A Palestinian Targum Feature in Syriac - Directory listing

A Palestinian Targum Feature in Syriac
SEBASTIAN P. BROCK
OXFORD
q!A6g 7rtarg oabptaKov 4o°715
A familiar feature of the Targumim in general is provided by the various
Adistancing mechanisms which are used where the direct interaction of
God with humanity is described in the Hebrew Bible. The purpose, of course,
is to enhance the transcendency of God;' accordingly, in the Targumim people
do not speak to God directly, as in the Hebrew Bible, but 'in his presence'
(qdam), a usage taking its origin from the Achaemenid bureaucracy where one
spoke, not directly to a high official, but 'in his presence': thus at Elephantine
the memorandum of Bagohi and Delaiah concerning the petition to rebuild
the Temple2 has: 'Let this be a memorandum for you in Egypt to say before
Arsham ...', and in several other Elephantine documents we find similar
phraseology.3 The same usage recurs in Daniel, where people regularly speak
'in the presence of' the king.4 The earliest instance of the transfer of this
use of 'to speak before' from the earthly to the heavenly court5 seems to be
the Aramaic translation of Job from Qumran: 'Job answered and said before
God' ( llQTgJob 42:1). It is likewise found in the Apocalypse of Baruch of
the late first century C.E., where, for example, Baruch says in the course of
his prayer for Jerusalem:6 'I will only say one thing in your presence, Lord',
and similar wording recurs elsewhere in the book (14:4, 16; 48:1). This earlier
usage, evidently not confined to biblical books, was then taken over as a
regular feature in both the Palestinian and Babylonian Targum traditions.7
Other 'distancing mechanisms' find their origin within the Targum tradition
itself; one such case involves the circumlocution used in response to phrases
in the Hebrew Bible where God is described as 'having been seen by' (usually
1 They have often been claimed as 'anti-anthropomorphisms', but as M. L. Klein points out,
this is inappropriate; see his 'The Preposition QDM: A Pseudo-Antianthropomorphism in the
Targums', JTS n.s. 30 (1979), pp. 502-7 (pp. 504-5: 'deference, not anti-anthropomorphism').
See also his Anthropomorphisms and Anti-Anthropomorphisms in the Targumim of the Pentateuch
(in Hebrew) (Jerusalem, 1982), pp. 110-24.
2 Cowley 32:2-3=B. Porten and A. Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient
Egypt (Winona Lake, 1986) I, A.4.9.
3 E.g. Cowley25:2 (=Textbook II, B.2.10), 'Yedoniah ... said before Widrang, commander of
the garrison'. Similarly Cowley 37:9 (=Textbook I, A.4.2); Kraeling 8:1-2 (=Textbook II, B.3.9),
etc. 4 This is noted by Klein, art. cit., but he did not take the usage back to Achaemenid Egypt.
Occurrences are to be found in Dan. 2:9, 36; 4:5; 6:13, 14. At Dan. 6:16, however, the officials
speak directly (with 1-, not qdam) to the king: a deliberate indication of their discourtesy, as R. H.
Charles points out in his Commentary (1929), p. 159.
5 The transference of the terminology of the Roman court to the heavenly court is notably
to be found in the Hekhalot literature, on which see P. Alexander in J. H. Charlesworth (ed.),
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments (Garden City NY,
1983), pp. 240-44. In the Targumim, note for example the 'familia of the angels', at Cant. 1:15.
6 Apoc. Bar. 3:4.
7 In the Peshitta it is only rarely found, e.g. Gen. 50:41 (Hebrew, 'speak in the ears of
Pharoah'), Num. 16:15 (as a variant).

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JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES
wayyera' YHWH 'el).8 Here two developments occur. In the first place, the
event is solemnized by being described as a revelation; thus in Onkelos wayyera'
Y 'el regularly becomes w- 'itgli Y 1-. In the Palestinian Targum tradition,
however, a further development takes place: God is no longer revealed 'to'
someone, but 'over' ('al) them.9 Rather remarkably, the Peshitta'0 normally
attests the Palestinian Targum usage in this, whereas Pseudo-Jonathan agrees
with Onkelos. Since this pattern is broken by a few anomalies, it will be helpful
to set out the different attestations for the Pentateuch in tabular form:"
Passage 'itgli Y 'al 'itgli Yl- 'ithzi 1- Other
(=Heb.)
Genesis
12:7 N P O PsJ SA SJ
12:7 N P O PsJ SJ SA hamitglelwateh12
17:1 N P O PsJ SM SAJ
18:1 N F PsJ P OSM SAJ (N has memra d- )
26:2 N O PsJ Sm SAJ P
26:24 N P 0 PsJ SA SJ
35:1 N P O PsJ SM SAJ
35:9 NCFP OPsJSM SAJ
48:3 N P O PsJ SA SJ
Exodus
3:2 angel N O PsJ SA S(J) P
3:16 N P O PsJ Sm SAJ P(5bl)
4:1 N O PsJ SAJ P
4:5 N O PsJ S(A)J P
5:21 NCO PsJyitgle qdam Y;
S P ylnehze
6:3 NCFSA OPsJSJP
Leviticus
9:4 N 0 PsJ SM S(J) P SA (Iwat-)
9:6 glory N P 0 PsJ Sm SA(J)
9:23 N P(6bl) 0 PsJ Sm SAJ P(rell.) qdam
Numbers
14:10 glory N 0 PsJ (SM) P (SAJ)
16:19 glory N P O PsJ SM SAJ
20:6 glory NCP O PsJ SAJ
8 This has been extensively studied by A. Chester, Divine Revelation and Divine Titles in the
Pentateuchal Targumim (Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum 14, 1986), especially chs. 2
and 5.
9 Chester provides no special comment on the difference in prepositions.
10 The use of 'etgli in the Peshitta is noted in passing by Chester, Divine Revelation, p. 239.
" C=Cairo Geniza fragments, ed. M. L. Klein; F=Fragment Targum, ed. M. L. Klein;
J=Targum Jonathan; PsJ=Targum Pseudo-Jonathan; N=Targum Neofiti; O=Targum Onkelos;
P=Peshitta; S=Samaritan Targum, ed. A. Tal (SA, SJ, SM/m represent specific manuscripts, cited
from Tal's edition). Discussion of the various anomalies (such as P at Gen. 26:2) lies beyond the
scope of this article; for the case of the variation in P at Ex. 3:16, see my review of M. D. Koster's
The Peshitta ofExodus in JTS 29 (1978), pp. 550-1.
12 Compare 'etgli lwat in Ap. Bar. 4:3.

A PALESTINIAN TARGUM FEATURE IN SYRIAC
It is noteworthy that 'itglil'etgli
couple of other Hebrew verbs:
'al is also the rendering in N and P for a
Gen. 35:7
Ex. 3:18
:n137;1 l"bM 1 l711 M 'n"
- W1'37 ;VIjpl E31 Tfl7'71'X
mlll'
In the Prophets the pattern for renderings of wayyera' Y 'el is as follows:
'itgli 'al 'itgli 1- 'ithzi 1-
Judges
6:12 JP
13:3 angel J P
1 Kings
3:5 P J -
9:2 P J -
9:2 P J -
Isaiah
53:1 arm of the Lord ('al) J P(9a1)13 P(rell.) -
60:2 glory ('al) J (P+'al)
Jeremiah
31:3 J P
Zechariah
273
9:14('ab)
JP
In fragments of the Palestinian Targum tradition preserved for the Prophets
'itgli 'al occurs at Isaiah 33:7, and 'itgli 1- at Hab. 3:1. In some further places
'itgli 'al occurs where objects or places rather than people are concerned;
thus Judges 5:4, 5 (Mount Sinai); 2 Sam. 22:11 (Cherubim); 1 Kings 19:8
(Horeb).14
Particularly interesting is the situation in 2 Chronicles, where at 1:7 and
7:12 P has 'etgli 'al, whereas the Targum has 'itgli 1-. 1:7=7:12 'etgli marya 'al
Vleymon.
The table for the Pentateuch reveals very clearly that, as far as the Targumim
are concerned, the phrase 'was revealed over' is a characteristically Palestinian
feature.15 This is further confirmed by the considerable number of further
places where the phrase occurs in Neofiti where there is no prompting in the
Hebrew due to the presence there of wayyera' Y 'el.16
The high incidence of agreements between Peshitta and the Palestinian
Targum witnesses in Genesis, and to a lesser extent in Leviticus and Numbers,
is very striking and requires explanation. Although the several claims that have
13The original reading 'al man ('etgli) is preserved only in 9a1 fam, and the rest ofthe manuscript
tradition has altered to Inan, 'to whom', in conformity with John 12:38. For the importance of9al
as a frequent lone witness to the original text of the Peshitta, see M. Weitzman, 'The Originality
of Unique Readings in Peshitta ms 9al', in R B. Dirksen and M. J. Mulder (eds.), The Peshitta:
Its Early Text and History (Leiden, 1988), pp. 225-58.
14 For the locative use, cf. Neofiti at Lev. 16:2 (Hebrew 'al); note also 4 Esdras 7:33.
15 For some references to Palestinian Aramaic outside the Targumim see M. Sokoloff, A
Dictionary ofJewish Palestinian Aramaic (Ramat Gan, 1990), 130a.
16 See Chester, Divine Revelation, pp. 230-36 for summary tables.

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JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES
been made from time to time'7 about the 'Targumic' character of at least
parts of the Peshitta are clearly unwarranted and must be rejected,18 there
nevertheless remain a number of distinctive translation features in certain
books which suggest that the Syriac translators of these particular books
(who, as we shall see, may safely be assumed to have been Jewish, and not
Christian) had some connection with the circles out of which the Targum
tradition as we know it developed. These common features may either concern
distinctive phraseology (as in the case under consideration), or reflect specific
exegetical choices. In some cases the feature in the Peshitta may be shared
with the Targum tradition as a whole, in others, with just the Palestinian or
the Babylonian.'9
How is all this to be explained? Direct dependence of the Peshitta on the
Targumim is out of the question, in that the Peshitta is manifestly an independent
translation from the Hebrew original, and where the Hebrew is
ambiguous the Peshitta frequently makes different choices in interpretation
from those made in the Targumim. A more promising approach might be
along the following lines. The two Targum traditions, Palestinian and Babylonian,
as we know them from medieval manuscripts, are clearly the end
products of a long line of development. Most scholars today would take the
view that the two traditions are related, and that the literary and linguistic
evidence (chronologically conflicting) is best explained by positing a lost common
earlier Palestinian Targum out of which both traditions have developed
in different ways. Such an explanation of course implies the presence of several
different chronological layers juxtaposed in the extant Targumim, even
though these different layers are usually perceived collectively and in an undifferentiated
way by modern scholars as representing a single recognizable style
of 'targumic translation', albeit manifested in two different forms, namely
the Palestinian and Babylonian Targum traditions. In our present context,
what is needed is a strictly diachronic approach to the various translational
and exegetical strategies that we recognize collectively as characteristic of the
Targumic process. It is precisely here that the witness of the early Aramaic
translation of Job from Qumran (I IQTgJob) and that of the Peshitta are of
particular value.
In the former we encounter for the first time the transfer of the phrase
'speak before' from the context of the human court to the divine presence.
The fact that this feature was later to become a hallmark of the Targumim is,
however, not sufficient to warrant calling this Aramaic translation of Job a
'targum' in the normal sense of the word, and to give it this name (as is usually
17 Notably by A. Voobus, Peschitta und Targumim des Pentateuchs. Neues Licht zur Frage
der Herkunft der Peschitta aus dem altpalastinischen Targum (Papers of the Estonian Theological
School in Exile 9; Stockholm, 1958). Earlier scholars who took a similar view include A.
Baumstark, C. Peters and P. Kahle.
18 See M. D. Koster, The Peshitta ofExodus: The Development ofits Text in the Course ofFifteen
Centuries (Assen/Amsterdam, 1977), pp. 198-212, and M. Weitzman, 'Peshitta, Septuagint and
Targum', in VI Symposium Syriacum, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 247 (1994), pp. 51-84.
19 The association with Onkelos was especially stressed by P. Wemnberg M0ller, 'Prolegomena
to a Re-Examination of the Palestinian Targum Fragments of the Book of Genesis Published by
P. Kahle and their Relationship to the Peshitta', JSS 7 (1962), pp. 253-66.

A PALESTINIAN TARGUM FEATURE IN SYRIAC
275
done) simply invites confusion, and accordingly should be avoided.20 What
these Aramaic fragments of Job do tell us, however, is that this particular
phraseology in the later Targumim represents one of the earliest layers among
the various features that, in combination, we recognize as being typical of the
Targum tradition.
The Aramaic fragments ofJob are usually thought to go back to the second
or even third century B.C.E.,2' which means that they must antedate what is
likely to be the earliest book of the Peshitta to be translated, namely Genesis,
by at least a couple ofcenturies. Peshitta Genesis has preserved, in the very first
verse, an instance ofthe object particle yat (otherwise extremely rare in Syriac),
and since the unsuffixed use of this particle does not seem to have come into
common use in other Aramaic dialects until the early second century C.E.22
this provides an approximate terminus post quem for this book. In view of the
fact that the Old Syriac Gospels (and probably already the Syriac version of
the Diatessaron)23 sometimes deliberately reflect the wording of the Peshitta
Old Testament when rendering quotations in the Greek New Testament, it
is unlikely that the Peshitta version of Genesis will date from much after
the middle of the second century. In combination, then, the evidence pretty
definitely points to a second-century date for this book, and this in turn
provides us with a valuable chronological peg24 to which we may attach that
particular layer in the Palestinian Targum tradition which provides us with
the circumlocution 'was revealed over'.25
In the case of those books of the Peshitta Pentateuch which employ 'etgli
'al, we are fortunate in having Palestinian Targum witnesses available. It is
salutary to recall that, prior to the discovery of Neofiti, however, our evidence
for 'etgli 'al as a characteristically Palestinian feature was very much more
limited. This needs to be kept in mind when we turn to the situation in I Kings,
where the Peshitta again provides 'etgli 'al in all relevant passages (against
'itgli 1- of Targum Jonathan). Since the survival of Tosefta Targum fragments
for this book suggests that a complete Palestinian Targum may once have
existed, one may be reasonably sure that where the Peshitta has 'etgli 'al in 1
Kings, 'itgli 'al will have appeared in the Palestinian Targum.
20 See my 'Translating the Old Testament', in D. A. Carson and H. G. M. Williamson (eds.), It
Is Written: Scripture Citing Scripture: Essays in Honour ofBarnabas Lindars (Cambridge, 1988),
pp. 87-98, esp. 94-5.
21 See, for example, G. Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective (2nd edition,
London, 1982), p. 78.
22 Cf. T. Muraoka, 'The Verbal Rection in Qumran Aramaic', in T. Muraoka (ed.), Studies
in Qumran Aramaic (Abr-Nahrain Supplement 3, 1992), p. 101. It occurs notably in some of the
documents of the early second century C.E. from the Judean Desert (including some of the Bar
Kokhba letters), though an earlier example is to be found in 5Q 15 i. 17.
23 See J. Joosten, 'The Old Testament Quotations in the Old Syriac and Peshitta Gospels: A
Contribution to the Study of the Diatessaron', Textus 15 (1990), pp. 55-76.
24 An earlier one might conceivably be seen as underlying Paul's dsoKaA T1ETEL yap 3pyl OEov
&I vdaav aItKi'aV KTA in Rom. 1:18. Note also the Syriac translation of Ben Sira 42:16, 'etgliw
rahmaw d-marya 'al kullhon 'badaw, 'the mercy of the Lord has been revealed over all his works'
(in the Hebrew the verse is differently divided, but fl172 ': 7y does feature).
25 In the extant Palestinian Targumim a number of further developments have of course taken
place in the use of the phrase, for which see Chester, Divine Revelation, passim.

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JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES
The situation in 2 Chronicles is more problematic, in that the extant Targum,
which attests 'itgli 1- and not 'al, is also of Palestinian provenance,
though probably late. The Peshitta version of Chronicles, which does provide
'etgli 'al, is a work which offers more features that could be generally
described as 'targumic' than any other book of the Syriac Bible;26 very few of
these features, however, occur in the corresponding places in the extant Targum.
Probably the best way of explaining this state of affairs is to suppose that
the Peshitta Chronicles reflects contemporary features of Palestinian Targum
practice, and in this it serves as a witness which must be considerably earlier
than the extant Palestinian Targum.
'Targumic' features in the Peshitta such as 'etgli 'al thus should not be
claimed as direct borrowings from Palestinian Targumim, but rather they
should be seen as reflecting an awareness on the part of these particular
translators of strategies of translation into Aramaic that were at the time
current in Palestine, and which we encounter today in the surviving witnesses
to the Palestinian Targum tradition. Connections with Palestinian Jewish
translation circles, combined with a good knowledge of Hebrew, make it
virtually certain that these translators were Jewish rather than Christian, even
though their handiwork came to be transmitted solely by Christians (as of
course also came to be the case with the Septuagint). These Jewish translations
must have been taken over by Aramaic/Syriac-speaking Christians in north
Mesopotamia within less than a century from the time of their origin.27 If
one were to suppose that, roughly contemporaneously with this borrowing,
some of these Jewish translators joined the nascent Christian community in
the region,28 then this would render a further phenomenon concerning the
phrase 'etgli 'al more readily explicable, namely the extension of its use in
early (and some not so early) Syriac writers to other biblical contexts where
there is no textual evidence, either in Targumim or in the Peshitta, for the use
of the phrase in the actual biblical text. It is to these that we now turn.29
(1) Gen. 4:9 MT (=N 0 P) 7'p X n1mm -173x'1
Both Ephrem in his Commentary on Genesis30 and the Syriac Life of
Abel,3" by an unknown Symmachus, state that God 'was revealed over Cain'
26 On Peshitta Chronicles see especially M. P. Weitzman, 'From Judaism to Christianity: The
Syriac Version of the Hebrew Bible', in J. Lieu, J. North and T. Rajak (eds.), The Jews among
Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire (London/New York, 1992), pp. 147-73, esp. 150-58.
27 Such an explanation would also well suit the unique case of the Targum to Proverbs, which
is dependent on an early form of the Peshitta; see, for example, E. Z. Melamed, 'Targum Mishle',
Bar Ilan Annual 9 (1972), pp. 18-91.
28 This would fit well with the historical reconstruction suggested by Weitzman in 'From
Judaism to Christianity'.
29 It is appropriate that two of these passages (Gen.4:9 and Ex.4:24) should belong to episodes
whose early exegetical history has been so skilfully illuminated by Geza Vermes in his Scripture
and Tradition in Judaism (Studia Post-Biblica 4, 2nd edn. Leiden, 1973).
30 Ephrem's Commentary on Genesis is quoted from R. Tonneau's edition (with Latin translation)
in Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (=CSCO) 152-3, Scriptores Syri 71-2
(1955). There is a recent English translation by E. G. Mathews in St Ephrem the Syrian: Selected
Prose Works (Fathers of the Church 91, 1994).
31 Quoted by section of my edition in Le Museon 87 (1974), 467-92.

A PALESTINIAN TARGUM FEATURE IN SYRIAC
at this point; thus: Ephrem C Gen. 111.5 'God was revealed over ('etgli 'al)
Cain and said to him, Where is ...'; and II1.6, referring to the same verse,
'God was revealed over him in kindness . . . '.
Life of Abel, §12: 'then God was revealed over him . . .'.
A Palestinian Jewish witness is provided by Tanhuma ad loc. (ed. Buber,
p. 10), niglah 'al.
(2) Gen. 12:1 MT (=N O P) a1mK mnr 1Imn
Ephrem, C Gen IX.2, 'God was revealed over Abram and said to him, Go
forth...'.
(3) Gen. 13:14 f. MT (=NO P) WIMM 7t -173H ;ll;l'l
Ephrem, C. Gen. X.2, 'After Lot had separated the Lord was revealed over
Abram: Arise ... '(v. 17 is quoted).
(4) Gen. 15:1 MT ratinf an=x '2 nl,l' "rm'
N D8I= t7 " M7p ,11=31 r D Mn;ll;l
0 Z31X 1Y '11'1 KXnIM ,irn
P 'the word of the Lord was upon ('at) Abram in a vision'.
Ephrem, C Gen. XII. 1, 'After these things God was revealed over Abram
in a vision and he said to him, ...' (the last three words of verse 1 are
then quoted). 'etgli 'law(hy) is repeated in XII.2; by contrast the Diarbekir
Commentary32 quotes the passage with the wording 'he was revealed to him
('etgli leh) in a vision'.
(5) Gen. 15:13 MT (=NO P) D*-W V17=t'
Ephrem, C. Gen. XII.2, 'Only after fire33 had descended on his accepted
offering, at evening, was He then revealed over him, and said to him ....
C. Gen. XII.5, the 'stillness' (Jelya) that fell upon Abraham (Gen. 15:12)
takes place 'at the time God is revealed over him and establishes with him the
covenant' (Gen. 15:18).
A Palestinian Jewish Aramaic witness is to be found in the Poem of the
Four Nights (Second Night):34
N ... DIUX '7Y3 "7~IPXTnx K1fl z"7"
277
(6) Gen. 31:3 MT (=N 0 P) npr 7X n1mm -itt'l
Ephrem, C. Gen. XXIX.2, 'God was revealed over Jacob, and he said to
him that he should return . . . '.
32 Edited, with French translation and good annotation, by L. Van Rompay, Le commentaire
sur Genese-Exode 9,32 du manuscrit (olim) Diyarbekir 22 (CSCO 483-4, Scriptores Syri 205,
1986), p. 73; the pagination of the text volume is cited, since this also features in the margins of
the accompanying translation volume.
33 For the introduction of fire, see in general my 'Fire from Heaven: From Abel's Sacrifice to
the Eucharist: A Theme in Syriac Christianity', Studia Patristica 25 (1993), pp. 229-43.
34 The various witnesses to the text are conveniently set out, for example, in R. Le Deaut, La
nuit pascale (Analecta Biblica 22, 1963), pp. 133-5.

278
(7) Gen. 31:24 MT l W
1?X" '13~=
JOURNAL OF JEWISH STUDIES
7 'I?X11 72' :"3* 'l
N nxiX xn,in Yrvn 7=b w ,, +mx
0 ;r'n x;ncri uxn-mx 7:a5* m, trip 1nn,n xnt
Ephrem, C Gen. XXIX.4, 'The Lord was revealed over Laban in a dream
and he said to him ...' (verse 24 is quoted). The phraseology with 'over' is
repeated in XXIX.5 ('Jacob says to Laban, God saw ... and was revealed
over you in the evening... '), and in XXX. 1 ('God who was revealed over him
in the evening . .. '). In contrast, elsewhere in XXIX.4 Ephrem refers to the
same episode with the words 'The God of truth was revealed to him in the
evening'.
(8) Gen. 46:2-3 MT (=P; cf. N 0) ... r7X ",3 b'tl7nl
Ephrem, C Gen. XL.5, 'God was revealed over him and he said to him, Do
not fear . . . '.
(9) Exod. 3:2 MT n' 1m,v jx71 X'l
N .'17Y n
"Inxl
P 'The angel of the Lord was seen by him' ('ethzi leh).
Aphrahat, Demonstration VI.5 (ed. Parisot, I, col. 261, 16),35 .. . from the
time that the Holy One was revealed over him (=Moses)...'.
(10) Exod. 4:24 MT ;mlu ilioli
N D xnxjn P
fl 'rvr Y71l
0 rrbn~ rr 7-v
P 'The Lord encountered him' (pga' beh).
Ephrem, C. Exod., Prologue, 'Concerning (how) the angel was revealed
over him in the night staging post and wanted to kill him'; and IV.4, 'And
behold the angel was revealed for two reasons .. .; therefore he is revealed in
anger over Moses, for of whom was it right to be afraid ... ?'. In IV. 5 Ephrem
has Moses say to Sipporah '(God ... ) who was revealed over you . .. '.36
(11) Exod. 4:27 MT (=N 0 P) 7InlX X inn9 -1nNn
Ephrem, C. Gen. IV.6, 'Now the Lord was revealed over Aaron and he sent
him to meet Moses'.
(12) Exod. 6:3 MT ...n;r.zX 7X XtXl
N . .. rrinnx 7S7 ri7:12 inw7X
o . .. zrrmx nbm
35 In Patrologia Syriaca I (Paris, 1894).
36 For the exegesis, based on Jewish aggadic traditions, of the passage in Aphrahat and
Ephrem, see A. Guillaumont, 'Un midrash d'Exode 4,24-26 chez Aphraate et Ephrem de Nisibe',
in R. H. Fischer (ed.), A Tribute to Arthur Voobus (Chicago, 1977), pp. 89-95.

A PALESTINIAN TARGUM FEATURE IN SYRIAC
P'... who was revealed to Abraham...'.
Although the anonymous Diarbekir Commentary37 quotes the phrase exactly
as it appears in the Peshitta, it immediately goes on to gloss it as '...
who was revealed over Abraham . . .'.
(13) Exod. 14:24 MT tl fl nrinn 'x mrl qprl
N "vr127 pmn1v1ve '7s tfl- "' P"7X
0 K1373?Y xInVnwv I, 2nom
P 'and the Lord was seen by ('ethzi I-) the camp of the Egyptians'.
Ephrem, C Exod. XIV.5, 'At the morning watch the Lord was revealed over
the Egyptians and put them into confusion'. The poem of the Four Nights in
the Palestinian Targum tradition at Exod. 12:42 likewise speaks of the Lord
being 'revealed over' the Egyptians.
(14) 1 Kings 19:9 MT r'5tt nmfr -inr flwi1
J ;'7l31 'l't M311n0 Km
Aphrahat, Demonstration 111.3 (ed. Parisot, I, col. 104, 14), 'and He was
revealed over him (=Elijah on Horeb)'.
Not included in this list are passages where the Peshitta already has 'etgli 'al,
and this is simply reflected in Ephrem's Commentary, either in direct quotation
or in paraphrases of the biblical text; these appear in the Commentary at
XIVl=Gen. 17:1; XIV.3=Gen. 18:1; XXXII.1=Gen. 35:1; and XLI.3=Gen.
48:3.
The fourteen instances listed above can be classified under two separate
categories: (a) cases where the Palestinian Targum tradition also has 'itgli 'al
(thus 5, 7, 9, 12, 13; in one further case, 1, there is a Palestinian witness outside
the Targum tradition); (b) cases where there is no other support for the phrase
(thus 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 14).38 The first category can serve as a starting point
in the search for an explanation for the phenomenon as a whole.
We can be certain that neither Ephrem (d. 373) nor any other later Syriac
writer will have had any direct access to Jewish Palestinian written sources,
and this phraseology is not on a par with the various exegetical traditions
that Ephrem in particular shares with Jewish tradition,39 which could conceivably
be explained as having been transferred on an oral rather than on
a written level. This would seem to leave only one plausible explanation for
the phenomenon: that phraseology like 'etgli 'al, of Palestinian Jewish origin,
became familiar to Syriac exegetical tradition at a very early stage, thanks
to the prominent presence in the early Syriac-speaking Christian community
of Jewish converts who had at some time had connections with Palestinian
circles out of which the Palestinian Targum tradition emerged. Once in Syriac
exegetical usage, it begins to function independently of its Palestinian
37 Ed. Van Rompay, p. 142.
38 In the cases of nos. 9 and 11 it is interesting that 'itgli 'al also occurs in the Palestinian
Targum in the same, or an adjoining, verse, but in a different context.
39 See note 56.
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roots, though its usage is largely confined to the two earliest major Syriac
writers whose work is preserved: Aphrahat, writing shortly before the middle
of the fourth century, and Ephrem, writing in the third quarter of the same
century. The phraseology for the most part disappears from use in later writers,
though not totally so, as can be seen from nos. (1) and (12). Curiously
enough, the phrase seems to survive best when it has been transferred from
a biblical context to that of Christian spiritual experience. An early witness
to this transference is provided by the Liber Graduum,40 a directory of the
spiritual life usually dated c. 400; here the phrase occurs twice, in XV. 16 'the
Lord is revealed over a person in this world', and XV. 18 'and He was revealed
over them ...' (in the same section we also find 'etgli I-). In later writings
the phraseology turns up only very rarely, in the context of either liturgy or
hagiography. Thus in the Martyrdom of the legendary Jewish convert Judas
Qyriaqos41 (set in Jerusalem) we have Hanna, the mother of Judas (now a
bishop), tell the emperor Julian when he asks her what is her religion, 'I revere
the heavenly king, Jesus, who was revealed over me through Judas, my son'.
In the Martyrdom of Mar Shabay, first bishop of Merv,42 we learn how 'the
angel of the Lord was revealed over her and he said to her (sc. the queen who
is Mar Shabay's patron) ...'. The anonymous East Syriac Commentary on
the Liturgy,43 dating from the early Arab period, also provides a couple of
examples: II, p. 98 line 8, where the author speaks of the time 'when God
was revealed over Moses and fulfilled his promise to Abraham'; and II, p. 106
line 10, where he gives as an explanation of why the pre-baptismal anointing
(rusma, lit. 'mark') is made with only one finger: 'because the power of God
has not (yet) been revealed over us'. As an example from an actual liturgical
text one might cite a madrasa (hymn) where we have the words 'Jesus who was
revealed over his disciples when he rose from the tomb on the first day of the
week'.44
The phrase 'etgli 'al is in fact one of a not insignificant number of features
to be found both in the Syriac Bible and, independently of the Syriac
Bible, in early Syriac literature, which have their closest links with the Jewish
Aramaic Targum tradition.45 Other examples include such phrases as 'the
spirit of prophecy' (ruha da-nbi'uta),46 'second death' (mawta tenyana, i.e.
40 Ed. M. Kmosko, Patrologia Syriaca III (Paris, 1927).
41 Ed. N. Pigulevskaya, in Revue de l'Orient Chretien 111,6 (1927/8), p. 334.
42 §23 in my edition (in preparation); for the text, see my 'Bar Shabba/Mar Shabbay, First
Bishop of Merv', in W Schwaigert and M. Tamcke (eds.), Festschrift fur W Hage (forthcoming).
43 Ed. R. H. Connolly, in CSCO 64, 71-2, 76, Scriptores Syri 25, 28-9, 32 (1911-15).
44 Fenqitho, vol. VII (Mosul, 1896), 202b.
45 In general see my 'Jewish Traditions in Syriac Sources', JJS 30 (1979), pp. 212-32, reprinted
in my Studies in Syriac Christianity (Aldershot, 1992), ch. IV.
46 Ephrem, C Diatessaron XXI.6 (in the context of Mt. 27:51-2), 'or because the spirit of
prophecy was residing (sarya) in the temple . . . '. A rare occurrence in a much later writer (seventh
century) can be found in Isaac of Nineveh (ed. Bedjan), p. 158. According to P. Schafer 'spirit of
prophecy', which is characteristic of the Babylonian Targum tradition, represents the older usage
that was replaced in the Palestinian tradition by 'spirit of holiness': see his '"Heiliger Geist" und
"Geist der Prophetie" in den Targumim und das Verhaltnis der Targumim zueinander', VT 20
(1970), pp. 304-14; this was disputed by A. Diez Macho, Neophyti I (Madrid/Barcelona, 1971),
III, pp. 52*-55*. It should be noted that 'spirit of prophecy' occurs in a Geniza fragment at Gen.

A PALESTINIAN TARGUM FEATURE IN SYRIAC 281
at Judgement),47 'resurrection of the dead' (hayyat mite),48 'sacred books'
(ktabay qud§a),49 'which is compared to' (da-mtil b-),50 and divine titles
like 'anointed king' (malka m9iha),51 terms such as aggen,52 'urayta53 and
gkinta,54 or the pairing 'grace' and 'justice',55 corresponding to the two middot.
In the same category belong several short quotations of the biblical text,
notably in Ephrem's Commentary on Genesis, where Ephrem uses wording
that goes against the Peshitta but accords with that of the Targumim, or some
part of the Targum tradition.56
How is one to explain this remarkable phenomenon, and how is it to be
fitted in to what little we know of the origins and early history of Syriac
41:38, as well as occasionally in the margin of Neofiti. A possible Greek reflection of the phrase
can be found in 7TVEoa 7U 'pO+q7KOV in Hermas, Mandate xi, and Justin, Apol. i 6.
47 See my 'Jewish Traditions', pp. 220-21, with note 28 for references; it also survives in
a number of Syriac liturgical texts still in current use. For the Jewish background see P. M.
Bogaert, 'La "seconde mort" a l'6poque des Tannaim', in A. Theodorides, P. Naster and J. Ries
(eds.), Vie et survie dans les civilisations orientales (Leuven, 1983), 199-207.
48 As in the Old Syriac codex Sinaiticus at Mt.23:23,28,30; the normal terms for 'resurrection'
in Syriac are qyamta and nuhhama.
49 E.g. Ephrem, Hymns on the Fast 5:6, and sporadically in later writers.
50 E.g. Ephrem, C Gen. XXXIII.l, XLIII.4; C. Diatessaron V.18, XII.5; Hymns on Faith
25:10.
51 As opposed to the reverse order (thus Luke 23:2). Quite frequent in Aphrahat (Dem. 1:4,
5:14, 14:30, 19:9-10, 22:4,23:13, 16,46), but absent from Ephrem apart from the (later) response
to Hymns on Unleavened Bread 6. The title also occurs in later liturgical texts, especially (it
seems) in those from the eastern Syriac area. For the Targum usage, see S. Levey, The Messiah:
An Aramaic Interpretation (Cincinnati, 1974); the phrase is already found in Ps. Sol. 17:32.
52 The verb, which translates pasah in one strand of the Palestinian Targum tradition, appears
in all the Syriac versions at both Lk. 1:35 and Jn. 1:14; see my 'An Early Interpretation ofpasah:
aggen in the Palestinian Targum', in J. A. Emerton and S. C. Reif (eds.), Interpreting the Hebrew
Bible: Essays in Honour of E. L J Rosenthal (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 27-34, and, for Syriac usage,
'From Annunciation to Pentecost: The Travels of a Technical Term', in Eulogema: Studies in
Honor ofR Taft (Studia Anselmiana 110, 1993), pp. 71-91.
53 Frequent in the Old Syriac Gospels (e.g. Mt. 22:36, Lk. 2:27, Jn. 7:49), and occasionally
found in the Peshitta and subsequent Syriac literature.
54 A feature of Peshitta Chronicles; see my 'Jewish Traditions', p. 215. Usage in the Rabbinic
literature and the Targumim is studied in detail by A. M. Goldberg, Untersuchungen um die
Vorstellung von der Schekhinah in derfrahen rabbinischen Literatur (Studia Judaica 5, 1969), and
D. Mufioz Leon, Gloria de la Shekina en los Targumim del Pentateuco (Madrid, 1977). In early
Syriac writers it occurs, for example, in Ephrem, Hymns on Unleavened Bread 13:21, Hymns on
Paradise 2:11, and C. Diatessaron 11.20. It is frequently accompanied (as in Jewish Aramaic) by
the verb sra, especially in the passive participle, Iarya, but also as the object of the af'el, 'asri (thus
Jacob of Serugh (ed. Bedjan) IV, p. 707); for the importance of this verb in earliest Syriac writing
see my 'The Lost Old Syriac at Luke 1:35 and the Earliest Syriac Terms for the Incarnation',
in W L. Petersen (ed.), Gospel Traditions in the Second Century (Notre Dame, 1989), pp. 117-
31. For some examples of skinta in later Syriac writers, see N. Sed, 'La Shekhinta et ses amis
"arameens"', in Melanges A. Guillaumont. Contributions ea l'etude des christanismes orientaux
(Cahiers d'Orientalisme 20, Geneva, 1988), pp. 233-42.
5 This is especially common in Ephrem's writings. One could also add the interesting case of
the phrase 'robe of light/glory', common in early Syriac literature, whose origin lies in an early
Jewish exegesis of Gen. 3:21; see my 'Jewish Traditions', pp. 222-3, and (in more detail) 'Some
Aspects of Greek Words in Syriac', in A. Dietrich (ed.), Synkretismus im syrisch-persischen
Kulturgebiet (Abh. Akad. Wiss. Gottingen 111.96, 1975), pp. 98-104, reprinted in my Syriac
Perspectives on Late Antiquity (London, 1984), ch. 4.
56 Several examples are noted in my 'Jewish Traditions', pp. 218-21; further ones could be
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Christianity? In the view of Drijvers,s7 the leading authority on this subject,
early Syriac Christianity had its roots in paganism rather than Judiasm, and
the Judaic features that can be seen in the fourth-century writers Aphrahat
and Ephrem are due to borrowings made in that century and not earlier. This
might be plausible enough if these features were confined to elements that
simply reached fourth-century Syriac writers through the Syriac translation of
the Hebrew Bible, but it becomes much more problematic when a considerable
number of them prove to have no basis in the Syriac Bible (let alone in any
contemporary or earlier Greek Christian writings). The existence of these nonbiblical
Jewish features in fourth-century Syriac writers alters the situation,
for it is extremely difficult to envisage how this borrowing could have taken
place at a time when relations between the two religious communities in
Syria-Mesopotamia were clearly antagonistic. Moreover, the presence of a
few of these features can be documented from a very much earlier period,
thanks to their appearance in the Diatessaron and/or the Old Syriac Gospels
(i.e. late second, and third century C.E.); furthermore, the very fact that the
early Syriac-speaking community took over an already existing local Jewish
Aramaic translation of at least some books of the Hebrew Bible implies that
this community had direct Jewish roots, and it can hardly have been anyone
other than converts from Judaism who translated any books of the Hebrew
Bible that still remained to be translated into Syriac.
Accordingly, despite the decidedly Greek-oriented character of the
Edessene Christianity of Bardaisan (died 222), it would seem best to posit the
existence, perhaps alongside the community to which Bardisan belonged,58
of other Christian communities in the area of northern Mesopotamia whose
origin was in Judaism, and whose orientation remained decidedly Jewish in
character. Such a view would seem to accord best with the evidence, of which
the phrase 'etgli 'al considered here is just a single strand. It will have been
from such communities that at least most of the Jewish features in fourthcentury
Syriac writers derive, and, one might add, it was thanks to them
that narrative haggadic techniques continued to live on in Christian Syriac
literature for some centuries.59
57 H. J. W Drijvers, 'Jews and Christians at Edessa', JJS 36 (1985), pp. 88-102, and 'Syrian
Christianity and Judaism', in Lieu, North and Rajak, The Jews among Pagans and Christians,
pp. 124-46. Although I believe Drijvers is wrong on this point, he is certainly quite correct in
his rejection of simplistic readings of the Doctrina Addai and the legend of the conversion of
Edessa; compare my 'Eusebius and Syriac Christianity', in H. W Attridge and G. Hata (eds.),
Eusebius, Christianity and Judaism (Detroit, 1992), pp. 212 34.
58 There is perhaps something to be said for J. B. Segal's suggestion that there might have been
two separate Christian missions, one of Gentile, the other of Jewish background, to Edessa and
Nisibis (though there seem to be serious objections to the main thesis of his article): 'When did
Christianity Come to Edessa?', in B. C. Bloomfield (ed.), Middle Eastern Studies and Libraries:
A Felicitation Volumefor Professor J D. Pearson (London, 1980), pp. 179-91.
59 Represented above all in an adaptation to a new genre of narrative verse memra, lively
examples of which can be found in Le Museon 99 (1986), pp. 61 129 (Abraham and Isaac), 102
(1989), pp. 93-113 (Elijah and the widow of Sarepta), and 105 (1992), pp. 87-146 (Abraham and
Sarah in Egypt). For the treatment of narrative aggada in Greek and Latin Christian writers, see
A. Kamesar, 'The Evaluation of the Narrative Aggada in Greek and Latin Patristic Literature',
JTS n.s. 45 (1994), pp. 37-71 (with a brief reference to Syriac on p. 70).