to the hour when He was bound in prison, when day by day they gnashed with their teeth,

and winked with their eyes, and nodded with their heads, and wide-opened their mouths,

as it is written in Ps. xxii. 7 [8 in Hebrew]; while the second expression 'I will have

mercy' refers to the hour when He came out of the prison-house, when not only one

kingdom, not two, came against Him, but 140 kingdoms came round about Him, and the

Holy One, blessed be His Name, says to Him: Ephraim, Messiah, My righteous one, be

not afraid, for all these shall perish by the breath of Thy mouth, as it is written (Is. xi. 4).

Long as this quotation may be, its interest seems sufficient to warrant its insertion.

Jer. xxxi. 31, 33, and 34 are applied to Messianic times in Yalkut (vol. i. p. 196 c ; 78 c;

and in vol. ii. p. 54 b, and p. 66 d).

Jer. xxxiii. 13. The close of the verse is thus paraphrased in the Targum: 'The people shall

yet learn by the hands of the Messiah,' while in Yalkut (vol. i. p.105 d ) mention is made

of a tenfold gathering of Israel, the last - in connection with this verse - in the latter days.

On Lam. i. 16 there is in the Midrash R. (ed. Warsh. p. 64 b ) the curious story about the

birth of the Messiah in the royal palace of Bethlehem, which also occurs in the Jer.

Lam. ii. 22, first clause. The Targum here remarks: Thou wilt proclaim liberty to Thy

people, the house of Israel, by the hand of the Messiah.

Lam. iv. 22, first clause. The Targum here remarks: And after these things thy iniquity

shall cease, and thou sha lt be set free by the hands of the Messiah and by the hands of

Elijah the Priest

Ezek xi. 19 is applied to the great spiritual change that was to take place in Messianic

days, when the evil desire would be taken out of the heart (Deb. R. 6, at the end; and also

in other Midrashic passages).

Ezek. xvi. 55 is referred to among the ten things which God would renew in Messianic

days - the rebuilding of ruined cities, inclusive of Sodom and Gomorrah, being the fourth

(Shem. R. 15, ed. Warsh. p. 24 b ).

Ezek xv ii. 22 and 23 is distinctly and very beautifully referred to the Messiah in the

Ezek. xxv. 14 is applied to the destruction of all the nations by Israel in the days of the

Messiah in Bemidbar R. on Num. ii. 32 (Par. 2, ed. Warsh. p. 5 b).

Ezek. x xix . 21 is among the passages applied to the time when the Messiah should come,

in Sanh. 98 a.

So is Ezek. xxxii. 14.