words)—and their iniquities he will bear. And (some of) our Rabbies explained it respecting Moses our master, on whom be peace, and they said: because he poured out his life unto death, (that is) since he delivered himself up to death, as it is said, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.* And he was numbered with the transgressors, because he was numbered with those who died in the wilderness. And he bore the sin of many, because he made atonement on account of the work of the calf. And he made intercession for the transgressors, because he sought mercies on account of the transgressions of Israel.-But Jonathan interprets

thus : my servant Messiah shall הנה ישכיל עבדי

prosper and he explains 1

(thus:) as

the house of Israel waited for him and so forth.

*Exod. xxxii. 32.

COMMENTARY OF RABBI ABEN EZRA,

ON ISAIAH LII. 13-LIII.

AND behold my servant shall understand. This section is very difficult. Our opponents* say, that it refers to their God, and they explain-my servant of the body.t But this is unfounded, for-shall understand--cannot be said of the body, even although the man were living. And further, what will be the meaning of shall see seed, shall prolong days-while of the former he had none, and the latter is inapplicable to him! And further he shall divide the prey with the strong. And the proof is complete, for (it is said) previously, that the Lord will go before them,‡ meaning Israel, and afterwards—sing, O barren,§

*He means the Christians.

+ Aben Ezra appears to use this term to express our Lord's human nature, and to have had very indistinct ideas of the doctrine of the incarnation. Christians never predicated intelligence of the body of Christ, but of his soul. Even those sectaries who held that the Logos took the place of the soul, did not maintain the absurdity here implied.

meaning the congregation of Israel. And observe my servant-means every (or any) Israelite in the captivity; and he is the Lord's servant. Many also explain it of the Messiah, on account of what our forefathers of blessed memory said, that on the day when the house of the sanctuary was destroyed, Messiah was born, and bound in fetters. But observe (that, in this case,) many verses would be without meaning; namely -he was despised and rejected by ment-he was taken from prison and from judgment—and he gave with the wicked his grave: and what (then will be) the sense of he will see seed---he will prolong days? And the Gaon, Rabbi Saadias, whose memory be blessed, beautifully interprets the whole section of Jeremiah. Thus, the words,

* Aben Ezra's objections are easily answered. The seed or posterity mentioned, are not natural but spiritual progeny, and the length of days is the everlasting life of the exalted Messiah in heaven. The division of the prey is figurative of the happy result of conquest. He acknowledges that interpreters in general had given such a figurative interpretation. See him on v. 12, and the note there. And although the section does stand in connection with prophecies relating to Israel, both preceding and following, yet it is natural and according to Isaiah's manner, to introduce the Messiah either speaking or spoken of, inasmuch as he is intimately connected with the true Israel.

† Or, ceasing to be of men, as he afterwards explains it. These expressions to which the wise Rabbi Abraham can attach no meaning if applied to the Messiah, are sufficiently plain to any one who remembers that the prophecies of the Old Testament represent him as a man, subjected to humiliation, disgrace, and death, preparatory to his exaltation to universal supremacy.

he will sprinkle many nations, will mean—by his mouth, in the course of his prophecy. Also he (Jeremiah) writes in the beginning of his book, as (if he were) a suckling before him; for he was young when he prophesied. And the Lord caused to meet on him-and he bare the sin of many for thus he writes: remember that I stood before thee to ask good for them.†—Like a lamb to the slaughter he is brought: and thus he writes -but I (was) like a lamb, (or) an ox (that) is brought to the slaughter. And the words-he shall divide the spoil with the strong-may be explained in reference to the portion of food and the reward which the captain of the guard gave him.

Still however,|| it is evident to me that there is an intimate connection in this portion (of Isaiah's prophecy); and what reason can be assigned for introducing Jeremiah in the midst of consolations preceding and following? And ob

Aben Ezra alludes to Jer. i. 6, at the same time accommodating the words of Isaiah in liii. 2. He means, of course, when Jeremiah began to prophesy.

† xviii. 20. The Hebrew is, to speak good; and thus also our English Translation. It is possible that Aben Ezra may have confounded with this text Jer. xxix. 7 "seek the peace of the city."

+ xi. 19.

§ xl. 5. The perversion of such a text as this of Isaiah to a circumstance so trivial as that referred to in the life of Jeremiah, is a melancholy proof of the effect of prejudice in degrading the intellect. Candor compel the admission that such degradation is not limited to Jewish expositors.

Lit., But.

serve, he speaks of any servant of the Lord who is in the captivity; or-my servant is equivalent to-Israel my servant: the latter view is the more accurate.*

LII. 13. And behold my servant shall understand; for he will yet be exalted and raised

.is Niphal נישא :up

14. As (many) were astonished at thee: like -and your enemies shall be astonished at it ;† and the sense is, that every one who shall see the servant of the Lord shall be astonished; and the word-many-refers to the nations; and-sois equivalent to, so it was.

:

14. So deformed than man: is an adjective (or concrete,) and 1 is of the same form as. And this (that the prophet here states) is is a matter well known for how many nations are there in the world who think that the Jew's form (appearance,) is different from (that of) all others, and enquire whether a Jew has a mouth or an eye. Thus in the country of Ishmael and of Edom.

15. So shall he sprinkle: This conveys the same idea as shall be exalted and elevated.

As

*Lit., and this is nearer than that; that is, it approaches more

closely to the prophet's idea.

+ Levit. xxvi. 32.

Lit., the meaning of many (is) the nations.

§ Lit., the meaning of so is as if he had said, he was so.

Lit., goes according to the way of.