The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

390 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
The emphatic inclusion of the Gentiles ('all the inhabitants of the
earth') within the eschatological worship of the Temple is therefore
not only attested in the Targum, as in Sinaiticus's version of Tobit, it
is attested as a characteristic motif. And the same phrase is associated
with the kingdom of God in Targum Jonathan, notably—and in an
innovative fashion—at Zech. 14.9. 35 The sanctuary, the kingdom, and
all the inhabitants of the earth are therefore associated within the
Targum as the climax of God's revelation; Sinaiticus's Tobit
demonstrates that the first and third elements could be linked by the
first century, while Mt. 8.11, 12 shows that the second and the third
were also paired by that time. More generally, Jub. 4.26 establishes
that the global range of the sanctuary was an expectation within early
Judaism. 36
Targum Jonathan, together with Tobit and Jubilees, establishes that
an expectation of global worship in the Temple was a feature of early
Judaism, so that it is feasible that Paul aimed to promote a literal
offering of the nations by means of his collection for the needs of the
church in Jerusalem. The book of Acts is at pains to exculpate Paul
from the charge that he introduced Gentiles into the precincts of the
Temple (21.27-30). But that accusation, mounted by Jews from Asia
who were in a position to know what Paul intended (v. 27), is what in
Acts produces the attempt to kill Paul, and his subsequent (as it turned
out, definitive) arrest (vv. 31-40). Acts may not be consulted as a
straightforward historical source, but the confused picture it conveys
at this point may be consistent with the finding from Paul's own letters
that he intended that Gentiles should be joined within the sacrificial
worship of Israel. 37
Paul's assertion in Rom. 3.25, that God appointed Jesus a
iXaatTipiov 8ia Tuatecog ev TCO a\)io$ aiu,cm, 38 is not, therefore,
35. Cf. 'Regnum Dei Deus Est', 101 (as published in Targumic Approaches).
36. Cf. The Glory of Israel, '"Sanctuary" («ehpa)', pp. 18-24, and 130 n. 9.
37. Particularly, the hypothesis explains why Paul, in Romans 9-11, insists upon
including all believers within the ambit of Israel at a moment of historic weakness in
the Jewish community in Rome, cf. B.D. Chilton, 'Romans 9-11 as Scriptural
Interpretation and Dialogue with Judaism', ExAuditu 4 (1988), pp. 27-37.
38. Cranfield (Romans, p. 210) rightly asserts that it is only natural to read the
phrase concerning blood with the noun iXacrr|piov. Campbell's attempt to separate
them on the grounds that the proposition 5id is the structural key of the sentence,
relies on a mechanical understanding of Paul's rhetoric which is not shown to be
Paul's own.