LIST OF OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGES MESSIANICALLY APPLIED IN ANCIENT RABBINIC WRITINGS
(Vol. i. Book II. ch. v.)
THE following list contains the passages in the Old Testament applied to the Messiah or to Messianic times in the most ancient Jewish writings. They amount in all to 456, thus distributed: 75 from the Pentateuch, 243 from the Prophets, and 138 from the Hagiorgrapha, and supported by more than 558 separate quotations from Rabbinic writings. Despite all labour care, it can scarcely be hoped that the list is quite complete, although, it is hoped, no important passage has been omitted. The Rabbinic references might have been considerably increased, but it seemed useless to quote the same application of a passage in many different books. Similarly, for the sake of space, only the most important Rabbinic quotations have been translated in extenso. The Rabbinic works from which quotations have been made are: the Targumim, the two Talmuds, and the most ancient Midrashim, but neither the Zohar (as the date of its composition is in dispute), nor any other Kabbalistic work, nor yet the younger Midrashim, nor, of course, the writings of later Rabbis. I have, however, frequently quoted from the well-known work Yalkut, because, although of comparatively late date, it is really, as its name implies, a collection and selection from more than fifty older and accredited writings, and adduces passages now not otherwise accessible to us. And I have the more readily availed myself of it, as I have been reluctantly forced to the conclusion that even the Midrashim preserved to us have occassionally been tampered with for controversial purposes. I have quoted from the best edition of Yalkut (Frankfort a. M., 1687), but in the case of the other Midrashim I have been obliged to content myself with such more recent reprints as I possessed, instead of the older and more expensive editions. In quoting from the Midrashim, not only the Parashah, but mostly also the folio, the page, and frequently even the lines are referred to. Lastly, it only remains to acknowledge in general that, so far as possible, I have availed myself of the labours of my predecessors - specially of those of Schöttgen. Yet, even so, I may, in a sense, claim these references also as the result of my own labours, since I have not availed myself of quotations without comparing them with the works from which they were adduced - a process in which not a few passages quoted had to be rejected. And if any student should arrive at a different conclusion from mine in regard to any of the passages hereafter quoted, I can at least assure him that mine is the result of the most careful and candid study I could give to the consideration of each passage. With these prefatory remarks I proceed to give the list of Old Testament passages Messianically applied in ancient Rabbinic writings.
In Gen. i. 2, the expression, Spirit of God,' is explained of the Spirit of the King Messiah,' with reference to Is. xi. 2, and the moving on the face of the deep' of repentance,' according to Lam. ii. 19. So in Ber. R. 2, and in regard to the first point also in Ber. R. 8, in Vayyik. R. 14, and in other places.
Gen. ii. 4: These are the generations - {hebrew} - of the heavens and of the earth,' taken in connection with Gen. iii. 15 and Ruth iv. 18. Here we note one of the most curious Messianic interperations in Ber. R. 12 (ed. Warsh. p. 24 b). It is noted that the word generations' ({hebrew}) is always written in the Bible without the {hebrew} which is the equivalent for the numeral 6, except in Gen. ii. 4 and Ruth iv. 18. This to indicate that subsequent to Gen. ii. 4 the Fall took place, in which Adam lost {hebrew} - six - things: his glorious sheen (Job xiv. 20); life (Gen. iii. 19)); his stature (Gen. iii. 8 - either by 100, by 200, by 300, or even by 900 cubits); the fruit of the ground; the fruits of the trees (Gen. iii. 17); and the heavenly lights. We have now seen why in Gen. ii. 4 - that is, previous to the Fall - the {hebrew} is still in {hebrew}, since at that time these six things were not yet lost. But the {hebrew} reappears in the word {hebrew} in Ruth iv. 18, because these six things are to be rstored to man by the son of Pharez' - or the Messiah (comp. for each of these six things: Judg. v. 31 b; Is. lxviii. 22; Lev. xxvi. 13; Zech. viii. 12; Is. xxx. 26). It is added that although - according to the literal rendering of Ps. xlix. 12 (in Heb. ver. 13) - man did not remain unfallen one single night, yet, for the sake of the Sabbath, the heavely lights were not extinguished till after the close of the Sabbath. When Adam saw the darknes, it is added, he was greatly afraid, saying: Perhaps he, of whom it is written, he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,' cometh to molest and attack me, and he said, Surely the darkness shall cover me.' This courious extract at least shown in what context the Synagogue applied Gen. iii. 15. The same occurs substantially in Shem. R. 30.