high antiquity lies in its character. Its doctrinal explanations are very simple. It explains Gen. xlix. 10, and Num. xxiv. 17, as relating to the Messiah. It contains additions to the poetic passages, which some consider interpolations.

[This is the only good Targum, and is far above all comparison with any of the others. The style is pure, and resembles that of the Chaldee parts of Daniel' and Ezra. This version follows the original text, word for word, so closely that it may be sung with the same accents as the original. Sometimes it gives the sense rather than the words. It avoids figurative expressions, which relate to the Deity." In some few instances, a different plan is pursued, and the Targum gives less a version than an explanation. Gen. xlix., Num. xxiii. 24, Deut. xxxii. 33, are instances of this treatment of the text. This difference does not arise from a corruption of the text, and still less from carelessness of the author, for the expressions are chosen with careful attention; but these passages stand as they were read in the synagogues to the people. They are not translations, but explanations, and these passages are such as were deemed of great importance by the Jews. Jonathan and the Targum of Jerusalem have treated them in the

same manner.

Where this Targum differs from the received text, it is usually supported by other ancient versions; and this shows that the text once contained the peculiar read

[E. g. Gen. ii. 5: You shall become gods. in the original; shall become princes,, in Onkelos. Again, v. 5, 8, the voice of Jehovah Elohim, (the Lord God,) in the original; it is the voice of the word of the Lord God, in the Targum. So the celebrated passage in Ex. xxxiii. 23, , is rendered what is after me,

ings. The Jews held the work of Onkelos in high esteem, since it furnished them with the explanations of many words. They even furnished the text of it with accents, as in the original."

"The Samaritan dialect agrees with the Chaldee — excepting a few variations in grammar, and in the use of several words; therefore it is not to be wondered at that the Samaritans made great use of Onkelos in translating the Pentateuch into their dialect. ...... In the printed copies of the Samaritan version, their close agreement with Onkelos is remarkable; but it is far more striking in the Barberine Triglot, where Onkelos is copied almost literally in all the sections, where the Samaritan-Hebrew does not differ from the Jewish-Hebrew Pentateuch."]

§ 59.

2. TARGUM OF JONATHAN BEN UZZIEL.

This Targum on the former and the later Prophets has the pretended Jonathan Ben Uzziel for its author. He is said to have been a pupil of Hillel, and therefore must have lived before the birth of Christ, and have written before Onkelos. [The life of Jonathan is enveloped in fables. Sometimes it is said that he was the disciple of Hillel the elder, whom tradition makes head of the academy at Jerusalem, about thirty years before Christ. But sometimes it is said he derived the materials for his Targum from the mouth of Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, and yet lived in the age of Hillel; so that he must have lived three centuries, at the least.

But others think he lived at the date alleged, and recorded a tradition said to have proceeded from their prophets.

But there is good reason for believing he flourished at a later date. He was evidently a Palestine Jew,—for no other man could have believed his wondrous legends, and yet the Jerusalem Gemara, Origen, and Jerome, knew nothing of this Targum. But this fact might easily be accounted for while the work remained obscure. Again, he retails fables which did not come into circulation till a later date. He seeks to explain away the passages respecting Christ which the Christians interpreted in their favor. From these considerations, Eichhorn concludes it could not have been written before the fourth century after Christ. Jahn places it in the latter part of the third century, and Morinus and Vossius bring it down to the seventh or eighth. But they do not sufficiently consider the purity of its style, compared with that of the Jewish writings of that date.]

The Talmud says of him, "Our rabbins inform us that Hillel the elder had eighty disciples, thirty of whom were worthy; the Shekinah dwelt above them, as above Moses, our teacher....... But thirty were so worthy that the sun might stay for them, as for Joshua the son of Nun. Twenty among them were intermediate men," between them. The greatest of all was Jonathan the son of Uzziel, and the least of all was Jonathan the son of Saccai....... They say of Jonathan the son of Uzziel, that, when he was sitting down at work upon the Law, if a bird happened to fly over him, it was immediately burnt up."

Again, "Jonathan son of Uzziel wrote his paraphrase

Baba Bathra, fol. 134, col. 1. Compare Succa, fol. 28, col. 1

6

on the Prophets, from the mouth of Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi. Then the land of Israel was shaken for four hundred parasangs; the voice of God" came forth, and said, Who is he that has revealed my secrets to the sons of men? Jonathan the son of Uzziel stood upon his feet, and said, 'It is I, who have revealed thy secrets to the sons of men.' ”₺

Some have contested the claim of this Targum to antiquity, but on insufficient grounds; namely, from the silence of the Fathers, from the presence of more modern fables, whose date and origin, however, cannot be determined, from the impurity of its style, which is yet similar to that of Onkelos. The statement that it attempts to explain away the passages relating to the Messiah, is entirely without foundation." Some later passages may have been interpolated. The fact that Jonathan cites passages from the Pentateuch according to Onkelos, seems rather to prove a later date. But Hävernik thinks that Onkelos has made use of Jonathan. The greater simplicity of Onkelos may be regarded as a proof that he is the oldest; but the explanation of the Law admitted less freedom than the ProphIt has been erroneously maintained that, be

ets.

בתקר:

A. Pfeiffer, 1. c. p. 876. Walther, Offic. Bib. p. 256. Wolf, vol. ii. p. 1159.

Eichhorn, § 226. Bertholdt, p. 579, sqq. Jahn, vol. i. p. 193, sqq. & Gesenius, Jes. vol. i. p. 66, sqq.

Zunz, p. 63, against Morinus, Ex. Bib. p. 321, sq., and I. Vossius, who date it too low. See Wolf, 1. c. p. 1160, sqq., and Bertholdt, p. 580. [Wolf places it a little before Christ; Bertholdt thinks the work could not have been written before the latter part of the second century.]

ƒ P. 78.

Targ. Jud. v. 26, agrees with Targ. Deut. xxii. 5; Targ. 2 Kings iv. 6, almost the same with Targ. Deut. xxiv. 16; Targ. Jer. xlviii. 45, 46, uniform with Targ. Num. xxi. 28, 29. — Zunz, p. 68.

cause the historical books were translated more literally than the prophetic, there must have been two different authors.

The version is less faithful and more paraphrastic than that of Onkelos," and therefore its critical and exegetical value is less. [Eichhorn, Bertholdt, and Jahn, think the author collected the Targums of several rabbins, perhaps corrected them, here and there, and reduced them to a whole. The arguments in favor of several authors are somewhat satisfactory. In the early Prophets, the version is pretty close and literal; in the later, it often "swims in a flood of words," and is paraphrastic. In Joshua and Judges, it is simple and literal; in Samuel and Kings, it is more free. Ruth is disfigured by rabbinical legends. Talmudic stories are sometimes inserted in Samuel. In the later Prophets, the manner of the version is not uniform; for a whole series of chapters, it will be pretty close and literal; then it is loose and discursive. It renders poetry tame."]

b

Gesenius, 1. c. p. 76, 77.

[E. g. 1 Sam. ii. 1-8, where a romantic interpolation is made; 1 Sam. xvii. 12-31, additions to the story of Goliah; 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, sqq.; 1 Kings iv. 33, Solomon's knowledge of natural history is taken in a mystical sense.]

EDITIONS OF THIS TARGUM. - First at Leiria, 1494, fol., with the Hebrew text and the commentaries of Kimchi, and Levi, son of Gerson. See De Rossi, Annal. p. 104. Afterwards it was printed in the Rabbinical Bibles of Bomberg and Buxtorf, and in the London Polyglot. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Jonah, by Robt. Stephens, 1546. Chald. Jonathæ Uzzielis Filii Interpret. per J. Mercerum; Pav. 1557, 4to., ex Offic. Car. Stephens. Amos, Obadiah, and Nahum, per J. Mercerum; ibid. 1557, 4to. Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, Malachi; ibid. 1552, 4to. Hosea Hebr. cum Targ. Jonath. et Comment. Raschii, Aben Ezra, et Kimchi, per Herm. von der Hardt; Helmst. 1702, 4to.; reprinted by Michaelis, Gött. 1775, 4to. [The MSS. often differ from the printed text. Lilienthal, Com. crit. ......duorum Codd., &c., (Lips. 1770, 8vo. p. 50,) as cited by Eichhorn, § 230.