Lord of hosts: Once more will I confer honour upon this house; it is only for a little while, for the Temple will be destroyed. But not long afterwards I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; there will be war everywhere. And I will shake all nations, and then I will bring the desire of all nations to Jerusalem, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine; there will be no lack of the sinews of war. For the glory of this latter house about to be rebuilt, will be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts, and in this house will I give peace, saith the Lord. And is not, continued he, the desire of all nations already in your midst? Behold Bar-chochab, the son of a star, the star which is to come out of Jacob (Nu. xxiv. 17); already he is at the head of our people, ready to crush its idolatrous oppressors, etc. But when the nation lay again gasping beneath the iron heel of the Roman, when Bar-choziva, the son of imposture, was substituted for that of Bar-chochab, and the flesh of Akivah was torn from his body with iron hooks, Rabbi Nathan confessed, indeed, that thus far "the calculations of our Rabbis made from Da. vii. 25, that based upon Ps. lxxx. 6, and lastly, also, that of Rabbi Akiva, were wrong." But he maintained that "the vision is yet for an appointed time, that at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry" (Hab. ii. 3).

b. Another period of vain anticipation elapsed, and hope deferred made even the stout heart of the Rabbis sick. To remove their despondency, Rabbi Samuel bar Nachmaine insisted, that the words yph п" (A. V. at the end it shall speak) were to be understood in the sense of an anathema, and should be rendered thus: "Let there be rottenness in the bones of those that calculate the end, who say, because the former calculations have failed, therefore Messiah will never come." Continue to wait for him; for it is said: "Though he tarry, wait for him." But (sounds the anticipated objection) have we not waited for Him with intense longing, and does it not seem as if God Himself is not eager for His coming? No! call to mind the words of Is. xxx. 18: "The Lord waits to be gracious unto you," etc. But if we and He wait for Messiah's advent what is it that prevents His appearance? It is His attribute of justice, which delays His coming. But if the attribute of justice stands in the way of His coming, where is the use of waiting for Him? The Rabbi could only repeat the words of Is. xxx. 18: "Blessed all are those that wait for him." c. About the middle of the third century, Rav, the head of the captivity, declared that all calculations were at an end, and that Messiah's advent must now depend solely upon Israel's repentance and good works. Rabbi Yochanan gave vent to his despair by saying, that He would only come when the nation was either wholly guilty, or wholly just, an impossible alternative. Others seized upon everything in Scripture, however far-fetched, which they thought furnished them with a clue for calculating the time of Messiah's appearance. But the hope of the Rabbis' reached its lowest ebb when the cross became the symbol of Rome's universal dominion, and Jesus, whom they had rejected on account of His humiliation, became the enthroned king of the world. This consummation came too late. Other stumbling-blocks, engendered by the intensified animosity of nearly three centuries, prevented the Jews from embracing Jesus as their now visibly exalted Messiah. The gulf between them and the Gentiles had become too wide to be easily bridged over by any one single occurrence, however unprecedented and extraordinary. The very thought of humbly petitioning their Roman oppressors for a share in the blessings of the Redeemer of Israel was galling in the extreme. Hillel then-the tenth in descent from Hillel the elder-at whose house Epiphanius says that a Hebrew translation of St. John's Gospel was found after his death, exclaimed: Israel need no longer expect any Messiah; all the prophecies concerning Him have already been realized in the reign of Hezekiah. May the Lord forgive Rabbi Hillel! was the desponding remark of Rav Yoseph: for did not Hezekiah flourish during the first Temple, and did not Zechariah prophesy during the second (ch. ix. 9): "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy King comes unto thee, just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass"? No! suggested another Rabbi; it is evident, and tradition confirms it, that the Son of David will not come till

עד שתתהפך כל המלכות למינות ; the whole (Roman) empire has embraced Christianity

(which happened in the reign of Theodosius, A.D. 390. Is it generally conceded that Minoth in this instance does not mean Christianity? see page 27, T. N. g); for Scripture says with reference to the disease which is the type of sin: "When it is all turned white it is clean" (Le. xiii. 13); when all the world has turned Christian then the Redeemer will come. And so the nation has continued to cling with the utmost tenacity to the hope of His coming. "I believe with perfect faith" (is the twelfth article of the creed drawn up by Maimonides, and universally recited to this day) "in the advent of the Messiah; and though He tarry, yet will I wait every day for His coming." (See chap. xlix. ver. 10, etc.)

29. If a man, hearing that a child has sunk in the sea, spreads out a net (on the Sabbath-day) to catch fish and encloses fish only, he is guilty (of a desecration of the Sabbath). But if intending to enclose fish only, he brings up both fish and the child, Rava said: He is guilty (because saving life was not his intention); and Ravah said: He is not guilty (because he has actually saved life). Minachoth, fol. 64, col. 1.

30. An unclean fish having devoured a clean one, the latter may be eaten (by a Jew); but a clean fish having devoured an unclean one, the latter may not be eaten, because it is not part of the devouring fish. (Thus far the Mishnah).

Guemara. That holds good only when it has been observed to swallow it; otherwise (what is supposed to have been devoured) may have been generated (in the first, and is therefore part of it).

The Post-Mishnic Rabbis have taught: Unclean fish produce their young ready formed, and clean fish spawn. All animals that produce their young ready formed suckle them; and those that lay eggs collect the food for their young, except the bat, which, though it lays eggs, yet suckles its young. The dolphins may have children from intercourse with human beings. But what are dolphins? Rav Yehudah said: Mermen and Mermaids. Bechoroth, fol. 7, col. 2. (See Rashi and Tosephoth.)

31. There are seven hundred species of fish, eight hundred of locusts, those of fowls are innumerable. Chulin, fol. 63, col. 2.

32. A sandal resembles a marine fish (of that name). At first it is like an ordinary child, but it becomes misshapen afterwards (and, therefore, a woman giving birth to such an offspring must observe the prescribed days of uncleanness). Niddah, fol. 25, col. 2. 33. When are fish capable of contracting ceremonial defilement? The school of Shamai say: When they are caught; but the school of Hillel say: When they are dead. Uktzin, chap. iii. 8.

VERSE 29.

To you it shall be for meat, and to every beast of the field. Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: Adam was not permitted to kill animals for food; for it is written: "To you it shall be for meat, and to every beast of the field," but not the beasts to you. When the children of Noah came, God allowed them (animal food); for it is said (Ge. ix. 3): Even as the green herb have I given you all" (moving things that live). Were they then permitted to tear away

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limbs from living bodies for food? No! for it is added (ver. 4): "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." Does this prohibition extend to creeping things? No! for it is said (ver. 4): "But." How does this restrictive particle exclude creeping things? Rav Huna said: It does so by its connection with the superfluous words: "the blood thereof," which can only apply to animals, whose blood is distinguishable from their flesh, but not to creeping things, whose blood is not distinguishable from their flesh. Sanhedrin, fol. 59, col. 2.

VERSE 31.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good.

I. Why do not the words: "And God saw that it was good," occur on the second day of creation? Because the fire of hell was then created. But that the work of the second day was also good is implied in the word "everything" in ver. 31. Psachim, fol. 54, col. 1.

And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. II. Why the superfluous of wwn, "the sixth" (which does not occur in connection with the previous numerals)? It teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He! allowed the works of creation to exist conditionally. If, said He, Israel will receive the Law (which consists of five books, the numerical value of being five) you shall continue; if not, I will reduce you to chaos and confusion. Shabbath, fol. 88, col. 1; Avodah-zarah, fol. 3,

col. 1.

SYNOPTICAL NOTES.

WORKS OF CREATION.

1. Rav said: The world was only created for the sake of Ahab the son of Omri, and Rabbi Chanena ben Dosa. (The former as a type of the wicked, who receive in this world their reward for any good they may have done, and have nothing to hope for in the next; and the latter as a type of the good, who receive their full recompense in the next world for the good they have done in this. Rashi.) Berachoth, fol. 61, col. 2.

T. N. The reader may wish to know more about this Rabbinical type of all good

men.

a. Rav Yehudah related in the name of Rav, that an echo of a voice used to be heard every day proclaiming: The whole world is fed for the sake of Chanena, my son, and he himself is satisfied with a cab of carob-beans from one Sabbath-eve to another.

b. His wife, ashamed that she should have no preparations to make for the Sabbath, used to heat the oven, and cause much smoke to issue from it, in order to

give herself the appearance of bustling activity. One day a vixenish neighbour knocked at her door and cried: "What is all this bustle about?" Chanena's wife beat a hasty retreat into an adjoining room; but what was the surprise of the vixen when on entering she found the oven full of loaves, and the kneading trough full of dough! "Be quick," she now called, "bring the bread shovel, or the loaves will be burned." She at once made her appearance, and coolly remarked that she had just retired for a moment to fetch the shovel. "This she said," adds the narrator, "because she was accustomed to such supernatural occurrences." But she afterwards complained of her hard lot to her husband, and in answer to his prayers there appeared a hand offering him the leg of a golden table. At the same time he was informed, that in the world to come he should be obliged to dine (at the banquet of leviathan) on a golden table with two legs only, whilst the other righteous Jews would have tables with three legs. Such a prospect was unendurable, and the leg was returned.

c. Daughter! said he once on a Sabbath-eve, thou appearest very sad, what may the cause be? I have lighted by mistake, said she, a vessel of vinegar instead of one with oil, and I fear it will soon go out. No matter, my child, was the answer, He that commanded oil to burn will now command the vinegar to burn; and so it did for twenty-four hours together. Many more incidents of a similar kind might be narrated; but the above will suffice. Taanith, fol. 24, 25. (See chap. ii., verse 8, Note 1.)

2. The Holy One, blessed be He! created nothing in the world without a purpose. He created the snail (to be applied as a remedy) for contusions; the fly (as a remedy) for the sting of bees; the gnat for that of a serpent; the serpent for scab; and the lizard for the sting of a scorpion. Shabbath, fol. 77, col. 2.

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3. When Moses ascended on high (Ps. lxviii. 19, A. V. 18; Eph. iv. 8), the ministering angels asked: What has one born of a woman to do in our midst? He has come to receive the Law, was the Divine answer. What! they asked again, that cherished treasure which had been laid by with Thee for nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created, Thou art about to bestow on flesh and blood! What is mortal (N) man that Thou art mindful of him and the son of earth (Adam) that Thou visitest him? O! Lord our Lord, is not Thy name already sufficiently exalted in all the earth; confer this Thy glory upon the heavens (Ps. viii. 4, 6). The Holy One, blessed be He! then told Moses to refute the objection of the envious angels. I fear, said he, they will consume me with the fiery breath of their mouth. By way of affording him protection, he was bid to lay hold of God's throne; as it is said (Job xxvi. 9): He lays hold of the face of his throne and spreads his cloud over him." Thus encouraged, Moses reviewed the decalogue, and demanded of the angels, whether they had suffered in Egyptian bondage; whether they dwelt among idolatrous nations to require the first commandment; whether they were so hard worked as to need a day of rest, etc., etc. The angels at once confessed that they were wrong in seeking to withhold the Law from Israel. They then repeated the words: "O Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth" (Ps. viii. 9); and omitted the words: Confer Thy glory upon the heavens. They became friendly to Moses, and every one of them revealed some useful secret to him; as it is said (Ps. lxviii. 19, A. V. 18) : "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast captured spoil, thou hast received gifts, because they have contemptuously called thee man." (Adam, creature of earth.) Shabbath, fol. 88, col. 2.

T. N. a. This story is incorporated in the prayers for the Day of Pentecost. b. The allusion to the 974 generations, during which the Law was laid by with God, refers to a tradition which rests on Ps. cv. 8: It had been, namely, the primary intention of God to proclaim the Law at the end of a thousand generations; i.e., that so many generations should precede that of Moses. But God saw that the world could not exist such a long time without the Law, and He therefore gave it at the end of twenty-six generations from Adam. Had the original intention been carried out, the creation of the world would have been anticipated by 974 generations. None, however, of God's purposes are ever wholly abandoned, and therefore these lawless generations, who would have destroyed the world had they followed consecutively before the Law was given, were decreed to appear at different periods, and they constitute the impudent of every age. Chaguigal, fol. 14, col. 1; Zevachim, fol. 116, col. 1.

c. Note the different parts of the Talmud from which the preceding passages have been collected, and observe the unity of system in that production, notwithstanding its chaotic appearance.

4. Two years and a half the schools of Shamai and Hillel were divided upon the question, as to whether or not it would have been better for man not to have been created. It was at last pressed to a decision, and it was ascertained by vote, that the assembly endorsed the view of the school of Shamai, viz.: that it would have been better for man not to have been born. The following rider was added: Now that he is created, let him be careful about his deeds. Eiruvin, fol. 13, col. 2.

5. Ten things were created during the twilight of the first Sabbath-eve; these are: The well (that followed Israel in the wilderness); the manna; the rainbow; letters; the stylus; the tables (of the Law); the grave of Moses; the cave in. which Moses and Elijah stood; the opening of the mouth of Balaam's ass, and of the earth to swallow the wicked (Corah and his party). Rav Nechemyah said in the name of his father: Also fire and the mule. Rav Yosheyah said in the name of his father: Also the ram (which Abraham offered up instead of Isaac); and the Shamir (a stone-cutting insect used by Solomon in building the temple, now extinct). Rav Yehudah said: Also the tongs. He used to say: One pair of tongs was made with the help of another; but who made the first? Must it not have been created by the hands of God? Psachim, fol. 54, col. 1; Avoth, chap. v.

6. Seven things were created before the world. These are: The Law; for it is said (Pr. viii. 22): "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before his works of old;" repentance; for it is said (Ps. xc. 2, 3): "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world. . . . thou saidst: Return, ye children of men; the garden of Eden: for it is said (Ge. ii. 8): "And the Lord God planted the garden before, pp." hell; for it is said (Is. xxx. 33): "For Tophet (hell) is ordained of old." The glorious throne and the site of the sanctuary; for it is said (Je. xvii. 12): "The glorious throne exalted from the beginning and the place of our sanctuary." The name of the Messiah; for it is said (Ps. lxxii. 17): "His name shall endure for ever, before the sun (existed) his name was Yinon, ," Psachim. fol. 54, col. 1. Nedarim, fol. 39, col. 2.