Targums and the Transmission of Scripture Into Judaism and Christianity Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture
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Targums and the Transmission of Scripture into Judaism and Christianity Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture Managing Editor Paul V.M. Flesher University of Wyoming Editorial Board Bruce Chilton, Bard College Willem Smelik, University College, London Moshe Bernstein, Yeshiva University Edward M. Cook, Catholic University of America Luis Díez Merino, University of Barcelona VOLUME 10 Targums and the Transmission of Scripture into Judaism and Christianity By C.T.R. Hayward LEIDEN • BOSTON 2010 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hayward, C.T. Robert Targums and the transmission of scripture into Judaism and Christianity / by C.T.R. Hayward. p. cm. — (Studies in the Aramaic interpretation of Scripture, ISSN 1570-1336 ; v. 10) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-17956-1 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Bible. O.T. Aramaic— Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Judaism—History—Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.–210 A.D. 3. Church history—Primitive and early church, ca. 30–600. 4. Midrash. 5. Rabbinical literature—History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series. BS709.4.H39 2010 221.4’26—dc22 2009040256 ISSN 1570-1336 ISBN 978 90 04 17956 1 Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................ vii Preface ................................................................................................. ix Abbreviations ..................................................................................... xiii PART ONE TARGUMIC PORTRAYALS OF BIBLICAL FIGURES I. Shem, Melchizedek, and Concern with Christianity in the Pentateuchal Targumim .................................................. 3 II. Abraham as Proselytizer at Beer-sheba in the Targums of the Pentateuch .................................................................... 17 III. Balaam’s Prophecies as Interpreted by Philo and the Aramaic Targums of the Pentateuch ................................... 35 IV. The Figure of Adam in Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities ................................................................................ 53 V. The Sacrifice of Isaac and Jewish Polemic against Christianity ............................................................................... 72 VI. A Portrait of the Wicked Esau in the Targum of Codex Neofiti 1 ....................................................................... 88 PART TWO DATING TARGUM PSEUDOJONATHAN VII. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Anti-Islamic Polemic ....... 109 VIII. The Date of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Some Comments ................................................................................ 126 vi contents IX. Jacob’s Second Visit to Bethel in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan .................................................................. 155 X. Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan ... 172 XI. Inconsistencies and Contradictions in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: The Case of Eliezer and Nimrod ...... 210 XII. Red Heifer and Golden Calf: Dating Targum Pseudo-Jonathan .................................................................. 234 XIII. The Priestly Blessing in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan ......... 259 PART THREE SAINT JEROME AND JEWISH TRADITION XIV. Jewish Traditions in Jerome’s Commentary on Jeremiah and the Targum of Jeremiah ............................. 281 XV. Saint Jerome and the Aramaic Targumim ...................... 300 XVI. Some Observations on St. Jerome’s Hebrew Questions on Genesis and the Rabbinic Tradition ............................ 318 PART FOUR TARGUM AND TEMPLE XVII. Sirach and Wisdom’s Dwelling Place ............................... 341 XVIII. Food, the Animals, and Human Dignity. Jewish Perceptions in a Targumic Context .................................. 361 XIX. Melchizedek as Priest of the Jerusalem Temple in Talmud, Midrash, and Targum ......................................... 377 Index of Modern Authors ................................................................ 401 Index of Scriptural, Rabbinic, and Patristic References .............. 406 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author and publisher wish to acknowledge their indebtedness for permission to reproduce copyright material as follows: “Shem, Melchizedek, and Concern with Christianity in the Pentateuchal Targumim”, in K.J. Cathcart and M. Maher (eds), Targumic and Cognate Studies. Essays in Honour of Martin McNamara, JSOT Supp. Series 230 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), pp. 67–80. “Abraham as Proselytizer at Beer-sheba in the Targums of the Penta- teuch”, JJS 49 (1998), pp. 24–37. “Balaam’s Prophecies as Interpreted by Philo and the Aramaic Targums of the Pentateuch”, in P.J. Harland and C.T.R. Hayward (eds), New Heavens and New Earth. Prophecy and the Millennium: Essays in Honour of Anthony Gelston, Supp. to Vetus Testamentum 77 (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 19–36. “The Figure of Adam in Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities”,JSJ 23 (1992), pp. 1–20. “The Sacrifice of Isaac and Jewish Polemic against Christianity”, CBQ 52 (1990), pp. 292–306. “A Portrait of the Wicked Esau in the Targum of Neofiti 1”, in D.R.G. Beattie and M. McNamara (eds), The Aramaic Bible. Targums in their Historical Context, JSOT Supp. Series 166 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), pp. 291–301. “Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Anti-Islamic Polemic”, JSS 34 (1989), pp. 77–93. “The Date of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Some Comments”, JJS 40 (1989), pp. 7–30. viii acknowledgements “Jacob’s Second Visit to Bethel in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan”, in P.R. Davies and R.T. White (eds), A Tribute to Geza Vermes. Essays on Jewish and Christian Literature and History, JSOT Supp. Series 100 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990), pp. 175–192. “Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan”, JJS 42 (1991), pp. 215–246. “Inconsistencies and Contradictions in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: The Case of Eliezer and Nimrod”, JSS 37 (1992), pp. 31–55. “Red Heifer and Golden Calf: Dating Targum Pseudo-Jonathan”, in P.V.M. Flesher (ed.), Targum Studies, vol. 1, Textual and Contextual Studies in the Pentateuchal Targums (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), pp. 9–32. “The Priestly Blessing in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan”, JSP 19 (1999), pp. 81–101. “Jewish Traditions in Jerome’s Commentary on Jeremiah and the Tar- gum of Jeremiah”, PIBA 9 (1985), pp. 100–120. “Saint Jerome and the Aramaic Targumim”, JSS 32 (1987), pp. 105– 123. “Some Observations on St. Jerome’s Hebrew Questions on Genesis and the Rabbinic Tradition”, PIBA 13 (1990), pp. 58–76. “Sirach and Wisdom’s Dwelling Place”, in S.C. Barton (ed.), Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999), pp. 31–46. Reproduced by kind permission of T&T Clark, an imprint of Continuum International Publishing. PREFACE This collection of essays consists of seventeen previously published papers, to which two unpublished items, the first on food, animals, and human dignity, the second on Melchizedek in some Rabbinic texts, have been appended. The essays are grouped together under four headings, which highlight their principal concerns. All the essays, however, are to a greater or lesser extent concerned with the Aramaic Targumim, and many of them deal also with the exegetical traditions to be found in the Rabbinic midrashim. All the items in the collection itself are presented here as contributing to an overarching theme, a discussion of how the manifold, and sometimes mysterious meanings of the Hebrew Bible were transmitted into the Judaism of post-biblical times, and (to a lesser degree) into early Christianity. The Aramaic versions of the Bible known as Targumim played an important role in the Jewish and early Christian investigations of the Bible. Both Jews and Christians were convinced that the Hebrew Scriptures conveyed information to the reader or hearer not only en clair, as it were, but also in less obvious ways which could be discov- ered and understood only by painstaking and detailed scrutiny of the texts. The persons who, over the course of the centuries, were respon- sible for the development of the Aramaic Targumim offered to their hearers and readers not only a translation of the Hebrew texts they treated, but also exegesis. This exegesis they may, in some instances, have generated themselves; in other instances it seems that they are content to report and record interpretations which they have heard or read elsewhere. Not infrequently, their exegesis has much in common with biblical interpretations preserved for us in the classical midrashic collections. Many of the essays reprinted here attempt to describe and investigate further the exegetical traditions which the framers of the Targumim had at their disposal, and to provide a context for them. Undoubtedly the most informative and expansive of the Targumim discussed in the essays is Targum Pseudo-Jonathan of the Pentateuch, and