The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

294 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
All the extant Targums translate wytrssw with some form of the root
dhq, which has the sense of 'press, squeeze, impel'. While Onqelos
uses the Pe'al of this verb, Neofiti, Pseudo-Jonathan, Fragmentary
Targum Paris Ms 110 (= FTP) and Fragmentary Targum Vatican Ms
440 (= FTV) use the Ithpe 'el, which has the additional sense of 'be
oppressed, afflicted'. Possibly these Targums thereby hint that the
brothers were enemies even from the womb; for the verb dhq is elsewhere
associated with affliction (s'rri) and servitude (s'bd) of Israel in
Egypt, as in Neofiti of Deut. 26.7. Rebecca's question in the Hebrew is
a little obscure, so Neofiti elucidates and translates:
If the distress (s'rhwn) of having sons is like this, why should I now
have children?
This clarification coincides for the most part with Pseudo-Jonathan,
FTP, FTV, and two glosses in Neofiti's margin, as, indeed, does
Neofiti to the rest of the verse:
And she went to the Study House of Shem the Great to beseech mercy
from before the Lord.
But Neofiti here contrasts with Onqelos, which translates Rebecca's
question literally, has no reference to Shem's Study House, and has
Rebecca seek instruction, not mercy, from God. Neofiti appears fully
integrated with the Palestinian Targumim here, being closest to
Pseudo-Jonathan and FTP; FTV and the second Ngl state that she went
to seek mercy and only then add 'in the Study House of Shem the
Great'. Interestingly, the Church Father Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393c.
466) in his Quaestiones in Genesim 77 states that Rebecca went to
consult a priest, probably Melchizedek.
The Bible next records (Gen. 25.23) the divine explanation of
Rebecca's state:
And the Lord said to her: Two nations (gyym) are in your belly; and two
peoples (I'mym) shall be separated from your innards: and (one) people
shall be stronger than (the other) people, and the elder shall serve the
younger.
Neofiti understands the first part of this prophecy to mean:
Two peoples ('wmyri) are in your belly, and two kingdoms shall be separated
from your belly: and (one) kingdom shall be stronger than (the
other) kingdom, and the greater shall be in servitude before the lesser.