The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

HAYWARD A Portrait of the Wicked Esau 293
As for the Targums, the Fragment Targums, marginal glosses of
Neofiti (= Ngl), and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan view Esau as utterly
wicked, and are aware of the identification of Esau with Rome. It is
not clear, however, that Neofiti is of one mind with them; and to the
particulars of this Targum we should now address ourselves. In the
discussion which follows, it will be convenient to order the targumic
material under four headings: events before and during Esau's birth;
events during his lifetime; references to him after his death; and the
question of Esau's identification with Rome.
1. Events before and during the Birth of Esau
According to Gen. 25.21, Rebecca's lack of children led Isaac to
entreat God on her behalf. Neofiti's version is remarkable in three
respects. First, it begins by agreeing with Onqelos in translating
Hebrew wy'tr, 'and Isaac entreated', as 'and Isaac prayed': the Peshitta
has the same translation, and so, in essence does Pseudo-Jonathan. But
in translating the Bible's succeeding remark that 'God was entreated
of him', wy 'tr Iw YHWH, Neofiti departs entirely from the consistency
of Onqelos, which says that 'the Lord received his prayer':
Neofiti, and the Peshitta, have instead 'and the Lord answered him'.
Second, the Bible says that Isaac entreated God Inkh his wife: the
literal meaning of the Hebrew word is 'facing', which Onqelos represents
as 'opposite', thereby allowing for a tradition attested by b. Yeb.
64a that Isaac and Rebecca prayed at opposite corners of the room.
But Neofiti parts company with Onqelos by translating the word as 'on
account of, in the same way as LXX, Vulgate, and Peshitta. Finally,
Neofiti has no trace of the tradition recorded in Ngl, Pseudo-Jonathan,
and PRE 32.3 that Isaac prayed on the Temple mountain where his
father had bound him. Neofiti's agreements with the Peshitta, and its
translations now with, now against, Onqelos, should be particularly
noted.
The Bible (Gen. 25.22) describes Rebecca's pregnancy thus:
And the children struggled together wytrssw within her; and she said, If it
is so, why am I like this? And she went to enquire of the Lord.
Rom und die Datierung des I. Petrusbriefes', in Gottes Wort und Gottes Land
(ed. H. Reventlow; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1965), pp. 67-77; and
S. Zeitlin, 'The Origin of the Term Edom for Rome and the Christian Church', JQR
60 (1969), pp. 262-63.