(1.) The Targum on Ruth was published separately with a Latin translation and scholia by John Mercier (Paris, 1564), and the following specimen will give a fair idea of the same: Ruthii, 10, II," Why have I found pity in thine eyes to know me, and I of a strange people, of the daughters of ^Moab, and of a people who are not clean to enter into the Church of the Lord? And Boaz answered and said to her, In telling it has been told me by the saying of the wise men, that when the Lord decreed, he did not decree respecting women, but men ; and it was said to me in prophecy that kings and prophets are about to spring from thee on account of the good thou hast done," etc.
(2.) The paraphi-ase on Lamentations is more Mi- drashic than that on Ruth, but of the same ty]>e, being copiously interwoven w'itli pieces of histor\^, allegorj-, fables, reflections, etc.
(3.) The paraphrase on Ecclesiastes is more INIi- drashic than the former, the author having given a free rein to his imagination and made copious insertions. The following verses will best illustrate the character of this paraphrase. In i, 2, we read :
" When Solomon the king of Israel foresaw, by the spirit of prophecy, that tlie kiujidom of Kehoboam his son would be divided with .Jeiohoam the sou of Nehat, and that Jerusalem and the holy temple would be de- stroyed, and' that the people of Israel would be led into captivity, he said, by the Divine Word, Vanity of vanities is this world ; vanity of vanities is all which I and my father, David, have labored for, all of it is vanity . . . (ver. 12,13). When kini; Solomon was sitting upon the throne of his kingdom, his heart became very proiid of his rich- es, and he transgressed the Word of God, and he <:atheied many horses and chariots and riders, and he amassed much gold and silver, and he married from foreign na- tions, whereupon the anger of the Lord was kindled against him; and he sent to him Ashmoda, the king of the dsemons, who drove him from the throne of his king- dom, and took away the ring from his hand, in order that he shon'd roam and wander about in the world to re- ))roye it; and he went about in the provincial towns and the cities of the hind of Israel, weeping and lamenting, and saying, I am Coheleth, whose name was formerly called Solomon, who was king over Israel in Jcrnsalem : and I gave my heart to ask instruction of God at the time when he appeared unto me in Gibeon, to try me, and to •ask me what I desire of him ; and I asked nothing of him except wisdom, to know the difference between good and evil, and knowledge of whatsoever was done under the sun in this woild, and I saw all the works of the wicked children of men — a sad business which God gave to the children of men to be afflicted by it."
As this Targum has been translated into English by Ginsburg, in his Commentary on Ecclesiastes (London, 1861), the reader, by perusing the same, will be enabled to judge for himself better than by any extracts.
(4.) The Targiim on Canticles is the most Haggadic of all, and hardly deserves the name of a paraphrase, be- cause the words of the original are completely covered by extravagant and inflated expressions ("nugajatque frivolitates") which refer to another subject. "The para- phrast lias indulged in the greatest license, and allowed his imagination to run riot in a multiplicity of ways." He has composed a panegyric on his people, describing prophetically the history of the Jewish nation, begin- ning with their exode from Egypt, and detailing their doings and sufferings down to the coming of the Mes- siah and the building of the third Temple. Thus, ac- cording to this allegory, i, 3 relates Jehovah's fame which went abroad in consequence of the wonders he wrought when bringing the Israelites out of Egypt ; ver. 12 describes the dejiarture of Moses to receive the two tables of stone, and how the Israelites in the mean- time made the golden calf; ver. 14 particularizes the pardon of that sin and the erection of the tabernacle; iii, G-11 refers to the passage of the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, over the Jordan, their attacking and conquering the Canaanites, and the building of Solo- mon's Temple; v, 2 describes the Babylonian captivity; vi, 2 represents the deliverance of Israel through Cyrus, and the building of the second Temple : ver. 7, etc., names the battles of the Maccabees; vii, 11,12 represents the present dispersion of the Jews, and their future anx- iety to learn the time of their restoration ; viii, 5, etc., describes the resurrectiim of the dead, the final ingath- ering of Israel, the building of the third Temple, etc.
Tlie very first verse of this Targum reads thus :
"The songs and praises which Solomon the prophet, king of Israel, sang by the spirit of projihecy, before God, the Lord of the whole world. Ten songs were sung in this world, but this song is the most celebrated of them all. The first song Adam sang when his sins were fur- given him, and when the Sabbath-day came and protect- ed him he opened his month and said, 'A song for the Sabbath-dny,' etc. (Psa. xcii). The second song Moses and the children of Israel sang when the Lord of the world di- vided the Red Sea for them. They all opened their mouths and sang as one man the song as it is written, 'Then sang Mcises and the children of Israel' (Exod. xv, 1). The third song the children of Israel sang when the well of water was given to them, as it is wiitien, 'Then sang Israel' (Nnmb. xxi, 17 ). The fourth song Moses the prophet sang when his time fame to depiirt from this world, in which he reproved the people of the house of Israel, as it is written, 'Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak' (Dent, xxxii, 1). The fifth sons: Joshua the son of Nun sang when he waged war in (Jibeon, and the snii and moon stood still fm- him thirty-six hours; and when they left oil" singing their song, he himself opened his month and sang this song, as it is written, 'Then sang Joshua before the Lord' (Josh, x, 12). The sixth song Barak and Deborah sang in the day when the Lord de- livered Sisera and his aimy into the hands of the chil- dren of Israel, as it is written, 'Then sang Deborah,' etc. (Judg. V, 11). The seventh sontr Hannah sang when a son was given her by the Lord, as it is written, 'And Hannah prayed prophetically and said' (1 Sam. ii, 1, and the Tar- gum, ad Inc.). The eighth song David the son of Israel sang for all the wonders which the Lord did for him. He opened his mouth and sang a hymn, as it is written, 'And David sang in prophecy before the Lord' (2 S.mi. xxii,l, and the Targum, ad loc). The ninth gong Solomon the king of Israel sang by the Holy Spirit before <Jod, the Lord of the whole world. And the tenth song the chil- dren of the captivity shall sing when they shall be deliv- ered from their caiitivily, as it is written and declared by Isaiah the prophet, 'This song shall be nnto yon for joy, as in the night in which the feast of the Passover is cele- brated; and gladness of heart as when the people go to apiiear before the Lord three times in the year, with all kinds of music, and with the sound of the timbrel, to go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to worship before the Lord the mighty one of Israel' (Isa. xxx, 29)."