punishment in order to blot out their sins, as it is written: '_But he bore our diseases_' (chap. liii. 4)? And He answered Him: I will joyfully bear them." In this passage, as well as in several others which will be afterwards cited, the doctrine of the vicarious sufferings of the Messiah is contained, and derived from Is. liii., although the later Jews rejected this doctrine. In a similar manner, Rabbi _Moses Haddarshan_ expresses himself on Gen. i. 3 (Latin in _Galatinus_, _De Arcanis Cath. ver._ p. 329; in the original in _Raimund Martini Pug. Fid._ fol. 333; comp. _Wolf_, _Bibl. Hebr._ i. p. 818): "Jehovah said: Messiah, thou my righteous One, those who are concealed with thee will be such that their sins will bring a heavy yoke upon thee.--The Messiah answered: Lord of the universe, I cheerfully take upon myself all those plagues and sufferings; and immediately the Messiah, out of love, took upon himself all those plagues and sufferings, as is written in Is. liii.: He was abused and oppressed." Compare another passage, in which ver. 5 is referred to the Messiah, in _Raim. Martin_, fol. iv. 30. In the Talmud (_Gemara_, _tract. Sanhedrim_, chap. xi.), it is said of the Messiah: "He sits before the gates of the city of Rome among the sick and the leprous" (according to ver. 3). To the question: What is the name of the Messiah, it is answered: He is called חיוורא "_the leper_," and, in proof, ver. 4 is quoted according to the erroneous interpretation of נגוע by _leprosus_,--an interpretation which is met with in _Jerome_ also.--In the work _Rabboth_ (a commentary on the Pentateuch and the five _Megilloth_, which, as to its principal portions, is very old, although much interpolated at later periods, and which, according to the statements of the Jews, was composed about the year of our Lord 300, comp. _Wolf_, I. c. II., p. 1423, sqq. in commentary on Ruth ii. 14 [p. 46, _ed. Cracov._]), the fifth verse is quoted, and referred to the sufferings of the Messiah.--In the _Medrash Tillim_ (an allegorical commentary on the Psalms, printed at Venice in 1546), it is said in Ps. ii. 7, (fol. 4): "The things of King Messiah and His mysteries are announced [Pg 313] in the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. In the Prophets, _e.g._, in the passage Is. lii. 13, and xlii. 1; in the Hagiographa, _e.g._, Ps. cx. and Dan. vii. 13." In the book _Chasidim_ (a collection of moral tales, printed at Venice and Basle in 1581) p. 60, the following story is to be found: "There was, among the Jews, a pious man, who in summer made his bed among fleas, and in winter put his feet into cold water; and when it froze, his feet froze at the same time. When asked why he did so, he answered, that he too must make some little expiation, since the Messiah bears the sin of Israel (משיח סובל עונות ישראל)." The ancient explanation is, from among the later interpreters, assented to by _Rabbi Alschech_ (his commentary on Is. liii. is given entire in _Hulsii Theologia Judaica_, p.