The Targums and Rabbinic Literature: An Introduction to Jewish Interpretations of Scripture

401 Pages·1969·17.57 MB·English

by  John Bowker

THE TARGUMS AND
RABBINIC LITERATURE
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THE TARGUMS AND
RABBINIC
LITERATURE
An Introduction to
Jewish Interpretations of Scripture
JOHN BOWKER
Professor of Religious Studies
University of Lancaster
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge
London New York Melbourne
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521074155
© Cambridge University Press 1969
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1969
Reprinted with corrections 1979
This digitally printed version 2008
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 71—80817
ISBN 978-0-521-07415-5 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-09771-0 paperback
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To Margaret
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CONTENTS
Preface page ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Note on the 1979 reprint xiii
Note on transliteration xv
Note on bibliographical references xv
List of abbreviations xvii
INTRODUCTION: THE BACKGROUND OF THE TARGUMS
1 Translation and Interpretation 3
2 Pre-Rabbinic Literature 29
3 Non-Rabbinic Literature 36
4 Classical Rabbinic Literature 40
PS. JONATHAN ON SELECTED CHAPTERS OF GENESIS 93
Appendices
I The Biblical Antiquities of Philo: a translation of the
passages related to Genesis 301
11 The Seven and Thirteen Rules of Interpretation 315
in The Recognised variants in the Septuagint 319
iv The Dotted Words in Genesis 321
v The Tractates in the Mishnah 322
vi Rabbinic Generations 323
VII Cairo Geniza Fragments published in Kahle, Masoreten
des Western, 11, part 2 325
vii
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CONTENTS
Bibliography page 326
Indexes
1 References 349
11 Greek Words 366
in Semitic Words and Phrases 366
iv Places 368
v Names and dates of Rabbis 368
vi Modern Authors 370
vii General 371
via
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PREFACE
This book has two purposes. The first is to provide an introduction to
the Aramaic Targums, which preserve some of the most basic and
popular elements of Jewish biblical interpretation; the second is to show
how the Targums form a part of Jewish exegesis in general, and thus the
book is also intended to be a brief introduction to rabbinic literature.
The need for such a guide has become increasingly urgent, particu-
larly for students of the New Testament who are unlikely to become
specialists in the field of rabbinic thought and literature, but for whom a
knowledge of both is now essential. It is, for example, significant how
many recent studies of the Gospels have relied heavily on Jewish back-
ground material—it is only necessary to mention B. Gerhardsson (on the
transmission of oral material in rabbinic Judaism and the possible
bearing this might have on the transmission of the teaching of Jesus),
W. D. Davies (on the Sermon on the Mount), and C. H. Dodd (on
John) to indicate how indispensable a knowledge of Jewish material has
become.
The intention of this book is to provide, in the simplest and most
manageable form, an introduction to that material, taking into account
recent work and discoveries. The introduction most widely available at
the present time is that of H. L. Strack {Introduction to the Talmud and
Midrash), which first appeared in 1887 and was last revised in 1924. It
remains an important and extremely useful book, and to some extent
(particularly in its summaries of work done before those dates) it has
been presupposed in this book. But inevitably much work and research
has been done since then, and a number of spectacular discoveries have
been made of hitherto unknown material, reopening many questions in
the study of early Judaism and of Christian origins; the Dead Sea
Scrolls are the most obvious example of such discoveries, but they are by
no means the only one: of conceivably equal importance in its own way
is the discovery of a targum text which, although late in itself, may
contain material going back to a date earlier than that of any previously
known text, perhaps even in origin to the time of Jesus. Already much
important work has been done making use of this and other Targum
texts (as, for example, by R. le Deaut and M. McNamara on the New
ix
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PREFACE
Testament, and by R. Bloch and G. Vermes), and there is no doubt that
Targum material will now play an increasingly important part in the
study both of early Judaism and of the New Testament.
It is of interest that Strack, in his Introduction, did not give an account
of the Targums, although he was aware of their importance as reposi-
tories of Jewish traditions and exegesis. Conversely, this book concen-
trates primarily on the Targums because of the growing recognition of
their importance. P. Kahle summarised their importance by saying:
'In the Palestinian Targum of the Pentateuch we have in the main
material coming from pre-Christian times which must be studied by
everyone who wishes to understand the state of Judaism at the time of
the birth of Christianity. And we possess this material in a language of
which we can say that it is very similar to that spoken by the earliest
Christians. It is material the importance of which can scarcely be
exaggerated.' (The Cairo Geniza, 1959, p. 208.) Even if this estimate
itself turns out to be exaggerated, it is clear that the Targums deserve
careful study and consideration. What, then, are the Targums? The
Targums are interpretative translations of the Hebrew text of the Bible.
Their interest and fascination lies in the crucial fact that they are not
simple or literal translations of the text: they work into their translation
an interpretation of what the text means. The reason for this is simple:
in origin the Targums were closely connected with the synagogue. From
its earliest days (before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70) the synagogue
existed primarily for the reading and exposition of scripture, but since
many of those present had little or no knowledge of Hebrew, the public
reading or reciting of the Hebrew text had to be accompanied by a
translation, or targum of it into the vernacular. The written Aramaic
y
Targums are derived from those accompanying translations (targums)
which were intended to explain the Hebrew text. It is because the
purpose of the targum was to convey the meaning of the text to the
assembled congregation that the targums could be so free in their
interpretation. They provided a kind of 'running commentary* on the
text. There was no fear that the sacred text was being altered or mis-
handled, because the text had already been read out. The purpose of the
targum was to expound its meaning.
The targum was thus a part of the process through which scrip-
ture was expounded and taught in synagogue week by week. As the
centuries went by, a traditional, though very loose, body of interpreta-
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