The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

MAKER Targum Pseudo-Jonathan of Deuteronomy 1.1-8 211
fathers. 31 In Deut. 28.15, in a targumic addition that has no parallel in
Neofiti (the only other Palestinian Targums of this verse available to
us), Pseudo-Jonathan combines both ideas, stating that the merits of
the fathers and the covenant which God had established with them
would ensure the continued protection of the people. Targum Song
1.13 can say that on the occasion of the worship of the Golden Calf
Israel escaped destruction because God remembered the binding of
Isaac, that is to say, he remembered the merits of that patriarch. In the
same Targum, in 2.17, it is said that Israel's escape on that occasion
was due to the fact that God remembered the covenant he had made
with the patriarchs. Thus the Targums of our present text, Deut. 1.1,
and Pseudo-Jonathan Deut. 28.15, and the Targum of the Song of
Songs show that the concepts of 'remembering the covenant' and
'remembering the merits of the fathers' can be interchanged or
combined on occasion.
It may be noted that in our present verse Pseudo-Jonathan, and
Pseudo-Jonathan alone, refers to 'the merits of the righteous
fathers'. 32 The Palestinian Targums (Neofiti, Fragmentary Targums,
Ctg Br) mention the patriarchs by name, while Pseudo-Jonathan is
satisfied to refer to the righteous fathers in general.
The Palestinian Targums and Sifre I mention only the gold of the
tent of meeting 33 and the gold of the ark of the covenant. Pseudo-
Jonathan adds a reference to the sacred utensils.
From what we have said about the targumic versions of Deut. 1.1 it
is clear that Pseudo-Jonathan uses the 'targumic tradition' that was
also available to the authors of the other Targums of this verse. But he
uses the traditional material in a rather independent manner, bringing
his own style to bear on it, and putting his own imprint on it. Sifre is
the source of many of the targumic additions made to this verse, and
we have noted a few occasions when Pseudo-Jonathan shows a close
similarity even to the language of that source.
31. For the rabbinic literature see, e.g., A. Marmorstein, The Doctrine of Merits
in Old Rabbinic Literature (London: Jewish College Publications, 1921); for the
Targums cf. I. Drazin, 'Targumic Studies' (unpublished PhD thesis, St Mary's
University, 1980), pp. 77-97.
32 The same idiom occurs in the Targums (Pseudo-Jonathan, Neofiti,
Fragmentary Targums) of Num. 23.9.
33. Cf. also Tanhuma, Terumah 8 (p. 281) which also states that the gold of the
tent of meeting would make atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf.