Verse 15. Verse 16. Verse 17. Endnotes — Chapter 1.

hands grew heavy, and they fell and were broken. Then went Moses, and ground {h1} the calf to powder, and scattered the dust of it upon the river, and made the children of Israel drink it, and slew all that deserved to die, and went up a second time into the firmament, and prayed before the Lord, and made atonement for the children of Israel; then was he commanded to make a tabernacle and an ark. Immediately Moses hastened, and made the tabernacle, and all its furniture, and the ark; and he put in the ark the two other tables, and appointed the sons of Aaron the priests to offer the offerings upon the altar and to pour the wine upon the offerings: but from whence had they wine to pour? For in the wilderness they had no proper place for sowing, neither had they fig trees, nor vines, nor pomegranates; but they went to the vineyards of En-gedi, and took clusters of grapes from thence, and pressed wine out of them, and poured it upon the altar, the fourth part of a hin to one lamb.

Verse 15. Behold, thou art fair, &c.] When the children of Israel performed the will of their King, he {i1} himself praised them, in the {k1} family of the holy angels, and said, How fair are thy works, my daughter, my beloved, O congregation of Israel, in the time that thou doest my will, and studiest in the words of my law; and how well ordered are thy works and thy affairs, as young doves that are fit to be offered up upon the altar! Verse 16. Behold, thou art fair, &c.] The congregation of Israel answered before the Lord of the world, and thus she said, How fair is the shechinah of thy holiness, when thou dwellest among us, and receivest our prayers with acceptance, and when thou dwellest in our beloved bed, and our children are multiplied in the world, and we increase and multiply like a tree that is planted by a fountain of water, whose leaf is fair, and whose fruit is plenteous!

Verse 17. The beams of our house, &c.] Solomon the prophet said, How beautiful is the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, which is built by my hands of wood of {l1} Gulmish: but far more beautiful will be the house of the sanctuary, which shall be built {m1} in the days of the King Messiah, whose beams will be of the cedars of the garden of Eden, and whose rafters will be of brutine, fir, and box.

ENDNOTES — CHAPTER 1.

{a} The word µwgrt signifies an exposition, or interpretation, or a translation of one language into another; and here of the Hebrew text into the Chaldee language, with an explanation. The first use of these translations was after the return of the Jews from Babylon, where they had almost lost the Hebrew language; and, therefore, were necessary for the understanding the law and the prophets. The translation of the five books of Moses was done by Onkelos, and that of the prophets by Jonathan Ben Uzziel, the former of whom lived a little after Christ, and the latter a little before him: but the translation of the Hagiographa, among which is this book of Canticles, is generally thought to be done by R. Joseph Caecus. The paraphrase on this book could not have been written till after the finishing of the Talmud, seeing express mention is made of it there. {b} Which is the Holy Spirit, as it is afterwards explained. What the Targum says of this book is the mind of Jewish writers in general. Vide Mishna, Tract. Yadaim, c; 3, s. 5. Shirhashirim Rabba, in ver. 1. Midrash Koheleth, in ver. 1. Zohar, in Exodus fol. 59, 3. Jarchi and Aben Ezra, in Praefat. in Cant. Kimchi in 1 Reg. 11, 41.

{c} Psalm 92:1-15, which Psalm many Jewish writers think was made by the first man Adam; so Targum in Psa. 92. Zohar in Genesis fol. 43, 2. Vajikra Rabba, Parash. 10. But in Shemoth Rabba, Parash. 23, it is said that Adam never composed any song: and that the song which Moses and the children of Israel sang at the Red Sea, was the first that ever was sung in the world; and, indeed, it is the first that is mentioned in Scripture. {d} Exodus 15:1.

{e} Numbers 21:17.

{f} A phrase expressive of death. See Philippians 1:23. {g} Deuteronomy 32:1.

{h} In Joshua 10:13, it is said, that “the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down µymt µwyk “about a whole day “ or a complete day, which, if we understand of an artificial day, was but twelve hours; and if of a natural day, twenty-four hours. Kimchi, on Joshua 10:13, says that this miracle was wrought in the summer solstice, and on the longest day in the year, which in the land of Canaan consists but of fourteen hours; whereas the Targum here says, the sun stood still thirty-six hours, which makes three artificial days, or one natural day and a half. Vide Ecclus. 46:5.

{i} So the Targum on Joshua 10:12.

{k} Judges 5:1.

{l} So the Targum on 1 Samuel 2:1.

{m} So the Targum on 2 Samuel 22:1.

{n} Much to the same purpose is the Targum on Isaiah 30:29. {o} So Ezra is called a “scribe of the law of the God of heaven” Ezra 7:11, 12.

{p} The Mishna, which consists of six parts, is a collection of the traditions of the Jews, or their oral law, compiled by R. Judah, about the year of Christ 150.

{q} Or the Gemara, as it is read in Targum Triplex, printed with the Pentateuch. Of this Gemara, or Talmud, there are two sorts: the one is called the Jerusalem Talmud, which R. Jochanan collected together, about the year of Christ 230; the other is called the Babylonian Talmud, which was begun by R. Ase, in the year 367, who was succeeded in it by Maremar, in the year 427, and at last was finished by Avina, in the year

500. The former was written for the use of the Jerusalem Jews; the latter, for those in Babylon and other parts, and is most esteemed. It contains the disputations and decisions of the Jewish doctors upon the Mishna. Vide Buxtorf, Biblioth. Rab. p. 425.

{r} It is a generally received opinion among the Jews that seventy angels descended and confounded the language at Babel, from which time the earth was divided into seventy different nations, speaking seventy different languages. Vide Targum Jon. in Genesis 11:7, 9.

{s} A like phrase see in Ephesians 1:21; Matthew 12:32. {t} Vide Exodus 13:21, 22.

{u} The number of Hebrew letters in the alphabet. R. Isaac, in Shirhashirim Rabba in loc., gives the same sense of the words, which he collects from the word Ëb bach in thee, b beth standing numerically for two, and Ë caph, for twenty.

{v} The Ethiopians. Shirhashirim Rabba in loc. explains the words by Amos 9:7: “Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me,” &c. {w} It is a received opinion among the Jews that Moses went up into the firmament of heaven; though the Scriptures only signify that he went up into Mount Sinai, and was in the midst of she cloud with God there. So the Targum on ver. 11, 12, 14; and on Psa. 68:18.

{x} So it is explained in Shirhashirim Rabba in loc. See Deuteronomy 17:3; Job 31:26, 27; 2 Kings 23:5, 11; Ezekiel 8:16. {y} See note on ver. 1.

{z} The Jews, as here and elsewhere, call it zwmt tpwqt tekuphath Tammuz, “the revolution of Tammuz.” The sun is so called Ezekiel 8:14, which was worshipped under this name; it answers in part to our June, when the sun enters into the tropic of Cancer, and is what is meant by this revolution, Maimon. Hilch. Kiddush Hachodesh, c. 9, s. 2. Vide Targum, Jon. in Genesis 8:22.

{a1} It is very common in Jewish writings to compare the law to a yoke; so Targum, in Lam. 3:27. Mishna, Tract. Berac. c. 2, s. 2. Pirk. Aboth. c. 3, s. 5. Midrash Echa Rabbati, fol. 56, 3. Bereshith Rabba, Parash. 98. Bemidbar Rabba, Parash. 13. See Matthew 11:29, and Acts 15:10. {b1} So Targ. Jon. in Exodus 31:18. Zohar in Exodus fol. 35, 1. Jarchi in Exodus 34:1. See Exodus 24:10, and Ezekiel 1:26. {c1} The decalogue or ten commandments.

{d1} In Psalm 12:6, the place here referred to, the “words of the Lord” are said to be “as silver purified seven times;” where by µyt[bv shibathayim some of the Jewish rabbins, agreeably to the Targum here, understand seven times seven, which makes forty-nine; and so many ways they say the law is capable of being interpreted, and that he is a wise man who is acquainted with them. Midrash Agada in Jarchi, in Psa. 12:6. Midrash Kohelet, in c. 8, 5:1. Vajikra Rabba, Parash. 26, and Yade Mose, in ib. Bemidbar Rabba, Parash. 19.

{e1} In Buxtorf’s Bible it is read adygk kegida, “like wormwood,” which, indeed, well agrees with what is said of it; though Matthiolus says of nard, that when it has lost its sweet smell it stinks exceedingly. His words are these:

Plerumque accidit dum per Indicum et Arabicum mare in Alexandriam defertur, et unde Venetias, ut ascito sibi maris humore (id namque facile sit quod nardus sit siccissima) vel situm contrahat, vel supputrescat: unde postea amissa suaveolentia, graviter oleat.-Matthiolus in Dioscor. 50:1, c. 6.

{f1} The Jews suppose the binding of Isaac to be very meritorious, and that by virtue of it their sins are expiated and many blessings procured for them; and therefore in the beginning of the year they pray to God, that in mercy to Israel he would remember the binding of Isaac. Seder Tephillot, fol. 282, 1, 2. Edit. Basil. 1578. See Targum and Jarchi on Mic. 7:20. Shirhashirim Rabba in c. 1, 14. Jarchi in Exodus 32:13. Shemoth Rabba, Parash. 44.

{g1} The Jews say, that in this same place Adam, Cain, Abel, and Noah built altars, and sacrificed. Maimon. Hilch. Beth. Habbechira, c. 2, s. 2. Targum Jon. in Genesis 8:20, and 22:9. Here Solomon afterwards built the temple, 2 Chronicles 3:1.

{h1} Exodus 32:20.

{i1} Ch. hyrmymb bemeymreyh, “by his word.”

{k1} The Latin word familia is here used by the paraphrase; compare with this Ephesians 3:15. Luke 12:8.

{l1} A kind of cedar, see Eliae Levitae Methurgeman in voce. Targum Jon. in Num. 19:6, and Ketoreth Hassammim, in ib.

{m1} The Jews expect a third temple to be built in the days of the Messiah. See R. Abendan. not. in Miclol Yophi, and Abarbinel in Hagg. 2:9. R. Isaac Chizuk Emun. par. 1, c. 34. Bemidbar Rabba, Parash. 14.