LeDeaut

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T A R G U M I C JJT^RATURE JKflD N E W T E S T A M E N T ^ E R P R E T A T I O N [^^ J . r U . ' b g ' i

In a previous article^ we have presented a survey of present-day Targumic research. We mentioned there that the revival of the Targumic studies can be explained in part by the renewed interest the exegetes show in the Targum for the interpretation of the New Testament. This is true even if such a use of the Targum presents problems, mainly on account of the sources themselves, which are late (Qumran excepted), poorly transmitted, and unequal in value.

But the Qumran discoveries have now confirmed the existence of written Targums in the beginning of the Christian era. Besides, since the study is of analogous traditions and identical phraseology, it is profitable to utilize even texts redacted later whose contents go bock, in all probability, to a period older than the literary formulation and the language of their redaction. In any case, it is always useful to study the course often complicated of the traditions before their fixation in the Jewish writings or in the New Testament.

Between an uncritical confidence and a total scepticism there is therefore room for a prudent and fruitful use of the Targumic literature for NT exegesis. Predictably for a long time still the

1 < The Cur ren t State of Targumlo Studies >, BlbTB 4 (1974) 3-32. In this article can be found also the ma in bibliographical retere^nces on the var ious targimiic recensdons and their problems. Add to this the lm(portaint conclusions of S.K. Kaufman (JAOS 93, 1973, 217-327) on the date of Onkelos and the Targum to the Prophets . It seems that research should cont inue along the l ines h e indicates, by extending the field at llngulstio investigation to the s tudy of the tradit ions. A Newsletter for Targumic SttiOies is n o w published by W^.E. Aufrecht (Dept. of Near Eas te rn Studies, Victoria College, Toronto, Oht. M5S 1K6, Canada) . These are o u r Sigia: MT (Masoretic tex t ) , T (Targum) , PT (Palestinian Targum = the exegetiaal tradit ions as a whole preserved in several recensions) , Tj I (Jerusalem T.I, also called of Pseudo-Jonathan) , Tj II (Jerusalem Targum II, also called F ragmen t Ta rgum) ; TC (Cadro fragments of the PT; see P. Kahle, Masoreten des Westens II. Stuttgart 1930), N (Codex Neofiti 1 of the Vatican U b r a r y ) , N ^ (marginal var iant readings of N), O (Targum of Onkelos), DSS ( D e ^ Sea ScroUs).

<

244 R. L E D E A U T

proposed comparisons w i l l remain hypothetical: i n many cases, however, they appear at least as worthy as many others, especially i f we accept to take seriously the original links of Christ ianity w i t h the Palestinian Jewish world. The exegetes have neglected too long the intermediating role of ancient Jewish hermeneutic when they studied the use of the Old Testament i n the New^.

Rather than an analysis, presumably too technical, of a few examples, we believe i t w i l l appear more convincing to give a long list of these, from which should emerge the usefulness of the Targums to clarify some NT problems and the marked interest showed i n them by a growing number of exegetes. Each of these examples should be further examined w i t h the help of the studies indicated, which professedly underline the value of the Targumic traditions, especially their antiquity. But as the Targum represents the f irst l ink between Scripture and its interpretation (its Tradition, i n the broad sense), i t can be supposed that i n many cases i t was through the Aramaic paraphrases proclaimed i n the synagogues that the Jewish people remained i n touch with the traditional developments, about the biblical texts. I t was on these paraphrases that the Jews relied for their imderstanding of the sacred text: the Targum was, so to say, the Bible of the Jewish people, for the Targumist conveyed the traditional i n terpretation of his time, as found i n his ambient. As these texts belonged to the Haggadah (illustrative material) , they have suffered less from censorship than those pertaining to the Halakhah (regulative material) . Even though these texts have been transmitted by the rabbinical Judaism they are not necessarily the exclusive product of the Pharisaic tendency. Wfe do not wish to explicitate this point: but i t is possible to consider the Tar-

2 Cf. R. Le D6aut ,«La traxMtion ivive ancleiuiB et I'ex^gfese dhretlenne prtmltive >, RHPR 51 (1971) 31-50; M.P. Miller, < Targum, Midrash and the Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament >. Journal for the Studiy of Judcdsm 2 (1971) 29-82; A.T. Hanson, StiDdies in Paid's Technique and Theology (London 1974). For a method of dating see R. Le D6aut ILT 149-181. On the use of the argumentation based on the halakhah of the Targum see now M. Ohana, < Agneau pascal et drconcdsion: Le problfeme de la halakha pr6mishnalque danS le Targiun palestlnlen >, VT 23 (1973) 385-399; J . Heinemann, < Early Halakhah in the Palestinian Targum*, Journal of Jewish Studies 25 (1974) 114-122.

T A R G U M I C L I T E R A T U R E A N D N T I N T E R P R E T A T I O N 245

mic traditions taken globally — each case has to be verified — the common good of the 1st century allgemeines Judentum, opposed to the «sectarian)) movements, while the Bible ained the principal ground common to al l the tendencies. We shall f irst draw attention to some examples relevant the Synoptic gospels and other NT books, then dwell longer

material related to the Johannine gospel.

Bibliography (wi th abbreviations to be used)

tina, S., < Aportaclcwies reclentes die los targumlm a la interpretacidn neotestamentaria >, EstE 39 (1964) 361-376 (Bartina).

, M., An Ararriaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts (3d ed., Oxford 1967) (AAGA).

wker, J . , The Targums and Rabbinic Literature (Cambridge 1969). ©z Maciho, A., < The Recently Discovered Palestinlaai Targum: Its

Antiquity and Relationship with the other Targums >, Suppl. to VT. V n (1960) 222-245;

, < Targum y Nuevo Testamento > in M&larvges Eu^6ne Tisse-rant (Citta del Vaticano 1964) 153-184 (TNT);

, < Le Targum palestlnlen >, RSR 47 (1973) 169-231; , Introdiiictions to the edition of Targum Neofiti 1 (Genesis

1968; Exodus 1970; Leviticus 1971; Numbers 1974). s, R., < Traces of Targumism in the New Testament >, ExpT 32

(1920-21) 373-376. Ddaut, R., La nuit pasoale (Romie 1963) (NP);

, Liturgie jxMve et Nouveau Testcanent (LJNT); , Introduction it Ta litt^rature targimtque (Rome 1966) ( I L T ) .

a, B.J., The Paiesttnian Marma TraOiUon (Leiden 1968) (Malina). amiara, M., The Hetu Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the

Pentateuch (Rome 1966) (NTPT); , Targum attd Testamemt (Shannon 1972) (TT) .

els. P., Targum and New Testamemt. A Bibttographiyi. together with a New Testament Index (Rome 1967).

J . , La fete jiMve de la Pentecdte (Paris 1971) (Pottn). k, H.L. - BUlerbeck, P., Kommentar zum Neuen Testamemt aais

Talmud und Midrasch. 4 vols (Munich 1922-1928) (SB), erary, Henry St. John, The Relation of St. PaUi to Contemporary

Jewish Thought (London 1900). es, G., Scripture and Tradition in JudJaism (Leiden 1961; reprint

1973) (STJ). , A., € The Targums and the New Testament >, Journal of Re

ligion 24 (1944) 89-95.

TARGUMIC LITERATURE AND NT INTERPRETATION 245 gumic traditions taken globally — each, case has to be verified — as the common good of the 1st century allgemeines Judentum, as opposed to the «sectarian» movements, while the Bible remained the principal ground common to all the tendencies.

We shall first draw attention to some examples relevant for the Synoptic gospels and other NT books, then dwell loiter on material related to the Johannine gospel.

Bibliography (with abbreviations to be used) X

Bartina, S., < Aportaciones recientes die los ta rgumlm a la Interpretacifin neotes tamentar la >, EstE 39 (1964) 361-376 (Bart ina) .

Black, M., An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts (3d ed., Oxfoi^ 1967) (AAGA).

Bowker, J., The Targums and Rabbinic Literature (Cambridge 1969). Dlez MacJio, A., < The Recently Dl scwered Palest inian Targum: Its

Antiquity and Relationship w i th the o ther Targums >, Suxppl. to VT, VII (1960) 222-245;

, < Targum y N u e w Testamento > in M&laviges Eugdne Tisse-rant (CittA del Vaticano 1964) 153-184 (TNT);

, < Le Targtmi palest tnien >, RSR 47 (1973) 169-231; , Infradmctions to the edition of Targum Neoflti 1 (Genesis

1968; Exodus 1970; LeviticMs 1971; Numbers 1974). Harris, R., < Traces of Targumism in the New Testament >, ExpT 32

(1920-21) 373-376. Le D6aut, R., La rtuit pasoale (Rome 1963) ( N P ) ;

, Liturgie jtUve et Nouveau Testament (LJNT); , Introduction ti la litt6rature targurndqtte (Rome 1966) ( ILT).

Mahna, B.J., The Palestinian Mamia TradHtion (Leiden 1968) (MaUna). McNamara, M., The New Testament and the PdlesUnHan Targum to the

Pentateuch (Romie 1966) (NTPT); , Targum arid Testament (Shannon 1972) (TT).

Nickels, P., Targum and New Testament. A Bibliography, together with a New Testament Index (Rome 1967).

Potin J., La f&te juive de la Pentecdte (Par is 1971) (Pot ln) . Strack, H.L. - BiUerbeck, P., Kommentar zwm Neuen Testament aus

Talmud urvd Midrasch, 4 vols (Munich 1922-1928) (SB). Thackerary, Henry St. John, The Relation of St. PaM to Contemporary

Jewish Thought (London 1900). Vermes, G., Scripture amA Tradition in JudJaism (Leiden 1961; repr in t

1973) (STJ). W^fcgren, A., « The Targimas and the New Testament», Journal of Re-

Ugion 24 (1944) 89-95.


1. The Synoptk Gospels

I n a commentary on Jacob's blessing we read i n the Targum (Tj I -T j I I and N ) : «Blessed are the breasts from whdch you sucked and the uiomb within which you lay»\e similarity w i t h Lk 11:27 is so s tr ik ing that one would t h i n k of a gospel quotation i f this were not entirely improbable. The parallel of TLev 22:28 (Tj I ) to L k 6:36 is also well known: «My people, children of Israel, as our Father is merciful in heaven, so shall you be merciful on earth n. This paraphrase is ancient since i t is quoted, and criticized as a faulty translation, i n two passages of the Jerusalem Talmud". The famous saying: «The measure w i t h which you measure wi l l be used to measure you » (Mt 7:2; Mk 4:24; L k 6:38) is well attested i n the Targum (e.g Gen 38:26; Lev 26:43)=.

I n addition to these formulas there are contacts i n the vocabulary. The idea of forgiveness is regularly expressed i n the PT by the hendiadys sheri/shebaq ( l i t . to remit, to loose and forgive), which, i t has been proposed, may explain the different formulations of M t 16:19 (to b ind / to loose) and of Jn 20:23 (to forgive/to bind) , both renderings perhaps of a single primitive logion i n Aramaic^

An expression like « t o taste the cup of death)), which among the ancient Jewish sources occurs only i n the PT (Gen 40:23; Deut 32:1), explicitates texts like M t 20:22f, where the cup which Christ and the disciples wi l l have to dr ink is that of suffering and of death (20:28;26:28; cf. also 26:39 and Jn 18:11). When he invites the Apostles to drink «the cup of the

' AAGA 309; NP 51; NTPT 131. G. Dalraan had also Indicated the paraUel iGrammaCih des iildisch-paiasttnischen AramUisch, Leipzig 1905, 245), as well as SB II 187.

* Megillah IV,9,75c and Berakoth V,3,9c. Cf AAGA 309 and NP 51. McNamara has shown that this paraphrase, attested today in Tj I only, was found previously also in the other recensions: NTPT 138, TT 118. We usually use McNamara's translation, with occasional modifications.

^ SB I 445; NTPT 138; H.P. RUger, < Mit welchem Mass Ihr messt, wird euoh gemessen werden >, ZNW 60 (1969) 174-182.

« TNT 163; TT 129. It should be noted, however, that the Targum on Job of Qumran (llQTgJob 42:9) expresses the idea of forgiveness with the sole verb shebaq.


covenant i n my blood» (Lk 22:20) i t is also to a partici -tion i n his death that Jesus invites them' .

The figure of speech used by Jesus: «Simon, Simon! Re-ember that Satan has asked for you, to sift you all like wheat)) k 22:31), for which P. Billerbeck (11^258) has no parallel to opose from Jewish literature, occurs in N (Deut 33:8): «You ve invested Aaron w i t h the Thummim and the Ur lm, the

ous man you have tested^, and who stood f i r m i n the trial...» Another passage of N. (Ex 22:30) gives the proper dimension

Jesus' answer to the Canaanite woman (Mt 15:26): he only peats, without sanctioning i t , a traditional expression of the

tempt w i t h which i n the Jewish ambient the pagans were -ked upon: « You shall not eat flesh torn by a wi ld beast... You

11 throw i t to the dogs, or you shall throw i t to the gentile ranger, who is likened to the dogn)^

Recourse to the ancient exegetical techniques can help to derstand the fu l l meaning of the parallel formulas i n Mk 13: 29: «You know that summer is near... You wi l l know that is near, even at the door». What is near is end-time, as

arly indicate the words telos, synteleia, kairos of the context d of the parallel passages. The logion is bui l t on the hom-hony between qayis, «summer)), and qes, a technical term ich designates i n the OT and at Qumran the time of escha-

iogical sklvation'". Amos had already drawn upon this simi-' ty, even the consonantal identity i n Hebrew, of the two terms : l - 2 ) . But the Targum to Jeremiah (8:20) shows that i t was rsible to transpose directly qayis («summer)) i n Heb.) into ?a' («end-time)) i n Aramaic) : «The time has passed; the

' AAGA 298; R. Le D^aut, Bib 43 (1962) 82-86; S. Speier, VT 13 963) 344-345.

8 Lit. < passed through die sieve > (npyt, from the verb np': to fan, imow sift, which corresponds exactly to the Greek siniadzd). Cf. A. ez Madho, edition of N (vol. V, ad loc ) . In Amos 9:9 the idea is erent and the Hebrew verb comes from another root.

9 TNT 184. Add this reference' to other less explicit ones given by 1 724. The equation is even clearer in Ngl: c ... you shaU give it to

e gentile > (MT: dog). 10 NP 274. Cf. T Gen 49,1 (TT 140). It should be noted that theros

mmer) occurs only in Mk 13:28 (and par.) in the NT.


appointed time (qysa'; M t : qays) is accomplished and we are not yet saved

To solve the known problem (cf. Jerome i n PL 26,173) raised by M t 23:35, « Zechariah son of Berachiah whom you murdered between the temple building and the a l tars , M . McNamara'^ has correctly referred to the Targum of Lamentations 2:20. Zechariah the prophet «son of Berechiah, son of Iddon (Zech 1:1), is not the Zechariah «son of Jehoiada» who was stoned i n the court of the temple, according to 2 Chr 24:21. But we must remember that popular tradit ion had identified the two figures, as i t very often does. This is the text of T Lam 2:20:

Is it proper to kill in the Tempi© of the Lord a priest and a prophet as you killed Zechariah bar Iddo the High Priest and the faithful prophet in the Temple of tihe Lord on the Day of Atonement because he admonished you not to do what was evil before the Lord.

Even though the extant text of the Targum Lam. is of a post-talmudical period, i t may constitute an example of an ancient tradit ion preserved only i n a document of a late period".

The targumic development of Is 6:3, «Holy in the highest heavens... holy upon earth... holy for endless agesn, certainly is to be related, directly or indirectly, to Lk 2:14. I f D. Flusser's conclusions are exact'^ the tr ipart i te form would have to be restored to the Gloria, by reading w i t h a large number of witnesses: «. . . and among men divine benevolence — en anthrO-pois eudokia», instead of eudokias.

The formula of L k 9:29, describing the transfiguration of

" Cf. N. P6rez Femtodez, < Prope est aestas (Mk 13:28; Mt 24:32; Lk 21:29) >, VD 46 (1968) 361-369. For a more technical discussion see A Dlez Madho, Neophyti 1. vol. IV, 52.

12 NTPT 160. SB I 941 also mentioned tMs parallel. 1 See an example of tiiis type in D. Daube, The New Testament

and Rabbiriic Judaism (London 1956) 190. " < Sanktus imd Gloria >, in Abraham vtnser Voter, Fest. fiir O.

Michel (Leldlen/KOln 1963) 129-152. Flusser has recently summarized the content of tliis article: < Elsewhere I have tried to show that Luke 2:14... reflects a hypothetical Aramaic Targum of the threefold < Holy > of Is 6:3 (very similar to the existent Targfum) whose wording was approximately: <Eotv in the highest heavens his Glory, Hoty upon the earth his peace, Hoty toward man his good wiU > >, Immcmuet n-3 (Winter 1973-74) 38.


Jesus, «the appearance of his face changed — egeneto... to eidos ton prosopou autou heteronn ( l i t . became different), has been wi th reason compared w i t h Genesis Apocryphon 2:12: « My expression had changed — ' stny 'npy»^\t TGen 4:5,6 is s t i l l closer to the Lucan formulation since a noun precedes the verb: .«The aspect of his face (Cain's) became different — w'ystny •gywwhiim d' pwy ».

I n connection w i t h the absolute usage of kyrios, which raised 'ifficulties, J.A. Fitzmyer observes «that mare' (absolute) turns -p as a t i t le for God i n l lQTgJob 24:7 (=Heb. 34:12) i n paral-elism w i t h ' elaha'... The pun i n Ps 110:11 (cf. L k 20:42) is now

possible i n Aramaic: ' amar marS' lemari, teb leyammini»; « The r d said to my Lord: Sit at my r ight hand»" .

What God has joined (Mt 19:6)

I n the context of the famous discussion about divorce i n M t ):6 ( = M k 10:9), a few targumic texts deserve to be examined,

connexion w i t h Jesus' answer, « Therefore, let no man sepals J.A. Fitzmyer, The Genesis Apiocryphon of Qumran Cave I

Second edition, Roanie 1971). p. 88. He also quotes Dan 3:19;5:6. Accor-to Traduction Oecktminigue de Ta BiMe (Paris 1972) < Lk avoids

Greek word metaphorphdsis (Mt 17:2; Mk 9:2), which for his Brs sounded pagan >. Actually dt>es he not return to a more

Imitive formulation of tradition? We have here a typical case of an hypothetic utilization of a

gumlc expression to Uluminate the NT being verified by the dls-ery of a surely ancient text. In a lecture given at Louvaln (1972)

tzirtyier, apropos of < Mistranislations of Aramaic Substratum > proas examine Mt 7:6: < Do not give what is holy to dogs... >, where

parallelism with < pearls > would csfll for a term designating some t of jewel (of. AAGA 200). A word like gecMs = ring, read in the

arguta on Job of Qumran (42:11) may have been misunderstood as sa' = to hOgion. Note that the term qds' is also found in the classic

rgum of Job, known for long. This word is also often used by PT (Gen 24:22;35:4; Num 31:50...). It is strange that the scribe of

has written qwds at Gen 24:22 and that the recensions often write 'ys (= holy), making the same confusion as the hypothetic translator

ad have Ertadie in Mt 7:6 (Of. Num 31:50 in Tj I and N). 18 We quote the summary of a lecture given in 1973 at South-

JiiPton (at the SNTS Congress). We are grateful to the author for ving sent it to us. TWs lecture is now published in NTS 20 (1974) 2-407: < The Contribution of Qumran Aramaic to the Study of the

ew Testament >.


rate what God has joined — synedseuxen ( from the Greek dzeugos = yoke) », P. Billerbeck ( I , 803) quotes only quite late rabbinical texts about God un i t ing man and woman and the diff iculty to do so i n a satisfactory manner. The Targum is not cited. D. Daube" has r ight ly noted that also the Targum mentions this divine activity. He quotes Deut 34:6 (Tj I ) : « (God) taught us to marry bridegrooms and brides by his marrying — zavncegh, from dzeugos — Eve to Adama. I t is also possible to quote al l the PT recensions of Deut 32:4 which show the Most High dividing his day into three parts and devoting three hours « t o making marriage bonds — mzitmg zwgyn — between man and womann (N). Daube comments: «Significantly, the Rabbinic ziwwegh or zawwegh, which goes back to the Greek dzeugos, while i t may mean < to jo in together two things > i n any way, is often used of God's < joining together husband and wife > and, i n the form 'izdavmagh, means < to marry >.»" The Aramaic verb is therefore related, according to sense and even etymologically, to the Greek syn-dzeugnymi of M t 19:6.

Another targumic passage, attested i n at least three of the PT recensions (TC, N, and T j I I ) , also cites the divine example as founding the duty to bless the spouses « from Adam and his mate — mn 'dm wzwgyh — ». The second term is a simple transposition into Palestinian Aramaic of the Greek dzeugos (=yoke) .

Note carefully that the first text quoted by Christ i n M t 19 is Gen 1:27: ((Male and female he created them». This passage is quoted i n the Damascus Document (4:21), certainly to exclude polygamy, perhaps also divorce:^^ I t is zanuth (whoredom) ((to marry two women i n their (masc.) lifetime, although the

" Op. at. 74 and 368. ^« Ibid. 368.

*8 On the various interpretations of the text see the latest presentation by G. Vermes, < Sectarian Matrimonial Halalchah in the Damascus Rule >, Journal orf Jewish Studies 25 (1974) 197-202. Note that the Da-tnascm Document (5:1) quotes also Gen 7:9: < Two and two they went into the aric >.


inciple of creation is: a male and a female... »^°. Long ago A. armorstein has observed that this quotation proved only i f n 1:27 was understood as i n the PT.^' He referred to the way e Cairo fragments translate ((male and female » of the flood

i t ive : udkr wzwgyh — a male and his mute v. But now we ve the testimony of N, which confirms the translation adopted T j I I for Gen 1:27: « male and his mate (partner) — zwgyh he created them » . '

I f this Palestinian interpretation of Gen 1:27 forms the ckground of M t 19, then the force of the argumentation

.^pears even more clearly: the inst i tut ion of the couple ( in reek kata dzeugos means <( i n pairs»), the union of one man d of one woman corresponds to the intentions of the Creator d, i n addition, for each marriage i t is God himself who i n -

rvenes for the formation of this new couple.

This is my Blood of the Covenants (Mk 14:24)

Grammatically the formula, <( This is TTZ / blood of the venant — to haima mou tes diathekes » (Mk 14:24), which is

good Greek, was formerly considered impossible i n Hebrew i n Aramaic, since i n these languages i t is not permissible

. introduce a possessive suffix between the nomen regens and e nomen rectum. Now i t appears that this is possible i n

"^amaic. J.A. Emerton has produced examples of this usage"; t least one of them is indisputable: Your people of the house 1 Israel)) (T Ps 110:3). A. Diez Macho^^ refers also to D n 2:34: His feet of iron — raglohi di parzelay> and, above all , to a -ies of examples i n N : Gen 49:1,2; Ex 20:6; Deut 6:4;5:10

a his commandments of my Law))) . These cases show i t is sible to have i n Aramaic a noun w i t h a personal suffix

0 For the use of tliis text in the interpretation of porneHa (Mt 19:9) L. , Ramarbson, < Une nouvelle interpretation de la olausule de Mt

:9 >, SE 23 (1971) 247-251. " ZNW 49 (1931) 240. 22 < Mark XIV.24 and the Targum to the Psalter >. ITS 15 (1964)

-59. 23 « Le Targ\»m pal^tlnien >, 209-210; TT 127-128. On this problem the position of J. Jeremias, Die Abendmahlsworte Jesu (4th ed,

Sttingen 1967) 186.


followed by a genitive which does not refer to the suffix. J.E. Dav id"* has given examples drawn from Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Hebrew: for four out of seven biblical examples mentioned the same construction is used by the Targum. There exists ample evidence then to show that it did not sound strange to Semitic ears .

But an observation of much greater importance can be made i n this context of the «bl(5od of the covenant)).The NT formula certainly refers to Ex 24:8. To understand better i n what sense the NT uses this text it should be remembered that the meaning of the covenant sacrifice had known a development. I n O (and T j I ) it is explicitly stated that the blood had expiatory value: «Moses took the blood and sprinkled (it) upon the altar to make atonement (Ikpf) for the people)). This is also meaningful for what follows i n M t 26:28: « ... (the blood) to be poured out i n behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins», and particularly for Heb 9:18-22 which clearly underline the expiatory character of the Sinai rite. Some NT texts continue to speak of the sprinkling of Jesus' blood (rantismos): 1 Pt 1:2; Heb 12:24^^

2. Pauline Writings

The relevance of some targumic traditions for i l lustrating several passages of the Pauline corpus has been noted for long^'. Thus the two characters, Jannes and Jambres (2 T i m 3:8), who ((opposed Moses)), are named in T j I of Ex 1:15 and 7:11 in a role which suits quite well the Pauline allusion^'.

Bib 48 (1967) 292. " NP 28; TT 76.129. Dlez MactoJo believes that the addition of O an<3

Tj I is intentional, to excludte here the idea of a Conuminlon sacrifice {NeophyU 1. Vol. II 156); N, whidh translates literally, would be more m-imittve. A. Bertlner (Targum Onkelos 27 and 164) observes that the exjpression < to mlake atonement for the people > is absent from certain mtauuscripts of Onkelos. S. Aalen also has shown the interest of these targumtfc texts for the NT (in Charis hai Sophia, Fest. K.H. Rengstorf, Leiden 1964, 150), as well as J . Jeremias, op. cit. 218. For the comparison between Ex 24:8 and Is 52:8 and Is 52:15 cf. A. Feuillet, SDB IV 713-

25 Cf. Henry St. John Thackeray, The Relation: R. Le D6aut, < Traditions targumiques dans le Corpus pauilnlen? >, Bib 42 (1961) 28-48.

2« NTPT 82-96; see also K. Koch, ZNW 57 (1966) 79-93.


I n Eph 4:8 the quotation of Ps 68:19 understands the M T reverse: ((You have ascended on High, taken captives,recefwed

en as gifts)). Applying the whole psalm to Moses and to the f t of the Torah the Targum translates: ((You have ascended e firmament, prophet Moses; you took captivity captive, you rned the words of the Law, you gave them as gifts to the sons man»^'. I t cannot be proved that this targumic interpret-

on was tradit ional at the time of Paul and that he has used I t may be a case of a common tradit ion — one only has to spose the root consonants of the Heb. Iqh to get the meaning

the Aramaic hlq, «to distribute/to give))' ' —, or of one ntical original Hebrew already containing the verb give'^^. any case, the comparison between the Targum and Eph 4:8

striking. Rom 10:6-8 represents another application of the typology

bses/Jesus. Paul applies to the situation of the Christian w i t h pect to Christ what the Targum of Dt 30:12-14 (Tj I I and N) d of Moses and the Law:**

The L a w is not in heaven that one may say: WoUM that we had one like the prophet Moses who would ascend to heaven and fetch it for us and make us hear the oommandments that we might do them. Neither is the Law beyond the Great Sea that one may say: Would that we had one like the prophet Jonah who would descend into the depths of the Great Sea and bring it up for us and make us hear the oommandnients that we might do them.

e course of the Pauline thought, dif f icult to follow i n Rom 10, uld he i l luminated by a tradit ion similar to that preserved i n

2J On the manuscript tradition see S. Speier, Bib 48 (1967) 504. 28 NTPT 80; J. Potin, L a fSte juive de la PentecOte 196. A.M. Harmon

s more sceptical about the possible connexions with the Targum 'estminster Theological Journal 32, 1969, 6ff).

29 This is what the interpretation of the Testament of Dan (5:10-11) t suggest; cf. J. Danl^lou, ThAologie du }Ud6o-christianisme (Paris-

umal 1958) 265. S. Lyonnet, < Saint Paul et I'exi^g^se juive de son temps >, in

^amges bibliques... A. Robert (Paris 1959) 494-506; NTPT 70-78; LJNT ; A. Jaubert, RSR 47 (1973) 379.


the targumic paraphrase:" i n his discussion on the relations between the Law and Christ (see v. 4) , i t reminded the Apostle, apropos of a famous text on the Law, the figures of Moses and of Jonas, types of Christ (Mt 12:40), and allowed h i m to apply to the incarnate Word, henceforth very close to all believers, what Deuteronomy said of the Torah.

The argumentation of Paul i n Gal 4:29-30 can be paralleled w i t h a targumic presentation of the story on Isaac and Ishmael to which S. Jerome probably alludes i n his commentary of this passage {PL 26,419): the « persecution » mentioned i n the epistle would be i n fact an argument between the two brothers on the rights of the firstborn, on their inheritance, and on their respective merits w i t h regard to circumcision. ALL these themes, as Jerome well perceived, form the background of Gal 4. ^ We read i n T Gen 22:1 (Tj I ) : < And it came to pass after these things, thiat Isaac and Islmnaiel were disputing. Ishmael said: < It is right for me to be the heir, of my father, since 1 am the first-bom son >. But Isaac said: < It is right for me to be the heir of my father, since I am tlie son of Sarah his wife, whereas you are the son of Haigar, the handmaid of my mother >. Ishmael answered and said: < I am more righteous than you because I was circumcdsed when thirteent years old; and if it had been my wish to refuse I would not liave handled myself over to be drcum-cised >. Isaac answered and said: < Behold, I am now thirty-seven years old. If the Holy One, blessed be He, demanded all my vmembers^J

»i E . Kftsemiann (Perspectives oh Paul, Philadelphia 1971,161) quotes the Targum, but considers that Bar 3:9 is more illuminating for the understanding of Paul's argumentation (cf. A.T. Hanson, op. cit. 294). For A.M. Goldberg ( c Torah aus der Unterwelt? >, BZ 14, 1970, 127-131) Paul would not depend on liie text of the Targum, but c es ist diagegen setor wahrschedrilloh, dass er die Vorstedlimgen und Meinungen kaimte, die dtem Targum zugnmdeliegen > (p. 127). It can be objected against the utilization of the Targum text that Paul insists on abyss, a term which cannot be equated with < depths of the Great Sea > (J.A. Fitzmyer, TS 29, 1968, 325). On the other hand, if Paul has in mind the tradition of Jonas, the appearance of the term abyssos is easily explained by the iafluence of the MT and the Greek versions of ttie book of Jonas.

« R. Le D^aut, < Traditions targumiques... > 37-43. 33 The Aramaic term \jBed here has the same double sense as the

Latin membrum. There is therefore an expUdt allusion to the partial sacrifice which cdroumcislon represents. This conception can serve to illustrate Jn 7:23 (< curing a whole man on the sabbath > — cf. SB H

T A R G U M I C L I T E R A T U R E A N D N T I N T E R P R E T A T I O N 256 would not refuse >. Immediately, these words were heard be.fore the rd of the imlverse, and immediately, the W^ord (Memra) of the rd tested Abraham... >

is connexion between Isaac's spontaneous offering and the "ry of his sacrifice which follows i n Gen 22 has to be noted: represents only one out of many targumic contributions which

ust be studied to value correctly the role of the typology of and of his sacrifice (for the earliest tradit ion i t look place

Passover) i n NT theology'*. I t is difficult to say i n what easure Paul had similar traditions i n mind when he wrote

4. I t is at least certain that he was not the f irst to julate (see v. 24) on these two themes: the free woman

ife i n the proper sense) and the servant (or slave), the child r n according to the flesh and the son of the promise.

Wishing to express the idea that the Hebrews left l ^ p t ted from their oppressing slavery, the PT says that they

t out beresh gelt, «with head uncovered)), as free men do en 40:18; Ex 14:8; Lev 26:13; N m 33:3)! This formula has en used to explain the passage on the veil of women, sign their subordination to their husband, i n 1 Cor 11:4.6,^' and jcially the difficult midrash on the veil of Moses i n 2 Cor 3'«. I n Phil 4:18 Paul describes the gifts which the Philippians

i t h i m as « fragrant offering — osmen euddias —, a sacrifice ceptable — thysian dekten —, and pleasing to God — euare-

: to theo». I n this list of expressions predicating a sacrifice f irst is well known i n the OT (Gen 8:21; Ex 29:18);

leasing (to God))) occurs also i n ROm 12:2, and « acceptable God) )) is found i n 1 Pet 2:5 (euprosdektous). I n his com-

) anjd Col 2:11 in contexts dteaUng with cdrcumicision (see the BJ • ad loc). For the opposition between a member of the body and the 'le body see also MekhlUa Ex 31:12; SavShedrin 89b. * Being unable to discuss this problem here, even briefly, we

to STJ 193-227; NP 131-212; NTPT 164-168. See also A. Jaubert, abodes et figures ohristologiquea dans le judaisme >, RSR 47 (1973) 85; N.A. Dalhl, < The Atonement — an Adequate Reward for the ah? (Rom 8:32) >, in Neotestatnenttca et Semtitica, Studies... M. Black

'nburgh 1969) 15-29. The best study of the J e w i ^ sources is that 5. Spiegel, The Last Trial (New York 1967).

" TNT 183. 36 NTPT 168-177.

256 t i E A U T

mentary P. Billerbeck ( I I I , 625) refers to Eph 5:2 (iWd. 605) for the expression osme eu6<ii^^ ^.^ Targumlm meiden den Ausdruck beim Qp^ ubersetzen zB Ex 29,18: E m Brandopfer ist es vor Jahve, ^.^ Wohlgefallen aufgenom-men zu werden». This is i n ^ ^ ^ ^ g O and Tj i . But N translates: « I t is a holocaust to the mime of the Lord for a pleasing odour; i t is a n offering before the Lord. , . But It IS particularly interesting to ^^^^ the predicates used by Paul are equivalently found i j , T Lev ( N ) i n connection w i t h the sacrifices. Their origin is perhaps traceable to a. traditional hst of epithets. Thus do we r e a d i n Lev 1:9,13.17;2:9;3:5 etc.: « A burnt offering an offering (qorban/LXX: thysia) acceptable (dmtqU) as an odour of gooa ^^^^^ ^^^yf, dr^vf/LKX: osme euodms) before the LordD. — i . /

.Flesh, in the PauUne Writings

We w i l l close this section ^^^^ ^ attention to the Targums of Gen 6 since t h e i ^ ^ ^ ^ J ^ ^vant ly illustrate the theology ^.^ ^ ^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ became classic,^- W.D. Davies ^Vfote-< The use that Paul mlakes of tK-. ^ ^ plained as an accentuation of ^ adequately ex-7^r.^^^,r 4„ ^ , 7 r ethical connotation that the term aOready had in certain late docuitv^^^ , , „ ^ ^ f 4 _ ^ ^ *^i its in the Old Testament and his contrast between flesh and Sjsirit j j , ^ , , „ . . . ^ ,» ,^ «r,ir>»„ loft « , ® a natural evolution of the anthropology of the latter. Can we also T , 4 . ^ in Ms thought at tMs point? O r ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^f ' '^ "*^ 'T^uZ Judaism did not. a« did Paul, t a k e \ * * ^ " « ^^^"^^^ Testament to express that side a j ' " ^ ^ ' ' ^ """"Z n . to moral weakness... The evidence ^ ^ ™ T t T. conclusive that the RabWs did n o t ^ ^ ^ Strack-Binerbeck) gjve Is M.ar had in the Old Testament ' . ^ ^ " ' ^ connotation that

I t is interesting to register t h ^ successive retractationes of Professor Davies. in an Additional ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ 9^5) he underlines the decisive cont^^^^^.^^ ^^^^ S,,^ll3 to the meaning of the t e r ^ ^ a ^ a : i n ancient Judaism: «The significant factor is that the P ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ of < flesh > could be native to Palestiman Judaism. , 3^3^ ^^^^^^^^ ^j^^pt,r

" Pawl arid Babhinic ludOisrn. ,r j iQRi=i-revised edit., New York 1967) 1^


Christian Origins and Judaism (London 1962) is devoted to 's problem: « Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls Before under-king the study of the Qumran texts he refers again to the bbinical literature and to what he had wri t ten previously:

Perhaps I then dismissed the rabbinic source too categorically» . 148). He then quotes a text, hardly convincing, from Mishnah

both 2,7, then a passage from PT Gen 40:23^'. This is the snsion of N :

Joseph forsook the favour that is from above and the favour that is from below... and he trusted in the ciiief butler, in flesh that passes, in flesh that tastes the cup of death. And he did not remember*" the Scripture, for it is written in the book of the Law of the Lord... (Jer 17,5).

vies writes that this text «might also perhaps be taken to ply that the flesh is prone to sin... At least i t has the con-tation of untrustworthiness». I n fact the two underlined sages do show that the purpose of the text is to remind

at al l flesh i n mortal , according to the divine sentence of Gen 3. Davies r ight ly therefore admits: «The examples we have oted are not numerous or entirely unambiguous)) (p. 149).

But does not T Gen 6:3 represent precisely a tradit ion i n ich the ethical connotation of the term sarx/basar is as

2nt as i n Paul? The MT is obscure: «My spirit shall not

'« See the recent study of W.H. Brownlee, < Anthropology and teriology in the DSS and the NT >, in The Use of the Old Testament

the New and Other Essays, Studies... W.F . Stinespring (Durham, ., 1972) 210-240. 39 Correct the reference 40:3 of the text. We quote N, because the

sion of TjII which Davies quotes is corrupt and Etheridge's slation he transcribes contains several mistranslations, as is often case. *° This mention of this fact, < to remember > or < not to remem-

> Scripture, is to be compared with Jn 2:22 and 12:16. Also the Idas c the favour from above... from below > could be compared

th the Johannine vocabulary (cf. D. Mollat, < Remarques sur le abulaire spatial dU 4e 6vangtle >, Sttidia Evangelica I, TU 73, Berlin

59, 321-328).

256 B . L E D E A U T

mentary P. Billerbeck ( I I I , 625) only refers to Eph 5:2 (fbid. 605) for the expression osme euddias. He writes: Die Targumlm meiden den Ausdruck beim Opfer; sie ubersetzen zB Ex 29,18: E in Brandopfer ist es vor Jahve, u m m i t Wohlgefallen aufgenom-men zu werden». This is i n fact the readng of O and T j I . But N translates: « I t is a holocaust to the nam^ of the Lord for a pleasing odour; i t is an offering before the Lordn. But i t is particularly interesting to note that all the predicates used by Paul are equivalently found i n T Lev (N) i n connection w i t h the sacrifices. Their origin is perhaps traceable to a, traditional list of epithets. Thus do we read i n Lev 1:9,13,17;2:9;3:5 etc.: « A burnt offering, an offering (qorban/LXX: thysia) acceptable (dmtqbi) as an odour of good pleasure (Iryh dr^uf/lXX: osm£ euddias) before the Lord». —

« Flesh » in the Pauline Writings

W)e wi l l close this section on Paul by calling attention to the Targums of Gen 6, since their content, i n our view, may relevantly illustrate the theology of Rom 7-8. I n a work which became classic," W.D. Davies wrote: < The use that Paul mlakes of the term sarx can be adequately explained as an aicoentuation of the ethical connotation that the term ailready had In certain late documents in the Old Testament and his contrast between flesh and sipirit is a natural evolution of the anthropology of the latter. Can we also trace a strictly RabMnic influence in Ms thouSbtt at tMs point? One thing is perfectly dear. Rabbinic Judaism did not, as did Paul, take over the term bflsflr from the Old Testament to express that side of human nature w U c h is prone to mora! weakness... The evidence they (viz. Strack-BUlerbeck) gjive is conclusive that the Rabbis did not develop the etMcal connotation that bAsdr had in the Old Testament >.

I t is interesting to register the successive retractationes of Professor Davies. I n an Additional Note of the second edition (1965) he underlines the decisive contribution of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the meaning of the term sarx i n ancient Judaism: «The significant factor is that the Pauline concept of < flesh > could be native to Palestinian Judaisms (p. 353). A n excellent chapter

3' Paul arid Rabbinic Judaism (London 1948; second edit. 1955; revised edit.. New York 1967) 19-20.


of Christian Origins and Judaism (London 1962) is devoted to is problem: « Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls Before under-

ing the study of the Qumran texts he refers again to the bbinical literature and to what he had written previously:

Perhaps I then dismissed the rabbinic source too categorically » 148). He then quotes a text, hardly convincing, from Mishnah

both 2,7, then a passage from PT Gen 40:23^». This is the cension of N:

Joseph forsook the favour that is from above and the favour that is from below... and he trusted in the chief butler, in flesh that passes, in flesh that tastes the cup of death. And he did not remember^o the Scripture, for it is written in the book of the Law of the Lord... (Jer 17,5).

-vies writes that this text «might also perhaps be taken to ply that the flesh is prone to sin... At least i t has the con-tation of untrustworthiness». I n fact the two underlined ssages do show that the purpose of the text is to remind at al l flesh i n mortal, according to the divine sentence of Gen 3. Davies r ight ly therefore admits: «The examples we have oted are not numerous or entirely unambiguous)) (p. 149).

But does not T Gen 6:3 represent precisely a tradit ion i n i ch the ethical connotation of the term sarx/basar is as

3nt as i n Paul? The MT is obscure: «My spirit shall not

See the recent study of W.H. Brownlee, < Anthropology and teriology in the DSS and the NT >, in The Use of the Old Testament

the New attd Other Essays, Studies... W .F . Stinespring (Durham, r., 1972) 210-240.

39 Correct the reference 40:3 of the text. We quote N, because the iion of TjII wMch Davies quotes is corrupt and Etheridge's

islation he transcribes contains several mistranslations, as is often case. *" This mention of tMs fact, < to remember > or < not to remem-

> Scripture, is to be compared with Jn 2:22 and 12:16. Also the lulas < the favour from above... from below > could be compared

the Johannine vocabulary (cf. D. Mollat, < Remarques sur le abulaire spatial dn 4e 6vangile >, StuOia Evangelica I, TU 73, Berlin

59, 321-328).


remain i n man for ever, since lie is but flesh » (NABy\e now give the main targumic recensions of this passage:

0 - This evil generation wi l l not stand before me for ever, because they are flesh and their works (are) eyil.

N - Behold I have given my spirit i n the sons of man because they are flesh and their works (are) eviP.

T j I - Have I not put my holy spirit {rmh gdstf) i n them i n order that they may do good works? But, behold their works are evil.

T j I I - Have I not put my spirit i n the sons of man i n order that they may do good works? But, because they are flesh (w'd d'ynwn Mr), their works (are) evil.

We have quoted for T j I I the manuscript Hebr 110 of the Bib-liotheque Nationale de Paris, because the other recensions are corrupt. A marginal variant reading of N is remarkable: «Have 1 not given my spirit i n the sons of man i n order that they may do good works, since they are flesh of evil works — "d dhnwn b^r'wMyn bysyu)). I f this reading were genuine" i t would constitute a str iking parallel w i t h the idea expressed i n Rom 8:3: ( (S inful flesh ( l i t . flesh of sin) — sarx hamartiasrt.

Even though the transmission of the targumic recensions of Gen 6:3 is uncertain, the same basic ideas are found i n a l l of them: the spirit of God is given to do good works; but man is inclined to sin because he is flesh, a conception which pervades al l the themes developed i n Rom 7-8: life according to the flesh and life i n the Spirit. This conception of the gift of the Spin* i n view of the good works disagrees w i t h the rabbinic tradition

*^ The New English Bible: < My llfe-givtng spirit shall not remain in man for ever; he for his part is mort^ flesh: he shall live for a hundred and twenty years >.

••2 The end of th© verse coincides with O, where the (intentional?) absence of any mention of the spirit of God has to be noted.

We believe there is an haplography here (of. Tj 11), the word cwbch/hwn (thedr works) having been omitted after 6sr: < Since they are flesh their works (are) evil works >. A reading like Tj II can even simply be assumed, by supposing that <^wbdyn (works) had been written instead of <^wbdyhwn (their works).


a whole, for which i t is the good works that make possible gift of the Sp ir i t " .

3. Other Books of the New Testament

WIe shall l i m i t ourselves to some of the material relevant r i l lustrat ing a few passages of Acts and of the Johannine pocalypse.

The Book of Acts

Numerous passages of Acts have been studied i n the l ight the targumic literature*'. We draw attention especially to

hat the Targums of Ex 19-20 have to say about the gift of e Law; their paraphrases explicitate the signification of the wish Pentecost and illuminate several aspects of the narrative Acts 2: the scenario itself, a reminder of the Sinai theophany,

-e new ekklesia, the union of hearts, the speaking i n tongues**, l y points of contact w i t h the targumic literature allow us

** p. Schafer, Die Vorstelltmg vom Heiligen Geist in der rab-schen Literatur (Munich 1972) 129-132. He has correctly noted that

Gen 6:3 canit extra Chorum, and this he finds so strange as not to dude a possible Christian influence (p. 148, n. 100). He refers to I, where the full expression < holy spirit > is read; but, without the

ceotive holy, the recensions of Tj II and the variant reading of N say same thing. Cf. also VT 20 1(970) 311. « It is continually appealed to by M. WUcox, The Semitisms of

ts (Oxford 1965). Add, by the same author: < The Judas-Tradition Acts I. 15-26 », NTS 19 (1973) 438-452: the phraseology of v. 17 is

"t of T Gen 44:18: < (Benjamin) who was numbered with us among tribes... and wUl receive a portion (lot) and share with us in the

"vision of the land >. 48 J. Potin, La fSte jUive de la Pentecdte 299-314: The narrative of Christian Pentecost in the light of the Jewish tradition; R. Le

aut, « PentecOte et tradition poive >, in Assemblies du Seigneur, N. 1,22-28 (= Doctrine and Life 20, 1970, 257-267); A. O'Hagan, < The

st Christian Pentecost >, Studii Biblici Franoiscani Liber Annuus 23 1973) 50-66; O. Betz, < Zungenreden und siisser Wein >, in Bibel unit

iron (Berlin 1968) 20-36. G. Vermes (Jesus the Jew, London 1973, ) compares the sort of supernatural esperanto attributed to the

postles with < the prophetic message of the two elders, colleagues of ses >, Eldad and Medad, who seized by the holy spirit speak a sort


to believe that the apostles and the f irst Christians understood Pentecost as the inauguration of the new covenant, as the promulgation of the new Law announced by the Prophets, as the inauguration of the eschatological community of which the ekklesia of the desert period was the figure, an inauguration proclaimed before the representatives of al l mankind. The three thousand converts are also, so to say, the f irst- fruits of the great eschatological harvest. Zion-Jerusalem is the Sinai of the NT (cf. Is 2:3); Jesus is the new Moses who, having ascended to God, sends us his Spirit, according to a typology we have already found i n Eph 4:8.

Besides these general themes there is a minor parallel to point out: the expression «tongues of fire » (2:3, glossai ...pyros) is also attested i n the Qumran targum to Job (41:11), ((torches flame out of his mouth... like tongues of fire — blsny 'sh »•".

Apropos of Acts 15:14, ((God first concerned himself w i th taking from the Gentiles a people for his namen, J. Dupont had first proposed that this last expression (unknown to the MT) could be explained by the LXX**', but he subsequently adopted the explanation of N.A. Dahl who identified i t as a fixed PT formula meaning ((for h i m s e l f A t Ex 19':5 all the PT recensions render (( You shall be my special possession)) by ((...for my Name a people ». On the other hand, O (which here has in f lu enced Tj I ) translates: ((You shall be before me more beloved than al l peoples)), one of the current manners i n the Targum to avoid an anthropomorphism. N (and TC) offers the following paraphrase: ((And now, i f you hearken to the voice of my Word

of < sabir > composed of Aramaic and Greek: < The Lord (Kins) is present (etimos = hetoimos) to them in the moment of distress {aniki = ananke) > (T Num 11:26 = Tj l ) . < In fact a mixture of Aramaic and Greek would have been more or less Intelligible to most Jews in the first century AD >.

*' J.P.M. van der Ploeg - A.S. van der Woude, Le Targum de Job de la grotte XI de Qumr&n (Leiden 1971) 62 mention the parallel. A similar formula was known from the Targum II of Esther: lysnf dnwr' (6:13). The expression < tongue of fire > of Is 5:24 is rendered by the generic term « fire >.

*8 NTS 3 (1956-57) 47-50 (=Etudes sur les Actes des Apdtres, Paris 1967, 361-365, with an additional note on Dahl's article).

*9 «A People for His Name >, NTS 4 (1957-58) 319-327.


(Memra) and keep my covenant, you shall be for my Name a beloved people... and you shall be for my Name kings and priests and a holy nation

There remains to account for ((laon ex ethnon (n a people from the Gentiles»). P. W i n t e r " has proposed an explanation based on the Hebrew text of Dt 26:18-19, but this does not satisfy Dahl and Dupont. This last author would l ike a precise text, that would have influenced Acts, not simply a current formula. He proposes T Zech 2:5: ((Numerous peoples w i l l be added to

•the people of Yhwh i n these days, and they shall be before me a people))''. We th ink that T Lev 20:26 (N and margin) should also be considered: (( And you shall be holy for my Name (margin adds: a [ holy ']people), for I , the Lord, am holy and I separated you from the nations, that you should be for my Name".

The Apocalypse

For what regards the Apocalypse, M . McNamara" has shown that numerous passages may be related i n some way to popular

5" See NTP 227-250 and TT 148-159 for the rendering of < kingdom priests > by « kings and priests > and for the comparison with Apoc

i:6;5:10, where three privileges are also mentioned. For the formula a people for his Name >, see also Deut 4:20 (N); 26:18 (N and Tj

I ) ; 76 (N). 51 EvT 17 (1957) 399-404. " Etudes... 365. Dupont adds: < The same idea would be rendered

ery normally in Aramaic: < and they will be a people for my name > ». xcellent conjecture: we have seen that the reading < you shall be efore me > at E x 19:5 is proper to Onkelos. There is no groimd for

ise to see the Targum to the Prophets, of the same tradition as , foOow an identical lesson. Unfortunately, we do not have, for this ssage, a PaJestiniam targum to the Prophets, which would make it

:ssible to restore with certainty the reading < for your Name > of PT. 53 Here again O (foUowed by Tj I) transforms the formula: < ...that

u may worship before me >. The interpretation of T Lev 20:26 is nflrmed by the midrash Sifra (ad loc, fol., 93d): c If you are

arated from the nations then you (belong) to my Name >. The gumic phraseology mlakes us think that Acts 15:14 draws from a

Trent formula, used by the author to summarize the theme of the -tation from Amos which follows (especially v. 17, where the words te, € nations >, and onoma. < name >, are read).

54 NTPT 189-237. See also in P. Nickels' bibliography the numerous dies which have underlined these relations. The importance of the


traditions preserved i n the PT. The symbolism of the seven lampstands and of the seven stars (1:12,16,20) is il luminated by a paraphrase of T j I of Ex 39i:37 and 40:4 where we are told that the seven lamps of the lamp>stand represent the seven planets, which -in their t u r n represent the just who wi l l shine like stars for eternity (cf. Dan 12:3).

The expression «the second death)) occurs four times in the book (2:11;20:6,14;21:8) but nowhere else i n the NT. On the other hand, i n Jewish literature, the corresponding Aramaic formula is found only i n the Targum (cf. SB I I I 830). « Second death » may signify either the exclusion from the resurrection, or eternal damnation, the meaning i n the Apocalypse. For this second sense T Deut 33:6 can be mentioned: «Let Reuben live i n this world, nor die the second death which death the wicked die i n the world to come". For Apoc 20:14 and 21:8 even an exact parallel can be cited from Targum Is 65:5-6:

Their punishnaent shall be In Gehlnnam where the fire bums all the dlay... I will not give them respite diurlng their life, but I will render to them the punishment of their transgressions and wiU deJiver their bodies to the second death.

The passage on the hidden manna (2:17) recalls a tradition attested by Tj I on Ex 16: « I w i l l send down for you the bread from heaven which has been hidden aioay for you from the beginning)) (v. 4; same expression i n v. 15)'«.

Uturgioal background of the Apocalypse Is also well presented in the fine study of P. Prigent, ApooaHypse et liturgie (Neuchatel 1964). This background allows to account for the utilization of the themes which are found in the targinnic literatvire, which also is linked to the synagogal liturgy.

55 NTPT 120. Contrarily to what McNamara affirms, P. Billerbeck does quote this text (as well as Num 31:50; Is 22:14;65:6,15) for the meaning of damnation (SB III 831).

58 Malina 56. The manna is one of the ten things created by God in advance. Another is the animal (lamb or ram according to the traditions) which would be sacrificed in Isaac's place. This tradition is to be compared with a formula like < lamb chosen — amnou proe-gnosmenou — before the world's foundation > (1 Pet 1:20) in the light of the Targums of Gen 22:8 ( c God himself will provide.... »). Cf-R. Le D6aut, < Le Targum de Gen 22,8 et 1 Pt. 1,20 > RecSR 49 (1961) 103-106.


The Targums of Gen 3:15 are habitually quoted to illustrate >c 12, the vision of the Wtoman and «the ancient serpent

own as the devil or Satan)) 12:9;20:2)". The text is interpreted ssianically —' which is no longer done i n the posterior rab-"cal texts — on the basis of the root "qh, which may signify

or final period, end of days. I t should be noted that the ssianic interpretation is not based on the term seed and that individual messianic interpretation of the woman's seed is

be found there". This is the recension of N :

1 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between sons and her sons'*. And it shall be when her sons observe the

they wUl aim at you and smite you on the head and Mil you. when they forsake the precepts of the Law you shall aim at

1) and bite him on his heel and wound him. For her sons"", *wever, there will be a remedy, but for you, serpent, there will be

remedy, for they will make i>eace (?) in the future, in the day King Messiah >.

the commentaries of Num 21:4r9, the episode of the bronze rpent, all the targumic recensions agree to recognize i n the

Bnts (or the serpent) which bite the Hebrews the serpent

57 NTPT 217-222; LJNT 56. »8 Correct in this sense LJNT 56, according to the suggestions O f

cNamara (Bib 47, 1966, 467f), accepted by E . Lipinskl, < Etudes sur s textes < messiainiques > de I'AT >, Semitica 20 (1970) 48. In our

V, neither can the end of the paraphrase of N be applied to the <It is you (serpent) who will raise thyself, bite her (ytylt)

the heel, and woimd her (ytyh) > (p. 50). The suffix ytyh can only masculine in targumic Aramlaic. The tradition of a collective

-sculine is clearly attested by O: < He wUl remember you and what u have done to him (lyti) from the beginning and you will watch

him (lyh) at the end > (cf. G. Vermes in JSS 8, 1963, p. 165). The dc tradition is therefore uncertain and reworked; but in what

'9 Substituting hnh for bnuh, as in the next phrase. Note, however, t the plural suffix is often written without yod in the manuscripts the Targum: hence it is possible to translate < her sons > without

rrecting. 69 Reading Ibnyh instead of Ibryh. Lipinskl (art. cit. 50) translates:

They are assured of finding relief at the end, in the days of the esslah >, a version inspired by the parallel text of Tj I. Cf. Gen RaVba :5 (at 3:14): < In the Messianic age ajl wlU be healed save the

t and the Glbeonlte >.

264 R. L E D E A U ' l '

of the origins. According to the Book of Wisdom (16:6-14) the bite of the serpents had been allowed by God to bring back the Israelites to the Law. Another t ra i t is common to the Targum and to Wisdom: the Israelites were saved for having turned their eyes not simply towards the bronze serpent, which was only a symbolon ... soterias, « a sign of salvation», but towards God, the universal Savior ( w . 6-7)

Almost all the messianic and eschatological texts of the Apocalypse would have to be mentioned^^. We shall l imit ourselves to the description of the Word of God and of the eschatological battle of ch. 19. Verses 13 and 15 («He is clad i n a robe dipped i n blood... He wi l l tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty))) suppose a messianic exegesis of Is 63:1-6. But this is not attested i n Jewish literature outside the Targum. This text is applied to the warring Messiah i n the main recensions of T Gen 49:11**. Thus we read i n N:

How beautiful is King Messiah who is going to rise from among those of the house of Judiah. He girds his loins and goes forth to battle against those that hate him. He kills kings with rulers, and makes the mountains red from the blood of their slain and makes the valleys white \vith the fat of their warriors. His garments are r oUed in blood. He is like a presser Of grapes.

The reference is easily seen to be to Is 63:3. But i t goes to the credit of P. Grelot to have shown that the Targum of Isaiah,

81 LJNT 56. TjII : < His face was upUfted in prayer unto Ms Father who is in heaven >; Tj I : < If Ms heart be directed to the Name of the Memra (W^ord) of the Lord > (N is here Uteral). Jn 3:14 should also be read in the light of these traditions. Cf. M.E. Boismard in RB 66 (1959) 378.

82 Thus Apoc 20:8fr (God and Magog): NTPT 233-237; SB III 831-840. To the targumic texts (e.g. Num 11:26) should be added the strange ocaiurence of Gog in the Septuagint of Num 24:7 (presumably also 24:23), a text which has a clear messianic significance both in the L X X and in the Targum. Cf. F . F . Bruce, c The Earliest OT Interpretation >, OTS 17 (1972) 41.

03 NTPT 230-233. For a detailed study see P. Grelot In RB 70 (1963) 371-380.


i n its present Babylonian form revised, has preserved traces of this Palestinian paraphrase:

Why then are the mountains red with the blood of the slain, and why do the plains flow forth like wine in the press? (63:2)... I wUl slay the peoples in my anger ... and cast to the lowest parts of the earth the slain of their mighty men (v. 6)8*.

I t is not very likely that the targumist was directly influenced by the Targum of Genesis. Rather we have here, as Grelot r ight ly suggests, a remainder of the Palestinian Targum to the Prophets, precious witness to a messianic interpretation which was then obliterated. I t is known that the representation of a warring Messiah is ancient. I t is also understandable that i t has l i t t le by l i t t le disappeared from the ancient Jewish literature and even from the Christian writings, excepting a work like the Apocalypse because its distinctive l iterary genre would preclude an erroneous interpretation^'.

4. The Johannine Gospel

The discoveries of Qumran and the affinities its writings reveal w i t h those of John^" have brought the exegetes to pay greater attention to the Palestinian background of the Fourth Gospel, more precisely to its connections w i t h the various tendencies of Judaism, even the pharisaic and rabbinical currents8'. W i t h no intention of inf lat ing the contribution of the Targums i n this area we would like to bring out some points of contact which have been recently studied**.

8'* J .F . Stenndng, The Targum of Isaiah (Oxford 1949) 208. 65 NTPT 233. 88 John and Qumran, ed. by J.H. Chartesworth (London 1972); R.

Schnackenburg, c Zur Herkunft des Johannesevangeliums >, BZ 14 (1970) 1-23.

8' R. Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to St John, vol. I (New York 1968) 126ff. The material coUected by P. Billerbeck (SB II) testifles to this.

68 See especSaUy TT 142-148; Bartina 370-372.


Logos and Memra

About the problem so much discussed of the structure of the Johannine Prologue i t can be recalled tha t P. Borgen has referred to an analogous construction i n T Gen 3:24 (a + b + c followed by a' + b' + c'), which would explain «why the appearance of Jesus Christ is referred to three times (v. 9, v. 11, and V. 14), and (the present analysis) makes possible a fresh approach to other aspects of the Prologue s*^. Apart from this particular point i t is certain that the Logos theme of the Prologue requires a comparison w i t h the targumic Memra (Word)'". We refer the reader here to the abundant material collected by Domiiigo Mufioz Le<3n: he believes that the Palestinian Memra is not an automatic substitute of the divine name (Yhwh) : i t appears i n the PT i n very specific contexts, to designate God as creator, revealer, and savior. I t is the Memra which creates, which is l ight and which illumines (TEx 12:42) and which saves, as many functions which John attributes to the Logos. I n 0, on the contrary, this triple function does not pertain to the Memra; i t seems that this official Babylonian recension (its

"9 < Observations on the Targumic Character of the Prologue of John >, NTS 16 (1969-70) 288-295. Considering the history of the transmission of the targiunlc texts, whose content remains identical vmder constant form variations, no argumentation of this type, even though snggestive, can fuUy convince. S.A. PanimoUe, n dono della Legcfe e la gratia della veritd (Gv 1,17), Rome 1973, pip. 84ff, makes the observation that N (Gen 3,24) presents another schema: a b c / b' C a'.

^9 There exists an abundant literatvire on this subject: SB II 302-333; V. Hamp, Der Begriff < Wort > in den aramHischen BibelUbersetztat^ gen (Mimich 1938); M. McNamara, < Logos in the Fourth Gospel and Memra of the Palestinian Targlum (Ex 12:42) >, ExpT 79 (1968) 115-117; TT 101-105; NP 215; D. Mufioz Letfn, Dios PaXabra, Vol. 1 (Granadb. 1974): a summary of his thesis can be read in the edition of Neophifti 1, vol. I l l (Madrld-Barcelonia 1971) 70-83, and the objections presented by V. Hamp in BZ 17 (1973) 309-310.

P. Borgen, in his study < Logos was the True Ught >, NT 14 (1972) 115-130, has not mlaxle sufficient use of the theme Memra-Llght.

We wish to note — it is not possible to develop this point here — that when the NT speaks of God it uses expressions and paraphraises well attested in the targumic phraseology: passive form, before (endpion) etc. See R. Harris, < Traces of Targumism... >; A Dlez Macho, < Le Targum paiestinlen >, 202; Neophyte 1, vol. IV, 53.


' f inal Palestinian form goes back to the 1st century C.E.)" ^represents on this point the result of a systematic correction, 'which, however, has left traces of the ancient Palestinian usage isubsist". T Ex 12:42 (N) presents as follows the «night» of

ireation: The first night (was) when the Lord was revealed above the world to create I t " . The world was void and empty and darkness was spread over the face of the abyss. And the Memra of the Lord tvas the light and it shone''*.

?The problem about Memra is double: the antiquity of its use, ;and its interpretation. R.E. Brown, i n our opinion, has sum-'marised the question w e l l " : : < This is not a personification, but the use of Memra serves as a buffer

for divine transcendence. If the Aramaic expression for < word > was u ^ d in the Targums as a paraphrase for God in His dealings with men the author of the Prologue hymn may have seen fit to use this title for Jesus who pre-eminently incorporated God's presence among men... In sum, it seems that the Prologue's description of the Word is far closer to biblical and Jewish strains of thought than it is to anything purely Hellenistic >.

As for the antiquity of the use, i t should be noted that Memra occurs twice i n the Qumran Targum of Job (36:32;39:27), once

" Cf. S.A. Kaufman in JAOS 93 (1973) 327. This points to a problem for which further investigation would

be necessary: why have so many examples of Memra subsisted in the Targum to the Prophets (Babylonian recension) and relatively so few in O? StiU some manuscripts of O hlave retained a larger number than others (see Y. Komlosh, The Bible in the Light of the Aramaic Translations, Tel-Aviv 1973, p. 147).

" The reading at Gn 1:1 in N should certainly be: < From the beginning the Memra of the Lord with wisdom created... >. It should be noted that for Gen 1-2 Memra is never found in O and Tj I. Cf. TT 102.

" Cf. NP 215. But see the reservations of N. S6d on this reading of N (Revue des Etudes juives 3, 1964, 532): there is a waw before the verb to be (< and was the light >>. Is this warn a scribal error (cf. a similar ntstake at Gen 4:12), a pleonastic waw (cf. L . Koehler-W. Baum-gartner, Hebraisohes und AramOisChes LeXikon... 1967, p. 248), or is it only an allusion to Gen 1:3?

" The Gospel AccorcUng to John l-XIl (New York 1966) 524. Cf. Also A. Feuillet, Le Prologue du quatridme ivan^le (Paris 1968) 246-248 (= SDB VIII 623-688); and a very balanced survey of the results by J. Starcky In SDB V 466-472.


i n the general sense of « by his order», and another time apparently i n order to avoid speaking of the mouth of God (MT) . « But nowhere i n the targum is the < buffer > usage found ( in contrast to later, classical t a r g u m s ) I t is easy to see, however, how easily the l iturgical use" of the Memra as the privileged substitute for the divine Name could develop, on axicount also of the biblical utilizations of Word (dabar) of God (Ps 33:6) But i t is obvious that the fact of the personification represents a subsequent development of Christian theology. I t is on the level of the vocabulary that the relations of Memra to Logos have to be studied.

Besides, other frequent expressions i n the Targum, used i n connection w i t h or i n substitution to the divine Name, have probably influenced the Christian terminology: thus the Holy Spirit'^, the Glory (Iqar), the Shekinah (Presence)«». G. Dalman

' 6 J.A. Fitzmyer (lecture at Southampton). Cf. 42:9-11 where it is ' Ih ' (God) whdch replaces Yhwh.

" In order to draw from it general conclusions on the Targum it would be necessary to have more secure information on the exact nature of the Qumran Targum, on its origin and its destination. Neither does The Genesis Apocryphon supply any example of Memra. We sftiU beUeve (cf. Bib 48, 1967, 143) that the liturgical usage of Memra can be explained by an implicit 'at Uqrey (the divine name was auto-raatioally replaced in the reading), the various formulas of substitution having been incorporated in the texts only later. This hlypothesis in no way requires a PT redaction of the same period as the DSS (cf. J.A. Fitzmyer, The Genesis Apocryphon 39 and H. Bardtke in Bibliothecn OrientcUis 30, 1973, 90), bnt rather points to a later date, although the content may be notably more ancient ttian the last written redaction.

'8 According to D. Mufioz (Neophyti 1. vol. I l l , 82) certain expressions of IV Esdras, 11 Baruch and I Henoch seem to have retained echoes of an exegesis of Gen 1 which assigned a function to the Word Of Yahweh. This track would deserve to be followed further. Let us mention in the Liber Anfiiqtiitatum bHUicarum of Ps-Philo significant formulas like verbum tuum (21:4) or < et derelinquam eos sicut tes-tatus sum in sermone meo ad Moysen > (21:1), which seem modelled on the targumic use of Memra.

^' A. Dlez Macho, < Le Targum paiestinlen >, 206; < Ei Logos y el Esplritu Santo > Atldntida 1 (1963) 381-396; P. Schafer, Die Vorstellung 23-26; TT 107-114 (The Holy Spirit). For the exlpression < Father in Heaven >, attested thdrteen times in the PT, see ibid. 115-119.

80 TT 98-101; A.M. Goldberg, Untersuchungen Uber die Vorstellung von der SchekhimOi in der friihen rabbinischen Literatur (Berlin 1969).


has a long time ago drawn attention to this fact, and had even observed that one verse of J n l : 1 4 had combined, to af f i rm the fundamental mystery of the Incarnation, the three appellatives the Targum uses the most to speak of the divinity : « And the Word was made flesh, and placed his Dwelling among us and we saw his Glory»; «0 logos ist Memra, eskendsen ver t r i t t shekinta, doxa steht f i i r yeqarav. He added w i t h reason that the terms were thus reutilized w i t h a meaning contradicting their original sense .

Many have explained the inaugural week of Jesus' ministry (Jn 1:19 - 2:12) as an intentional replica of the seven days of the creation of the world«^ Others have suggested that this week should rather be set i n relation to the week of preparation which, according to the Jewish tradit ion, has preceded the gift of the Law at S ina i ' l T j I (Ex 19) even enumerates the events of the week, like the Gospel of John: i n both cases the principal

' manifestation (gift of the Torah, glorification of Jesus) is placed *on a ( (third days. Jesus would appear as a new Moses, in i t ia t ing a new economy which the miraculous wine symbolizes. He manifests his Glory and the disciples believe i n h im, exactly as the Hebrews had believed i n Moses (Ex 19:9; Jn 2:11).

See also the Index (Shekhinah) of J. Luzarraga, Las traidiciones de la rtube en la Biblia y en el Juaaismo primitivo (Rome 1973). For dating the term Shekinah this author has rightly drawn attention (p. 155) to 2 Maoh 14:35: « naos tes ses skenoseos — a temple for your dwelling place >.

81 Die Worte Jesu (Leipzig 1898) 189. Concerning the occurrence of Father, Word, and Holy Spirit in the Targum, one may speak of huellas trinitarias, < Trinitarian traces > (Bartina 256), but if the vocabulary has prepared the Trinitarian formulation, the personification

an innovation of Christian theology. 82 M.E. Boismard, Du bapt&me d Cana (Paris 1956). 83 This explaniation has been proposed independently by J. Potin,

Xff fSte juive de la Pentek:6te 314-315 and by A. Serra < Le tradizioni deHa teofanla sinaitica nel Targum deUo pseudo-Ponathan E s . 19:24 e

Giov. 1,19-2,12 >, Marianum 33 (1971) 1-39. Serra's theses are sunat-larized by R. Laurentin In RSPT 58 (1974) 71-73. These comparisons

Interesting but remain very hypothetical by reason of the vmcertajn dating of the chronology proposed by Tj I.

Because of the importance of the theme of the Lmv In John one It take into account also the evidence of the Targums: see a good

sional synthesis of M. Maher, < Some Aspects Of Torah in Udaism>, IrTQ 38 (1971) 310-325.


The Lamb of God

I t is known that Jn 1:29, ((Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world», is a classical crux interpretum^\n allusion to the paschal lamb (cf. 19:36) and especially to Is 53:7 does not exclude other themes which would clarify better some details. This fusion of themes is a constant phenomenon i n Jewish t r a d i t i o n " and for the ancients every allusion raised echoes which must be heard again i f we wish to understand them completely. Why is the discourse here on the lamb of God ? How to account for <( who takes away the sin of the world? ».

G. Vermes** proposes to take into consideration a paraphrase of T j I at Ex 1:15:

Pharaoh said that while he slept he saw a dream; and behold, the whole land of Egypt was In one scale of a balance and a lamb (talya)... uxis in the other scale, and th© scale holding the lamb weighed down. Immediately he sent to oaU aU the maglclanB of Egypt, and repeated to them his dream. Immediately Yanis and Yimbres, the cMef magicians, opened their mouths and said to Pharaoh: A son (har) is about to be bom in the congregation of Israel, by whose hand the whole land of Egypt •vs'ill be rmned.

We have to remember that the term talya has the double meaning of ((Son» and of (dambw (cf. English ((kid))*'). This text, which preserves a tradit ion attested i n Josephus (Antiq. I I §205),

84 Brief outUne of the problems: STJ 224; NP 158. ExceUent" panorama by E . Cothenet in SDB VIII 1255-57.

We have seen above that In the commentaries of Nvmi 21:4-9 the serpents become one serpent, that of Genesis (exegesis authorized by the presence of the same words serpent and food in both contexts). TMs samie fusion of themes occurs about the water and the weUs in the OT, as we shall see.

*« Whose translation we quote: STJ 93-94; R. BlOch in RecSR 43 (1955) 217-227; TNT 159. Cf. also K. Koch, < Das Lamm, das Aegypten vemlchtet>, ZNW 57 (1966) 79-93 and the rectifications of C. BurchBrd (iUd. 219-228) and of J . Jeremias (iUd. 216-219).

It should be noted, however, that the examples for the meaning Idrrib are very rare In the targumic literature (NP 159). At 42:11 the Qumram Targum of Job has the usual Targum word ' mr'.


transmits one example of a savior symbolized by a lamb, a conception which is sometimes represented as unknown to later Judaism**. The typology Moses/Jesus would f ind here a new illustration**. I n addition, because of the possibly double meaning of tal^^a, Vermes believes that the Baptist's saying could be

translated: ((Behold the Son of God who forgives the sin of the world)).

But G. Vermes appropriately does not confine himself to this debated text. He also refers to the ancient conception of the sacrifice of Isaac (called Akedah), and specifically to the

• frequent equation Isaac-lamb: ((For the Palestinian Jew, a l l lamb sacrifice, and especially the Passover lamb and the Tamid offering, was a memorial of the Akedah w i t h its effects of deliverance, forgiveness of sin and messianic salvation))'". The Targum of Gen 22:8 (N) reads: ((From before the Lord a lamb

,has been prepared". I f not, you are the lamb of the holocaust)). I t is not only said that Isaac was offered like a lamb (cf. T Lev 9:3;22:27) but that he is the lamb of sacrifice, the lamb prepared by God, therefore i n a way the lamb of God.

Tradition w i l l insist on the perfect dispositions of the two protagonists of the Akedah, some targumic recensions of Lev

/22:27 even noting that Isaac tied himself to the altar. I f one bears i n mind the popularity of the Akedah i n the ancient

iJewish tradition, the fact that the episode was formerly con-

88 J . Jeremias in TWNT V (1954) 700. We have already drawn attention to the Vulgate of Is 16:1: < Emltte affrmm dominatorem terrae >, and a variant reading of Theodotion, in LJNT 71.

89 In the context of L k 22:27 (par. Jn 13:4-15) it would be worth studying also T Ex 18:12 (Tj I) where Moses is represented, during the famous meal with Jethro, «standing and ministering (msms = diakon) before them >. SB II 257 cites only the parallel passage of the MekMlta (even omitting the words (»nceming Moses!).

90 STJ 225. For an illustration of these affirmations cf. NP 131-212; S. Spiegel, The Last Trial; A. Jaubert, « Symboles et figures... > 380-385 (she proposes to see an intentional allusion to the Akedah, < binding >, of Isaac in Jn 18:12,24); J .E . Wood, < Isaac Typology in the NT >, NTS 14 (1968) 583-589. S. Thomas also mentions Gen 22:8 in Ms Comm. in Jo. 1:29. For E . Cothenet it is the Isaac typology wMch should be considered in first place (SDB VIII 1257).

91 On tMs translation see NP 158. Cf. G. Kretschmar, < Christliches Passa Im 2.JahrhUndert und die Ausbildung der christUchen Theologie >, RecSR 60 (1972) 295.


nected w i t h the Passover (this we know from Jubilees 17-18) and that a meritorious and expiatory value for Israel had been recognized to i t (T Gen 22; Lev 22:27), i t should not be diff icult to admit that the NT authors have had recourse to this ty pology", and that i t represents something more than a parallel development.

According to G. Vermes, «the fullest Johannine expression of the Christian Akedah appears i n John in .16 : For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son...))". The mention of the a only son)) is an allusion to Gen 22:2,16. John uses the term monogene; this should be compared w i t h agapetos (beloved), which occurs three times i n the Septuagint text of Gen 22*\o perceive allusions of this k ind i t is necessary to keep i n mind the popular elaboration of the biblical narrative made richer w i t h new conceptions on the relations between man and God and on the nature of true sacrifice. I t is not always possible to determine w i t h certainty to what extent the NT authors have utilized, besides Scripture, the Tradition attached to i t , that is its l iv ing interpretation. When their earliest date can be established the targumic traditions offer the advantage of presenting the closest l ink w i t h the text (its paraphrased version), which often explains the subsequent developments of the midrash.

»2 NP 200. «3 STJ 193-227; NP 202-212; R. Le D6aut, < L a presentation targn-

mlque du sacrifice dlsaac et la sot^rlologie paulinienne >, in Stud. Pau-linorum Congressus Intern. CathoUcus. An. Biblica 17-18, vol. II (Rome (1963) 563-574. The accentuation of the meritorious value of the Akedah could exiJlain that Paul has used the theme only discreetly (hut see Rom 8:32); it was seen too niuch as a work. Cf. A.T. Hanson, Studies 79-86. When utilizing the Jewish texts on the Akedah it is necessary to bear in mind the new conceptions of sacrifice which must haye been developed after the destruction of the Temple, as J. Bowker rightly indicates (The Targumus 233). But there exist a sufficient number of pre-70 texts to warrant considering the Akedah theme for a comparison with the NT (cf. Bib 51, 1970, 421).

9* STJ 225. " Cf. F . Buchsel TWNT IV 745-750. The L X X translates the Hebrew

ydliid by monogenes or by agapetos: note that, in this last case, the death of an only chUd is always involved (Gen 22:2,12,16; Jgs 11:34; Zech 12:10; Jer 6:26, Amos 8:10.


The Glory of the Lord

Since a long time the exegetes have referred to the Jewish traditions connected w i t h Gen 28:10-17 i n order to illuminate the allusion to Jacob's ladder i n Jn 1:51**. But the interpretation of the texts is difficult. M.E. Boismard' ' adduces the reading

f O ( in V . 13): « And behold, the Glory of the Lord stood above im...», but he errs i n translating « and behold, the glory of

Yahweh stood upon i t (the ladder) )), and i n making the divine lory the object of the celestial vision: i n this verse the word

glory is only a substitute for Yhwh (which N preserves, while Jhe marginal rcension proposes: An angel of mercy from before „he Lord...) i n rendering the banal phrase: « And the Lord was

Standing beside h i m (Jacob) and he said...)). I n this case therefore appealing to the Targum is deceiving, and even perilous. On the other hand, another occurrence of glory i n John seems to reflect targumic usage.

The Fourth Gospel knows the doctrine of the Old Testament according to which nobody can see God (Jn 1:18). Yet the disciples of Jesus could contemplate his glory (1:14;2:11) and the glory of Jesus was seen by the prophet Isaiah (Jn 12:41,

;«Isaiah uttered these words because he had seen Jesus' glory))) ; i n his famous vision i n the Temple (6:1-4). Was i t simply a prophetic vision of the glory of Christ, or does John, w i t h the Targtun phraseology i n mind, also af f i rm the divinity of Jesus? Oompare the M T and the Targum:

The prophet said: < I saw the glory of the Lord (MT: I saw the Lord) sitting upon a throne... and the temple was filled with the brightness of his glory... The glory of the Shekinah of the King of ages, the Lord of hosts, have mine eyes seen >.

99 R.E. Brown, op. cit. 90. 9' Du baptSnte H Cana 126. See the detailed study of the targumic

recensions of Gen 28:12 in F . Lentzen-Deis, Die Taufe Jesu nach den Synoptikem (Frankfurt am Main 1970) 214-227. For an excellent comparison (useful for dating) of targumic evidence with the iconography of Jacob's ladder see G. Stemberger, < Die Patriarchenbilder der Katakombe in der Via Latina im Uchte der jUdlschen Tradition >, Kairos 16 (1974) 19-78.


I n Jn 12:41, the glory of Yahweh ( = Yahweh) contemplated by the prophet becomes the glory of the Logos'*.

Living Water

The OT theme of water and wells, as developed i n the targumic paraphrases, has been utilized to illustrate various passages of the Johannine gospel, i n particular Jn 4 and 7:38; 19:34.

For her comment on the scene of J n 4, which takes place near « Jacob's well», A. Jaubert has drawn from a collection of targumic legends having to do w i t h the marvellous well of Harran (Gen 28:2-3), a well of overflowing waters, which «our father Jacob» dispensed to the shepherds of his uncle Laban' ' . The targumic developments on the well of Num 21:16-18 which followed the Hebrews up h i l l and down dale illustrates the util ization by Paul of a similar tradit ion i n 1 Cor 10:4*°", But

88 Cf. R.E. Brown, op. cit. 486-87; R. Schnackenburg, Das Johan-nesevangeUum II (Freiburg 1971) 520; R. Harris, art. cit. 375; F.M. Braun, Jean le TMologien. vol. I l l (Paris 1966) 200. For the utilization of the PT in the explanations of the double meaning of hypsoo (dieath-exaltation) in Jn 8:28, cf. NTPT 146-149. McNamara proposes examples in whlcih the verb slq in the pasEsive can signify to be lifted tip = to die (add T Deut 32:1). Other explanations in R.E. Brown, op. dt. 146.

89 < L a symboUque d!u puits de Jacob >, i n L'homme devam Dieu, Melanges... H. de Lubac, I (Paris 1964) 63-73; J . Ramidn Diaz, < PT and the NT>, NT 6 (1963) 76-77; S.A. Panlmolle, op. dit. 214-222; N.R. Bonneau, < The Woman at the Well. John 4 and Genesis 24 >, The Bible Today, Oct. 1973, 1252-59: Jn 4 would be a sort of commentary of Gen 24 and Ex 2. This last text is also drawn \3p0n by A. Jaubert (RSR 47, 1973, 378) who also quotes a text of Josephus which is surprisingly close to Jn 4:5-6 (Antiq. 11,11,1 §257).

loo Thackeray, The Relation 204-212. TJ I specifies that the well offered to drink to < every one at the door of his tent >, a scene represented in a fresco of the synagogue of Doura-Em-opos (dating from 245 C.E. ) , now in the National Museum, Damascus. In the utilization of these traditions their avatars must be reckoned with: thus the well has been equated with the water of the rock, with the water of Marah (Ps-Philo 10:7). This weU had been given on the nnerlt of Miryam and disappears at her death. On the importance of this targumic tradition to illustrate Jn 2 and 19, of. R. Le D6aut, Bib 45 (1964) 198-219.


also know through the Damascus Document (CD 6:2-4) that is well was identified w i t h the Law (see also 3:12-17). This nation does evidently not lack interest for the study of the

lieme of water, new Law, and Spirit i n Saint John, f The quotation of Jn 7:38, fruitlessly sought i n Scripture,

been compared w i t h T Ps 78: le^". This solution has been ntested'"^, but the hypothesis of an aramaism, i n the strange

ula, ((from his belly {ek koilias) rivers of l iv ing water 1 flow», is entirely plausible i n the l ight of the common

•gumic expression mn gw/mn gwh, which can mean ((from interior of a th ings or of ((something)), nothing more

nwwah = belly, innermost). So the meaning would be: ((From rivers...».

To explain these ((living waters» P. Grelot retains that the uotation comes from a Targum. But we do not have as yet

y targumic text which associates, as John does, the water of e desert and the eschatological source of the Temple (according Zech 14:8), i n conjunction w i t h the l iturgical background of i feast of Tabernacles^"', w i t h which Jn 7 is associated. P.

relot quotes a series of rabbinic texts on the r i tua l of the feast above al l Tosefta Sukkah 3:3-18). We can retain the interesting

usion to Is 12:3 referred to the water and the spir it"* . But regards the expression (diving waters)), which he links w i t h

ech 14:8 — i t provides i n fact a good context —; we draw ttention to T Cant 4:15"^ on the waters of Shiloah (Is 8:6)

1"* M.E. Boismard, c De son ventre oouleront des fleuves d'eau ^Jo., VII, 38) >, RB 65 (1958) 522-546.

P. Grelot, RB 66 (1959) 369-374. See the answer of Boismard, Les citations targumiques dans le quatrifeme dvangile >, ibid. 374-378.

'e aaso proiwses to consider a Targum like N at Deut 18:19 to illustrate " n 12:48-49: «As for the man who will not listen to these words .l.e. of the prophet like Moses) wMch he wlU utter in the name of my

ifemra (word), I, through my Memra, will take revenge on hlm>. Boismard concludes: < In the Targum, as in John, the punishment

the unbeliever is carried out by the Memra, by the Word > (378). argumentation is summarized by Bartina 371.

« Jean, VII, 38: eau du rocher ou source du temple? >, RB 70 (1963) 43-51.

18* P. 45, note 11 (quotation of the Talmud of Jerusalem, Sukkah V , l , tr. of M. Schwab, vol. 4, 41).

105 The dating of this Targum involves m'any problems: <yf. I L T a40; R. Loewe, < Apologetic Motifs in the Targum to the Song of


which were so central i n the l i turgy of Tabernacles. We note i n passing that the interpreters generally refer to Is 8:6 when they comment upon Jn 9:7. Here is the paraphrase of T Cant 4:15:

The waters of Shiloah flowing gently, with the other waters which spring from Lebanon to water the land of Israel. For they (the Jews) busy themselves with the words of th© Torali which are comparable to a well of living water, and because of the povulng of water which they pour upon the altar in the Temple whloh is built in Jerusalem (and) is called Lebanon.

The mention of the «well of l iv ing water», i n this text of Palestinian origin, seems to refer not to Gen 26:19 but to the paraphrases on the desert well. The PT, interpreting etymologically Nahaliel ( = rivers of God) of Num 21:19, transforms the well of v. 16 into «impetuous torrents». This is the recension of N :

And from there the well was given to them (v. 16)... And after the well was given to them as a gift ( = Mat-tanah), it beoame for them strong overflowing streams — nhlyn mtgbryn (v. 19).

The well, which evidently gives living water — the Targum does not say so explicitlyi"", becomes rivers (of l iv ing waters)... I f

Songs >, in Biblioal Motifs (Harvard 1966) 159-197 (ed. by A. Altmann). Loewe has in mind an origin in Palestine, after the Arab conquest. T Cant 4:15 deserves a special studiy: we have here an additional attestation of the well-Torah symbolism, an allusion to the libations of the feast of Tabernacles and an equation Lebanon = Temple (cf. STJ 26-39). If the first mention of Lebanon (which comes from the MT) already has the symbolic sense of temple, then we would be in the presence of the description of Ez 47:11-12 (cf. Grelot in RB 70, 1963, 46). T Cant 4:15 is quoted in SB II 434 about Jn 4:10. The expression living waters of Gen 26:19 is not rendered literally in the PT nor in O. The L X X has Mydatos dzdntos. On the formula cf. J . Danl^Iou, « Le symbolisme d© I'eau vlve », RSR (1958) 335-346; A. Vanhoye, Bib 43 (1962) 471.

N (Num 21:16) does not speak of tiie living well: see the retractation of P. Grelot in RB 67 (1960) 224 and the edition of Dlez Macho (1974). But shotild we « disclaim any explicit mention of the theme of the living water > (Grelot) in the Targums of Niun 21? Tj I actually reads living well (hy') in the editio princeps, and this reading


it: relot is r ight, as we th ink , i n supposing that the quotation of '^n 7:38 is composite, we have here a tradit ion apt to clarify

is passage: i t would represent a new example of a fusion of traditions. I n this case Cant 4:15 should not be left aside: the Targum seems to connect the verse w i t h Tabernacles and the

(also the LXX) already contains the imagery of « a spring f running water pouring down from Lebanon». But there is o noun there corresponding to the « rivers » (potamoi) of John

and a quotation ad litteram is hardly probable. W i t h respect to Jn 19:34 (((immediately blood and water

lowed out») one has to mention a strange text of T j I at Num 20:11: ((And Moses raised his arm and struck the rock w i t h the

twice: the f irst time i t dripped blood, and the second time lent i ful waters flowed forth...». But the connexions of this radition — almost ignored by the midrash —> w i t h the Fourth

spel cannot be determined without diff iculty^".

The Manna Theme

John 6, which the evangelist places i n a paschal context (v. 4) and presents as ((a synagogue instruction at Capernaum»

' ( (V. 59), seems to refer, beyond the l iteral sense of the Scriptures, midrashic traditions of which some at least are preserved i n

5the Targum. Thus, i t is possible that the manna theme, so closely related to the themes of Passover and of Exodus, was

confirmed biy the Ms ad. 27031 of the British Museum, the only >wn one. M. Glnsburger, in his edition of this manuscript (Berlin

903) has transcribed the lectio facilior: hy' (< It is the well of Which... >). Thackeray, The Relation... quotes the translation of

tlieridl@e: < And from thence was given to them the living well, the ell concerning which... > (p. 206). We have not found elsewhere the

spresslon living well. But it was no more unexpected than fons vivus, ad could be drawn easily from Gen 26:19 or Cant 4:15.

1 " NP 332; F.M. Braun, Jean le Th4ologien II 187ff. M.E. Boismard (RB 66,1958, 539-40) finds here traces of anti-Christian polemic and

Ises it is the Targum that depends on the Gospel. We would ather think of an eslplloitation of midrashic elements (e.g. Num Rabba

ad loc: Ex Rabab at 4:9), which dte here Ps 78:20 and refer to tlie ascharge of blood of Lev 15:19ff (because of the presence of the same

yerb wyzwbw: waters gushed forth). Perhaps shotild we also reckon !Wlth traditions like those of Ps-Philo 35:6-7 and Or. Sib. I l l 803.


represented i n the synagogal reading of the period i n which John places the discourse of Jesus; the evangelist may have been influenced by this context"*. Others have referred to other Targums, like that of Joshua 5 where occur the motifs of Passover, of the death of the desert generation (cf. Jn 6:49 58), and of the manna"". I t is the only biblical passage which speaks of the manna i n conjunction w i t h the death of the rebels of the desert, and we know that Jos 5 was the public reading for the f irst day of Passover: but we do not know since what period. The Targum has also developed the theme of the complaints of the Hebrews about the manna (Num 1:6-7), and we t h i n k that traditions of this sort are echoed i n Jn 6:41,61"".

Abraham and Cain

The importance of the Abraham cycle i n the Gospel of John, i n particular for ch. 8, has been recently underlined again by

" 8 Cf. A. Gulldtog, The Fourth Gospel etna Jewish Worship (Oxford 1960). But only conjectures can be mlade with regard to the cycle and the order of the readings, which were probably not firmly fixed before the 2nd cent. C.E. Certain fusions of Mbiical themes can be explained by the Jewish exegesis of the time and db not necessarily postulate a concurrence of the synagogal readings; cf. L . Crockett, Journal of Jewish Studies 17 (1966) 13-46.

lofl poj. aiji analysis of the texts and a bibliograpWy cf. B.J. Malina, The Palestinian MannSa Tradition. On Jos 5 cf. R. Le D6aAit, < Premifere Paque en Terre promise (Jos 5) », Assemblies du Seigneur n. 17 (11969) 52-57.

" 0 <Une aggadah targumique et les < murmiu-es > de Jean 6 >, Bib 51 (1970) 80-83. The Targum liisists on the scandalous aspect of the complaints with respect to such a great gift of God. G. Vermes has drawn attention to a text of N (Ex 16:15) which would identify Moses and the manna: < He is the Bread >, in Neotestamentica et Semitica (Edinburgh 1969) 256-263. He sOiows well that the rabbinical parallels and those of Hellenistic Judaism make this interpretation plausible. It is accepted by A. Dlez Macho i n Neofihyti 1, vol. II, 59 (but see also « Le Targum paiestinlen > 209, where he speaks of < scribal error >)• This elaboration could be illuminating for Jn 6:35: <I myself am the bread of life >. But we deem it more probable that the repetition of Moses' name, c .... for they did not know Moses. And Moses said: He is (=1 am, according to Vermes) the bread... >, is a dittograpby. On© mlust read: < They did not know what it was. And Moses said: It is


Fr. J . Leenhardt'" . We have already pointed out some possible allusions to the narrative of Gn 22.

A reference to Gen 17:17, read as interpreted by the t r a dition, is i l luminat ing for Jn 8:56: «Your father Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day. He saw i t and was glad^^. This alludes to a vision of Abraham during his lifetime, and the interpreters generally refer to Gen 15^". The mention of the joy of Abraham directs u s " ' to the announcement of the b i r t h of Isaac i n Gen 17. I t is true that the MT says that the patriarch «laughed as he said to himself: Can a child be bom to a man who is a hundred years old?». But the Jewish tradit ion had tried to obliterate what could perhaps have been interpreted as a lack of f a i th on the part of h i m who «never questioned or doubted God's promises (Rom 4:20). I t should be noted that Flavins Josephus makes only a discrete allusion to the laugh of Sarah {Antiq. I , §198) and does not mention at a l l Abraham's doubt (§191). On the other hand, the Booh of Jubilees refers several times to the joy of the patriarch: «And Abraham rejoiced... and he believed that he would have seed (14:21)... And Abraham fell on his face and rejoiced and said i n his heart: Shall a son be born to h i m that is a hundred years old? » (15: 17; see also 16:18ff). I n this case we f ind that the Onkelos Targum is the closest to this tradit ion and to John (« Abraham fell on his face and rejoiced — wahedin), while the PT uses the verb tamah: to wonder, to be astonished"*.

bread... >. In the editio princeps of N, correct my translation from < Est-oe 1 la Manme? > to < Qu'est-ce que c'est? >.

It is worth recalUng that the Jewish tradition expected from the new Moses that he would also call down manna (cf. R. Bloch in Motse. l'homme de I'alliance. Paris 1955, 158). In the typology of the New Testament we always have to deal with fulfilment, not with simple repetition (cf. Acts 5:36 mentioning Theudas who, according to Josephus lAntiq. XX §97] had promised his foUowers he would make them cross the Jordan on dry ground).

" I RHPR (1973) 331-351. 112 SB 11 525; NTPT 241; A. GuUdlng (op. dt. 109) suggests an

influence of the hapflitarah of Is 43:8-13, where the Targum sees an allusion to Abraham (< I declared to A. what was about to come... >).

" 8 R.E. Brown, op. dt. 360. 1 " A.T. Hanson, Studies 57, does not mention this text. Taking into

aciount this paraphrase of O, a retroversion of Jn 8:56 in Aramaic


The long discussion of Jesus w i t h the Jews about the true children of Abraham (8:37-45) can also be illustrated by targumic tradit ions" ' . Jesus said:

I realize you are of Abraham's stoclc. Nonetheless, you are trying to Idll me... You do what you have heard from your father... Were God your Father you would love me... The father you spring from is the devil, and willingly you carry out his wishes. He was a murderer from the beginming.

The First Epistle of John is even more explicit (3:8-12): The man who sins belongs to the devil... No one btegottem of God acts sinfully because he remains of God's stock (sperma); he cannot sin because he Is begotten of God. That is the way to see who are God's children and who are the dJevil's... We should not follow the example of Cain; who belonged to the eVU one andii8 killed Ms brother.

I n the Jewish tradit ion Cain is the «villain» par excellence^", and above al l , to use Leon Bloy's expression «le patrlarche des tueurs » (the patriarch of the kil lers) . But the Targum of Gen 5:3 does not say that Cain was Adam's son; he was Eve's: «For before that time. Eve had borne Cain who was not from him (Adam) and did not resemble h i m ; and Abel was killed at the hands of Cains. I n what follows i t is even said explicitly that Cain is not considered as being of Adam's lineage. At Gen 4:1

gives a sentence having a perfectly S e m i t i c structure, with two successive paronomasias: ethehamed...yihema'. ..hama' ...eth^hadi (according to M.E. Boismard in L'Evanffile de Jean, Recherches bibUques III, 1958, 49; Cf. R. Le D6aut, Bib 49, 1968, 397).

"5 R.E. Brown, ap. dt. 358; LJNT 59-61; J. RamiOn DIalz in NT 6 (1963) 79-80 (=EstB 22, 1962, 337-342); above all, N.A. DaM, < Der Ertsgeborene Satans imd der Vater des Teufels (Polyk. 7,1 und Joh 8,44) >, in Apophoreta, Fest. E . Haenchen (Berlin 1964) 70-84.

" 6 M. Zerwlck, Analysis pMloloffica NT graed (Rome 1953) 557 observes correctly that the hai, t and >, has to be Interpreted as introdtioing a subordinate clause: < ... qui cum ex Maligno esset oocidit... ».

1 " Cf. the Targums of Gen 4: R. Le Dfeut, Bib 42 (1961) 30-36; G. Vermes, Annual of Leeds Univ. Or. Sodety, vol. I l l (Leiden 1963) 81-114; P. Grelot, Semitica 9 (1959) 59-88; Sh. Isenberg. HarvTR 63 (1970) 433-444; J. Bowker, The Targums 132-141.


T j I reads: « And Adam knew Eve his wife who had desired the angel; and she conceived and bore Cains. This is the current reading of T j I since the editio princeps of Venice (1591). The only manuscript of T j I from the Brit ish Museum (Add. 27031) is even more precise: « Adam knew his wife who had conceived from Sammael, the angel of Gods. This Sammael, also called «angel of deaths, intervenes i n the scene of the temptation of Eve (T Gen 3:6; see also T Job 28:7) and w i l l be explicitly identified w i t h Satan i n the later Jewish tradit ion"* . I f a t r a dit ion of this type lies behind Jn 8:44 one readily understands that Jesus can state that the devil is the father of the « Jewss, precisely because they wish to k i l l h im, exactly as Cain, the devil's son, had killed his brother (T Gen 5:1).

High Priest That Year

We would like to terminate by drawing attention to a tar gumic paraphrase which could perhaps account for an expression which recurs several times i n the Fourth Gospel and is found diff icult by some exegetes: « Caiphas, who was high priest that year.... (11:49; cf. also 11:51;18:13). We present only suggestions, for further study. This is R.E. Brown's comment: < TMs formula... has been used by many scholars (e.g. Bultmann) to show that the author did not know P^estinian customs, for they interpret it to imply a belief that the Mgh priest was changed each year, as were the pagan Mgh priests in Asia Minor. Actually the Jewish high pirtest traditionally held office for Ufe (Num XXXV 25), although in Jesus' time the term of office depended on Roman favor

We believe that Brown, who follows a suggestion made by Bernard (as old as Origen: PG 14,708), proposes the r ight solution for a pseudo-problem: the expression signifies not « /or that years, but « i n that years. «The idea, then, would be that

On a similar Samaritan tradition see J . Bowman, The Gospel of Mark (Leiden 1965) 45,179. J . Bowker (op. dt. 132,134) mistranslates in the following way: < Adam was aware that Eve his wife had conceived >.

118 Op. cit. 439. According to M. Stem, Herod < abolished the practice whereby the Mgh priest continued in office till Ms death > (in The Jewish People in the First Century, Assen 1974, 250).

128 Ibid. 440. f That year: emphasizes the conjtmction of the office and the year* (Tfw New American Bible).


he was h igh priest tha t fatefiU year i n wich Jesus died -— John is underlining not the l i m i t of the term but its synchronism))*^". I t should be noted that i n the three occurrences John seems to suggest that the high priest does this or that because his fmiction requires i t : i t is his concern to speak before the council of the Jewish leaders and i t is said explicitly that he prophesied as h igh priest ' " . Jesus is led first to Annas for the apparent reason that the latter was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, that is, of the h igh priest of «that year)). The formula, then, simply designates «the high priest i n fimction)).

This conception of the responsibility of the high priest i n function this or that year is also found i n T Num 351:25 '(Tj I ) . I t is i n a paraphrase of the law which disposes that the involuntary manslayer should remain i n his city of refuge «until the death of the high priest who has been anointed w i t h sacred oil)). The Targum looks for — and of course finds — a reason

' for this mention of the death of the high priest i n connexion w i t h a murder: i t is because, that year, on the day of Kippur, he has not prayed that i n Israel none of the three « capital» sins be committed: idolatry, incest, and homicide:

(He shall die) because he did not pray on the Day of Atonenaent in tlie Holy of Holies concerning t3xe three great transgressions... when it was in his power to annul them by his prayer, and he did not pray. Therefore has he been condemned to die in that year^^.

On the relation between temple, high priest, and hOly Spirit (or Spirit of prophecy), see P. Schafer, Die Vorstellttng 135-139. Targumic formulas prove that it was said < Spirit of holiness > (= holy spirit, nvh gwdi') or < spirit of the sanctuary > (rtvh byt qtvds'). P. Schafer (and J. Hednemann, Kyrtath Sepher 48, 1973, 434-37) says w r o i ^ y that nvh byt qwds' (spirit of the sanctuary) can only be found in the printed editions of Tj I I : following Glnsburger he nbtes that neither the Paris manuscript (110), nor that of the Vatican Ubrary (440), nor that of Leipzig (1) have this reading. It is unforttmate that he could not consult the editio princeps of Venice (1517-18), or at least Walton's Polyglotta, which follows the tradition of manuscript 1 of Nuremberg, where one reads: brwlit byt qwdsl' ] . Therefore this reading, of which Schafer correctly underlines the Interest, is better attested thatn is apparent. Remarkably, the Qumran Targum to Leviticus (4QTgLev) has a byt qwds' in substitute for ha-qodes (MT, Lev. 16:20). Cf. A. DieZ Macho, El Targum 75.

On this text, cf. R. Le D6aut, Journal for the Study of Judaism 1 (1970) 46. It would be possible to paraphrase: < As he was high


That the attention of the people would be drawn to the high priest of this or that year — independently of any juridical consideration on the length of his mandate — can result from the fact that he functioned eminently as high priest omy on privileged occasion, like the day of Kippur,'^* when he made atonement for the whole people (Lev 16:24; Sir 45:16), an annual manifestation of an office which was permanent i n principle. I f the office was no longer permanent de facto i t is st i l l more easily understood that an author would mention specifically the name of the high priest «that year)), entrusted w i t h his privileges and duties, i n contrast w i t h others not or no longer endowed wi th the attributes of the office"*.

5. General Themes: Brief Survey

After having dealt w i t h particular texts of the New Testament i n their connexion w i t h the targumic traditions we wish to conclude by pointing out more general aspects of the relation between Old and New Testaments. They are important, but an adequate treatment of them cannot of course be presented i n

priest that year he had to die >. At a seminar at the University of Hull (England) Prof. R.N. Whybray suggested to us to compare also this text with the words of Caiaphas: < It is more to your interest that one man should die for the people... > (Jn 11:51). We would then be In presence of this tragic irony of a high priest who recommends the miirder of an innocent for the whole people, whereas, according to the tradition, any murder in Israel should entail his own death! The uncertain dating of the tradition of Tj I does not allow us to gp beyond siippositions. There are few rabbinic parallels: one only (Makkoth 11a) seems, in our view, to summarize the same tradition in a context significant for Jn 11:51, and perhaps also for Heb 9:lift (atoning death of the high priest).

Sir 50; Heb 9; cf. the various treatises Yoma in the Mishnah and ttie Talmuds.

124 We wisfli to mention also the utilization of the TargMms (Lev 24:12; Ninn 9:8;15: 34;27:5, where the judges are asked to be slow in executing capital sentences) made by A. Jaubert to support the l^ypothesls of a long chronology of the Passion: < Les stances diu sanh6drin et les r6clts de la passion », RHR 166 (1964) 143-169; 167 (1967) 1-33; also < The Calendar of Qumran and the Passion Narrative in John >, in John and Qumran 62-75.


one article. We shall content ourselves w i t h referring to some specialized works. This wider view is necessary for an adequate evaluation of the importance of the Targum for the interpretation of the NT'^'.

Recourse to a broader background is particularly indispensable when the New Testament, without referring to a definite text, utilizes over again, and reelaborates OT themes and conceptions.

This is certainly the case where the « theology » of the Jewish feasts is involved, like Passover, i n which the ideas of creation, of eschatological and messianic redemption, and the memory of Isaac's Akedah'^* are combined, and also like Pentecost'", of which we have already spoken. Let us not forget that the NT has inherited a Bible, not only translated (the Septuagint), but also interpreted by a long tradit ion. Hence the necessity of taking into account the reinterpretation of some biblical episodes: the Sinaitical covenant sacrifice (Ex 24) had been made richer wi th an expiatory significance'^* and the versions of Ex 4 show that circumcision had also acquired this character'^'.

It is to these general themes that apply best Mus well-grounded observations — programmatic in fact — of W.O.E. Oesterley - G.H. Box: < The midrashic literature is thus of the highest importance fol-elucidating the exegeticfd tradition. This is a matter which the' New Testament student cannot afford to Ignore. For it is a fact that the New Testament writers in the use they make of the ancient Scriptures, do not usually depend immediately upon the Old Testament text. Their employment of Old Testament texts is often conditioned by the influence of later Jewish exegesis > (The Reliffion and Worship of The Synagoffue, London 1907, 94).

R. Le D6aut, La mUt pascaie — Essai sut la ^gnification de la PAque juive h partir du Targum d'Exode XII 42 (Rome 1963); summarized in BiVC 62 (1965) 14-26 and in Studies in the Jewish Background of the NT. ed. O. Michel et al. (Assen 1969) 22-43. The ancient commentaries of the Akedah, we recall, also reveal a distinctive theology of sacrifice.

127 j _ Potin, La f&te juive de la PentecOte (Paris 1971). C Bemas is about to finish a similar study on the feast of Kippur.

Cf. note 24. G. Vermes STJ 178-192; Bartina 374. The Targum wUl associate

the blood of droumfcislon with that of the pascal lamb in numerous texts (Ex 12:13; Ez 16:16; Cant 2:9). The paschal liberation wiU often be attributed to the merit of the blood of the Passover and of


I f we consider the figures of the Old Testament which appear i n the New i t is evident that their uti l ization can only be properly assessed i f they are seen as they appeared then, often i n a l ight which is quite different from that provided by the OT narratives. How did the Jewish tradit ion see i n the f irst century C.E. figures like Moses"" or Abraham which are so prominent i n the NT? How should we represent Thamar or Rahab of M t 1, according to the Bible or according to the tradit ion which exalted them?" ' When James writes (5:11): «You have heard of the steadfastness —' hypomonen —• of Job)), does he simply refer to Job 42:10-17, or to the touched up figure of the LXX, or even to the « sectarian)) portrait of l lQTgJob,"2 or

circumcision (and, of course, of th© Akedah) .In the NT, baptism is related to circumcision (Col 2:11) and to the paschal mystery of Christ (Rom 6:3). On the Unk Passover-drcumcision see M. Ohana in VT 23 (1973) 385-399.

180 Cf. R. Bloch, in Moise, l'homme de I'aHliance 92-167; G. Vermes, iVid. 63-92; LJNT 51. Note t h i a t the Moses of Acts 7 is no longer the stammering and fearful Moses of the Exodns narratives.

181 R. Bloch, < Juidas engendra Pharfes et Zara, de Thanaar — Matth. 1,3 >, in M6tanges... A. Robert 381-389. The PT very expliciUy justifies Thamar's action (Gen 38). Is it correct then to say that if Matthew names her it is to signify that Jesus has come to save the sinners (a common opdnion since Jerome) The mention of Thamar in Ruth 4:12 reveals perhaps already a development in ttie imderstanding of her. In any case, is there a justification for writing: < The argument was noticed by the author of Mt 1. 3 and 5, who used the examples of both these ladies (= Thamar and Ruth) to excuse the irregularity in Jesus' pedigree > (M. Smith, Palestiman Parties and Politics that Shaped the Old Testament, New York/London 1971, 266)? In contrast with the story of Ruben (Gen 35:22), the Mishnah (MegiUah 4:10) permits to read and commient in the synagogue that of Thamar. The antiquity and the extent of her < rehabilitation > can be judged by this text oi Phllo (who makes of her also a model for the proselytes): < She nevertheless kept her own life stainless and was able to win the good report which belongs to the good and to become the original source to which the nobility of all who followed her can be traced > (De Virtutibus 222; tr. F.H. ColSon in The Loeb Classical Ubrary) . See the exhaustive study of H. Stegemann, < < Die des Uria > — Zur Bedeutung der Frauennamen in der Genealogie von Matthaus 1,1-17 >, in TradHtion und Glaube, Festgable fiir K.G. Kuhn (GOttin^n 1971) 246-276.

182 According to E.W . Tuinstra, Hermeneutische Aspecten van de Tar^wm van Job udt Grot XI van Qwmr&n (Diss. Gronlngen 1970) the Teacher of Righteousness served as the model for the figure of Job in the Targum.


again that of the Testament of Job? The sister of Moses, Mi fyam — also the name of Jesus' mother — was considered (as i n d i cated i n M i 6:4) as one of the leaders of the exodus and as ancestress of David, therefore of the Messiah.^a The controversial figure of Balaam — an opponent of Israel who was constrained to prophesy its future greatness — has given rise to numerous speculations."* I n addition to being identified w i t h Laban (T Num 22:5;31:8),"' he is implic it ly accused by the Targum of cupidity and avarice, a t r a i t not forgotten i n the presentation of h i m by 2 Pet 2:15 and Jude 11.

On essential points like messianism and eschatology i t has been pointed out that «the latter-day Judaism as well as Christianity did not evolve from the religion of Israel i n the Old Testament, but from the Jewish religiosity that flourished during the intertestamental period. This type of religiosity is no longer identical w i t h the creed reflected i n the Old Testament))" ' . After the failure of the two revolts of 70 and of 135 Judaism developed understandable reservations w i t h regard to messianic speculations, not only i n line w i t h the anti-Christian polemic, but also for political reasons. Those, rather ntmierous, preserved i n the Targum, are very likely ancient, especially i f confirmed by other texts (as the LXX for Num 2 4 ) B u t important texts like T Gen 49 and Num 24, as well as many others, need to be further studied before they can be situated exactly i n the complex development of Jewish Messianism. We shall cite only this beautiful text which looks like a replica of the Nunc Dimittis (Lk 2:25) and illustrates the messianic expectation of the OT

1 " Cf. Bib 45 (1964) 198-219. 1 " STJ 127-177; TNT 160.

On this type of Identifications cf. R. Le D6aut, Bib 52 (1971) 516.

i8« D. Flusser in HarvTR 61 (1968) 109. 13" The messianic significance of the star (Nimi 24:17) is attested

in the Targima, the LXX, and Qumran (even in ths niamiei of Bai' kochba, < son of the star >) and can be used for the interpretation of Mt. See A. Paul, L'ivangtle de I'enfance selon saint Matthieu (Paris 1968) 100-115; P. Grelot, < Le Messie dans les Apocryphes de I'AT >, in La Venue du Messie. Recherches Bibllques VI, 1962, 19-50; NTPT 238-252. To quote again Oesterley-Box: < The Targums are hnportant not only for the Ught they throw on Jewls*i theology, but also, especially, as a Thesaurus at ancient Jewish exegesis; in this way they frequently


ijust, to whom the NT occasionally alludes (Mt 13:17; Jn 8:56; [jHeb 11:13)"' . We quote the Neofiti recension (of Gen 49:18): f<Our father Jacob s^d: Not for the redemption of Gideon, son of l loash, does my soul wait, which Is the redemption of an hour; nor Sfor the redemption of Samson, son of Manoah, does my soul wait, I '^hlch is a transient redemption. But for the redemption of him does [Sny soul wait that you have said to bring to your people, the house Kbf Israel. For you, for your redem5)tlon do I wait, O Lord (margin: ^for your redemption is an eternal redemption) >.

For What regards eschatology, the popular conceptions found j j n the NT are analogous to those attested i n the targumic {literature, on the world to come, the great judgment, the struggle [against Gog and Magog, retribution, the Gehenna, and the res-Siirrection. This last belief is professed, w i t h the Pharisaic t r a -Jdition as a whole, i n N at Gen 19:26, and more particularly

3:19: «From the dust you are to return and arise ( = r i s e ftgain) and shall give an account and a reckoning of all you 'lave done))"'.

Conclusion

This long list of examples confronting Targum and NT pre-ented an account of the research being conducted rather than of Bfinitely acquired results. But this at least seems established:

It is possible and necessary to utilize the targumic literature i n interpretation, under certain conditions which must be clearly

iefined and w i t h methods which have st i l l to be perfected. The Dead Sea Scrolls have supplied a large number of ex-

Bfer matter of interest in relation to the Old and New Testament Itings; in particular It can be shown that the New Testament often

with ttie ancient Synagogue in interprettnig certain passages Bssianically which later were exjpounded differently in orthodox

ciroles> (op. oit. 50). The more regrettaWle is it therefore at only Insignificant fragments are extant from the old Palestinian

rargum to the Prophets, and a recension, difficult do date, of the nm to the Psalms, while these books are oontlniuaUy utiUzed in

NT. " 8 AAGA 308; NTPT 240-245; TT 139f. 139 xNT 175-181; TT 133-137.

288 R. L E U E A U T

amples, especially the biblical commentaries, showing that to understand the use that was made of a text i t is first necessary to accept to read i t the way i t was understood by the ancient interpreters, often w i t h a bias, for us mistakenly"". When the NT presents us w i t h a perplexing exegesis of the OT, the biblical versions — which are actually the earliest interpretations of Scripture — may sometimes suggest what was the perspective of the Christian author, intent on f inding i n i t a sense allowing h i m to re-read the Bible i n the l ight of its fulf i lment.

Ancient Jewish exegesis already had associated traditionally certain texts; the NT also, at times, proceeds from analogous regroupings'". The quotation of Ez 47:12 i n Apoc 22:2 is not a l iteral quotation: there is a reference to the tree of life which is found in the middle of the garden of Eden. I t is usual to t h i n k immediately of Gen 2:9;3:22"^ But i t must be noted that the Targum had already used Ezekiel to paraphrase Genesis: at Gen 3:6, i t is true, apropos of the tree of knowledge found in the middle of paradise (3:3): « The woman... knew that the tree was good for food and that i t was a remedy — 'asU » ' " . The allusion to Ez 47:12 is easily recognized. A similar tradit ion on the tree of life may have served as intermediary between Ezekiel and the author of Apocalypse who would have borrowed also from other texts, like Zech 14:8 (for the expression living vxders).

This is not to say that the Targum should become the infallible panacea. We believe though that i t should be granted a greater share i n exegesis than i n the past, and this without yielding to the temptation of pan-targumism"*, the way the enthusiasm over the discovery of the DSS has produced, during a certain period, a sort of pan-Qumranism.

i« Cf. G. Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (1962) 17. 1*1 We do not raise here the problem of the Testimonia, which

perhaps constitutes only a particular aspect of the more general fact We are evoking. The paired Pauline quotation of faith (Gen 15:6 and Hab 2:4) can be found in MekMlta Ex 14:31 in a beautiful collection of quotations on faith.

" 2 A. Vanhoye, < L'utMsation du Uvre d'Ez6cMel dans 1'Apocalypse >, Bib 43 (1962) 459 and 471.

The same expression is found in T Ez 47:12. The eis therapeiam (LXX: hygieian) of Apoc. is dose to the MT and to the Targmn.

1 " NP 375.


The Targum appears especially useful by reason of the exegetical methods i t employs i n its approach to Scripture"^ The phenomenon of «targumism » can il luminate similar cases i n the NT, on the level of oral tradit ion as well as of the redaction and the subsequent transmission of the texts ' " .

; The util ization of the Aramaic texts of Qumran has proved I particularly f r u i t f u l for the understanding of the NT. The same i k i n d of work should be resumed, on a new basis, for what regards the Targum, although of course under more difficult and more insecure conditions, by reason of the state of the texts we have and of their uncertain date. But i f the investigation is made w i t h the properly critical approach quite solid results can be expected, i f the conclusions do not extend beyond the obtained evidence. I n any case, i t is often possible to illustrate similar facts, which is not a negligible outcome: the problems of dependence, already arduous i n the case of the DSS, can often be approached only i n conjectural terms. I t is already a progress to pose them, while expecting new evidence which one day perhaps wi l l provide the solution. ,

u Roger Le D6autj Via d i S.'dfiiara", 42 00186 Rome

It can be said of the Targums what M. Gertner stated about the DSS: < Clearly parallel sayings or similar conceptions are not so much to be sought as similarity in iMdrasMc techniques and methods and identical ways of scriptural interpretation*, JSS 7 (1962) 292.

" 9 <Un phenomfene spontan6 de rherm]6n©utique juive ancienne: le targunrisme*, Bib 52 (1971) 525. On the < synoptic problem* of the Targums, see NTPT 142-145.

LeDeaut

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