The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
WILCOX The Aramaic Background of the New Testament 373 Depending on how we date 1 IQTemple, this could well suit the period of struggle between the Jews and the Romans. Taken separately, these references may seem to be mere coincidence, but there are other hints in Luke, especially in the special material, of familiarity with some of the hopes and indeed slogans of the Jewish resistance movements against the Romans. These are found in a number of passages which speak of 'the liberation of Jerusalem' or 'the liberation of Israel'. In particular, if we follow up examples of the terms 'liberation', and 'to liberate' (X-utpeooiQ, A/UTpofta0oci) in Luke, we find (a) in 2.38, the statement that Anna the prophetess was speaking about Jesus 'to all who were awaiting the liberation of Jerusalem'; 24 and (b) in 24.21, Kleopas and his colleague explain to the unknown person who joined them their dashed hopes concerning Jesus of Nazareth: '...We had hoped that he was the one who was about to liberate Israel'. Now, as we have shown elsewhere, 25 there is an extraordinary coincidence of the words here underlined with those attributed to Serah bat Asher in reply to the Elders of Israel, confirming Moses as 'the man who is about to liberate Israel', according to a Jewish tradition recorded in PRE 48.82-86. Indeed, even the Greek word neAAei is precisely paralleled by the Hebrew THE. Moreover, not only do very many coins of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome found at Masada bear the inscriptions 'The Liberation/Freedom of Zion' or 'For the Liberation of Zion', 26 but many of the Second, and also regularly the Bar Kokhba documents, present dates given in Aramaic or Hebrew as 'Year x of the Liberation of Israel' or 'Year x of the Liberation of Jerusalem'. In similar vein, the Lukan Infancy Hymns extol the 24. See further the discussion of this in Wilcox, 'Luke 2.36-38. "Anna bat Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, a prophetess..." A Study in Midrash in Material Special to Luke', in The Four Gospels 1992. Festschrift Frans Neirynck (ed. F. Van Segbroeck, C.M. Tuckett, G. Van Belle, J. Verheyden; BETL 100; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1992), pp. 1571-79. 25. Wilcox, 'The Bones of Joseph: Hebrews 11.22', in Scripture: Meaning and Method. Essays presented to Anthony Tyrrell Hanson (ed. B.P. Thompson; Hull: Hull University Press, 1987), pp. 114-30, esp. 119-21; and also 'Luke 2.36-38. "Anna bat Phanuel"'. 26. At Masada the following forms are found: 'Year 2. Freedom or Liberation of Zion', coins 1358-2080, 3000-3489; 'For the Freedom of Zion' 3593-3594. See Masada I, pp. 102-19.
374 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context impending liberation of Israel, 27 seen as the fulfilment of God's promise or oath to Abraham. If now we take all of this together, we may be forgiven for suspecting that running through parts of the Gospel of Luke there is a strand of thought and tradition which coheres surprisingly closely with what we know of how certain movements within first and early second century Jewish society viewed their own role: that of bringing (God's) liberation to Israel/Jerusalem. Given further that the movement under Shimon bar Kosba certainly, and some of the leaders of the First Revolt probably, 28 used Aramaic and (Proto-Mishnaic) Hebrew as their preferred language(s) of communication, it may be worth asking whether apparent Aramaisms (and/or Hebraisms) in Lk. 1-2 and 24 may not have a rather greater claim to be taken seriously as such than they might have if they had been found in other settings, whether in Luke or elsewhere. It also emerges that of the two languages Aramaic seems to predominate. However, at Masada all three languages, Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek are found, and in so far as the Greek material can be adequately assessed—it is often in fairly fragmented state—it indicates that that language was on the whole well-written: the editors of the Masada Greek documents comment on 'the most remarkable fact...the apparent absence of barbarisms and solecisms such as we encounter, for instance in the necropolis of Beth Shearim'. 29 This is very important for our purposes, since it suggests that where Aramaisms or Hebraisms do occur in the New Testament writings, the chances are that they are all the more significant than they might have been if we had been expecting a generally poorer standard of Greek from the writers. If some of them are bilingual, or if they had good translators, the chances are that the work would be broadly well done—which is exactly what we find. 27. This revolutionary fervour was noted and discussed in detail by Paul Winter in a number of valuable articles published in 1954-56, especially The Birth and Infancy Stories of the Third Gospel', NTS 1 (1954-55), pp. 111-21; and 'Magnificat and Benedictus—Maccabaean Psalms?' BJRL 37 (1954-55), 328-47. 28. For the First Revolt, the discovery at Masada of a jar inscribed with the name 'Aqavia son of the High Priest H[anania]h' in Aramaic suggests that even people of more prominent social status used Aramaic (Masada No. 461 (1237-878/1). See Masada I, pp. 37-38. 29. Masada II. The Yigael Yadin Excavations 1963-65. Final Reports. The Latin and Greek Documents, (ed. H.M. Cotton and J. Geiger, with a contribution by J.D. Thomas; Jerusalem, 1989), p. 10.
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WILCOX <strong>The</strong> <strong>Aramaic</strong> Background of the New Testament 373<br />
Depend<strong>in</strong>g on how we date 1 IQTemple, this could well suit the period<br />
of struggle between the Jews and the Romans. Taken separately, these<br />
references may seem to be mere co<strong>in</strong>cidence, but there are other h<strong>in</strong>ts<br />
<strong>in</strong> Luke, especially <strong>in</strong> the special material, of familiarity with some of<br />
the hopes and <strong>in</strong>deed slogans of the Jewish resistance movements<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st the Romans. <strong>The</strong>se are found <strong>in</strong> a number of passages which<br />
speak of 'the liberation of Jerusalem' or 'the liberation of Israel'. In<br />
particular, if we follow up examples of the terms 'liberation', and 'to<br />
liberate' (X-utpeooiQ, A/UTpofta0oci) <strong>in</strong> Luke, we f<strong>in</strong>d (a) <strong>in</strong> 2.38, the<br />
statement that Anna the prophetess was speak<strong>in</strong>g about Jesus 'to all<br />
who were await<strong>in</strong>g the liberation of Jerusalem'; 24 and (b) <strong>in</strong> 24.21,<br />
Kleopas and his colleague expla<strong>in</strong> to the unknown person who jo<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
them <strong>their</strong> dashed hopes concern<strong>in</strong>g Jesus of Nazareth: '...We had<br />
hoped that he was the one who was about to liberate Israel'. Now, as<br />
we have shown elsewhere, 25 there is an extraord<strong>in</strong>ary co<strong>in</strong>cidence of<br />
the words here underl<strong>in</strong>ed with those attributed to Serah bat Asher <strong>in</strong><br />
reply to the Elders of Israel, confirm<strong>in</strong>g Moses as 'the man who is<br />
about to liberate Israel', accord<strong>in</strong>g to a Jewish tradition recorded <strong>in</strong><br />
PRE 48.82-86. Indeed, even the Greek word neAAei is precisely<br />
paralleled by the Hebrew THE. Moreover, not only do very many<br />
co<strong>in</strong>s of the First Jewish Revolt aga<strong>in</strong>st Rome found at Masada bear<br />
the <strong>in</strong>scriptions '<strong>The</strong> Liberation/Freedom of Zion' or 'For the<br />
Liberation of Zion', 26 but many of the Second, and also regularly the<br />
Bar Kokhba documents, present dates given <strong>in</strong> <strong>Aramaic</strong> or Hebrew as<br />
'Year x of the Liberation of Israel' or 'Year x of the Liberation of<br />
Jerusalem'. In similar ve<strong>in</strong>, the Lukan Infancy Hymns extol the<br />
24. See further the discussion of this <strong>in</strong> Wilcox, 'Luke 2.36-38. "Anna bat<br />
Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, a prophetess..." A Study <strong>in</strong> Midrash <strong>in</strong> Material<br />
Special to Luke', <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> Four Gospels 1992. Festschrift Frans Neirynck (ed. F. Van<br />
Segbroeck, C.M. Tuckett, G. Van Belle, J. Verheyden; BETL 100; Leuven: Leuven<br />
University Press, 1992), pp. 1571-79.<br />
25. Wilcox, '<strong>The</strong> Bones of Joseph: Hebrews 11.22', <strong>in</strong> Scripture: Mean<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
Method. Essays presented to Anthony Tyrrell Hanson (ed. B.P. Thompson; Hull:<br />
Hull University Press, 1987), pp. 114-30, esp. 119-21; and also 'Luke 2.36-38.<br />
"Anna bat Phanuel"'.<br />
26. At Masada the follow<strong>in</strong>g forms are found: 'Year 2. Freedom or Liberation of<br />
Zion', co<strong>in</strong>s 1358-2080, 3000-3489; 'For the Freedom of Zion' 3593-3594. See<br />
Masada I, pp. 102-19.
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