Clear as the sparkling streamlet, Glowing with health and beauty, Each day she lovelier grows; A shy, sweet little creature, We have another floweret, Four precious flowers we number; M. H. THE TARGUM OF ISAIAH. WE are sometimes in the habit of expressing our surprise that the Jews, at the time of Christ, having the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah's prophecy close at hand, should have failed to discover in the Man of Nazareth "Him of whom the prophets wrote." But when we ascertain the sense they were taught by their instructors to put upon this very chapter, our surprise will be diminished, although our sorrow may be increased, as we find the writings of "that prophet, who spoke more of Jesus Christ than the rest," obscured and marred in their utterances. On the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, it was found that the people had lost, to a great extent, their knowledge of the Hebrew, and that when the law was read in the synagogue, it was necessary not only to read the text, but also to give the sense; see Neh. viii. 8. These oral interpretations so say learned theories-probably were committed to writing; and from them originated the Jewish Targums. The word "Targum" signifies interpretation, and applies to certain versions, or paraphrases of the Old Testament in the Chaldee dialect. These may have taken their rise in the custom which, as we have mentioned, was introduced by Ezra the Scribe; but we do not believe that Ezra gave such explanations of the Scripture as these contain. They rather show how truly it was said, "Ye have made void the Word of God by your traditions." We will lay before our readers one of these Targums, that they may learn how it was that the Jews looked so eagerly for a temporal Messiah and a kingdom of this world. When they had been taught thus to understand ancient predictions, especially those which, as we believe, the most clearly foreshadow the sufferings and contempt of a despised Saviour, was it any matter of wonder that they should hesitate to recognize in the Man of Sorrows that Messiah, whose coming, they believed, would restore again the kingdom unto Israel? Our extract is from the Targum of Jonathan, who is represented as having lived a little before the birth of Christ. Mark this a little before the birth of Christ! How important the influence his teaching would be likely to possess over those who were contemporary with Jesus! Here then is Jonathan's paraphrase, or interpretation, of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Will you take your Bible, and compare verse with verse? "1. Who hath believed these our tidings? and to whom is the strength of the powerful arm of the Lord revealed. "2. The Just One shall be great before Him, as branches which flourish, and as a tree which sends its roots near streams of waters; thus the holy nation shall be multiplied in the land which wants Him. His appearance shall not be a common appearance, nor his reverence as the reverence of a private person; but his beauty shall be the beauty of holiness, that every one who shall see Him may contemplate Him. "3. He shall indeed be disesteemed; but He shall obtain the glory of all kingdoms: they shall be weak and afflicted, as a man of pains, and exposed to infirmities. And when He has withdrawn the face of his shekinah from us, we are despised and reputed as nothing. "4. Therefore He shall make intercession for our sins, and our transgressions shall be forgiven for his sake: we are looked upon as wounded, stricken from the presence of God, and afflicted. "5. And He shall build the house of the sanctuary, which was profaned because of our sins, and delivered up because of our iniquities: and by his doctrine, peace shall be multiplied upon us; and when we shall be obedient to his word, our sins shall be forgiven. "6. We all are as sheep scattered, each one turned his own way; we have gone: and it hath been the good will of the Lord to forgive our sins for his sake. "7. He has prayed, He has been heard; and before He opened his mouth He was accepted. The strong of the people He shall deliver as a lamb for a sacrifice, and as a sheep that is silent before the shearer; and there shall be none who shall open his mouth in his presence, and speak a word. "8. From chastisements and revengings He shall gather our captivity; and the wonderful things which shall be done for us in his days, who is able to recite? For He shall take away the dominion of the nations from the land of Israel; the sins which my people have committed, even upon them shall they come. “9. And He shall deliver the wicked into hell, and the rich who obtain abundance by hurtful death: that those who practice iniquity may not remain, nor speak deceit in his presence. "10. It hath been the Lord's pleasure to refine and cleanse the remnant of his people, that He might purify their souls from sin. They shall see the kingdom of their Messiah, and shall prolong their days. “11. He shall deliver their souls from the subjec tion of the people; they shall see the revenging of their enemies, they shall be cloyed with the spoil of their kings. By his own wisdom He shall justify the just, that He may subject many to the law; and He shall intercede for their sins. “12. Therefore I will divide to Him the spoil of many people, and the riches of strong states; He shall divide the prey, because He hath given up his soul to death, and subjected transgressors to the law: and He shall intercede for many sins, and they shall be forgiven to transgressors for his sake." C. J. F. LITTLE RIE AND THE ROSEBUDS. THE last house before you come to the open heath is a grey, cheerless looking place in winter, though in summer it looks pleasant and gay, for it is nearly covered with china roses. There are a good many trees in the front garden, and some thick laurestinus shrubs. On one side of the porch is the kitchen casement; on the other side the parlour windows; all through the summer, rosebuds drift in whenever these are open, and even as late November, rosebuds tap against the glass, whenever the blustering gale comes round from the heath, as if appealing to the inmates to take them in and shelter them from the wind and the rain. The inmates are a mistress and a maid; the former is a widow; but her late husband saved money in his trade, and has left her a comfortable annuity; the latter is not very fair, nor very wise; but as her mistress says, her honesty makes up for want of wit, and she has a kind heart though it be a foolish one. One dreary November afternoon, when the sky was piled up with cold, white clouds, and the gusty wind shook every pool in the gravel walk into ripples, the mistress came into the kitchen and sat at a table stoning raisins for a cake, while the maid kneaded dough for the said cake, in a pan on the window-seat. Suddenly a shadow darkened the window, and mistress and maid raising their eyes, saw a dark, determinedlooking woman standing outside, offering matches for sale; she held a tiny child about five years of age by the hand. The little creature peered with childish interest into the kitchen, and she also pushed forward her bundle of matches; but they were perfectly wet, and so was the dimpled hand that held them, for rain was streaming from every portion of her tattered garments. |