The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

HAYWARD A Portrait of the Wicked Esau 305
3. References to Esau after his Death
These may be dealt with briefly. Neofiti and other Palestinian
Targums of Gen. 49.2 and Deut. 6.4 have Jacob refer to Esau as a
blemish or a 'disqualification', root psl. Ishmael and the sons of
Keturah are described by the same term. The sense is that Esau is unfit
to approach God, disqualified from service of the Almighty. 30 In Gen.
49.26, he is described as one of the 'great ones of the world' along
with Ishmael. The famous midrash which tells of God's offering the
Torah to the nations of the world (Deut. 33.2) represents the sons of
Esau rejecting the offer on the grounds that the Torah contains the
commandment 'thou shall not kill'; like Esau their father (cf. Targum
Neofiti of Gen. 27.41), they are killers. 31
The description of Joseph's death in Targum Neofiti of Gen. 50.1
includes mention of the 'rulers (swltnyri) from the sons of Esau' and
Keturah: the representatives of Ishmael, however, are described as
'kingdoms (malkwwn) and rulers'. None of the Targumim of this
verse apply language of kingship to the sons of Esau at this point: they
are spoken of as 'mighty men, warriors' in FTV, Ngl, and GM; and as
'men' in Pseudo-Jonathan and FTP. The military character of these
people is again emphasized. And when Israel on their journey from
Egypt ask permission from the sons of Esau to pass through Edomite
territory, we are struck by the fact that the Edomite reaction
described in Num. 20.18 is missing from the text of Neofiti, as is the
name of Edom in Num. 20.14. It is possible that the Ngl has preserved
the text of Targum Neofiti of Num. 20.18: it notes that the king of
Edom, not spoken of in the Hebrew of this verse, but only in the
Hebrew of Num. 20.14, will come against Israel with those who draw
the sword. 32 But given Neofiti's failure to speak in royal terms of
Esau's sons elsewhere, we may be justified in questioning whether it is
certain that Ngl here represents the original text of Neofiti. Targum
Neofiti of Num. 20.21 gives the reason why Israel did not attack the
30. The root psl is well known in both rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic as
expressing what is unfit for sacrifice or for food.
31. For further discussion of the Targums of these verses, see C.T.R. Hayward,
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Anti-Islamic Polemic', JSS 34 (1989), pp. 89-91.
32. See Diez Macho, Ms. Neophyti 1. IV. Numeros, pp. 184-85.