Verse 12. Verse 13.

good works of my people, and see whether the wise men, who are like to a vine, multiply and increase, and whether their branches are full of good works, as the pomegranates.

Verse 12. Or ever I was aware, &c.] And when it appeared manifest before the Lord that they were righteous, and studied in the law, the Lord said by his word, I will not humble them any more, yea, I will not consume them: but will consult with myself to do them good, and to set them, even their excellent ones, in the chariots of {l} kings, because of the worthiness of the righteous of that generation, who are like in their works to Abraham their father.

Verse 13. Return, return, O Shulamite, &c.] Return unto me, O congregation of Israel, return unto Jerusalem; return unto the house of the doctrine of the law; return to receive the prophecy from the prophets, who have prophesied in the name of the word of the Lord; for what is your goodness, ye lying prophets to make the people of Jerusalem go astray by your prophecies? for ye speak perverse things against the word of the Lord, to profane the camp of Israel and Judah.

ENDNOTES — CHAPTER 6.

{a} The persons here interrogating are said to be “the nations of the world,” in Shirhashirim Rabba, and by Jarchi in loc.

{b} Which were those of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan. See Numbers 2:3, 10, 18, 25, and Bemidhar Rabba, Parash. 2. {c} So the word ynbyhrh: is paraphrased in Shirhashirim Rabba in loc. {d} See note on chap. 4:1.

{e} See note on chap. 4:2.

{f} Schindler, in his Lex. Pentaglot. fol. 680, says that Mattathias and his posterity were so called from ˆwmch Hasmon, one of their ancestors, though I think there is no evidence of any of their ancestors being of that name. The Jewish writers pretty generally agree that they were so called from the word µynmvh Hashmannim, which signifies princes or great persons, and is so used in Psalm 68:32; for they had both the high priesthood and the princely government in their hands. So R. Aben Ezra, R. David Kimchi, and R. Sol. Ben Melee, in Psa. 68:32. David de Pomis, Lex. Hebrews fol. 42, 1, and so likewise Scaliger de Emend. Temp. lib. 5, pp. 436, 437; who observes that Mattathias was never so called, nor was he a high priest, though the Targumist here calls him so, but a common priest of the course of Jehoiarib, and of the town of Moddin; {see 1Macc 2:1;} and that this family began to be called by the name of the Hasmonaeans, from the times of Simon Hyrcanus, who was both high priest and prince of the Jewish nation, which kind of government continued in that family unto the times of Herod the Great, who destroyed both it and them; and this well agrees with what the paraphrast here says, who manifestly distinguishes the kingdom of the house of the Hasmonseans from Mattathias and his sons, i.e., Judas Maccabaeus and Jonathan. Of these Hasmonreans, Jarchi and Aben Ezra explain the 10th and 12th verses of this chapter.

{g} Vide Aben Ezra and Jarchi in loc., and Bemidbar Rabba, Parash. 14, where those sixty queens and eighty concubines are interpreted of the sons of Noah, Abraham, Ham, Ishmael, and Esau.

{h} See note on ver. 4.

{i} So Jarchi interprets this “garden of nuts;” though some of the rabbins in Shirhashirim Rabba think the world is meant; and by the vine, the schools and synagogues; and by the pomegranates, the students in the law. {k} It is said to be built by Cyrus, because he gave the Jews liberty and encouragement to build it; see Ezra 1:2-4.

{l} In Shirhashirim Rabba in loc. these words are referred to the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt, and their exaltation over the nations in the land of Canaan; to the raising of David to the throne of Israel, after he had been persecuted by Saul; and to the advancement of Mordecai to great dignity in Babylon, after his mourning in sackcloth and ashes; all which are represented as severally surprising to them.