The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

NORTON Jews, Greeks and the Hexapla of Origen 409
Syrians? One should either speak the sacred language there or the
Greek language.' However this should probably be understood more
as implying that the Aramaic Targums do not enjoy any status as
official texts for use, but are no more than explanations of what is inA
the sacred text. Even though we know that there existed written
Targums at the time, it seems that in the liturgy, they could not be
read, only spoken. This helped to avoid confusion between the text
and its Aramaic Targum.
Some time ago, Rabin further suggested that the reason why the
Targums were in transitional Aramaic rather than in mishnaic Hebrew
was to avoid any confusion in the minds of a congregation between the
sacred text and its explanation by a paraphrase. 17 The situation of the
Greek translation is not analogous, for the language used was determined
by the needs of the audience, and there are indications that at
certain periods and places the Greek was itself used as a sacred text.
It has on occasion been argued that the Greek translation of the
Torah functioned in the same way as the Aramaic Targums—as a
translation of the Hebrew in the interests of general comprehensibility.
Z. Frankel related the famous Novella 146 of Justinian (which
permits the use of Greek in the synagogues) to the choice between
Aramaic and Greek translations after the reading of the text, 18 i.e. in
the place of the Targums in Hebrew-speaking synagogues. But even if
this is the correct interpretation of the Novella, this may be
anachronistic. Justinian's ruling is of a different time. It may show us
the result of the discussion which led to the Greek being considered as
a Targum-type translation in some circles, but it does not throw any
light on the discussion of the use of the Greek text in synagogues of an
earlier period.
When we discuss whether the Greek was read in the place of the
Hebrew Torah in certain synagogues in Palestine, other possibilities
also present themselves for reflection. Is it possible that the Aramaic
Targums were used in synagogue services in Greek-speaking synagogues
in the same way as they were in the Hebrew-using synagogues?
The suggestion would have the following advantages: the same
liturgical structure would pertain in the Greek as in Hebrew-using
17. C. Rabin, 'Hebrew and Aramaic in the First Century', The Jewish People in
the First Century, II (ed. S. Safrai and M. Stern; Amsterdam: van Gorcum, 1976),
p. 1030.
18. Z. Frankel, Vorstudien zu der Septuaginta (Leipzig, 1841), pp. 56-57.