c), commenting on Exod xxv. 3 &c., in a very curious description of how God would in

the world to come return to Israel the various things which they had offered for the

Tabernacle, the oil is brought into connection with the Messiah, with reference to Ps.

cxxxii. 17 and Is. lx. 1. Again, on p. 215 c (at the commencement of the Parashah

Behaalothekha) we have, first, a very curious comparis on between the work of the

Tabernacle and that of the six days of Creation, after which the question is put: Why

Moses made seven lights, and Solomon seventy? To this the reply is given, that Moses

rooted up seven nations before Israel, while Solomon reigned over all the seventy nations

which, according to Jewish ideas, constitute the world. Upon this it is added, that God

had promised, that as Israel had lighted for His glory the lights in the Sanctuary, so would

He in the latter days fill Jerusalem with His glory, according to the promise in Is. lx. 1,

and also set up in the midst of it lights, according to Zeph. i. 12. Still more clearly is the

Messianic interpretation of Is. lx. brought out in the comments in Yalkut on that chapter.

One part of it is so curious that it may here find a place. After explaining that this light

for which Israel is looking is the light of the Messiah, and that Gen. i. 4 really referred to

it, it is added that this is intended to teach us that God looked forward to the age of the

Messiah and His works before the Creation of the world, and that He hid that light for the

Messiah and His generation under His throne of glory. On Satan's questioning Him for

whom that light was destined, the answer is: For Him Who in the latter days will conquer

thee, and cover thy face with shame. On which Satan requests to see Him, and when he is

shown Him, falls on his face and says: I confess that this is the Messiah Who will in the

latter days be able to cast me, and all the Gentiles, into Gehenna , according to Is. xxv. 8.

In that hour all the nations will tremble, and say before God: Who is this into Whose

hand we fall, what is His Name, and what is His purpose? On which God replies: This is

Ephraim, the Messiah [the second Messiah, the son of Joseph]; 'My Righteousness is His

Name.' And so the commentation goes on to touch on Ps. lxxxix. 23, 24, and 26, in a

manner most deeply interesting, but which it would be impossible here fully to give

(Yalkut, vol. ii. Par. 359, p. 56 c). In col. d there are farther remarkable discussions about

the Messiah, in connection with the wars in the days when Messiah should be revealed,

and about Israel's final safety. But the most remarkable passage of all, reminding us

almost of the history of the Temptation, is that which reads as follows (line 22 &c. from

the top): It is a tradition from our Rabbis that, in the hour when King Messiah comes, He

stands on the roof of the Temple, and proclaims to them, that the hour of their deliverance

has come, and that if they believed they would rejoice in the light that had risen upon

them, as it is written (Is. lx. 1), 'Arise, shine, for thy light is come.' This light would be for

them alone, as it is written (ver. 2), 'For darkness shall cover the earth.' In that hour also

would God take the light of the Messiah and of Israel, and all should walk in the light of

Messiah and of Israel, as it is written (ver. 3), 'The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and

kings to the brightness of thy rising.' And the kings of the nations should lick the dust

from under the feet of the Messiah, and should all fall on their faces before Him and

before Israel, and say: Let us be servants to Thee and to Israel. And so the passage goes

on to describe the glory of the latter days. Indeed, the whole of this chapter may be said

to be full of Messianic interpretations.