this applies to the Messiah, Who comes from the north, and builds the Temple, which is

in the south. See also Bemidbar R. 13, p. 48 b.

On Cant. v . 10 Yalkut remarks that He is white to Israel, and red to the Gentiles,

according to Isaiah lxiii. 2.

On Cant. vi. 10 Yalkut (vol. ii. p. 184 b) has some beautiful observations, first, likening

Israel in the wilderness, and God's mighty deeds there, to the morning; and then adding

that, according to another view, this morning- light is the redemption of the Messiah: For

as, when the morning rises, the darkness flees before it, so shall darkness fall upon the

kingdoms of this world when the Messiah comes. And yet again, as the sun and moo n

appear, so will the Kingdom of the Messiah also appear - the commentation going on to

trace farther illustrations.

Cant . vii. 6. The Midrash thus comments on it (among other explanations): How fair in

the world to come, how pleasant in the days of the Messiah!

On Cant . vii. 13, the Targum has it: 'When it shall please God to deliver His people from

captivity, then shall it be said to the Messiah: The time of captivity is past, and the merit

of the just shall be sweet before Me like the odour of balsam.'

Similarly on Cant. viii.1, the Targum has it: 'And at that shall the King Messiah be

revealed to the congregation of Israel, and the children of Israel shall say to Him, Come

and be a brother to us, and let us go up to Jerusalem, and there suck with thee the

meaning of the Law, as an infant its mother's breast.'

On Cant . viii. 2 the Targum has it : 'I will take Thee, O King Messiah, and make thee go

up into my Temple, there Thou shalt teach me to tremble before the Lord, and to walk in

His ways. There we shall hold the feast of leviathan, and drink the old wine, which has

been kept in its grapes from the day the world was created, and of the pomegranates and

of the fruits which are prepared for the just in the Garden of Eden.'

On verse 4 the Targum says: 'The King Messiah shall say: I adjure you, My people,

house of Israel, why should you rise against the Gentiles, to go out of captivity, and why

should you rebel against the might of Gog and Magog? Wait a little, till those nations are

consumed which go up to fight against Jerusalem, and then shall the Lord of the world

remember you, and it shall be His good will to set you free.'

Chap. viii. 11 is applied Messianically in the Talmud (Shebhu. 35 b), and so is verse 12

in the Targum.

(It should, however, be remarked that there are many other Messianic references in the

comments on the Song of Solomon.)