The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

SYREN Ishmael and Esau in Jubilees and Targum Ps.-J. 313
children bow down their neck to become servants of Jacob's children
who put a 'yoke of servitude' on them. This all happens in fulfilment
of Gen. 27.29. The report ends with the comment, 'And the children
of Esau have not ceased from the yoke of servitude which the twelve
sons of Jacob ordered upon them until today' (v. 14). This comment,
like the whole section (37), puts the strife between Isaac's two sons
within a contemporary framework, probably the conquest of Idumaea
by John Hyrcanus I in 125 BC. 7 So in the end, Jubilee's ambivalence is
only an impression—in reality its attitude is, although complex, quite
consistent: Jacob and Esau were competitors from the moment of their
birth, as the introduction of them in 19.13 as each other's antipoles
indicates. The period of peaceful coexistence was only a brief interruption
of hostilities.
In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Ishmael and his children are referred
to as 'a people of brigands' in Gen. 21.13. In the light of that verse,
and indeed of the entire chapter, it is surprising to find that the
metaphoric and consequently rather picturesque language of Gen.
16.12 in the Hebrew did not occasion Pseudo-Jonathan to defame
Ishmael in any way. On the contrary, Pseudo-Jonathan sticks to a
matter-of-fact style. The Palestinian Targums of the chapter in
general agree that an antagonism did exist between Ishmael and 'his
brothers'. In Neofiti I of 16.5, Sarai expresses to Abram her wish for
an offspring of her own, so that 'we will not need the sons of Hagar
the Egyptian, who belong to the sons of the people who cast you into
the furnace of fire of the Chaldeans', similarly also Pseudo-Jonathan.
This applies to v. 12 as well (Ps.-J.: 'his hands shall take revenge on
his foes...'), although a certain bewilderment can be sensed as to the
meaning of the last stich: per rn» ^D os 'm Pseudo-Jonathan has 'he
will intermingle with his brethren', which agrees with Jubilees 20 in
the passage quoted earlier, Neofiti I has: 'his hands shall rule over all,
and the hands of all will rule over him' (which might be read as an
allusion to the shifting conditions under which the Arabs, including
the Itureans, the Nabateans etc. lived from time to time—also in relation
to the Jews). Targum Onqelos, on the other hand, suggests a relationship
of interdependence, rather than one of outspoken rivalry, by
7. I agree with Mendels, Land of Israel, pp. 80-81, who prefers 125 rather than
163. Cf. also E. Schiirer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus
Christ (ed. G. Vermes, F. Millar and M. Goodman; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark,
1973-87), I, p. 205; II, p. 194n.