fact it would take a volume to go through all the passages of the Bible, and more than one volume, to collate the passages of the rabbies. Schöttgen has given many more from more ancient books, but I have quoted commentators, who were almost cotemporary with Kimchi, to show what was the Jewish opinion of his time.

28

CHAPTER II.

(In the English Bible, chap. i. 18.)

1. (i. 18.) " Then I lifted up."—In this vision he turned to behold another vision, clearer than the first, for he understood from it, that the horns were to push with, as (Deut. xxxiii. 17), "His horns are like the horns of an unicorn; with them he shall push the people together," but he did not understand who these horns were.

"Four horns."-These are the four monarchies, and they are the Babylonian monarchy, the Persian monarchy, and the Grecian monarchy;* and so the Targum of Jonathan has it, "the four monarchies." And these four did evil unto Israel, as the angel exclaims, saying, "which scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

2. (i. 19.) " And I said

which scattered."

They pushed them even until they scattered them hither and thither; each of the horns in its time did them evil. For the Persian monarchy, although at its beginning it brought them up from their captivity, afterwards did them evil, in the days of Artaxerxes the First, and in the days of Ahasuerus until the second year of Darius.

3. (i. 20.) "And the Lord showed me four workmen," as in Isaiah xliv. 13, "The workmen of wood," + in order to cut off the horns, that is to say, each kingdom shall be a carpenter, to cut off the kingdom that preceded it, for the Babylonian monarchy fell by the hand of the Persian, and the Persian monarchy fell by the hand of the Greek. Or the carpenters may signify in a parable,

* He does not mention the fourth.

The English has in both places carpenter, as Kimchi explains. I have translated literally "workmen," in order to show how our translators had the best authority for this choice of words.

the kings, the supernal princes, who are appointed over the kingdoms; and our rabbies of blessed memory have interpreted the verse of the days of the Messiah, saying, "Who are the four carpenters? R. Simeon Chasida says, They are Messiah, the Son of David; and Messiah, the son of Joseph, and Elias, and the righteous priest. (Cohen Tsedek.)” † "And he spake

so that no man did lift up up his head."―They pushed and scattered them in such a manner, that no man of the children of Israel did lift up his head, because of them. signifies "so that," "in such a manner that;" according as in Exod. xii. 4, "Every man, 5, according to his eating :" and so Jonathan has translated it, " And they did not permit any man to walk with an upright stature." i signifies "to cast out," as in Lam. iii. 52, 77, "They ‡ cast a stone upon me."

5. (ii. 1.) " And I lifted to behold another vision. vision is of the future, referring to the days of the Messiah, as the visions of Ezekiel, in which he saw the angel measuring Jerusalem in its length and breadth.

up."-In this vision he turns And it is certain that this

* Buxtorf reads, kings, but the whole phraseology here employed, shows that Kimchi alluded to the D, angels, whom the Jews suppose to be appointed over the nations of the earth, as may be seen in Rashi's Comment. in Isaiah xxiv. 4, Dan. x. 20, &c. The legend itself is thus given in the Pirke Eleazar-" The Holy One, blessed be He, descended with the seventy angels who surround the throne of his glory, and confounded their language into seventy nations and seventy languages, each nation with its own writing and language, and over each nation he appointed an angel, but Israel fell to his portion and lot, and, therefore, it is said, 'The Lord's portion is his people."" (Deut. xxxii. 9.) Chap. xxiv. Edit. Sabionet. fol. 17, col. 1.

This passage is found in the Talmud. Succah, fol. 52, col. 2, where Rashi says, in his Commentary, on the authority of the Bereshith Rabba, that "The righteous priest" means Shem, the son of Noah, who is there supposed to be identical with Melchisedek.

English, 53.

“A measuring line.”—A line with which they measure. And this man was another angel, who did not speak with him.

6. (English 2.) "To measure," , is the Infi

to *) לָרֹס אֶת-הַכֹּלֶת the same form as מדד nitive, from

sprinkle the fine flour," Ezek. xlvi. 14), from ddr; and, 28 □ again, 7 ("It is enough for you to compass,' Deut. ii. 3), from

7, 8. (English, 3, 4.) " And behold

and he said

unto him, Run, speak to this young man." But he himself did not speak to him (Zechariah); because this other angel had spoken with him from the beginning, He said to him, that he should speak thus, although he (Zechariah) saw the angel measuring the length of Jerusalem, and its breadth.†

"Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls," i. e., Many shall live without the city, for the city will not contain them. Although the city shall be much longer and broader than it was, many shall live outside. ni signifies cities, without a wall, or gates, or bars, for they shall dwell securely, so as to be afraid of no man, for I will be unto it a wall of fire.

"This young man."—It may be, that he was a young man in years when he prophesied, as Samuel and Jeremiah or he was the servant of another prophet greater than himself, and is, therefore, called "a young man," as in the case of Joshua; "His servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man." (Exod. xxxiii. 11.)

9. (English 5.) “ For I

will be a wall of fire," so that no man will touch them to do them evil, as no man would touch fire, lest it should burn him.

"The glory in the midst of her."-The object of the

* I translate literally, to show the Infinitive form.

† And might, therefore, have inferred it himself.

One cannot help thinking of the cities of England, to which God

has so long given this blessing.

glory is to protect them, as it is written in the prophecy of Isaiah, iv. 5, " And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, &c."

10. (English 6.) "Ho, ho," is the language of calling, and is doubled for the sake of strength. And thus in the 11th (7th) verse, "Ho, deliver thyself, O Zion."

"And flee from the land of the north."-This is said in reference to those who remained in Babylon, who did not come up at the first, that they should make haste to go forth, and to return, and build the House (the Temple), for the time is come. The Vau in ? is to be taken as in Psalm lxxvi. 7 (6), 2 (" Both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep"), and it shows that a word is left out, that is to say, their meaning is, "Come forth, and flee."*

"For as the four winds of heaven"--that is, when I said, that they should go forth from their captivity, I intended only those who were led captive to Babylon, as it is written, "Thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon;" for the others are far away from them, for I have spread them abroad in captivity as the four winds, which are widely separated the one from the other; thus, as to the four corners of the world, the east is far from the west, and the north from the south, so Israel is far one from the other in their captivity, and their time is not yet come to go forth, except for the captivity of Judah, therefore it is said, 'Ho, Zion, deliver thyself;' by which is meant the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, for they dwelt in Zion. Our rabbies, of blessed memory, have given a mystical interpretation to the words, the four winds;' that, as the world cannot exist without the four winds, so neither can it exist without Israel." † 12. (English, 8.) "For thus saith the Lord

As

after

* And so our translators have rendered it. This is another proof of the diligence of our translators in consulting the best authorities.

† Talmud Bab. Taanith, fol. 3, col. 2.