Endnotes — Chapter 8.
ENDNOTES — CHAPTER 8.
{a} The Jews very seldom speak of the birth or nativity of the Messiah as future, but only of a revelation or discovery of him to them, which they expect; for they are under self convictions that he was born long since. Some of them say he was born on the day the house of the sanctuary was destroyed, but is hid because of their sins and transgressions, and that either in the sea, or the walks of the garden of Eden; and some say that he sits among the lepers at the gates of Rome, from whence they expect he will come unto them, R. Aben Ezra, in Cant. 7:5. Targum in Mic. 4:8. Talmud Sanhedrin, fol. 98, col. 2. Targum Jerus. in Exodus 12:42. {b} The Jews expect a very sumptuous feast to be made for the righteous in the days of the Messiah, which will consist of all sorts of flesh, fish, and fowl, of plenty of generous wine, and of a variety of the most delicious fruit; some particulars of which they have thought fit to give, and are as follow: 1. They say an exceeding large ox shall be served up, which they take to be the behemoth in Job 40:20, of which they say many things monstrous and incredible; as that it lies upon a thousand hills, and feeds upon them all, and drinks up all the waters which are gathered together in a year’s time, in the river Jordan, at one draught, Vajikra Rabba, Parash. 22. Bemidbar Rabba, Parash. 21. Targum in Psa. 50:10. Jarchi in ibid., and in Job 40:20. 2. The next dish is the leviathan and his mate, which they say are “the great whales” mentioned in Genesis 1:21. The male, they say, God castrated, and the female he slew, and salted it against this feast, Talmud Baba Bathra, fol. 74. Targum Jon., Jarchi, and Baal Hatturim in Genesis 1:21. Vajikra Rabba, Parash. 13. Targum Sect. in Esther 3:7. Aben Ezra in Dan. 12:2. 3. They speak of an exceeding large fowl, which they call Ziz, that shall be one part of this entertainment, of which they say many things incredible; as particularly, that when its feet are upon the earth its head reaches the heavens; and when it stretches out its wings, they cover the body of the sun, Baba Bathra, fol. 73, col. 2. Targum and Kimchi in Psa. 50:10. Vajikra Rabba, Parash. 22. 4. After all this shall be served up a variety of the most pleasant and delightful fruits, which are in the garden of Eden, which the Targumist here speaks of. And lastly, the wine which will then be used will be generous old wine, which, as it is said here and elsewhere, was kept in the grape from the creation of the world, Zohar in Genesis fol. 81, 4. Targum Jon. in Genesis 27:25, and Targum in Ecclesiastes 9:7. Something of this gross notion seems to have obtained among the Jews in the times of Christ; see Luke 14:15. Vide Buxtorf Synagog. Jud. c. 50.
{c} These were four sections of the law, written on parchments, folded up in the skin of a clean beast, and tied to the head and hand. The four sections were these following, viz.: The first was Exodus 13:2-11. The second was Exodus 13:11-17. The third was Deuteronomy 6:4-10. The fourth was Deuteronomy 11:13-22. Those that were for the head were written and rolled up separately, and put in four distinct places in one skin, which was fastened with strings to the crown of the head towards the face, about the place where the hair ends, and where an infant’s brain is tender: and they take care to place them in the middle, that so they may be between the eyes. Those that were for the hand were written in four columns, on one parchment, which, being rolled up, was fastened to the inside of the left arm, where it is fleshy, between the shoulder and the elbow, that so it might be over against the heart. These they call tephillin, from the root llp phalal, “to pray,” because they use them in the time of prayer, and look upon them as useful to put them in mind of that duty; in Matthew 23:5, they are called fulakthria, phylacteries, because they think they keep men in the fear of God, are preservatives from sin, nay, from evil spirits, and against diseases of the body; they imagine there is a great deal of holiness in them, and value themselves much upon the use of them, Targum Jon. Jarchi and Baal Hatturim in Exodus 13:9, 10, and Deuteronomy 6:8. Maimon. Hilth. Tephilin, c. 1, s. 1; c. 2, s. 1; c. 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; and c. 4. 1, 2, 25. Matteh Dan. Diaiog. 2, fol. 9, 4, and 10, 1. Vide Buxtorf Synagog. Jud. c. 9, and Leo Modena’s History of the Rites, &c., of the Present Jews, par. 1, c. 11.
{d} These were two passages in the law, the one was Deuteronomy 6:4-10, the other was Deuteronomy 11:13-22, which were written on a piece of parchment in one column, which, being rolled up and put into a pipe of reed or wood, was fastened to the right side of the door-post: this they imagine was useful to put them in mind of the Divine Being, to preserve them from sin, and from evil spirits, Targum Jon. in Deuteronomy 6:9. Maimon. Hitch. Tephilin, c. 5, s. 1, 6, and 6, 13. Vide Buxtorf Synagog. Jud. c. 31.
{e} Magog was one of the sons of Japhet, Genesis 10:2, from whom very probably the people called by those two names sprung, who seem to be the Scythians or Tartars; for Josephus, Antiq. Jud. 50:1, c. 7, calls the Scythians Magogae; and Hierapolis in Coelesyria, Pliny (Nat. Hist. 50:5, c. 23) says, was called by the Syrians Magog: and Marcus Paulus Venetus, 50:1, c. 64, says that “the countries of Gog and Magog are in Tartary, which they call Jug (perhaps rather Gog) and Mungug.” Vide Schindler, Lex. Pent. fol. 288. Mention is made of these in Ezekiel 38:18; 39:1-8,11; Revelation 20:8, 9; with which last text may be compared what the Targumist here says. The Jewish rabbins, in their writings, very frequently speak of the war of Gog and Magog, which they expect in the days of the Messiah. See Mr. Mede’s works, book 1, disc. 48, p. 374, and book 3, pp. 713, 751.
{f} See Zechariah 14:4.
{g} The Jews are of opinion, that those of their nation who die and are buried in other lands, at the resurrection of the dead shall not rise where they died and were buried; but shall be rolled through the caverns of the earth, into the land of Canaan, and there rise. This they call µytmh lwglg gilgul hammethim, “the rolling of the dead,” or twlyjmh lwglg gilgul hammechiloth, “the rolling through the caverns,” which they represent as very painful and afflicting; and say that this was the reason that Jacob desired he might not be buried in Egypt, and is now one reason why the Jews are so desirous of returning to their own land: nay, at this time the more wealthy and religious among them go thither on this very account, especially when advanced in years, that they may die, and be buried there, and so escape this painful rolling under the earth, Bereshith Rabba, Parash.
96. Midrash Hannealam in Zohar in Genesis fol. 68, 4. Jarchi in Genesis 47:29. Kimchi in Ezekiel 37:12. Vide Buxtorf Syllagog. Jud. c. 3, and Lex. Talmud, fol. 439.
{h} Though the resurrection of the dead is one of the thirteen articles of the Jewish creed, yet many of them are of opinion that it is peculiar to the righteous, and that the wicked shall have no share therein; but that their bodies perish with their souls at death, and shall never rise more, R. David Kimchi, in Psa. 1:5, and in Isaiah 26:19. R. Saadiah Gaon, in Dan. 12:2. Vide Pocock. Not. Misc. c. 6, p. 180, &c.
{i} The Targumist here refers to a fabulous notion of the Jews, that when the people of Israel came to Mount Sinai to receive the law, the Lord plucked up the mountain, and removed it into the air, and set the people under it, where he gave the law unto them; this they collect from Exodus 19:17, and Deuteronomy 4:11. And this, they say, is the apple tree under which the Church is here said to be raised up, Targum Jon. Jarchi and Baal Hatturim in Exodus 19:17. Jarchi and Shirhashirim Rabba in loc.
{k} So Jerusalem is said to be “the mother of us all,” in Galatians 4:26.
{l} µnhg gehinnom, “the valley of Hinnom,” where the idolaters caused their children to pass through the fire to Molech, and burned them, 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31; 32:35. R. David Kimchi, in Psa. 27:13, says that Gehinnom was a very contemptible place near Jerusalem, where all manner of filthiness and dead carcasses were cast, and that a continual fire was kept there to burn them: hence the word is used very frequently by the Jewish rabbins, to signify the place where the wicked are punished after death; and so the word geenna, is used in the New Testament; see Matthew 5:22; 10:28, and elsewhere. {m} The same is asserted in Talmud Pesach. fol. 54, 1. Bereshith Rabba, Parash. 4, and 11 and 21. Shemoth Rabba, Parash. 15. Zohar in Deuteronomy fol. 120, 1. Jarchi in Isaiah 30:33; and yet at other times they reckon hell among the seven things which were created before the world was, Talmud Pesach, fol. 54, 1, and Nedarim. fol. 39, 2. Zohar in Leviticus fol. 14, 4. Targum Jon. in Genesis 3:24. See Matthew 25:41.
{n} The punishment of the wicked in hell is very frequently expressed by Jewish writers, by their burning in fire and brimstone, Bereshith Rabba, Parash. 6 and 51. Zohar in Genesis fol. 71, 3. Raya Mehimna, ibid. in Leviticus fol. 7, 2. Targum Jon. and Jerus. in Genesis 3:24. Targum Jerus. in Genesis 15:12. Targum in Ecclesiastes 8:10, and 10:11. Targum in Isaiah 33:14. R. David Kimchi in Isaiah 30:33. Thus idolaters, with others, are said to “have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,” Revelation 21:8.
{o} So the words are explained in Shemoth Rabba, Parash. 49. Bemidbar Rabba, Parash. 2. Zohar in Num. fol. 105, 3. Raya Mehimna, ibid. in Genesis fol. 51, 3. Shirhashirim Rabba, Jarchi and Aben Ezra in loc. {p} See Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30.
{q} See Ezekiel 39:9, 10.
{r} See Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1. The Jews suppose that every nation or kingdom has an angel set over it, to be its president, protector, and defender; and that Michael was he that presided over Israel. {s} That is, the knowledge of the unity of God. The doctrine of the unity of the Divine Being is the second article of the Jewish creed, where they say that “God is one, and that there is no unity in any respect like his;” this they very much magnify and extol. Hence they often have those words in their mouths, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,” Deuteronomy 6:4; which, they think, is entirely inconsistent with a trinity of persons. Hence, says Maimonides, (Hilch. Yesod Hattorah, c. 1, s. 4,) “This God is one, not two, or more than two; but one. For there is no unity like his in any of the individuals which are found in the world; neither is he one in species, which comprehends more individuals, nor one in body, which is divided into parts and extremes, but he is so one, that there is no other unity like it in the world.” All which is not so much opposed to the polytheism of the heathens, as to the plurality of persons in the trinity, and the incarnation of Christ. But though modern Jews have exploded the doctrine of the trinity, as inconsistent with that of the unity of the Divine Being, yet their more ancient writers do very manifestly speak of it as the great mystery of faith, Zohar edit. Sultzbac. in Genesis fol. 1, col. 3; in Exodus fol. 18 3, 4, fol. 58, 1, and fol. 66, 2, 3; in Leviticus fol. 27, 2, and in Num. fol. 67, 3. Jetzira. edit. Rittangel. fol. 1, 4, 6, 38, 64. Vide Josep. de Voisin. Disp. Theolog. de S. Trinitate, Allix’s judgment of the Jewish Church, against the Unitarians, c. 9, 10, 11.
{t} In Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Exodus fol. 38, 3, it is said that “no man is poor but he that is so in the law and in the commandments;” and that “the riches of a man lies in them;” and in Vajikra Rabba, Parash. 34, where those words in Proverbs 22:2, “The rich and poor meet together,” are mentioned, it is said, “The rich is he that is rich in the law, and the poor is he that is poor in the law;” see also Zohar in Num. fol. 91, 3; with all which compare 1 Timothy 6:18.
{u} See note on chap. 4:9.
{v} In Shirhashirim Rabba in loc. it is explained in the same way; R. Aben Ezra, by Solomon in the next verse, understands the King Messiah; though it is interpreted of Solomon, king of Israel, by the Targum and Jarchi in loc., by Maimon. Yesod Hattorah, c. 6, s. 12, and in Zohar in Exodus fol. 91, 3.
{w} So it is explained of the people of Israel, under the government of Solomon in Shirhashirim Rabba, and by Jarchi and Aben Ezra in loc. {x} This is a very great mistake of the Targumist; for it was Jeroboam, and not Ahijah, who fled into Egypt, whom Solomon sought to kill; see 1 Kings 11:40.
{y} The same is mentioned in Shirhashirim Rabba in loc.