4. And the Lord said to him, call their name dispersed, for yet a little while and I will visit the blood of the idolaters which Jehu shed in Jezreel, whom he slew because they served Baal. They turned to commit idolatry after the calves of Bethel; therefore will I reckon innocent blood against the house of Jehu, and will make the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.

5. And it shall come to pass in that time, that I will break the strength of the warriors of Israel in the valley (or plain,) of Jezreel.

6. And they continued to do evil works: and he said to him, call their name,-for I will not continue to show mercy to the house of Israel; but if they will return, I will surely pardon them.

7. But I will show mercy on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the word of the Lord their God, and they shall not be delivered by bow and by sword and by warriors, by horses and by horsemen.

6. But the generations of those who have been carried away captive among the children of the nations are found (to be) those who have not mercy shown on their works; and they continued to do evil works.

9. And he said, call their name, not my people, for ye are not my people, because ye do not confirm (or continue to keep) the words of my law; my word was not among your helpers.

10. And the number of the children of Israel

184 TARGUM OF JONATHAN ON HOSEA I—II. 1.

shall be great, like the sand of the sea which is neither measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass, (that) in the place where they were carried away captive among the nations, when they transgressed the law, and it was said to them, ye are not my people, they will repent and become glorious, and it shall be said to them, people of the living God.

11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together in perfect unison,* and shall appoint for themselves one head of the house of David, and they shall go up from the land of their captivity, for great will be the day of their gathering (or congregation.)

12. Prophets, say to your brethren, my people, turn to my law, and I will have mercy upon your congregation.

• Lit., like one.

COMMENTARY OF RABBI SAADIAS,

THE GAON,

ON DANIEL IX. 24-27.

24. SEVENTY weeks are determined upon thy people-If we reckon, we shall know how many years these are. Ten times seven amount to seventy. Now seventy weeks are four hundred and ninety years.* Deduct from them the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity, from the time of the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar to the second year of Darius, (and) four hundred and twenty years will remain ; and thist was the duration of the second house. is to say, he decrees seventy weeks for thy people and thy city Jerusalem, thy holy city, which is about to be built. Observe as respects its continuance,‡ (that,) comprehending the (time of the) Babylonian captivity and the duration also of the

That

The best of the Jewish commentators, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Abarbanel, agree with Saadias in considering Daniel's weeks as weeks of years.

A

+ Lit., for thus, or which thus.

That of the whole period.

second temple, there are seventy weeks, which are equivalent to four hundred and ninety years; seventy for the (period of the) destruction, and four hundred and twenty for that of the building. -To finish the transgression: which they had committed. And to make an end of sins: that the holy and blessed God will make an end of the sins. And to make reconciliation for: Israel's iniquities.—And to bring in everlasting righteousness this (refers to) the house of the sanctuary, as it is written, a settled place for thee to abide in forever, and it is called the everlasting house of the sanctuary; (or, the house of the sanctuary of the worlds.t) In the world was the first building; and in the world the second building; and in the world the third building, which shall stand for ever and ever; (or, for all worlds.+)-And to seal up vision and prophecy: for after the building of the second house no prophet arose in Israel, except such as were favored with the Bath Kol.‡

* 1 Kings viii. 13.

rendered

+ The reader of the original will note the word world, and the plural, expressive of perpetuity. The allusion which the latter contains to the former cannot be preserved in an English translation.

‡ Lit., made use of. Bath kol means the daughter voice, or of the voice. It is a phrase employed to denote certain modes of communicating divine intimations inferior to those direct methods which we read of in the Old Testament. It is often applied to merely incidental concurrences. In this case the Bath kol is the same sort of superstition as that practised among the ancients under the name

-And to anoint the holy of holies: that the glory of the greatness of the second house might be greater than that of the first, as it is written-the glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former.* And this is the meaning of anointing, which denotes dignity, as-to be anointed by them, which the Targumists explain by-to make great.t-Yet‡ there are expositors

of sortes Virgiliana. The Jews say, that after the time of the last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the spirit of prophecy departed from Israel. Still, however, they were favored with the Bath kol. This was a voice from heaven accompanying thunder; and by this voice, they maintain, that the authority of their great masters, especially Hillel, was confirmed. The other kind of Bath kol may be illustrated by a story from the Talmud. "Rabbi Eliezer says:-they follow the hearing," that is, the leading "of the Bath kol. Rabbi Johanan and Rabbi Simeon desired to see the face of Samuel: let us follow, say they, the hearing of Bath kol Travelling therefore near a school, they heard a boy's voice reading-and Samuel died. They observed this, and so it came to pass; for Samuel of Babylon was dead."-And again: "Rabbi Jonah and Rabbi Josah went to visit Rabbi Acha lying sick. Let us follow, say they, the hearing of Bath kol. They heard the voice of a certain woman, speaking to her neighbor-the light is put out; to whom she said, let it not be put out, nor let the light of Israel be quenched." Lightfoot's Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations on Matthew iii. 17, and x. 34. Works, Vol. II. pp. 129, 181, folio, London, 1684. The reader may find several fortuitous coincidences somewhat like these mentioned by Prideaux in his Old and New Testament Connected, Part II. Book V. Anno. 107, Vol. II. p. 330.

* Hag. ii. 9.

+ So the Targum of Onkelos on Exodus xxix. 29, the text referred to.