Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Ezekiel 40:15

According to Onkelos our verse speaks of Jerusalem and Israel respectively. The words אוסרי לגפן refer to the people of Israel, the word עירה to Jerusalem. The word שורקה again refers to Israel as we find Jeremiah saying in Jeremiah 2,21: “I have planted it (Israel) as a choice vine.” The words:בני אתונו are rendered by Onkelos as עמא יבנון היכלה, “the people who will build the Sanctuary.” Clearly, Onkelos understands the word בני as related to בנין, “building.” He understands the word אתון as based on Zecharyah 9,9: “riding on a male donkey the son of a she-ass.” The prophet thus describes the arrival of the Messiah.

בני אתנו Onkelos translates by: they will build His Temple (איתנו), connecting this word with the expression שער האיתן “The gate of the entrance” of the Temple mentioned in the book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40:15). He further renders it in another manner, namely: גפן the vine represents the righteous; בני אתנו he paraphrases by: who occupy themselves with the Torah by teaching it” — with an allusion to the idea expressed in (Judges 5:10) “Ye that ride on white asses (אתונות)” (cf. Eruvin 54b, where this is referred to the scholars who ride from city to city and from district to district to teach the Law, thus making the explanation of the Torah shining-white as is the light at noon-day; cf. also the Targum on this verse).