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JACOB of SERUGH's VERSE HOMILY on TAMAR (Gen. 38) Two JACOB OF SERUGH'S VERSE HOMILY ON TAMAR (Gen. 38) JACOB OF SERUGH'S VERSE HOMILY ON TAMAR (Gen. 38) In Memoriam Yousif Habbi 23 xii 1938-15 x 2000 Two of the first European scholars to show an interest in, and appre- ciation of, Jacob of Serugh's poetry were Pius Zingerle (1801-1881) and his nephew Joseph Zingerle (1831-1891), and among the latter's publi- cations was an edition of Jacob's Memra on Tamar (Gen. 38)1. Since this Memra is a particularly fine example of Jacob’s artistry, and since Zingerle's edition is hard of access, the text is republished here, accom- panied by an annotated English translation. The Memra also happens to be of considerable exegetical interest2. J. Zingerle published the text on the basis of Vatican sir. 117, a three- columned manuscript of the 12th/13th century containing a large num- ber of Jacob's Memre. He also notes that the same text is in “cod.Nitr.XIV”, now Vat. sir. 252, but that he had not had the opportu- nity to consult this manuscript. These two manuscripts still appear to be the only two surviving witnesses3. Examination of Vat. sir. 252 will quickly indicate that it is one of the manuscripts which had the misfor- tune to fall into the Nile on its journey from Egypt to Italy; as a conse- quence much of it is virtually illegible, and this applies in particular to the folios (beginning 28r) on which the Memra on Tamar is to be found. The manuscript is written in a small estrangelo hand which can almost certainly be dated to the sixth century, thus giving very early evidence 1 J. ZINGERLE, S. Jacobi Sarugensis Sermo de Tamar, Oeniponti, 1871. I take the op- portunity to thank Dana Miller for a xerox copy of the text. For attitudes to Jacob’s poetry in European scholarship see F. RILLIET, Une victime du tournant des études syriaques à la fin du XIXe siècle, in Aram, 5 (1993), p. 465-480. 2 In the commentary I use the following abbreviations for the main relevant studies of the early exegesis of this chapter: BOTHA = P.J. BOTHA, Ephrem the Syrian's treatment of Tamar in comparison to that in Jewish sources, in Acta Patristica et Byzantina, 6 (1995), p. 15-26; KRONHOLM = T. KRONHOLM, Holy Adultery. The interpretation of the story of Judah and Tamar (Gen. 38) in the genuine hymns of Ephraem Syrus, in Orientalia Suecana, 40 (1991), p. 149-163; MENN = E.M. MENN, Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) in Ancient Jewish Exegesis. Studies in Literary Form and Hermeneutics (Suppl. to the Jour- nal for the Study of Judaism, 51), Leiden, 1997 [on Testament of Judah, Targum Neofiti, and Bereshit Rabbah]; PETIT = M. PETIT, Exploitations non bibliques des thèmes de Tamar et de Genèse 38: Philon d’Alexandrie; textes et traditions juives jusqu’aux Talmudim, in Alexandrina. Mélanges offerts à Claude Mondésert S.J., Paris, 1987, p. 77- 115. 3 To judge by the indexes in A. VÖÖBUS, Handschriftliche Überlieferung der Memre- Dichtung des Ja‘qob von Serug, I-IV (C.S.C.O., 344-345, 421-422; Subs., 39-40, 60-61), Leuven, 1973, 1980. 280 S. BROCK for Jacob as the author of the poem (the title “On Tamar, composed by Mar Jacob” is fortunately legible). Like Vat. sir. 117, the manuscript is in three columns. The condition of Vat. sir. 252 (= A) renders any proper collation of it impossible, but on the basis of those passages that are leg- ible it is possible to state that its text is very close to that of Vat. sir. 117 (= B), the differences being almost all confined to orthography. Owing to the illegibility of Vat. sir. 252, the re-edition of the text below is based again in Vat. sir. 117; on the whole, Zingerle represented the text of the manuscript accurately, and it is only in a few places that it has re- quired correcting4. Text A = Vatican sir. 252, f. 28r-30v; 6th century. B = Vatican sir. 117, f. 19r-21r; 12th/13th century (= text). A B B f. 19 r. 3 (A f. 28 r. 1) 10 19 v. 1 4 Small corrections to his text, on the basis of B, will be found in lines 20, 23, 35, 38, 45, 77, 107, 124, 162, 207, 221, 224, 243, 256, 273, 276, 289, 318, 335, 350, 364, 365, 393, 407 (italicized numbers are instances Zingerle already noted in his Corrigenda, p. 21). JACOB OF SERUGH'S VERSE HOMILY ON TAMAR (Gen. 38) 281 20 30 40 19 v. 2 50 282 S. BROCK 60 70 19 v. 3 80 JACOB OF SERUGH'S VERSE HOMILY ON TAMAR (Gen. 38) 283 90 100 20 r. 1 110 120 284 S. BROCK 130 140 20 r. 2 150 JACOB OF SERUGH'S VERSE HOMILY ON TAMAR (Gen. 38) 285 160 170 20 r. 3 180 190 286 S. BROCK 200 210 20 v. 1 220 JACOB OF SERUGH'S VERSE HOMILY ON TAMAR (Gen. 38) 287 230 240 20 v. 2 250 260 288 S. BROCK 270 280 20 v. 3 290 JACOB OF SERUGH'S VERSE HOMILY ON TAMAR (Gen. 38) 289 300 310 21 r. 1 320 330 290 S. BROCK 340 21 r. 2 350 360 JACOB OF SERUGH'S VERSE HOMILY ON TAMAR (Gen. 38) 291 370 380 21 r. 3 390 400 292 S. BROCK .
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