tuary! how long wilt thou terrify thyself? I know that thine end is to be left desolate, for Zechariah has prophesied against thee long since, Open thy doors, O Lebanon.'"* : 4. "Thus saith the Lord; Feed the flock of the slaughter."-Most interpreters explain this paragraph of the past that he told the prophet to prophesy what should happen to Israel until their captivity. Some interpret it of the second temple. They are called "the flock of the slaughter" because they were given into the hands of their enemies to be slain, when they transgressed the commands of the blessed God. My Lord, my father, of blessed memory, has explained, "feed," as an infinitive, "to feed," and gives as an example of a similar form, 71, "that there may be to it a glittering" (Ezek. xxi. 10, Heb. 15), where has the same signification as in. The meaning then is, same * The remarkable tradition which Kimchi here quotes, is found in the Talm. Bab. Treatise. Yoma. fol. 39, col. 2, and is as follows:-"Our rabbies have handed down the tradition, that forty years before the destruction of the temple, the lot [for the goat that was to be sacrificed on the day of atonement] did not come out on the right side-neither did the scarlet tongue [that used to be fastened between the horns of the scapegoat] turn white [as, according to tradition, it used to do, to signify that the sins of the people were forgiven]-neither did the western lamp burn -the doors of the sanctuary also opened of their own accord, until R. Johanan, the son of Zakkai, reproved them. He said, O sanctuary, sanctuary! why dost thou trouble thyself? I know of thee that thine end is to be left desolate, for Zechariah, the son of Iddo, has prophesied against thee long since, 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.' R. Isaac, the son of Tavlai, says, Why is the temple called Lebanon [white mountain]? Answer: Because it makes white the sins of Israel. Rav Zutra, the son of Tobiah, says, Why is temple called 'forest' (Zech. xi. 2)? Answer: Because it is written, The house of the forest of Lebanon' (1 Kings vii. 2), &c." Lightfoot, on Matt. xxvi. 3, quotes this tradition from the Jerusalem Talmud in nearly the same words; and, on John x. 1, gives his view of this xith chapter of Zechariah, which is worth consulting. "The Lord said, to feed the flock," but not that he com manded the prophet to feed them himself. God, blessed be He, said to feed them, as he says in verse 7, " And I will feed the flock of the slaughter." 5. "Whose buyers slay them."-And behold they are in the hands of a buyer and seller, who has no mercy. "And they are not guilty."-They do not hold themselves guilty if they kill them. "They that sell them."-7. [The plural noun and singular verb signify] that each one of their sellers says, when he sells them, Blessed be the Lord. "For I am rich."-Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich from the price of these captives. And when the wicked seller says, Blessed be the Lord, it is because he thinks that God is well pleased with the deed, as Sennacherib said, "Am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it?" (Isa. xxxvi. 10) or, it is said because it is the custom of the children of men in this world to thank God for every increase of their gain, whether it be gotten in the way of righteousness or unrighteousness. And on this subject our rabbies, of blessed memory, say, "A thief, when he is in the act of breaking in, calls upon God." 7. The is quiescent, the has pathach, and they only a simple sh'va. "And their own shepherds pitieth them not.”—And God, for he is their own shepherd,* has no pity upon them; and therefore they fell into the hands of their enemies, who buy and sell them. , shepherds, is said in the plural number, similar to the idiom in "Let Israel rejoice in his makers." (Ps. cxlix. 2.) And again, by N, "Where is God my makers." (Job xxxv. 10.) * This is a remarkable exposition, as furnishing another instance of the plural being applied to God. 6. "For I will no more pity them," unless they better their doings. "Upon the inhabitants of the land" of Israel. "Every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king.”—They shall destroy them: and their king, he also shall destroy them, whether it be a king. of Israel, or a king of the Gentiles, that ruleth over them. has the signification of 7, "deliver into," &c., And they presented * הָעוֹלָה הִמְצִיאוּ אֵלָיו לִנְתָחֶיהָ as the burnt-offering unto him, with the pieces thereof." (Lev. ix. 13.) "And they shall smite the land."-Between the one and the other they shall destroy and waste the land of Israel. "And out of their hand will I not deliver them," because they have sinned against me. 7. " And I will feed truly the poor of the flock," 17. -In truth the poor of the flock I found them, when I took them to feed. First, I will explain this paragraph according to the opinion of those commentators who refer it to the past; and although I do not find that any one of them has given a complete commentary, I will explain according as I shall find in my opinion, by the help of the Name, blessed be He. "And I took unto me two staves.". -It is the way of a shepherd to lead the flock with the staff in his hand ; but it is said that to feed Israel he took two staves, this is to signify that his mode of leading them was not uniform, but according to their deeds so he led them, and, therefore, two staves are mentioned. And it is said, "The one I called Beauty, and the other Bands." is here twice pointed with pathach, though it is not in regimen. This is not according to the prevailing custom, but some few similar cases are found. It is said, that he called one of the staves "Beauty," for in pleasantness he led them on the way as David, the king, says, "The Lord is my shep herd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters." This was in the time when Israel kept the way of the Lord, when their kings and their judges were good, and leading them in the right way, and then God led them in pleasantness, full of all goodness, without any adversary or evil occurrence. "And the other" of the staves he called "Bands' (Destroyers). is the language of destruction, as "That spoil the vines (Song ii. 15); that is to say, they have corrupted their way and their doings, and he led them accordingly, in that he was not careful to preserve them from their enemies. Nevertheless he still led them, so that his Shechinah and his protection did not depart from them until their captivity, for there were good kings and bad kings after them. When they were evil, then evil came upon them, and then the staff (Destroyers) was there; but when they did good, then the good came upon them, and the staff, Beauty (pleasantness), was there. "And I fed the flock."-Whether good or evil, I fed them. -- 8. "Three shepherds also I cut off in one month.”These are the sons of Josiah, Jehoahaz, and Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah; these three died by the hand of their enemies. But Jehoiakin, the son of Jehoiakim, although he was led away captive was not cut off, for from him the kingdom, the kingdom of the house of David was continued, but these three were cut off, for from the seed of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah there was no king: and Jehoiak in died in dishonour, torn and cast out; and these three were at the end of the desolation and captivity of the land, for the three together did not reign more than twenty-two years and four months, and they were all in affliction. The words, "In one month,' signify a short time, as in Hosea v. 7, "Now shall a month devour them and their portions." "And my soul was straitened," AL. This is said figuratively, as in Judges x, 16, baya iwe nypaI ,"And his soul was shortened for the misery of Israel." The same idea is intended as that expressed by Ezekiel, in the words "Then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister." (Ezek. xxiii. 18.) These two verses refer to the desolation of the land in the days of Zedekiah. And when it is said, "Their soul also abhorred me," the meaning is, My soul did not loathe them first, but their soul first despised me, therefore my soul abhorred them. But Jonathan has not thus interpreted the verse, "His soul was shortened for the misery of Israel," and he has interpreted, "My soul was shortened for them," to mean, "My word has removed them;" and again, the words, "Their soul also abhorred me," he has interpreted, "Because their soul abhorred my service." And again the words, "Three shepherds I cut off," &c., he has not expounded the thing, but given the simple meaning of the words, "And I cast away three governors in one month." 9." Then said I, I will not feed you." Before the temple was desolated, in the days of these three shepherds, when I saw that their deeds were evil, and that no good king would arise after them, I said, I will not feed them any more; in the same way as it is said, "I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured." "That that dieth, let it die," by the pestilence. “And that that is cut off, let it be cut off," by the sword. "And let the rest eat every one the flesh of another," in the famine. 10. "And I took,”—And I had already taken my staff. "Beauty," This is Josiah; for after him there was no good king. |