The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

THE SCRIPTURES AND THEIR INTERPRETATION IN
SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM*
Martin Hengel
1. Scripture Production and Scripture Interpretation
The time-frame of my topic 'Scripture Interpretation in the Second
Temple Period', that is, from the return from exile to the destruction
of the Temple in 70 CE, is not only a period of many-faceted exegesis,
but first and foremost of scripture production. One cannot separate
the two. During this period, the history of interpretation is also the
history of the canon. The formation of the canon of the Hebrew Bible
took place in a constant process of interpretation.
Only at the end of this process do we have the Pharisaic 'canon' of
22 works which are described by Josephus in Apion 1.37-41. This
same canon is confirmed in 4 Ezra 14.45, whose unknown author was
a contemporary of Josephus, through reference to the 24 books, which
Ezra, the last prophet, is said to have dictated through divine inspiration
after the destruction of the First Temple.
We find further reference in m. Yad. 3.5, where it is states which
scriptures will defile the hands ritually. This means that soon after the
destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish scholars in Palestine
made definitive decisions about the contents of the holy scriptures. On
the other hand there was the stern rejection of the so called
Apocryphal works, that is, all those works which had been written
after Ezra, after the gift of inspiration had come to an end.
The prologue to the Greek translation of the Wisdom of Sirach,
deriving from his grandson, constitutes a connecting link. In this
prologue he speaks 'of the law, the prophets and the other writings'.
* This essay is a shortened epitome of a study which will appear with the title
'Schriftauslegung' in WUNT. I thank Sea"n Freyne who prepared the translation.