Targums to the Writings

12 TARGUMS TO THE WRITINGS All biblical books known as the Writings received Targums except for two: Ezra-Nehemiah and Daniel.1 The usual explanation for the lack of Targums to these books is that they contained long passages in Aramaic and so did not require translation. The Writings Targums were composed individually at different times and by different people; they lack any overall composition scheme or approach that would unite them, like the Targums Onqelos and Jonathan. Scholars have therefore had to analyze them individually. In comparison to the other Targums, the Writings Targums attracted rela- tively little interest during the twentieth century. Although matters have improved recently, modern research knows less about these Targums than the others. The Babylonian rabbis apparently did not approve of Writings Tar- gums and invoked a heavenly confirmation of their disapproval. B. Megil- lah 3a discusses all three categories of Targums and gives a reason for this disapproval in line F.2 A. Rabbi Jeremiah—or some say Rabbi Hiyya b. Abba—also said: B. The Targum of the Pentateuch was composed by Onqelos the Proselyte under the guidance of Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Joshua. 1 Unless otherwise indicated, all translations of rabbinic literature in this chapter are by the authors, and all Targum translations are from the Aramaic Bible series. Biblical translations are from the NRSV. 2 See chap. 8 for a discussion of the passage in relationship to the Pentateuchal Tar- gums and chap. 10 for our analysis in terms of the Prophetic Targums. 230 THE TARGUMS: A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION C. The Targum of the Prophets was composed by Jonathan ben Uzziel under the guidance of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, D. and the land of Israel quaked over an area of four hundred parasangs, and a bat qol came forth and cried: Who is this that has revealed my secrets to men? E. Jonathan ben Uzziel arose and said, I have revealed your secrets to mankind. But it is known to you that I have not done this for my own honor or the honor of my father’s house, but for your honor—that divisions might not increase in Israel. F. He also sought to reveal the Writings by a Targum, but a bat qol came forth and Said: Enough! For this reason—that the end of the Messiah is told in it. Lines C–E indicate that heaven—represented by the bat qol—is anx- ious about the Targums to the Prophets. Apparently they reveal divine secrets to humanity. In line E, Jonathan manages to avoid punishment by indicating that he did the translations for God’s honor. In line F, however, Jonathan is prevented by the bat qol from translating the books of the Writ- ings before he does it. The reason given is that they contain information about the Messiah and the apocalyptic end of time. If this were our only evidence, we might conclude that there were no Writings Targums during the rabbinic period, but that is patently not the case. From the Tosefta onwards there are discussions of the proper way to use the Aramaic translation of the book of Esther at Purim, and these are presented in such a way as to indicate that it is a written translation they are discussing. (See the discussion of t. Meg. 4:20 [3:20] in chapter 14.) Similarly, the Tosefta tells a story of a Targum of Job that was dis- covered and brought to Rabban Gamaliel the Elder, who promptly had it buried. (See the discussion of t. Sabb. 13:2-3 in chapter 14.) And of course, we know of an Aramaic translation of Job among the Dead Sea Scrolls, probably from the second century BCE. This indicates that the b. Meg. 3a passage can be taken as a sign of general rabbinic disapproval of Writings Targums, not as an indication that there were no such Targums. In fact, even the Babylonian rabbis apparently approved of the use of the Esther Targum at Purim, as the analysis in chapter 14 indicates, as well as a Tar- gum of Psalms (or at least the Hallel, see b. Meg. 21b). Most of the Writings Targums were composed rather late. The time spectra for the majority of these Targums proposed by modern analysts range from the fifth century to the seventh century, or alternatively from the seventh century to the ninth century. Many of these Targums were composed in Late Jewish Literary Aramaic, the latest Aramaic dialect .

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