetousness I was ang ry and smote him ’

(lv1 1 . I 7), Speak ing ofthe entire people in the wilderness as of a sing le man . Isaiah,moreover

,adheres to the same practice when announcing the

redemption of Israe l under the name of Zion, in the words ,l i i . 7, ‘ That saith to Z ion

,Thy God is king ,

’

e tc. and shortlybefore (ver. I ) , Put on thy streng th, 0 Zion : put on thy beautiful garments, 0 Jerusalem,

for henceforth , ’ etc.,assuring us

that after the true Messiah has entered in, Jerusalem wi l l nomore fall into the hands of the uncircumcised, as she fe ll , withoutbe ing able y et to rise again, shortly after the days when Jesusappeared. Indeed

,this is an indi cation that Jesus was not

the true Messiah,but a mortal . Isaiah , however, continues

to emp loy the s ingular, saying , Shake thysel f from the

dust ; arise,and sit down

,O Jerusalem,

’

etc. (ver. until ,at the end of the chapter, he de clares, Behold my servant

( i . e . the whole of God’s people , who are now spoken of as

I srael) shall p rosper , e tc.,to the end of ver. I 5 , using terms

descriptive of our exile , whe re in we who are here to -day have2all l ike sheep g one astray ’

among st the Gentiles. In the nextchapter ,

he allude s to the day of redemption,which wi l l bring

about a stupendous miracle in the midst of the Gentiles for init the Almighty wi l l magnify Israe l with s ig ns terrible beyondwhat can be imag ined, which the ir eyes will then behold, so thatin the ir wonderment they will say one to another

,Who would

bel ieve that which we now hear ? and who hitherto hath everbeen possessed of the arm,

i . e . the might, of the Lord,so as

in a moment to save his people Israe l , and raise them to g reatness ? Did no t W E esteem him as a root spring ing out of the

dry g round,devoid of sap, and deprived of hope , without form or

worth,and if we - looked at i t

,displaying nothing which might

e xcite our zeal on its behalf ? He was despised and forlorn qfmen

,e tc.

,i.e . was Incessantly persecuted by the Gentiles, in such

a manner that we never ceased despising and cursing him,and

crue lly heaping on him our sicknesses, pains, and blows, in theidea that this had been the D ivine pleasure , and that he was

U 2

292 R . ABRAHAM or CORDOVA . [lii, l i i i .

really hated and loathed by the Almighty, being stricken, smitten

of God, and afi icted ; in a word,abandoned by him for eve r .

Now, howeve r, that we have heard this , we see that the case isthe reverse of what we thought : Israe l was wounded for our

transg ressions, wh ich we committed, at the time when we smotehim mortal ly

,in order to force him to listen to us

,and to follow

our counse ls and the stubbornness of our heart .

’ This he neve rwould do ; but determined rather to endure our fierce ang e r,although contrary to justice and right, to support crue l plagues,sore sicknesses and of long cont inuance like a sheep he was

led to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before her shearers sohe op ened not his mouth to scrutinize the decre e of his Creator,but so accepted the sentence passed upon him by the Almightythat his suffering s became to us a source of iniquity . The

meaning of the words , ‘The chastisement of our Peace is uponhim

,

’

is this,that the Messiah wil l be called Jchovab—shalom

[Jehovah is peace ] , l ike the name Prince of peace’

(Is. ix .

i t must be supposed that when the Lord doeth g reat thing s forus — signs unsearchable andmarvels without number— and whenour Rede emer, the Lord our righteousness, is come , they w i l l‘ then say among the heathen,

’

as if speaking for themse lvesThe chastisement and penalty which should have been ours, forhaving invented the fiction of the advent of our Messiah

,fel l

upon Israe l instead during the long years of his bitter captivity,although he always steadily adhered to the truth , and wouldnever acknowledg e our errors ; hence we never ceased to affl icthim

,imag ining that by his strip es which were produced when,

in zeal for our own lying be l ief, we visited him with the rod ofour ang er, we should se cure for ourselves happiness and prosperity , and that by his pain we should be healed. But now we

see that we had a ll g one astray , l ike sheep without a shepherd,each turning to his own way , one pursuing this path , and

anothe r that, none of us perce iving that by our hands which

ought to have been he lping him in his latter end,the Lord was

bruising him,in order that he might be worthy of the g reat

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lt . ABRAHAM OF CORDOVA .

prophecy refrain from explaining each word one by one,when

I saw how the Nazarenes construct w ith them nets and traps,and build up a g reat argument by extracting out of almostevery word a demonstration that

,after the time of Jesus, there

can be no new future Messiah for Israe l (on the g round that theyhave already devoured him with open mouth a ’

) they do this ,I say , because they see that in real ity the plain and unvarnishedmeaning of the prophe cy, in all its parts , in all its words, and inall its syllables

,is a cluster of bitter g rapes

’ to them. Such ,however, are the ir efforts to turn the platter upside down, byperverting the simple sense of the text

,and fabricating false

hoods about them,that no t only does the slightness of the ir

foundation remain unexposed, but the pride of their heart iseven confirmed ; in their desire to seduce the wavering multitude , and to hunt the souls ’ of the poor and innocent, which are

dragg ed along by the cords of the ir mal icious devices, they are

compe lled to falsify the translation, so as to be lieve that theprophets spoke with reference to Jesus. So did Hieronymus ,and was canonized for what he did

,tog ether with the company

of his friendsb ’ who went with him,

’

accepting his words and

adopting his counse ls, contending against the Lord and all his

prophets : and every one who hears them or reads their translation steps in his simplicity into their impurities, like the bl indman who defiles himse lf with blood in the street, and g oes downal ive into hell, s inking every moment de eper and deeper as forme

,in the plain meaning of God

’

s words will I rej oice ; so may

I not ‘ fall into the hands of man, ’ who is but ashes and blood.

a Sanhedrin,i o n imbas main i sm ") h ave o n

‘; rs

"mm

n'pm .

So the phrase (Gen. xxvi . 26) is understood by a elos and the Masora.

XL . R . SH’MUEL LANYADO .

My servant, i . e . the King Messiah , shall be high and exalted,

and lofty exceeding ly— he shal l be higher than Abraham, of

whom it is written,

‘ I raise high my hand to the Lord’

(Gen.

xiv. l ifted up above Moses , of whom it is written,

‘Lift i tup in thy bosom

’

(Num. xi. and loftier than the ministeringang els, of whom i t is said, The ir whee ls were lofty

’

(Ezek . i .and so again it is said, Thou art the ‘

g reat mountain’

(Zech .

iv. which is g reater than the patriarchs . R.Yi zhaqAbarbanelwas unable to comprehend how the Messiah could be l ifted up

above Moses,of whom it is said that there arose no prophet in

Israe l l ike him (Dent . xxxiv . I o) and stil l more how he was tobe g reater than the ang e ls, who are spiritual be ing s, whereas theMessiah is born of a woman it is , in fact, upon that expressionthat the idolaters [Christians] rest the chief article of the irfaith, the D ivinity of the Messiah . Abarbanel rej e cts also theopinion of the learned En Bonet 3

,who explains it of the

doctors ; for how,

’

he asks,could it ente r into any one

’

s mindto speak of the doctors as exalted above Abraham or Moses ?besides, such a V iew has no support from the passag es adducedin proof of it, for the verse from Ezekie l is admitted to refer tothe host of heaven

,how then can it be used to establ ish the

application to the Rabbis The author of the ‘

Ag édahb write s

as has been stated above in chap. xxviii,and carries En Benet’s

V iew stil l further, supposing that the Messiah wil l be higher than

3 See p . 1 5 4 compare also pp . 1 65— 1 68 .

b R . Y iz haq Aramah .

296 R . SH’MUEL LANYADO . [l i i , l i ii .

Abraham in respect of his nobility,more exalted than Moses

in lavishing all thing s needful upon Israe l , loftier than the

ang els in the learning of the Law. Thus he himse lf appl iesthe expression to the perfection procured by the ag ency ofMessiah our righteousness . This he conce ives to include , ( I ) thereality of faith

, which was attained first by Abraham,when

he ‘believed in the Lord, ’ and made his people to be lieve likew ise ; it is said that in this respect the Messiah will be hig he rthan Abraham

, because through him the true faith will be promulgated even more than by Abraham,

who raised his hand on

hig h to the Pos sessor of heaven and earth and ( 2 ) acquaintancewith the Law which was g iven by Moses for us to walk in the

command, Lift it up in thy bosom,as a nurse

,

’

etc.,not referring

to any bodily guidance , but being an injunction that he shouldteach and lead them to true knowledg e and doctrine

,l ike infants

‘weaned from mi lk and removed from the breast, ’ which are

carried by the ir nurse . This indeed was what Moses did, theLaw which he se t before the children of Israe l being as a spreadtable ; and therefore it is said that the Messiah wil l lead hispeople in the understanding of the Law,

and lift them up evenmore than Moses . The expression does not allude to the powerof prophecy, for the position of Moses was such that there aroseno prophe t in Israe l l ike him.

’ Inasmuch , now,as the two high

qual ities just mentioned are intimately connected with tranqui llity and rest for the righteous (when it is we l l with them,

it is we ll also with the world the peace in the days of theMess iah wil l be multiplied exceeding ly ; and through the D ivineprovidence constantly attending him,

the ang els who presideover the nations w il l become subject to him (for in God

’

s providence he wi l l vis it the host of heaven in heaven, and the kingsof earth upon earth

,

’

Is. xxiv. 2 1 ) and this is what is signifiedby the phrase loftier than the ang els

— for the Almighty wil lg ive nations before h im,

and k ing s shal l he subdue’

(Is . xli.

R .YizhaqAbarbane l state s that he has seen an interpretation thatwould regard the A!em be fore Abraham,

e tc.,not as the Menu of

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298 R. SH ’MUEL LANVAno . [l ii , l i ii .

is only transmitted through a series of intermediate ag encies.

Thus far Abarbanel. A difficulty, however, at once arises on thefirst point ; for, since the g reatness of Abraham

’

s service sprangout of love

,the text which ought to have been appealed to was,

The se ed of Abraham who loveth me’

(Is. xli . in preferenceto the one before us

,which by the expression ‘

shal l be high’

points rathe r to the passag e in Genesis , I raise high my hand(xiv. In my own humble opinion it seems that in the

first two parts En Bonet is right ; for in point of nobility theMessiah will exce l even Abraham,

and there fore it is promisedthat he shall be high ; for the noble man who ( l ike Abraham,

when he swore he would not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet) despises gain,

and even the wealth that is his own, willassuredly be exalted (for ‘

a man’

s g ift maketh room for him,

and bring eth him before the and such,even to a g reater

deg ree than with Abraham,will be the case also with the Mes

siah our righte ousness. And in the abil ity to guide Israe l hewil l be superior to Moses for Moses, when he was a shepherd,had compassion on the kid which escaped from him in orderto drink, and brought it in his bosom : for for that purposehad the Almighty chosen him 0

,— how much more then that he

might g uide and tend Israe l ? This then (as I have explainedin the Kh

’

li Hemdah) is the meaning of Moses’

words : ‘Ask

not of me thing s which are not in my power, as that I shouldg ive them flesh ; for whence should I have flesh to g ive to all

this people ? Ask only that which is in my power , viz . that Ishould “ lift them up and carry them in my bosom according lyit is said, Lifted up above Moses.

’And that he is to be far

above both Abraham and Moses we learn from the word exceed

ing ly , which stands at the end ; for if this had not be long ed toall the three preceding terms, but only to the last, we shouldhave read not ‘

and lofty, ’ but merely lofty z’

the conjunctionand, by coupl ing the three expressions tog ether, indicates that

c Sh’

moth Rabba, c. 2 .

l i i,l i i i .] R . SH ’MUEL LANYAno . 299

the adverb is intended to qual ify them all. As regards EnBonet

’

s explanation of ‘ loftier than the ang e ls ,’

my judgmentcoincides with that of R .Yi zhaq Aramah and R. Yizhaq Abarbanel, who rej ect it on two g rounds : I think that the wordsshould be understood in the ir natural sense , but be l ieve also thatthey involve a mystery which no mouth can utter : it is, however,revealed in the book Zohar, in the section on Deut . xx n. 6 (‘W hena bird’s nest chanceth before thee ,’ so that we need not

wonder if,as is the fact, he is to be loftier than the ang e ls .

The text appears to me to refer s imply to the fear and dreadwhich he wi l l inspire into all flesh even more than the ang e ls,who y et are so awful that , as we know, when one appeared toManoah and his wife , they exclaimed

,

‘W e have seen God we

shal l sure ly die ’

(Judg . xiii . According ly the Messiah issaid to be ‘ loftie r than the ang els ,

’

in respect of the terrorwhich their presence creates ; since every one who beholdsthem,

l ike Ezekiel, is ‘afraid and trembles for in Ezek . i . 1 8 ,

‘ they had fear,’

the meaning is not that the cherubim werefil ledwith fear of the Almighty— a fact which there was no occasion to remark specially —but that they inspired fear into all

who behe ld them. And then,lastly

,he is cal led the g reatmoun

tain, which is g reater than the patriarchs ,’because each of the

patriarchs helped in his turn to restore the world after it hadbeen corrupted by the sin of our first parente d and so it isstated in the book Zohar that Abraham did his part inthis restoration

,when he was thrown into the fire to fulfi l the

ve rse which says, The molten imag es of the ir g ods y e shal lburn with fire 0 (Deut . VII. 2 5 ) thus Abraham, by tasting thetorment of the flames

,made atonement for man

,and is hence

called the ‘

g reat man.

’ Isaac, again ,made atonement for

bloodshed, inasmuch as , for the fear he fe lt (as it is written,

d Lit .

‘ the first Adam '

or man cf. I Cor. xv. 4 5 .

Abraham , it was said, was treated in the same way that his descendants

were to treat the heathen ido ls.

300 n. sn’

MUEL LANYADO . [l ii , l i i i .

Gen. xxxi . 4 2 , the fear of Isaac his own blood was asg ood as poured out upon the altar. And Jacob avert ed the

consequences of a forbidden marriag e by preserving peace between the two sisters, where any one e lse would have only beena cause of rivalry and discord for it was just to obviate suchthat the prohibit ion was g iven not to take a woman as wifeunto her sister to be her rival in her l ife ’

(Lev. xviii .The opinions of our wise men on the interpretation of this

verse have now been discussed : but we do not gather clearlyfrom the ir languag e whether they are speaking of Messiah son

of Ephraim, or of Messiah son of David. The same doubt issugg ested by Abarbanel, who thinks however that the formercannot be intended for how,

he asks,could it be said of him

that he w ill ‘be hig h and exalted,and lofty exceeding ly ?

’ If,

on the contrary, we refer the prophe cy to Messiah son of David,there is a difficulty in the expression marred bey ond man ; forIsaiah says, ‘Behold my servant, whom I uphold ; my chosenone in whom my soul de lighteth I have put my spirit uponhim

’

(xli i . I ) . And again, And a rod shall come forth out ofthe stem of Jesse ’

(xi . how,too

,can he say of him, S tricken,

smitten of God, and afl ieted, for Messiah son of David will be‘ just and victorious ’

(Zech . ix . and so far from beingdesp ised and forlorn of men

,that ‘

unto him will the Gentilesseek ’

(Is . xi . I o ) ? Nor are the other verses more applicable tohim

,wh ich declare how he will endure suffering s and death for

Israe l’s sake . In a word, the explanation of the Rabbis and of theTargum ofYonathan cannot possibly be conce ived as be ing truthful in the sense of be ing literal it is alleg orical and adventitious,consisting , as it does , in the adaptation of one of the ir traditionsto the languag e of the text and a proof of this l ies in the factthat the Targum itse lf refers the subsequent verses to Israe l ,and not to the Me ss iah

,and that one verse , the last, is referred

by our Rabbis to Moses . Thus far Abarbanel f. A s imilar

Above , p . 1 65 .

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3 02 R . sn’MUEL LANYADO . [l i i , li i i .

that they might be able to compare one thing with another".Z

for although , as it is written,he

‘ laid i t bare ’

ag ainst theEgyptians, and ‘

wrought with the arm of his might’

(cf. Is .

l i i . t o ) , still he has not mani fested i t so openly now in the

se cond De l iverance . The reply is,Upon Messiah son of

Ephraim, who wi l l come up before him, and in comparison withMessiah son of David (who w il l fol low after him) be as a

sucker or smal l branch , and as a root out of the dry g round,which is very small. He is to have no form,

to be desp ised,forsaken ofmen, and afilictedw ith endless pains,— as our Rabbisre late of him

,he will stand in the gate of Rome g , binding up

each wound separate ly by itse lf, lest the season of De l iverancearrive too suddenly ; and his pains and s icknesses will make i tseem as though the faces hidden from them were averted because of himself and his deeds, which had been the cause ofour esteeming him not. Yet in truth it was otherw ise : in all his

suffering s he was guiltless it was our sicknesses that he bare,the sicknesses and pains which were in readine ss to come forour iniquities upon us were carried by him instead

,and we

were in error in think ing him stricken and smitten of God, i . e .

as Rashi explains, an obje ct of his enmity. After his advent,to use again the words of Rashi

,the son of Ephraim,

who fora while had he ld sovere ignty and executed judgment over Israe land the Gentiles, was taken away , because the Gentiles resolvedt o slay him ; and who then could tell of his g eneration and the

travail which befel him ? for he was cut of out of the land ofthe living , and slainfor the transg ression ofmy p eop le, the strokeintended for them be ing borne by him instead. In addition tothis, he made his grave with the wicked, be ing buried among stthose who we re slain at the time that the Gentiles assembledtog ether against him,

and was de l ive red into the hand of therich

,i . e . of the kingdom of wickedness

,for death under all

the forms which men could devise ; he was not to be put to

3 Above , p . 39 .

l i i , l i i i .] R . SH’

MUEL LANYADO . 303

death speedily, but tortured by every conce ivable method ofproducing a severe and painful end ; and hence it is that theprophet says not

‘ in his death’

but ‘ in his dea ths .

’

And all

this happened because he had done no wrong in deed or word,but had kept the truth of God alone in his mouth ; for it wasthe Lord’

s p leaswre to bruise and sicken him . But if thou , O

Israe l, p uttest before thy eyes the tresp ass-offering which wouldbe incurred by his murder, and the pre servation of his soul fromdeath

,and if thou lettest thyse lf be pained thereby, behold, th is

thy care for him wi l l stir thee up unto repentance , and preventhim from be ing slain : thus he shal l see seed and have longday s, and for the travail of his soul which he endured he

shall be sa tisfied, i . e . shal l eat and be fi lled of the reward bestowed upon him for his suffering s ; and although he wil l nothold the same rank and position as Messiah son of David

,never

theless, by his knowledg e he will justify many , and by sufferinghimself bear their iniquities , until at last I divide him a p ortionwith the many , e tc

— Such is the sense of these ve rses,according

to the opinion of those among st our wise men who apply themto Messiah son of David

,and to Me ssiah son of Joseph, who is

of the tribe of Ephraim .

[Here follow the expositions of Rashi ,’

Ibn‘Ezra

,R . David

Qamhi, and Abarbanel (see above , pp . 3 7, 4 3 , 49 , UponAbarbanel , Lany ado passes the following criticisms li i i . 2

,after

the explanation of 1 .1 mm(p. 1 74) His statement, however, raisessome difficulty, for if the word re lates to past time , the 1 oughtto have been pointed with Pathach l ii i . 8 (p. upon 1 73 5 ;This is not corre ct, for the plural must have been expressed by1 5 D‘vJJ, ‘ there were strokes upon him l iii . 9 (p . 1 8 1

,l . the

custom alluded to is further i llustrated ; And simi larly in the country of Ishmae l, where , for the same reason, for the sake of distinction, the shrouds are dyed y ellow : l i ii . I O (p . 1 83 ) This objection, however , makes no difference ; for even those who derivethe word from n

’Pn— which is the simplest way— have to account

for the absence of the N so that the third radi cal is still want

304 R . sn’

MUEL LANYADO. [li i . 1 3

ing : 1 1 1 . 1 2 end (p. A difficulty, however, still remains ; forthe prophecy cited relates certainly to Jerusalem i tsel f, and notto the whole land : Josiah also was slain out of Jerusalem ; butthis be ing so , the words there shall no more enter into thee the‘

uncircumcised and unclean ’

can have no reference to Josiah ]LII.

1 3 In my own humble opinion, the Parashah must be sup

posed to describe the righteous worshipper of God. And the pro

phet says that be ing skilled as a servant in the understanding ofthe Law,

he wi l l deserve final ly that the g lory should come uponhim

,he will be high and exalted, etc. : he does not say ,

‘and

wi ll be high ,’

but makes a break at the word ‘my servant,

’

between ‘will understand ’and ‘ he will be high ,

’ to shew thatthe .former denotes the Spiritual success const ituted by the ser

vice of God, and that this w i l l render him worthy of the ana

log ous successes that are to follow ; he wi ll be high, name ly,in

the dignities of the present world, and exalted through the

e lation of soul occasioned by his successes, and lofty exceeding ly ,so that all who stand be fore himwill be scorched by the brightness issuing from his chamber h .

’ 1 4 Turning now to the Israelitish nation mentioned at the end of the previous Parashah, andspeaking with them mouth to mouth

,the prophet announces

the reason why the servant of the Lord should be deemed

worthy of such exaltation,saying , As many , 0 Israe l , were

a stonished a t thee when they saw thy calamit ies (for ‘as they

saw, so were they amazed — in other words, in proportion to

the ir astonishment that the order of creation was chang ed inhim

,so was the countenance of my servant marred bey ond man

,

through pain for the misfortunes of the synag ogue and of

Israel,until a l ivid hue had destroyed all re semblance to human

features, and his form or contour bey ond the sons of men— forthe miseries of Israe l so bowed him down that

,as he moved

,

his head was bent between his knees .

‘5 Be ing thus affectedfor Israel

,however

,it is according ly (p ) destined for him to

b An allusion to P9 . xix. 5 .

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306 R . SH’MUEL LANYADO . [l i i i . 4

desp ised andforsaken of wicked men,in consequence of be ing

a man of p ains, or one upon whom from time to time painsused to come , in addition to the chronic and permanent ail

ments expressed by the phrase known of sickness : and thosewho saw him thought wrong ly that all these befel him becauseGod had hidden hisface from him on account of his iniquitieshe was therefore so much the more despised, and we esteemed

him not, regarding him simply as a sinner against God : in the

words of Yonathan in the Targum i,

‘As though the presenceof the Shekhinah had been withdrawn from us

,they [the

righteous] are despised, and esteemed not .’ ‘ But the facts

were otherwise he him self carried our s icknesses, and bare our

pains, and by saying he himself, the prophet indicates that therighteous, of his own wil l, was pleased to carry them for Israel .The sicknesses,

’

denoting transient calamities which are curablelike an ordinary ailment, are not so severe or distressing as the‘

pains according ly the prophet says with accuracy that hecarried them himself : of the latter

,however

, which designatemore painful misfortunes, it is not said ‘ he himself bare , ’ buts imply ‘he bare since , as immediately follows, i t was in factthe Almighty who laid them upon him.

5 Here, again, w ith

the lighter term ‘wounded, ’ the pronoun is s imilarly madeemphat ic not so however with bruised for althoug h wounding is the penalty for

‘ transg ressions, ’ and bruising for ‘ iniquit ies

,

’

which are the less serious of the two k ,'

there is no diffi

culty upon this score , since , g ranted that transg ressions are theseverer, y et the iniquities which are most g enerally committedare those which produce ‘ bruising .

’

We howeve r thought himstricken of God for his own sins , whereas in real ity he wasstricken for ours , be ing himself just and perfect. The viewhere taken obviates the surprise fe lt by Abarbanel, how,

namely,one man could possibly suffer for another

,if even ‘

the son

shall not die for the iniquity of the father,nor the father

i Above , p. 5 . Cf. Yepheth ben Ali, p . 25 .

—l i i i . R . sn’

MUEL LANYADO . 307

for the iniquity of the son’

(Ezek . xviii . for the righteousvoluntari ly and of his own accord bears the sicknesses of hisg eneration, in order to merit the never-ending pleasure ofmak ingatonement for them. The meaning of the prophet may thenperhaps be that we fancied the decree against him had g oneforth from the Almighty, while in fact he was stricken and

smitten of hims elf,not involuntari ly, but by his own choice

, and

that he kept begging his brethren'

and friends to come and re

j oice in his suffering s, for they would be the means of mak ingatonement for the whole of Israe l .’ It is poss ible that thewords, He was wounded, etc. (which are but a repetition of whatwas stated in verse 4 , He himself carried our s icknesses, ’

denote minor forms of suffering which come upon the righte ousin order that he may be able to make atonement for his g eneration

,viz. (as w ith the trespass-offering offered in cases of

uncertaintyl) by holding the penalty over them in suspense ,

and in order that they may repent. The object of this suf

fering is that we , be ing punished, may make our peace withGod ; as the prophet indicates in the words the chastisementof our p eace was thrown up on him ; and in that which follows, by his strip es it is healed to us

,not however so as to

be cured entirely,for the text does not run we are healed

,

’

but‘ i t — i. e . part of the sickness— ‘ is healed to us.

’ 6 I haveheard that our learned, perfect, and most illustrious teacher

,

R . Mosheh El-She ikh, understood the words, All we like sheep

went astray , as denoting a fault in which we all shared al ike ;because, when a s ing le sheep wanders astray

,the rest in the

flock follow after it : he adds a remark to the effect that heonly wishes this were all ; on the contrary, however, we alsoeach went after his own way , all the ways be ing equally corrupt , and none be tter than the rest 1 1 1

,etc. But

,in my humble

opinion, the expression iniquity (not iniquities) of us all is used,

1 Lit . the suspended trespass-offering see B reshith Rabbd, 5 43 .

m See p . 2 67.

308 R . SH’

MUEL LANYADO. [l i i i . 7.

because there are both g eneral sins in which all people offend,and also particular sins of which only individuals are guilty :

the former are the more serious , and hence our Rabbis say ,

There is no comparison between the few who fulfil the com

mandment and the many who fulfi l the commandment ; and inthe same way the many who stumble and transg ress are verydifferent from the few who stumble and transg ress. According ly , with reference to the g eneral s ins, the phrase is, All wei. e . altog ether, on a common track— have g one astray like sheepand with reference to the particular, We have turned each to

his own way : with regard to the latter, now,every man must

be put to death for his own sin,

’

but with regard to the former,the prophet declares that the iniquity common to us all is laidup on him. Or the distinction may possibly be this : ‘All we

l ike sheep have g one astray ’

may denote op en sins,such as are

committed by all,and ‘we have turned each to his own way

’

may denote secret sins committed by the individual which no

one besides himse l f can se e or be cognizant of the open sins,

now (‘the iniquity of us were laid upon the righteous,

though they ought in strictness to have been visi ted upon us :the sins done in se cret

,however

,did not affect him. In all these

interpretations m) denotes simply iniquity, and not , as’

Ibn‘Ezra thought, the penalty of iniquity.

7Abarbanel’

s view is notincorre ct

,viz . that opp ressed and afl icted and led to the slaugh

ter refer to his bodily suffering s, and as a lamb dumb before hershearers, etc.,

to the loss of his possessions ; and that the wordshe op ened not his mouth are repeated to indicate that he didnot open it while underg oing e ither one or the other. It seemsto me

,however

,that the repetition may possibly have a different

s ignificance : they may mean ( 1 ) that although oppressed and

afflicted, he stil l never opened his l ips to his tormentors, whetherfor purposes of imprecation or of entreaty , e ither wh ile he wasbe ing led to slaughter, or while they were plundering his g oodsand (2) that he did not open his mouth to murmur against theattributes of God

,but admitted the justice of the sentence of

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3 1 0 n. sn’

MUnL LANYADO. [l i i i . 9

there in resembling the ‘man in whom is everything , and who

is a ransom ’ for his g eneration, as it is written (ib. vi . 2 ) Mybe loved went down into his g arden, to the beds of spices, e tc

hence i t is added,And who could tell his g enera tion ? for he

was cut of w ithout having accomplished his destiny. Or the

last words may mean that he was cut of not mere ly out of thispresent world, but also from the land of life, on account of the

transg ression of my p eop le, for which a stroke would undoubtedly come up on them,

from which the rig hteous was to be takenaway : thus the verse wil l contain a double statement, ( I ) Who

could declare his g eneration ?’ i . e . the g eneration for which his

death made atonement, and (2) For he was cut off from the

land of l ife for the transg ression of my people after which thestroke is said to fall upon them for the ir wickedness in havingthus caused his death .

9 During his l ife time the righteous inhis humil ity acquired for himse lf the possession of a burialplace with the wicked ; hence i t is here said that he himse lfmade his g rave with the wicked : he also made it with the

rich in his death,he was not poor, but in all his deaths could

be counted with the ri ch- he was not ‘ hated ’ like the ‘

poor’

(Prov. xix. neverthe less,although his riches thus put i t

w ithin his power to provide himself a g rave with the righte ous, and a lthough he had done no violence

,be y et chose one

among st the wicked. Or by the r ich (WW I!) are denoted Esau[the Christians] (new) , the meaning be ing that every form ofdeath to which he was subj ected was infl icted upon him by

them,and that he accepted all contentedly because he had

done no violence ; for if he had committed violence as they haddone

,they would have buried him ‘ in the choice of the ir

sepul chres ,’

and Esau would not have tortured him with suchan exquisite varie ty of death deaths in the plural ) . Neither

was there any g uile in his mouth : for it was not in a spiritof hypo crisy, but with perfect sincerity of heart, that he badethem bury him among st the w icked.

1 ° The Lord, however,was p leased to bruise the righteous, and to sicken him— though

- l i i i . R . sn’

MUEL LANYADO. 3 1 1

only with a light ailment, in order that ifthou, O Israe l ,makesthis soul, i . e . the soul of the righteous, to be a tresp ass- (Me ringmakest its affl iction an occasion for the confession of thy sinsthen assuredly this righteous one (who was bruised that hemight be able to atone) shal l be healed, and wi ll see seed and

have long day s, and the p leasure of the Lord,which is that

Israe l may be purified, shall p rosp er in his hand : since hisdeath wil l have had the same effect as all the usual trespassofl

'

ering s (such as those rendered for sacrificial mistakes , rob

bery D, etc.) by which atonement is procured. Upon the inte r

protation here g iven, we remark that the chang e from the thirdperson to the se cond is analog ous to the one noticed above ,l i i . 1 4 , where , after addressing Israe l ( ‘ at the prophe tturns to speak about the rig hteous in their midst (‘his countenance, ’ ‘his form

,

’and in the previous verse ‘

shall prosper’

)so here ‘ i f thou puttest

’

is addressed (as I have explained) toIsrae l

,while ‘ to bruise him

,

’ ‘shall see ,

’ ‘shall have ’ refer to

the righteous. There are two descriptions of ‘ travail,

’

one

the travai l of the soul caused by the study of the Law,the

other the travail of the body, or the toi l underg one in the effortto amass riches, and to eat and drink : the perfect one who isthe subject of this prophecy wi ll reap no profit whatever in thisworld from the travail of his soul : it is all reserved for theworld to come , where he may enjoy the brightness of the Shekhinah— as is indicated by the term shall see, here used meta

phorically of attaining or comprehending according ly it is said,On account of (or For 0 ) the travail of his soul he will attain the

privileg e of se e ing sp iritual prospe rity and be ing satisfied therewith . It is possible that the words may al lude to the opinion alsohe ld by the Rabbis that while the righteous is still al ive in the

present world, the Almighty shews him the reward reserved for

D Cf. Lev. v. I4-vi . 7.

1 0 having the same force assigned to it as in ver. 8, For the transgre ssionofmy people .

3 1 2 R . sn’

MUEL LANYADO. [l i i i . 1 2.

him in the future, and that as he l ooks upon it his soul is satisfied : thus i t is said in B ’

reshith Rabbd P, in the Parashah AndAbraham died [Gen xxv. Themse lves sleep, and the ir soul issatisfied.

’

The from (373 ) will in this case be partitive : some ofthe travai l of his soul he will see in this world

, but not the

whole . By his knowledg e the pure and innocent wil l g uideo ther men in righteousness, and justify the just. Or t he sense

o f the se words may be that when two adversaries come beforehim

, by his knowledg e he wil l justify the right eous and con

demn the guilty ; and my servant wil l direct all his effortstowards the many , so as to rende r them worthy of happiness ,bidding them ‘do g ood,

’

in so far as he w il l justify the just,and ‘ turn from evil

,

’

in that he will bear their iniquities, viz.by shewing himse lf ready to accept cheerfully the suffering swhich ought to have fal len upon them.

1 2 Therefore, since hew il l thus justify many

, the justice of the many wil l attach itsel fto himQ

, and he wil l be rewarded for what he has done, as Ihave explained on the verse , ‘He executed the justice of theL ord and his judgments with Israe l

’

(Deut . xxxiii . 2 1 ) for allthe righteous acts performed by Israe l will be imputed to Moses,who made them worthy in the same way as i f he had donethem in company with Israe l himse lf : upon the same princip lealso I explain ‘ I am a companion of all who fear thee ’

(Ps.cxix . for since the Psalmist justified them,

and was the

cause of the ir fearing God, he had a common lot wi th them,

and could call h imse lf the ir companion. S imilarly it is promised here, I will a llot him a p ortion with the many

- he wil lhave a portion with the many whom he justified— and he shall

divide sp oil with the mighty , i . e . with those whom by his counse ls he streng thened and confirmed in the way of righteousness,as our Rabbis explain on the verse , ‘For migh ty is he who doethhis word ’

(Joe l ii. i . e . God confers might upon the righte ous that they may become doors of his word : with such then

P Cf. p . 272.Q Cf. p. 287.

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XLI 3.

XLII. R . ABRAHAM BEN Y’

HUDAH HAZAN".

LII.

1 3 Behold in the latter days,my servant Jacob, i . e . the

righteous who are in him,will prosp er, etc. in the Midrash , My

servant shall p rosp er, i . e . the Messiah ; he shal l be higher thanAbraham, l ifted up above Moses, and l oftier than the ang e ls .

’

As many peoples were amazed at them when they saw the irdepression, and said one to another in the exile, See how the ircountenance is marred

,i . e . dark and worn, bey ond other men

for there are many nations who think that the features of theJew are disfigured and unl ike those of other men, and ask (as,for example , in the countries of Ishmae l and Persia) whethe r aJew has a mouth or an ey e so now will his hand also bemighty f and Israe l shal l ‘ cast down the horns of the nationswhich have scattered him ’

(Zech . 1 1 . Qamhi, however, explains an as meaning will make to sp eak, for people in the iramazement at his g reatness wil l be talking of him continually.

WDP'‘wil l op en,

’ though others render ‘wil l close, ’ as Deut .xv . 7 : they may either op en the ir mouth to tel l of Israe l

’

s

g reatness, or close it by lay ing the ir hand upon it in astonishment at beholding it .LIII .

1 Hadwe , they say to each other, hadwe heard from otherswhat we are now beholding , who would eve r have believed it

a Se e Preface .b Compare Rashi throug hout .

l i i i. z R . ABRAHAM BEN Y’

HUDAH HAZAN. 3 1 5

up on whom has the arm of the Lord ever y et been revealed insuch splendour and g reatness ? 2 Before such g reatness cameupon i t, this people was in deep depression, spring ing up out

of itself like a sucker,and like a root out of the dry earth— the

point of the comparison be ing that as it is a marve l if any rootor plant be found g rowing in arid soil, so it was also a marve lwhen Israe l came up out of captivity . He had no form nor

comeliness,viz . while in ex ile ; and when we first o f all beheld

it, how were we to desire it f— on the contrary, we rather fe lt al oathing towards it. 3

D’W‘N 51 11 , i . e . the most insignificant ofmen ; or, according to another explanation, forlorn ofmen

,be cause

they would not associate with him : a man ofp ains —al ludingto the snflering s of exile , and taught of sickness , i . e . accustomedto have the yoke of exile pass over him. 1 37373 D‘JD

“

1 11 13 73 3 1 ,

Rashi : For the ir depre ssion they hid their facesfrom us thatwe might not see them,

like a person stricken with leprosy whois afraid to look up . Qamhi : W e were a s men hiding their

faces from him ; we could not l ook at him, because of theloathing we fe lt for him,

and we accounted him for nought.4 But now we see that this was not mere ly a consequence ofthe ir depression : Israe l suffered in order that by his suffering satonement might be made for all the w i cked ; y et we thought hehad been hated of God

,stricken, smitten, and afl icted .

5 55m:

p ierced, as Num. xix. 1 6 . war/m because of our transgres

s ions. NJ'

ID bruised.

’m “

10173 , he was punished, in order thatthe whole world might have peace : by mun are denoted thesuffering s of exile .

6 It is now revealed how the seventy nationshave erred : y et the Lord let himselfbe entreated by him and

propitiated for the iniquity of us all, in that he refrained fromdestroying his world.

7WJJ he was opp ressed in exile

,and

afilicted with stripes , y etl

he op ened not his mouth to complainof what we did to him

,but was as a sheep led to the slaughte r

and Op ened not his mouth to cry, or as a lamb dumb before hershearers . W!) denotes suffering s affecting his property, rum:those affecting his person.

8 am from sovereignty , cf. 1 Sam. ix. .

3 1 6 R . ABRAHAM BEN Y’

HUDAH HAZAN. [l i i i . 9

1 7 ; or, as others explain, from confinement, in which he hadbeen kept by them. nam e , i . e . from the punishments he hadh itherto endured. The meaning is, that the Gentiles will express themse lves thus when, hereafter, they see Israe l taken and

re leased from bondag e . And his g eneration, etc.

,who ever said

or suspected that his g eneration would thus rise to fame ? (or ,Who could declare all the troubles which he underwent ? ) for hewas cut of from the land of life, i . e . from the land of Israe l .Others, however, th ink the verse to mean that while in exilehe was real ly considered to have been cut off out of the land o fthe l iving ; how then were we to expe ct that such g reatness as

this woul d ever be his ? For the transg ression, etc. Eachnation wil l make this confession, saying that in consequence o fthe ir own transgression, and not Israe l’s, had the stroke fallenup on them.

9 He resigned himself to whatever form of burialmight be decreed against him by the wicked who were eve rcondemning the Israe l ites to be murdered and then buried l ikeasses in the be llies of dog s. He consented

,then

,to be slain

according to the wil l of (ms ) the wicked, refusing to deny theGod of Israe l ; and this is the meaning of g ave for if hehad yie lded, they would have re leased him ; he would no t do

this,howeve r

,but preferred to meet death for the sake of the

Unity of God. Nor was there any guile in his mouth so as to

accept idolatry as the worship of God.

1 °But the Lord waspleased to bruise him,

and so to lead him back to prosperity ;therefore he put him to sickness. The Almighty now says, Ifhis soul is so devoted to my holiness as to return itsel f as a

trespass-ofié ring for all his rebe l liousness, then I wil l pay hima g oodly reward, he shall see seed and have long day s. armis a fine or ransom,

as in the account of the Philistines, 1 Sam.

vi. 3 . Shall see seed as Ezekie l says, ‘ I wil l increase themwith men l ike a flock (xxxvi . Shall have long day s, as itis written

,

‘The days of my peopl e shal l be as the days of atree ’

(Is. lxv. and as Zechariah says (vii i. ‘ Each witha staff in his hand for very ag e .

’

And the p leasure of the Lord,

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XLII I . R . NAPHTHALI BEN ASHER

ALTSCHULER .

Behold mg servant. Since I see that unfortunate ly the

Gentile s have built upon this Parashah a heap of vanity, I haveundertaken the task of refuting the ir errors by a true and con

vincing method in accordance with the teaching of my relation,the g reat and i llustrious Rabbi

,Nahman of Belsit z . I . If the

opinion [of the Christians] is correct, why is he [Jesus] calledmy servant ? ’ is he not by the ir own arguments God ? and i fi t be replied that he is cal led servant in reference to the timeduring which he was still man, why does Isaiah say

‘ he willbe high and exalted

,

’etc ? for even, by the ir own accounts

,

Jesus was never during his whole li fe in any position of authority : if again i t be supposed that the expression relates to whatwill take place after the Resurre ction, even then there is a ditficulty ; for even the Gentiles say that at that time he wil l bealtog ether God, how then could he be called a servant 2 . The

words ‘so marred was his countenance beyond man ’

will notapply to this man, for [the Christians] themse lves interpret ofhim the verse , Thou art fairer than the children of men

,

’

etc.

(Ps . xlv. 3 ) if then upon one occasion he is termed ‘desp ised,’

upon another ‘ fair,

’ the ir arguments refute themse lves. 3 . By

whom are the words,

‘As one that hid his face from him,

’

sup

posed to be spoken ? i f by Israe l, they are untrue , for on the

contrary (as they are we ll aware) they hardened the ir faces at

R . NAPHTHALI BEN ASHER ALTSCHULER . 3 1 9

him and contemned him ever so many times ; i f by the nationsof the world, they are no less untrue

,for the Gent iles were

ultimate ly reconciled to his teaching . 4 . The words in verse 4 ,He hath carried our sicknesses,’ etc.,

are assigned, according tothe Christian interpretation, to Israe l as a confession that theywould not acknowledg e him as God

,and thought that it was

God who smote him, and that he had not come to make atonement for sin

,as though (which God forbid !) they had been in

e rror in thinking this : a difficulty however then arises,for i f

he makes no atonement for those who do not rece ive him as

God, how can he ‘ carry the ir sicknesses’

l’

5 . How can Israe ldeclare that ‘

the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all,

’ i fthose who do not bel ieve in his affliction derive

,as the Naza

rene s also admit, no advantag e from i t ? If y ou urg e that thewords

,

‘He hath carried,

’

etc.,are spoken by the Nazarenes,

there is still a difficulty, for why , after thinking that he wassmi tten of God, and had not come for the purpose of makingatonement by his suffering , did they proceed to accept him as

God ? and how,when they had followed after him themselves

,

could they say , All we l ike sheep have g one astray 2’

LII .

1 3 I wil l now proceed to explain these verses of our own

Messiah, who, God will ing , w i l l come speedily in our days ! Iam surprised that Rashi and R . David Qamhi have not

,with

the Targum applied them to the Messiah likewise . The pro

phet says he shall be ‘ high and exalted and lofty,

’

expressingthe idea under various forms , in order to indicate that his ex

altation wil l be something extraordinary . It is a proof that theParashah refers to our Mess iah

,that

,alluding to the future

Deliverance , the prophet had said before,Break forth into joy

,

y e waste places of Jerusalem ’

(l ii . and ‘How beautiful onthe mountains, ’ etc. (ver. and immediate ly afterwards con

tinnes, ‘Behold my servant shal l prosper,’

etc.

1 4 As many

nations were astonished when they saw Israe l ’s depression, say

0 Above , p . 5 .

320 R . NAPHTHALI BEN ASHER ALTSCHULER . [l i i . 1 5 .

ing to one another, How marred is the countenance of eachone of them ! Se e , how

‘ the ir form is black (Lam. iv. 8 ) beyond other men ! for the Gentiles think that the features of aJew are disfigured and unl ike those of other men, so that thereare even among st them those who ask whether a Jew has mouthor ey e , as, for example , in the country of Persia (

’

Ibn‘Ezra b).

1 5 So w i l l the King Messiah scatter many nations ; at this king s

will shut their mouth,in wonder at the g lorious and God-sent

successes which will attendhim. For that which was not told them.

wil l they have seen,— it had never, namely, entered into the ir

minds that our Messiah was sti ll to come, for they bel ieve thathe has appeared already

,but both the ir memory and the ir ex‘

pectation w il l perish ! The parallel, and that which they had

not heard,is added for the sake of emphasis.

LIII. 1 Who would have believed our rep ort ? If we hadheard

,so they wil l say to one another

,from others that which

we now are beholding , we should never have be l ieved i t : up onwhom was the arm of the Lord ever revealed in maj esty and

g reatness, that i t should now have.

been revealed upon a de

pressed people like this nation of Israe l ? The question is

one express ive of contempt, as though to say , Who is this thatit is thus revealed upon ? 2 Before such g reatness came to it,i t was in depre ssion, i . e . the name of the Messiah was not re

cognised in the world, but i t sp rang up out of itse lf like one

of the suckers of a tree,and like the marve l of a root rising out

of the dry g round, so Israe l was brought up marve llously out ofexile : at first it had no come liness, beauty, or form,

and when

we beheld it, it had no beauty , so how can the Almighty deviseit now ? Or the meaning may be , that ‘ it had no beauty

,

neither did we desire it, but, on the contrary, loathed it.’ 3 He

was desp ised in our eyes,and the most insignificant of men (or,

forlorn of men, be cause they would not associate with him) ; a

man ofp ains, who passed all his days in anxious dread lest the

b Compare p. 44.

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3 22 R . NAPHTHALI BEN ASHER ALTSCHULER . [l i ii . 8

8 From the confinement in which he was kept by them,and

from thejudgment or sentence of punishment, he was taken ; andwho said or suspected that his g eneration would ever attainsuch g reatness as i t has attained now ? for at first it was cut (31?and exiledfrom the land of life, i . e . the land of Israel ; for forth’ transg ression of my p eop le had this stroke come upon the

Messiah .

9 He re signed himse lf to be bur ied in whatever man

ner the wi cked might de cree , who were always condemningIsrae l to be murdered

,and in accordance with (me) the ir judg

ment ; and was ready for any form of death (nu-no) accordingto the de cision of the rich

,i . e . of the [wealthy] mag istrate .

Why , however, should he have been thus punished althoug h hehad done no violence

,e tc.

,except that the Almighty was trying

him ? The words allude to Israe l who are now in exile thoughothers hold that they allude to the Messiah . me will then sig

nify with, the meaning be ing that when the wicked man dies,the Messiah wi l l die l ikewise , as though his g rave were withhim : in the same way he w ill die with the rich who accumu

lates his wealth by robbery, although he had himse lf done no

violence .

1 0 I wi ll se e,the Almig hty now says, whe ther his

soul is so devoted to my Hol iness as to return itself as a tres

pass-ofiering for all his rebe lliousne ss : if so

,I w i ll then pay

him his reward ; he shal l see seed in this present world, andprolong his day s in the world to come . OWN is the fine orsatisfaction which a man g ives to one against whom he has

committed some offence . h ”:’

n ram,by transposing two of

the words,and the business in his hand the Lord sha ll p rosp er.

Of the labour of his own soul he ate and was satisfied ; he didno t plunder other people . By his knowledg e he will justifythe just ; the King Messiah wil l mete out right judgment to allwho come to be tried be fore him and my servant will becomea prince over many

— the word be ing used as in the Gemara,

‘W hen I make thee a prince, I make the e also a slave .

’

And

their iniquities he will bear, as happens always with the righte ous

,as it is said (Num. xvii i . ‘ Thou and thy sons shal l

R . NAPIITHALI BEN ASHER ALTSCHULER . 323

carry the iniquity of the sanctuary.

’ 1 2 Therefore I will dividehim a lot and an inheritance with the g reat, i . e . with the patriarchs in the garden of Eden ; and with the mighty , i. e . with thepatriarchs also, he sha ll divide sp oil, viz . the spoi l of the worldto come— the word be ing usedmetaphorically— because hep ouredout his soul to die

,resigned himse l f voluntarily to death, and

was numbered with the transg ressors, was punished as thoughhe had been one himse lf

,and for the sake of others carried the

sin of many , and made intercession for the transgressors , inasmuch as through his sufi

’

ering s prosperity came into the world.

I t may be remarked that Rashi explained this Parashah of therig hteous who are in exile

,and who endure there suffering and

affliction.

XLIV . R . SH ’LOMOH DE MARINI .

It might have been expected that, after describing the return-of Israe l to the Holy City, the prophet would at once have g oneon to the prophecy, Shout, O barren one ,

’

e tc. ( liv. 1 ) it seems,

however,that he has interposed the present Parashah , because

the words ‘Depart y e , depart y e ,’

etc. ( l i i . I I ) are addressedto the nations left in bondag e afte r Israe l’s redemption, who as

they ‘bring meat-offerings unto the Lord’

(lxvi . 2 0 ) and see the

g lory and exaltation of his people , wil l be filled with astonishment, amazed at the wondrous marve l done before the ir eyes,and eag er to understand how this g reat thing could have happened in the world, for a nation to have been suddenly and in

a moment chang ed from one extreme to another. An accountis according ly here g iven of the reflections wh ich wi ll occur tothem, and of the considerations which the ir mode of thoughtwil l sug g est to them on the two topics of Israe l

’

s depre ssionand exaltation

,and the confession of the ir own error until at

last they finally acknowledg e the truth , justifying God s wi l l inall that he does . The meaning of the reply made by G od

, afterthe ir own words are concluded, will be explained be low : the

prophe t beg ins by premising in the first three verses an exactstatement of the nature of the perfe ction and happine ss whichIsrae l is hereafter to attain, and at which many will be aston

ished. It should be remembered that th is prophe cy no t onlyspeaks at once both of the Israel itish nation and of the Messiah

,

but at the same time al ludes also to any righteous one among st

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3 26 R . SH’LOMOH DE MARINI . [l i i . 1 4

o r which the wise of future g enerations will acquire , is derivedfrom him. The ang els are those who cleave to the Lord ofall thing s, and stand before him in the fruition of the l ight ofhis Shekhinah

'

more than any other creatures, in order thatthey may continue holy and separate from matte r. But the

k ing and nation here spoken of will one day ascend far aboveany of these in e levation and dignity (as it is said, exceeding ly )for in Abraham’

s time the Law was not y e t g iven, and what the

patriarch did was done of his own righteous cho ice and uprightcharacter— for wi th the Highest Mind his own was in perfe ctharmony ; but he who l ives under the Law ,

and exerts himse lfthrough it to attain that dignity, is g reater ; and y et even Moses

’

teach ing did not extend to other nations besides Israel . But

at the time here spoken of all the nations ‘will turn to knowthe Lord,’ and happ iness wil l become universal ; and this, too,through Israe l

’

s ag ency, as i t is written (1x .

‘And Gentilesshal l come to thy light and king s to the brightness of thy rising .

’

And, lastly, the ang e ls cleave to theL ord in virtue of a law ofmercy from the Lord (for upon this condition were they created) ;but Israe l w il l then attain the ir position through the merits ofthe ir own de eds, and while the ir body and soul are still united

,

as it is written, ‘ Thine eyes shal l gaze upon the king in hisbeauty ’

(xxxi ii . 1 7) and again, Ey e to ey e shal l they look on

when the Lord returneth to Zion ’

(l ii . 1 4 It is we l l knownthat all the early successes of Israe l , and the other events ofthe ir history

, since the time that they became a nation,did not

happen in the natural course of the world ; but the people g rewvictorious and mighty by the aid of signs and wonders ; and

s imilarly, when they were brought low as a pun ishment for the irs ins , they fel l to the very lowest depths, and thing s happenedto them which had never happened to any other nation in the

earth . At such a strang e h istory, every one beholding themwill be astonished and amazed ; or, as it is said in ’

Ekhd Bab

bathi,

‘There are three prophets who began the ir prophe cieswith How .

—Moses, Isaiah , and Jereiniah : Moses said, “How

v- l i i i . R . SH’LOMOH DE MAR INI . 327

can I carry alone all this pe ople ? (Dent . i . Isaiah,

“How

hath the faithful city be come an harlot !” (i . Jeremiah ,‘

How doth the city sit sol itary !” (Lam. i . I ) — l ike a matronwho had three bridesmen,

of whom one saw her in her prosperity

3, e tc.

’

In the same way Moses’

exclamation was made

when he behe ld Israe l in the i r prosperity and splendour, Isaiah’

s

when he behe ld them in the i r wantonness,Jeremiah’s when

he behe ld them in the ir shame ; for even the prophets themse lves marve lled at Israe l ’s history, wondering how these thing scould be : how much more then would the Gentiles be sur

prised ! And so it is said,As many had been astonished a t

thee,on account

,viz .

,of all the successes which had befal len thee

in the past , so was his countenance marred bey ond man,etc.

,

for disg race w ill fall upon this nation until the end, for in proportion as once the ir exaltation was g reat, so wil l the ir depre ss ion be g reat likewise when the Lord has h idden his face fromthem ; and so also wi l l there be cause for wonder when it reverts to its normal state

,and ascends to an e levation hig he r

than any which it had previously enjoyed.

1 5 For that whichthey have not seen

,etc. : these words perhaps al lude to the

far off nations of the earth who had not heard the fame ofthem.

LIII .

1 Of the nations in Israe l ’s own land who have seen the

actual words of Scripture , the prophe t , alluding to the mannerin which

,devising out of the ir own heart, they apply them to

other events,announces that they w i l l then ask

, Who was therethat believed in this distant rumour which we heard ? and the

arm of the Lord (wh ich is said above to have been ‘ laid bare ,’

l ii . I o ), upon whom has it been revealed ? for we ourse lves didnot conce ive the matter so . (Th is sense follows from the con

nexion w ith the succeeding verses .)2 The prophet declares

how g reatly the Gentiles will exert themse lves to te ll o f the

Ekka Rabbathi, c . I : the quotat ion cont inues, the second in her

wantonness, and the third in her shame .

’

3 28 R . SH’LOMOH DE MARINI. [l i i i . z

ignominy and humi l iation of the nation, affirming that theycould not find that he had e ither root or branch which would

prosper, but that he was both ne edy and deje cted, in want ofe very comfort. Was i t credible that i t would be report edthat a people which ‘ the Lord had chosen for himsel f ’ wouldbe Spoiled and deprived of every worldly enj oyment , and, in ad

dition,suffer exile and be tossed about in the lands of strang ers ,

wandering about in search of bread amid reproaches and con

fusion of face,as in fact is actually the case ? for, from the

day that we were exiled from our land,our inheritance ‘has

been turned to strang ers ,’

and ‘we drink our waters for money,’

although at the beg inning the wells had been our own,and on

Israe l ’s account the showers had descended upon the g round out

of heaven, and the plenty had extended even to other lands.

But now all th is is reversed :‘the handmaid is the he ir of her

mistress ’ (Prov . xxx . andwoe to the children who are exiledfrom the ir father’s table to eat the bread of tears and drink thepoisoned water. And this is the reason why they continual lycast us in the teeth

,saying , If the truth rests with y ou,

and not

with us, why are y ou left all these years in our hands for us tobe rulers over y ou Is the Lord’s hand shortened that he cannotsave or assist y ou, but has reje cted y ou ? for unless we had takencharg e of y ou,

and g iven y ou room to dwell in, y e would havehad none remaining , but would have been all dead from famineand want . Such is the meaning of the expression as a sucker

before him— Israe l’

s g rowth was l ike that of a sucker standingapart , wh ich has no root planted in the earth

,but sucks in

nourishment out of some other place , i . e . here,the land of the

Gentiles . In addition to this,however , he was as a root out of

the dry earth, sprung up , so to speak, from a poor and bitterroot

,a root bearing g all and wormwood — an al lusion to what

seemed to them his destitution and insignificance . In the

same strain they continue , he had no form nor comelinessenjoyed no perfection whether of soul or body, no supereminentqualities of mind, no wisdom or riches or g lory, no regal or

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3 30 R . SH’LOMOH DE MARINI . [l i i i . 4 .

s ince they possessed a law of truth,to wh ich we had no access?

This subj ect has been treated by the Rabbis in the Midrash on

Cant . i . 6 , Look no t down on me,be cause I am black He

carried the sickness,and bare the penalty of his iniquity — as

the text says (Amos i i i . ‘ Only y ou have I known of all thefami l ies of the earth ; the refore wi ll I visit upon y ou all youriniquities for Israe l in the midst of the nations is compared tothe heart in the midst o f the body

,for as the heart, be ing of a

more equable constitution and purer than the other members ,is the seat of the l iving soul , so Israe l in its very root and sub

stance is the seat of D ivine truth . According ly, whatever happens to Israe l as compared with the other nations, is analog ousto what happens to the heart as compared with the other mem

bers of the body ; so that,as from the purity of its blood, and

abundance of breath , the heart has a clear and quick pe rceptionof any emotion which may strike it— whether it be anxiety, orsorrow, or fear, or resentment, or hatred, or love , or an alteration in cl imate or food

,or chang e of pos ition, or sleeping or

waking , acting upon it— se i t is more eas i ly affe cted than the

other members,as thoug h it were something as lig ht as a hair,

and is consequently exposed to more disease s than they are ,

although at the same time far strong er and better able spe edilyto repe l anything which may attack it (for in other parts of thebody it is only possible to arre st a disease afte r the lap se of acons iderable time ) , be ing for this purpose endowed with strong erhealth than the other org ans. S imilarly, Israe l

’

s posit ionamong the Gentiles is such that the Shekhinah is to them whatthe l iving soul is to the heart ; and as the streng th of the heartis ne cessary in order that by its aid the soul may reside in thebody, so th is nation must needs have perfe ct health , in orderthat through it the Shekhinah may res ide in the world. Thus,on account of the purity and streng th, which are characteristi cof Israel

,s ickness and punishment w il l assai l him,

causing himto be continually in suffering and exile ;

'

and this is the reasonwhy the ir iniquities will be visited upon them without de lay,

li i i . R . sn’

LOMOH DE MAR INI . 3 3 1

in order, viz . , that the sickness may not prevail over them unti lthe measure of it whi ch will produce comple te destruction hasbe en filled up . Such then is the sense of

,

‘You only haveI known ; ’ for in proportion to the deg re e of perfection in themare they ‘ known ’ of the Lord. This is the cause why ,

when

they even sin but slightly, they are still punished : the Shekhi ~nah wil l not take up its abode in them unle ss they are clear frome very sin ' they are therefore speedily sens ible of the ir penalty.

It also explains why Israe l experience s such sicknesses,and

why they are restored and purified so quickly, in order, viz . ,

that the si nmay not l ing er among them until it becomes con

firmed,as it does among the Gentiles, of whom i t is said (Gen .

xv .

‘ The iniquity of the Amorite is not y et ful l .’

All

this wi ll in time be revealed to the nations,and they will then

i t was wewho were really sick

,though we did not perce ive it, whereas

he,by his natural quickness , perce ived it readi ly ; thus the

sickness speedi ly left him ,and he was prepared to rece ive his

confess, saying , ‘Surely he carried our sicknesses

cure . In addition,howeve r, to the sore blow thus decre ed

against him for the purpose of bl otting out transg ression, weourse lves made our hand heavy upon him

,and added to

his pain and this our p ain he bare , or, in the words of thePsalmist s complaint , Him whom thou hast smitten they persecute

,and te l l of the pains of them that thou hast wounded (P

lxix . to which the D ivine reply is , ‘I was wroth but a l ittle,

and they he lped forward the afiliction’

(Zech . i . I The emission

of the word mi“

! is noted by the Masora b, in order to form an

a llus ion to the passag e , ‘I am w ith him in atfiietion’

(Ps . xci . I 5 ) ,and,

‘ In all the ir affliction he was affli cted ’

(Is. lxi ii . mean

ing the cong reg ation of Israel , as though God himse lf sympathised in the suffering s of his p eople . Yet we thought him

s tricken— thought that he would never be healed, while , in fact,

Some MSS . insert m 7! before and in several editions (se e De

Rossi , or the Minhath Shai) there occurs the marg inal note n‘nD N5 1 H p ma.

3 32 R . sn’

Lonon DE MARINI . [l i i i . 5 .

his sickness was the very cause of his cure— smitten of God and

afl icted : whereas we ourselves were all the time smiting himmost cruel ly with our own hands . Such are the ir reflectionson the first statement about Israe l ’s humiliation.

5 On the

second statement (contained in the words‘ despised and forlorn

of relating to his insignificance , they confess the truthin the words, wounded.for our transg ressions , admitting that allthe sin and imperfe ction inherent in th is peop le was owing tothe wickedness of the nations among st whom they were mixed,and who had become a snare to them ; that from the time whenthey first became a nation in the land of Egypt, they had beendefiled by the idols of the Egyp tians, and after they had enteredinto Canaan

,they had followed the ways of the Amorite , the

heathen whom they preserved al ive be coming ‘

pricks in the ireyes

,and thorns in the ir sides,

’

and seducing them‘ to serve the i r

idols ; that afterwards,when they were in exile and ming led

among the Gentiles, they had learnt the ir works ; indeed, hadthey not swerved to the right hand or to the left of the wordsof the Law,

they would not have had such power over them ,as

i t is written (Deut. iv. And y e shall keep and do them,for

this is your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes ofthe nations

,

’

e tc. And this is what is al luded to in the words ,‘Look not down upon me

,because I am black , because the

Sun,’

etc. (Cant . i . And in desp ising him,for be ing devoid

of all vig our and courag e , they noticed that th is was all decreedupon him ,

as i t is written, ‘ I w ill bring faintness into the irheart in the lands of the ir enemies, ’ e tc. (Lev. xxvi . and

again, How could one chase a thousand, e tc. , except the ir Rockhad sold them and the Lord had de livered them ? ’ (Deut . xxxii.

Thus Israe l’s depre ssion caused such a chang e in the irrelative position that, as the one rose the other sank , as it iswritten, ‘And it shal l come to pass that , when thou shalt havethe dominion

,thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck ’

(Gen. xxvn . And all this may be understood from the

languag e here , The chastisement ofour p eace was up on him,and

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3 34 R . sn’

Lonon DE MARINI. [l i i i . 7

and bow down to the sun,forthwith the Alm ighty is provoked

it is asserted to be a s ign of his provocation that at the same

m oment the red comb of the cock is chang ed to white . The

meaning of this is explained by the commentator [Rashi] to be ,that during the sing le moment of his provocation an eclipsetakes place in the world be low ,

and the g reatest distress accruesfrom it upon all l iving ; in its most poignant form, howeve r,i t rests upon Israe l in particular, who , consequently, are the

most deeply affe cted by it .

7 Be sides this, however, in conse

quence of our error he was oppressed and spurned by us all

(for there is no hatred l ike the hatred of re lig ion) , every one

who bore the name of God’s ‘servant ’ be ing se ized for us to

punish him w ith sore chastisements,because he would not ac

knowledg e our doctrines,and we even withheld from him per

mission to speak, so that he could not Op en his mouth at all forthe purpose of explaining and demonstrating the principles ofhis faith : truth we east down to the g round, and the false re l ig ion flourished and spread to such an extent that

,as a sheep

led to the slaughter , all those who came forward to oppose it,'

o r to cal l in question its princip les, were slain w ith indignity byhundreds and thousands , in order that its adherents might persevere unshaken. Moreover

,we devised schemes of wickedness

against them to plunde r the ir g oods, so that they became as a

lamb dumb before her shearers , and Op ened not the ir mouth,for

none can plead his case w ith effect against those strong er thanhimself. BW e , moreove r, attacked him with our argumentswhen we behe ld this peop le taken from sovereignty and from ,

judgment ; for in the days of o ld it was called the people of theLord

, the D ivine providence attended i t continual ly, and so

g reat was the love displayed for it, that God ordained that thricein the year it should appear at Je rusalem in order that its members might submi t themse lves before him, as a son in excessivel ove be fore his father

,and any one of the other nations who

touched it was ‘ l ike a man touching the pup il of his ey e .

’

At

leng th, however, God removed his oWn from under his hand,

—l i i i . R . SH’LOMOH DE MARINI . 3 3 5

and Israe l was smitten with g reat and sore judgments, and nowwe see it disg raced stil l more

,for

,instead of loving i t, he has

rej e cted i t,and its enemies

,or whoever e lse may desire to mock

it, trample i t under foot and devour it, none offering ‘ to pleadhis cause that he might be bound up

’

(Jer. xxx . I or toaveng e him. And i f that g eneration had prolong ed its e x istence in the world

,and not been wholly brought to an end, who

would declare it,or think any th ing of it ? for ‘where in was he

accounted of in our eyes ? ’ it seemed rather as if Israe l nolong er ex isted

,for we thought he was cut of from the land of

the living , ever saying , There is no salvation for him in God’

(Ps. iii. z ) he is le ft howeve r in the world in order not tobecome a proverb to us. And when he attempted to convincehis fe l low-citizens that he should not be so treated and pun

ished, we all exclaimed,For the transg ression of my p eop le

there is a stroke up on them— a saying which is the reverse ofthe text (Zeph . ii i . 6 I have cut off nations, the ir towersare destroyed : only fear thou me

,only rece ive instruct ion

9 It is possible that the subject of g ave may be ‘my peop le’

in

the last verse,the Gentiles here de claring that they had treated

Israe l ignominiously in two respe cts : for ( 1 ) Israe l made its

g rave with the wicked, eve ry man among them be ing buried withthe burial of the wicked

,

‘ his fle sh ’

be ing ‘

pained upon him,

’

and his soul g oing to destruction ; and (2) they esteemed himas the rich in his dea th

,for the expression rich ’

is used g ene

rally as a term of reproach for one who trusts and g lories inhis riches, as it is written, ‘And the rich man answerethroughly (Prov . xviii . The wealth of the rich is his strongc ity ’

(verse and s im ilarly e lsewhere . The meaning thusis

,that th is nation

,which is fi red with the lust of g old, and

of accumulating riches no t by just means,but by robbery and

fraud, wil l have to re l inquish all the ir gains before they havefinished half the ir days, and that the ir latte r end wi ll be so

ignoble that they w i l l be thought to have been w icked beforeboth heaven and earth . Because he did no violence

,etc.

,i . e .

3 3 6 R . sn’Lonon DE MARINI. [l i ii . 1 0

because , in keeping the Law,he erred ne ither in intention nor

in act,

and his end justified his beg inning , shewing thatIsrae l had been the cho icest of the human race

,now the cause

had appeared for .which the Almighty had so long confined himin exile .

1 ° In truth so l ittle had God reje cted or abhorredIsrae l

,that his p leasure and de l ight had always been in him

it was only in order to purify him that he bruised him, and in

order to do g ood to him in the end that he made him to be

sick. So our Rabbis teach in B ’

rakhoth Said Rabba, W homsoever the Lord hath pleasure in, he bruise th him with chastise ~ments ; for is it not said that ‘ the Lord was pleased —not to

consume him utterly,but mere ly to bruise and sicken him,

’

in

order that he might turn to him with all his heart ? for thosewho are bruised with suffering are nearer to God than othermen , as i t is written, W ith him that is of a bruised and humblespirit I do dwe l l

’

(Is . lvii . I 5 ) and,

‘A heart broken and bruised,

O God,thou wil t not despise

’

(Ps. l i. The sick personwhose material streng th is thus exhausted is strong in inte llect,and he is protected by the Lord,—¥as the Rabbis say

c,

‘The

Sh’

khinah is above the p i llow of the sick ; ’ and for the same

reason the physical streng th of th is pe ople was prostrated, inorde r that its heart might be bowed down, and that it mightbe able to cast off its unclean imag ination,

and be left pure andinnocent (as it is written, i . 2 5 , ‘And I w i ll purify as w ith ly ethy dre ss, and remove all thy Thus

, if its soul makes

a tresp ass-

qfi'

ering , i . e . if it accepts its trial in a spirit of love ,and fe e ls that this is the reason for which it is sent into cap

tivity , and‘ rejoiceth not unto exultation ’

among the Gentiles,nor is ming led with them,

and forg ets not Je rusalem,but prays

continually that it may stil l return to ‘ take its part in the

Lord’s inheritance,

’

and to serve him with an undivided heart,then he will see seed, have long day s, and the Lord’s p leasure

Thalm. Bab., N’

darim,

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3 3 8 R . su’

LOMOH DE MARINI .

'

[li i i . 1 2 .

even wh ile united with the body in th is l ife . S imilarly, Israe lin the travail of its soul wil l look and be satisfied, watching forthe day of Del iverance . He will justify my righteous servantby means of many , i . e . he w ill take an example from whathappens to the righteous in his g eneration,

who,although know

ing wel l that he is perfectly upright, and a servant of God, stillpasses his days in pains and in the midst of many and sorecalamitie s. Such , inde ed, is the l ife of the majority of thejust ; but the ir mind is appeased by the recollect ion that all isto conduce to the ir ultimate happiness, and that the g loriouspromises cannot be real ised except through suffering ; for re

proofs of correction are the way to life (Prov. vi. To thesame purport Scripture says

,

‘Who is the man that will l ive ,and not see death continually ? ’ for even during l ife he is con

sumed away through the trouble of delivering his soul from the

power of the g rave . This is not possible otherwise , as it is said,

‘ If a man dies he wi ll l ive,and if he l ives he will die

,

’

whenceit follows that the fate of the righteous wil l befal l Israe l aswe l l (as it is written,

‘ I am become a portent untoand hence he knows that he wil l never attain this g reat consummation except by first bearing the yoke of a protracted exile .

He w il l bear their iniquities, as the righteous bears those of hisown g eneration.

1 2 Be cause,then,

he hath done all this,there

fore will allot him this happiness with many ,for the numbers

of his children wi ll be multipl ied, and all the Gentiles in whosem idst they are le ft wi ll stand in awe of his righteousness with

the mig hty he shall divide sp oil, when he rises, name ly,to a

dignity superior to that of man— as our Rabbis say0,Before

the righteous the ang e ls will sing song s,’ for he who ‘divides

spoil’

is in the enjoyment of some th ing which did no t beforefall to his share . And this privi leg e will be is, because hep oure d out his soul to die , resigning himself to suffer martyr

Thalm. Bab .

,B id/ha Bathra ,

l i i i . m ] R . SH’LOMOH DE MARINI . 3 3 9

dom for the sanctity of the Name of Heaven, and so was awardedthe rig ht of acquiring a higher l ife than other men ; and be

cause he carried the sin of many and interceded for the transg ressors, praying continually that the world might be re storedthroug h the establ ishment of the kingdom of the Almighty,and that all men might cal l upon the name of the Lord, toserve him wi th a whole heart. He was just and justified manythe refore the justice of the many shal l cleave unto him,

and he

shal l rece ive a reward equivalent to them all f.

Compare pp . 273 , 287.

XLV . R. Y IZHAQ LOPEZ .

THE NAZARENE z— Hast thou not magnified thy tongue aboveall thy name in saying that in our hands are scales of dece it,and that they have de ce ived us

,and prevented our understand

ing from comprehending mysterie s ? is it not rather y ou yourse lves who are deaf and dumb

,and who g rope about l ike the

bl ind ? Behold here,now ,

is the conclusion of my words W e

have sought it out ; so is it every mouth among st us con

fesses that all your words are‘dead fl ie s which cause a stink

,

’

whi lst we possess the ‘apothe cary

’

s ointment ’ which poureth forthconcerning ‘

the word Spoken by the king ,’

and that unto whichhis commandment reacheth

,

’

so that even the shades below wil lbe sensible of it

,how much more ‘ they that dwel l in houses of

clay, ’ when the ir companions rise up against them,exclaiming ,

Sure ly we are not guilty ; we are true men, see ing that webe l ieve in Jesus our Messiah . I wi l l now

,therefore

,bring thee

proofs from the prophecy of Isaiah how he came and enduredg reat suffering s, and afterwards died for the redemption of hiscreatures who were in Gehenna, and rescued them from the

hand of Satan who was assail ing them ; if, therefore , thou art

wi lling to acknowledg e the truth, then wilt find thyse lf unableto reply to all that I shal l adduce . The prophecy is as

follows .

LII .

1 3Behold my servant, e tc. Ofwhom are these words spokenexcept of Jesus ? and the saying of your Rabbis upon th is verse ,He shal l be higher than Abraham ,

’

etc.,althoug h it is appl ied

by them to the King Me ss iah , how is it possible to adapt its

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3 42 R . YIZHAQ LOPEZ . [l ii , l i i i .

there is none left among st us to stand up before the heathen ?O reveal , now, thy g lory upon us , that all the nations may knowthat thou art the God of g ods, and that all the se may be put

to confusion who make the ir beast in idols, l ike thee [O Naz a

rene] and thy companions in error,when thou declarest that

this Parashah refers to Jesus your Messiah : does not thisOpinion of thine contain flaws without number, which in the

eyes of reason ruin i t utterly ? S ince , however, it is from the

verses of this Parashah more than from all the rest of Scripturethat y ou gain streng th for your arguments ag ainst us, do not

lay it to my charg e if I dwe l l upon it at some leng th, in orderthat y ou may understand how all your assertions are but wordsof vanity

,and as a wind that passeth by bring ing nothing w ith

it, that the prophe t’

s words wil l not, for countless reasons , bearthe meaning which y ou would assign to them,

and that they dono t in the remotest deg ree allude to Jesus . Our Rabbis offertwo explanations of this Parashah,— some referring it to Me ssiahour righteousness, as , for instance , Yonathan ben Uzzie l , who is

'

followed by many of our other doctors in the various Midrashim,

and Nahmanides while others, as R . Joseph Qamhi, and his

son, R . David Qamhi, and Rashi , apply it to Israe l , who , they

say , is here called by the Almighty his ‘se rvant, ’ as often e lse

where in the same prophet . In support of the latter view i tis pointed out further that the pre ceding and subsequent Parashahs are strong ly in its favour : immediately before (lii . 1 2 )Isaiah was predicting the gathering tog ether of the exiles ofIsrae l, and immediate ly afterwards the Parashah beginning ,Shout

,0 barren one (l iv . I ) , is fil led w ith g lorious promises

descriptive of the same events : it is urg ed, there fore , that theParashah in the middle must of necess ity be explained of Israe ll ikewise . And th is exp lanation is the right one ; for even thosewho interpret it as a whole of the Mess iah (as Yonathan benU zzie l) , neve rthele ss admit that some parts refe r to Israe l suchalso was the opinion of the othe r doctors al luded to , there be ing inde ed numerous obstacles in the way of explaining it in any other

l i i,l i i i .] R . YIZHAQ LOPEZ . 3 43

way . But in addition to this, y ou wil l find yourse lf, on many

other g rounds, unable to succeed in the attempt to explain i tof Jesus . I . The prophet says, My servant has », but how can

this apply to God ? if y ou suppose it to mean‘shall have under

standing or knowledge ,’ thenGod

,just because he is God, is know

ledg e itse lf, and knows all thing s from eternity and to eternity .

How, then,

could the prophet utter such a prediction of him ,

as though he were now deficient in understanding , and the time

would one day come when he would acquire it ? And if y ousuppose it to mean

‘shal l prosper

’

(as I Sam. xviii . was

his prosperity or success, then, carnal or spiritual ? for succe ssful

’

and ‘not successful ’ cannot be predicated rightly [of God],

besides which we know,from the history of his last moments,

that Jesus did not ‘ have success .

’

2 . How can y ou supposethat God cal ls him his ‘

servant ? ’ how could God cal l one whowas of the se lf-same substance with himself his ‘

servant ? ’ are

not‘master ’ and ‘

servant ’ two distinct terms,each exclusive

of the other ? and if y ou say that there are three Persons , butone God in Substantia,’ Potentia,

’

and ‘Habitus,

’

y et how can

y ou call the King of the highest potentates a servant ? ’ Norcan y ou reply that this word is used re lative ly to his manhood

,

because the expressions ‘shall understand

,

’ ‘shall be high and

exalted, and lofty exceeding ly,’

are not appl icable to his man

hood,but only to what y ou consider to be his Godhead accord

ing ly ,’Ibn

‘Ezra remarks that the expression shall understanddoes not suit the body

,because the body, even whilst l iving ,

does not possess such an attribute this be ing the case , then, i tcan only apply to his soul in other words

,to the Godhead. And

if y ou urg e that he is called a‘servant ’ with reference to the

time during wh ich he was in the form of man, and that hewas made God and King only after his death, then is not the

saying of Solomon fulfi lled in him,

‘Under three thing s doththe earth tremble under a servant

,when he becometh

king ?’

(Prov . xxx . And how can he have underg one thechang e and accident of death

,when the prophet himse lf says ,

3 44 R . vi i naq LOPEZ. [l i i , l i i i .

‘ I the Lord chang e not ?’

(Mal . i ii . Thus you refute yourse l f. 3 . How can the words sha ll be high, etc. ,

which re lateevidently to future time

,be made to adapt themse lves to

him ? Te l l me when th is exaltation took place : was it whilehe occupied the position of a man

,in thing s pertaining to

the body,or wh ile he was God ? if y ou suppose the former,

y ou then omit to mention that Je sus never was elevated orexalted at all ; so that the words here were never fulfilled inhim— on the contrary, he was condemned

,

to death, exactly as

might happen to any other unimportant person, and as in facty ou contend is foreto ld by Isaiah himsel f— while , if y ou supposethe latter, then the announcement is an idle one

,and why should

the prophet have made it ? for God, just because he is God, is forever ‘ high and exalted

, and inhabiteth eternity ’

(lv1 1 . how

then can a period he predicted when he is to become high and

exalted ? And who , further, ever supposed that orig inally Godwas lowly and humble, and that he only afterwards would beexalted ? is not such a supposition contrary to reason ? 4 . The

prophet, speaking in the s econd person, says ‘at thee (li i .

but if he had been alluding to Jesus, he must have written at

him :’ for Isaiah is here addressing the persons to whom the

prophecy was del ivered. 5 . He says, So marred was his coun

tena/nce, etc. now e lsewhere y ou assert that the prophe t calls

him a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with we ll-favoured fruit’

(Jer. xi. and that David calls him ‘ fairer than the childrenof men (Ps. xlv. but now y ou maintain the reverse : at the

same time the languag e here accords closely with the wordsbe low

,He had no form, etc. , and, A man of p ains, e tc. ,

— ex

pres sions whi ch, one and all,teach that he was naturally trou

bled by me lancholy, and was a lso of weak constitution and

feeble frame . The facts,however, were otherwise ; for I know

we ll that it is no t recorded anywhere,e ither in your own New

Testament, or in the writing s of your wise men, that Jesus wasthus affli cted ; he is always described as young and handsome ,‘ ruddy

,and withal of a beautiful countenancc ’

( I Sam. xvi .

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3 4 6 R . YIZHAQ LOPEZ . [l i i, l i i i .

themse lves, and ‘ the soul of the son shal l no t bear the iniquityof the father if

,again, Adam

’

s soul sinned,but Abraham’

s

clave unto the Lord,and kept his commandments (as it is writ

ten, Gen. xxvi . how could the D ivine judgment condemnthem both equally, and cause the ‘ righteous to be as the

w icked ? ’ And although , further, I were to allow that Adam’

s

pun ishment was a spiritual one,and that its consequences

affected his descendants, still, since the Almighty is pleased toaccept atonement for iniquity, is his infinite hand ‘

shortenedthat i t cannot save ’ for men to imag ine he must clothe himselfin flesh and endure suffering s ? Is i t not contrary to reasonthat justice should cal l for punishment upon him against whomothers have s inned rather than upon the s inner ? And if y oucontend that it was right that some one s ing le individual of thehuman race should re ce ive the penalty upon himself, and so

atone for all mankind, i t might have been expe cted that someprophet or wise man should have been the victim

,rather than

that God should slay his own Son : who ever heard of a king ,who

,when his servants had offended him,

slew his own son tomake atonement for the ir sin ? In addition

,however

,to all

the weak points which have been here enumerated, the sup

position that the Almig hty (who is infinite power) should takeflesh

,and so be come finite

,refutes itself. Other objections,

stated by R. Hasdai [Crescas], I do no t w ish here to dwe llupon. But how can y ou reconcile i t with your creed that Jesusshould be said to carry s ickness and bear pain ?

’ i t is inconceivable that God should ever endure Gehenna, and if y ou think thatthe words may be appl ied to his death and the suffering s whichwere infl icted upon him, then there is still a difficulty in the

term employed, for death is never spoken of as ‘sickness .

’

The

expression smitten of God is also diflicult to explain ; for itwould se em to imply that God smote himself. And from the

phrase , The Lord laid upon him,etc.

,it follows that he must

be the patient and God the ag ent : it is clear, then, that theAlmighty is the Master , and he the subordinate . The same

l i i , l i i i .] R . YIZHAQ LOPEZ . 3 4 7

conclusion follows from verse I O,The Lord was p leased, e tc. :

your contention, then, that he is God cannot be a just one .

7. The languag e in verse 8 , He was taken from sovereigntyI Sam. ix . 1 7) andfrom judgment is inappl icable to him forJesus (as I have shewn in 1 5 ) was neve r at any time inve stedwith authority or dominion : and what follows is no less un

suitable , viz . that he was cut of from the land of life— i. e .

according to the most natural meaning , from the land of Israe l,

which is so designated— for it is we l l known that Jesus met

his death in Jerusalem. And i f y ou prefer to explain the

expression of the g lory in Paradise,from which he was cut

off ( inasmuch as that, too , is called the land of life ) , eventhis resource wi ll not avai l ; because y ou yourse lves be lievethat he rose again the third day , and ascended up to heaven,and sat down on the rig ht hand of God, where he l iveth forever and ever : if, then, he is still in the ‘ land of the living ,

’

he cannot be said to have been cut off from it. A difficultyalso arises on account of the word 1 73 5 (

‘ to whichshews that Isaiah was r eferring to more than one

, sinceotherwise he must have written 15 (

‘ to as, in fact, is

actual ly done by some of those who would falsely misleady ou. If y ou answer that he used the plural number, in orde rt o point to both the manhood and the Godhead at once

,then

y ou are corrupting your own faith , in which it is a fundamentalarticle that Jesus did not endure suffering and death in respectof his Godhead, but only in respe ct of his manhood

,or

,as y ou

te rm it,his humanitas . 8 . The ninth verse is not applicable

to him ; for your theory that ‘his g rave’

means his death,and

that this took place among st the wicked Israel ites, has nothingt o support it : had the prophet intended this , he must have said‘his death,

’

s ince it is not re corded in your books that he wasin any sense maltreated at the time of his burial . Moreover

,

this prophe cy would then contradict another prophecy of Isaiah’

s

respect ing the Me ssiah , in which he says that his resting -

placeshall be g lorious (xi . 1 0 )— a passag e which y ou have corrupted,

3 48 R . Y IZHAQ LOPEZ . [l i i , l i ii .

your false guides rendering i t, ‘And his g rave shal l be g lorious b the expression, and the rich in his death, is l ikew iseunsuitable . 9 . If Jesus was God

,and consented to suffer for the

purpose , as y ou maintain,of rescuing the souls of his creatures ,

i t could not be said that the Lord was p leased to bruise him,as

though it had been God’

s wil l to do this ; for what is donewithout any assignable cause is attributed to ‘

pleasure ,’

and not

what is done for some definite purpose . How,too

,w ill the

next words afford a cong ruous sense ? if he was God,then his

happiness could no t depend upon a covenant or condition how

then can he suitably be supposed to rece ive a reward ? are not allsuch expressions applicable to men rathe r than to God ? And

as to the promise that he should see seed and leng then day s , was

it not his fate to die in the midst of his days , when thirty-threeyears old

,and without any children ? If y ou answer that his

‘seed

’means those who follow after his doctrine

,the word used is

inappropriate ; for y ou wi ll not find in the whole twenty-fourbooks of the Old Testament that disciples are ever called seed

they are only called children ’ or sons,

’

as Dent . xi . 1 9 , 2 King si i . 3 al. z in this case , therefore , he should have written, he shallsee sons, ’ for by ‘

seed’

are denoted those who proceed l iteral lyout of a man’s loins and how could it be said of God that hehad seed in this sense ? And if y ou suppose that the ‘ leng thof days ’

mentioned by the prophet al ludes to the Godhead,

which lives for ever and eve r, no ne ed for Isaiah to have assuredhim of this : we know we l l that the Creator is the First andthe Last, and that his years never come to an end

,and that he ,

moreover,watches and observes both that which has been and

that which is to be : there is nothing , therefore , e ithe r nove lor appropriate in affirming l ong l ife except of flesh and blood.

Beside s,how could it be said that the p leasure Of the Lord should

prosper in his hand 2 Such a phrase as this could be used onlyof what a man performs through the ag ency of some one e lse

,

not of what he performs in his own person the travail of his

b In the Vulgate , Et crit sep ulcrum e ius g lo rio sum.

’

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3 5 0 R . YIZHAQ LOPEZ . [l i i . 1 3

of inte llig ence that the Parashah before us must refer to thesame occasion : it narrates

,in fact

, the comments made by theGentiles on the nation in g eneral, and on the righteous in part icular, whose reproach and disg race they had witnessed before ,but whose exaltation they wil l then behold.

LII.

‘3 According ly the prophet beg ins , B ehold my servant,

i . e . Israe l,who are so termed by him countless times besides,

as xliv . 2 , etc.

,sha ll p rosp er, emerg ing from the depression in

which he had previously be en.

1 “As many were astonished a t

thee,when they saw thy depression, when your countenance and

form was chang ed in consequence of the subjection in whichy ou were he ld, so will he scatter many nations

,i. e . rule over

them w ith g reat power, his exaltation be ing such that king sw ill open their mouths at him in amazement when they beholdhis g reatness , forthw ith exclaiming (LIII .

1

) Who believed our

report that this despised people would ever rise to such g reatness ?

3 He was desp ised, e tc .,viz . in consequence of the mise

ries which y ou ignominiously inflicted upon us : so g reat wasthe contempt in which we were held by y ou,

that any one who

w ished to reproach or insult another called him a Jew besidesthis

, y ou also expe l us from your lands. Many of y ou, too ,hide your faces so as not to look at the countenance of a Jew :

to do this is considered by y ou to be ‘an iniquity for the judg e .

’

And do not raise an obj ection at the expression, a man ofp ains ,as though it refe rred only to an individual ; because our nationis repeatedly spoken of as a man— for instance

,I Sam. xvn. 2

,

Judg . x i. 1,and often besides d : the prophet adds, lastly, that

he was so despised that we esteemed him not. 4 You howeverw i ll say , ‘He carried our sicknesses and bare our pains : previously , indeed, we imag ined that suffering s had been sent uponIsrael , as a punishment by the Almighty, and therefore thoug hthim s tricken

,smitten of God, and afi icted : this was not so ,

however ; they were endured by him on our account .’ Or we

d Se e p . 1 75 .

— l i i i . R . YIZHAQ LOPEZ . 3 5 1

may take another line,and suppose that these are the words of

Israe l spoken by them with reference to the righteous— whosecase they thoroughly suit : they wi ll then express Israel

’

s con

fe ssion that the suffering s which they ought for our iniquitiesto have endured were borne by the righteous for the ir sake .

5 According ly, Isaiah continues, He was woundedfor our trans

g ressions, e tc.,and by his strip es we are healed

,i . c . by the stripe s

of the righteous we are forg iven.

6 Then the transg ressors inIsrae l will say , All we like sheep went astray , we followed the

stubbornness of our heart ; but the Lord laid up on them,the

righteous, the iniquity of us a ll. 7 These righteous, dwe l ling inthe midst of the Gentiles, were opp ressed and afi icted : the irenemie s murdered and persecuted them,

and,but for the mercy

of God, would have exterminated them altog ether : 8all day long

they opp ressed them with crue l judgments and who can tell all

the vexations and suffering s endured by each successive g eneration in exile for the holiness of God’s name ? for he was cut (ifout of the land of life, —alluding to the numbers of the rig hteouswho were persecuted to death in the midst of the ir days ; forthe transg ress ion ofmy p eop le was the stroke up on them,

i . e . the

plague s which ought to have fal len on Israe l for the ir transg re ssions came upon the righteous instead : according ly, theprophet says which is plural . 9 He made his g rave with the

wicked— referring to the righteous who were slain like guiltypersons condemned to death by the sentence of a court , and afterwards flung out unburied for the dog s ; althoug h he uses the

word ‘

g rave ,’

which might seem to imply that they were actually buried

, y et we may suppose that the ir burial was l ike thatofJehoiakim, king of Judah , who was buried ’

by be ing ‘drawnalong and cast outside the wal ls of Jerusalem ’

(Jer. xxi i . 1 9)thus the meaning will be , that as the wicked who are sentencedto execution are only buried on dunghills , the treatment re

ce ived by Israe l at the hands of the Gentiles was simi lar . And

with the rich in his dea th ; i . e . as the ri ch and wicked man

who perishes without having done any g ood or righteous act in

3 5 2. R . YIZBAQ LOPEZ . [l i ii . no

his l ife is cursed at the hour of his death by all who know him,

such is also the fate of the Israe lites after they have been murdered or perhaps the meaning may be , that the w i cked Gentile s maltreat us not mere ly during our l ifetime

,but even after

our death ; for when we have buried our dead,they g o ‘ in the

pup i l of the night and darkness’ to the ir sepulchres and pro

oe cd to exhume the bodies in order to insult them and plunderthe ir g rave—clothes : e specially if the dead person were sufficiently wealthy for them to imag ine that his ‘

g lory’

and richesmight ‘ descend after him ’ into his tomb. All this they did

,

a lthough he had done no violence and there was no deceit in hismouth.

1 °All the si cknesses and afilictions mentioned as fal l ingupon the righteous only befel them by the p leasure Of the Lord

,

for the purpose of cleansing them from the iniquity they hadcommitted, and of making atonement for the transg ressors inIsrae l for ‘

the righteous maketh atonement for his g eneration,

’

as we learn from the case ofJosiah,king of Judah, who , though

perfe ctly upright himse lf, nevertheless was punished in the ini

quity of his ag e . In the same way , king Solomon says,

‘Whomthe Lord loveth he chasteneth .

’

If, however, his soul makes

a tresp ass-ofi

’

ering— i. e . if he accepts his suffering s of love , as

thoug h there had been some trespass in his son],he wil l be

worthy for his reward to see seed and prolong his day s, etc.

1 1 For the travail of his soul, he will see and be satisfied, i . e . as

a compensation for his travail , and because he bare the ir iniquities, all that has been mentioned wi ll be g ranted to him.

1 2 Therefore, because of all this, I will g ive him a g oodly portionof the spoil of many , and with the mighty he sha ll divide the

sp oil of all the nat ions who w i ll advance against Jerusalem (asi t is said

,in the description of the battle with Gog and Mag og ,

Ezek . xxxix . 1 0 ,‘ They shal l spoil those that spoiled them,

and

rob those that robbed them,saith the because he p oured

out his soul to die,viz . by underg oing martyrdom for the hol i

ness of God, as our own eyes see is done now by those ofour nation in Spain and Portugal , where numbers are be ing

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3 5 4 n. YIZHAQ LOPEZ . [l i i i . I 2 .

the ir superior. And do not wonder how the perfection of a mancan resemble that of an ang e l , for in Joshua it is said (v.

‘ I am the captain of the Lord’

s host ; now am I come ,’ whichour Rabbis explain thus, ‘Now I am come : but Moses thymaster had no pleasure in me , as i t is written, If thy presencedoth not g o , take us not up hence ,

’

which they further explainby saying that Moses himse lf took the place of the Metatronsince

,then

, the Messiah is more exalted than Moses,it is evi

dent that he is also loftier than the ang e ls e .— Such , then, is the

exposition which I have wished to g ive , in order to remove thehardness of thy heart .

Above , p . 1 5 2 .

XLVI . R . Y’

HOSHU‘

A SEGRE .

You must know that the Nazarenes have y et another proof,which they imag ine to be strong as a molten mirror,’ and one

which ‘no craftsman or son of a craftsman can break up,

’

derived from the fifty-se cond and fifty

-third chapters of Isaiah,two chapters upon which the ir learned men build the ir principalarguments, alleg ing that Jesus was the Messiah

,and that he

perished in the midst of many s icknesses in order to makeatonement for gui lt . The ir interpretation is as follows 1 3Mgservant, i . e . Jesus

,who was God’

s servant , shall assuredly prosp er in his divine essence ; he shal l be hig h and lifted up ,

and

lofty exceeding ly— the prophet distinguishing him by three

terms,express ive of the highest exaltation, and corresponding

to the threefold nature implanted in him,the Father

,the Son,

and the Spirit. 1 4 As in the days of thy l ife , when they knewnot thy nature , many were astonished a t the e

,asking , as in fact

they did ask,How can any son of man do such signs as this

man doth'

l— so brighta was his countenance bey ond man,

and his

form bey ond the sons of men,for he had a fair face and come ly

eyes, and possessed a g lass of such transcendent brightness 13 ,that his l ike could not be found among st all mank ind —1 5 so

will he sp rinkle, viz . with his own holy waters, the waters of

9» Above , pp . 6 1 , 67.

b A play , apparently, on the two meaning s of the all ied words mu mand

7723 1 0 Compare Wayy igra Rabbd, I,where it is said, with reference to

Num. x1 1 . 8 , 11 a M i rm '

im , that wh ile all the other prophe ts saw througha soiled and darkened g lass, Moses saw through one that was pellucidly clear.Compare also 2 Cor. i ii . 1 8 .

A 21 2

3 5 6 a. Y’

Hosuu‘

x SEGRE. [l i i , l i i i .

baptism,many nations

— for these waters he hath appo inted forevery one that cometh into the world : a t him king s will shut

their mouth they wi ll run towards him to hear his wisdom and

knowledg e , as it is said, Venerimt mag i ab Oriente (Matt. 1 1 .in allusion to the king s who , following his star, came from the Eastto behold his maj esty and g lory . And tha twhich had not been toldthem

,e tc. because they came to offer him worship and honour

on account of the g ood fame which he had in all the earth .

‘LIII .

1 The prophet, know ing that the Jews would not be lievein Jesus, but would put him to death

,now substantiates what

he had said, asking , Who believed our rep ort, the report whichwe g ave , name ly, that Jesus would come ? 2He came up as

a sucker, whi ch , when young and smal l, men do not regard at

all : he wi l l have at first no form or comeliness ; and we shall

see him,but he will not shew c (others), i . e . he w il l be a learner

from other men,and not a teacher : be ing endued with a body

and the capacities of a body,he w ill be forced to obse rve the

ways of the body, and to be a recipient rather than a conferrer ;and we sha ll desire him

,for the Almighty hath desire towards

his only son.

3 W hile among men,he w il l be desp ised andfor

lorn of men for the Jews wi l l deny his Divinity, declaringthat he is a sorcerer and a dece iver of Israe l, and there forethey wi l l stone him and hang him on the cross : a man of

p ains, etc.,for the A lmighty will g ive him over into our hands

and authorize us to put him to death,and be as though his face

were hidden from him : he wil l be despised, and we shal l notes teem him.

‘ But the prophet bids them know that if theAlmighty has thus hidden his face from him and abandoned himinto the ir powe r, i t is because he has carried our sicknesses and

borne our p ains , i . e . all the sicknesses and pains which oughtto have fallen upon us for our s ins : we however thought hims tricken and smitten of God for his own wickedness

,though in

truth it was not so , and he was stricken and affl icted for our

Taking mu n as a partie. Hif'

il .

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3 5 8 u. Y’HOSHU

’

A SEGRE. [l i i , l i i i .

and the Lord, i . e . the Father, was p leased to bruise him withthat sore sickness in orde r that in the future the Lord’

s p leasure

might p rosp er by his hand, i . e . that men,by being obedient

to his new law,might secure Paradise for themse lves, and that

1 1

for the trava il of his soul,the travai l which each would un

derg o in the service of Jesus,he should see and be sa tisfied. By

his knowledg e— by that creed which in the ir languag e is styled a

confession — he wi l l justify the just, and ever afterwards bearall the ir iniquity if they bel ieve in him and keep his commandments .

1 2 The Father here promises of the Son : Therefore Iwill a llot unto him

,and to his law, g lory among the many , and

with mig hty nations he shall divide the sp oil of his law,because

he p oured out his s oul to die,and was numbered with the trans

g ressors , be ing put to death be tween two thieves, who are cal ledladroni

, and carried the sin of many , and made atonementfor it

,and intercededfor transgressors , always praying for them

wheneve r they are will ing to be l ieve in him.

’

The following are the doubts which tel l with fatal effectagainst this most mendacious explanation, and force upon us

the true one in its p lace :

1 . How could the Almighty have cal led his only Son a

‘se rvant — a title appertaining to one who is passive , and in

unconditional subje ction to an active principle without ? i f theNazarenes are right, he should rather have used the more dignified expression, and said, Behold, my S on shal l prosper .

’

2 . The

prophet says here, He wil l be high and exalted, and lofty ex

ceeding ly,’

and below describes the subject of his prophe cy as

‘ de spised, and forlorn of men but how can attributes whichmutually contradict one another, co -exist in a sing le individual ?3 . He says that men were amazed at Jesus, because he had a

form unl ike the other children of men : but in what respectwas it different ? since if he means to allude to any halo ofg lory encircling him,

this is untrue,for we do no t find that

poo lile ever fled from him or were awed by his pre sence (as theyfled from Mose s) , but that they se i zed him and put him to death.

l i i,l i i i .] n. Y

’

HOSHU’

A SEGRE . 5 9

And, moreover, not one of the ir writers has spoken of Jesus as

be ing marked by such a halo . 4 . They explain the words , So

shal l he sprinkle ,’

etc., of the holy water which he commanded

to be poured upon the head of every man but water was neverthus poured upon his own head

,nor did he ever with his own

hands pour water upon the head of any one e lse and the assertion that John the Baptist poured water upon him is altog etherfalse, for that was not a case of pouring but only of immersion ;nor did Jesus himse lf ever enjoin the pouring of water, whichis a rite invented as time went on, l ike the rest of the ir practices, out of the ir own hearts. 5 . How can it be said

,firstly

,that

king s were to ‘shut their mouth at him

’

(which they explainas relating to the three wise king s who were to come and wor

ship him and hear his wisdom), and afterwards that he wouldbe ‘ despised and forlorn of men ? ’ 6 . If

,as must be admitted

,

he died for his own sin’

(2 King s xiv . how could i t be saidof him that he was ‘

stricken, and smitten of God 7. As re

g ards the explanation of the words, ‘W ounded for our transg ressions,

’

we may indeed remember what the Thalmud says,In

Babylon they have the proverb, Tobiah sinned,and Zag od was

beaten ; and in Pale stine,

“ Shechem had the pleasure , andMab

nai e was cut off but can it be right that when other menhave sinned

,Jesus should then die for them ? Is it in accord

ance w ith justice for the righteous to die for the purpose ofrescuing the wicked ? 8 . W hat is the meaning of ‘All we l ik esheep ,

’

etc. ? if it was the King’

s decree that Jesus should diein order to atone for sin and guilt, and if the Jews only executedhis pleasure in putting him to death (for he must then havecome into the world in order to suffer death upon the cross) ,how can it be said that they went astray in so doing ? did theynot rather do what was right and fitting , if such was his pleasure ? And the pleasure of any one is also his g lory . 9 . How

9 Thalmud of Babylon, Mahkoth , I la

. Nabuai’

is explained to signifythe inhabitants of She chem.

3 60 a. Y’

HOSHU’

A SEGRE. [l i i , l i i i .

can the words, He opened not his mouth ,’

be appl ied to Je sus ?does not Luke certify in his Gospe l that at the moment of hisdeath he cried with a loud voice , saying , ‘My God, my God,why hast thou forsaken me ?

’ And did he not also cry out toGod ? if so

,however, he was not h imself God, for, as I shall

explain in its place , men only cry out to one who is more powerful than themse lves . I O . How do the expressions, He shall seeseed

,shal l have long days ,

’

apply to Jesus, see ing he died un

married and childless when only thirty-three years old ? In

face of these object ions all the arguments and interpretationsof the Christians have come utterly to an end ; for any expla

nation that labours under many g rave doubts is a mere vapourand can have nothing in it.It is indeed true that our forefathers have offered many ex

planations, new and old tog ether, for this prophecy. Yonathanben

’

Uzzie l indicates his own opinion respe cting it , an op inionderived from tradition

,in his Targum. Enough also

,and more

than enough , has been written about it by Rashi , by R . David,

by R. Levi ben Gershon, by the g reat Don Yizhaq Abarbanel,

by R . Mosheh e l-She ikh, and by R . Sh’mue l Lanyado (in the

exce llent treatise, the Kh

’

li pdz ) . Al l these , however, and in

part icular the illustrious Ya‘qob ben Hayim of Tunis (whoprinted the entire Bible) , ended the fifty -second chapter with thewords wha t they had not heard have they perceived, beg inningthe fifty

-third with the exclamation, Who believed our rep or t ?

for althoug h this view was not the one entertained by Yonathan,his Opinion has been disregarded by the side of the doctorsof the Masbra : retain

,then

,the ir arrang ement and explana

tion,which y ou wil l find in the ir several treatises . In my

humble Opinion, it would seem that a correct exposition of theprophe cy must preserve the division, and that the reader shouldknow that at the beg inning of chapter 1 . the prophe t wasspeaking of the Del iverance, and that he continues to treat ofthe same subje ct till the beg inning of chapter l iii , as we shal lexplain fully in the verses as they come , by the help of God.

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3 62 n. r’

nosnu'

a SEGRE. [l i i i . 1

no more,nor even know how to commence recounting his praise s

when they behold his wisdom and g reatness ; the end of theverse assigns the reason why the ir mouths are to be shut, because

,name ly

,they have seen what had never been told them,

and observed with the ir own eyes what they had never heardfrom the l ips of the ir teachers or acquaintance — Here ends the

account of the Messiah,which had formed the subj ect of the

prophet’

s discourse from the beg inning of chapter 1 .LIII .

1 The prophet now proceeds to depict the surprise whichwi ll be expressed by the nations in the future when they se e

the people of Israe l e levated to g reatness and honour such as

they had never attained through the whole course of the ir previons h istory, representing them as exclaiming , Who believedour report ? i . e . who is the man that be lieved the report whichwe spread concerning them, saying that their hope had perished,that the Lord had cast them off, and del ivered them into thehand of fate ? and up on whom was the arm

,i . e . the prophecy ,

of the Lord revealed at the time when we thought that thefuture would bring misfortune to them ? 2 Our anticipation wenow see reversed. W e imag ined that Israe l would never ag ainrise from the g round ; but now we perce ive that they havesprung up like a sucker or like a root

,out of the dry earth in

wh ich theywere buried and lost. Israe l sprang up in all his

g reatness like one of those shoots upon a tree which are called‘suckers and was refers back to the sucker at the beg inningof its g rowth [before itself, i . e . before it has arrived at its ful ls ize]. And like a root out of the dry earth, which at first hasno form and no comeliness

,and

,when we look upon it, displays

no beauty to our g aze , but which , afterwards, mounts h ighabove our heads, so that all who see it at once fee l desire for it :such was Israel ; but now he has risen to his full he ig ht, producing in our hearts an ever-g rowing de sire to unite ourselvesclose ly as possible to him.

3 At this point the prophet mak e sit his aim to describe the wonder which the Gentile s will expre ss in the future on the g reatne ss of Israe l , saying , What a

- l i i i . R . Y’

HOSHU‘

A SEGRE. 3 63

people is this which was desp ised andforlorn of men— for all thedays of our l ife we avoided holding converse with him,

and noneof our men were ‘with them in the house ’— and who was per

pe tually a man of p ains— for one day we used to attack themwith one form of craft or fraud

,and another day with another

and known by sickness ! and because he was thus known to usas ravag ed by the sickness of penury, we there fore hid our facesfrom him

,and because he was a people despised, we esteemed

him not,and he was in our eyes ‘

as a broken sherd ? ’ 4 Yet

all the sicknesses and all the p ains which we laid upon him he

bare,although we made their weight so heavy on him with a

yoke of iron upon his neck , that throughout his l ife he wasnever able to lift up his head, be ing stricken

, smitten of God,and afi icted, and because his hope had perished.

5 But we

have discovered that he was p ang ed (55mm, Po‘

lel from Sm,

Ps . xlvi ii . 7, as Qamhi says in his commentary) , and bare all

these throes and pains for our transg ressions, i . e . in orde r toincrease our transg ress ions and be a cause of sin to us ; and

bruised for our iniquities, i . e . similarly, whenever he was leftbruised

,it added to our iniquities and onl y served to ‘ increase

transg ression to our sins .

’ Th is be ing the sense , then,

"i017: must

be , not a substantive , but a verb, and the clause wil l mean, Our

p eace was removed from us because of him— because , viz . of theevil treatment which we infl icted on him. Andfrom his strip eshe was healed by us

,i . e . we were the cause of his be ing healed

from them ; 5 signifying because of. The connexion is th isW e had been the cause of his many and sore sicknesses, andnow he was healed from the stripes which came upon him by

reason of our sins, because of us— for we are humbled, and

desp ised, and bruised, and affl icted,and in subject ion to him.

6 Perce iving thus that, after having been long contemned and

despised in the ir midst, Israe l had at last risen to the highestconsummation of honour and g lory, and that all the penaltiesimposed by them upon him had been in Opposition to justice ,and that the misfortunes which they themse lve s were experi

3 64 R . Y’

Hosnu‘

x SEGRE. [l ii i . 7

cueing in the days of the Mess iah were in accordance with truthand right, measure for measure , they confess, saying , All we likesheep had g one astray (am,

as Gen. xxxvii . I 5 ), we turned eachto his own way

— one g oing to mee t another and look his com

panion in the face , as the manner is of those who are in bewilderment or surprise : but the Lord— God himself and his courtof judgment — ha th now laid upon us the iniquity of us a ll

through him— through him,viz . because his iniquities mounted

upwards in order to intercede against us, that the Almightymight not de lay our punishment. 7 See ing , then, the calamityimpending , and themse lves unable to escape from it

,they pro

oe cd here to recount all the ‘deeds which should not be done ’

which they had done towards Israel,and all the hard treatment

which they had rece ived at the ir hands,exclaiming , See, how

this peop le , which now is in the he ight Of fortune , was onceopp ressed and afl icted— so the word is to be rendered— and

re ce ived all its suffering s w ithout opening the ir mouth ! theywere unable to say a word before us, for the priests of the inquisition would prohibit them even to utter a whisper in any

way Opposed to the ir will , or to the ordinances of the ir king sand rulers : thus they were , moreover, in our eyes as a lamb

dumb before her shearers : the thought is repeated in order toindicate two po ints about which the Genti les wi l l make statements concerning us : whether we slew them, they will ex

claim,l ike a sheep led to the slaughter, or whether we se ized

the ir g old and silver and all the desire of the ir eyes, as thoug hthey were like a lamb dumb before her shearers, — in e itherinstance al ike they op ened not their mouth for fear and trembling .

”W ino, i . e . from the confinement in which we he ld him : the

root has here the same meaning as in Deut. xxxii . 3 6 , where i tis used of coercion or subj ection under the heavy yoke of exile ;the same explanation is g iven by Qamhi in his commentary .

From th is he was taken, and so rose to g reatness : and this hisg eneration ,

now honoured and exalted, who could declare it, ormake known that we never would believe in its redemption ?

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3 66 R . Y’

HOSHU’

A SEGRE. [l i ii . u ,1 2 .

the righteous annulleth it,

’

as our Rabbis say on the verse( 2 Sam. xxiii . A righteous man

,rul ing in the fear of God h ,

’

and also the book Zohar on Lev. v . I . Calamities wi ll attackthe nations, so that in spite of themselve s they wil l re luctantlybe te ll ing the praise s of Israel : how for the toil and mise rywhich he endured, his soul should now see seed

, and he shouldprolong his days with such increase of w isdom that at last byhis knowledg e this nation which once was but my servant shouldbecome ruler over many . Therefore I will allot to him all

the honour which his high position will demand ; and with the

mig hty of his nation he will divide our sp oil ; and all th is g lorywi ll be attained by him because he p oured out his soul to die

,

and was numbered with the transg ressors— for all he ld him tobe an evil-doer— and re ce ived at the ir hands the sinful treatment denoted by the expression the sin of many . And now

w ith the measure which we me ted out to him he will mete tous again for he wi ll rise up as a lion beside the men who oncetransg ressed against him, and smote him

,and reviled him, and

contemned him,and attack them

,as David bade Benaiah attack

Joab ( 1 King s n . At this point, therefore , the prophe tconcludes

,beg inning the next chapter with the words, ‘Shout,

O barren one,burst forth into sing ing ,

’

etc., by way Of comfort

to our nation,who are thereby represented beyond doubt as

redeemed, and adorned with g lory and honour.

h Mo’

ed Qaton,1 6h .

XLVI I . R . DAVID ALTSCHULER .

LII.

1 3 5 1W», shall prosper, as I Sam. xviii. 1 4 ; for a man whoprospers in anything is considered to have been guided in hisactions by discretion (53W) . ‘4 were astonished, as Job

xxi . 5 . 73 , truly ,as Num . xxvu . 7. mean,

the fair and clearcomp lexion of the face .

“

1 1m,the form of the person.

1 5rm, to

sprinkle, as Is . lxiii . 3 . 1 3 5 i” ,to close, as Job v. 1 6 . 1 3mm ,

to observe a ttentively , as I King s i ii . 2 1 .

LIII .

1 1 D 5 17, for whose sake ? urban, revealed.

2P3 1 ” , a

tender twig put forth by a tree , as Ezek. xvn . 2 2 . nut, barrenand dry .

“

rm,comeliness . manna,

the 1 stands in the place ofso Exod. xxv. 2 ,

‘that they take , ’ etc.

3 5 1 11 , forsaken . car s ,

for ow n. W e», to bear as a burden. pm, pros tra ted and

debi l itated,as Josh . vi ii . 1 5 . mun,

afi icted.

5 mm, the 1 is in

place of 1x (or) . 55 11 73 , p amg ed, from 5 1 11 (Ps . xlvi ii . mm ,

broken and crushed. nova, chastisement. our p eace .

mun, strip es , as Is . i . 6 .

61mm, went astray . 1J’JD, from me

(Ho s. iii. yuan, caused to meet on him for his injury, as

2 Sam. i . I 5 .

7W ) , was opp ressed by the se izure of his wealth

the word is used of the exaction of money, 2 King s xxi ii . 3 5 .

mm, 1 again in l ieu of it: (or) . mm,was afl icted. nanb, to

s laughter . 53 1 1 , as Is . xvii i . 7. mm, the verb signifies to cut

of the wool . 8 W 1 17, the prison, or place of de tention,in which

he was confined ; of Jer. xxxii i . I . rime “, to declare, as Ps .

cxli ii . 5 . to be cut ofi,as Lam. H i . 5 4 . ml , p rostration

3 68 R . DAVID ALTSCHULER . [liii. g-nz . li i . 1 3

and weakness. inasmuch as the singular is used

throughout to designate the whole nat ion,the prophet here

intimates this by the plural them.

9mm) , the ruler,for a man

who is wealthy is g enerally also in authority. 1 1 11 17321 , in his

deaths .

1 ° bruised or crushed. bun, from nbn. DWN,

sin or transg ression. toil or sorrow.

1 2 the

mighty . 55W, sp oil. mm, in return for. mph , to p our out,

as Ps. cxli . 8 . mm,to be counted. NWJ, to bear . to

intercede or sol icit, as Jer. vii. 1 6 .

LII.

‘3 Then shall my servant Israel p rosp er : the prophe tspeaks of them in the singular, as is constantly the custom in

Scripture . He will be high and exalted, etc. : the idea is re

peated under different words, in order to express the vastness ofhis dominion and g reatness.

1 4 In prop ortion to the astonishmentwh ich many fe lt at the ir humi l iation

,saying , Truly (13 ) his

countenance is ma rred bey ond man, and his form chang ed bey ond the sons of men

,meaning thereby to imply that he was

deprived of all power, and devoid of courag e , 1 5 in exactly thesame prop ortion wi ll he have dominion, and his hand wil l prevail

,and his heart be strong , in order for him to sprinkle the

blood of many nations devoted to idolatry. At news of this,

the king s of those nations will shut their mouths,so as not to

speak a word in the depth of the i r amazement : because thatwhich was not told them have they seen— the ir own eyes havebeheld g reatness far transcending any report which might havereached them,

and that which they have not heard— a repetitionof the same idea— they have p erceived, i . e . observed with theminutest attention what actually occurred.

LIII .

1 Who, the nations wil l then say , believeth our rep ort ? wehave never hitherto seen it so with our eyes

,and who among st

us all be lieves the report which we hear of the increase of g reatness and power which has fallen to Israe l

’

s lot ? and the strength

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3 70 R . DAVID ALTSCHUI.ER . [l i i i . 6

filled up in order that the transg ressions of all those who are

devoted to false worships mig ht be atoned for through them.

B ruised for our iniquities : the same idea is repeated in different words . The chastisement

,etc. : the suffering s which

ought to have come upon us,in order

,by blotting out our

iniquity , to perpetuate our p eace, fe l l up on him : and by the

s trip es which came on him the plagues of our iniquity werehealed— they were atoned for, and so dispersed. The clause isparal le l to the two which precede .

6 So g reat was our iniquitythat we a ll went astray from the path of truth and right likesheep ,

for when one in a flock loses its way , the others fol lowing after it lose the ir way l ikewise in other words, our fatherswandered from the way of truth, and therefore we also simplyfollowed after them. We have turned each to his own way ,

i . e . would indeed that we had been only like such a flock,in

which one lamb mere ly strays after another ! it was,however

,

far otherwise : each one of us turned to his own way , and theseways were none better than the rest ; they were all equallycorrupt a : but , this be ing the case , what guil t is there restingon us ! But the Lord struck him with the iniquity of us all

i . e . it was our iniquity which,by the de cree of the Almighty,

smote and punished him.

7 For this cause he was opp ressed bythe se izure of his wealth

,or afi icted with punishment of the

body, in case he were poor and had nothing to g ive : y et heop ened not his mouth to murmur or complain, for he dreadedlest his persecutors might il l-use him the more

,but was as a

sheep led to the slaughter, and as a lamb standing before theman who shears offher

‘

wool for the sheep opens not its mouth,

and the lamb is dumb and emits no cry : in the same way ,

Israe l under his exactors uttered no sound of complaint . 8 Fromthe house of bondag e in wh ich he was confined, and from the

place of judgment in wh ich he had been condemned,he was

taken off to this Oppression or affliction noth ing would procure

8 Compare above , pp . 267, 307.

—1 i i i . R . DAVID ALTSCHULER . 7 1

his re lease : and who could tell of all the suffering s enduredby him throughout the days of his g eneration 2 for the end ofit all was

,that he was cut of from the land of life in a word

,

his suffering s acce lerated his death . For the transg ression, e tc.

so every one wi l l be saying , This stroke came not on them forthe ir own iniquity

,but for the transg ression of my p eop le .

e ither,i . e . my people transg ressed, when the ir evil purposes

led them to afflict them,or they were p lagued in order to atone

for the transg ressions of my people .

9 He resigned himse lf tobe buried with the wicked— to be like them in the contemptand miserable treatment which is the ir lot ; he would not disobey the Law in order to e scape the same fate . And with the

rich in his deaths ; the sentence still depends upon inn: he re

signed himse lf in accordance with (me) the wil l of the wealthymag istrate to all the forms of death to which he might sentencehim

,in order to abide firmly by his own faith . And y et, the

prophet continues, such a sentence as this was passed quiteg ratuitously, and not because of the violence which he had done,or the guile which was in his mouth— he was guilty of ne ithe rthe one nor the other- but simply from a spirit of malice .

‘0 Here the prophet, as i t were , replies to the doubts supposedto be expressed by the idolaters, whether, name ly, the calamit ies which came upon Israe l were occasioned by the wickednessof the ir own hearts

,and not by the decree of the De ity, or

whether,ag ain, they were sent from God in order that they

might atone for the iniquity of the idolaters themse lves . Ne itherof these suppositions, he te lls them,

is true : the Lord was

p leased to bruise him,he put him to sickness, and by his decree

all this took place : the object of Israe l’

s calamities, however,was not that they might atone for the s ins of other men, butrather to ‘

prove him and do g ood to him at his latter end

God, as it were , said, I wi ll see now ifhis soul will make i tse lfa tresp ass-ofl

’

eri ng , not scrutinizing curiously into my dealing s,but confessing that what came upon it had come justly, inasmuch as he had sinned and incurred guilt : if it does so, his

B b 2

3 72 R . DAVID AL'rscHULER . [l i i i . n ,

n .

reward shal l be that all his l ife he shall see his seed with hisown eyes, and prolong his day s, and still none of them will dieduring his lifetime and the p leasure of the Lord [wil l be th is,that] he shall p rosp er with his hands, because he stood undertrial , and did no t que stion the divine justice .

1 1 From the

travail of his soul which he saw,he shall rece ive profit and be

satisfied : by his knowledg e my servant will make it his aim tojustify the Just One, acknowledg ing that what he had enduredhad been in order to blot out the guilt of sin, so that the rewardfor his g ood deeds mig ht not be withheld. AIy servant untomany : the prophet means to say that Israe l was no t a servantof the many idolaters, as he would have been, bad he hearkenedto the ir voice in the matter of his re l ig ion, but that he was myservant unto or before them,

no t l istening to their persuasions,but bowing his shoulder to bear whatever injustice they mightexhibit towards him as a punishment for his refusal to be persuaded by them . S ince, then, he thus endured the trial , Iwill g ive him a portion in the inheritance of the many nations,and the mighty , i. e . the idolaters who are strong , he shall divideto himse l f as sp oil, in return for his having p oured out and

abandoned his soul to death , and for having been numbered bythe heathen with the g eneral ity of transg ressors and renegades,‘with full plenty of contempt and indignation

’

(Esther i .Yet he carried the sin of many , i . e . bent his shoulder to endureall the sins perpetrated against him by the many nations wh ichinfl icted on him punishments and pains and unto the idolaters ,who were thus the transg ressors against him,

he made supp li

cation,his eyes be ing ever fixed towards them ‘

as the eyes ofservants unto the hand of the ir masters.

’

And hence divinejustice has ordained that, in return for his past humil iation and

subjection,he will , when the hour Of redemption has arrived,

assume the position of sovere ign over them.

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3 74 SHORT PASSAGES .

De spised and forlorn of men,

’

etc., the prophe t continues, say

ing , W e,when we beheld his suffering s and s ickne ss, thoug ht

him put to sickness and pain by the Creator for his own de

serts ; but 10, his s ickness was caused through‘ his sorrow for

our sins : the chastisement of us a ll and our wrong s reachedhim

, and by his wounds and s ickne ss we were healed. In thuswounding him

, we all e rred l ike beasts, and not one of usturned from his wicked way : God, however, ‘brought uponhim the iniquity of us all ,

’ i . c . it was only for our iniquitie sthat he thus tried him. I explain to signify the whole

of us,as in Jer. xii i . 1 9, where mmbv means

‘ they are all

led into captivity .

’ 55 11 73 , made sick and wounded,be ing the

participle pass ive from the same verb of which 71 551 11 0, Is. li . 9,is the active participle .

c. R . MOSHEH BEN MAIMON.

What is to be the manner of Messiah’s advent,and where

will be the place of his first appearance ? He will make hisfirst appearance in the land of Israel, as it is written,

The Lord,

whom y e seek , wi ll come suddenly to his temple’

(Mal. i i i . I )but as to the manner of his appearance , until i t has takenplace , thou canst not know this so as for it to be said ofhim that he is ‘ the son of such a one, and is Of such and sucha family :’ there shall rise up one of whom none have knownbefore, and the signs and wonders which they shal l see performedby him w i ll be the proofs of his true orig in ; for the Almighty,where he declares to us his mind upon this matter, says, Beholda man whose name is the B ranch , and he shall branch forth out

of his place’

(Zech . Vi.""And Isaiah speaks similarly of the

time when he wil l appear , without his fathe r or mother orfamily be ing known, He came up as a sucker before him,

and as

a root out of the dry earth,etc. But the unique phenomenon

attending his manifestation is, that all the k ing s of the earth

SHORT PASSAGES . 3 75

will be thrown into terror at the fame of him— the ir kingdomswil l be in consternation, and they themse lves wil l be devisingwhether to oppose him with arms, or to adopt - some differentcourse , confessing , in fact, the ir inabi l ity to contend with him orignore his presence , and so confounded at the wonders whichthey wil l see him work , that they will lay the ir hands uponthe ir mouth ; tin“ _

the words of Isaiah, when describing the man

ner in which the k ing s wi ll hearken to him,At him king s will

shut their mouth ; for that which had not been told them have

they seen,and that which they had not heard they have p er

ceived.

d. R . MEIR BEN SHIM’

ON.

Behold my servant,etc. This Parashah is appl ied by the

Naz arenes to Jesus ; such an explanation, however, is untenableeven on the g round of the ir own allegations. For example , theyassert Jesus to be the son of God

,and to he himse lf God

,the

whole be ing thus God, and at the same time one but if so , how ishe called my servant Almighty God is not a servant ; on thecontrary

, all are his servants. If to this it he rep l ied that Jesusis termed servant

,as be ing a servant of the Godhead

,do not

the Christians assert that he is God ? how,then

, can one who

is the Creator of all and the Lord of all rece ive such a title ?Ag ain, how can it be said that he should prosper —for this isthe meaning of as in 1 Sam . xviii . 1 4 : in what did hisprosperity consist ? were not his misfortunes and g eneral i l lsuccess patent to all

, when the Pharisees and doctors and,in

fact,the whole people condemned him to death (as is re lated

in the ir own book) , and he was slain with his disciples ? And

how can it be promised that he should be hig h and exalted and

lofty exceeding ly ? Jesus in his lifetime was only thus exaltedat the t ime of his crucifix ion : do y ou not see how t ill then hewas in fear and trepidation daily ? If y ou reply that the phraserefers to his Godhead

,not only is God called a servant, but ,

3 76 SHORT PASSAGES .

bes ide s this,the Godhead is unchang eably ‘ high and exalted '

through all eternity ; how,then

,could it be said that he ‘

will

be high’

now ? And if y ou suppose that he was ‘ high’ through

the multitude of miracles which he performed, he only did thesein the manner sug g ested by the Pharise es and doctors, viz . by

sorcery, which indeed he persevered in ti ll at last they wreakedthe ir will upon him in the way that they did. Again, it is saidin the same Parashah

,He shall see seed

,e tc. ; but what ‘

seed’

did Jesus see,and what ‘ leng th of days did he enj oy

,

’

and what‘

pleasure of the Lord prospered in his hand ? ’ did not bothhe and his disciples perish after a short l ife ? and did they notme et with ruin rather than prosperity in the ir undertaking s ?If y ou fall back on the supposition that this languag e refers tohis De ity, the same objection will stil l hold which I mentionedabove . Again, at the end of the Parashah

,it is said

,Therefore

I will divide, etc. : but what ‘spoil

’

was ever divided to Jesus‘among many,

’

and what happiness was ever his during l ife ,when he was rather a ‘wandere r and fug itive ,

’

and in constantterror of death ? If y ou suppose the words to relate to bothhis Godhead and his manhood (the latter of whi ch y ou assertascended up into heaven), the whole be ing God tog ether, howdoe s the prophet say ,

‘ I wi ll divide him ? ’ would not he ratherbe himse lf dividing to others ? and, again, how does he say

among st many , when his ascension, by the ir own account,took

place secretly,and not in the presence of any multitude ? although ,

to be sure , a g reat miracle such as that ought to have be enenacted (as I have said above) be fore as many witnesses as pos

sible : in fact,ne ither in his days, nor since

,have the events

ever happened which I there indicated as bound to occur inthe time of the true Me ssiah . Let every man of inte llig ence ,therefore

,understand, on the question of this Parashah , that it

refe rs to the people of Israel , who are oppressed for the truthof the Creator and his Law ,

be ing daily plundered and de spised,murdered and burnt

,as Scripture says

,

‘For thy sake are we

slain all the day long ,’

e tc. (Ps. xl iv . 2 3 ) and again, ‘ Thou hast

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3 78 SHORT PASSAGES .

te rmed a‘servant ? ’ would he not then be the Creator, and all

besides be his creatures and his serv ants ? If,now

, y ou replythat the allusion is to his flesh after the resurrection (for theysay that he ascended on the third day to heaven c), who , pray,w itne ssed his ascension ? if such a marvellous event took place ,it should have be en transacted in public before the whole people ,j ust as his condemnation also had taken place in publ ic : it isimposs ible to put faith in miracles which so easi ly admit ofbe ing controverted, that the Pharisee s said, He did them openlythat men might be lieve in him,

in the name of devils.

’

But the

miracles of his resurrection and ascension (which ought to havebeen achieved so as to be seen of all

,in order that the people

mig ht no t persevere in the ir rejection of him) were in fact transacted in se cre t ; and the Law says (Dent . xxvn .

‘Cursedis he that maketh the blind to err in the way .

’

All thiswehave stated above , in anothe r place . The p roof that ‘my ser

vant ’ denotes Israe l , is to be found in the passag es already citedfrom the previous Parashahs, xliv. 2 , xl ii . i ; also xl i i . I 7, ‘Who

is blind as my servant ? ’ after which the words, verse 2 2,But

this is a people robbed and spoiled,’

shew that the ‘servant ’ is

the nation plundered by the ir enemies in captivity— a conclusion which is furt her corroborated by verses 2 4 , z 5 ,

‘Who gaveJacob for a spoil , and I srael to the robbers ? did not the Lord,be against W hom ?

’

etc.

e . R. MORD’

KHAI BEN Y’

HOSAFAH .

This Parashah is said by the Nazarene s to refe r throughoutto thei r Messiah

,who suffered for the ir salvation ; and they

affirm that this is indicated by Isaiah himse l f in the words, Butwe thought him stricken

,and smitten God, and afi icted, wh ich

declare plainly that he who was thus stricken and smitten was

c R . Me ir’

s acquaintance with the Gospe ls , it will be observed, is no t

distinguished for accuracy.

SHORT PASSAGES . 3 79

God. They omit however to take account of the expressionsused in the text

,or to conside r that the prophet has been all

along speaking of the captivity, as In. 3 ,‘Ye were sold for

nought, and not for money shal l y e be redeemed,’

and,Fear not

Jacob,andmy servant Israe l

’

(xliv. 2,and often similarly bes ides) ;

again, ‘ The God of Israe l wi l l be your rereward ’

(lii . 1 2 ) tog ather in the outcast-s of Israe l , and that in continuation of thesame idea be here beg ins, Behold my servant shall p rosp er, i . e .

there wi ll y e t be a time in which my servant,al ready mentioned

above, shall prosper and be exalted. And although while in

exil e his depress ion was so g reat that his countenance was

marred bey ond man , and his form bey ond the sons of men,

there still w i l l come a t ime when men will be proport ionate lyastonished at his exaltation ; for then his salvation wi ll sproutforth suddenly

,and come up before the Almighty like a sucker

shooting up before the tree that has been hewn down itse lf,

whilst its stump revives. The nations now say , Surely hehath carried our sicknesses , etc. ; for Israe l bears during hisexile all the pains and suffering s which they impose upon him :

but he, i . e . e ither the servant Jacob, or the Me ssiah who wi l lbe king over the seed of Jacob

,was wounded or bruised for the

iniquity of the Gentiles,in order that he might rece ive the

penalty on their behalf. All we,they continue

,like sheep went

astray ; for Israe l is to be oppressed and afl icted, y e t withoutop ening his mouth, for he wi l l endure all for the g lory of theCreator : for coercion and judgment he was taken away ,

— he

was taken out of the world in consequence of the acts of oppress ion and injustice pe rpetrated upon him whi lst in exile . But

who at that time would be lieve , when he was cut of from the land

of lifefor the transgression of my p eop le, a stroke to them, thatall that he had done to them was in consequence of the ir trans

g ression, in orde r that the Creator might take veng eance on

them ? And he made his g rave with the wicked, etc for theyspilt the ir blood and buried them with contumely in the sepul

chres of the wicked, as it is written,

‘W as Abner to die as a

3 80 SHORT PASSAGES .

fool dieth ? ’ (2 Sam. i ii . thus they resigned themse lves tomartyrdom

,the rich even preparing h imse lf to me et death under

two forms (‘ in his the actual dissolution of his person,

and the destruction of his substance ; for he l oved the Lord notmere ly in ‘

all his soul, ’ but also in all his strengt h .

’

But the

Almighty was p leased thus to bruise him,for the purpose of

blotting out his iniquities . If, then, his soul maketh a tresp assofiering , admitting its guilt and accepting its suffering s as sentupon i t in love , then he wi ll see seed and have long life, and

for the travail of his soul see and be sa tisfied, i . e . se e the con

solations of prosperity, and ‘ be satisfied ’

with de lights. And

for his suffering s in exile he wil l justify among st many the JustOne of the world, as the prophet says, By his knowledg e myservant will justify the Just One— i . e . God— unto many , con

fe ssing him to be righteous ; and their iniquities , i . e . those ofthe Gentiles, he will bear for the ir advantag e . Therefore, because viz . he thus acknowledg ed the justice of the Divine judgment

,the time will come when I shall divide him among st

many , or publ icly, the sp oil of the nations, and the mighty he

shall divide as sp oil, because he p oured out his soul to die forthe g lory of God, and was counted in exile as a transg ressorand s inner h imse lf

,and as a beare r of iniquity, although , never

theless , l ike David, who said (Ps . xxxv.

‘But as for me,

when they were sick,my cloth ing was sackcloth

,

’

he was evermaking intercession and suppl ication on behalf of the trans

g ressors who smote him.

I have now explained for y ou the whole Parashah . Thereare many considerations which stand in the way of the Nazarene interpretation. I . Heaven forbid the prophe t to haveused such an expre ssion as smitten God ! (verse The verses imply means that the Gentiles, during our captivity, imag inedthat it was of the Lord’s hand that Israe l was smitten, but thatafterwards they will acknowledg e that it was not so

,and con

fess that he was ‘wounded ’ for the ir ‘own transg ressions,

’ thatthe Almighty might take his veng eance upon them. 2 . How

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3 82 SHORT Passacns .

among st y ou that gave credence to the report of this g reatnesswhich we proclaimed in your ears ? up on whom, except upon us ,has the arm of the Lord been revealed ? (Others suppose thisverse to be spoken by the Gentiles declaring that they couldno t be lieve the matter upon report only , as they had not y et

seen it .) He came up ,wearing the appearance of a shoot out

of a pun’y and blighted tree , without e ither form or come liness

,

and when we looked at him there was no beauty ; how thencould we desire him ? (The last clause an exclamation ofsurprise ; or, perhaps, it may be rendered, Yet we desire him,

viz . now .) For he was desp ised whilst in exile,andforlorn of

men,a man of p ains and known to sickness— a phrase which

cannot be used except of one who has had ailments for a seriesof years, and hence strictly appl icable to Israel, whereas the

‘sickness ’

experienced by Jesus did not extend beyond the

sing le day upon which he was put to death— and as he passed

along the roads such was his humil iation and shame that men

hid the irfaces from him: he was desp ised and we esteemed him

not. Therefore the sicknesses and pains which ought to havefallen to our lot were borne and carried by him instead : y et wethought him stricken

,smitten of God, and afi icted. But he was

wounded for our transg ressions— or,as Yonathan renders , was

profaned, referring the words to the Sanctuary which is at pre

sent profaned for our transg ressions : by his explanation of

poured out his soul to die,

’ viz . re signed his soul to his murderers, Yonathan means, however, to refer to the Messiah , who

for Israe l’s sake exposed himsel f to the perils of war, but neveractually died : y ou will find a similar expression appl ied toZebulun,

Judg . v. 1 8 ,‘ The people which despised the ir soul

unto dy ing .

’

The chastisement of the whole of us,the suffer

ing s wh ich should have been ours, came up on him — B15W,from

the root to be whole,is used as in Jer. xiii . 1 9, where it is

equivalent to SJ— and by his strip es— the stripes (Exod. xxi. 2 5 )

wh ich he bore when stricken — we are healed. All we like sheep

went as tray , were in error upon this point : the Lord had laid

suonr PASSAGES . 3 83

on him the iniquity ofus a ll,whereas we thought him stricken

of God, and afl icted [without any such cause]. He was op

p ressed, e tc. , and op ened not his mouth : but how can this app lyto Jesus ? did not Jesus cry out ,

‘My God, my God, why hastthou forsaken me ? ’ [It is true howeve r of Israe l ; and Israe l]also was in exile like a sheep led to the slaughter . From the

coercion of captivity, and from the judgments to which he wasthere l iable, he was taken , and released by God into ‘

an openspace ;

’

but who would have made such an announcement to thatg enerat ion, while he was cut of from the land of life , i . e . fromthe land of Israe l ? for the transg ression ofmy p eople , they wil le very one be saying , the s troke was up on them

,viz . when, as

the prophet said before,Israe l was ‘

wounded for our trans

g ress ions .

’

And he made his g rave at the will of the wicked ,

entrusted his death to the hand of the wi cked and the weal thywho endeavoured to seduce him to false worships ; he wouldnever, however, comply, but preferred death

,for he did no

violence , neither was there guile in his mouth. (Or these wordsmay mean that they slew him without violence or guile , i . e .

although he had been guilty of ne ither one nor the other .) He

shall see seed,e tc. How can the heretics apply these words to

Jesus ? ‘se ed

’

is a term which neve r occurs except in its strict

phys ical sense ; but Je sus had no seed,nor long l ife .

The Parashah succeeding this, ‘ Shout,O barren

,thou that

hast not borne ,’

e tc., For thy Maker is thy husband,’ ‘He hath

called thee as a woman, forsaken and g rieved in sp irit, and a

wife of youth , when thou wast refused ’

(liv . I, 5 , is addressed

to Israe l (as the prophe t had said before,1 . I ,

‘Where is thebill of your mother’s for who was ‘

g rieved inspirit

’

but the cong reg ation of Israe l in exile ? again (l iv .

For a smal l moment have I forsaken thee ; but with g reatmercie s will I g ather thee z

’

but who was there scattered thatthe Lord should gather

’

her,except Israe l ? ag ain (verses 8 ,

‘ In a l ittle wrath I hid my face from the e,e tc. I have

sworn that I would no t be wroth with thee,nor rebuke thee z ’

3 84 SHORT PASSAGES .

but with whom was God ‘wroth so often as with Israe l,whom

he led captives to Egypt, to Assyria,to Babylon ?

g . R . YOSEPH ALBO.

Sometimes,too

,misfortunes light upon the righteous no t as

:

a punishment, but for the sake of a whole nation,that atone

ment may be made for it . This is because the Almighty takespleasure in the pre servation of the world, and knows that therig hteous w ill hear his suffering s cheerfully, without quarrellingwith any of his attributes : he there fore bring s suffering s uponthe just, as a satisfaction for the evil [otherwise] de st ined to

afflict a whole people , in order that it may thus be averted :

this is what our Rabbis mean by the i r saying f, ‘ The death ofthe righteous worketh atonement .’ W e find the Law statedclearly in Scripture : God says to Ezekie l (iv. 4 Lie on thyleft side ; and I wi l l place upon i t the iniquity of the house of

Israe l,etc.

f,and thou shalt bear it : and when thou hast finished

these thing s , then thou shalt lie again upon thy rig ht side,and

shalt bear the iniquity of the house‘ of Judah .

’

In accordancew ith the same principle , the statements found in the Parashah

,

B ehold my servant shall p rosp er, are all to be referred to Israe l(who is here called ‘my servant

,

’

as Is . xliv. 2,xl i . when

the prophet says, Surely he carried our sicknesses

,e tc. but we

thoug ht him s tricken,smitten of God, and afi icted, he means to

say that when men se e suffering s fal ling upon the righteous ,they think they fal l upon them on their own account

,and are

hence naturally surprised : it is not so in fact,however ; they

do no t fall upon them for any sin they may have committed,but as an atonement whe ther for all the world, or for the entirepeople , or for some s ing le city.

Mo'

ed qaton,

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3 86 SHORT PASSAGES .

(Num. xxvi ii . ‘Ming led with crushed Oil and this is thatwhich is written

,But he was wounded for our transg ressions ,

bruised for our iniquities, the meaning of wh ich is that s incethe Messiah bears our iniquities which produce the effe ct of hisbe ing bruised, it follows that whoso wil l not . admit that theMessiah thus suffers for our iniquities , must endure and sufferfor them hims e lf.It is related in Way y igra Rabbd

,on Lev. vn . 1 , as follows

The Almighty said to Israe l , My son, I am he who once declaredto y ou that I had no pleasure except 1 l in j oyfulness andh in the

man that was free from trespass : I have now chang ed ; and Isay that thoug h a man commit countless trespasses, one uponanother

, y e t if he repents, and humbles himse lf too

the g round,and reg ards himse lf as only hal f pure— the othe r half of himhaving a trespass-ofi

’

ering hang ing in suspense over it continually

i 1 0,then I am with him in mercy

,

’

and wi l l accept hisrepentance, and wi l l g rant him sons who shal l be dilig ent in theLaw,

and keep the words of my commandments in the ir mouth,

as i t is written, The Lord was p leased to bruise him ; if hissoul makes a trespass-qfibring , he shall see seed

,have long

life, and that which the Lord hath p leasure in shall p rosp er inhis hand.

j. R . HAY YIM IBN MUSA .

He states,moreover, that there are some of the Jews who

de clare that the Messiah wil l come into the world prostrate andbowed down because of our sins ; and that this is clear fromthe verse

,But we thought him s tricken, smitten of God, and

afi icted. Our answer is, that the words OfNicolaus, no less thanthose of the Jew whom he cites, justify no such inference ; or,i f it is a Midrash

,

’ then there is no Obl igation to reply to it atall

,for ‘men do not reply to an al leg orical exposition k and

h In the extract, as cited p . 395 , these words , wh ich seem in this connexionto be superfluous, are absent.l Above , p . 30 7.

k Cf. above , p. 1 24.

SHORT PASSAGES . 3 87

I mysel f also know of alleg orical expositors among the Nazarene s whom many of the i r teachers utterly repudiate ; for ex

ample , in this very kingdom the alleg oriz ing s OfFrai VincenteFrere have been in many quarters repudiated, although he hadan e xtraordinary reputation for learning and piety.

Nicolaus further asserts that his death is described by Isaiah,in the words

,As a sheep led to death. Isaiah , howeve r, in

real ity does not use such words ; and g ranting that another hasused them

,still who can lay it down that they refer to Jesus ?

i t must remain doubtful unti l he can g ive us demonstration ofit. In truth, we be lieve that the verse refers to the people Of

Israe l, or of Judah , who are spoken of as God’

s‘servant.’

Obj ection 9 . From what Isaiah says of the Messiah (who isspeedily to come in our own days He shall see seed, shall have

long day s, the Jews urg e , he al leg e s, that , as Jesus had ne ithe rseed nor long life , he could not be the Messiah . They urge al so ,he continues, the same objection from the words of the e ightyninth Psalm (verse ‘ I wil l e stabl ish his seed for ever :’

Jesus,they say , had no seed and hence could not be the Mes

Siah . In reply, Nicolaus points out that Jesus could not be

expected to have material children,but only sp iritual ones, for

carnal union only bring s with it folly ; and maintains that hecan derive the same inference from the ve rse , ‘ In Isaac Shal lthy seed be called, ’ which must mean that his seed is to consistof the Apostolate . But to this we rejoin, that the word usedin Scripture with reference to God i s not

‘seed,

’

but ‘sons ,

’

if

Jesus then,as they be lieve , was God, how could it be said that

he would ‘see seed ?

’

And as to the other expre ss ion, ‘ havelong days,

’ this was neve r fulfilled in Jesus, for he suffered at

half the ag e usually allotted to man. Then the text, If hissoul sha ll make

, etc.,since If expresses a condition, must imply

that if he does not make his soul a trespass-offering , he will no te ither se e seed or have long life : but languag e such as thiswould be blasphemy if spok en of God, though not if spokenonly of the Messiah. And, thirdly, how can the expression,

0 c 2

3 88 “

SHORT PASSAGES .

Make his soul a trespass-o tfering ,’

be in any sense appl icableto God ? And the passag e adduced from

'

PS . lxxxix . is addressedby the Almighty to David as an assurance that carna l— no t

sp iritual— king s wil l issue from his l oins : this is the s impleand entire truth .

k. MILHAMOTH ADONA I .

THE NAZARENE : \Ve have now arrived at the Parashah ,Behold my servant sha ll p rospe r : I have heard what y ou haveonce al ready told me in g eneral te rms , that henceforward all

the predictions of joy and prosperity in this book refer t odel ivery e ither from the captivity of Babylon, or from thatmore protracted captivity of Edom in which y ou are now

l iving , in accordance with the constant mention in them ofZion and

’

Jerusalem. You also told me g eneral ly that I wasa

‘

g leaner among st the Sheaves,

’

in maintaining that an individual verse need not of necess ity be connected with whatimmediate ly pre cedes and follows it. But in fact

,letter by let

ter,and word by word, this Parashah , from beg inning to end

,

refers to him : for it re lates how he fe l l into the hand Of his

enemies, and suffered himself for our iniquit ies, and was buriedbetween the wicked ; how ,

also,he was wounded for the trans

g ression of th e people , and we are healed by his stripes, and

similarly many other incidents of his l ife : y ou have but toread i t in order to see that it speaks plainly Of him. I knowalso that your own g reat teachers unwitting ly bear witness tothe fact that the subje ct to whom it refers must be God

, whenthey say ,

‘He shall be higher than Moses, and loftier than theang e ls who

, indeed, is loftier than the ang e ls, save Godalone ?THE HEBREW This too I wil l wrest from your bosom : your

Opinion of the Parashah may in truth be refuted 01 1 ever so

many g rounds. 1 . The prophe t cal ls him my servant : thoughit is certain that the Godhead could not so address one who

was no less God than himself ; indeed, even the Father does

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3 90 SHORT PASSAGES .

place after his death , when the body, we know,is devoid of all

power of sensation ? 6 . He says of him that he Shal l see seed

but y ou wil l nowhere find the term ‘Se ed

’

used except of thatwhich is born physical ly. 7. He says similarly, ‘He shal lleng then days but this is a phrase which, according to itsnatural meaning , would denote some period which is terminable . For al though our Rabbis 1 expound the words, ‘ Thoushalt have long days

’

(Deut . xxi i . 7) as sig nifying infinite duration

,this is an alleg orical exposition, which however they are

compelled to adopt, be cause the time mentioned has a beg inning assigned to it ; but time without e ither beg inning or endcannot be denoted by the phrase ‘ leng th of days .

’And if y ou

reply that the words refer to his manhood,then this never had

‘ long days’

at all. 7. The expression ‘cut Off from the land

of l ife ’

is an unsuitable one to be employed of God — Moreover

,I can assure y ou g enerally that with respe ct to Mess iah

son of David,the Scriptures affirm consistently that he will be

ne ither slain nor de l ive red into the hands of his haters : in fact ,this is only said of Messiah son of Joseph , for reasons whichwe have already e xplained on the se ction Heleq. You shouldalso bear g eneral ly in mind that upon the man appointed to bethe true Me ssiah signs and tokens wil l converg e such as havenever y et be en manifested on any of those who have claimed tobe the Messiah themse lves : this was clearly shewn in the caseof Bar Koziba

,whom men qui ckly found to be no arbiter or

judg e 1 1 1 . One of these signs characteristic of the Messiah is tobe

, as y ou know ,the acquisition of vast dominions , as it is

written, ‘His dominion shall be from sea to sea ’

(Zech . ix. I O) ,and similarly, ‘And to another people his kingdom shal l notbe left ’ (Dan. i i. 44) this, however, has never been fulfi lled inhim

,or indeed in any one e lse , but least of all in Jesus, who

never had any dominion whatever . And even the Romans ,whose sway extended over the g reate r part Of the world, when

1 Qiddushin,

m Sanhedrin,

SHORT PASSAGES . 3 9 1

in course of time they embraced his faith , were reduced, and lostmuch of the ir power. Many other facts pointing in the same

dire ction have been set forth in a previous part of th is treatise :only remember that in truth the Parashah refers throughoutto Israe l and the Messiah

,who will meet with extraordinary

prosperity, so that all the nations who have be fore be en onlyacquainted with our humi liation w il l be astonished both at him

and at us . The entire exp lanation y ou wi ll find stated withampler de tails in our Commentary on Isaiah : as

,in fact, we

have shewn,the argument which y ou adduced from the saying

of the Rabbis, ‘ loftier than the ang e ls,’

possesses no cog encywhatever.

S’DW', i . e . will p rosp er. men,because his countenance and

form we re marred beyond those of other men. imp”, l ike theverse (Job xxix .

‘ Princes withhe ld words,and laid the ir

hand upon the ir mouth .

’

DJ1”,a bough : as though to say that

Israe l came up formerly before the Lord, and hence resembleda bough or root in arid soil

, which does not g rowlarg e . inwnnn,

R . H. he had no beauty that we might desire it.’

anon:

D’JD,’

Ibn Janah :‘ if he had but for a short t ime hidden his

face from him,he would have been de stroyed.

’

[Bx— i. e . inDN

if i t was so,then

,the s icknesses which we laid upon him he

carried,and the pains which we occasioned to him he bare . We

thought him,e tc.

,i . e . as we plagued him, we imag ined in our

hearts that God had bidden us SO to smite and affl ict him. He

was woundedfor our iniquities, i . e . as we smote him, i t seemedto us as though the Almig hty had commanded us to do so ;

but now the same nations admit that ‘ he was wounded for our

transg re ssions ; in wreak ing our veng eance upon him we weretransg ressing against him in his sickness, and in bruising himwe were acting wickedly towards him.

’ ’Ibn Janah exp lains the

n The initial letter ofth is Rabb i’ s name (wh ich is all that the Hebrew textoffers) is not enough to enable him to be ident ified : similarly

3 92 SHORT PASSAGES .

words thus : W e thought that God had smitten and correctedhim ; but i t was not so his sicknesses and pains were the effectsof our transg ressing against him . iJm’Nfi now, i . O. the correc

tion or reproofs of the who le of us were up on him,and by

smiting him 0 we are healed,i . e . he was smitten in our stead ;

D152) denotes here the whole,as in Jer . xi ii . 1 9 . R . Isaiah Mali

,

however D,interprets the words to mean our peace was removed

from off him — we did not even allow him to have peace .“ 1

1 3 1705 71 , i . e . the Lord made him a‘stumbl ing -block and an

Offence before us.

’ ’

1 1“mm, the meaning must be that when he

was led to the slaughter, he was taken thither from prison and

torture,i . e . be was first tortured

,and then led off to execution

(Z . A. B .) fi t"!me ,

and his g eneration, who can declare howit fared ? (Z . A. B. ) For the transg ression of my p eop le— or,

as others prefer, of his people — which was actual ly— or,at

least, was destined to be— a blow to them (Z . A . B .) And he

made his g rave with the wi cked, i . e . according to’

Ibn Janah,as

cited by Qamhi q , he died before his time through the ir Slayinghim ; and this, although he had done no violence with his hands r,l ike the w icked who die before the ir t ime , or are put to deathfor the i r wi ckedness. mm,

the p lural of me ,for they were

often put to death after be ing p ierced through and through, orafte r having suffe red crue l tortures (Z . A . B.)

’

Ji born (asthe meaning seems to me to be) , for the travail entai led by thetroubles he endured, he sha ll be satisfied ; notwithstanding this,however

,my servant stil l justified the just, and did not , for what

he had suffered,condemn him,

but judg ed righteously in sp iteOf all that he endured in bearing the ir iniquities, and so re

ceived the promise, Therefore I will divide him a p ortion,e tc.

(Z . A. B .)

0 Comp. pp . 62 , 3 73 .P P. 76 .

( 1 Perhaps Yoseph Qamhi : this opinion Of’l bn Janah is no t known from

any other source .

r The author is th inking of the paralle l passage , Job xvi . I 7.

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3 94 SHORT PASSAGES .

n . SEPIIER HASIDIM .

Every one who is desp ised by the world, provided only itbe not for deeds of wi ckedness

,w ill be exalted in the future ,

as i t is written,B ehold my servant shall p rosp er he sha ll be

hig h and exalted and lofty exceeding ly . W ho is signified here ?The same of whom i t is written in the text below,

‘He was the

despised and forlorn of men.

’

0. MIDRASII KONEN.

The fifth mansion in Paradise is built of onyx and jasper ,and set stones

, and si lver and g old, and fine g old, surroundedby rivers of balsam : before the entrance fl ows the Gihon ; a

pavilion is the re of ‘all trees Offrankincense ’

(Cant . iv . 1 4) ,withsweet odours

,and beds Of g old and silve r, and richly-varieg ated

garments : there dwel l Mess iah son ofDavid, and Elijah, andMe s

s iah son of Ephraim ; there also is the ‘ l itter of the wood ofLebanon ’

(ib. i ii . l ike the tabernacle which Moses made in

the wilderness ; all the furniture thereof and ‘ the p illars thereofof si lve r, the bottom of g old, the seat of purple,

’and within i t

,

Messiah son of David who loveth Je rusalem. Elljah takes himby his head, lays him down in his bosom,

holds him,and says

,

‘Bear thou the suffering s and wounds wherewith the Almightydoth chastise thee for Israe l ’s Sin and SO it is written, He was

woundedfor our transg ressions, bruisedfor our iniquities, untilthe time when the end should come .

p .

¢

ASERETH MEMR OTH .

The Messiah,in order to atone for them both [for Adam and

David] , wil l make his soul a tresp ass-ofiering , as i t is writtennext to this

,in the Parashah B ehold my servant : OWN, i . e . cab

balisticallyt,Menahem son of Ammie l . And what is written

t Lit . by g eometry , thus : h um

SHORT PASSAGES .5

after it ? He sha ll see seed, shall have long day s, and the p leasureof the Lord sha ll prosp er in his hand.

g . SEPHER HA-GILGALIM.

You must know also that the soul of ce lestial Splendour no

created be ing in the world has ever y et been worthy to obtainthe King Messiah , however, wi l l re ce ive it : it is according lysaid Of him

,He shall be high and exalted, etc. , or, as our Rab

bis say ,‘He Shall be hig her than Abraham,

exce eding ly aboveAdam

r . YALQUT B’

UBHENI .

Said the Old R . Hiyy a : W e have found no Shepherd readyto sacrifice himse lf for his flock , except Mose s, who said (Exod.

xxxii. ‘And now,if thou wi lt forg ive the ir Sin— and if no t ,

blot me,I pray thee blot me out whence ? from this world,

and also from that which is to come , in order that the wordsmight be fulfi lled, Because he p oured out his soul to die.

This is the law ofthe tresp ass-ofiering (Lev. vii . The HolyOne spake thus unto Israe l : My sons

,I said unto y ou, I have

no pleasure save in the man in whom is no transg ression ; butmy words I have chang ed : though a man commit a hundredtransg ressions one afte r another

, y e t, i f he turn, and repent ,and humble himse lf to the earth

,and look upon one half Of

himself as gui lty, and the othe r half as innocent, and cons ide rthe ‘

Suspended trespass-offering’ to be continually due from

him,l o

,

‘ I am with him in mercy,

’

and wi ll accept his repentance , and g rant him children of the Law— children dil ig entin the study and performance of it— and the words Of the

Law I wil l put for eve r in his mouth , as i t is written, The Lordwas p leas ed to bruise him Says the Almighty to Israel , Myson, think not of me as of this sand

,which be long s ne ither to

‘1 Above , p . 3 86 .

3 96 SHORT PASSAGES .

the living nor to the dead ; but le t a man humble himself, andthen

, ifhe puts his soul in his hand, and (as i t is said, Lev. vi. 6 ,

bring s a trespass-offering’

) offers atonement for h imse l f, assuredly he Shal l see seed and p rolong his day s, i . e .

— according toone explanation of the words see se ed

’

in this world, and

prol ong his days’

in the world to come .

W ho is it that carried our sicknesses and bare our pains ?

Man himse lf, who first brought death into the world. Now learnwhat is secret from that which is revealed : Because he carriedour s icknesses— for man himsel f by the rotation [of souls V] isAdam,

David, and the Messiah— therefore he suffe red in orderto atone for the sin of our first parent who brought death intothe world.

s . YALQUT HADASH X

The souls of the righteous wander to and fro in the world ;and when they see among st the sons of men those who are

crushed by the suffering s underg one by them for the honourof God, and when they see also those wicked members of theg eneration who are the cause Of the exile be ing prolong ed, theycome and announce it to the Messiah . Forthwith the Messiahproce eds into one of the palaces in Paradise called the Palaceof the children of sickness ; he enters thither and invites all

the pains and suffering s of Israe l to come and rest upon him.

And did he no t in this way l ighten them off Israe l,there

would be no man in the whole world able to bear the penaltiesincurred for transg ression of the Law ; while Israe l were inthe ir own land they freed themselve s from such sicknesse s and

other punishments by means of offering s, but now the Messiahfrees them from them

,as i t is written, He was woundedfor our

transg ressions .

V I. e . in accordance wi th the doctrine of transmigration.

Comp. p . 1 4 .

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3 98 SHORT PASSAGES .

se lves) ; y et i f Jcsus came for the purpose of repairing Adam’

s

sin,then he ought to have repaired i t entirely, and rescued men

from all its consequences— de stroying the enmity of the ser

pent, and the pain of ch ildbearing , the toil nece ssary to‘eat

bread,

’

the g rowth of ‘ thorns and th istles ,’ and all the murderand warfare which fl ow from the serpent

’

s venom. But,in fact,

everyth ing attests that his coming has been a source of ne itheradvantag e nor detriment : how still does the curse pronouncedwhen Cain Slew his brothe r Abe l eve r g row in Severity ! And

as to the words in ver. 1 0, which denote a condition that ifhissoul makes a trespass-offering , he w ill see seed

,

’

e tc.,where are

the sons of Jesus ? bes ides, if he be God, i t is quite clear thatsuch an expression as is here used cannot be appl ied to him.

By his strip es we were hea led y et how many of his discipleswere prostrated by S i ckness ! most of them

,too

,were crucified

,

or in other ways put to death, without the ‘Stripes

’

endured byJ esus making any manner Of ransom for them. The truthis

,that the Parashah re lates throughout to any just man who

is a‘Servant of the Lord

,

’

and who is ready for love Of him tosacrifice his l ife by suffering martyrdom in his service .

Flee , my beloved, unti l the end of the vision shal l speak y ; Ihasten, and the shadows Shal l take the ir fl ight hence : Ihig hand exalted and lofty Shal l be the despised one ; Ihe shal l beprudent in judgment

,and shal l sprinkle many ILay bare thine

arm ! cry out, and say : I‘ The voice of my be loved ; behold

he come th Z l ’

v. BUCH DER VERZEIOHNUNG .

The fifty-third chapter they cal l the g olden chapter, and say

that it refers to the ir Messiah we , on the contrary, can prove

3"

Or, come speedily ; see Hab . 1 1 . 3 . Comp . also Cant . vii i . 1 4 , 1 1 . 1 7.z Comp . Cant. i i . 8. The lines g ive the acrostic, 7m “ nn.

SHORT PASSAGES . 3 99

clearly that it refers to Israe l ; indeed, we see daily eve rythinghappening to them as is here described : besides, chapters fiftytwo and fifty

-four cannot re late to the ir Mess iah . They say

that the ir Messiah is God, whi lst this Parashah beg ins My ser

vant Shall act prudently but a servant cannot be God Moses,again, is called the ‘

servant of God, ’ and Scripture says thatnone arose l ike him.

’ They say , further, that he g ave himse lfup willing ly as a sacrifice for the ir Sins, whereas in St. Jobu

'

s

Gospe l (viii . when they threw stones at him, i t is recordedthat he went out of the way . At the end of the chapte r it iswritten

,He shall see seed and prolong his day s ; but how can

God have seed,

’

and how long was his l ife ? Much more mightbe adduced in order to shew that the Christians cannot g o farw ith thei r arguments ; but I prefer not to waste time by protracting the discuss ion further.

W e are shrunk up in our mise ry even until now ! our rockhath not come nig h to us : Messiah

,our righteousness, hath

turned from us we are in terror, and there is none to justify us !Our iniquities and the yoke Of our transg ressions he will bear,for he wa s woundedfor our transg ressions he will carry our

s ins upon his shoulder,that we may find forg iveness for our

iniquities,and by his s tripes we are hea led. O eternal One

,the

t ime is come to make a new creation from the vault Of heavenbring him up , out of Se ir draw him forth

,that he may make

his voice heard to us in Lebanon,a second time by the hand

ofYinnon a l

5 One of the Rabbinical name s of the Me ssiah ,derived from PS. lxxii . 1 7

comp . above , p . 7 Pusey , Lectures on Daniel, p . 48 1 (ed.

XLVI I I . HERZ HOMBERG .

This prophecy is disconnected with what precedes it. According to the op inion of Rashi and

’

Ibn‘Ezra

,i t re lates to Israe l

at the end of the ir captivity ; the term ‘se rvant ’ and the use

of the S ingular number referring to the individual members Of

the nation. But if so,what can be the meaning of the passag e ,

‘He was wounded for our transg ressions,’

etc. ? Who was

wounded ? ’ who are the ‘ transg ressors ?’

Who ‘ carried ’

the

S ickness and ‘hare ’

the pains ? And where are the sick ? are

they no t the same as those who are‘Smitten ’

and who ‘ bear ? ’

And if ‘each turned to his own way ,

’upon whom did ‘ the

Lord lay the iniquity Of them all ?’

The Ga’on,R . Sa

’

ady ah,

explains the whole Parashah of Jeremiah : and there are indeednumerous parts Of S cripture in which we can trace a g reat resemblance to what befel Je remiah while perse cuted by the falseprophe ts . But. the commencement of the prophecy, He shall behig h and exal ted and lofty exce eding ly,

’

and s imi larly the wordswith the mighty he shal l divide spoil,

’

wil l no t admit of be ingappl ied to him. The fact is

,that it re fers to the King Messiah

,

who will come in the latter ‘

days,when i t wi l l be the Lord’s

g ood pleasure to redeem Israe l from among the different nationsOf the earth. W hen he first manifests himse l f those who see

him wil l marve l at him,asking , W 1 1 0 is this man without form

or come l iness,that durst presume in his heart to bid all the

king s of the earth se t Israe l free ? In one country, people

will revile and despise him,keeping in the distance and hiding

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402 HERZ HOMBERG . [l i i . 1 3

who said that the only difference between the present world and

the days of the Me ssiah was in the submission of the k ingdoms,which would then be consummated.

LII.

‘3 burr, sha ll p rosp er.

“1 13 7322, were astonished : all

the past tenses in this Parashah must be understood as futuresthe prophe t in his vision sees the events as though they werealready accomplished. 13 , rightly — a word serving to corroborate a statement. 1 1 a

,for “HY/D ma/rred or sp oilt.

‘5 mv, according to the Targum,to sca tter ; and so also

Rashi,for in sp rinkling , a man scatters the blood which has

previously be en massed tog e the r into innume rable drops.imp” , wil l shut, as Dent . xv. 7 : in Qamhi

’

s words,

‘ Theirastonishment wi l l be such that they wil l lay the ir hand uponthe i r mouth there is , however, no occasion to suppose this,for when a man is g reatly amazed, his l ips are shut and he is

unable to speak.

LIII .

1 This verse is parenthetical, the prophet remarkingthat the king s will rightly be amazed ; for who that heard our

words could fai l to be l ieve them ! Up on whom was it revealed,

save upon him ? 2DH”

, a smal l and weakly plant which cling sto the earth

,as a sucking child to its mother

’

s breast. inmn,

there wi ll be nothing in his countenance to attract the ey e ofthe beholder. 8 5m,

he will be forlorn of men, because all wil lhold themse lves aloof from him chastened and broken bysevere s icknesses

,as in Judg . v1 u . 1 6 . So R . D.

“mom,

i . e . he w ill be as one despised and rejected, from whom everyone hides his face ; comp . Dent . xxxi . 1 8 . innate/n N51 , for heseemed in our eyes to be worth nothing at all comp . Is . i i . 2 2 .

In accordance with the view which we have stated above , theseare the words of Israe l

,re cognising what was previously hidden

from them, and exclaiming , Now we know that it was for our

s ins that he suffered. the suffix is appended, althoughthe substantive has pre ceded, for emphasis, as Exod. i i. 6 (R.

D . But we at that time e rred in imag ining that hissuffering s were for his own sin.

5 55mm, as 55 11 , PS . cix . 2 2 .

—l i i i . 9] HERZ HOMBERG . 403

iJ‘W/DD,on account of our transg ressions— ID as inman, Josh .

xxii . 2 4 so also irmnpn.

’

Ji amp ,i . e . whatever might remove

or put an end to our peace he took upon himse l f. We went

astray like sheep ,which g o they know not whither . 1) ”a the

root ma, besides its usual and known significations, denotes alsobodily or moral perception produced e ither by contact witha sensible obje ct

,or by a mental representation, or by some

other influence affecting the subject : and so it said, A blockhead is not easi ly touched

,i . c . has no feeling . in) , the p enalty

for iniquity,as Gen. iv. 1 3 .

7 min, was answered w ith words offraud (Rashi) . 8 WW : the ruler who is a prote ctor of his peopleis called new(a sovere ign) ; comp . 1 Sam . ix . 1 7. b een, i . e .

the place in wh ich the judg es sit . nob, was seiz ed, as 1 Sam.

iv. 1 1 : and hence the spoil which soldiers take forcibly fromthe ir captive s is termed mpbn. The meaning is that they w il lse ize him

,and ne ither allow him to be broug ht before the sove

re ign for fear he should have compassion on him and rescue himfrom the ir hands , nor permit him to appear before the judg e slest on trial he Should be acquitted : thus he will be debarredfrom both the sovereign and the judg e . a '

, to declar e, asPS. cxl ii i . 5 : the clause , And his g enera tion,

e tc. , forms a parenthesis

,in which the prophet asks

,W ho would even mention

with his l ips that crue l and wi cked g eneration wh ich wouldinterdict him guiltless and uncondemned from the land of the

living ? The meaning of is not that they w il l actually kil lhim (e lse what can be the signification of ‘ he Shall see seed,

have long days,’

and ‘ therefore I wil l divide him ,

’

e tc. but

that they wil l devise to do so,and wil l decree that he is to have

his g rave with the wi cked God howeve r w il l del iver him, and

not leave him in the ir power : an: thus signifie s was decreed,as Est . 1 1 . 1 .

9

inn: we have already shewn how they ag reedtog ether to condemn him as one accursed ; so that if they suc

ceeded in putting him to death , they would have buried himbeside the wicked. r e p, used as in Job xxvii . 1 9 , ‘The rich

l ieth down, and doth so no more ’

where Job adds (verse

404. 1 1 1c HOHBERO . [l i i i . l o

This is the portion of the wicked man :’

the word appears , then,

to be sometime s used especial ly Of one who has enriched himse lf by robbe ry and violence

,and is here , therefore , paral le l to

the ‘ wicked.

’

vmm : the sense of the whole is, ‘And he

made in his deaths his g rave with the w icked and the rich :’

the plural dea ths is used be cause piercing him, as crue l men

do, through and throug h, they would, so to speak , be putting

him to death again and ag ain. But the Lord,in his own

deep purpose , was p leased to bruise him, as the prophe t proceeds to describe : if, he says

,addre ssing the Almighty, thou

hast de creed to make his soul a tresp ass-ofibring , it is only in

order that he may see seed,and have long day s , the meaning

be ing , that this had be en done for the purpose of convincingthe king s of the Gentiles that he was to be the messeng er ofGod

, sent to gather tog ether the outcasts of Israe l . The

travai l of his soul he wi l l see,i. e . fee l, even to satiety ; comp .

Job vii . 4 , ‘ I amfull of tossing s to and fro neverthe less, inhis knowledg e or refle ction he will jus tify the judgment determined against him by the Almighty ; for my servant will be

jus tfor many , i . e . there are some men who are perfe ctly righte ous , and fre e from every taint of transg ression,

and who follow the ir Maker’s w ill , but who at the same time are righteousonly for themse lves

,and will not sacrifice the ir own l ive s for

the sake of others my servant,howeve r

,wil l be righteous for

many ,

‘adventuring his soul free ly ’ for the g eneral g ood, and

not Sparing his own l ife if others might be benefited throughhis death, but enduring the burden of the ir sins in orde r tore lease them from punishment. 1 2 Therefore, be cause he thussacrificed himse lf for the g eneral advantag e , the lot and g oodfortune of the many wi l l be his portion, and the reward for hissuffe ring s. 552) does not here signify the spoil of war, fornothing is said of any battle to be wag ed by him,

but abun

dance and p lenty Of g ood th ing s, as in Prov. xxxi . 1 1 : the

meaning being that l ike one of the mighty among the king sof the earth

,he w ill l ive in affluence and plenty. mun,

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XLIX . R . YAQOB YOSEPH MORD’

KHAI

HAYYIM PASSANI .

I am much surprised at those commentators who have ap

pl ied themse lves to inve stig ate the meaning of this Parashah .

One,for example , maintains that it was the intention of the

prophet to allude to Moses ; another,that he referred to the

Israe litish people ; a third appl ies it to k ing Josiah ; a fourthdwe lls much upon the King Messiah

,and so bring s the

Midrash into the text : for ourse lves, howeve r, we know withcertainty that Scripture never bears any other than the simpleand l iteral meaning ; a different supposit ion wil l not enable us

to ‘ reply to Epicurus a .

’ Moreover,not one of the explanations

mentioned is in complete accordance with the languag e of thet ext

,or succeeds in satisfying us, still less does the opinion of

the disbe l ieve rs who make these verses the foundation of the irfaith . Thus the words ‘ had no form or come l iness ’ cannotpossibly be interpreted of Moses, for every one is we l l awarethat Moses had a fine form and the streng th of a lion. And

i f (as is indeed the case) the words, ‘For the transg ress ion ofmy people were they smitten

,

’

al lude to Israe l,then the person

de scribed as suffe ring for the nation cannot be the nation itse lf.And Josiah

,because the measure of the iniquities of his g ene

ration was then fi lled up , in spite of all the integ rity of hisheart, was still never vouchsafed such a signal favour as that

a Se e p . 1 1 4 .

1 1 1 . 1 3 R . YAQOB YOSEPH MORD’

KHAI HAYYIM PASSANI . 407

‘k ing s should close the ir months at him,

’

e tc nor could i t besaid of him that he would ‘ have long days, for he perishedpremature ly in the prime of manhood. And as regards theexplanation which re fers it to the Messiah , we may say , Takeheed

, O wise men,in your words

,even though the languag e he

meant to be metaphorical and indire ct. I have therefore beenled to the conviction that the Parashah may after all be refe rredinte llig ibly and naturally to He zekiah . For although , l ike all

othe r prophecies, most of Isaiah’

s also point to the latter days ,when the Mess iah wi l l have appeared, stil l there are particularones which have refe rence to that just monarch, and to the fal lof Sanherib, whi ch took place in his days and through hismerits b .

LII.

1 3Behold my servant shall prosp er, as it is said, 2 Chron.

xxxi i . 3 0 , ‘And He zekiah p rosp ered in all his works he is

rig htly also called God’

s‘servant

,

’ for he not only turned himse lf

,but also brought back Judah , and a g reat part of Israe l

as we ll , to the service of God— an achievement wh ich none ofhis ancestors, in sp ite of all the i r exce llent intentions, eve r contemplated. For he put away the high places , and sent lettersinto every tribe of Israe l

,saying , Turn y e to the Lord God of

Abraham,

’

etc. (ib. xxx . and restored the crown to its formerstate

,entreating the favour of his princes and ministers

,almost

prostrating himse lf be fore them,while he said, ‘Hear me

, y e

Levites, now sanctify yourse lves,and sanctify the house of the

Lord God of your fathers , and carry out the impurity from the

holy place ,’

e tc. (ib. xxix . 5 f.) He sha ll be hig h and exa lted,

and lofty exceeding ly ; for so it is said (xxxn .

‘And manybrought g ifts to the Lord, and presents unto Hezekiah kingof Judah , and he was exalted in the eye s of all the nations .

’

1 ‘ The dang erous i llness which attacked him made ‘the streng th

of his face to chang e and‘the fatness of his flesh g rew lean,

’

as he drew near to the ‘

gates of death .

’ 1 5 Many king s and

b Compare Sa'adyah Ibn Danan, p . 204 .

408 a . moon rossrn MORD’

KIIAI HAYYIM PASSANI . [l i i i . 1

princes were amazed exceeding ly at the miracle wrought forhim

, for not with sword or spear did the Lord save his a nointedfrom the hand of Sanherib : but g reater far was the miraclewhich displayed itse lf in the world when the orb of the sun

turned backward before the eyes of all, and when MerodachBaladan sent ambassadors to him to enquire about the portentwhich had occurred in the earth ; th is is what is meant by thewords, What had not been told them they have seen ; for theyperce ived clearly that so highly favoured was he in the eye sof the Lord

,that the order of creation was altered for his

benefit.LIII .

‘Who believe th our rep ort ? so , fe igning surprise , asks '

the prophet of his p ious contemporaries ; for g ood He zekiahwas a descendant of the wicked Ahaz , and upon him was the

arm of the Lord revealed in the destruction of Sanherib.

ZAt

the period when all were immersed in idolatrous worships ,Hezekiah came we as a sucker or root, out of the dry and wearyearth

,in which was no relig ion or fear of God.

3 As, from hisbirth upwards, Hezek iah rej ected the de eds of his fathers, andthe shameful customs of his ag e , the people abominated him,

and held aloof from him,and hence he was desp ised andforlorn

of men,his father in particular hating him even to the day of

his death, for he ‘made him pass through the fire to Moloch’

(2 King s xvi . 3 , and Sanhedrin,fol . though he was de l i

vered miraculously by GodC. Still,however, the few righteous

who were to be found at that time felt a long ing and desire forhim

,saying , 0 that the ‘

rod’

we re ‘ come out of the stump ofYishai

,and the spirit of knowledg e and of the fear of the

Lord were resting upon him !’and th is is the meaning of the

words, He had no beauty , y et we desired him .

4 W hen, afterhis father’s death

,he ascended the throne

,his servants were

so much dissatisfied that,with Shebna at the ir head, they re

be lled against him ,and sought to submit themse lves to the

0 Compare above , p . 20 8 .

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4 1 0 R . m oon YOSEPH MORD’

KHAI HAYYIM PASSANI . [l i i i . 9

g rant him a long er life in order that he might be enabled toserve him ; e lse he would have been taken from sovereignty

and judgment in the prime of l ife and when his re ign had butlately commenced : now,

i f his death had occurred immediate lyafter the death of Ahaz , be fore he had had time to restore thefaith of his people to its pristine integ rity, who would havetold of his g enera tion ? i t would have been rather a g eneration‘ departing in darkness ’

unti l it was all consumed withouthaving seen the mighty acts of the L ord, wrought by him on

behal f of this righteous king ; 9nor would he have left any

memorial of himse lf afte r him,but would have been bur ied

with his wicked father— as the text state s,And he made his

g rave with the wicked, implying that it was so determinedin spi te of the innocency of his hands, and the fact that hehad done no violence. But i t was the Lord’s pleasure mere lyto bruise him

,and to put the guilt of his g eneration on his soul

according ly, after his prayer, when God had heard his suppl ication and seen his tears, the promise is g iven,

He sha ll see

s eed,sha ll prolong his day s ; thus the Almighty added to his l ife

fifteen years,and let him ‘

see seed,

’ for previously he had hadno children.

1 2Therefore I will divide him a portion with many ,

viz . the spoi l of Sanherib, because he bare the iniquitie s of theag e , and was counted as a transg ressor, and above all intercededfor the remnant that were stil l left (who wereas i t is said (2 King s xix .

‘And He zekiah prayed before theLord

,

’

e tc. and (2 Chron. xxxii . ‘And He zekiah the kingprayed,

’

e tc. : this,then

,is the meaning of interceded for the

transg ressors , in order, viz . that the city might not fall into thehands of the king of Assyria. And so

,when all Judah and

Jerusalem and the remnant of Israe l returned to the serviceof the Lord

,and the sanctuary was restored to its orig inal

purity, and the priests to the ir ministrations, and the Levite sto the ir pulpits d (all which Ahaz had neg lected), and when

d W hence they ble ssed the people .

- l i i i . n. YAQOB YOSEPH MORD’KHAI HAYYIM PASSANI . 4 1 1

they behe ld the miracles , then all his servants began to love and

honour him ; and when he died,he did no t

‘make his g ravew i th the wicked,’ as had been de termined, and as nearly tookp lace , but he ended his life honourably and ‘was buried in the

ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David ’

(2 Chron.

xxxu.

Such is the inte rpretation which I have been able to g iveof these verses. And i f my view is not in accordance with themind of the prophet, I pray the Almighty to g rant me a rewardfor what I have done ! May the Lord lighten mine eyes inhis law ! and may the purpose of mine heart be we ll-pleasingto him

L . SH ’MUEL DAVID LUZZATTO .

Behol d my servant. From this point to the end of chapterl ii i . is a sing le prophe cy, delineating the servant of the Lord,fi rst as crushed beneath every description of suffering , and thenas ris ing up in prosperity and g reat g lory. W e have alreadyseen e lsewhere in these prophecies how the ‘

servant of the Lord ’

is a designation for Israe l : as, then, the prophe t says thereexpressly ‘ Israe l my servant, ’ and ‘ Jacob my se rvant ’ (xli . 8 ,9 , xl iv. I

,2,2 1 , xlv . so here it is plain that he is referring

l ikewise to Israe l , and de scribing first the ir depre ss ion whilst inexile

,and afte rwards the ir g reatne ss in the time of de live rance .

In the same way the Parashah has be en interpreted by Rashi ,R . Abraham ’

Ibn‘Ezra

,R . Yoseph Qamhi (in the Sepher ha

g dluy R. Mosheh ben Nahman, R . David Qamhi, DonYizhaqAbarbane l (in his first explanation) ; and among st Christians , byDoderle in

,and

,following him,

by Carl Georg Schuster, Eckermann

,Eichhorn

,Te lg e , and Rosenmiiller . And that already in the

days of the Tanna ’

im b th is interpretation was adopted by theJews

,is attested by Orig en 0

. The Christ ians,howeve r

, explainit in the ir usual manne r but they have been already answeredby

’

Ibnc

Ez ra , Abarbanel, R osennn‘

iller,and Gesenius . Rosen

mijller in his young er days, and after him Gesenius,referred the

a Se e above , p . 49 : and compare also what is stated in the Preface .

b L e . the doctors of the ‘Mishna,

’ oppo sed to the ‘N‘

HO N, or Amoraim,

who hved after the redact ion o f the Mishna, and embodied the tradi t ionalt eaching of the Tanna 1 m in t he Gemara .

’

Ccls . i . 5 5 the Jew with whom Orig en once disputed maintained m firaA ( I A 1 u n n

weapoqnyr evo dai d) : wept Evds 7 00 v v Aaov, Ka t y evoy evov ( V T y biao fl opa,

it al nArn e'

vro s , wa fl oAAoi flpom'

yh v‘

ro r y e'

vaw'

ra t , x. T . A.

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4 1 4 sn’

MUEL DAVID LUZZAT'I‘

O. [l i i . 1 5

nations . Sc marred and altered was his countenance bey ondmen

,e tc.,

is parenthetical (Rosenmuller, Gesenius) the prophet ,it may be observed, commences in the second person, but havingin the parenthesis employed the third (‘ his countenance ,

’ ‘ his

he cont inues to mak e use of it, saying , ‘ So shal l hestartle

,

’

etc.” Um-f) : he should have written 11 0b in wh ich

case it would have been the participle , as Mal. i. I 4 the Hireq

and Pa thak are,however

,extreme ly difficul t to account for.

My pupi l Rabbi M . Ehrenre i ch,the Levite , says that the

punctuators pointed the word so for the reason which I haveexplained above (xlix . to indicate , viz . that they did not

connect the word with the meaning ‘marred,’

but with that ofanointed, as Lev. xxi . 1 2 and this view is corre ct. To Israel

,

however, in the ir present exile the expression is stil l eminentlyappl icable ; for the ir countenances are chang ed so as to be un

l ike other men’

s,— indeed, all who see them recognise them

immediately, afflictions and subje ction and ‘ terror on everys ide ’

be ing stamped visibly on our faces . But this could not

be said of the prophe ts for although at times the prophets hadthe ir enemies, y e t they never stood in such av

'

ve of them as forthe ir ‘ form ’ to be chang ed ; if they had been faint-hearted, theywould simply have ceased to prophesy altog ether. 1 5 As formerlyin his depression many were astonished at him

,so now in his

exaltation he will occasion in many nations the g reate st wonder .m‘

,from the root ms, the fundamental meaning ofwhich, in both

Arabi c and Hebrew,is to leap ,

as in lxii i . 3 , Lev. vi. 20,2 King s

ix . 3 3 , all passag es describing the ‘ leaping’ or ‘

Spurting’ of

blood from one place to another ; according ly, in Hif’

il it signifies to make to leap or spurt ; similarly, in German we havesp ring en ,

to leap , and sp reng en ,to sprinkle . Here the meaning

is that he wi ll cause such g reat astonishment among the nationsthat in the ir amazement they will start from the ir p lace , as

men do when they see something entire ly unexpected. S incenow he has thus alluded to the idea of ‘ leaping ,

’

the prophe tproceeds, At him king s 1¥DP

’- a word which,in Cant. ii . 8

,is

—l i i i . x.] sn’

MUEL DAVID Luz zx'

rro . 4 1 5

paralle l to 1 51 73 , ‘ leaping ,’ though he re , by the addition of own,

he g ives i t a different meaning , viz . that of closing the mouth as

a s ign of terror and confusion, as MIC. vu . 1 6,Nations shall see

and be confounded at all the ir might , they shall lay the ir handupon the i r mouth ,

’

Job xxix . 9 , v. 1 6 , Ps . cvi i . 4 2 . Schr'

dder,

Rosenmiiller,and Gesenius explain an as signifying ‘ fi l l with

joy, ’ like exsultare,which is derived from sa ltare : this sense

,

however, does not suit we l l in this place , nor can it be appropriately conne cted w ith ‘As many were astonished

,

’

which precedes, or with ‘At him king s shall close the i r mouth

,

’

whichimmediate ly follows it . J e rome and others have interpretedwill a tone for many nations ,

’ from the notion of the sprinklingof blood but this view has be en already repl ied to by Schr

'

dder,

who points out ( I ) that mmis never used without mention ofthe obj ect sprinkled, whe the r it be blood, or water, or o il :(2 ) that the phrase is not W‘N mm, but W t: 517 mm or was SN[not

‘ to sprink le a man,

’

but ‘ to sprinkle up on a man for mmsignifies properly to make to leap or spurt ; (3 ) that such a sense

would be out of connexion w ith ‘As many were astonished.

’

For tha t which had not been told them they have seen, viz . wordsthe like of which had neve r be en de clared to them. The ren

der ing ‘shal l startle many nations ’

ag rees admirably w ith thesupposition that Israe l is here referred to ag ainst the idea thatthe prophets are meant is the fact that the ir enemies and revilerswe re no t the Gentiles, but Israe l themse lves , and that the prophets had no controversy w ith the Gentiles , but only w ith thechildren of the ir own people i f then the prophets are intended,what obj ect could there have been in mentioning the Gentiles ?LII I . After the words For wha t was not told them,

e tc., the

prophe t repre sents the nations as replying : If we had spreadthe news of this g reat event happening , who would have believedour report

—so strang e and preternatural was the announcement :And the arm of the Lord, for whom is it revea led f— spokencontemptuously.

‘Whom did the Lord choose , to manifest hispower on his behalf 2 he ought, forsooth , to have revealed it to

4 1 6 SH’MUEL DAV ID LUZZATTO . [l i i i . 2

aid those who were in the possession of dignity and dominion ;but he has done otherwise , he has chosen to himse l f “ a peopledespised and spo iled,

” humbled and contemned : who could havebe l ieved th is (Abarbane l .) ample r/“7 : many explain,

‘the re

port which we rece ived, ’ understanding the announcement ofthe prophe t at the end of the chapter : but Isaiah rather conce ive s the nations as actually se e ing what is described, not as

mere ly hearing it from the mouth of the prophe t . Gesenius

supposes Isaiah to be speaking in behal f of himself and the

prophets his companions, and asking who be lieved the an

nouncements which they had made re specting Israe l’

s futureredemption.

2 The servant of the Lord came up and budded

in exile before him and by his he lp , like a sucker or shoot issuingforth from a tree

,or like a roo t notwithstanding that it was

planted in the dry earth exactly as no one can imag ine a plantflourishing in a dry and uncultivated soil , so it was impossibleto picture the servant of the Lord as spring ing up and g rowinghigh . The meaning of the whole verse is that ‘ he came up

be fore him out of the dry earth like a sucker or root . ’ “

lxn x5ins

-m“

rm KS1 1 5 9 : so these words must be j oined, the sense

be ing that his form had no beauty calculated to attract our

gaze , nor did we care even to look upon it ; nor,again, had

he any beauty that we might desire him (R . Me’ ir Chernik

,

R osenmiiller,Gesenius, and the Greek translator Symmachus ) .

But the punctuators, as the ir custom is,devised a contrivance

for the purpose of averting dishonour from Israe l, and accentu

ated in such a manner that the meaning might be although hehad no beauty

, y e t we looked at him and desired him.

’The

sense was also altered by Yonathan in the Targum : his rendering is,

‘Hi s form no profane form,and the terror of him not

that of any ordinary man ; his complexion a holy complexion,

so that all that saw him g azed at him.

’

The words ‘ he had no

form,

’

e tc.

, refer to the servant of the Lord, not to the sucker or

0 L e .

‘ he had no form or come liness that we mig ht look upon him.

’

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4 1 8 sn’

MUEL DAVID LUZZATTO . [l i ii. 5

words [‘stricken, smitten

,

’ ‘affl icted nan is beyond ques

tion in sta t. cons tr., and must be pointed with z ere (asin the editions of Brescia and of 5 278 A .H 1 5 1 8 A . D .)some cop ies , however, it is pointed with seg ol, but this is onlyan e rror : in the g reat Bible of the year 5 2 8 5 A . M.

it is with z e re, and the llIasGra on the word says distinctly

‘ Twice w ith games , once written with y od, mar-i5m :rm”3 73 ,

i . e . nan occurs on two occasions with gamez gatonupon one of which (Jer. xviii . 2 1 ) i t is spe lt with y od. In the

other g reat B ibles publ ished at Venice , although the MasGra is

printed at the side,it is neve rthe less pointed with seg ol. 5 55m ,

p ierced, as Ii. 9 (’

Ibn‘Ezra

,Rosenmuller

,Gesenius) , though

there it is the active participle , while here it is the passiveone . p ipe/en, on account of our transg ressions,

’

as Lam. iv . I 3 .

scan, the suffering s bring ing peace which ought to have beenours came upon him : poss ibly, however, the prophet intended

‘our veng eance,

’

as xxxiv. 5 ,‘ the year of veng eance ,

’

Hos. ix. 7, Mic. vii. 3 , for which the punctuators have substi

tuted 1 373 1527,‘our peace .

’

imnnni : this ought to have beenpointed mfi nl l but the punctuators have again contrivedotherwise , deriving the word from man, as was already doneby Yonathan, who renders, ‘And for that he was wholly devoted to his words our sins were forg iven us

,

’— the wordman:

be ing formed from the root m ,which denotes the union of

hearts tog ether for the purpose of repentance , as in I Sam. V 1 1 . 2 ,

where the Targum has, ‘And all the house of Israe l were gatheredtog ether after the worship of the Lord and Jer. i i i . I 7, whereup: is rendered similarly . In the clause in question,

the pro

phet keeps up the metaphor by emp loying two corre lativeterms ; in plain languag e , the meaning is that by what he en

dured we are in prosperity. Such a conception as th is, however

,is not real ly to be justified ; as Qamhi objects, one nation

cannot suffer for the sins of another ; it is only by a rhetoricalfigure that the prophet puts the words into the Gentiles

’

mouth ,in order to indicate how completely they wi ll recognise that

—l i i i . SH’

MUEL DAVID LUZZATTO . 4 1 9

Israe l are the innocent and they the gui lty. It is further clearthat all this cannot re late to the Babylonian exi le ; for at thattime how many nations were in subj ection to Babylon exactlyas Israe l was ! and we do not find that the condition of Israe lwas worse than that of the rest. It is

,howeve r , eminently true

of the present exile,during which from one g eneration to an

other Israe l continues ‘a people desp ised and spoiled,

’

a peopletreated as no o ther nation has ever been treated.

6 All we went

a stray like sheep ,whose manne r is to wander hither and thither ;

we turned each to his own way , we each followed after the stubbornness of his own heart— the al lusion is to the i r corruptdeeds

,not to the ir false be l iefs —but the Lord made to light

up on him the penalty owing by us all. He re I must mentionanother explanation of these three verses (4— 6) which I found ina manuscript commentary on the book Guzari , now in my pos

session ; the writer cites i t in the name of his master in his

book , A testimony for I srael,l ikewise a commentary upon

the Guzari . According to this V iew ,the prophet means to

declare that our exi le is in no way owing to our transg re ssionsand folly, or to the absence of all knowledg e of the Law : hencei t is that he says at the beg inning , Behold my servant shallprosper but in consequence of the s ins and wickedness of thatg ene ration, viz . the g eneration in which Isaiah himse lf l ived,as he expresses it afterwards, Israe l was woundedfor our trans

g ressions 1 e . our condition was one of prosperity, and his one

of suffering , and his stripes and strokes were our heal ing : forhe bare what should have been borne by us, and so l ittle wasour happiness a result of our own integ rity that ‘

we all wentastray like sheep ,

’

e tc. And some support may be found forthis view

,if we consider that in point of fact it was sole ly the

sin of Manasseh and of his ag e which was the first occasion ofIsrae l ’s captivity.

7

perfe ct Nif’

al, from to oppress orexact, Deut . xv. 2 . min: the commentators explain,affli cted but in this way a difficulty was fe lt from the wordmm,

which at last led Martini (with whom Rosenmuller ag reed)

420 SH’

MUEL DAVID LUZZA'

I‘

TO . [lii i . 8 .

to correct , and read mini Rmwas f. G esenius understood thewords to mean that ‘they oppressed him a lthoug h he was alreadyaffl icted.

’

But the right course is , with Cocceius, to take myin the sense of humbling , which it bears in Exod. x . 3 : the pro

phet says that they oppressed him, y et he was not utterly castdown

,but endured humbly and submissive ly

,and op ened not

his mouth ; so in the languag e of the Talmud 1 5 ” 11 ’a (B’

rd

khoth,fol . 1 . e .

‘ I submit myse lf to thee,

’

and similarlyK‘fthubhoth

,67h,Yoma

,2 2b— it is surprising that Rashi (on

the passag e in B’

rdkhoth) can explain, ‘ I have spoken more thanwas needed.

’

And as a lamb,e tc. : the comparison to a lamb

bears refe rence to the extort ion of money (which is representedby the flee ce) : and WJJ is used of exaction in 2 King s xxiii . 3 5 ,Dent . xv . 2 . The clause and op ened not his mouth at the end

of the verse be long s to the figure of the sheep, as though to saythat his no t opening his mouth was the conclusion of the whole .

All this de scription tallies perfectly with the condition of Israe lin exi le ; but , as

’

Ibn‘Ezra observes

,by no means with that

of the prophets (as Gesenius thought), for if these had neverOpened the ir mouth with courag e and might, they would not

have been prophets at all, and if they had desisted from pro

phesying no one would have hated them. Gesenius al leg es incorroboration of his opinion the words of Jeremiah (xi . ‘ I

.

am as a lamb led to the slaughter,’ omitting to notice

'

that

Je remiah compares himself to a lamb, not because of hispatience , but because they laid wait for him without his knowledg e , as in fact he immediate ly says

,

‘And I knew not thatagainst me had they formed devices besides

,how could it be

thought that Jeremiah was patient like a sheep when in the

very next verse he exclaims, ‘ Let me see thy veng eance ofthem 1 ’ 8 '

1 1 awn : Rashi, ’

Ibn’

Ez ra,and Qamhi explain these

words to mean that he was rescued from his afflictions ; butthis wi ll not ag ree with the context : Abarbanel, that he was

Compare above , p. 76.

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422 SH ’MUEL DAV lD LUZZATTO [l i i i . 9

translat ion, the clause is rendered as though it read ‘stricken

unto death ’

(71 1 73 5 for which has be en adopted by Houbigant,

Cape llns, Michae l is, Kennicott , Lowth , Koppe ; but how couldi t be said that he was stricken unto death ’

(which would imply that he was not dead before), when the prophet had bothspoken of him already as

‘cut off from the land of life ,’ and

immediately proceeds, And he made his g rave with the wicked ?9 And he made, e tc.

,i . e . he was buried l ike the w icked ing lori

ously . 1 711 1 73 3 : since 71 37; is incapable of a plural (except indeedin D‘s‘w 1 11 173 , Ezek . xxvi ii . I O

,where

,however

,it is not

really a plural from 11 1 73 , for the prophet is address ing an individual , and how can a s ing le individual die more than once i tseems to me best, with ’

Ibn’Ezra and afterhim Lowth , Mart ini ,

Lockemacher, and Gesenius (in his second edition) , to derivethis from manin the sense of an ornamental building constructedove r a g rave . As to new, the majority of commentators treati t as equivalent to wicked, but there is no reason why the

wicked ’

should here be designated as the rich,nor is there

any undoubted instance of this signification in the rest of Scripture . The meaning , the re fore , appears to me to be , that Israe lwas buried with the w icked

,but be ing in fact righte ous, he

ought leg itimate ly to have a mausoleum built ove r his tomb as

a memorial of his g oodness , like those e re cted for the wealthy‘ his mounds meaning the mounds which ought to have beenhis ,

’ l ike ‘ou/r sicknesses

,our pains,

’

above . map can N5 517,not because of violence that he had done— for he did none whate ver : the construction in Job xvi . 1 7 is s imilar .

1 O I ag reewith Gussetius in holding mm to mean his bruised one

,one

who had been bruised by him ,and that i t ought properly to be

pointed but that the shwa’

appears instead of the gameg,

as in 1mm,Num . xvii i . 2 9 , 1 11 1 3, 2 Sam. xiv. 1 3 .

N? “oroccurs as an adje ctive

,Prov . xxvi . 2 2 ; and according ly I ex

plain he re , B ut the Lord was p leased that his bruised one whom

he had put to sickness,if his soul should make a tre spass

offe ring , should see seed,e tc.

,the whole be ing a continuation of

- l i i i . SH’

MUEL DAVID LUZZATTO . 423

the Gentiles’ words in the future . is the pe rfe ct Hif‘

il

from nSn; it ought regularly to be nhnn, but as we also see

in mmSnn (Dent . xxix . 2 1,

it is here conjug ated after theanal og y of N

” 5 verbs : the form is moreover an Aramai c onebe ing Aramaic for the Hebrew n7 5a mm, in the languag e

of the Talmud, is similar. '

J1 own ON, i . e . if his soul resig nsi tse lf to death , as though it were a trespass-offering : navn sig

nifies ‘maketh itself,’

as in Judg . ix . 2 3 , where O1wk is ‘ that itmight p lace itself upon Abime lech

,

’

e tc. ; and ag ain, I Sam .

xv. 2 the meaning being , that he would endure his afflictionsas a means of atoning for his iniquities, and by so doing admitthe justice of God’

s sentence against him. After this , thoughhe was still in exile

,the Lordwas pleased that he should see

s eed, and p rolong his day s, not perishing in any way until at

leng th the p leasure of the Lord should p rosp er in his hand— his

p leasure be ing , that the nations should be conve rted to theknowledg e of his unity and to his worship for this wi l l be theconsequence of the signs and wonders wh ich he wil l performfor Israe l in the ir future redemption. Here end the words ofthe Gentiles

,and t he ir confess ion that Israe l’s suffe ring s wh ilst

in exile were not in accordance with justice ; that , in fact, i twas they themse lve s who had rather been deserving of punishment

,and that through Israe l

’

s meri ts in acquie scing in the i raffl ictions as just, God had pre served them and perpe tuatedthe ir existence until the time of the ir de l ive rance should arrive

,

which would be for the benefit of thewholeworld. Rosenmuller andthe commentators explain new as equivalent to 1N3 '

IS to bruiseit is singular, however, that God should be described as

‘ be ing p leased’

in the affl ict ion of his righteous se rvant : theprophe t ought rather to have written

,

‘Yet the Lord com

manded to bruise him,

’ for ran does not e xpress merely ‘wi ll

,

’

but is used of what a man wills with satisfaction or de light , asin Ezek . xviii . 2 3 , Do I take pleasure in, or de s ire , the deathof the wicked ? ’ Moreover

,the conjunction is absent before

“5 11 71 , though, according to th is op inion, the sense must be,

‘was

424 S l l’

ML’

EL DAVI D [l i i i . l o

pleased to bruise him,and put him to si ckness .

’

G esenius

t ook 1 10 1 as a substantive , the Dag esh be ing euphonic , sig nifying

‘ his bruising ,’ rendering ‘ But the Lord desired and made

g rievous his bruising , or afll ictionf— nSrm, to make s ick org rievous, as Mic . vi . 1 3 , Jer. xiv . 1 7 : the conjunction, howeve r,is still wanting , and the statement that the Almighty has

pleasure in the suffering s of the just still remains. Upon myexplanation the re lative is omitted after ran, as in Isaiah xln . 2 I

,

‘ It pleased the Lord that he should magnify the law ;’ it is

l ik ewise omitted after ‘ his bruised one whom he put tosi ckness

,

’

as in Is. li . 1 2 , ‘ from man that dieth ,’ and frequently.

The OWN (‘ trespass-offering

’

) is understood by Rosenmullerand Gesenius (who appeal to verse 4) to allude to the atonement made by him for the nations : this however cannot be ;for although they say there ‘he carried our sicknesses

,

’

becausethe calamities which ought to have come upon them came uponIsrae l , y e t how could they say that Israe l gave himself to makeatonement for them ? for the I srae lites in suffering have sure lyno such intention as this , nor is it at all w ith in the ir cogni zancethat their affl ictions wi l l be for the advantag e of other nations .

The re is another reason also why this view must be false : wefind the ‘ trespass-offering

’

spoken of as an atonement for theindividual pre senting it , never for other people : indeed, thefundamental idea denoted by the root is that of rep entance , buthow could Reuben ‘ repent

’ for the sins of Simeon ? atonementfor other persons is described as a

‘ ransom ’ or ‘ redemption,’

but neve r as a‘ trespass -offering .

’

He shall see seed,e tc. ; by

Rosenmuller,Gesenius

,and the commentators g eneral ly, this is

referred to the period following the Deliverance : but it is uml ike ly that the Del iverance should be indicated by terms not

one of whi ch transcends the l imits of ordinary physical pheh omena. My explanation connects the words with the periodo f exile . The Septuagint and Yonathan

,from the Aramai c

sense of the 1‘

00t becomes in the Targum —render1 am,

‘to purify him and it would seem that this was also the

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4 26 SH’

MUEL DAVID LUZZATTO . [l i ii . u

and Gesenius, He shal l be satisfied with that which he shal lsee . By his knowledg e , i . e . his wisdom and righteousne ss and

fear of the Lord as in Mal . i i . 7, ‘The l ips of the priest keepknowledg e,

’

Job xxxvi . 1 2,Prov. xxn . 1 2

,

‘The eye s of the Lordpreserve knowledg e ,

’ i . e . they pre serve the man of knowledg e ,the ‘ just man which feareth the Lord Hos. iv . 6 ,

‘Because thouhast reje cted knowledg e ,

’

etc In all these passag es, by ‘ knowledg e is denoted a rig hteous and rel ig ions spirit, for knowledg eis equivalent to wisdom,

and wisdom is g eneral ly in Holy W ritsynonymous with a cultivation of the ways of righteousnessand the fear of God ; for ‘

the beg inning of wisdom is the fearof the Lord, ’ and ‘ the fear of the Lord is the beg inning ofknowledg e .

’ W ith these words,By his knowledg e, a new sen

tence commence s : the preceding words, Away from the travail,

e tc.,were mere ly the counterpart to what the Gentiles had

Spoken previously, He shall see seed,etc. Here

,then

,the pro

phet beg ins to re count the praise s of Israe l in the days of the irexile

,declaring how my servant Israe l

,by the divine knowledg e

that was then in him, justified the Just One , i . e . acknowledg ed

the justice of God’s sentence upon him,confessing ‘

the Lord'

is

rig hteous, for I have rebe lled against his commandment.’ Myservant unto many justified the Just One

,for such was his

wont,at the time when he was a servant unto many

,be ing sub

jected to rulers and dig nitaries ; and bare their iniquities , i . e .

bare all the acts of wickedness which they committed againsthim. The commentators refer the verse to the period subse

quent to the De liverance but this cannot be on account of thephrase ‘bare the i r iniquities, ’ which can only apply to the timeof exi le . Rosenmuller, Martini , Hensler, and others explain,

He that bare the ir iniquities in his exile wil l justify many afterhis de l iverance (so likewise Abarbanel), in spite of the fact thatthey ill—used him and he endured the ir wickedness during thee xile : indeed

,this view is altog e ther ve ry far-fetched. Gesenius

supposed the words to mean, that even after the De liverance hewould bear the ir iniquities , viz . by restoring them to pros

- l i i i . SII’

MUEI. DAVID LUZZATTO . 427

perity but this is more improbable still . Rashi understandsthem to refer to the exile , suppos ing that he justified many ’

when he judg ed truthfully all who came to be tried be fore him.

’

Ibn‘Ezra

, Qamhi, Abarbanel , Rosenmul le r, and Gesenius ren

der,

‘TlIe just one , my servant , w i l l justify— or make righte ous— many, ’ by bring ing them,

viz .,to the service of God ; but

in this case there is a difficulty from the bin and alsofrom the collocation ”1 3 17 Ph i. Lastly

,R. Me

’ir Chernik and

the learned R. J . S . Regg io, while refe rring the clause tothe time of exile , explain thus : My servant shal l have his fi llof travai l and sorrow during exile ; but by his knowledg e hewi ll justify himse lf in his heart, i . e . he wi ll fe e l himse lf to hejust, and on this account he w ill hear the ir iniquitie s : but inthis exposition the languag e of the text is not expre ssed withsufficient accuracy.

1 2 Therefore I will do this to him after hisredemption : I will divide him a port ion with the great, I willmake his portion equal to that enj oyed by the rule rs and noblesto whom previously he was in subjection (De W e tte and G e

senius) ; and with (Gesenius), i . e . l ike,the mighty (as above ,

‘with i . e . like the wicked,

’ verse 9) he shall divide sp oil, forhe w il l be g reat and honourable in the eyes of the nations , andthey wil l honour him w ith presents and tribute and should any

nation refuse to do so , and attempt to harm him,then he wi l l

fight against that nation and take its spoil . The prophet saysboth , ‘ I wi l l divide ’

and he shal l divide ,’ us ing the same wordwith a double meaning as an e legancy of style .

’

Ibn‘Ezra

,

Qamhi, Abarbane l, and Rosenmuller explain,I w i ll divide him

a portion of many nations,and m ighty nations he shall divide

as spoil but this doe s no t e xpress it clearly. R . Me’ ir Ober

nik and R . J . S . Reg g io render, ‘ I wil l divide him a port ionamong st many, ’ i . e . I w ill g ive him his reward openly beforethe eyes of the whole world : though 01 3

-1 3 , however, might bear

such a sense in the languag e of the Talmud, it could not in

Biblical Hebrew : ven the 13 1 73 1 3 17 following is a proof thatD73 1 must signify g reat or mig hty . mun, la id bare (as Lev.

428 SH’MUEL DAVID LUZZATTO . [l i i i . 1 2 .

xx . according to an anonymous commentator cited by’

Ibnc

Ez ra,the meaning be ing that he did no t withhold his soul from

death,did no t seek to rescue his life at the cost of chang ing his

re lig ion. All other expositors interpret p oured out,as Gen.

xxiv . 20 , Ps . cxl i . 8 this however se ems to me improbable , forIsrae l neve r ‘

poured out’

his soul . And was numbered with

the transg ressors , submitted to the indignity of be ing called one ,

because of his adherence to the faith of his fathers. This ex

pression forms a strong argument against those who assert theservant of the Lord ’ to be e ither an individual prophet or theprophets colle ctive ly ; for the prophets are never re ckoned as

transg ressors ; on the contrary, the transg ressors hate them forthe severity of the ir rebukes . And made intercession for the

transgressors, yuan, as Jer. xxxvi . 2 5 : so’

Ibn‘Ezra

, Qamhi,Abarbanel

,and Gesenius : this clause shews that the one follow

ing must signify that he forg ave the sin of his oppressors— NW)

having the same force as in Exod. xxxiv. 7, x . 1 7, Gen. 1 . I 7, and

e lsewhere ; if this be no t admitted,the two clauses are entirely

devoid of connexion. W e now understand throug h what kindof merit Israe l w il l be redeemed : it wi l l be throug h the ir own

merits in the endurance of suffering s and death,in forg iving

the ir persecutors, and in praying for them,as thoug h to shew

that they loved the nations,and although they rewarded them

evil, still bare no i l l-wil l towards them.

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430 THE CLEAR FOUNTAIN. [l i i i . I

such a wonderful redemption of a people so abased, the pro

phe t says, As many were astonished a t thee,etc. It may be

seen how this designation my servant is a collective s ingular,because it says wha t was not told them,

them in the pluralnumbe r referring to Israel .LIII . 1 Then

,astonished, they wil l say , Who ha th believed our

report ? which we have heard from men bel ieving in our peace ,viz . our Messiah

,the messeng e r of God to the nations. Per

suaded by the twe lve men (the apostles) , we Edomites madewar against Israe l and the law of Moses, but now up on whomhas the arm of the Lord been revealed ? 2 The Christian ex

positors apply the contents of this verse to Jesus, who was con

ceived without intercourse with man. This idea,however (as

we shall prove by the he lp of God), is an astonishing blasphemy(Dan. xii . The prophet speak s here also of Israe l abased

,

humil iated, avoided, martyred, and spoi led by all nations, g row

ing up before the providence of God l ike a branch and a root outOfa dry land in consequence of the ir sins (Jer. xvi i . Isaiah(xliv. I

,2) uses a for the present exile the expression ‘dryness

,

’

and for the humi l iated people ‘ roots in a dry land in the timewhen God shall pour out waters upon dryness and upon roots ina dry land and his blessing upon his children, then tha t whichwas not told them they shall see

,and what they have not heard

they shall understand . Who has believed 2 etc. D ispersed Israe lis called a root in a dry land, as compared with other nationswho have a king and posse ss a country. Micah also comparesthe providence of God to g rass and drops falling upon it in timeOf drought (v. by which providence Israe l was pre servedamong all othe r nations more wondrously than in Egypt .W here are now the Assyrians

,the Babylonians, and the Per

sians, with their different re lig ions ? They were mixed up in

the time Ofdrought with othe r nations, and disappeared. Jere

By the word ‘ womb m the passag e Israe l is compared to a woman inlabo ur ho ping fo r the assistance OfGod.

- l i i i . THE CLEAR FOUNTAIN. 43 1

miah (xxx . I I ), as we l l as Hosea (II . 3 and i ii . both al ludeto the above-mentioned period of drought . Isaiah continuesHe hath noform,

for he g rows in the present exile as a root in a

dry land.

3Desp ised and rejected ofmen,as was always the case

with scattered Israe l . As hiding theirfaces from the despisedone . And we esteemed him not, the nations wil l say ,Who wouldhave bel ieved that the arm of the Lord would reveal itse lf to anation despised and reje cted of men, which covered its face,from which everybody kept aloof, as from a wounded man

,and

which is acquainted with sickness,i . c . with be ing desp ised

and humiliated by all nations, past and present. The fame of

th is wonde rful redemption wil l even reach the inhabitants “

of

Cush (xvi ii . I4 The suffering s wh ich we ought to have

borne, as evildoers persuaded by our teachers (Obad. I,

Israe l bore , which is even the case in our days , when Israe lsuffers humi l iation,

death,and destruction for supporting the

holy law,whilst the nations support blasphemies. Yet we es

teemed him stricken, smitten of God. This the nations repeateven in our own days

,saying that Israe l is smitten of God

because they put to death the ir God and Messiah and did not

be l ieve in him, but finally they wil l say , Who ha th believed 2 etc .

(p . The same was the case in Egypt, when the mag icianssaid (Exod. viii . It is the fing er OfGod,

’

whilst later theywe re obl ig ed to confess that God was fig hting for Israe l fing e rrefers to a sing le nation

,whilst of Christendom as a whole the

word ‘arm

’

is used) .5 W e were mistaken in be l ieving that

God smote him for his sins,since in real ity it was our sins

which caused his humil iation. In fact,the cup of trembling

and of fury which was destined for him,according to the words

OfGod, was put into our hands (l i . The chas tisement whichwe deserved for our p eace, i . e . for the Messiah , who is calledPrince of p eace (ix. and at whose com ing universal peaceoug ht to have been e stablished, came upon Israe l . With his

s tripes we are healed,i . e . Israe l was healed for the sake of the

stripes which he re ce ived from us. Thus the prophet says

4 32 THE CLEAR FOUNTA IN. [l i i i . 6

further on (ver. If thou shalt make his soul, e tc. Ifwe take itin the sense of the Christian interprete rs , by his strip es we were

healed, then the nations confess in amazement that when Israe ldrinks the cup Of trembl ing and Of fury they are healed

,for the

rod and the staff with which God chastises his people are ne cossarily during the time of the ir chastising prosperous (x . 6

,

In fact,Israe l suffers Oppression from the Christians who are

healed by those suffering s. The prophet explains this fact inx . 1 2

,where Assyria represents Israel

’

s enemy ; and to thisallus ion is made in Psalm xciv . I (where veng eance refers to theredemption), 1 2 , I 4 .

6 All we like sheep ,e tc. At the beg inning

there were Arians and Catholics , now there are Calvinists and

[Lutherans], so that everybody turns to his ownway (Jer. xlix . 7

Then the nat ions, amazed at such a g reat salvation,will exclaim

,

The Lord ha th laid on him the iniquity of us a ll. Isaiah alludesto those se cts, saying , ‘ Through the wrath of the Lord of hostsis the land darkened ’

(ix . I 8) , i . e . in consequence of those different se cts and Opinions which the prophet calls ‘ darkness .

’

For in darkness eve ry one turns his own way , and the same is

the case when people are bl ind in understanding .

7 He was

oppressed, etc. This is the case now with the inquisition, whenIsrae l is broug ht to the funeral pi le , if they try to speak , a g agis put on the ir tongue .

8 From p rison andfromjudgment, etc.

is employed by the prophets in a g ood and a bad sense . In

a g ood sense of the last days of the Passover (Amos v . and

in a bad sense of mourning (Joe l i . Here we take i t in thelatter sense

,i . e . the nations

,amazed at the g reat redemption,

wi ll say , Who hath believed our report ? etc.,that Israe l will be

brought by us in chariots to the house OfGod, and taken awayfrom the ir state of depression and the judgment which God hadpronounced against them in the day of his wrath (Is. xvii i . 7,Ze ch . viii . 2 2

, Is . xl ix . 7, and Jer. xvi. I Thus the prophetcontinues

,his g enera tion, etc. In the former redemptions Israe l

was counted by tribes and fami lies, but in the present redemption God alone wil l be able to count and disting uish the familie s,

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43 4 THE CLEAR FOUNTAIN. [l i i i . xz .

to which the spoi l was equally divided among st those who werethe victors and those who guarded the town. The prophet saysaccording ly that those who fight for the law of God and die for it,have the same part of reward as those whose souls fight againstthe body for the sake of the law . The refore he will divide spoilwith many and the strong who guarded the city, i . e . the law ofGod ; for the martyred people poured out its soul unto deathand was numbered w ith the transg ressors .

The Christians apply all this to the ir Messiah , which is

proved false by the follow ing affirmative condition, wh ich re

quires necessarily a neg at ive one . The prophet says, If he ofi r

his soul as a trespass-ofi ring he will see seed, etc.

,consequently,

if he does no t offer his soul as a trespass -offering , he w il l no tsee seed, etc. How is it possible to apply this to a man whomthe nations adore as God-man and the son of God, who con

sequently live s and rules w ith God ? What an uninte ll ig iblestory all that is ! The prophet says he , Israe l my servant , spoiledby many, bore in past time and endures now the chastisementwh ich the nations

,who are their rod

,deserved on account Of

'

the ir blasphemies against God in falsely interpreting the wordsOf the prophe ts . Israe l does not dare answer

,for they are

brought as a lamb to the slaughter, e tc. The prophetmeans toimply that Israe l suffers also in the present exile for the sin ofthe ir fathers

,with whom they wil l divide the spoil . Israe l prays

for the we lfare of the nations under whose rule they live . ThisGod commanded by his prophet Jeremiah (xxix . The na

tions,amazed at this g reat redemption, wil l exclaim, Who hath

believed our rep ort ? e tc., that the abased and humil iated peoplewi ll pray for us . Thus we have e stabl ished the meaning Of

Isaiah’s prophe cy in this chapter, out of which the Christiansmake the g reatest effort to prove that their Messiah suffered forthe sins of all the nations . It would indeed be a false interpretation which does no t apply th is chapter to Israe l humil iatedand martyred by all nations

, past and pre sent. If any one ob

jects, saying , How is it possible that the prophets should not

l i i i . THE CLEAR FOUNTA IN. 43 5

have prophesied wi th reg ard to that Jew k i lled and martyred,

adored for such a long time by all nations as God and Me ss iah ,

we have only to say that Isaiah , as well as Daniel , has clearlyprophesied concerning him. This will be the subje ct of thefollowing chapter of book.

A. ABRAHAM GUER OF CORDOVA 3.

B . R . MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL .

QUESTION XXIII .

V erily he bare our Ezekie l xviii . 20 . The soul thatsuffered our sufl

'

er sinne th it shall die . The son shallhe bare the sin Of not bear the iniquity of the father,

ne ither shall the father he ar the

iniquity Of the son,&c.

IF this chapter is to be interpreted of the people of Israe l ,how comes Isaiah to say that it he re the sin of many, whereasevery one (according to the testimony of Ezekie l) pays only forhis own guil t ?

RECONCILIATION.

The subject of this question demands long argument, and forour verses to be perfectly understood it wil l be necessary toexplain the whole of the chapter, which we shal l do with all

possible brevity, without starting any Obje ctions which may bemade against other expositions, as our intention is sole ly toshew what our own Opinion is . According ly for g reater clearness I shal l set down the literal text with a paraphrase -of my

own, and then i llustrate it by notes.

Isaiah prophesies— J. The extreme prosperity of Israel at thetime of the Messiah . II . The wonder of all the nations at

se e ing them rise from such a low state to g randeur. III . How

they will perce ive the ir mistake , acknowledg ing themse lves to

See No . XxxlX, p . 290 .

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3

4

5

6

7

4 3 8

saw him,and there was no

appearance that we shouldcove t it.

He was despised and reje ctedof men, a man of sorrows , aocustomed to si ckness and as

they hid the ir faces from him,

he was despised, and we es

teemed him no t .

Sure ly he bare our sicknesses and endured our suf

fering s and we esteemed himwounded

,smitten by God, and

afflicted.

But he was pained by our

transg ressions, was crushed byour iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was uponhim

, and by his wounds wewere healed.

All we l ike sheep went

astray, we turned every one

to his own way ; and Adonai(God) caused the sin of us all

to mee t upon him.

He was Oppressed, and he

was afflicted, and he openednot his mouth ; he was carriedas a lamb to the slaug hte r andwas dumb as a sheep before

It . MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL . [l i i i . 3

He was oppressed and af

flicted he was taken by us asa lamb to the slaughter and

as a sheep before its . shearers,

depriving him of life and pro

him, but so hideous, that it

did not seem to us an appearance

,for wh ich we should

envy him.

He was de spisedand rejectedfrom the society Ofmen

,a man

of sorrows, accustomed to suf

fer trouble s ; we hid our facesfrom him

,he was de spised and

unesteemed among us.

But now we see that thesicknesses and troubles whichwe ought in reason to havesuffered

,he suffered and eu

dured,and we thought that he

was justly smitten by God and

afflicted.

W hereas he suffered the

sickne sses and suffering s whichwe deserved for our sins : hebore the chastisement whichour peace and fe l icity deservedbut his troubles appear to havebeen the cure of ourse lves.

All we like sheep wentastray : we followed every one

his own se ct , and so the Lordseems to have transferred on

him the punishment of us

all

-l i i i . R . MANASSEH BEN

its shearers ; and he Opened

not his mouth .

He was taken from impri

sonment and judgment, and

who shall declare his g ene rat ion ? for he was cut Off fromthe land of the l iving :

“for thetransg ression of my peoplethey were stricken.

And he made his g rave withthe wi cked

,and with the rich

in his deaths, although he had

not acted false ly and there wasno de ce i t in his mouth .

AndAdonai wished to crushhim, made him si ck if he

Offer his soul as an expiation,he shal l see seed

,he shal l pro

long days,and the will of

Adonai shal l prosper in his

hand.

From the trouble of his soulhe shall see

,shal l be satisfied :

by his wisdom my righteousservant shal l justify many :

and he shall hear the ir iniquities.

Therefore I wil l distributeto him with many

,and w ith

the strong he shal l divide the

ISRAEL. 4 39

perty : and he was dumb and

Opened not his mouth .

From prison and these torments he is now del ivered :

and who would have thoughtof this his happy ag e when he

was banished from the holyland ? Through the wi ckedness of my people (each nationwi l l say ) this blow came uponthem.

He was buried with malefactors, and suffered varioustorments with the rich

,without

having committed crime orused dece it with his month .

But it was the Lord (theProphet says) who wished tomake him s ick and affl ict him

,

in order to purify him : if heoffer his soul as an expiationhe shal l see se ed

,he shall pro s

long his days, and the wil l anddetermination of the Lord shal lprosper in his hand.

For the trouble which hissoul suffered in captivity, heshal l see g ood, shal l be satisfied with days : by his wisdommy righteous servant Israe lshal l justify the many

,and he

wil l hear the ir burdens.

Therefore I wi l l g ive himhis share of Spoil among the

many and powerful of Gog

8

9

I O

I I

( 2

440 n. MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL. [l i i . :3 .

Spoil : because he gave up his and Mag og , because he gavesoul unto death, and was num himse lf up unto death for thebered with the transg ressors , sanctification of my name and

and he bare the sin Ofmany : was numbered with the transand he prayed for the trans g ressors ; and he bare the

g ressors . Offence of many, even prayingfor the very transg ressors fromwhom he rece ived injuries.

COMMENTAR Y .

LII.

1 3 ‘ Servant ’ was one of many titles of honour withwhich the blessed God honoured Israe l (Is . xli. 8 , Jer. xxx. 1 0 ,

Ezek . xxxvi i . 2 5 , Ps . cxxxvi . And as the prophe t in thischapter praises the fide l ity with which Israe l

,as loyal servants,

were ever constant in the service of the blessed Lord,suffering

innumerable perse cutions in this captivity, he therefore appliesthis title to them here . Whence it appears that the sole subje cto f this prophecy is the people of Israe l ; and that is the truemeaning of it ; and the certainty Of this is further proved byits connexion with the pre ceding chapter, where the prophetsays, ‘Awake , awake ; put on thy strength, 0 Zion,

’

etc. (In. I—I z ) ;and then he continues (ve rse I Behold my servant shall pros

per or unders tand, etc.

It is seen how the prophet g oes on with the same subject, andat the conclusion of this chapter he still enlarg e s on i t in thefollowing :

‘ S ing , O barren,thou that didst not bear ’ (liv. I ) ;

and continuing this subject in the same lofty strain to the end

of the book, he extols that happy period loaded with innumerable blessing s.

This be ing taken for g ranted, it is to be Observed that theprophet in this first verse expresse s this supreme state by thesefour terms

, nzu NwJ br a S'JW', shall p rosp er or understand,

sha ll be exalted,shall be extolled, and shall be raised very high,

wh ich attribute s (as Don Isaac Abarbanel we l l argues) sig

nify those four prerogatives and dignities which the people of

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4 42 R . MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL . [l ii . 1 3

people of Israe l should in this respect be different from all othe rnations

,as he beg g ed of the Lord, Le t us be separated, I and

thy people , from all the people that are upon the face of theearth ’

(Exod. xxxiii . I 6), which petition was g ranted him ; andso there was no othe r prophet equal to him,

and no other nationpossessed the g ift Of prophecy. And although Balaam, a Gen

tile , prophes ied, th is is well known to have be en quite an

accident, as is expressed in the narrative itse lf, ‘and the

Lord happened to meet Balaam ’

(Num. xxiii . 4) and this wase ither for the g reater g lory Of Israel

,its be ing acknowledg ed by

a Gentile , or for the condemnation of the nations, that theymight no t make it an excuse that they .had no prophe t to instruct them in the right way , since Balaam, a man of such g reatfame among st them, predicted to them all the successes Of

Israe l,and its wonderful and prosperous end at the advent of

the Messiah .

Lastly, the fourth prerogative was the ir union w ith the D ivinity and the special providence of God. For although the Lordleft all othe r nat ions to the prote ction of the ang e ls and the

ce lestial powers, he took the people of Israe l alone under hisown charg e and particular g overnment (Gen. xvii . 7, Dent.

iv. I 9 , Num. xxiii . 9, Deut. xxx n. 9 , xxxi ii . 29 , PS . cxl iv . I 5 ,

J er. x . I 6) .Now, who is ignorant that the people of Israe l in their cap

tivity , be ing considered unworthy because of the ir ing ratitude ,have lost all these prerogatives whi ch they enj oyed while in thefavour of the Lord ? Since now that pre cise knowledg e is lost,there are no long er prophets, they l ive deprived of king and

prince , and the Lord has h idden his face from them but whenfor his honour he shall return

, when he shall restore Israe l toits former state at the advent of the Messiah , the whole willagain be re covered, as all the prophets with one voice testify. And

Isaiah admirably sums this up in the four words before us .

For Se a is derived from Saw,understanding , and signifies that

then they wi ll understand pe rfectly, with profound and sublime

-1 iii. z .] R . MANASSEII BEN ISRAEL. 443

wisdom. OW , shall be exalted, is applicable to the kingdom, as

it is said in Numbers,

‘And his king shal l be exalted aboveAg ag

’

(xx iv. NW) , shall be extolled, is appli cable to the g iftof prophe cy , as it is said

,The prophe cy (NV/D) of the word of

Adonai ; ’ and TD ) , sha ll be raised very high, represents the unionand connexion w ith the D ivine Sovere ign Majesty

,whose title

is 11 1 3 1 , Most High.

1 4 The prophe t addresses himse lf to the people , and shewsthat in the same manner as the nations Of the world wonderedat the ir low state and misfortunes

,even g oing so far as to

charg e them with be ing disfigured, having a form unsuitable toman

,and unl ike other mortals

,so at that period wil l they won

der at the ir prospe rity and e levated state .

1 5 For see ing the sudden chang e in the fortune of Israe l,

rising from such extreme meanne ss to such extensive empire ,all the king s of the earth wi ll wonder and discourse on the

subject. And he g ives the reason of this, viz . because whathad never been told them of any nation they see in the peopleof Israe l

,whose g randeur none e ver equalled, and what they had

never heard from the ir false preachers , they now understand.

Or we.» s ignifies they will shut the ir mouth , speaking w ith g reatrespe ct and modesty of that people wh ich they had shortlybefore known as captive s , subject to the will of their tyrannouspower (Mic. vii . I 5 , I 6).LI II .

l Who will believe our report ? etc. explains the won

der of the nations. Who,they wil l say , would have thoug ht of

this new state of thing s wh ich we see in the prosperity of I srae l ,and that the arm and favour of the Lord would manifest itse lfor act upon so vile and mean a nat ion ?

2 This spring ing up has not been in the ordinary or naturalway , but a prodigy ; for as a branch from smal l beg inning sspring s up miraculously, and as a root out of a dry g round,where it soon withers, so we

'

see him raised up and resuscitatedfrom the death of the captivity . W e thought he had no humanform nor comeliness, and so we looked upon him ; moreover we

444 R . MANASSEII BEN ISRAEL. [l ii i . 3

considered his form to be such that we did not envy it, and

made no account of him.

3 His state was so mean that we deemed him wholly un

worthy of our society,considering it disg raceful to hold com

munion with him (Is . xlix . 7, Ps. xliv. I 3) . Aman of sorrows,and accustomed to sickness , that is , to suffer the troubles of thecaptivity , compared in Holy W rit to s icknesses (Is . xxx. 2 6

,

Jer. xxx. 1 2,Lam. II. 1 3 , Hos. vi. I ) . And as hiding their

face us e from him (or from us), we saw him and we esteemed

him not. That is,we made as though we did not see him, to

avoid the obligation of courtesy towards him, which arose fromthe light consideration we he ld him in. Or it may also mean

,

he himse lf, from mere timidity and mistrust,hid himse lf from

us. And there is no diffi culty in the nation of Israe l beingstyled in this verse W‘N, man of sorrows

,i t be ing a very com

mon usag e in Holy Scripture to speak of Israe l collectivelyunder this individual term (Judg . xx. I 7, 2 2 , xxi . I

,I Sam.

xvii . 2,etc.)

4 W e unbe lievers more justly merited the troubles and

calamities which this innocent pe ople suffered in the ir captivity.

But we we re so bl ind that we considered him to be wounded,

smitten,and affl icted by God, and not through ourse lves, and

that all this came on them for keeping themselves apart fromthe truth , and not joining with us in our re lig ion.

5 But it was quite the contrary, for our wickedness alone wasthe cause of his troubles ; did they no t arise from any hatredGod bore them. The punishment,

“mm,or discip line of our

peace was upon him,for

,as g rief always accompanies pleasure ,

the chastisement of this happiness appears to have fallen on

him. Or it may also mean,when in the enj oyment of peace

adversaries were wanting , we immediately turned our armsagainst th is people , and what we establ ished for the d isciplineand g ood g overnment of our states, all redounded in measuresagainst him,

decrees of death,banishment

,and confiscation of

property, as experience daily shews . Or otherwise , the doctrine

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44 6 R . MANASSEII BEN ISRAEL. [l i i i . 9

i t may also mean, Now he is already de l ivered from prison and

punishment ; and who would have thought or spoken of thehapp iness of this g eneration, th is pre sent time, when he was

banished from the land of the l iving , that is, the promised land,which is called in Holy Scripture , the land of the l iving (Ezek .

xxxii . 2 3—27, Ps. cxvi . For the transgression of my p eop lewere they smitten. For our wickedness has been the sole causeof this expulsion from the ir country . It must he re be Oh

served that the word 1 795 lamo has the same signification as

nn5 , to them, as is we ll known to every one acquainted with

Hebrew g rammar. And thus it is evidently seen from this passag e that although the prophet Speaks in the singular, and of asing le people , a ll the children of Israe l are treated of.

9 The nations continue , “Te have frequently condemned thispeople to death , and buried them w ith malefactors

,and w ith the

rich, rmm,

in their various deaths , thoug h it is ce rtain that,in order to take away the ir property, we raised ag ainst theminnumerable false testimonies, and martyred them,

without the irhaving committed any crime or our having any charg e againstthem

, except of having accumulated wealth , as he continues,a lthough he had committed no Db l

“

! robbery and there was no

deceit in his mouth,that is, allowing themse lve s to be robbed of

the property they had not robbed, and to be killed for thesanctification of the Lord, and refusing to acknowledg e withthe ir mouth any other re l ig ion.

1 °From this verse onward the prophe t speaks in the name

of the Lord,and re late s the reason why these troubles we re

suffered, and the reward to be hoped from them. And firstlyhe says that the will and de termination of the Lord has been tocrush them and to make them s ick by so many different calamities, that, be ing purified by these means

,they may become worthy

of such g reat fe l icity. If he ofler his soul as an expiation, OWN,

surrendering i t for the sake of the Law ; or, if he g ive himse lf upand acknowledg e himse l f gui lty, be coming repentant, as Joseph

’

s

brethren,who said

,But we are guilty

’

(Gen. xln. he sha ll

—l i i i . R . MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL . 447

see seed,that is

,they shall multiply infinite ly (Ezek . xxxvi . 3 7,

Zech . x. 1 0,Deut . xxx. He shall p rolong day s . The same

prophet confirms this where he says, ‘As the days of the tree ,’

that is, the tree of life , ‘are the days of my people

’

(lxv.

and Zechariah , ‘And eve ry man w ith his staff in his hand frommultitude Of days ’

(viii . Lastly,and the will of the Lord

,

which is to oppress him and make him si ck with punishmentsfor his g reater g lory, shall p rosp er in his hand, for the purposeand end to which they are directed w il l be attained. Or

, the

wil l of the Lord, which is that all should be saved and come tothe holy knowledg e of himse lf, will prosper through his handand means and take effe ct .

1 1 At that happy period Israe l wi ll see the [fruit of the] troubleofhis soul and be satisfied with it ; different to that former timeof which Moses says

,

‘And y e shal l sow your seed in vain, and

your enemies Shal l eat it ' (Lev. xxvi . I 6 , Deut . xxvii i . be

cause,by enjoying everlasting peace and universal empire , they

will peaceably enjoy the produce of the Holy Land (Deut. xxx. 9 ,

IS . lxii . 8 , Amos ix . Or it may mean,for the trouble of his

soul which he suffered in the miseries and misfortunes of thecaptivity, he wi ll se e seed and be satisfied with days .

By his knowledg e my rig hteous servant shall justify many .

That is,Israe l

,who is termed ‘

a righteous people and holynation, justifies many by his knowledg e and wisdom

, bring ingthem with brotherly love over to the true re l ig ion, and separating them from the ir vain se cts ; and this at the very time thathe bears their iniquities , patiently suffering the tyranny of the irwickedness. Or it may otherwise mean,

At that time my servantIsrae l wi ll justify and make many nations meritorious (Mic . iv . 2 ,

Zech . vii i .And he shall bear their iniquities. For be ing a most re lig ious

and holy people , he wi l l take charg e of the spiritual administration of the observance of the Law, as Moses says to Aaron

,

‘ Thou and thy sons w ith thee shal l bear the iniquity of thesanctuary ’

(Num . xvii i . I ) .

44 8 R . MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL . [l i i i . n .

In this last verse he treats of the final confl ict,the pre

lude to I srae l ’s fe l icity, that is, of that war of Gog and Mag ogso extolled in the prophets, in which many nations wi l l j oin (asis clear from Jer. xxx

,Ezek . xxxvi, and Joel i i i), and this too

with immense riches (Ze ch . xiv. I , 1 4 , Is . 1x . 5 , lx i. These ,then

,are the many and mighty , whose spoil the Lord promises

that they shal l divide .

Because he p oured out his soul unto dea th, etc. The prophe there attributes four merits to them,

for which they justly deserve the reward of that happ iness and again in the form of acompendium he recap itulates the contents of the chapter . I .

Because he del ivered h imse lf up to death, allowing himse lf tobe killed for the sanctification of the Lord’

s name,and the

observance of his most holy law. 2 . Be cause he was re ckonedamong the wicked, patiently enduring to -be cal led a here ti c.3 . For having borne the sin of many, the wickedness and tyrannyof others fall ing on his shoulders. 4 . Lastly

,in having observed

the precept of Jeremiah, Seek the we lfare of the city whither Ihave caused y ou to be carried captive (xxix . 7) and this too socarefully that in all the ir prayers they pray for the health of theprince , and the peace of the kingdom or province where in theyreside ; and what is more

,it may be even for the welfare of

those from whom they are re ce iving insult and wrong , which ishighly meritorious

,and a convincing proof of the constancy and

patience with which they rece ive from the Lord’s hand the yokeof captivity and the suffering s Of its misfortunes.

Thus far extends the explanation of this chapter, in whichbrevi ty has been the chief obj ect, in order to shew that theclearness of the subje ct does not requi re long arguments.

Returning now to the question with which we began, thesolution of the difficulty is rendered easy for as souls are fromGod, and do no t proceed from the parents, the son cannot payfor the father, nor the father for the son each pays for his ownguilt , as Ezekie l plainly says

,The souls are mine

,as the soul

of the father, so also the soul of the son ; the soul that sinneth

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C ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO .

CHAPTER XXIV .

PARAPHBASTIC EXPLANATION OP THE FIFTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF THE

PROPHET ISAIAH.

CHR ISTIANITY has formed out of the fifty -third chapter ofIsaiah its principal argument for proving the truth of the g ospe lhistory ; for as this contains nothing more than the l ife , passion,and death of him whom they adore as very God and Messiah ,and they find the same portra yed in this chapte r in such vividcolours that its expositors cal l it the p assion chap ter, and Isaiahthe evang e l ical prophet , they make use of it as a convenientproof that Isaiah predicted by divine inspiration all that isre lated in the g ospe l , and that the Messiah was to die and

suffer for the sins of mankind ; that in th is the redemptionGodhad promised the people of Israe l so many ag es before wouldconsist ; that th is people will acknowledg e this truth in the

latter days , and be ing converted to the Christian faith wi l l confess how unjustly it punished and put to death the Messiahinnocent of all sin, and that Israe l wi l l wonder at the g loriousend Ofhim whom it had before exe cuted on the charg e of hightreason against God. They pretend that all this is s ignified inthis chapter in such express words that they appear incapableof admitting any other interpretation, notwithstanding the Op

pos ition the Jews have always made not to admit it. So the

Christian doctors argue : but it IS wel l worthy of considerationthat , though they hold this chapter to be so clear and express in

Iii, l i i i .] ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . 4 5 1

favour of the ir fundamental doctrine , y et Paul in the epistle hewrote to the Hebrews, in which he tries to convince them and

shew that Christ is the true Messiah,in reference to whom he

quotes out of the whole of Holy Scripture all the verses whichhe could directly or indirectly accommodate to his purpose , hasmade no mention in any way of this chapter of Isaiah , and hasnot quoted a s ing le verse of it ; but if he understood it to be so

c lear and evident, as the Christians afterwards pretended, whocould acqui t Paul of g reat neg lig ence or ignorance in quotingfor his argument such a number of verses of the Holy Scripturesthat he can in no way apply to his purpose , and omitting thosewhich formed the principal support of his Object to persuadethe Gentile and convince the Hebrew ? whence we may gatherthat Paul in writing to the Hebrews did not understand thischapter of the Me ssiah ,

for he was we l l aware that they understanding the divine writing s would no t allow themse lves to bedece ived

,and would not accept an appl ication so strang e , as we

shal l prove in the follow ing discourse s .

CHAPTER XXV .

THE GROUNDS CHRISTIANITY HAD FOR BELIEVING THAT THE MESSIAHWAS To DIE FOR MANKIND ARE PROPOSED FOR CONS IDERATION.

IN order to be able to apply the fifty -third chapter of Isaiahto the King Messiah

,as the Christian church pretends, it was

obl ig ed to suppose that the innocent had to die for the redemp

tion of souls, on which supposition the whole Christian doctrinerests. But if that supposit ion be demolished and we prove i t tobe opposed to truth and natural reason, they have nothing leftto claim out of the fifty -third chapter : since there wi ll be no

innocent being who dies to whom they can apply it, and theywi l l be obl ig ed to look for some one e lse as the subject of thisprophecy.

They affirm that Adam’

s Sin was infinite ly wicked,be cause

the offence was against an infinite God ; that this Sin,which

G g 2

4 5 2 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i i , l i i i .

they cal l orig inal , was communicated to the whole human race ,both Adam and all mankind becoming enemies of God, slave sof the de vil

,ch i ldren of wrath

,condemned to he ll , and banished

from g lory . They say , moreover, that ne ither Adam nor any

other man could atone for this or for any other sin,since , as the

debt is infinite,so must the payment be , that is, the merits of

the acts of man ; but as man is in his nature finite , he could dono act which would possess an infinite value

, part icularly as

s ince Adam’

s sin man’

s inclination is become corrupt ; and, asthe Prote stants maintain

,he is rendered incapable of doing any

meritorious act ; consequently mankind is lost, rej ected by God,and condemned. They say , moreover , that God in his infinitepower could easi ly pardon man

’

s Offence , because his mercy and

power are infinite ; but that it would be prejudicial to the

divine justice , whi ch demands a regular and complete satisfac

t ion,wi thout which it would fai l in equity and righteousness,

by forg iving an infinite debt for a satisfaction and payment offinite value

,as all the acts of man are ; according ly, it was neces

sary that there should be a man whose works and merits shouldbe of infinite value

,in order that by his death he might pay the

debt whi ch the whole human race owed God,and that thus

,by an

innocentbe ing dying that the innocence of one might pay for thew ickedne ss of all, it might be de l ivered from eternal death

, the

debt which Adam incurred for h imse l f and his descendants.

No mere creature was able to effect this end,and, there fore ,

G od p itying mankind sent his son into the world, who be ingal so God in unity of essence and nature should take upon himself human flesh and be very man

,in order that he might suffer

and die for the sin Of all men,taking upon himse lf no t only the

crimes but also the punishment for them,wh ich he washed away

by his death , because his works had infinite efficacy,he being God

and man in one and the same person according ly he paid in totalto divine justice all that mankind owed as remaining due forthe Sin ofAdam

, and for all those that men might commit afterwards, provided they be lieve in and avai l themselves Of the

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4 5 4 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l i i , l i i i .

that God should not know of it, and to conceal himse lf from hisdivine Majesty , if he could do so , as Cain did, denying his sin

hence i t is certain that no one wishe s to sin to offend God ;and if he s ins , he offends him indirectly, and, if it were possible ,he would wish to sin without Offending him. But g ood work ,repentance and penance , is done directly for God, and in orde rto please him,

and appease his ang er by doing all that l ies inhim to return to the divine favour hence it is more reasonablethat the work done directly to p lease God should have perfection and infinite wisdom throug h the infinity on the side ofGod, towards whom i t is dire cted

,than that a sin committed

w ithout any intent ion of disp leasing or Offending God shouldbe infinitely wi cked or imperfe ct through the infinity of God,towards whom i t is ne ither directed nor intended by the sinner.This is evident, and no Christian doctor will be able

,with all

his subtletie s, to maintain the contrary, and for that reason theLord did no t say so , be cause infini te and supreme truth cannotsay anyth ing repugnant to itsel f.But leaving aside th is speculation, we suppose that man can

no t pay God in proportion to his w ickedne ss ; it is unworth ilyconcluded

,howeve r

,that divine justice is injured by the Lord

using his divine me rcy towards his creatures in such a way thatit is necessary to pay him the total or perish through the debt ;this is contrary to his justice , contrary to his infinite mercy

,his

absolute powe r and l iberty essential ly independent of all. In

the first place , they suppose that divine justice is after themanner of human,

that God is obl ig ed to act in such and sucha way , and if he should act in any othe r way it would be con

trary to justice , just as human judg es, who judg e accordingto certain laws to which they are subje ct

,and which they must

no t transg ress (and should they do '

so,they would act against

justice) , must no t punish the innocent or pardon the crime ofthe g uilty, but only Observe the laws by which they are boundwho wil l be so blasphemo us as to impose this manner of justiceon the Creator h imse lf ? W hat are the laws which he has to

l i i l i i i . ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. 45 5

observe ? Not such is divine justice , for the Lord is absoluteand independent in his action ; we say he is just, because all

that he does and can do is just,be cause he is justice itse lf ; all

that he does is supremely right and free from any kind ofwickedness ; when he punishes the s inner

,he acts justly when

he pardons him and has mercy on him,he also acts justly ;

when he destroys the innocent in Canaan he is righteous, andwhen he pardons the repentant Ninevites he is just ; he didnot act less righte ously and justly when he pardoned Davidthan when be punished Saul , and had he been pleased to destroyDavid and pardon Saul, he would have acted with equal justiceand righteousness. W hatever his divine Majesty wishes is truejustice ; the L ord obeys no laws, his infinite be ing is supreme lyg ood, and so his acts are infinite ly g ood and right , whethe r hepardons or punishes ; and his divine justice must be so understood that it can as we ll perform acts of benevolence by pardoning as of severity by punishing , althoug h in our manner ofunderstanding we cal l one justice and the other mercy g rantedthis truth , why could or would he not pardon the sin of re

pentant Adam as we l l as of his posterity, and use his just mercyand p itiful justice by taking from them what their poor naturecan pay , name ly, repentance for the ir crimes

, particularly whenthe Lord has promised, in so many passag es of Holy Scripture ,that he wi ll not despise the contrite sinner, that he does not

wish the death of the sinner,but that he should be converted

and live ; that al thoug h his s ins may be red as scarlet, he wi l lc leanse them and make them white as snow

,if the s inner w il l

only humble himse lf and be converted ? Thus says the Lord,

thus he promises, because his divine wisdom does not demand

impossibi l ities invented by the human mind. W ho bound theLord’s hands that he should not use mercy ? what laws obl ig ehim not to be satisfied ? who w i l l demand an account from him

for his having mercifully pardoned the peor penitent s inner ?God never said such a thing , e ither throug h his law or by hisprophets, nor could he have said it, for by such a sugg estion he

4 5 6 ISAAC OROB IO on CASTRO . [l i i , l i i i .

would nece ssaril y have ceased to be God, and been deprivedof his infinite l iberty as regards all that righteousness which isso incomprehens ible to us .

And g ranted (as the Christian w ill have it) that the s innerhad to pay in ful l to divine justice all that he owe s for his crime ,there would neve r be place for mercy , be cause he who pays inful l all he owes rece ives no g race or mercy from justice or hiscreditor ; and this is not contradicted by one paying the debtof another, as the debt is no less paid Off than if one paid forhimself

,since if the sinne r is oblig ed to pay e ither by himse l f

or through another all he owes God and his justice , there isno place left for mercy, which is contrary to the g oodness ofGod, and is repugnant to all he has revealed in the HolyScriptures , that his mercy is over all his works.

However this new dogma,destitute of any support in Holy

Scripture , may be defended, name ly,that in order to re

turn to the g race of God it is nece ssary to satisfy in full hisjustice , Christ iani ty will gain nothing by the death of the Mes

siah ; for how could justice be we l l satisfied by the exe cut ion and

death of a most holy and innocent man, who had neve r com

mitted any crime nor inherited that of Adam ? In truth,no

g reater injustice can be imag ined than that of innocence suffering for the wickedness of the impious, the killing a righteousman that the wicked, the transg re ssors , may not die , when theLord says that e very one shal l die for his own crime (Ezek .

xvii i. distributive justice consists in g iving each one whathe de serves, al though in the punishment divine me rcy mayinterp ose to moderate it with such righteousness that that verymode ration is also divine . But justice would never be righteousif it punishe d the innocent for the crime of the imp ious the

Amalekite children did not die for the crimes of the ir fathers,

but by the just judgment of God, that they might not be W icked

l ike the ir fathers ; and the same in the unive rsal de lug e of theworld and simi lar instances in wh ich the infinite W isdom foresawg reat expediency in the death of those who had not y et sinned ;

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4 5 8 ISAAC OROB IO ns CASTRO. [l i i , l i i i .

nothing : this is tyranny,not righte ousness nor justice

,e ithe r

human or divine . It might be obje cted to the doctrine whichwe have been expounding , that Adam

’

s sin is experienced in thepunishment that mankind now suffers from the curse that Godpassed on him and his posterity, while he and Eve al one werethe perpetrators of that crime , from which it appears that Godinflicted the punishment of the ir misdeed on those who did notcommi t it

,and it is there fore cal led orig inal, because the penal ty

for it came on the first parents .

This subje ct is ve ry difficult, and th is is not the place to treatit with any completeness. But we shal l briefly state the trueexplanation : God punished Adam for his sin with no othe rpunishment than that of leaving him in eve ry respect conformable to his human nature

,to whi ch the Lord had g ranted g reat

privileg es for life , if he had kept righteous and obedient to hisCreator ; but as he transg ressed the divine pre cept, G od tookthem away from him and he was le ft deprived of them,

and no t

only himse lf, but his wi fe and the ir. de scendants ; they nevermerited them, because the Lord had bestowed them of his freeme rcy

,and therefore he never deviated from justice towards thei r

posterity in leaving man in all the perfection of human naturewithout any privi leg e ; this is not God punishing mankind forthe sin ofAdam

,but God not g iving men what of his g race he

had g iven Adam,and had afterwards in justice taken back ;

so it is true that the Lord never infl icted upon any one the

punishment for a sin which anothe r had committed,in order by

that means to de live r the guilty from his own g uilt.And Christianity is not he lped by the answer that the Mes

s iah was will ing to suffe r and die for the sin of men that it washis own voluntary act

,and that hence God did him no injustice

in le tting him suffer and die ; and that he could throug h hisinnocence merit pardon for all the guilty of mankind. Th isanswer is contrary to reason

,because, although a rig hte ous man

may be wil l ing to g ive his life for the guilty, the rig hteousness of justice does no t al low the judg e to accept such an

lii, 1 iii.] ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO. 4 5 9

offer ; and he who should accept it would be an unjust judg e ,much more so if he wished it and disposed the dire ct meansto bring about that the innocent perish for the impiousbut the Christian doctrine affirms that the eternal Father, whois the judg e in this suit, sent his Son,

and through the ag encyof the third Pe rson,

whom they cal l the Holy Ghost, made him

man,only to the end that he might suffer that death from men

whe refore both the e ternal Father and that other Person wouldbe iniquitous judg es , not only in accepting such an unjust death

,

but de cree ing it and dispos ing the means to bring it about,

bidding him suffe r it patiently, which is clear from the g ospe lwhich re lates that in his ag ony in the garden he prayed to hisFathe r if it were possible to excuse his drinking that cup ofbitterness

,and if not

,that his w i l l mig ht be done . And Paul

says that he was obedient to death,even the death of the cross ;

consequently he suffered innocently by order of God, to atone forthe sin which he had not committed

,de livering the gui lty, and

himsel f bearing the penalty and curse,as Paul says

,

‘ It is written

,Accursed is he that hang eth on the tree ;

’

but Christw ished to be accursed or be made a curse for our sake , to obeyhis Father who had sent him for that purpose , exacting satisfac

tion ofhis justice throug h the death of his innocent Son, inorder in this way to pardon mankind, including even those whokilled him. But by th is divine justice was highly injured, andthe rig hteousne ss of the Creator suffe red the g reatest insult inbe ing pleased that innocence should suffe r, and wickedness shoulde scape punishment .The whole of this Christian mode of reasoning results in

nothing e lse than a denial of the infinite mercy of the blessedGod towards his creatures ; be cause , if we acknowledg e his

mercy, no reason is left why it should be nece ssary for God tocome into the world to make himse lf man and die for men inatonement for the ir sins ; and, if he did not come , the wholemachinery of Christianity comes to nought ; consequently theyare forced to persist in maintaining that mercy could not find

460 ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO. [l i i , l i i i ;

place nor sin be pardoned except by means of the death of Godmade man.

The Lord says the contrary in Holy Scripture , promisinghis creatures innumerable time s absolute pardon of the ir sins

,

provided only they desire it and are disposed to re ce ive thatbless ing , wi thout his immortal Maj esty or any innocent be ingor Messiah dying , but all l iving , turned away from the ir w ickedways towards the Lord the ir God, repentant and corre cted ofthe ir transg re ssions . Thus he declare s it to his people by E z e

kie l (xviii . saying , ‘ Therefore I will judg e y ou, 0 houseof Israe l

,every one according to his ways, saith Adonai God ’

(thus speaks the righteousne ss of justice) ; and then the equityof mercy follows

,Repent and turn yourselve s from your trans

g ressions ; so iniqui ty shal l no t be your ruin,

’

e tc. This is whatAdonai God says

,but what the nations say is different and

contrary to it .The Christian says that ne ither Israe l nor any of mank ind

can re turn to God ; that let man do what he may he wil lalways be stumbl ing in his sin

, w ithout any possibi l ity of freeing h imse lf from its snares ; but the Lord says that your sin

,

if repented of, shal l be no more a stumbl ing —block to y ou. Theysay that although man may in his contrition depart from sin

,

he must still die a spiritual death ; but the Lord, supposingcontrit ion, says

,

‘ t y w i lt thou die,0 house of Israe l 2’

God doe s not say that anothe r shal l pay the penal ty for theguilt of man

,but that man should depart from Sin and be con

ve rted,

‘ Cast away from y ou all your s ins,return to me and

l ive he does not say that he wi ll die for us that we may live , butthat we should return to him and so we shal l live : with thath is justice , his rig hteousness, his mercy are consistent , and con

formable to all the Holy Scripture , without the re be ing in thewhole of it a sing le word which directly or indirectly, in l ig htor in shadow (as they say ), signifies the contrary ; there isnothing about Adam ’

s debt,or infinite wi ckedness , or the

imposs ibility of satisfying divine justice , or the death of the

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4 62 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l ii i . 1 .

the contents of th is chapte r can be appl ied to him, so as todemonstrate that , even understanding i t as they wish, i t is no t

applicable to this subje ct.Let us allow (although false and contrary to prophetic truth)

that the Messiah was to die a violent death for the sins of man,and that this is expressed in this prophetical fifty -third chapterof Isaiah ; and let us allow also (although ve ry doubtful) thathe whom they claim to be such said he was the Messiah

,and

that the Romans and the Jews punished him and hung him on

the gallows, which was the cross on which they hung malefactors ; would this perchance suffice to constitute him the trueMess iah , if all the thing s contained in this chapter should not

fit him ? would his dying be sufficient,if he did by his death

nothing e lse of what the prophe t declares that the servant ofGod, whom he introduces there , was to do , and whose afllictions

he relates ? There wi l l be no Christian who wi ll say that itwould be sufficient unless he did and fulfilled all that is prophesied of that servant of God. Le t us se e

,then

,how the principal

verses of the prophecy are applicable to him.

LIII. ’ Who believed our rep ort, and up on whom was the

arm of Adonai manifested ? Granting that the whole of thechapter speaks of the Me ssiah , upon whom they affirm the

arm of Adonai was mani fested, it may be easily g atheredfrom these words that the Messiah is not Adonai but simplya man. S ince it says that upon him Adonai manifested hisarm

,the arm is not Messiah’s but that of Adonai , because ,

if he was man and God, his own arm would have been manifested upon him,

and he would not have occasion to refer toanother Adonai ; s ince the re can be but one

,and that would

he h imse lf ; by wh ich it is clearly seen that he spoke of acreature favoured by its Creator

,not of the Creator under

the form of a creature ; for , if he was the Creator, the prophe twould have said that his own rig ht hand and his holy arm had

saved him. In the se cond and third verses he describes theabasement and mean state of the servant of God of whom he is

l i i i . 4 , ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . 463

speaking , who ought to be esteemed and venerated, and employsthe fourth verse in describing the troubles and miseries he suf

fered,saying , Surely he ha th borne our sicknesses, and sustained

owr sufiering s, but we esteemed him stricken and wounded by

God,and afl icted ; and the fifth verse continues, But he was

wounded for our sins , crushed by our revolt, the chastisement

of our p eace was up on him,and by his wounds ours were

healed. These and other similar ve rses which follow are ex

plained by Christianity of the s ins of mankind which the Mes

s iah took upon h imse lf to atone for,or of the punishments

which Israe l and the nations deserved for the i r crimes and thatorig inal sin which they inherited from Adam : the se the prophet calls sickne sses

,suffering s, and his passion and death the

cause of healing , which is the expiation and de live rance fromsin and its effe cts .

It is necessary,according to the Christian doctrine , that the

Messiah should bear our suffering s , and heal our sicknesses,that

both thing s should be fulfilled in him whom they adore as God

and Messiah and to know ifhe did so,and if what the prophet

says was actually fulfi l led in him,we ask whether the se suffer

ing s and this heal ing are to be unde rstood mate rial ly withregard to the temporal troubles and miseries of Israe l, or spiritually in so far as it refers to the purity and exp iation of the soul

,

so that they might enjoy the divine g lory. If it were to beunderstood according t o the former meaning , Israe l could neversay such a thing , nor can i t be affirmed of that subject ; as s incehis death Israe l has remained scattered throughout the worldas it was for 600 years before his advent ; and much more so

since the destruction of the holy city and the sacred temple ,suffering extreme calamities

,and the most crue l suffering s of

captivity among the nations,which fact they acknowledg e in

continual ag g ravation of our misery : therefore he did not hear

these s icknesses and suffering s, since they continue to thisday ; and with his wounds, passion, and death he was not theheal ing of Israe l which remained oppressed by the same infirmity

4 64 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [li i i . 4 , 5 .

of its captivity ; on the contrary,according to the ir belief,

from his death orig inated our ruin, the persecutions , the ex

treme contempt , the mortal hatred, and the protracted wandering s from which we suffer. And if he was the true Messiah

(admitting , for the sake of argument,that he was to die for

the people) , by his death he should have borne our suffering s ,by his martyrdom he should have healed the tribulat ions and

the g reat sicknesse s of Israe l among the nations : and so the

pe ople would confess i t , if it could come to be l ieve it ; but itcannot say so at any time wi th truth , as after his death Israelnot only was not healed of its tribulations, but experienced themeven in a g reater deg ree , and sti ll suffers them at the hands ofthose who in the world be l ieved in him.

But Christianity se e ing that in this sense it could not verifythe prophecy of this subject, has re course , as it is wont to do ,to the spiritual , and says that he bare our suffering s and sicknesses in the sense of our crimes and the punishments we deserved for them,

that th is is the spiritual healing , Israe l and thenations be ing freed from the debt of orig inal sin, as we ll as ofthat wh ich we have created anew by our actual crimes . Let us

examine if this is true , and if the world experiences this spiritual benefit through his death.

In the first place , as for the sin of Adam,Israe l and the

nations remain as they were be fore , without that stain and debtof mankind being washed away or expiated by his bl ood, forthey themse lves confess that all are born infected w ith orig inalsin

,enemies of God

,slaves of the devil , whom God could not

purify althoug h he made himse lf man and died to make atonement ; and they bel ieve this to be so certain

,that th ey hold as

an article of faith that children who die unbaptized are deprivedeternally of g lory, be ing con demned to limbo for the sin ofAdam . And in the opinion of the Protestants the children ofparents who are not Christians are condemned to he ll for everfor the orig inal sin wh ich they did not commi t ; so that theyconfess that human nature could no t be healed of its spiritual

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466 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i ii . 4 , 5 .

which with respe ct to the world means almost none ; and thusBernard, a doctor of the church , understood it, who writes in one

of his reve lations that on that day so many millions of peoplehad died in the universe , and only a g ood old woman and a

monk of his order had be en saved. And if all this coming ofGod

,this death and passion, were for no other end but to save

mankind,and the Messiah was to obtain all that, how did he

Obtain it according to what they preach ? how did he bear oursuffering s and our infirmities ? how did he heal the world ofthe ir sins and the pains of he l l which they deserve ? W here isthis redemption of sOuls ? these sins which he took away ? thathealth and medic ine that we g ot be cause of him , through hispassion and death Where is the king dom of God preached bythe Gospe l at every point, proclaiming that the kingdom of thedevil is already ended How can the devil re ign more than bytaking Off to hel l almost all mankind, as they confe ss ?When the Lord shal l re ign in his world, as he has promised,

at the time of the redemption, and his Messiah shal l be AdonaiOne , and his name One , and all creatures shall know him

,and

love him,and his own peop le more than all creatures

,he wil l

remove all idols from off the earth,and so war, falsehood, and

discord, all wi l l be peace , love of God, and observance of hisdivine de crees , the law of nature among the nations, the divinelaw in Israel, as a kingdom of Levites, a kingdom of God.

Such medicine , made by the omnipotence of the l iving God himself, Israe l and all the nations wil l rece ive , and if by the deathof this person this had happened in the world, they would havea right to say that he bare our suffering s and our infirmitics ,

and his wounds had been our heal ing ; but it was not so, and

could not be so,since it is only the Lord God who pardons,

save s,redeems , and no one e lse : and if the Messiah was to be

as they understand it in this chapter, this ought to have happened on his death but since it has not happened, all that canbe said of him is that he died

,but not that he was Israe l’s

Messiah promised by the prophets.

l ii i . ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. 467

” The servant of God of whom the prophet speaks can ofnecessity do no evil act ; no falsehood, de ce it, or pe rverse doctrine can issue from his l ips , or be the cause of others introducing it into the world ; now this cannot be maintained, I mean,proved, of the person whom they proclaim : because , g iving theGospe l credit as a witness on the same side

,he did many thing s

contrary to the law of Moses, by which he was bound as a Jew.

He said other thing s which proved false . In the first place , hetransg ressed the divine law,

he and his disciples breaking theSabbath rest

, pe rmitt ing the plucking the ears of corn on pre

text of ne cessity , to the scandal of the Israe l ites, though it wasnot necessary to satisfy hung er by that means , and they were inno dang er of life in suffering it, and they might have g one to thevillag e and asked for bread in God’s name ; then, on the Sabbaththey were not allowed to g o so far from the town ; but he con

sented and even approved of plucking the ears, which is thesame thing as cutting wood, for which crime the Lord com

manded another man in the de sert to be stoned. He absolvedof her crime the woman convi cted of adultery

,whom the divine

decree condemns to certain death,for no better reason than

asking the witnesses if they were sinners , as if to prove a

crime required the witne sses to be saints,so that there would

never be witnesses against the guilty, for no man can affirmof himse lf that he is r ighteous and never sinned ; but he said

,

‘He that is without sin among y ou, let him accuse her and

as no one dared to say that he was a righteous man, he sent heraway in peace , combatting by an unlawful sympathy the divinelaw . He said that what entered by the mouth did not defilethe soul, though the Lord has said so many times about forbidden food : ‘D o not defile y our souls ,

"and y et he and his

followers, more particularly Paul , admit that the apple of Paradise defiled not only Adam, by whose mouth it entered, but alsoall mankind, simply because God had forbidden i t ; consequentlyit is false to say that what enters by the mouth doe s not defilethe soul .

H h 2

468 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . 1 0 .

He said, moreover, that power had been g iven him in heavenand on earth, though the Lord has said that he wi ll no t g ive his

g lory to anothe r. He said thing s which proved to be false .

Be ing asked by the apostles how it was that, be ing the Messiah ,he did not unite the twelve tribes of Israe l, a question sure lyvery ne cessary and agre eable to the Holy Scriptures, he answeredthat they had no concern in knowing the day and the hour, buthe assured them that that g eneration in which they lived wouldnot pass without his returning in the clouds of heaven for that

purpose , wherefore the church in those fi rst hundred years ex

pected with very certain faith that he would come as he had

promised on streng th of which in the time of Tertullian g reatrog ations and processions were made throughout the countriesof Christendom,

but he never returned,nor was what he had

said fulfilled or verified. Afterwards his followers formed in

his name many dogmas repugnant to truth ,— they invented a

plurality of persons, contrary to the very s imple unity of the irCreator, who be ing infinite ly One , Cam in no sense be many ;although this falsehood was published many years later. And

what falsehood can be g reater than that of confining him ,whom

heaven and earth cannot contain,within the tramme ls of

humanity,within the narrow l imits of a womb

,the small com

pass of a wafer,affirming on his word that that is and there

dwe lls the mig hty God as he is present in heaven, convertedinto a crumb of bread and a drop of wine . The Gentile adoration of Bacchus as the g od of wine was a g reat de ce it , but a

still g reater de ce it is that of adoring a little wine as the God ofall. How then can the verse be verified which says, There wasno deceit in his mouth

1 °If he ofer his soul in atonement he sha ll see seed,etc. Cipri

ano de Valera renders it,he shall see lineag e, which is the

same as seed,de scendants

,or posterity. Let us see then i f this

ve rse can be applied to the ir alleg ed Messiah. The prophetpromise s three thing s of the subje ct or servant of God whom be

there introduces, and all under a condition. The condition is,

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470 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l i i i . xc .

necessary that this person should have a natural posterity tosucceed him

,which that man had not

, and therefore this circumstance of the verse does not apply to him . Then the second

,

which is, he will p rolong his day s, or as Valera says

,

‘ he wi l llive long days ,

’is still le ss fulfilled in the ir Messiah

,because if

he died,as they say , at thi rty-thre e years of ag e , it cannot we l l

be affirmed that he shall l ive a long l ife , dying in the best pe riodof his youth : this is cal led dying cut down by the hand ofGod how then can lengt hening of l ife , enjoying the blessing of al ong l ife , be made to ag ree w ith be ing cut down in the best ofhis days ? and if they Should say that in another world heprolong s his days by l iving e ternal ly, that is no particular prerogative , but the universal lot of all souls, even of those con

demned, who will never die , but l ive e te rnally

, e ither in pain orin g lory ; according ly, ‘ he wil l prolong his days

’

is in no way

fulfi lled in him. The third is, that the will of Adonai will p rosp er in his hand ,

or through his hands , wh ich still less can be

appl ied to the ir purpose , for as we see in all the place s we quoteabout the Messiah

,i t is the wi ll of the Lord that he should con

g regate Israe l from all parts of the world ; that all nations shouldbe converted to his divine worship and adoration, without falsesects or idolatries ; that sins Should end

,and that all human

creature s should enjoy a perpe tual peace , love , and Spiritual andtemporal tranqui llity ; this was and is the wi ll of the Lord, andthat which the prophet says wi l l prosper through the hand ofthat servant of whom he Speaks . Even the Gospe l says so ,

where it states that the ang e l de clared it to Joseph when hefled jealous of the premature pregnancy Ofhis wife Mary, say ingto him that she would g ive birth to a son

,who Should be cal led

J esus , and that he would take away the sins of his people(Matt . i . And John in his Gospe l says, speak ing of thesame

,Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away

the s ins of the world ’

(i . They cannot then deny even fromthe ir Gospe l that such was the wil l of God, and that it had toprosper and have its effect by the hand of his Messiah . But

l i i i . ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . 47 1

how wi ll they apply this to him whom they introduce and adore ,with whose advent all the contrary has happened, and up tothis day nothing of what is the wi l l of God has been performedor has prospered ? Now if he was promised and sent to Israe l

,

i t was the wi ll of God e ither that Israe l should kill him and be

lost for the sake of the Me ssiah,or that it Should rece ive him and

enjoy the blessing s and benefits of his advent ; the former isabsurd and contrary to divine g oodness and truthfulness, and

the Holy Scripture s and as for the latter, the wil l of the Lorddid not prosper by the hand of that man and was not fulfilled ;s ince Israe l by denying him and k i ll ing him increased its S insand neg otiated, as they say , its own utte r perdition and ruinconsequently he did no t remove the s ins Of his pe ople, as the

ang el in the Gospe l says to Joseph nor is he the Lamb of Godwho removed the sins of the world, as John says . Admittingthat on account of this ch i ld

,this lamb

,the perdition of his

people fol lowed, how do his followers preach him,if it be not

the same thing God wishing to save it and condemn it bythe same person ? And if God wished to save it by means Of the

Messiah , and th is salvation did not happen,but the contrary,

the prophe t should rathe r have said,

‘And the wil l OfGod wi l lnot prospe r in his hand ;

’

s ince in the re st of the world outsideIsrae l , of which John says , ‘This is the Lamb ofGodwhich takethaway the sins of the world,’ the wil l of Adonai prospered stillless s ince the world that God w ished to redeem,

and extricatefrom the snares of Sin and the power of the devil , has re

mained, as we have said above and is manife stly seen,ful l of the

same abominations, prevarications , and sins ; consequently, thisLamb of God did not take away the s ins Of the world, nor didthe will Of the Lord prosper in his hand, as it has to , accordingto the prophet , by the servant of God Ofwhom he speaks.

“ By his wisdom my righteous servant sha ll justify many .

NO wisdom did that man teach many,there was nothing he

himse lf said,or which the Evang e l ists wrote in his name that

was just and holy , that the Lord had not already said before in

4 72 ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . n .

his divine law and the prophets, without the ir be ing able to addto the divine law anything g ood for the spiritual l ife of man ;

where fore the doctrine or wisdom to justify the soul did no t

spring from the Messiah or his disciples , but from that whichthe Lord revealed to Moses in the divine law which he gave hispeop le ; and what they added is nothing e lse than an affe ctationOf holiness contrary to the natural reason itse lf, and prejudicialto human g overnment. Among many thing s which we omit, letthe case serve as an example in which he did not permit a son’

s

last act Ofpiety towards his own dead father, to whom, when hewished to g o and g ive him burial, he said

,

‘Leave the dead tobury the ir dead

,but come thou and follow me ’ (Matt. viii . z I ,

an act ion sure ly , le t them comment on it as they please , mostimp ious and scandalous. He bids another youth , who was

seeking for the way to perfection, se ll all he possessed and g ivei t to the poor (Matt. xix . a doctrine contrary to reason,

Since the temporal g oods which the Lord g rants must be g rateful ly rece ived, we should return thanks for them to the divineg oodness that has been thus pleased to allot us a part of itsbounties

,Should use them with sobriety

,and re lieve w ith alms

the ne cess ities of our ne ighbour by sharing them with him,but

not so as to impove rish ourse lves. And thus the Lord says bythe prophe t, Share thy bread with the poor

’

(Is . lv ii i . but

he does not say g ive him all the bread, for that would be a

foolish and irrational Charity. Sti ll less tole rable was what theapostles afterwards commanded

,that all conve rts to Christianity

should sel l all they possessed and entrust the money to themse lves, as it is said in the Acts of the Apostles, ‘And they sold all

that they possessed, and placed the price at the apostles’ fee t ’

(iv. 3 4 , 3 This was a doctrine repugnant to the g overnmentof mankind

,for without some difference in temporal g oods no

one would be will ing to work to acquire them,and if all were

equal no one would discharg e those servile ofiices which humansocie ty require s for its preservation,

and i t would amount tonothing else than opening the gate to idleness, the mother of all

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474 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l i i i . 1 1 .

one can love only what is g ood, and no one can conce ive it goodto be offended and to love it ; i t suffices not to hate it as bad :and if we are no t oblig ed to love those with whom we havenever spoken or communicated

,for there is no reason which

leads us to love them,how shal l we l ove our enemies ? It is

true that we must be charitable to them, fee l for the ir misfortunes, and he lp them if in need of us ; this, however, is not to loveour enemie s because they do us harm,

but not to hate them, and

aveng e ourse lves by no t wishing to do them g ood ; but , on thecontrary

,to attend to the ir necessities by the g eneral pre cept of

charity towards all, without mentioning or recolle cting the i renmity. This is the wisdom of the Law,

the other is that ofmen who affe cted more piety than the Law itse lf ; but Christiamity now acknowledg es all this, and practises as we have said,since there is no one who does no t seek the means of his own

maintenance , no one who se lls all that he posse sses and g ives i tto the poor, no one who offers his face for a second blow

,no

one,however pious, who loves his enemies . Its doctors now

say that they are advice , and not pre cepts, but still it remainsdoubtful whe the r they are g ood advi ce ; although the Protestants would have them to be precepts , y e t up to this dayno one observes them or justifies himse lf by this wisdom excepta few bare -footed friars and Capuchins, who have g iven up

everything to obse rve this evang el ical wisdom,and raise them

se lves to hig he r stations by means of Christianity, l iving , as theysay , an evang e li cal l ife : but no t so , however, the head of theChurch and his hierarchies, whose riches, majesty, sovere ignty,rivalry

,reveng efulness, ambition, and every quality opposed to

the wisdom of the Gospe l are not considered to be against thiswisdom

,which, l ike that of the Messiah which it preaches,

never just ified nor wi l l justify anybody. The principal pointin wh ich th is Christian wisdom has always consisted is in depreciating and running down the g reatness of the divine lawwhich the Lord promulg ated on S inai , be cause that which theyinvented was not compatible wi th it . Paul says that it was

l i i i . ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. 475

deadly, that it gave no hol iness nor justification,nor eternal l ife

to Israe l ; that it Operated on men no better than a curse thatsin entered the world through the Law ; that all were unde ra curse through it ; and other s imilar blasphemies, of which hiswhole theology is composed. This is the w isdom which emanatedfrom that Messiah and is so much extolled by his followers ;he who best knows how to defend the se dogmas is the wisest ;he who writes with the g reate st acumen to destroy the observ

ance of the divine law,and who is most ostentat ious in depre

Ciating by his own wisdom the g reatness of that which the Lordtaught his people on Sinai is the most rig hteous ; but the Lordhimse lf de clares its qual ity

,saying at the time of its promulga

tion,

‘ This is your wisdom, this is your understanding ;’

by

this wisdom the righte ous servant of the,

Lord wil l make manyrighteous, not by that wisdom which flooded the world after theadvent of that man, fi l ling i t with various re lig ions repugnantto his unity and the immensity of his infinite and impass ibledivine existence ; consequently he did not fulfil the verse whichsays that that servant of God would make many righteous byhis W isdom.

It may be gathered from all that has been said that thefifty

-third chapte r, even if understood of the Messiah , as Christianity alleg es, stil l cannot be appl ied to him in whom theybe l ieve , s ince what we said before about the redemption of Israe land the offi ces of the true Messiah

,and what Isaiah wrote in

this chapter about the servant of God of whom he speaks, werenot fulfi lled in him whom they introduce as such ; so that inwhatever way they explain it, this chapte r in no way servesthe ir purpose . Neve rthe less, more to satisfy the curios ity ofsome people , than to meet the wants of the ir conscience

,we

shal l state how this chapter must be understo od, and who it isof whom the prophet speaks in it.

476 ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO . [l i i , l i i i .

EXPLANATION OF THE FIFTY~THIBD CHAPTER OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH.

Fo r the more exact understanding of this chapter we mustremark that the prophetical books are not divided into chapte rs , but form one continuous piece of writing from the beg inning to the end of the prophe cy ; only for the sake of g reaterclearness and facil ity in quoting verses they were divided intochapters e ither by Jerome or by somebody else be fore him and

therefore when a chapter ends it must not be inferred from thatthat the prophet ends there with the discourse or subj ect on

which he is engag ed, and that he treats of a different matte r inthe following ; but , on the contrary

,that the same subject is

continued, and that the prophecy was subsequently dividedinto chapters . W henever, therefore , we wish to understand a

chapter, we should examine what , the preceding and followingchapte rs contain,

what subj e ct is treated in them,and the

purport of it, so as to see if the same subject is treated inwhat follows .

The prophe t had spoken at g reat leng th .

and wi th perfe ctclearne ss of the redemption of Israe l in the fifty

-first chapte r ,and continues the same subj ect in the fifty

-second,addressing

the people of Israel and the holy City of Jerusalem,calling on

them to awake from the ir Sle ep , to return to the ir ancientvig our, to lay aside the ir mourning appare l and put on g armentsof g ladness, to shake off the dust of the ir ruins

,as they w ill not

only be restored to the ir ancient Splendour , but the i r city wi llbe for ever holy for its inhabitants, and w il l never more beprofaned by the uncircumcised Gentiles , because the captivityof Israe l is now ended, and be ing redeemed it wi ll enjoy libertyagain. The prophet continues addressing the same people , notthe Gentiles

,who would honour themse lves with that name

,

but that people whom he led out of Egy pt, and scattered amongthe nations for its s ins

,as is shewn by verses 3—6 , 9 , 1 0 ; and

he proceeds to predict the wonderful effe cts of the redemption,

that there wi ll be no more impurity in Israe l , or in the sacred

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478 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . 1 4 .

w ith the imputation of abominations, now my servant Shall beexal ted, all the nations who blasphemed him with the i r abuse

shal l ce lebrate his happine ss w ith praises, sing ing a new song toAdonai who hath performed truth and fulfil led his word to thehouse of Israel ; and so his people wi ll be exalted among the

nations of the whole universe , and thus Israe l wil l be a kingdom of priests, the chief of the whole world, and will be come

a subject of fame and praise in all the lands of his captivity ,as the Lord promises by the prophet Zephaniah (ii i . 1 9 ,and so Isaiah says in this verse , repeating the idea in lx iii . 9 ,and before in xlix . 2 1 . Israe l is called ‘

servant, ’ a name by

which the Lord frequently honours those whom he loves,as we l l

individuals, l ike the patriarchs and Moses,as thewhole cong re

gation of Israe l : so he calls i t by the same Isaiah in manypassag es (xl i . 8 , 9 , xliv. I

,2,2 1 , xlix .

’

It is unne cessary to mult iply further proofs, for it must beconsidered e stabl ished, that throughout Holy Scripture Israe lis styled servant of God, and that Isaiah retained this designation throughout his prophe cy , and pre serve s i t in the firstverse of our expos ition ; announcing the redempt ion and the

very happy state that will follow from i t,he says that Israe l his

servant wi l l be prosperous ; and so he promised before by thesame Isaiah (xlviii .

1 4 Israe l be ing mira culously raised to such g reatness, and

declared God’

s servant in the pre sence of the nations,the pro

phe t contemplates the wonde r and fear that will fall Upon them,

afte r having known i t for so many centuries as an abased,

miserable people , in their opinion, forsaken by God, so much so

that they themse lves wonde red how,after having be en a l oved

and chosen people , his punishment reached such extremeseve rity ; which wonder compe lled the nations to enquire whatsin Israe l could have committed so g rave that should compe ldivine justice to such lasting indignation, the most astute , theChristians , bel ieving that his crime could have been nothingle ss than the murder Of the . incarnate God himse lf ; so much

l i i,l i i i . ] ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO . 479

did the nations wonder at Israe l in its long and painful captivity : and therefore the prophet says, As many wondered a t

thee ; so the Lord had foretold in Leviticus xxvi . 3 2 , and inthe same manner Ezekiel v. I 5 . He g ives next the reason whythe nations wondered at the sufferings andmiseri es of the people ,because they saw its form marred bey ond that of man , and

his appearance unworthy of the ch ildren of man,so disfigured

that they did not appear to be a people or nation,nor to parti

cipe te in human nature , nor as individuals to be reputed men

nor did they shew any manly vig our , but a submission so humbletowards all nations that they never raised the ir hand in the irown defence

,and thus did not seem to be of the same

Spe cies . It is therefore said that its aspe ct was marred morethan that Ofman

,and its form more than that of the sons of

man ; no qual ity shone in them to indicate the ir be ing e ithersons of man, or of the same nature as other men

,but they

seemed inferior to brute animals,for those defend themse lves

against the ir persecutor but perse cuted Israel was never movedto its own defence , and therefore the same prophet called itworm in chapter x li . I 4 , ‘Fear not , thou worm of Jacob

,

’

who

art no man nor l ike a man among the nations, but l ike a wormwhich , by reason of its l ittleness, is not able to resist or to striveand defend itse lf against its oppressor . But when i t is re

deemed, then it wi l l no long er be a worm,but valiant and

manly ; so the Lord promises in the chapter and verse quoted,depicting to the eyes of the nat ions both states

,that of hum il ia

tion and that of its highe st g randeur : ‘Fear not, worm ofJacob, men of Israe l the forme r meaning , in capt ivity lik ea worm,

the latter in the redemption l ike men. When the

nat ions shal l see the people of Israe l in this state,they w i ll

remember his miserable condition among them for so manycenturies , when he was without the form of children of men

,

and his appearance so marred that it retained no t even the

shadow of man, but rather was that of the humblest worm of

the earth ; no action was seen in him to indicate that nobil ity

480 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i i . 1 5 .

which naturally be long s to human nature,he was always so

patient and defenceless against injury, reproach ,and persecu

tion therefore many nations wondered at him,his appearance

be ing marred more than any man. And in this state Isaiahportrayed him in the first chapter, saying , From the sole of thefoot even to the head there is no soundness in it

,

’

e tc.,which is

the same as his appearance be ing marred more than any man.

If the nations wondered at Israe l ’s chang e from be ing the peopleof God, to be ing a scattered and captive people , without formor resemblance of its ancient splendour, much more wi l l theywonder at the brill iant chang e from this meanness

,from the

reproach of captivity to the more noble state which ne ithe r thewise men of the Gentiles could have comprehended, nor Israe litsel f imag ined, had not God foretold it of its f uture happine ss.

The nations will wonder at this fe licity , on se e ing him e levated,exalted, and raised very high , the most contemptible littlenessbe ing chang ed into the most extraordinary g randeur, which mustbe understood of the people who perseve red in the divine worship and observance of the divine law

,for those who abandoned

i t and preferred for the ir own worldly ends to mix themse lvesw ith the nations , not having truly and evidently suffered in themidst of them the opprobrium and the deg radation of captivity ,wi ll not be e levated or exalted

,be ing treated as rebe ls ag ainst

the law,and strang ers to the people of God.

1 5 The prophe t continues to describe the wonde r of the

nations when they se e the wonderful and unexpe cted redemp

tion of Israe l ; he describes the effe cts of th is wonder such as

naturally follow a g reat chang e , an extraordinary event ; sometalk over the event magnifying it, othe rs are speechless , amazedand stupefied at the portent ; he says that the king s will closethe ir mouths

, because i t chiefly concerned the princes and king sof the world to oppose the happ iness of Israel, they beingthe most powerful in obstructing it, and the most interestedin preventing i t, as Pharaoh in Egypt ; then they count Israe las a larg e number of subjects, and those who were slave s

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482 ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO . [l i i , l i i i .

them. and king s will close the ir mouths, as Micah repeats inchapte r vi i . of his prophe cy ,

a t ve rse 1 6 . Fo r wha t was not

told.

them they saw,and that which they had no t he ard they

understood. The prophet g ive s the reason of the king s be ingdumb struck in amazement , and of the nations talking , excitedat the marve l lous chang e in Israe l

,saying , B ecause they saw

what they had not been told of. The nat ions were not ignorantthat Israe l persevered in its hope , but they regarded that hopeas vanity and superst ition ; no t one of the ir wise men told ofit as a credible reality, but as a contemptible fable worthy ofridicule ; wherefore i t was the same as no t to have told i t andto ig nore it and what they had not heard they understood, andthey came to a pract ical understanding of that which they neverw ished to he ar and could not understand ; but when Israe l isexalted and l ifted up, they w i ll see as an infall ible truth thatwhich no one had ever told them,

and they wi l l be compe lled tounderstand what they had always wished to ignore , and w il lhear that wh ich they had never w ished to hear and understandand this sig ht of what they had never thought of, this understanding of what they had never heard of, this pract i cal experience of what they had never unders tood be fore , wil l be thecause why many nations talk of Israe l

,and the king s humi l iated

and prostra te close the ir mouth s , since wha t was not told them

they saw,what they had not heard they understood.

These are the last words of what they divided into the fiftyse cond chapter ; but any one who fairly considers them w ill se e inthem an imperfe ct sentence , which st il l leaves the mind of thereade r in suspense , for it says

,thus he will cause many nations

to ta lk,and does not say in continuation in what way or what

the nat ions will say ; wherefore e i the r the sentence must beimperfe ct, or the word or express ion thus

,wh ich is equivalent

to in this manner,must be superfluous , a supposition we cannot

admit in the case of the sacred text,and there fore the discourse

must ne cessarily follow,saying in what way and what he wil l

make the many nations say ; and what they have to say could

lii,l i i i .] ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO. 483

no t poss ibl y be said e xcept. by continuing it in what the y havedivided into the fifty -third chapter, the i r express words con

t inning the meaning In this manne r : thus he w ill cause the

king s to shut the ir mouths , thus he wi l l cause many nations totalk , who be l ieved our report ? and on whom has the arm of theLord been manifested ? the nat ions continuing throughout thechapter to describe with the highest admirat ion the suffe ring s ofI srae l and its wonderful chang e . The Christian interpretershave tried hard to obscure the connexion of the se last words ofthe fifty

-second chapter with the fifty -third, because they do notw ish the nations but t he Jewish pe ople to be speak ing in thischapte r, otherw is e they cannot apply the chapter to the ir Mes

siah . For this reason,w i th cunning foresig ht , they translate

the Hebrew word for he will cause to ta lk by he will sp rinkle ,availing themse lve s of the proper meaning of the word, wh ichs ignifie s to sp rinkle ; and in th is way they introduce into thefi fty-th ird chapter Israe l talking of the Messiah

,in order to

e xclude the nations talking of Israe l ; but this cunning in no

way serve s the ir purpose ; on the contrary,they shew th ey

defend a bad cause,for al thoug h it is true that the Hebrew

Word s ignifies to sprinkle , this meaning does no t suit the verse ,and the comparison which the prophe t makes is out of placeand meaning le ss ifwe trans late sp rinkle instead of make to talk ;the comparison is in this form, As many wondered a t thee, his

visag e was so ma rred mo re than any man,so will he sp rinkle

many nations . The W o ndering at him o f many people has no

re lat ion w ith his sprinkl ing many nat ions ; but if he says willcause to talk, the comparison is appropriate and qui te rhetorical ,a s they wondered a t thee , poor and abased,

so thou wi lt cause thenations to talk and burst forth into exclamations of wonder ons ee ing thy Chang e . Be s ides, the expre ssion king s will close theirmouths clearly shews that the contrary is said of the nationswho w ill talk ,

wondering at the unexpe cted happine ss of thepeople , and the re is no point in say ing he wi ll sprink le manynations

,and k ing s wi l l close thei r months ; but it is a highly

I r 2

484 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l i i i . x.

rhetorical figure , which is called antithesis , to place tog ethe r twocontrary thing s, as the prophe t doe s he re ; he wi l l cause thek ing s to be s ilent and the nat ions to talk , what follows inthe fifty

-third chapter and if it were not so , this chapter wouldin no way fit in by introducing Israe l saying what it contains ;and this the most enthusiastic Christian can notice

,as the fifty

second chapter ends w i th these words,He will cause many

nations to talk,and king s will close their mouths , because they

saw wha t had not been told them,and understood what they had

not heard. Who believed our rep ort, and up on whom was the

arm of Adonai manifested ? etc. It is impossible that this beg inning of the fifty

—third can have any connexion with that endof the fifty -second, unless it is the nations who talk and say ,

Who believed our rep ort 7 and it would be ne cessary , in order tounderstand Israe l to be speaking the contents of the chapter , thatat the end of the preceding chapte r or at the beg inning of the fiftythird he should say And then Israe l will say thus, Who believedour rep ort but since there is no such expression, without occas ion and against the connex ion the Jewish people is brought into speak what is said in the fifty

-third chapter ; consequentlyit must be the nations who talk

,and not Israe l , as they vainly

pretend. And as to the Hebrew word which we render talk,it is true that it s ignifies to sprinkle , but the same word, tosprink le or drip, occurs very frequently in Holy Scripture inthe sense of to talk : and for the Christians the authority ofPagninus is sufficient, who says on this very verse of the fiftysecond of Isaiah

,he will sprinkle, that is, he wil l make to talk ;

and since Pagninus understands i t so in his Hebrew D ictionary,

g iving as an example this very verse , no further proof is re

quired ; and it is certain that when a word has two sig nifications ,

i t must be understood according to the sense of the subje ctmatte r, and in the present case i t is clearly seen that of sprinkling does no t apply.

LIII . Then thenations,wondering at the redemption of Israel,

say , Who believed our rep ort ? W ho ever imag ined, or held i t

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486 ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . z .

’

the world to be probable or possible ? But. with sti ll g reaterpropriety it can be understood in a pos it ive sense

,making it

a que st ion of surprise : who is this upon whom the arm of the

Lord was manifested and the g re ate st proofs of h is love and

omnipotence ? They mig ht we l l e xcuse this quest ion of thenat ions

,as i t could be no other than the pe ople of I srae l upon

whom the Lord many t imes said he had manife sted and wouldmanifest the strong arm of his divine power . Thus he an

nounced i t by the same Isaiah in the pre ceding chapter (verse‘Adonai hath manifested the arm Ofhis holiness in the eyes

of all the nations .

’ Then if the Lord says that he manifestedhis holy arm upon Israe l , and that all the nat ions w i ll see th is ,they had no reason to doubt it , and there is no occas ion for theque stion,

and upon whom was the a rm oj'

Adona i manifested ?

But this is more an exclamat ion of surprise than a que stion,for

when such an ex traordinary thing occurs as that of Adonai consoling his people and redeeming Jerusalem in the s ig ht of theends of the earth and under the eyes of all the nations, theyjustly burst forth into shouts of wonder

,saying , Who believed our

rep ort, and up on whom was the arm of Adona i manifested, ex

cept upon God’

s affl icted and de sp ised people , of whom we neve rheard or be lieved such happiness ? The prophe t said the same

in chapter xl . I r, describing the redempt ion of Israe l in thesewords, ‘Like a shepherd he wi ll feed his flock

,he will g ather

the lambs with his arm.

’

2The prophet compare s Israe l in his mean captive state to a

branch whose roots are in a barren g round, because there is nowater to g ive i t l ife ,

‘

whence ne cessarily all its verdure fades,its

leaves fall , and i t remains shorn of the ornament which naturegave i t, a branch whose dry roots it seems impossible can be

green ag ain and bear fruit. In this condition the Lord said bythe same Isaiah ( i . 3 0 ) that he would place Israel for its transg ressions ,

‘Yc shall be as an oak whose leaves are falling off, and

l ike a g arden that hath no water so he placed him in its cap

tivity , and from that state he wi ll rescue it at the time of the

l i i i . z .] ISAAC OROB IO on CASTRO . 4 87

redemption and Israel will rise like a shoot befo re him,and like

a root out of the arid earth. The prophe t says as a roo t out ofa dry g round, but does no t say as a dry root out of the g round,

and the difference is we l l worth considerat ion ; for it points tonothing less than the hope of Israe l , for a dry root has lost theplant

’

s vital ity, and the re is no hope o f its becoming g reen

again ; but that wh ich is in a dry g round, al though witheredand apparently dead, by the benefi cial he lp of wate r returns toits former state ; and as Israe l

,althoug h in its captivity it was

deprived of its ancient sp lendour throug h want of that special andmiraculous providence whi ch

,l ike l iving waters

,made it l ive

and fructify, was neverthe less to revive and flourish at the timeof its redempt ion,

the prophet did not cal l it a dry root, but aroot in a dry g round, of which hope never fai led that it mig htbe g reen again, and therefore it w ill come up like a branch , andlike a root out of a dry g round, when the Lord pours upon i tthe waters of his mercy, as he promised by Isaiah (xliv. 3 ,

As l ong as the Lord does no t shew th is mercy to Israel , andkeeps it in its captivity , in the barren desert of the nations

,

i t remains as a root in a dry g round ; but when his divinepower redeems i t in love

,when it re ce ive s the watering of

his p ity , i t w i l l come up l ike a g reen willow,as a branch out

of the dry g round, in which for so many centuries i t struckits roots ; and so the Lord promised by the same prophet, atxxvu . 6 , In the coming days Jacob shall take root , Israe l shal lsprout and blossom and then, coming up like a branch whichspring s again out of the g round, Israe l wi ll experience what theprophet says in lxvi. I 4 , ‘Your bones shall flourish like a shoot.’

He hath noform nor comeliness . As the branches and root ina dry g round have no form or re semblance of what they oug ht tobe or what they were , and there is no sort of beauty in them

, so

the house of Israe l in capt ivity shews nothing of what it was ,and does no t exhibi t a shadow of what i t is to be ; it s tandslike a root in a dry g round, wi thout splendour and withoutform or figure to be admired it stands divested of the beauty

488 ISAAC 0 1 1 013 1 0 or CASTRO . [lii i . z .

imparted to it by those wondrous rays of l ight which the Lordshed on it on S inai . W ith this disfigurement, with this de cayof beauty, the Lord had threatened it through Isaiah (v. I 4 ) ;hence the nations say of Israe l in its captivity and meanness

,

He ha th noform nor comeliness . Th is loss of its former beauty,through wh ich all the nations refused to re cognise it, was predicted by Isaiah (xxvii i . ‘W oe to the crown of pride ofEphraim ! its desirable beauty shal l fal l l ike a sprig : its de

sirable beauty shall be a fading flower.

’ Thus Jeremiah in hisLamentations bemoaned it (1 1 . I ) ,

‘How hath the Lord castdown from heaven to earth the beauty of Israe l !’ Thereforethe nations wi ll say , see ing Israe l in this state

,He hath noform

nor comeline ss . And we saw him,and there was no app earance

in him that we should desire him,for Israe l be ing so disfigured

as to retain not even the figure of man,his deformed and

uncome ly appearance re sembling a root in a dry g round, thenations had nothing to covet in him,

none of the nations wishedto be or even to look l ike an Israe lite ; the race of the Jewishpeople be ing offensive to all, all he ld it as the scum of mankind.

And even conve rted to their sects, the Jew lacks the esteemthat native converts gain, or which the Turks and the Moorshave for the Christians any barbarian who may choose to followthei r Koran is esteemed and raised to the highest honours, butthe Jew who embrace s the ir se ct remains always oppressed and

despised, for they desire nothing from this people , they se e no

thing in it worthy to be desired,for it has noform nor comeliness,

nay , it se ems to them wholly detestable , contemptible , and odious,an example of meanness, old ruins of a desolated edifice , a

de ce itful superstition. So the Lord said i t would be with himin his captivity, that such would be the consideration in whichhe would be held by r the nations among whom he would bescattered (Deut . xxvii i . How then in such a state wouldthe nations wish for him ? who eve r coveted desolation or a.

de solated thing ? who ever took notice of a pattern of misery ?and who ever cove ted what he he ld as falsehood and a laughing

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4 90 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [li i i . 3 .

in the sing ular as of a sing le individual . Jeremiah followedthe same s tyle (Lani . iii . I ) , calling Israe l a man in his atllie

t ions .

’ He means by suflering s those which in his wandering sthe nat ions caused him to suffe r

,both in body and in mind with

unutterable pains and affl i ctions, fulfill ing what the Lord foretold in Deute ronomy (xxvii i . 60 ,

Isaiah depi cting it in thesame way in i . 5 . And accustomed to sicknesses , used and habituated to these sufi

'

ering s and s ickne sses of reproach , miserableslave ry , and depre ss ion and it is said accus tomed, used to , becausethe se evils were no t to be short or for a l imited t ime , as the captivities under the Judg es and the Babylonian

,for they we re to be

evils and s icknesses las t ing through long centuries , so as to be toall appearance incurable . Thus the Lord predicted in Deuteronomy (xxviii . Great plague s , and of long continuance , andsore s icknesses, and of long continuance ,

’

as Israe l has had tosuffer more than two thousand years among st the nations, andtherefore it is now accustomed to troubles according ly they W i l lvery appropriate ly say that it was a people accustomed to s ickness . The prophe t Micah (vi . 1 3 ) use s this phrase in speakingof the people , ‘And also I made the e sick in smit ing the e , andin making the e desolate be cause of thy sins .

’

And he was as

one who hid his face . That is,Israe l in its captivity does no t

dare to sh ine or eve r shew h imse l f,but fearful that the more he

is se en the more he is noticed,and the less the people attend to

him the more his l ife and peace are ensured, he conceals and

h ides his face,for he would rather they should not remembe r

him,because the nations neve r mention him for his g ood, but

for his oppression,to invent new ways to increase his trouble s

and drive him to new wande ring s throughout the world withoutbe ing able to find rest among st any of the nations. Thereforethe prophe t said

,As one who hides his face , l ike a man who

in his timidity does not dare to be seen,but covers his face so as

no t to be recognised, and in his confusion withdraws from one

place to another to escape the harshness of the powerful onewho endeavours to injure him. The Lord said in Deuteronomy

l ii i . ISAAC ouome DE cs s rno . 49 1

(xxvi i i . 6 5 ) that so it would be with Israe l among st the nat ions,that in his faintheartedness he would hide himse lf, wanderingfrom one country into anothe r. There fore Israe l h ides his face

,

dare s no t appear be fore the nat ions,be cause his heart is always

in fear, e i the r because they do persecute him ,or be cause he fears

they will, even thoug h they forg e t him ,

as it is fore told in Levit-icus (xxvi . ‘And y e shal l fle e when none pursue th y ou .

’

This is what the prophet says in this ve rse,and as one hiding

hisface , always flee ing , always fearful ; he predicted the same at

i i i . 8, 9 ,

‘ Be cause the ir tong ue and the ir doing s were ag ainstAdonai, the shew of the i r countenance w itnessed ag ainst themthat is, the sins of Israe l frightened him so that he dare s no t

shew his face,whi ch is what Ezekie l predicted at vi . 9 , And they

shall be cut in the ir face s for the w ickedne sse s they committedand at vn. 1 8

,

‘And shame shall be upon all the ir face s all

which Isaiah said he re in one word,and as one who covers his

face. He says moreover,He was desp ised and we esteemed him

not ; it would se em to be one and the same th ing , because‘ despised

'

and ‘not e steemed

’

are synonymous,and there is

no difference between despis ing and no t e steeming ; but thisis no t so : the prophet expre sses very different th ing s by thosetwo terms . He means to say that no nation fe l t e steem forIsrae l

, because he was se en to be always despised by all, the

contempt whi ch he suffered from all be ing the reason for hisnot be ing esteemed by any , which is not the lot of slave s or anykind of captive s , for the se , though in another nation they suffersubje ction and slave ry

,in the i r own hold power , g overnment , and

lordship, and there they are not despised ; and as such they are

considered even when in subjection and captivity, because theybe l ong to a fre e nation and can become free again, as the Turks ,the Moors

,and othe r nations but Israe l is despised throughout

the world,because it has no dominion, power, or g overnment in any

part of it , and thus he seems to eve ry nation unworthy of the leaste steem,

every nation esteeming him of no account,be cause they

see him despised by all thus the nations will say , He was desp ised

492 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l i i i . 4 .

and we did not esteem him for since all the nations despisedhim

, there was no reason why any one should e steem him.

4 The nations confe ss a truth evident and we l l known toall : they say the people Of Israe l bore the ir s icknesses

,and

suffe red the ir suffe ring s ; the sicknesses, troubles , and suffering swhich they caused him in his captivity by the ir continued persecutions which they suffered and endured with the utmostpatience and such wonderful forbearance for so many centuries ;the nations cal l them their suffering s, their si ckne sses, as the

effe cts Of the ir harshness and hatred,in the same way as we

say in common conversation,

‘ he suffered patiently his master’sblows

,

’ ‘ the p ious man bears God'

s trials, pains, and pun ish

ments w ith patience .

’

One clearly sees that the punishment iscal led God’s

,he be ing the acting cause , for it can be God’s in

no other sense,and the blows cannot be the master’s except

in the sense that they are the effe ct Of which he is the cause .

Grammarians teach th is rule in all languag es ; and in Latinthey g ive as an example Achilles

’

wound, which may mean

e ithe r that which Achilles infl i cted or that which he re ce ivedfrom another ; so in this ve rse the nations say , he sufi red our

pains, Israel here wi th patience and endured the suffering s and

sicknesses which we harshly infl i cted on him,and which the

Lord had already many times announced to him in the sacredlaw as Deut. xxviii . 60

,

‘And he wi ll bring upon the e all the

suffering s of Eg ypt .’

The Lord says the suffering s of Egy pt,not those wh ich Egyp t suffered, for Israe l never suffered thosein his captivities , but those which Egypt brought upon the

people in the ir captivity, styl ing them ‘Of Egyp t,

’

as effects ofthat cause . Thus the nations say our sufi

’

ering s, those which theother nations caused them in the ir present captivity, just as

above those which Egypt caused the Hebrews , and they are

the irs because they are the ir own actions spring ing from the irown power and wickedness. These sicknesses and suffering swhich the nations would cause scattered and captive Israe l arespoken of in the last clause of the verse just quoted from

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494 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l ii i . 4 .

which they affi rm he had to suffer l ik e other people , and

e xplain ‘ he suffe red our suffering s, our si cknesses ,’ that is, he

had suffering s or sickne sses, hung e r and thirst l ike oursel ves , andin th is re spect he wished to he the equal of other men, thoug hhe was able

,if he wished, to e scape them. But the se doctors

do no t properly e xplain that word our, and it is not ag reeableto reason and g ood log ic to say that , because a person sufferstroubles sim ilar t o those endured by anothe r, one bears the

suffering s of another, as each one suffers what he fee ls in himse l f, or what he is caused to suffer, although the pains and

passions may be alike and of the same kind ; wherefore thisexplanation is ne ither plaus ible nor cons istent . O ther doctorsexplain this verse by saying that the Messiah suffered the s icknesses and the suffering s Of Israe l

,and this people on repentance

wil l say he endured our s icknesses and sufiering s ; this opinionis worthy of examination

,because the Me ssiah had to suffe r

e ither the pains whi ch the Jewish people deserved for their sins,or those which the same pe ople made him suffer

,for he could no t

bear or suffer the same pains and s ickne sse s which the peoplehad in themse lve s

,because it is impossible for one individual

to suffe r pain and anothe r to suffe r and be ar the very same ; itwould be ne cessary then

,if he had to suffer the pains of the

people , that they should be e ithe r those which the people deserved for the ir crime s , he taking them upon himse lf to sufferthem

,or those wh ich the pe ople infl icted on his own body , and

in e i the r case i t would be ve rifi ed that he bare the pains Of the

people . And in truth no other manne r of understanding i t isle ft , and this interpre tat ion is refuted by the ir own form ofargument , we applying it to Israe l in re lat ion to the nat ionswho afflicted him

, as they do to the Messiah in re lat ion to thepeople who was injured ; and as they explain it that the Me s

s iah suffe red the pains wh i ch the people deserved or those whichthey caused and infl i cted on his person, and there fore the Jewsw ill say our sufiering s , so we by the same form of argumentexplain it to our purpose , saying that the people of Israe l

l i i i . ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO . 495

suffered and endured the suffering s which. the nations deservedfor the i r sins

,or those which thev caused them by the ir harsh

treatment ; and they called them our because they were the

cause Of them,which is the same meaning as that of the

Christian theolog ians , chang ing only the subj e cts,they say that

the people would say our sufierang s of those wh ich the Me ss iahwould suffer, and we say that the nations wi ll say our sufi

'

ering s

for those wh i ch the people suffers in captivity ; consequently ,they can in no way oppo

'

se our interpretation w ithout first re

futing the i r own,for th is is an a rgumentum ad hominem

,wh ich

is refuting the opponent by his own reasoning . W e Observethat Nicolas de Lira and other interpreters ut te r loud excla

mations,thinking we say that Israe l bears the sins and suffe r

ing s of the nations,wishing to suffe r for them,

enduring the

penalty which they deserved, and accepting it as an atonementfor the ir own guilt, wherefore they make fine ridicule of our

doctrine but they are mistaken,be cause Israe l neve r imag ined

nor .be lieve s such a thing , or that one can atone for the sin Of

anothe r . W e only say that the nations, acknowledg ing the e rrorsin wh ich they l ived, and the truth which Israe l always professed in its wandering s , w il l say wi th humility and submission,that they deserved for the ir e rrors the troubles and punishments wh ich Israe l endured and was made to suffer , thoug hinnocent Of all the falsehoods which they charg ed them with inthe ir divine worship ; and accused by the ir own conscience theyw ill own : surely he ba re our sujfiring s and endured our sick

nesses,both those which we de served, and those we caused him

by the continued severi ty Of our perse cutions ; and we esteemed

him s tricken,smitten of God, and afilicted. The nat ions say

that Israel seemed to them to be punished by God, because theysaw him Sick

,burdened with suffering s and troubles ; and in

t ruth the nations we re no t mistaken, for so it is, and Israe l confesses throughout the world that the Lord made him a captive ,and scattered him among the nations to opprobrium,

contempt ,and affl ictions

,causing him to appear on the stag e of the world

496 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [li i i . 4 .

in the part of a man of sufiering s . But the prophe t says thatthe nations wil l understand the contrary, and w ill retract the irformer Op inion that ‘ he suffered our suffering s

’had no wider

signification ; ‘ but we e ste emed him as wounded and smittenby God ;

" that is to say , we we re mistaken, be lieving that hewas punished by God, when he bare our suffering s, our atflic

tions and wounds,which is contrary to the truth ; S ince Israe l

was wounded, smitten, and punished by God, as the nationsbe l ieved, which Op inion they had no occasion to retract ; butif we we ig h the meaning of the words , they signi fy somethinge lse quite clear and proved throughout the world, which ne ithe rthe nations wi ll deny, nor we ourse lves ig nore i t that the Lordpunished Israe l for his rebe ll ion, wounded and cast him out

throug hout the nations, affl icted him for his guilt , as a fathe rpunishes his son, that be ing corre cted Of his vices he may followthe path of virtue , and attain the perfection that the most lovingFather desires him to posse ss. But the nations did no t con

s ider Israe l to be punished as the first-born Son of God for hisfuture happiness , but wounded with a mortal incurable blow,

abandoned OfGod, stricken with the leprosy Of infidel ity towardshis Creator

,and forsaken for eve r as lost and reprobated so all

the ir authors write ; SO they preach in the ir churches ; this iswhat they throw in the face of the chi ldren of Israe l, fromthe most accomplished to the most vulgar of them, from the

wisest to the most ignorant, mocking at our hope of re covery,and holding ourwounds to be mortal . The Lord g ives the lie ‘ tothe nations

,and prepares for them disappointment and punish “

ment by the prophet Jeremiah (xxx . 1 1 concluding bycontradicting the wickedness of the nat ions and the ir false judgment : ‘For I will restore health unto thee , and I will healthe e Of thy wounds

, saith Adonai, be cause they cal led thee

outcast, S ion ’

(verse Thus the Lord promises to healIsrae l of the wounds with which he wounded him by the nationshe wil l not leave him perpe tually wounded and cast Off as im

pure and leprous for having murdered his Messiah but,on the

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498 ISAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO. [l i i i . 5 .

say , Israe l is affl icted through our revolt, crushed through our

iniquities ; our hatred and mal ice we re the cause of Israe l’smiseries

,of his g oing ill-used and crushed throughout the world.

Thus the Lord reproves the nations through the same Isaiah(i ii. ‘What mean y e that y e beat my people to p ieces, and

g rind the faces Of the poor 2’ Then in penitence the nations

will say , He was afl icted throug h our ree olt, crushed by our

iniquities, and the mal icious hatred which we here to him,wi th

out respe cting the faces of the poor or the ag ed, for althoughIsrae l is submiss ive and humble , his humi lity does no t he lp himto escape be ing persecuted and bruised by the nations. And

e ven more clearly David said SO in Psalm xciv . 5 , They breakin p ie ces thy people , Adonai , and affl ict thine heritag e and

that through the malice of nations, as he said in the pre ceding .verse ; and then he continues, ‘ They break in pie ces,

’

etc. ,

wh ich is the same as what Isaiah says, afi icted by our revolt,

crushed by our iniquities . And for the better understandingof this verse we must remark that the rebe l l ion and gui lt whichafflicted and crushed Israe l must no t be understood as a finalcause , as if it were said

,He who orders the rebe llion and guilt

Of the nations was affli cted, in order to remove or expiate themby his wounds, or by his affl ictions and troubles, but as an

efficient cause , that the guilt and rebe l lion Ofthe nations afflicted,wounded, and crushed Israe l , and in this sense i t is said, crushedby our revolt, which is the same as to say , by our iniquitiesand wickedness we crushed him ; an ordinary way Of speakingin all languag es, as if any one should complain and say , By the

wickedness and iniquity of the witnesses I find mysel f imprisoned, wounded, and affl icted ; no one will understand it to beto atone for the iniquity Of the witnesses, but that they are the

efficient cause Of his troubles ; so the nations say that be causeof the ir wickedness and gui lt Israe l was crushed, tormented.and persecuted. This form of expre ssion is very common in HolyW rit : Numbers xvi. 2 6 wi ll suffice as an example, in whichpassage it is very clear that they had not to die for the sins of

l iii . ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. 499

those criminals,as a final cause to atone fdr them

,but as the

cause or occasion Of the ir death . Isaiah says the same in the

name of the nations : through our s ins and malice the peopleof Israe l suffered the ir calamities ; and thus Ar ias Montanusunderstood it in his interlinear Latin translation

, whe re heexpresses the revolts and iniquities as the ag ent after the

pass ive voice , just as when we say the world was createdby God, God is the acting cause ; SO he says

,using the same

g rammatical form,was crushed by our iniquities, wherefore the

iniquit ies are the efficient cause ; and the Latin he uses can

admit of no other sense than that the nations will acknowledg ethat the ir rebe ll ion and iniquities were the occasion and the

cause why Israe l should suffer such oppressions, miseries, and

troubles . The punishmen t of our peace was up on him. AriasMontanus translate s it, ‘ The punishment of our pacificationswas upon him,

’

be cause the Hebrew word is in the plural number and he interprets i t ve ry we ll in this way , particularlybecause th is word not only means peace as Opposed to war, bute very kind of g ood, quiet , security, mental enj oyment

,and g ene

ral prosperity . David, in Speaking Of the end Of the righteousman

, says in Psalm xxxvii . 3 7, Mark the perfect man, and beholdthe upright , for the end of each is peace so Isaiah calls reposeand quiet p eace, promising it to his people in xxxii . 1 7. Amongother thing s which the nations wil l confe ss

,se e ing how un

justly they persecuted Israe l , they wi ll say , The punishment ofour p eace was up on him our peace , our prosperity, was alwaysa punishment for Israe l, the effe cts, the fruits of our g reatnessand sovere ignty, and the prosperity Of our monarch ies were forthat people only punishments and perse cutions , and as Montanusreads, ‘

Our pacifications’ or the happinesses which we enj oyed

brought upon Israe l punishments, affl ictions,and the g reatest

misfortunes indeed this clause admits Ofno other interpretation,because it says the punishment of our p eace ; and there is nopunishment for peace , because it is not a vice or crime thatdeserves punishment ; on the contrary , i t is in every sense a

K k z

5 00 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [li i i . 5 .

blessing which God g rants to men ; punishment for war i f itwere unjust might be said appropriately, but punishment forpeace would be very improper ; it is therefore necessary tounderstand it in reference to another individual who is injured,for the peace of one s ide causes misfortune to the other, as ifwe said, the punishment of the peace of Eng land was uponFrance , because the consequence of that peace was losses to theother kingdom ; thus the nations say the punishment of our

p eace, of our prosperity, was upon that peop le all our pacifi

cations and states of happ iness resulted in captivity, banishment

,and severe punishments for Israe l . That the nat ions wi ll

say th is with all reason and truth,and that it was always just as

they confess is we ll known to all those who are not ignorantOf divine and human history. Thus when Sennacherib, theking of Media, prospered, extending the l imits of his kingdom through Persia as far as Syria, his peace and g reatne sswere a punishment to the ten tribes which Shalmanez er carriedaway captive ; when the Chaldeanmonarchy prospered, Nebu

chadnez z ar took Judah captive , transferred the people to Babylon, and conve rted Jerusalem and its sacred temple into ashes ;in the prosperity of the Persian monarchy, although the re

building Of the temple and Of the holy city was begun by orderof Cyrus

,the work was sadly stopped, be ing hindered by his

son Cambyses at the request Of the ne ighbouring nations ; and

as long as th is empire lasted the Holy Land suffered unspeakable Oppressions and miseries ; while the Gre ek empire prospered, its peace was a punishment to Israe l, his troubles be ingmultiplied unti l the imp ious Antiochus, who blasphemouslytried to put an end to the observance of the divine law, pro

faned the sacred temple and led into captivity a g reat numberOf Israelite s ; and no king Of that t ime enjoyed peace, tranquillity, and prosperous circumstances who did not turn his

scourg e ag ainst the people of God to afflict them ; and lastly,the Roman empire , wh ich beg an with g entleness, protestingfriendship to the Jewish people while it was in the beg inning

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5 02 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO.

conquered, including last of all even the kingdom of Granada, allSpain be ing thus left under one monarch, who was Ferdinandthe Catholic, at that very same instant when be conqueredGranada, he made the decree on the fie ld Ofbattle by which theJews

,who had helped him wi th the i r wealth for that and his

other conquests, were to depart at a short notice as ex iles fromthe kingdom, some of them abandoning the divine law throug h

’

want Of means or courag e to g o abroad, others departing fortroubles , death, and dishonour throughout the world ; Spainwas prosperous, became g reat , enjoyed the peaceable possess ionof all her kingdoms, and the punishment of her peace was uponIsrael . Twenty thousand famil ies passed over into Portugal ,and were rece ived by king Don Juan III on payment of a larg esum Of money Of which he stood in need for his fore ign con

quests. Don Manue l was his he ir, conquered many kingdomsin the Indies, increased his kingdom by the marriag es and '

peaces with Castile , and with the riches of the East enj oyedpeaceably the g reatest tranquill ity ; but the punishment of hispeace fe ll upon Israe l, whom, as soon as he was prosperous, heinhumanly banished from his kingdoms, practis ing the noterious tyrannies which are narrated in his L ife and Deeds by

Osorio,bishop of S ilves in Algarve , taking from them with

barbarous crue lty the ir own innocent children,forcing those

who had no time to embark to be come Christians, and in defaultimpiously declaring them slaves

,as if he had conquered them

in leg itimate war. Yet war was not the cause of the miseriesOf the people , but the peace which the Lord in his just judgment granted him in his k ingdoms was a punishment uponIsrael . In short

,the nations never flourished in prosperity and

peace without that peace proving a punishment for the peopleof God and this is what Isaiah means in thi s verse , that theundece ived nations wil l say the punishment of our p eace wasupon him,

because our happiness, our peace , always proved tobe miserable punishment upon Israe l ; when the Lord de l iveredhim

, for his sins , into our hands, we impiously treated him as a

l i i i . ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . 5 03

s lave , using our prosperity to his damag e ; about which thesame Isaiah reproves them (xlvi i . ‘ Thou didst shew themno mercy

, upon the ag ed thou didst heavily lay thy yoke .

’

And by his wounds we were healed. Certainly the divineprophe t used a very subtle figure Of rhetori c in this ve rse

,which

consists in turning the propos ition by another contrary ; thepre ceding clause said, that the nations wil l say , our prosperity,our peace , was a punishment to Israe l ; and then he converts i t :and the wounds or punishment of Israe l wi l l be for us peace ,we lfare , and happiness ; our peace caused him punishment,s ickness

,and wounds ; and his wounds will cause us comfort

and health ; he was wounded for our peace , and we are healedthrough his wounds ; and thus he says

,The p unishment of our

p eace was upon him,and through his wounds we were healed.

The prophe t says that h'

om the troubles of Israe l health resultedto the nations, and so they themse lve s wi ll Confess : he does notmean to say that Israe l by his captivity w i ll make expiationfor the S ins of the nations, as the Christian doctors say and im

pute to us, for our captivity is for our own s ins,not for those of

the Gentiles ; but we also understand that Israe l bearing patientlythis painful captivity, and remaining firm in the divine faithand law of God, prepares himse lf for and makes himse lf worthyOf the universal redemption for which he hopes, to which the

infini te mercy Of the Lord wi l l contribute much more than our

own merits ; and we know,from the teach ing of Holy W rit,

that from these troubles and suffering s g oodw ill result -not onlyfor Israe l, but also for many nations

, who wi ll parti cipate inthe happ iness Of God’s people at that happy time , when theywil l be cured of the ir defiling si ckness Of idolatry

,as Isaiah has

said (i i . I 7, 1 8 , xlv. the nations wi l l be cured of the irenvy , their hatred, and the ir vain covetousness, enj oying perpetual tranquill ity and perpe tual peace , be ing united in one

cheerful worship of God and mutual love . This health the

Lord promises the nations at the time of the redemption ofIsrae l by the same prophet (n. Such is the health the nations

5 04 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . 6 .

will obtain when they turn humbly to the i r Creator, and recoverfrom the ir Gentile rebe ll ion, with which for so many centuriesthey pe rse cuted I srae l , Obl ig ing him to transg ress the divinelaws

,and to profane the days whi ch the divine Majesty wished

should be consecrated to his honour ; recove ring from this restlessness, they will pass into the happy extreme of health, as

Isaiah prophesied in his last chapter (verse and as the Lordpremises by Zechariah (xiv . I 6) . This is the health that thenations will enjoy at the redemption of Israe l this is the fruitthat the p ious of them w il l gather from the troubles and woundswhich he suffered in his capt ivity , from the patience with whichhe endured his suffering s and sicknesses for so long a t ime ; andthen they wil l say , Our tranquil l ity, our peace , was for hispunishment, and his wounds were in order that at the time ofhis redemption we might be j ointly purified of our uncleanness.

And this the nations will confess , saying , The punishment of 0

p eace was upon him,and through his wounds we were healed.

5 The nations continue the ir confession, and say that theyall went astray like Sheep, and followed the i r own ways l ikestrayed sheep which , be ing lost, follow different paths, g ettingfar away from the ir flock and from the true track which theyought to have followed to g o to their Shepherd ; thus the nationsconfess that they went far astray from the path of truth , deviating through different tracks, divided into various se cts , and following forms Of idolatry and superstition not commanded by theirCreator ; the nations do not say that they sinned

,but that they

went astray, because they intended to re fer to the vanity of thefal se worships which they followed ; and so

, although on re

penting they confess the ir weakness , if they do not exculpatethemse lves, at least they endeavour to defend themse lves on the

plea of ignorance ; they say that they erred,bel ieving that they

were right ; and indeed the pious among the nations would nothave followed the evil path had they been well informed of theright one , and even some of the imp ious would no t have persistedin the ir errors had they been sure they we re in error. Thus

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5 06 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l i i i . 6.

Buxtorfand Cocceius in the ir dictionaries . If this is g ranted,the nations say that the Lord desired that the ir iniqui ty andmalevolence should fall upon Israe l to destroy him,

and afte rwardsafflict him in his captivity ; in this same sense the Septuag intrenders it

,And de l ive red them up to the wickedness of us all

,

’

which is equivalent to saying that he exposed him to the attackof our wickedness, to suffer its crue lty ; and so it is fulfilled inthat people, on whom the malignity and mortal hatred of all thenations fal l and make the ir attack , causing him ex ile , death ,and every kind of misery. Therefore the meaning of the wholeverse is as follows : All we went astray , each nation followingpaths far distant from God’

s way , be ing divided into varioussects, from which resulted detestation and abomination of Israel ,because he persevered in the divine law which his forefathersprofessed ; but notwithstanding this, that we were in e rror andhe was right in the true worship, stil l, in his divine judgment, .he permitted the iniquity and malevolence of our e rrors to beemployed against Israe l , fall ing upon and attacking him withall possible means to ruin him

,and caused the sin of us all to

fal l upon or attack Israe l . But it might be obje cted to thisinterpretation of this verse , that it seems inconsistent that thewickedness of the nations should fal l upon Israe l to injure him,

and that they should confe ss it to be so, and say at the same

time that the Lord desired it to be so,and that lie caused the ir

s ins and wickedness to fall upon Israel . But this is no incons istency, but a part of the divine e conomy which the majestyof God has always followed in the g ove rnment of his creatures,making the sins of the one to be instruments for the punishment of the other ; y et he who is God

’

s instrument is not the refore acquitted of sin. Pharaoh and his people were an instrument with which God affl icted Israe l God ordered that Josephshould be sold by his brethren, as he himse lf ,told him afterJacob’s death, that for the ir g ood the Lord sent him th ither ;but the bre thren were not acquitted of the ir sin. God punishedDavid, using Absalomas his instrument to afflict him, but Absalom

l i ii . ISAAC onomo DE CASTRO. 5 07

smned gr ievously in perse cuting David. Nebuchadnezzar wasGod's instrument for the destruction of Jerusalem and her

people but God says that he would severely punish Nebuchadnez z ar for having executed th is punishment. God avails himself of the wickedness of one man to punish the sins of another,and the man uses his free -w ill in be ing wicked, and w ilfullyincurs the sin of injuring another ; for God oblig es no one

to be wicked,nor takes away from him his l iberty to be g ood ;

only God, knowing that one man will spontaneously be wickedand crue l against another, permits it to be so , and makes useof the spontaneous wi ckedness of that man for the necessarypunishment of him who deserves it. This is what the nationswill say , that the Lord wished to mak e use of the ir s ins and

wickedness, setting them against Israe l, as an instrument to punishand afflict him

, as he made use of the iniquity of Pharaoh and

Nebuchadnezzar to punish the crimes of his people , and so he

threatenedby the same Isaiah (ix. 1‘AndAdonaiwill streng then

the adversaries of Re zin against him,and j o in his enemies tog e

ther, Aram on the east,and the Philistines on the west, and

they shall swallow Israe l with open mouth which means thatthe Lord would make use of all these hosti le nations to ventthe ir hatred and iniquity upon Israe l and worry and destroyhim

,as they did in the past and present captivity, at the end

of which the nations wil l acknowledg e and confess this , saying ,‘And Adonai made our iniquity to fal l upon him ; he was

oppressed and afflicted and did not open his mouth ; he wascarried l ike a lamb to the slaughter-house , and l ike a sheep be forethe shearer he was dumb and did no t open his mouth .

’

Afterhaving re lated this confe ssion, the nations owning the injusticewith which they treated Israe l, the prophet g oes on to describethe suffering s and immense patience of the people in the ir captivity , and foretel the ir future happ iness ; and beg inning withth is verse, he says

,He was oppressed and afflicted

,but for al l

this he did not open his mouth ; although continual ly perseouted, afflicted, exiled, and treated worse than the vilest slaves,

5 08 ISAAC OROBIO DE casrao . [l i i i . 8 .

Israe l never attempted his own defence , or took courag e tores ist his injurie s

,conscious that his own transg re ssions and

s ins he ld his hands t ied up, and that the nations would neve rhave been able to injure him i f the Lord in his divine justicehad not ceased to protect him ag ainst them as he did before ,and holding be fore his mind

’

s eyes God’s predictions in his lawfore te lling the Oppressions of this captivity (Deut . xxxi . I 7,

xxxn. This be ing known to Israe l , he suffered w ithoutse eking means of de fence , and never opened his mouth on the

contrary, he was humble l ike a lamb at the slaughter, and likea sheep before its shearer, suffering death w ith ignominy and

amid the impre cations of the populace , los ing l iberty, property ,and even his own ch ildren at the hands of tyranny. So Isaiahexpresses it in this verse , and before him David had said i t inthe same words (Psalm xl iv. 1 2 ,

8 From restraint and judgment he was taken, etc. Arias

Montanus translate s , He was taken away from confinement ,understanding i t of incarceration ; the version of the LXXsays from opposition,

that is,from oppression, distress ; but

other Christian doctors we ll versed in the holy languag e , as

Cocceius in his Hebrew D ictionary, translate wi th ful l proprietyfrom power, because the Hebrew word which we render res traintproperly signifies p ower, reign,

domination, as Buxtorf explainsi t : and th is is clearly seen from the sacred text . In I Sam.

ix . I 7, Speaking of Saul , the Lord makes use of the same word,

‘ This same shall re ig n over my people and in Judg . xvii i . 7,He who should possess power or command,

’

the same word isused as here employed by the prophet , which can be also ren

dered restraint,as the king restrains his subj e cts within the

l imits of the laws. And so we Shal l translate no t only in ag re ement w ith the truth and propriety, but also supported by theinterpretation followed by the Christian doctors : He was re

moved from the kingdom and judgment ; that is to say , theytook from him the power and k ingdom of Israe l, and the judi,cial power or g overnment which be administered for himse l f,

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5 1 0 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . 8 .

to the number of the children Of Israe l .’ This is what the pro

phet says, that Israe l outside the land of the living ,

wh ich isthe land of Israel, disposse ssed of his kingdom and jurisdic

tion or g overnment , scattered like a vile slave among the nations,must necessarily fai l to gain that ce lebrity and estimation whichhis illustrious g ene ration or orig in deserves ; no one wil l speakof it to honour it ; on the contrary , they wil l se ek in it whatthey can find to despise , and say , that the natural race of Israe lWas never held in estimation by the Lord his God, nor de servesto be he ld so by men; that another spiritual Israe l , composedof the nations themse lves, is the be loved of God,

and the one

worthy to have his g eneration ce lebrated and proclaimed, notthat of the Israe l they call carnal , as be ing the true and realsuccessor of Jacob, for this g eneration has been for many cen

turies condemned and reje cted by God. This forms the com

p laint Of the prophe t, that Israe l in his dispersion and slaverywil l have no one to ce lebrate his g enerati on, but only to re

proach and despise it : And who will declare his g enera tion ?as if to say , None of the nations

,since none of them will hold

i t in estimation. That by the land Ofthe l iving the land of Israe lis meant , is clear from Holy Scripture , e . g . Psalm xxvii . 1 3 ,

l i i . 7 , cxvi . 9 , cxli i . 6 ; and still more Clearly Ezekie l xxvi .20 , where , the Lord speaking against Tyre , who g rew proudagainst Jerusalem,

the prophe t threatens Tyre w ith de structionand ruin from the king of Babylon, but that J erusalem wouldreturn in future time to her former splendour, calling her ‘ the

land of the l iving . And in xxxu. 2 3 he prophesies ag ainstPharaoh, the king Of Eg ypt, and all his people , that they wi llbe killed and destroyed for the injuries which they infl icted on

Jerusalem,Be cause they caused terror in the land of the l iving

and he repeats the same phrase in many of the following verses ;so Isaiah says here

,For he was cut of from the land of the

living , Israe l was driven out of Jerusalem and every part ofthe Holy Land which is styled the land of the living , becauseIsrae l l ived in i t a spiritual life through the special assistance

l i i i . ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . 5 1 1

of the Lord, who breathed his divine Spi rit upon that peoplethrough the sacrifices

,and on departing from i t he finds him

se lf deprived of that influence , that special connexion with hisCreator , and consequent ly of that spiritual l ife which he thenenj oyed, and to which he now aspires by observing the divinelaw

,although with g reater difficulty and more imperfe ctly,

through lacking that l ife or influence which he enjoyed in the

land Of the l iving , in his own holy country.

For the transg ression of my p eop le was he wounded. W e

might we l l translate , follow ing the true meaning of the Hebrewword

,they were wounded [l iterally wound to them], and not he

,

for it is really in the plural and no t in the singular, as the

Christians translate it,in orde r to apply this and the whole

chapter to a sing le individual,the Messiah . But those o f

them who understand the sacred languag e wi ll know themse lvesthat it is plural and must be read they were wounded, whichwould leave no doubt that the whole of the chapter refers toIsrae l but as on doctrinal g rounds they cannot understand it so ,but only as the Gospe l requires, they are oblig ed to take i t s ingular

, althoug h the word really requi re s the'

plural number they ;and seeking for some example in Holy Scripture to defend thatinte rpretation,

they avail themse lve s of the verse of the prophe twhich says

,They made idol and bowed down to it (Is . xliv .

The re the word to it is the same as the word to them in our

chapter, and therewith they think they have proved the ir Obje ct ,that is , that although it always has a p lural import, i t can sometime s be translated singular, as in the text adduced

,where i t

cannot be rendered to them,since i t says idol in the s ingular,

and it would not be g ood g rammar to say ,‘ he made an ido l

and bowed down to them,

’

but to it, in accordance w ith the

number . But they cannot escape in this way , for even in the

quoted passag e they must render, ‘ they made idol and boweddown to them,

’

want Of numerical concord being a veryfrequent style in Holy Scripture , just as it is many timessaid

,

‘and all Israe l assembled themselves ,

’ instead of saying

5 1 2 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . 8 .

himself,‘and all the people they said,’ ‘ thy pe op le they all

saints,

’

whi le in strict g rammar ough t to say he‘all saint .’

This takes place when the noun does not imply a singular ohjcet, but a collection or multitude of obj e cts , even when in thes ingular form, as p eop le, Isra el, and s imilar words, which , thoughs ingular, imply a mul titude ; so in our verse it is said, ‘ theymade idol although it is true that idol is in the singular,y et i t still denotes a multitude , every k ind of idol , just as

when God says , ‘thou shalt make no idol for thysel f, ’ we must

not understand mere ly one in the singular, but the whole colleetion and every kind of idol ; and in the verse which they alleg ei t is not said that they made any particular idol , but that theymade idol , ’ that is, that they fe l l into the sin Of idol-making ,no t one only but many, ‘

and they bowed down to them.

’Accord

ing ly it is always true that the Hebrew word (lama) is plural,and means to them

,and therefore the verse we are explaining

wil l say they were wounded ; for although it had before Spokenof the people in the singular , now it says in the plural they ,which happens at every turn in Holy Scripture ; and by translating i t so

,it becomes quite Clear that the nations Speak of

Israe l and not of any particular individual . But it does no t theleast affe ct the interpretation of the verse whether it says theywere or he was wounded ; and we shall continue to rende r ithe was wounded, that it may no t appear to offer any difficultyto the sense in which we explain the chapte r, in which the

nations say all that we have stated and explained in the precedingverses from the first , Who believed our rep or t ? to the s ixth

,

which concludes , and Adonai caused the sin or iniquity of us

a ll tofall up on him. Up to th is point the nations make the irconfession,

but in the remainde r of the chapter they are no

l ong er introduced, and the prophe t alone speaks , p itying the

miserie s of the people , and saying thing s which the nationscould never have said or meant at the time of the redemption,some be ing matters wh ich they never heard of or understood

,

others absolutely prophetical , as the last ,verses (I o , I I , and

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5 1 4 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO. [l i i i . 9 .

before the eyes of the nati ons , as he said by Isaiah (i . Theyhave forsaken Adonai , they have provoked the Holy One ofIsrae l unto ang er, they are g one away backward. Why should

y e be stricken ? wi l l y e revol t more and more ? The wholehead is sick ,

and the whole heart faint . From the sole Of the

foot even unto the head there is no soundness in i t,but wounds,

and bruises, and putrifying sores ; they have no t be en

Such is the condition to which Isaiah says the Lord wouldreduce his people for its rebe l l ion,

and so he is represented bythe nations in this chapte r and in the same words ; thereforeno doubt is left that I srae l is the subject of whom they speak ;and the prophet repeats the same thing speaking Of the same

people , and re capitulate s in the fifty-third chapter what he

had said in the first,when he says

,And for the rebellion of my

p eop le he was wounded,or they we re wounded

,which is the

‘

same ; he, speaking of Israe l col le ctive ly, they , distribut ive ly,the individuals forming the people . The prophe t calls himmy , e ither in the name of the Lord

,who never ceased to cal l

Israe l my p eop le, even when least obedient, and when his divineMaje sty was most irritated by his excesses ; or the prophe tspeaking in his own name

,who in his love and sympathy for his

bre thren even considers it an honour to call them his people ,just as the Lord

,on the occas ion of the sin of the g olden calf,

speaking to Moses , said, ‘ Thy people hath s inned,

’

thus inculcating that, although Israe l may Sin

,no one should think hims

se lf dishonoured by acknowledg ing him as his own people , sinceGod himse l f does not de spise him,

but,on the contrary , tenderly

caresses him,saying ,

‘0 my people , what have I done untothee ? and where in have I afflicted thee ? answe r me .

’ Isaiahwas we l l acquainted with this teaching , and there fore says , Forthe rebellion ofmy p eop le, for although sinful and rebe llious, heis still my people , and the re is none other under heaven withwhom I can be honoured.

9 The prophet says that Israe l re ce ived three punishmentsat the hands of the nations

, the deprivation of his power or

l ii i . ISAAC onosio‘

C ASTRO? 5 1 5

k ingdom,of the jurisdiction and g overnment which God had

Inst ituted for himwhi le.

in . the dese rt , and exil e from the holylan l among the na t ions ; he say s that he Je t i

'

r In l‘

n '

land of t '

e living , and then follows the state in wh im l sxae l

will remain among the nations . He was ne cesSai ily dead“

among st them, since h e had been cast out of the land of the '

l iving , be ing d eprived of that spiritual l ife which he enj oyedthrough the divine influence , as W e have stated above . And as

death is followed by . burial , so' Israe l dying among the nat ions

is buried among them.

'

Therefore the prophet says, that be ingexiled from the land of the l iving , he gave or made his g rave

’

among st the wicked, he was deprived of that spiritual l ife and

buried among st the nations. And the Lord has said by the

prophe t Ezekie l (xxxvn. I I - I 4), that the house of Israe l outside the holy country is to be considered dead and buried ; inthis passag e the Lord very clearly says

,that Israe l be ing up

‘

rooted from the holy land is dead and buried among the nations;that it has lost its l ife be cause i t has g one forth from the landof the l iving , that he will bring them out of the g raves whichhe made among st the w icked of the nations

,and will re store

him to the holy land, to l ive ag ain no t only the natural but alsothe Spiritual life by means of his divine inspiration which he”communicate s in the land ‘

of the l iving there fore he conclude s,

‘ And I wi ll put 1i Spirit in y ou and y e shal l l ive I wil lbreathe On y ou that g rac

’

ious o influence which vivified yourparents , that y e ’may l ive . According ly Isaiah in this versesays nothing different

‘

from what the Lord say s by Ezekie l, butthe same thing in almost the same words , B ecause he was up

rooted from the land of the living , he made with the wiched (thatis

,with‘

the nations) his g rave, which the Lord promises to openand restore ‘ him to the

'

land of Israe l that he may live .And with the rich in his deaths . W e ll might Israe l, had no t

his s ins been so enormous,be buried among the nations,~being

d eprived. of that sp iritual life‘

which he before possess ed in his

c ountry, without suffering o ther. bodily tor‘

ments .which contiL l z

5 1 6 ISAAC OROBIO ms CASTRO. [liii. q.

nually harass him in his exile ; but he provoked the wrath ofhis Creator

,and so he dete rm ined not only to deprive him of

that spiri tual l ife , but also to g ive him up to corporal torm entsand miseries, which he was to suffe r at the hands of the powerful among the nations ; and therefore he says no t only that as

dead he made his g rave with the w icked, but also with the

powerful in his deaths, that is , his troubles and calamit ies,no t only the dea ths which that people has suffered throug hthe crue lty and tyranny of those who rule over him throughout the world, but also other innumerable evils sometime s

more painful than death itse lf. He says the rich, which in the

holy languag e is the same as powe rful : and so the Christiandoctors interpret it, and put the word in the s ingular, the richone instead of the rich ones , adopt ing this idiom of the holy lang uag e , the use of one number for the other. The literal meaningOfthe whole verse then is

,that Israe l be ing deprived of his king

dom,of his g overnment, of his home

,in the holy land

,would be

deprived of the spiritual l ife that there was communi cated tohim

, and as dead would make his g rave among the wicked, whoare the nations of the earth , suffering at the same time the

deaths , vexations, and tyrannies of the powerful of this ag e ,

until the time of his redemption arrives ; and so he says, He

made his g rave with the wicked, and with the rich in his deaths ;a lthough he dealt not fa lsely and there was no deceit in hismouth. The prophet said in the preceding verse that Israe lsuffered the crue l wound of captivity for his iniquity and re

be ll ion,and now he says in this ve rse that he did not act

false ly,and there was no de ce it in his mouth, which appears

contradictory,as at the same time he condemns and acquits

him,de clares his innocence and accuses him of crime : but it

is no t so ; the divine Spirit affirms both without any shadowof inconsistency ; he first Cons idered Israe l with respect to God,

whom be offended by his ing ratitude for his mercies and won'

de iful acts of kindness, and Israe l dese rved the crue l wound ofthe nat ions for that crime of ing ratitude and rebe l lion ; therei

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ISAAC 01 1 9 131 0 jDE CASTRO, [liiig 9 ;

prophet . says, that Israe l being buried among st the nations bydivine judgment , suffered the vexations , injuries, and oppre s

s ions of the mighty, and they heaped upon his head charg es andcrimes which he neve r imag ined, with the obje ct of destroy inghim, and this a lthoug h he di dn ) t de

'

alfa lse ly , and there was no

deceit in his mouth. Hence the solut ion is Obtained to the difficulty proposed, name ly

,in considering Israe l g uil ty with reg ard

to the divine justice, but innocent with reg ard to the wickedne ss of the men who unjustly persecuted him.

The nations lay g reat stress upon this verse , endeavouringto prove that th is chapte r must not and cannot be understoodof the people of God, but of some person who is sinless ; as itcannot be tr uly affirmed of Israe l in his capt ivity or before it ,that he neve r acted false ly, and there

'

was no deceit in his

month ,since he sinned from his ve ry orig in, and at all times com

mitted eve ry kind of sin which attends human frailty ; and so

far from Israe l be ing able to deny this truth,he clearly cona

fesses it, imploring God’

s mercy for his crimes , which cast himforth into captivity , and stil l keeps him in it ; but i f the wisemen of the nations wo uld consult the Holy Scriptures, theywould find a very clear answer to the ir arg ument w ithout anydifficulty be ing le ft ; and they ought to find

‘

no difficulty in our

own explanation, since long before David said the same th ingand with the same form of words as Isaiah uses here

,David

speaking distinctly of Israe l scattered and captive among thenations in Psalm xliv, where, after cel ebrating the mercy whichin former t imes the Lord shewed to his people , he describes themiseries to which he abandoned him for his sins

,and in the

Sixte enth and fol lowing verses he clearly affirms that the people ,be ing punished by God through the instrumentality of thenations, v indicate s i tse l f, saying , that it had not dealt falsely inthe divine cove nant , it had not deviated from the paths of rig hte ousncss , nor had its heart de clined from the divine worship.Then

,if David speaks so , cannot the same truth issue from the

mouth o fDavid as from the, pen of Isaiah ? If David says that,

l iii . g .] t ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO: 5 1 9

Israe l did not deal false ly or dece itfully in the covenant, will

no t Isaiah be right in saying that the re was no falseness inIsrae l nor dece i t in his mouth ? And the wise men of thenat ions do no t dissent from this truth when they explain thisPsalm xl iv. of the present captivity of Israe l by the Romans

,

as Nicolas de Lira explains i t in his commentary . S ti ll it isne ce ssary to know in what sense David and Isaiah justify thepeople of Israe l ; Since he is a sinner and punished by God forhis transg ressions , no one excuses him for the sins that usual lyfollow our frail ty , and the incl ination of our material appe titesindeed these s ins never led the nations to punish and persecuteIsrae l ; they do no t despise and abominate him as robbe r

,traitor

,

homic ide,or for any othe r similar crime

,but for his constant

observance of the divine law ,which in the i r hatred they style .

Jewish obstinacy, because he always scorned the i r divinities,and

be cause he holds as profane what they venerate as divine . SO

Pliny says (xxiii .‘The Jews are a perverse nation

,and re

markable for the ir contempt of the g ods and Tacitus says,

All that other nations hold divine , they count profane .

’ It isfor th is reason that all the nations raise the ir scourg e against .

Israe l,the Moors , Turks , Persians, Arabs, and othe r nat ions , and

all be cause he does no t cease to observe , as far as time and placein his Captivity allow it , the divine Law which he re ce ived on

S inai : all concur in saying that Israe l is sacrileg ious, that hefalsifies it, that it is no t perpetual , that it is now abrog ated as

use less, Obsolete,and deadly : but Israe l scorns persuasions ,

dang ers, death , and contempt, for the sake of obeying and.

Oh

serving it , becaus e it is perpetual and inde structible in Spite of allhuman violence . The nations abominate this truth , and for it theyabhor and perse cute Israe l . So David say s in his Psalm,

and

Of this he complains to God in the name of the people , that thenations destroy, sco'rn

, and even murder him, for his havingremained constant in the knowledg e and true worship of his“

Cre ator, without de cl ining to the paths Of the Gentiles, or following thei r intricate w inding s ; that:therefore he was slaugh

s

5 20 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [li i i . no:

tered l ike a lamb ; he does no t deny having committed others ins , but says that he has been insulted by all the nations simplyfor fol lowing the divine truth th is is exact ly what Isaiah saysin this ve rse

,that the People was persecuted by the nations,

because he dea lt notfalsely ,and there was no deceit in his mouth :

all the dece its and falsehoods that the nations imputed to himagainst the sacred rel ig ion which he professes by the eterna lcommand, were pre texts of the malevolence '

Of the Gentiles toruin him and blot out his memory be cause all that he said, allthat be affirmed, in support of the Observance of his re lig ion,was holy, true , pure , and derived from that same spring fromwhich he drank in S inai ; and guided by its l ight he dealt notfalsely , and there was no deceit in his mouth

, as the prophetsays in this verse .

1 °But Adonai was p leased to bruise him , etc. The prophetanswers an impl ied quest ion which the preceding ve rse mig htsugg est to the mind ; then, i f Israe l is innocent, if there wasno dece it in his mouth , why did the nations seek such pretextsto depreciate and de stroy him ? How can i t be consistent tosay in the preceding verse that Israe l suffered his wounds forhis rebe llion

,and then immediately after to

'

say that he didno t deal false ly, and there was no dece i t in his mouth

,but that

the wil l of God was p leased to punish him,whereas the r ighteous .

ness of divine justice , which is God’

s g oodness i tse lf, does not

permit that there shal l be punishment without fault , or thatinnocence should suffer ? And i f in his rig hteous judgmentshe permits i t for some g ood end, which we cannot fathom,

is

not permitting it the same as desiring it ? But the prophe tsays that Adonai was pleased to bruise him, and that he shouldsuffer punishment from the nations, notwithstanding that he didnot deal false ly , and there was no dece it in his mouth . But

,if

the words of the prophe t are properly considered, he says a verydifferent thing : we stated before that Israe l is innocent withrespect to the nations, be cause he never acted violently to them,

for the Hebrew word which we translate falsely means that,

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5 22 ISAAC -

”

OROBIO “

DE'

C ASTRO. [l i i i . To:

his faults h e migh t return into the -

g race of the Lord his God,and secure the wonderful favours wh i ch are promised in this

,

vei se and those which follow as far as the end of the chapter ;there fore he says

,If he oy

'

er his soul in atonement he shall see

Seed,shall p rolong his day s , and the will q donai sha ll prosp er

in his hand ; that is, i f he expose his l ife to dang ers in atonement for his Sins

,he shal l se e se ed

,e tc. God commands I srae l

in his divine law to love him with all his hem and with all his

soul and wi th all his substance,which is to love the Lord more

than one’s own soul,and what is more than l iving in such away ,

that out of love to him man should not hesitate to sacrifice hissoul

,his l ife

, should it be required, for the g lory and honourof his holy name . In th is man’

s highest perfe ction consists ,in loving his Creator more than his own ex istence , his Own l ife ;On this love obedience to the divine law and its precepts depends, for if man bears God all the love he owes him,

he w i llrather die than disobey him.

The prophet then says,that God having punished Israe l for his

disobedience, and bruised and weakened him among the nations ,

i f he wil l offer his soul in atonement for his sins, if he wi l lreturn to love him w ith all his heart and with all his soul,despising his own soul

,which is his own l ife , to love and Obey

him,despising for his g lory and honour all the dang e rs and

injuries from the nations,he w il l be favoured of God

,he wil l

return into the divine favour as before , and God wi l l fulfil tohim the promise wh ich he gave in Deuteronomy (chap. xxx),And thou shalt return and obey the voice of Adonai , and doallh is commandments which I command thee this day ; for Adonai'

wi l l ag ain rej oice ove r thee for g ood, as he rej oiced ove r thyfathers , ’ wh ich is the same as what the prophet says

,If he g ive

his soul in a tonement he sha ll s ee seed; He says, If he g ivein a tonement

,wh i ch would se em to be spoken conditionally and

with doubtfulne ss,

—if Israe l will do SO,or do the contrary, and

that he promises him the consequent favours only on a coni‘.d ition. But this is -no c ondition. wh i ch «leaves the ‘

- consequence

V D a U Cl ! J J M b l ll) M A O

,p v u u A l l LJACI,

are infall ibly to be , and this too in the case of acts dependingon man

’

s fre e wi ll . Fo r al though our Lord in his absolutew isdom knows what man will do of his free accord

, and how

his own w il l wil l incl ine him,st ill he doe s no t obl ig e or force

him, nor is God

'

s knowledg e the cause of what man chooses,although he cannot fail to choose what the Lord already knows ,be cause his w isdom cannot err. Therefore

,al though he knows

what man will do , sti ll he says , if thou do so and so ; but he

cannot fai l or omit to do so . This is clearly shewn in Deuteroh omy (xxx.

i

where i t is said absolute ly that Israe l w il l turnfrom his iniqui ty, And thou shalt return and hear the voice ofAdonai and at verse 1 I he speaks condit ionally, If thou turn,unto Adonai thy God w ith all thine heart

,with all thy soul ;

’

but this condi tion does not oppose the absolute promise wh i chhe had already made

,it only shews that Israe l us ing his free

(wil l wi l l re turn to Adonai his God ; for unle ss it were so ,

there would be no merit in re turning . Just in the same way

the prophe t says he re , that if Israe l w il l Offer his l i fe for hiss ins or as an atonement for them

,wh ich means

,Israe l

,by offering

his l ife for his guilt, de spising the dang ers he me t among thenations

, and remaining constant to the divine law,w il l Obtain

the fol lowing rewards , —he will see seed,the Lord w il l fulfil the

blessing which he p romised in Deute ronomy (xxx .

‘ I ‘

w i l ljmultiply thee above thy fathe rs this multipl ication Isaiah ex~

p resse s by will see seed,that is , offspring and larg e posterity.

,He says the same thing in lxi . 9 , ‘And the ir se ed shall be knownamong the nat ions

,and the ir offspring among the peoples ; all

that se e them shall acknowledg e them,that they are ,the se ed

wh ich Adonai hath blessed.

’

In this exce l lent way he says that.Israe l , i f he Offers his soul in atonement, wi ll se e the blessingwh ich God g ave to Abraham (Gen. xi i i . and to Hagar, theang e l blessing Ishmael , (Gen. xvi . He make s the same p

‘

ro

mise through Ezek ie l (xxxvi . saying , ‘ I wi l l increase them,with men l ike a flock.

’

Isaiah‘

w il l Obtain

5 24 TSAAC OROB IO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . no .

this ble ssing as promised in the divine law ,that he will be

a numerous people , that he will multiply and his descendantswill be innumerable

,that he will se e se ed and prolong his days

He adds another promise— that he wi l l prolong the days of hisl ife , that his happiness wil l be permanent , that he wi ll experienceno more ruin, diminution. or capt ivity, no r wi ll his prog eny , asin past redempt ions, be such as to require a repe t ition of s

'

milar

suffering s among the nations , no r wi l l it comm it s ins compe ll ing the ang e r of the Lord to infl ict punishments. This durationand perpe tuity of l ife in the land of the ir fathers is a rewardwhich God offered in the Law for its obse rvance , as here inI saiah for his repentance and return to the divine me rcy therefore he says

,He will see seed

,and p rolong his days. Isaiah

repeats the same ble ssing at lxv. 2 0, 2 2 and at l xvi . 2 2 he extols

the e ternal duration of Israe l , saying , ‘As the new heavens andthe new earth which I will make Shal l remain before me , saithAdonai , so shall your se ed and your name remain.

’ Isaiah keepsthis thought in the fifty -third chapte r, and make s use Of the same

phrase , promising as a ble ssing to redeemed Israe l that he wi llleng then his days . And the will of Adonai will prosp er in hishand. The prophe t conclude s the verse by say ing that whenthe people have suffered the trouble s of the captivity, and bornethem, keeping constant to the divine law, and return in repentance to the divine g race , as of old, the will of Adonai wil l be ine very re spect accompl ished, which always was that Israe l Shouldturn from his sins

,that he should offer his soul in atonement,

in order to we lcome him and pre serve him as his first-born son,

to e xalt him among all the nations, to communicate in his lovehis favours in the land which he g ave to his forefathers as a

pe rpetual inheritance , all which Israe l had prevented by hissins, rendering h imse lf ignorant of that will of God, be ing un

mindful of his favours , as it was de clared in Deuteronomy (xxxii .28

, in the wonderful song of Moses . Such was and is the

wil l of God,and this wi ll be real ised, and w il l prospe r in Israe l ;

fo r a s the power of losing himself was in his own hand, so wil l

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5 26 ISAAC Onos io '

bE CASTRO; [l iii . m

is use less to try to persuade Israe l that he is al ready redeemed,nei ther ought he to believe it, and the nations have no g roundto ‘

prove that it is so ; and the fact. that I srae l doe s nf t see

what the Lord says he shal l see in the happy t ime of his re ste ra '

tion is a sufficient answer to all the arguments and subtle t i es ofour Opponents . And he will he Sa tisfied ; that is , he will haveabundance of all spiritual and temporal wealth , and he will usethem so conformably with rig ht reason and the divine pre cepts ,that they wi ll no t cause in him pride or j eal ousy , or envy or

'

avarice , vice s wh ich belong to those who , however much theyposse ss, are always long ing for more

,be ing never satisfied

,

finding no end to the ir insat iable de sires ; but Israe l wil l besatisfied, and wil l have nothing to desire , and wil l be free fromthat vice which accompanies the possess ion of

'

material weal thfor if Israel in former t ime s wait ed fat and kicked throug h theposse ssion of the se g ood th ing s , now he wi l l use them with suchmoderation and temperance that material luxury wi ll not dive rthim from hol iness and just ice ; he w il l no t proudly rebel, but hewi l l e at and be satisfied

,and wil l ble ss Adonai his God ; this is

what Isaiah says,He shall see and be satisfied. With his wisdom

my righteous servant sha ll justify many . The Lord ag ain g ive sIsrae l the t itle of his servant

,as he did in the beg inning ; for i f

in all this ’ chapter he represented him as the servant of all thenations, among st which he suffered

“

the troubles and miseriesalluded to

,now be ing freed from all he deserves to be the

servant .of the Lord his God al one, who rede emed him from

such crue l chains,‘ for there wi l l be no one to rule over him,

nor will he acknowledg e any other authority than that of theLord

,whose powe r - could now draw him out of the clutches

of the Gentiles , as it did. formerl y out of Egypt The prophe tsays that the servant of the Lord

,that is

,Israe l now justified,

will wi th his w isdom justi fy many,all of the ~G entiles who wish

to avail themse lves of hisl

wisdom and teaching , and make them;

selve s capable of rece iving it ; for as God is in his very naturesupreme ly g oodf he . communicates his g oodne ss to his creatures,

l i i i ., ISAAC 0aomo ~ me CASTRO, 5 27I

when they are capable of re ce iving i t ; the re is no work of histhat is no t ful l of g oodnes s ; the redemption of Israe l is thework of God alone

,and thus i t is ne cessarily g ood and com

municable to all to whom it is poss ible to communicate hisg oodness . Many imp ious Gentile s wi ll perish . at that t ime inthe blindne ss of the i r false sects , as all the prophets write , andparticularly Ezekie l and Ze chariah, and many wi l l enjoy the

fruits of the redemption with Israel,aroused by the m i racles

and wonders which they wi l l se e performed in favour of thisredeemed people ; the se wil l jo in him humbly, and wi l l surrendernot only the ir pe rsons in obedience as subje cts

,but also the ir

souls, the i r wil ls t o the true doctrine,faithfully asking them

from those whom they wil l now acknow ledg e as taught by God,as his first -born son

,whose wisdom will g ive to the pi ous of

the nat ions the true and pure t iding s of the ir Creator, and theworship with wh ich they ought to serve him

,forg etting the false

one s wh ich w ickedness had invented,and ig norance pre served.

Redeemed Israe l wil l w ith his wisdom remove th is ig norance,that the nations may be justified, and be ing sanctified and unitedwith Israe l all nations may praise the Lord and all may come todrink of this wisdom

, as Isaiah said be fore at i i. 3 , ‘And manypeople shall g o and say , Come y e , and let us g o up to the mountain of the Lord

,

’

e tc. ; and through Jeremiah (xvi . 1 9) he saysthat all the nations wi ll come to Israel , confessing the ignorancein which they lived

, _and asking for the light of his true wisdomfor the ir salvation ; and similarly by Ze chariah (viii . 2 And

ten men shal l take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew,saying

W e will g o w i th y ou,for we have heard that God is wi th y ou.

Finally,Israe l w ill he God’

s instrument in bring ing back the nations to the knowledg e of him throug h the wisdom of the divinelaw

,whi ch w ill abound in al l the people , of wh ich Moses said

,

‘ This is your wisdom,this is your understanding ;

’

and thusIsaiah confirms him by saying , And my righteous servant will

justify many with his wisdom. And he will bear their iniquity ;I sraelcwill bear patiently the iniquity. of the nations, But

‘

it

5 28 ISAAC OROBIO nu CASTRO . [l i ii. i t .

would seem that Israe l be ing already in this happy conditiondescribed by the prophet has nothing more to suffer, the iniquityof the nations can no l ong er hurt him,

as they are supposed tobe now vanquished and Israe l to be redeemed, exalted

,and

raised ve ry hig h ; neverthe le ss, having said so so many times inth is chapte r, he now repeats it , but with a different purposebefore the nations we re accused of the crimes w hich they com

mitted against capt ive I srae l , but now the prophe t ce lebrate sthe benevolence of Israe l after his l iberation ; for he was

oblig ed to suffe r the trouble s of his captivity , having to persevere in the sacred laws but that Israe l , now that he is g lorious,favoured by God and l ibe rated, should repay the g reatest injurieswith the g reatest kindness is a thing worthy of being ce lebrated!by the prophe t. It is for this reason that he calls him rig hteousservant

,for it was only throug h be ing righteous that he could

act so righteously as no t only not to seek reveng e for his iajuries

,but to solicit the salvation of those who oppressed him ;

they erred in seeking his ruin, and,

he with his teach ing and

wisdom will seek to remove the ir e rrors ; they made him wander

throug h painful paths , and he with his wisdom will g uide themalong the path of truth to the g race of the i r Creator, whichwi l l be the g reatest benefit which the nations eve r experienced ;Israe l wi l l no t be intole rant , or che rish the remembrance ofthe crimes they perpetrated on him on the contrary

,with the

g reate st forg iveness he wi l l seek a remedy for them,by bearing

them til l they Obtain the divine mercy ; and as the priest borethe S ins of the people to obtain pardon for them,

so Israe l willibear the guilt of the nations, fulfilling what the Lord says

,

‘And

y e shal l be named the priests of Adonai’

(Is . lx i. ‘And y e

shall he unto me a kingdom of pries ts’

(Exod. xix . and

thus Isaiah says in this verse,And he will bear their g uilt.

’2 The prophe t concludes this discourse by re capitulating all

that he has said in the pre ceding ve rse s ; he considers the end

Of th is battle which Israe l in his capt ivity had to fight with thenations, resisting with invincible patience the powerful . attacks

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5 30 ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . [l i i i . 1 2.

exposed his life to dang ers for the sake of the divine law,

and made no account of the op inion of the nations, or ofbeing held by them as a vile , obstinate, and pertinacious Jew,

the reproach which all the nations throw in the face of Israe l,by whom he is considered a criminal , and as such re ckonedamong the most sacrileg ious criminals , be ing charg ed with hightreason against God. But those who bore this opprobrium,

these insults,with a brave Sp irit, with streng th of mind, des

p ising l ife, if required, and the honours of the Gentiles , whichare of no value , if they did not conceal themse lves

,timid and

wretched,in order not to be known and re ckoned among the

transg ressors of Israel ; if they felt g reater e steem for thedivine law,

suffering contempt, than for the hostile opinion ofthe Gentiles

,then because he qfi red his soul to death and

was reckoned with the transg ressors, because he bare the sinsOf many who exerted themselves to injure him

,resisting only

with patience the ir malevolence and tyranny,he wil l enter into

the share of many, and with the powerful of Israe l wi lldivide the spoils of the nations who perse cuted him. And

for the rebellious he will intercede. Finally, when the servantof God is exalted, Israel e levated and raised very high, vietorions over all the nations

,dividing them under his own sway

,

and enjoying the spoils of victory, th is g reatness in temporal wealth will be no obstacle to the perfection of his spiritual l ife , in which the most valuable g reatness consists, thesummit of all happiness before reach ing the celestial g lory ofthe next world ; for the ir hearts be ing circumcised, those ofstone removed and those of flesh put in their p lace , Israe l wil lpreserve a perpetual union with his Creator ; he wil l be hisGod

, and Israe l his peop le , and as such always worthy toshare in his divine favours

,which he wi l l l iberally and l ov

ing ly bestow on him ; one of which will be that Israe l wil lno sooner pray than he will be heard and his prayer accepted,as it is promised by the same prophet (lxv.

‘And i tshal l come to pass that before they call I wi ll answer, and while

l i i i . 1 2.] ISAAC OROBIO DE CASTRO . 5 3 1

they are y e t speaking I will hear for Israe l to cal l will be thesame as to be answered by God ; he wi l l be praying , and at the

same time he w i l l experience the fulfilment of his praye r ; hisintercession wil l avai l that the divine justice may p itifully pardon the nations the ir abominable s ins, even those they com

mitted against Israe l, while innocent of all the falseness and

dece it they charg ed him with , since he did not act false ly tothem and there was no dece it in his mouth ; for Israe l , ful lof the l ove of God and his divine Spirit, wil l pray for the re

hell ions,will be the mediator of peace between the Lord and

the nations, praying for them,not with an ineffectual prayer,

but one so effe ctual that his entreaties will always have a happyresult in mankind be ing benefited ; and then the nations wil lmake this spontaneous confession of the ir mistake and the in

justice with which they treated Israe l , which Isaiah narrates inthis chapter, and what the Lord had said in the song of Moseswil l be fulfi lled, ‘ Sing , y e nations

,of his people , for he wil l

aveng e the blood of his se rvants, and will render veng eance tohis adversaries

,and wil l pardon the earth for his people (Deut.

xxxi i .

M ID Z

D . JACOB IBN AMRAM.

NON obstat tertio principaliter Isai . cap . l iii . vers. 4 , ibi

Lang ores nostros ip se tuh'

t, etc., vers. 7, sccundumversionem

Latinam, ibi : Obla tas est , quia ip se voluz'

t, e t ve rs. 8,

secundum eandem Latinam, ibi : Prop ter soclus p apuli mci

p ercussi cum, etc. ,quae omnia videntur verificari in Jesu

Messia e t Deo Christianorum a Judaeis facto occidi, et non

in al io .

Caeterum immerito . Imprimis, quia verba illa guia ip sevoluz

'

t sunt temere supposita : quamvis vero sensui, quemad praeoppositum caput l iii . praestamus, non Officiant . Eis

demque supposititiis verbis refragatur Matth . cap. xxvi .vers. 3 9 , Marc. cap. xiv. vers . 3 6 , Luc. cap. xxi i . ve rs. 4 2 .

Deinde , illa p ercussi cum sunt e tiam iniquissimo traducta.

Nam veritas Hebr. habe t p lag a ez'

s, seu p ercussi eos, ex

verbo lama in plural i . Unde constat , non loqui de uno, e tmulto minus de Jesu.

Prae terea, pro Christianis nullatenus facit. Primo , quia

de tempore occisionis nih i l ibidem dicitur, ut debeat praecisc intellig i de Jesu Christianorum occiso ; si quando illum,

quiJudaeis promissus est Messias Davidicus cecidi oporteret ;quod falsum est, ut patchi t infe rius. Item e t percussio de

multis aliis intellig i potest, qui se Messiam simulabant.

Rursus, si pro Christianis loquere tur, dicere debebat

p rop ter scelus p op ulz’

mei ip se pop ulus Judaicus p ercussit

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5 34 JACOB IBN AMRAM . [l i i , l i i i .

nostri Obstupuerunt,’

vel ‘Patres nostri peccaverunt,

e t non sunt, e t nos pro e is patimur, Jerem. cap. xxxi.

vers. 2 6, e t in Lament . cap. ult E zechie l cap. xviii . a

princip., quia sumitur idem populus pro diverso tempore «

Haec sufficiebant, ut Christiani destituerentur inani fundamento ex praeopposito cap. lii i . Isaiae .

Verum,quia textus iste singularis est, e t plusquam Obscu

rus, utpote propheticus super omnibus angustus, et mis erns,

quas ubique locorum Israe l passus e st, patitur, e t perpes

surus est, in hoc long o exilio e t dispersione inter g entes

quaram e tiam ty rannidem versus Israe l praedicit, e t tandemejusdem Israe l venturam felicitatem : Operae pre tium dux imus in eo tantisper immorari, eo potissimum,

ut evidentius

convincatur error g entium,quae ad instar solertis piscatoris

solent in turbidum fiumen re te jacere , ut al iquid videantur

expiscari. Quae ut me thodice expediantur, nota istud cap.

l iii . connecti praecedenti (ut stat im patefiet) in quo pro

pheta praedicit futuram g loriam S ion et Je rusalem, ut pate tin princip. ibi Quia non aduciet ultra, ut pertransiat per teincircumcisus e t immundus .

’

Quod adhuc impletum non est,

ut evidens fit ex frequent i incircumcisorum e t immundorum

adventu e t sede . Assentit propheta Nahum cap. i . in fin. ,

Joe l cap. ult . vers . 1 7 :‘Excutere de pulvere , consurg e ,

sede Jerusalem, so lve vincula col l i tui captiva filia S ionquia haec dicit Dominus, g ratis venundati e stis, e t sinearg ento redimemini, e tc.

’

Praedicit quoque redemptionem

e t reversionom Israel'

a vers. 9 et ve rs . 1 2 , ibi : Et cong re

gabit vos Deus Israe l, e t tandem subnectitur vers. 1 3

quem sequitur dictum cap. liii, in quibus sunt innumera vitiavcrsionis Latinae Jeronymi ; partim forsan ex ignorantiasacri idiomatis, partim ex malitia ut videbitis.

JACOB IBN AMRAM. 5 3 5

Eapropter praemittemus seriem verborum prophetac juxtaveritatem Heb. (ex quo Obiter error aut falsitas Latinae

versionis collig etur) postea interpretamenta adhibebimus,

quae verosimiliora videbuntur ad mentem Isaiae .

Inquit itaque in praecedenti cap. 1 1 1 . a ve rs . 1 3 Ecce in

tellig et serous meus , exa ltabitur , et e levabitur, et sublimis

crit va lde . Sieut obstupuere sup er te multi, sic corrup tus

de uiro asp ectus ejus , et forma ejus de fili is hominum

sic— non iste, ut in Latina— asp erg et g entes multas , vel

facie t loqui g entes multas : sup er cum continebunt R eg es os

suum; quia quod nonfuit narra tum illis uiderunt , et quod

non audicrunt intellexerunt .— Succedit praeoppositum cap.

l iii : Quis credidit auditui nos tro ? et brachium Domini

sup er qua— non cui, ut in Latina— revela tum est .

9

A scendet sieut virgultum coram eo, et radix de terra

sicca : non forma ci, neque decor ; et vidimus, et non

asp ectas , et desiderabimus- non desiderauimus, ut in

Latina— cum, desp ectum, e t deminutum hominum— non

novissimum— virum do lorum, et scientem infirmitatem, et

abscondentem— non absconditus— vultum a nobis , vel e tiama se , desp ectum, et non rep utavimus cum. Vero lang ores

nostros ip se tulit, e t dolores nostros p ortauit : et nos

a estimavimus cum p lag a tum, p ercussum a Domino, e t

afl ictum. Et ip se do lorosus p rop ter iniquita tes nostras,

a ttritus p rop ter sce lera nostra discip lina p acis nostrae

sup er eum, et livore ejus sana ti sumus . Omnes nos sicat

oves erravimus unusquisque in ciam suam declinavimus,

et Dominus fecit occurri in eo— non p osuit in eo— iniqui

ta tem omnium nos trum. Exactus— non obla tus , ut aliase t ipsa Latina traducit in Deut . cap. xv. post princip.

,ibi

Exig es— et ille afi ictus~

quod deest in Latina, a qua tum

5 3 6 JACOB IBN AMRAM . [l i i , l i i i .

falso supponitur, Quia ipse voluit, o impia corrupte la — et

non ap eriet os suum : sicut ag nus ad occisionem ductus

est, et sieut ovis coram tondentibus se obmutuit, et non

ap erieba t os suum. D e detentione— non de angustia

radix autem Judaica (id est, ae thymolog ica) denotat reg numsive dominium ; lib. Samuelis s ive Regum I, cap. ix . ve rs. I 7,

ubi Latina e tiam vertit dominabitur : detine t enim, sivecog it, qui imperat— e t de judicia subla tus est . Genera

tionem ejus quis enarrabit ? quia abscissus fuit de terra

vitae, p rop ter scelus p op uli mei p lag a eis— non p ercussi

cum, in singulari. E t dedit imp iis sep ulturam ejus— non

ve ro dahit imp ios p ro sepultura , ut in Latina— et divitem

in morte ejus , sup er quad nanfecerit falsita tem, nec dolus

in are gins . E t Dominus uo luit conterere eum, et fecit

infirmari. S i p osuerit p ro emenda tione— poenitentia, non

peccato— animam suam, videbit semen, prolong abit dies ,

et vo luntas Domini in manu ejus p rosp erabitur . Pro

labore animae sud e videbit , sa turabitur : cum sap ientia

sua justificabit justus servus multos, et iniquita tes eorum

ip sep ortabit . Idea disp ertiam ci cump lurimis, s ive mag nis,e t fortitus, sive fortium, dividet sp olium ; p ro eo quad

tradidit animam suam morti, et sceleratis, seu transg res

soribus, annumeratus est : et ip se p ecca ta multorum tulit,

e t p ro scelera tis rog abit .— Haec est vera traductio ex He

braico in Latinum, e t conformiter menti prophe tae . Jam

vides , pie ac sapiens lector, quam vitiosa sit Latina versio, e tdifformis veritatiHebr.,

in 1 1 s praesertim quae pro stabiliendafide sua ab e isdem Christianis perpenduntur : adeo, ut ad

illum,illosque propulsandos ab umbra hujus sacr i eloquii,

sufficiat rectitudo, e t restitutio versionis, de qua supra.

Qua supposita (quod attinet ad Judaeos) non parva est

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5 3 8 JACOB IBN AMRAM . [l i i . 1 4

g ere do aliquibus ex dicto populo , qui patiuntur pro peccatis

patrum ; sed potins de toto unite populo, quippe totus

nunc patitur pro patribus, e t e odem antiquo populo , qui1 4 graviter, e t saepissime peccavit. S icut obstupuere sup er te

multi, sic corrup tus de Ciro asp ectas g

ins , et forma ejus de

fili i s hominum ; id e st, quemadmodum admirati super te

multi, quia (ita expone illud s ic) corruptior aspectus ejus

(Israe l) , quam ut viro competat, e t forma ejus, quam ut

hominibus assimile tur. S ic asperg et g entes multas velfaciet

loqui g entes multas ; sup er eum continebunt reg es as suum,

quia quad nanfuit narratum illis, viderunt ; e t quad non

audierunt intelletcerunt ; id est, sic (hic respondet admirationi g entium) vince t ac propellet huc illuc g entes multas,vel faciet loqui g entes multas, videntes populum Judaicum,

antea abjectum, e t omnino despectum utpote servi lem, tuncexaltatum niinis valde e t propterea super cum reg es orbiscum moderamine e t pondere aper ient [cs] suum

,quia

vident et intellig unt , quod nec i llis narratum e rat , nee anteaaudierant immo totum contrarium,

sci lice t populum Judaicum a Deo omnino expositum fuisse

,ut g entibus serviret,

subque ipsarum dominio viverent dispersi . Quae ve rba alias

praepostere intellig it Paulus in epist . ad Romanos cap. xv.

vers . 2 I . Quidautem loquentur reg esmundi, cum continentiae t pondere prosequi tur Isaias in sequenti et nobis Oppositocap . li ii, nempe

Quis credidit auditui nostro , et brachium Domini sup er

qua revela tum es t ? Duo hic inculcat prOphe ta cum admiratione g entium : Primum, stuporem ipsarum g entium super

suo lapsu ; quod scilice t a Judaeis victae , vel prae timorecorum, loquuntur de eisdem cum continentia e t pondere , oh

incog itatam felicitatem, e t exaltationem Judaeorum,quasi

—l iii . JACOB IBN AMRAM . 5 39

ita exclamat Quis unquam tale andir i de nobis putasse t, autquis credidisset, quod nos audivimus ? Secundum,

siquando

in mentem regum orbis venisset vicissitudo p0pulorum aut

regnorum,quis eam applicasse t populo Israe l ? aut dixisse t ,

super Israe l brachium Domini , id est , ejus favorem ac

potestatem,i terummanifestandum Unde praeposita verba

perperam intellig it Johannes in Evang e l io, Cap. x1 1 . vers . 3 8 ,

ubi e tiam pro auditui reponit dicta contra veritatem ; e t

Paul [us] absone exponit ad Roman. cap . x . vers . 1 6 .— E t 2

ascendit sicut virgultum coram eo et sieut radix de terra

sicca . Hic reddit rationem stuporis Regum orbis ; quianempe a parvis initns profectum, sicut virgultum, viderunt

in altum ascendere populum Israe l , paulo antea abjectum,

e t sicut radicem (quae vivida non speratur) de terra sicca (in

qua alias omnia arescunt , e t moriuntur) coram Deo i te rumfavente Judaeis. Non forma ci, neque decor, et vidimus,

e t non asp ectus, e t desiderabimus eum. Dictae rationis

rationem reddit, e t aug e t ; quia populo Israe l (Judaeis) incaptivitate e t dispersione nul la forma e st , nul lus orisSplendor ; e t attente considerabimus cum, nec adhuc ci

aspectus (hamanns) nobis visus erat . Et quis imputabitnobis quod non desideraremus eum ? id est , non speraremus

i llins vicissitudinem, sive mutationem in g lor iam cum antede e o tale quid non imag inaremur : praecedit namque de siderium, sive spem, imag inatio ; quod e tiam confirmat in

seqq . D esp ectum, e t deminutum hominum, virum dolorum, 3

cl scientem infirmitatem ; id est , si exulem Israe l contem

plabamur, ab omnibus spre tum videbamus, cae teris bominibus inferiorem

, vel ab hominum consortia ablegatum (quiasci lice t omnes g entes Judaeos a se propulsant, aut saltemcog itant vel desiderant exterminare) , dominum dolorum,

40 JACOB IBN AMRAM . [l i i i . 4~

quia non nisi doloribus abundat, e t assue tum infirmitatibus

propter continuum inExilio pavorem, e t inde subcrescentemmaerorem. E t sieut abscondentem vultum a nobis— ve l

a se— desp ectum, et non rep utavimus eum; id e st, adeo

despectus erat, ut ipse aficctaret abscondere vultum a nobis

g entilibus : vel ita simulabat se , me forte a se ipso agno

scere tur Judaeus, ut passim evenit . Et si quando cognitus

e sse t, spretus erat ab omnibus, et contumelns afl'

ectus : e t

ideo non reputavimus cum in numero hominum, de quibus

posset vicissitudo iniquae sortis sperari. Vera lang ores

nostras ip se tulit, et dolores nostras p ortavit ; id e st,

lang ores, e t dolores, quibus nos (Reg es e t nationes orbis)dedimus causam (e t prOpterea nostras dicimus, n. 63 3 ) ipse

perpessus est. Nam ex continua Oppressions, ty rannide

g entium, et servitute ac timore Judaeorum, incidunt ipsiJudaei in do lores, e t lang ores . Loquitur itaque prophe tade lang oribus, e t doloribus propriis, e t ab ipso populo

Judaico personali ter perpessis, ex causa tamen al iena, ut

pate t ex vers . seq. : unde e tiam collig itur absona expositio

Matthae i, cap. vi ii . vers. 1 7. E t nos aestimavimus eum

p lag a tum, p ercussum a Domino, et afi ictum ; id est , cum

sit quod propter malitiam nostram (g entium) Israe l incidebat in lang ores, et do lores ; nos putabamus, illum esse

plagatum, percussum, e t afilictum a Domino ; non vero a

nobis, ne c causa nostra. Et ip se do lorosas p rop ter iniqui

ta tes nostras, cl attritus p rop ter scelera nos tra id est, non

quidem Israe l in hoc exilio propter peccata sua plag atus

principaliter a Domino erat,ac percussus ; sed ci potins

adveniebant lang ores e t do lores propter nostras iniquitatese t sce le ra: inique enim,

ac sce lerate ag ebamus cum eo .

Discip lina p acis nostrae sup er eam, et liuore eius sanati

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5 42 JACOB IBN AMRAM . [l i i i . 6

ve rba alias adducit Pe trus in Epist. i. cap. 2 , ante fin.

5 Omnes nos, sicut oves errauimus, unusquisque in viam

suam declinaoimus, et D ominus fecit occurri in ca iniqui

ta tem omnium nostrum ; id e st, cum nos omnes s ieut oveserravimus, Edom in viam suam, Ismae l in viam suam

, e t

caeteri s imil iter : attamen unusquisque nostrum unanimi tere t indifl

'

erenter contra Israe l statuebat ex propria dive rsa

que re lig ione , e t indifl'

erenter a quol ibe t nostrum patiebaturIsrae l . Et quod notabilius e st, Deus ita dirig ebat iniquitatem nostram, ut Judaeos ofi

'

endere t : singuli enim putahamus Judaeos castigari debere quia relig ionem nostram

non amplectebantur : e t consequenter Judaei ipsi portabant,seu supportabant, iniquitatem nostram sive errorem, poenam

indebite patientes, nempe ex dive rsa sive contraria causa,

7 respectu Christianorum,Maurorum

,e tc. Exactus , et ille

afi ictus, et non ap eriet as suum sicut agnus ad occisionem

ductus est ; et sicut ovis coram tondentibus se obmutuit ; id

est, ab i llo severe exig ebamus pecuniam,ut ultra corporis

afilictionem, in bonis e tiam patere tur, e t non aperiet os

suum ; sicut agnus ducebatur ad occisionem,ut comedere tur

a nobis, e t sicut ovis muta coram tondentibus se ita Israe lcoram nobis praedantibus eum, ut in inquisitione Hispaniae .

De patientia Israe l loqui tur propheta, de praeterito, et defuturo ; quia non unus sed plures actus successivo temporedenotantur. Huc usque loquuntur (ut praedicit Isai .) Reg ese t nat iones o rbis, stupefacti Ob lapsum e t ruinam impe rmipsorum, sublevato Israe l , quem jam non reputabant pcpu

lum denuo exaltandum, percurrentes ejusdem variam e t

infelicem fortunam Ob iniquitatem ipsarurn g entium. Incipit8 modo loqui prophe ta de eodem Israe l . De detentione et

judicio subla tus est ; g enera tionem afus quis enarrabit .9 id

- l i i i . JACOB IBN AMRAM. 5 43

e st, iste populus Israe l , quem Reg es e t g entes terrae reputabant non populum, non virum, sine forma e t decore ,despectum ac deminutum, plenum doloribus e t assucfactum

infirmitatibus , non fuit ita a principio ; penes illum namque

e rat dominium sive regnum (quod detentione significatur,

ut superius ostendimus) , e t subl ime illud justi tiae tr ibunal ,sive judicium Sanh edrin : quis celsitudinem illius g ene rationis, id est t emporis i ll ins (nam ve rbum “m dor, quo

prophetautitur, e t g enerationemLatinamus , tempus denotatExodi cap. ii i . ve rs . 5 , et pate t ex omnibus concordantiis sa

crae pag inae ) enarrare poterit ? in quo florebat reg al i dominioexcelsoque judicio , e t tamemregno ac judicio privatus e st a

Domino, cui peccaverunt patre s nostri . Loquitur prophetade privatione reg ni e t judiou in terra sancta. V el, quistempus illud (nempe, miseriam e t calamitatem ejus) enarra

bit ? in quo privatus fui t regno , e t judicio ; partim occisoIsrae l , partim expulso a terra sancta. Quem sensum probatvers. seq. : quid autem somnient Acta Apostolorum, cap .

vi ii . vers. 3 3 , peni tas ignoratur, dum contra veritatem

Hebraicam e t Latinam e tiam traducunt ibi ‘ In humilitate

judicium ejus sublatum est , e t suam g enerationem (pro

g enitura ) quis enarrabit ?’— Quia abscissas fuit de terra

vitae, prop ter soclus p op uli mei p lag a eis. Hic rationemreddit aerumnarum Judaeorum, quod reg no ct t ribunalijustitia privat i sint , et refert principalem, quod nempe a

terra sancta ipsorum patria abstracti s int ; quod dur ius eratoccisione corum. Et quae fuit causa Ob quam occisi et

expulsi sint a terra vi tae ? (sancta terra vitae so le t appe llari, E z echie l cap . XXXII. a vers . 24 ; notat ex Christianis

Adricomius De lphus , in Chronico mundi anno Illud

certum est, quod propter sce lus popul i mei (patrum varie

44 JACOB IBN AMRAM. [l i i i . 9

peceantium) p lag a, afllictio , exactio , ablegatio , e t dolorsuccessit eis , id e st, filns, sive populo Israe l suecessivis

temporibus in timore Domini , e t leg is custodia persistenti .In hoc e tiam versu somniant Acta Apost . cap. vi i i . vers . 3 3 ,

dum contra veritatem et Latinam e tiam versionem ita ih

vertunt ibi : quia tolletur de terra vi ta ejue Deus autemob culpam patrum percutiebat Judaeos de scendentes, interventu R eg urn e t g entium orbis, ut supra. E t dedit imp iis

sep ultaram ey’

us,e t diuitem in morte ejus id e st

, propterscelus popul i mei non solum perdidit Israe l regnum e t

judieium, sed e tiam cum e xterminio a te rra sancta sepul

turam quam mortuus sortire tur in eadem te rra Deus iratusdedi t impus immerentibus qui in eadem terra sancta sepeli

untur. Item, loco Reg is Judaei dedi t, sive posuit, divitem,

id est, dominum (non Reg em) ex g entibus in eadem terrasancta, ut reg ere t ; quod experientia comprobatur. Quam

terram sanctam, quia jam destituta e st populo suo Israe l

(eo vel expulso vel subjecto) non vocat vi tae sed mortis ejus .

Nam respectu Judaeorum expulsorum, aut in eadem occi

sorum,me rito dicenda e st terra mortis ; non enim v1 vunt in

ea, ve l serviliter vivunt ; tum quia possessam ab alienis non

decet appellari terram vitae , sed mortis. In ve rsione hujusvers. crassissime hallucinatur Latina Jeronimi traductio , utsupra notavimus in corré etione li terae . Super quad non

fecerit falsitatem, nee do lus in are ejus ; id est respectu

g entium imperantium sibi falsitatem non fecit Israe l, nec

in ore ejus inventus e st do lus contra tales natione s ac

Reg es e orum (quicquid a g entibus contrarium asseratur) ,Sophonias , cap. ult . vers. I 3 , ibi :

‘ Re l iquiae Israe l nonfacient iniquitatem,

nee loquentur mendaeium, et non in

venie tur in ore co rum l ingua dolosa,’e tc.

,Danie l , cap. x ii .

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5 46 JACOB IBN AMRAM . [l i i i . n

nee vidit semen, id est , leg itimum ex foemore suo, ut semper

intellig itur in sacra pag ina, ut late n . 667. Pro labore

animae suae videbit, sa turabitur ; id est, post redemp

tionem et reductionem Israe l ad terram sanctam, videbit

satietatem (pro qua laboravit co lens terram) , e t ipse sat iabitur ; aliud e rat antea, ex Levit . cap . xxvi. ve rs. 1 6 , e t

Deuter. cap. xxvii i . vers . 30 , e t vers . 3 3 , quasi dicat , innovissimo dierum, cum Israe l redemptus e t redue tus fueritad terram sanctam suam e t viderit ubertatem ojus, ipse nonal ienus fruetur ea, Deuter. cap . xxx . vers . 9, Isai . cap. xxxii .

vers . 8, e t cap. lxv. a ve rs . 2 1 , Amos cap. ult . vers . I4 , cum

s imil ibus ; tum e tiam pro labore animae quam pro D eo ex

posuit supplicio g entium. Cum sap ientia sua justificabit

justus servusmeus multos, et iniquita tes eorum ip sep ortabit ;id est, tempore quo Israe l in praedictis ang ustiis positus

justus erit , justificabit multos ex g entibus, quo s doeebit, velaliter trabe t ad De i vex i lla. 0am sap ientia sua ; id e st,

sapienter ; quia nonnisi sapienter, argute , ac subtiliter (Ob

me tum g entium) ostendit ipsis errorem ipsarum : atque itaillos sapienter convert it ad Dominum (rari namque ex

g entibus sponte quaerunt, e t audiunt de abso luta Dei vo lumtate , et justitia leg is Moy saicae ) e t propterea dicuntur

justifieati cum sapientia Israe l . Et horum iniquitates (anteacontractas, Ob quas non merebuntur justificari vel a quibusal ias purgari debebunt) Israe l ipse portabit, ut proprias.

S ive propter dietam eonversionem multorum g entilium ad

Deum, ab Israe l causatam, quam g entes al ias ini qui tatem putant , ipse Israe l convertens to rmenta patietur : e t

consequenter reputatam iniquitatem conversorum (ad Deum

Judaeorum) portabit, seu supportabit Israe l convertens, seu

justificans. Nam apud Christianos praesertim, convertens

—l i i i . JACOB IBN AMRAM . 5 47

ad leg em Moy saicam g ravissime punitur, ut est notum.

Idea disp ertiam ci cum multis (ve l maquis) etfartibus (sive x

fartium) dividet spolium id e st, propterme r itum populi mei

praenotatum, dabo ci partem cum multis justis, ut inter e os

appareat quantum meritus est . V e l,dabo ci par tem cum

mag h is, i llis nempe primis parentibus, Abraham,Isaac, e t

Jacob. Nam idem ve rbum rahim pariter multos , ac in

signes quoque e t exce lsos viros sig nifieat . Itidem fortibus,

eis scil ice t qui pro veritate, nempe Deo , e t ejus sacra leg e

animose ste terunt , Israe l divide t spo l ium g entium pecca

tricum. V e l, fortium divide t spo lium, id est, vietoriam

reportabit (tum enim spo lia dividuntur) electarum g entium,

quae eonvenerint contra Jerusalem in notissimo tempore ,ac be l lo , ut per E zech ie l , cap. xxxviii . e t seq ,

ubi loquiturde fortibus g entium qui cadent vie t i in montibus sanctis,notabiliter Joe l, cap . iii. Zacharias (ubi e tiam meminit spol iorum g entium) , cap. xiv. e t tandem g eneraliter Jeremias,cap . xxv. vers . 30 . Pro eo quad tradidit marti animam

suam, et scelera tis annumeratus est ; et ip se p ecca ta mul

torum tulit ; et pro transg ressaribus rag abit id est, prae

miorum (quae superius re tulimus Deum in novissimo dierumdaturum populo Israe l) causae hic per Epilogum proponun

tur ; et imprimis, quia animam posuit pro Deo e t sanctaleg e ejus inter g entes quarum ritus noluit ample eti et

idcirco varie passus e st . Nam si ve l le t a leg e Dominideficere , reciperetur equidem a g entibus cum praemns .

Deinde , quia maluit sceleratis annumerari (quatenus, l ice tci opponitur quod interfecerit vel non reeeperit

aut aliorum sectas,ut clamant Edam, e t Ismae l

,

leg em Domini Dei sui deserere , quidquid eadem

exponat Marcus in Evang e l io, cap. xv.

N n z

5 48 JACOB IBN AMBAM . [l i i i . 1 2 .

vers . 28, e t diversimode Lucas, cap . xxn. vers. 37. Prae

terca, quia peccata patrum tul i t qui comederant uvam

acerbam (peccaverant), propte r quod dentes filiorum Obstu

puerunt, vel filn pass i sunt quae proverbialis ratio usquead postrema tempera cri t in are Judaeorum ut per Jerem.

e t E zechie l . praeeitatos . V e l quia g entium ab ipsis eon

versarum iniquitates perpessus est , ut praediximus . Deni

que , quia (quad supremum justitiae est) pro sceleratis filus

Israe l transgressoribus leg is (ut nunc sunt e t fuerunt plurimi

, proh dolor !) rogabit dominium, e t quotidie deprecatur.

Ob has itaque causas Optimam par tem in futuro sacculo

sortie tur, e t omnibus crit celsior R eg ibus e t nationibus,

e isdemque imperabit Israe l . Haec abunde dicta sunt ad

saepe nobis Oppositum Isai . quod jam ut par emia est lippis

et tonsoribus g entium.

(840)

Adducitur secundo principaliter Isai. cap. l i ii . vers . 4 ,

ibi : nimSx nmn juxta expositionem Bellarmini De verba,

lib. u. cap. 2 , vers . argumentum quartum, dum inquit,

Re lata Isaiae verba Latine verti possunt, p ercussum Deum,

ut ita deitatem crucifixo tribuat , de quo totum illud cap. l iii .Christiani intelligunt .Cae terum,

cum hi fallantur in hoe , ita e t Bellarminus

deeipitur in sua versione . Nam caput illud loquitur de uno

plurium vicem g erente , id est, populo Israe l ; ut jam supra

ex puritate text . Hebraici late sumus interpre tat i a n. 6 1 3 .

Prae terea, versio Bellarmini aperte repugnat elementis

g rammaticae Hebraicae , ut est notissimum quibusque

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LII. Y’

HUDAH BEN BAL‘

AM .

LII. 1 “nnwn, particip le of B of‘

al . The regular form wouldbe “flit/D l ike ( 2 Sam. xx . mam with Holem l ike1 5 11 5 (Jer. xxi i . the regular forms of both be ing with Qame zHatef, as 15175 (Job xxxvi . I am surprised at one who

,while

adhering to the usual explanation of the word in Jeremiah , maintained

,in his Letters ofFriendship a

,that in Job it was an active

participle signifying worker or labourer. In that case ma

must be understood after'

is in” N5 . W hen I was explainingthe verse in question, I saw that in fact 5p!) meant wag es, andthat the phrase referred back to the pre ceding passag e 1mm:nan describing the manwho employs his ne ighbour

’

s services,but does not pay him the wag es he earns .

1 5rm he wi l l judg e

them by sending calamit ies upon them,among st which will be

the sp rinkling of the ir blood (Is. lxi ii .LIII .

2Wh DD,infinitive .

5 55mm, passive part iciple of Piel .The meaning is that he was prostrated by our sins

,and stricken

by our Offences, just as though he were punished for us. Thiseminent saint, while bearing the chastisements which came uponhim as a trial (since he had committed no sin) , attracted tohimse lf, as it were , all the chastisements due to us, and gave usp eace for them ; thus they came upon him,

and by his strip es

A serie s of letters by R . Samuel the Nag id ( i . e . the Prince ) , containingcri t icisms against R . Yonah (Abu-l -W alid) ibn Janah . See Derenbourg

’

s

preface to his edit ion ofR . Yonah ’

s Opuscula.

l i i i . 7 Y’

HUDAH BEN BAL‘AM . 5 5 1

we were healed. mann, a substantive . W e have already ex

plained the possibil ity of God’

s act ing in such a way , in virtueof a substitution decreed by him.

7mm, participle Nif‘

al inthe sense of afl icted (Exod. iii. and

,in the feminine

, mp:

(Is . lvii i . I O), except that there the n is the mark of the feminine

,whilst the radical n is dropped.

8He was removed fromafi ictian and tria l

,and no one can tell of him,

for his fame was

cut offrom the land of life , and through the sin ofmy p eop le hewas temp ted. m5 for 1 5, i . e . his suffering was Only for the sakeOfthe nat ion’

s sin,and no t because he deserved it at all himse lf ;

as it is said,a lthough he did no violence

,e tc .

l“a from al ike warm( 1 King s xvi . The sense of the verse is that theLord w illed his s ickness in order that his soul might see guiltas gui lt, i . e . that he might avoid it

,in Opposition to the man

who does not se e sin as a sin,but perseveres in his disobedience .

There is a similar saying in Arabi c, where one of the preacherssays

,By the Lord. shew me e rror as an e rror in order that

I may abstain from i t,rectitude as re ctitude in order that

I may follow i t . ‘2mpn, he laid ba re his soul to dea th,

i . e . be exposed i t to terrible dang ers . And was numbered with

the transg ressors, was as if he were reckoned among st them in

consequence of the affl ictions resting on him. Any one not

knowing his mind, would th ink there was some evil in him,for

which he was be ing punished, whereas in fact he was carryingthe sin of others, as it is said, But he bare the sin ofmany , e tc.

rum,interceded and prayed for them, as Jer . vu. 1 6 .

It has been asserted that the person al luded to in this prophecy is Jeremiah ; and the description g iven in it is quiteconsistent w ith such an interpretation. Ibn J iqatilia b appliesthe Parashah to the king He zekiah : but I do not know at whattime Hezekiah was stricken , smitten of God, and afi icted, orOpp ressed, and opened not his mouth. Indeed, it is surprising

b R .Mosheh hak-Kohen, who lived about I 200 A .D . SeeMr. Nutt’

s prefaceto his edit ion ofHayy uj

’

s treatise s (London,

5 5 2 r HUDAH BEN BAL‘AM . [lii, liii.

how this commentator can have entertained such a view he

must have overlooked the words, Came up as a sucker beforehim,

and as a root out of the dry land, etc.

,applied by the

prophe t to the saint here described. And I am not aware ofany of Hezekiah’s ance stors since Solomon who possessed g reaterpersonal beauty or majesty than Hezekiah himself.

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5 5 4 It . THANHUM or JERUSALEM . [l i i i . 2

i t tog ether again, as it is said (2 Sam. xiv . I 4) , W e are as waterspilt on the g round, wh ich cannot be gathered up again.

’

The

e xpression wil l then be metaphorical . At him king s will closetheir mouth

,for reve rence and awe , or in astonishment at his

condition : compare PS . cvii . 4 2 , Job v . 1 6 .

LIII .

2 51m, as xxxiv. I 3 he g rew up l ike a smal l shoot .as PS . lxxx . 1 2 : a similar metaphor is employed in chap.

xi. I . He had noform, e tc. at the beg inning he had no cheerful countenance such as might inspire a desire to g aze at him.

3 H e was desp ised (as it is said above,xl ix . and thefrailest of

men as regarded his body, althoug h strong er than other men in

so far as his soul was concerned. fin finDDDi,when he hid him

se lf from us,and was concealed from our sig ht , in consequence of

his ignoble and desp ised condition,no one thought of him ,

no one cared whe ther he were absent or pre sent, or inde edbestowed a thought upon him at all. 4But he was regardedby us as a sinne r enduring punishment : in other words, wethought that his pains and s ickness w ere a punishment sentupon him from God, andmerited by him for his sins and crimesaccording ly we ever viewed him w ith an ey e of scorn and con

tempt. But now we know Of a surety that his separation fromus and his isolation resulted only in our punishment : for inhi s sicknesses and suffering s he was wholly concerned with whatwould conduce to our we lfare and advantag e these were conse

quent ly, in fact, our s ickness and punishment . 5 Notwithstandingth is he was pained continual ly at our failure to secure de l iverance and prospe rity ; and in spite Of his own prostration, was

concerned further wi th sympathy for us. The chastisement ofthe whole of us came upon him,

— uwSw, as in Jer. xii i. 1 9 ,

where O‘b t5w 11 5m means that the entire mass of Judah wastaken captive .

’

n 551 11 73 , i. e . he was pained and g rieved at se e ingour sins and our be ing far from righteousness . b5imo as 11 5m(chap. l i . i. e . broken, destroyed, and bereft of streng th . The

meaning is : His severe pain and suffering s Of heart and soulresulted purely from his di stress for our s ins and for what

— l i i i . R . THANHUM OF JERUSALEM . 5 5 5

he saw Of our fai l ing s . iminnn, by his union and connexionwith us heal ing at last reached us, and our sickness and punishment came to an end.

6 We a ll were going astray l ike she ep ,every one went

,as he cho se , after his own devices , for want o f a

leader or shepherd to guide us , i . e . our actions were l ike thoseof beasts which just follow the path pointed out by nature

,

w ithout thought or refle ction,andwithout distinguishing what is

hurtful from what is beneficial . See ing this state of thing s ,he was so pained by it, that at last God caused the sins of usall to attach themse lves as a punishment to him ; in the wordsOf the prophet, But the Lord caused the iniquity of us all to lig htup on him . Others explain let him intercede

,from the sense

borne by the root in Jer. vii . 1 6 ; God, that is, accepted hisintercess ion for them

,l iberated them from the ir sins

,and gave

them his aid.

7 Unceas ing ly he was opp ressed, tormented, afl icted,and pained in heart ; W1 ) with the same idea of oppre ss ion and dis

tress as Exod. v . 1 3 , Deut . xv 2 and my: in the sense of brokenand humil iated

,as Exod. 1 1 1 . 7, x. 3 , IS . lvi ii . 1 0 .

SE e was taken

from imp risonment and restraint , for judgment was pronouncedag ainst him ,

i. e . he was one of the g eneration which suffered unjust judgments in exile , and there was no one who would declareabout him as 2 King s xvi i . 4 . According to others W ynmeansfrom sovereignty , compare am»

,1 Sam. ix . 1 7 the forme r

e xplanation is howeve r sounder, and g ives a bette r sense . mm"mrm, there was not one among his contemporaries who woulddescribe his perfe ction or de clare his exce l lences . mmv,

as PS .

cxliii . 5 , formed by doubling the last radical from we) , PS . cv. 2 .

For he was cut of from the land of the living , 1 . e . his meritswere not known

,nor his perfe ctions and excel lences described

,

until afte r his death,and his departure from the world Of the

l iving , i . e . the pre sent world of sense,as in Job xxvm . I 3

(where the words ne ither is she found in the land of the l ivingmean that w isdom is not found or known in the l iving world).And the same has been the fate of all the prophets and of allpious and learned men. They are not known or described as

5 5 6 R . T 1 1 AN1 1 UM or JERUSALEM . [l i i i . 9

the i r merits and exce llences really deserve ; no one thinks toObtain a blessing throug h them or visits them to gain the i r intercession, until they are removed from this world as long as theyare al ive no one pays them any attention. ib

’) for 1 5, or

itse lf must be taken in the sense of every one of them. The

meaning is that all his affl ict ions, all the punishment and suffering s Of captivity which fe l l upon him,

were for the ir s ins and

transg ressions , in virtue of the justly merited judgment of God.

It is thus that when they have paid the debt which God hasadjudg ed to be due from them,

he then sends them a person whow ill guide them and de l iver them. The person here describedis such a guide or de live rer, who rescues them from capt ivity andfrom the ir enemies g eneral ly .

9 This is the description of h isformer condition : he was ne cessarily associated close ly with thew icked, oblig ed to frequent the ir company and share the ir fortunes, for the purpose of g iving them counse l and direction, andbring ing them out of darkness into light, and from death intol ife and also for another reason, viz . because in his day he couldfind none w ith whom to associate at all

, except such as those .

But he behaved among st them as thoug h he were as dead as

they were themse lves ; he did no t imitate them in the ir deeds ofwickedness, he only had to do with them so far as was neces

sary for the ir guidance to the right way , discarding all complicityw ith the ir works

,for the sake of his own happiness. The

version of the translator a is And he made him a g rave wi ththe evildoers

,desiring to die , and with the rich in his death ,

as though wi cked himse lf b, althoug h he had done no violence ,ne ither was there any guile in his mouth .

’

In sp ite of all this,the w ill of God wi l l ultimately be accompl ished by his hands,and through him his p leasure wi l l prosper and be established.

Only,as God desi red to prove him,

he broke him by sickne ss,

and distracted him w ith pain, in orde r that the perfe ction of hischaracter and his res ignation might be visible to t he world,

R . Sa'

adyah , the Ga’on : se e p . 1 8.b Sense doubtful .

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5 5 8 R . THANHUM or JERUSALEM . [l ii i . 1 2 .

employed, a principle establ ished by the g eneral custom not onlyOf the prophet in all the rest of his writing s, but also of theother prophets in most of the i rs. As we have explained, themethod of the prophets is to represent fi

"

7 ely to the multitude such truths as they can comprehenc -.y words and phraseswith which they are fami l iar

,and in this way to imprint in

the ir mind useful doctrines concerning m: iters of th is world, sofar as the majority are able to g rasp them ; the masses havenot the mental power to understand thing s such as these in the irtrue nature

,as they are understood by th ( phets, and by

wise or learned men. And the further princip l e has also beenkept in view that in no part of these verses is there anythinghyp erbolical beyond what is e lsewhere permitted (as has beenfrequently explained), or indeed any othe r departure from the

usual custom of the prophets in the ir discourses, such as we haveseveral t imes remarked on in previous parts of our commentary .

W e repeat that we have adhered throughout to the clear and

palpable sense borne by the words of the text .

LIV . THE KHOZARI AND ITS COMMENTATORS .

Y’

HUDAH HAL—LEVI .

W e [i. e . the Israe l ites] are not in the condit ion of those whoare dead, but i

‘1 of a person emaciated by sickness, ofwhoserecovery the phyS

‘

fCians despair, but who stil l des ire s eag erly tobe cured by some miracle or interruption of the ordinary courseof nature as it is said

,

‘Oan these bones live (Ezek . xxxvn .

Similarly in the description g iven of the subje ct of the ParashahBehold my servant

,

‘He had no form nor come liness,and we hid,

as i t were , our faces from him’

(Is . l i i i . i . e . his disfiguredand loathsome appearance caused him to be treated l ike somefi lthy Obj e ct

,the sight of which fi lls people with disgust, and

impe ls them to turn thei r faces from it : D esp ised and forlornofmen

,a man ofp ains and known to sickness .

Says the Khazar : How can that be an allusion to Israe l,

when the prophet continues, Surely he hath borne our sicknesseswhatever has fallen upon Israe l has fal len upon them for sinsof the ir own.

Says the Haber : But Israe l is among st the nations what theheart is among st the members of the body a : it suffers most ofall

,and is in health most Ofall.

B. R . SH ’

LOMOH BEN M’

NAHEM b

LII.

‘3 The prophe t having fore told the exile and the adventOf the Redeeme r

,describes now the prosperity of our nation

8 Cf. pp . 2 28 , 246 .

5 Introduction in O : The commentator says , Perce iving the diversityofopinion on the interpretat ion of the Parashah B ehold my servant, insomuchthat some of our Rabbis apply it to the King Me ssiah , while others (among st

5 60 THE KHOZAR I AND ITS COMMENTATORS . [l i i . 1 4

under the two figures that follow (vcr. First Of all,he

assures us that,in Sp ite of our be ing in captivity, we Shall

never revert to a condition of imbecil ity or othe r mental incapacity but

,on the contrary, that the more we suffer

,the more

we shall be wise , and the g reater our knowledg e wil l become ;

and afterwards, when the Redeemer is come , he announces thatwe shall be hig h and exalted.

‘4 In th is verse he describes thepains and the suffering s wh ich will befal Israe l in exile

,declaring

how,by Israe l

’

s s ing le -hearted devotion to the contemplation‘

of

wisdom,he forsook all carnal desire s

,and freed himse l f from the

yoke Of the material world : As many were astonished a t thee,

etc.,i . e . so comple te ly did he g ive his reason the control of his

desires,that many were amazed at him

,at the sight of his marred

and altered form.

1 5 The king s of the nations and the ir noblesw il l shut their mouth at th is marvel

,and not utter a word for

the news of it did not reach them mere ly by hearsay, but theybehe ld it ey e to ey e .

LIII .

1 The king s of the nations are next represented as

asking , Who would have believed such a thing , had it reachedhim by hearsay or tradition ? Or it may be that Isaiah means

here to allude to the ‘servant ’ mentioned above

,asking , with

reference to him, Who could believe this g rea t marvel And the

arm of the Lord, i . e . his g reatness and the rich profusion knownto be in him

,up on whom has it been revealed ? 2 This rich

profusion is l ike a young plant having its root in a dry and

them the Haber) th ink that it re lates to our capt ivity , I have thought it wellto g ive the explanat ion ofmy master, as contained in his Testimony to Israel[a commentary on the

,Kho z ari] , in wh ich he follows g enerally the Opinion

Of the author of the Kho z ari.Introduct ion in M The words of the Haber in explanat ion Of this Para

shah are few. In order to convey his meaning somewhat more fully,I shall

g ive here the exposition Of my master in his work , the name Ofwh ich isknown in Israe l as the Testimony to Israel. In th is exposit ion he followsclosely the author of the Khoz ari, but expresse s his views at considerablygreater leng th .

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5 62 THE KHOZAltI AND ITS COMMENTATORS . [l i i i . 9

which w il l befal him in his days, who can declare or describe ?For

,besides all this

,he was cut 01 7

’

from the la/nd of life, i. e .

from the chosen land.

9 1 1 6 made his g rave with the wickedin an unclean land, and his death with the rich or w ith princesthat had g old,

’ that ‘ fed de l icate ly, ’ but who w i l l remain foreve r in the m in of the ir inte l l ig ence .

1 °Yet it p leased the Lord

to bruise him the prophet represents him in ex i le as a brokendown invalid

,despaired of by physic ians, who can only recover

by means of a m iracle . The prqphet next uses, with refe renceto him

,a phrase imply ing the highest praise , If his soul shall

make a’

tresp ass, he will see seed,etc.

,as though to say that his

exile was no t forced upon him, but was incurred voluntarily,for if he had taken it upon his soul to accept the creed of hisenemies

,he would have seen seed and p rolong ed his day s in

quie tness and rest (to use the Haber’s own phrase 9 ) indeed,

a Sing le word, which could have been spoken by him w ithoutthe sl ightest trouble , would have made him the equal of hisoppressor . And the re fore the p leasure of the Lord shall prosp erin his hand

, viz . (as explained by Abraham‘

ibn‘Ezra) ‘ by

cleaving to him’

(Deut. xi . both at the beg inning andoat

the end [i. e . continual ly] . Or the ve rse may be understoodto mean that the Lord was pleased to bruise him in order tosee ifhis soul would take the guilt upon itse lf, saying , My s inshave caused th is ’

(Jer. v . 2 and therefore that in the end

he should see seed, should p rolong his day s in his kingdom,

and the p leasure of the Lord should p rosp er in his hand.

1 1 God’sservant, Israe l , wi ll , howeve r, do stil l more in exile : he wi l l '

tel l every one how for the mischief, i . e . the falseness and

wickedness,of his soul he will see calamities, and have his fill

of chastisements. But Israe l w il l also accompl ish some thingfurther : by his knowledg e, i . e . by his inte ll ig ence and pe rfe ctwisdom,

he will cleanse andjustify the many former g enerationsfrom trespass and sin

,de claring that they were righteous and

Se e p . 5 5 9 .

-l i i i . THE KHOZARI AND ITS COMMENTATORS . 5 63

had not s inned ; while with himse lf the case would be the con

trary , for their iniquities he should bea r .

‘2The prophe t nowforete l ls to him the de l iverance , the g eneral gathering of exi lesand the ir re turn to the chosen land with abundance of worldlypossessions. Becaus e he bare the sin of many , etc.,

i . e . becausehe bare in captivity the guilt of former g enerations ; but in sp iteof this he will judg e them with leniency

, and intercede w iththe Almighty that he would bring them forth out of exile forthe ir own merit . Such , briefly, is the view, presenting somenove lties of interpretation, which I have to offer of the g eneralsense of this Parashah .

0 0 2

LV . R . GERSHOM BEN NATHAN .

LII.

‘3Behold in the latter days my servant,i . e . the righteous

ones, shall prosp er. Shall be high, etc.,i. e . shal l be exalted exceed

ingly .

1 “As many were astonished and amazed at your humil iat ion, saying of y ou, ‘So marred, ’ etc., i . e .

‘so disfigured are

the ir countenances that they no long er bear any resemblanceto other men,

’

so wi l l Israe l now cut ofi, and scatter the ‘ horns a ’

or reputation of the nations,so that they will be amazed at

him,and king s will shut their mouth at the g reatness then to

be discerned in Israe l ,— g reatness so extraordinary that (as it iswritten

,Ps. lxv. 1

,

‘Unto thee s ilence is praise’

) none wi ll beable to te l l it

,—and will be Observing dilig ently that which

is done for them.

LIII . 1 Who would have believed ? e tc. : If, the nations wil lexclaim

,ifwe had mere ly heard the l ike Ofthis, and had not se en

i t, we Should not have be lieved it nor should we have creditedthat the arm and mig ht of the Lord had been revea led

,as it has

now been revealed,upon Israe l : for previously all g reatness had

bel ong ed to the nations .

2He came up l ike a young plant :whereas before they had been in a condition of extreme lowliness

,they have now started up rapidly to g reat dignity. And

like a root which,emerg ing at first out Of the dry and arid soil

,

and devoid of comel iness,becomes in time a beautiful tree .

And when we looked at them at the beg inning , they had no

beauty such that we might desire them ; rather were they

Comp . Zech . n. 4 ; and se e p . 37.

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5 66 R . GERSHOM BEN NATHAN . [l i i i . 9

now is taken. All this is supposed to be spoken by the Gentilesin the future . And his g enera tion— i. e . all the punishmentswhich befel them one g ene ration after another— who is ableto describe ? for from the beg inning , they have been cut 017 andexpe lled from the land of Israe l

,here te rmed the land of life.

For the transg ression of his p eop le this s troke— i. e . the distresswhich they suffered— came to them. The prophe t means to refe rto Israe l . m5, i . e . came to him.

9He made his g rave a t the

will (f the wicked,i . e . re signed himse l f to be buried in the

manner determined by those wicked heathen who decreed deathag ainst him. And a t the will of the rich in his deaths, for beforethe rich mag istrate Israe l was forced to submit himse lf to all thevaried forms of death to which he was sentenced. And whywas Israe l thus treated ? The proph et g ives the answerbecause he would not consent to do wrong — e . g . to rob orcommit violence— l ike the nations , and because there was no

deceit in his mouth,— his mouth was l ike his heart, and would

in no way acknowledg e the ir false worship.

1 0But the Almightywas p leased to bruise Israel, and so to lead him back to prosp erity

b : he therefore afflicted them with sore sicknesses . DR'

Ji nivn the Almig hty says,If his soul is so devoted to me in

holiness as to re turn itse lf to me as a trespass- (fi ring

— whichmakes atonement for iniquity— then he shal l see seed, etc. , i . e .

shal l se e his descendants walking before him in his l ife -time ,and shal l prolong his day s , and desire from the Lord shall p rosp er

in his hand,i . e . what he desires to Obtain from him ,

God wil lsend into his hand and cause it to prosper .

1 1From the travailofhis soul he sha ll see and be satisfied— he wil l be worthy to seethe labour of his hands in his own possession, and to reap thefull enjoyment Of i t

,be ing ne ither dependent upon the assistance

of others,nor reduced to the ne cessity Of Steal ing . B y his know

ledg e he willjustify thejus t, i . e . establ ish his innocence , and notpervert justice . IIIy servant to many , i . e . my servant will award

b Comp. p . 39 .

_ 1 iii. R . GERSHOM BEN NATHAN . 5 67

justice,wil l mete out judgment faithfully, to many . And their

iniquities— i. e . the iniquities of the many— he will bear

,as.

happens g ene rally wi th the righteous, one interceding for othersin order that they may escape unpunished.

1 2 Therefore, i . e . on

account of this , I will divide thee a lot and an inheritance withthe many , i . e . thou shalt appear to the mult itude , and be

reckoned by those who see thee , to be as the old patriarchs.

And s imilarly with the mighty , i . e . with those distinguished forvalour, he shall divide spoil . Because he p oured out his soulto die, i . e . resigned his life for the sanctity of heaven

,and was

numbered with the transg ressors , endured much suffering as

though he had been a S inner and transg ressor himse lf. Yet

in this he bare the sin of others, and made intercession for the

transg ressors , i . e . for the transg re ssors who were suffering , theprophe t intercededwith the Almighty, and the Almighty throug hhis means gave prosperity to the world.

5 68 SHORT PASSAGES .

x. LEVI BEN GER SHOM .

It follows necessarily from this verse (Deut . xxxiv. 1 0) thatno prophet whose Office was restricted to Israe l alone coul d everarise ag ain like Mose s ; but i t is stil l quite possible that a.

prophe t l ike Moses mig ht arise among the Gentile nations. In

fact the Me ssiah is such a prophet , as it is stated in the Midrashon the verse

,Behold my servant shall p rosp er, e tc.

,that he will

be ‘

g reater than Moses ,’

which is explained to mean that hismiracles wi ll be more wonderful than those of Moses ; Moses, bythe miracles wh ich he wrought, drew but a sing le nation to theworship of God, but the Messiah wi l l draw all nations to theworship of God, as i t is written (Zeph . ii i . ‘Then wi ll I turnto the people a pure languag e, that they may all cal l upon thename of the Lord,’ ete e And this wi ll be effected by means ofa marve llous sign ,

to be seen by all nations even to the ends

Of the earth,viz . the re surre ction of the dead.

y . R . L1 W A OF PRAGUE .

The Messiah , who is the perfe ction of the world, wil l be highand lofty and exalted now

,inasmuch as he is the perfe ction, he

is also the consummat ion, and the consummation is above all

thing s, for all tends thereto and this is why it is said of thisMessiah that he will be hig h and exalted and lefty .

‘A star Shal l proceed out of Ja’qob, and there shal l arise a

sceptre in Israe l the King Me ssiah is here Spoken of as a star ,

for (as we have explained above) his position and dignity wi ll beof the highest, since i t is said of him,

He will be high and exalted

and lofty exceeding ly . He is here,there fore

,compared to a star,

because a star is e levated over all thing s.

9 Comp . p . 79.

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5 70 ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS TO PAGE 40 .

from all those of his g eneration who we re stil l al ive, who could

tell that they would ever rise to such g reatness who everbel ieved this of them in the days when they were droppingoff from the land Of life ? For the transg ression ,

etc. the men

of eve iy nation wi ll say that during the whole course of the iraffliction in exile no stroke ever fel l upon them which had not

been caused by the transgression of the ir own people it wil l beimpossible to assert that they were smitten with deso lation forany fault of the i r own

,because since we see the ir g ods con

firming now the ir deeds, we learn that they must have kept thelaw of truth . This be ing so, it is impossible to ascribe thecalamities which befel them to gui lt of the ir own : they fe l l uponthem for the transg ression of my p eop le— for the S ins Of the

nation observing such statutes as I do myse lf. 9 Every nationwhich condemned an Israe l ite condemned him to the punishmentOf the wicked

,as

,for instance

,of murderers or those gui l ty of

ince st andwhatever form of death was thus selected for Israe l,

Israe l re ce ived it . And the rich in his deaths he endured thedeath to which any powerful and wealthy nation might sentencehim. And s ince there was no violence in their hands they weremurdered upon any arbitrary pretext ; for the nat ions of theworld tyranni zed over them and consigned them to crue l deaths,because (as the next verse says) the Almig hty des ired to justifythem in the day Ofjudgment . 1 0AS Solomon says (Prov . i i i .Whom the Lord de l ights in, he bruises him wi th chastisements ;and happy the man who thus suffers

,and admits the justice

of God’

s judgments , as the prophet proceeds to declare , If hissoul makes a tresp ass

-mj’

ering , he sha ll see seed,etc.

1 1 As a

reward for his deeds,he will be satisfied,— for having , viz ., justi

fied the Just One by hearing cheerfully and heart ily the yoke ofexile in order to make the many righteous, as the prophet says,hl y servant, the jus t one— i. e . Israe l the ‘ righteous

‘

nation ’

will justify the many by his knowledg e, by acquiescing intel

lig ently and will ing ly in his exile , and their iniquities he will

bear.

‘2 It is only fair that the nation which justified the many

ADDITION TO PAGE 89, END . 5 7 1

should have also a portion allotted to it among the manyhe wi ll , moreove r, divide sp oil with the mig hty , because hep oured out his soul to die— Israe l resigned themse lves to mar

ty rdom for the unity of God— and was numbered with the trans

g ressors— for the re was no nation in the world.which did not

deem Israe l to consist of transg re ssors.

Addition to pag e 89 , end.

The disciples of Jesus vainly obje ct that this Parashah refersto him. But if this were so

,how could the Almighty cal l him

his servant,

’

and He shall see seed,shal l have long

'

days 2’

if he is God,how can he see seed

"! And ag ain, how could he

promise that he would ‘divide him Spoilwith the g reat 2’ a only

if they admit that he was [not more than] a prophet is such an

appl ication within the rang e of human possibility a

Correction.

0

Pag e 3 87, l ine 4 , for Frere read Ferrer ; and see Gratz,vii i .

pp . 1 1 6— 1 1 8 .

a From a more modern MS .

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5 721 1 :N

Joseph) , 1 6, 3 2 , 1 62 , 300 ff , 3 2 1 ,

M e tatron,I 3 , 1 5 2 , 3 5 4 .

M idrash , 7, 39 , 1 24 , 209 , 3 86, al .Moses , 8 , 1 0

, 1 5 , 1 6 , 5 6 , 80 , 1 63 ,

26 1 , 270 ,273 , 276, 287—289 , 298,

3 5 5 , 395 , 406 , 5 68 o

Mose s , named in the M idrash w ithAbraham and the ang e ls , 9 , 40 ,

79, 1 65- 1 68 , 2 29 , and p assim.

Moses , saying concerning ,273 , 287,

Mosheh had-Darshan, vi , xxu, 3 3 .

Nero, 1 3 2 , 3 65 .

Orig en,xli , 4 1 2 .

Qaraites, v , 1 9 , 6 1 , 3 73 .

E x .

R abba, 8 , 285 .

R abbanites , vii, 8 7.

R ash i , xlv.

R ome, xlv, 39 , 85 .

Shekhinah ( the D ivine Presence ) ,

Sh iloh , 3 85 .

Shimlai, R . ,8 .

Sh im‘

on benYohai , xli, xlv, 3 85 .

Sin , orig inal , 1 1 5 , 4 5 1 if , 464 .

Targum of Yonathan, 5 , 1 1 , 4 1 6 ,

Temple , the , 5 , 64 , 3 82 .

Uzziah , 4 1 3 .

Yohanan, R . , 266 .

Yo se, R ., 1 0 .