KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY? AND HIS ARAMEAN HERITAGE ACCORDING TO JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN SOURCES

Alison Salvesen University of Oxford

In an article on the biblical Jacob Cycle, Michael Fishbane argues that ‘the first preserved interpretations of the narratives dealing with the patriarch Jacob are already textured into various biblical reflections on the moral and historical relations found in the Cycle’ (Fishbane 1975, 15). He also notes that ‘because Jacob was Israel, every reading of the particular life history of Jacob could be deepened by a national reading of the same contents.’ Fishbane relates this to the well known allegorization of the Jacob- relationship seen in later biblical inter- pretations, where Jacob represents the Jewish people and Esau Rome and Christianity (ibid.).1 On the specific theme within the Cycle of the wooing of Rebekah and , Fishbane remarks, ‘the factor of ethnic continuity is thus built into the text as a primary element and, as we noted, was a motivational factor in Rebekka’s ploy to convince to send Jacob to .’ He also speaks of a ‘concern with ethnic continuity and purity’ and ‘the fear of intercourse with the uncircumcised Philistines and Shechemites in Gen. 26 and 34 (. . .)’ (Fishbane 1975, 35–36). However, it may be that the biblical writer or editor was more concerned for endogamy than fearful of uncircumcision, given that the menfolk in ’s family were not circumcised either. Another aspect of the Jacob Cycle brought out by Fishbane is the ‘binary geographical pairings’ of the Jacob Cycle in the , namely profane space/exile versus sacred space/homeland. This is marked by Jacob’s ‘encounter with the divine at a border shrine,’ at

1 More recently Carol Bakhos (2007, 250–62) has argued against what she sees as ‘an overly determined reading of Esau in rabbinic literature,’ ‘retroactively imput[ing] an understanding of Esau as Rome to most, if not all, references to Esau in the vast sweep of rabbinic literature as if he always represented Rome’ (261), but though this is a helpful corrective to a blanket and polarising identification, Fishbane’s argument still stands. 206 alison salvesen

Bethel and then on his return at Mahanaim, where angels appear to him (Fishbane 1975, 36). In rabbinic Judaism these stories were already part of a narrative of nationhood, since according to Scripture Jacob was named Israel by God himself, and was the ancestor of the Jewish people. Less obvi- ously, some outside the Jewish fold also felt a strong connection to the Jacob Cycle. Syriac Christians from northern Mesopotamia had good reason to feel an affinity to the land of Paddan-aram and its language, and the city of Haran was still very much in their midst. A number of questions deserve examination: how these two groups regarded the narrative within their own tradition; to what extent it shaped a concept of ethnicity or identity for them; how far they interpreted features of the story in accordance with the ideals of their own group; and their views of the various protagonists. The key texts surveyed are Genesis Rabbah; the Palestinian targum tradition represented by Neofiti and the Fragmentary Targum; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan; and the Genesis commentary of St. Ephrem the Syr- ian (d. 373 CE). These all derive roughly from the period of the late fourth to early sixth centuries, a significant period in the formation of both Palestinian rabbinic Judaism and Syriac Christianity. Obviously, targum is more difficult to date precisely, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan undoubtedly includes later, Babylonian features,2 but its frequent links with Palestinian targum and its expansive aggadic nature make it worth including. Genesis Rabbah along with the Palestinian targum on the one hand, and Ephrem’s commentary on the other, may reflect the respective geographical perspectives of the writers or editors as they consider the land of Paddan-aram. While Ephrem is a Christian, it has long been acknowledged that his surviving prose commentaries have been strongly influenced by Jewish aggadah in terms of both method and content.3 So his interpretive choices may be telling.

2 See, for instance, Kaufman 1994:124–25, who states that ‘careless writers have long mistakenly labelled Targum Pseudo-Jonathan of the Pentateuch a Palestinian Targum (. . .) Most workers in the field, though, have recognized the composite nature of that document—a kind of compote of Onqelos, the Palestinian Targum, midrashim and even the Babylonian Targum, a compote in terms of both language and content; a document, therefore, post-talmudic in date at the very earliest, in spite of the presence of admittedly early traditions within it.’ 3 See the foundational article by Sebastian Brock 1979, esp. 225–32.