"The Lord said, to feed the flock," but not that he commanded 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.

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They that sell them.”—. [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 mi vi, "Let Israel rejoice in his makers." (Ps. cxlix. 2.) And again, by, "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.

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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 1, “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," 13. -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). Dan is the language of destruction, as bene, "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 Jehoiakin 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."

This

"And my soul was straitened," "pal. is said figuratively, as in Judges x, 16, baya iwọc hypn baziz), "And his soul was shortened for the misery of Israel." The same idea is intended as that expressed by Ezekiel, in the words

mning byp ‘wpɔ mymą ¬wine mɔbya 'DE! YDA) "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.

"And I cut it asunder."-By the hands of Pharaoh Necho I removed him.

“To break,” ¬?, with Tsere and Yod, to make it long. -He says, when I saw that no good king would arise after him, I removed him, in order that the nations might rule over Israel. For they did not keep the way of the Lord, except in spite of the king, as it is written; therefore it is said, To destroy my covenant which I had made with all people, as if God had made a covenant with the nations not to do evil to Israel, for they had done them no evil in the days of Josiah. Even Pharaoh Necho sent to him a message, that he should not make war with him.

11. "And it was broken in that day.”—That covenant was broken in the day that Josiah died, for the three shepherds ruled over them, and the nations plundered them, and robbed, and slew, and led away captive.

"And so the poor of the flock that kept me, in

, knew that it was the word of the Lord."-Those righteous persons amongst them who were keeping me, i. e., what I said to them through the prophets. But the people did not hearken, for they did not believe them, only the good amongst them, who were keeping me, i. e., my word, as NV), "But his father kept the word," and when the punishments came, they knew that it was the word of the Lord.

12. And I said unto them."-This is the word of the Lord which he said to them through the prophets.

"Give me my price.”—Inasmuch as I have fed (or been a shepherd to you) give my price or hire. By hire, is meant repentance and good works.

"And if not, forbear."-Similar to what Ezekiel said, "Whether they hear, or whether they forbear."

"So they weighed my price, thirty pieces of silver.”There were thirty righteous persons amongst them in the days of these three shepherds, and of them we find