Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Mazmur 137:8

ציצת נובל The blooming of the blossom which will fade away,⁴A. V., A fading flower.—I. E. supplies ציץ blossom, or עלה leaf, plant, because of the incongruity of the feminine ציצת and the masculine נובל. There is besides, according to his opinion, a contradiction between a fading flower, and the glorious beauty, which he believes to be in apposition to the former; he explains therefore נובל to have the meaning of a participle future that will fade away, and for a similar reason, השדודה (Ps. 137:8): that will be destroyed. The latter expression is explained by him differently in his commentary on the Psalms (ad locum).—comp. בת בבל השדודה O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed (Psa. 137:8)—or the blossom of the fading plant, and this is better.

This resolves what they interpreted (Vayikra Rabbah 13:5) “the camel [gamal] — this is Babylon,” as it says (Psalms 137:8) Daughter of Babylon, the despoiled one, who repays you the recompense that you dealt [gamalta] to us. “And the hyrax — this is Media,” because it chews its cud — it raises righteous people, as it says (Esther 2:21) And Mordechai sat at the king’s gate. “The hare — this is Greece,” because it chews its cud. Alexander, when he saw Shimon HaTzaddik, stood on his feet and blessed him, etc. (see Yoma 69a). “The pig — this is Edom,” which has a split hoof — shows itself as kosher, but does not chew its cud — it does not raise righteous people but rather kills them, etc.
One must wonder about this midrash — what reason did it have to remove all these verses from their literal meaning? Rather, certainly its intention was to explain the four instances of the word because [ki] that the Torah mentions, where it makes the sign of purity into a reason for impurity. Undoubtedly, the verse’s intention is to allude to the nature of hypocrites, whose sign of purity adds to their impurity. This interpretation cannot be applied to animals at all, but only to humans. Therefore, the meaning is that whoever eats from these animals absorbs their nature, as the consumed food transforms into the nature of the consumer.
It brings evidence from the well-known fact that all four of these kingdoms, which eat from these four species, all absorbed their natures — they present themselves as kosher, as if their intention is to benefit Israel, but their inner nature is evil and bitter, as all their thoughts are only evil all day long. And Israel was not cautious around them, seeing that they raised some righteous people, but in truth they did so only for their own benefit, while inwardly they were enemies of Israel.

Midrash Tanchuma Shemini 8 points out that four animals are mentioned here in four separate verses to allude to four different empires which will play host to the Jewish people in exile. Verse four speaks of גמל, the camel, a reference to the Babylonian exile; we have a hint of this in Psalms 137,8 בת בבל השדודה אשרי שישלם לך את גמולך שגמלת לנו, “fair Babylon you predator, a blessing on him who repays you in kind what you have inflicted on us.” [The letters of the word גמל, “camel, appear twice in that verse. Ed.]
In verse five, the Torah speaks of the שפן, hyrax.” (it has short ears and hoofed feet).This is a reference to the exile under the Greeks which forbade the study and practice of Torah as we know from Amos 8,11: “a time is coming, declares my Lord G’d, when I will send a famine upon the land; not a hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.” It is also written in verse 12 of that chapter: “men shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.” [The connection of the above verse to שפן is not clear, there is also a variant in the Tanchuma relating the above verse to the hare, ארנבת, Ed.]
Concerning the hare, ארנבת, mentioned in verse six, this is a reference to the exile under the Medes, (Ahasverus) which treated the Jewish people as a פאה, the corner of a field the farmer must leave unharvested allowing all comers to help themselves. This is what almost happened under Haman, the regent of that empire. The name of the wife of King Talmay was ארנבת, hare. [Ptolemaus of Egypt, one of the heirs of Alexander’s empire who staked a claim to the land of Israel as part of his share, and was defeated by Antiochus. He commissioned translation of the Bible from Hebrew to Greek. That day was considered a black day in Jewish history by the scholars of the Talmud, Ed.]
The pig,חזיר, mentioned in verse 7 is a reference to the Roman empire, the fourth exile, the one which we still endure. David says in Psalms 80,14: “wild boars gnaw at it and creatures of the forest feed on it.” The word חזיר in that verse is a reminder of the Romans and their Satanic origin, the forest being considered where Satan has its lair. The words וגרה לא יגר, “it does not chew the cud,” is taken as a hint that this is the last exile, i.e. it will not repeat itself. Whereas these animals appear in separate verses in our chapter, in Deut. 14 where the gist of this legislation is repeated, the first three animals mentioned here appear in a single verse except for the pig. The message is that although the first three exiles occurred at different times they have something in common, i.e. the period that they lasted was relatively short. The present exile is in a totally different category equivalent to all the previous exiles combined. David arranged four separate Thanksgivings in Psalms to acknowledge our salvation from each of these exiles in chapter 136 known as הלל הגדול, “the great Hallel.” He commences with the words “Praise the Lord for He is good, His steadfast loves is eternal.” This line referred to our being redeemed from the Babylonian exile. The second verse “Praise the G’d of G’ds, His steadfast love is eternal,” is an expression of gratitude for our having been redeemed from the exile of the Greeks; the third verse, i.e. “Praise the Lord of lords, His steadfast love is eternal,” refers to our redemption from the exile of the Medes. David uses the expression הודו, ”praise!” in three successive verses to allude to the three animals Moses mentioned in verses 4-5-6 in our chapter. In the last verse of this “Hallel hagadol” where he concludes with the words הודו ל-אל השמים, this is a reference to the redemption from the yoke of the Romans. Seeing that he had foreseen all these exiles and their redemptions by means of his Holy Spirit, he mentions the word השמים, seeing that of that final redemption it is stated in Psalms 96,11 ישמחו השמים ותגל הארץ, “both the heavens and the earth will rejoice then.” [That psalm which commences with the words שירו לה' שיר חדש, clearly speaks of the final redemption as it will be different from the weaker שירה חדשה which earmarked the thanksgiving for the Exodus from Egypt. Ed.]