This also was foretold by Jacob, (ver. 27.) Benjamin shall ravin as a
wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall
divide the spoil. The morning and night here can be nothing else
but the "morning and night of the Jewish state; for this state is
the subject of all Jacob’s prophecy from one end to the other: and
consequently it is here foretold of Benjamin, that he should con-
tinue to the very last times of the Jewish state. This interpreta-
tion is confirmed by Moses’s prophecy, for the prophecy of Moses is
in truth an exposition of Jacob’s prophecy. Benjamin, saith Moses,
(Deut. xxxiii. 12.) shall dwell in safety ; the Lord shall cover him
all the day long. What is this all the day long? The same cer-


1 Thus some Jewish interpreters, referred to by Bochart, understood the expression,
Mane, id est primis Israelitici regni temporibus—Sub vesperam, id est post captivitatis
Babylonice tempora. [In the morning, that is, in the first or early times of the Israelitish
kingdom.—In the evening, that is, after the time of the Babylonish captivity.] Hierozoic.
Pars prior, Lib. iii. cap. x. col. 828.
E


50 DISSERTATION V.
