1<\/p>\n
Why John Calls Jesus \u201cthe Word\u201d<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n
This book depends entirely on, and argues for, the view that John\u2019s decision to call Jesus \u201cthe Word,\u201d the Logos (\u1f41 \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2), was influenced by the Targums, the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, many or most of which were prepared for recitation in the synagogue after the reading of the Hebrew text. In hundreds of cases in these Targums, where the MT refers to God, the corresponding Targum passage refers to the divine Word. Considered against this background, calling Jesus \u201cthe Word\u201d is a way of identifying him with the God of Israel. This book also argues that understanding the Logos title as based on the Targums is crucial to understanding not only John\u2019s Prologue, but the body of the Gospel as well, for if we understand the Logos as a divine title, we can see that John\u2019s statements about the Word (the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the Word became flesh) presage themes throughout the Gospel.
\nMy reader is probably more familiar with other explanations for the Logos title: (1) that it is based on \u201cthe word of the LORD\u201d in the OT, through which God reveals himself and accomplishes his will in the world, just as he does through his Son in the NT, (2) that it is developed from the idea of Wisdom personified in the OT and in the intertestamental Wisdom literature, and (3) that it is adapted from the Greek philosophical concept of the Logos, especially as found in the writings of the Alexandrian Jew Philo. Each of these views is plausible, and each is described in the next section. A fourth view, Bultmann\u2019s gnostic hypothesis, is not considered plausible and will not be discussed here.<\/p>\n
THREE PLAUSIBLE PROPOSALS<\/p>\n
OT Word of the LORD<\/p>\n
In the first view, the OT use of \u201cthe word of the LORD\u201d (\u05d3\u05b0\u05bc\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8\u05be\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4) is considered sufficient to explain John\u2019s use of \u201cthe Word\u201d for Christ. For instance, C. H. Dodd, though an advocate of the third view, nevertheless noted that there is \u201ca very strong case to be made out, stronger than has sometimes been recognized, for the view that the Logos of the Prologue is the [OT] Word of the Lord.\u201d Likewise, William Hendriksen wrote, \u201cAlready in the Old Testament the Word of God is represented as a Person,\u201d citing Ps 33:6, which can be related to John 1:1 (\u201cby the word of the LORD the heavens were made\u201d). In addition, Donald A. Carson suggested that John chose the title as fitting Christ\u2019s work of revelation, to which he was uniquely suited, being the only one to have been to heaven; he paraphrases John 1:1, \u201cIn the beginning God expressed himself.\u201d Carson contends that God\u2019s word is so important in the OT in creation, revelation, and deliverance; that John 1:1 (\u201cIn the beginning\u201d) alludes directly to Gen 1, where the phrase \u201cand God said\u201d is so prominent that this word is sometimes personified (e.g., Ps 107:20). All this makes \u201cit suitable for John to apply [the Word] as a title to God\u2019s ultimate self-disclosure, the person of his own Son.\u201d
\nFranklin W. Young pointed to Isa 55:10\u201311 as an attractive possibility for an OT background to Christ as God\u2019s Word, with a focus more on agency:<\/p>\n
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, \u2026 and furnishing \u2026 bread to the eater, So shall my word be which goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, without accomplishing what I desire.<\/p>\n
Young noted that one could view \u201cmy word\u201d here as a description of Christ\u2019s work as described in John 6: he came down from heaven to do the Father\u2019s will (v. 38); he is the bread upon whom people must feed to have life (vv. 48, 50); and he will not return until he accomplishes the Father\u2019s will (v. 44). The LXX for \u201caccomplish\u201d in Isa 55:11 is a form of \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03ad\u03c9, which Young compares to the Lord\u2019s final saying on the cross, \u201cIt is finished\u201d (\u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9; John 19:30). The LXX of Isa 55:10 has \u1fe5\u1fc6\u03bc\u03b1 for \u201cword,\u201d but \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 could have been used just as well, and John does not necessarily use the LXX for his OT citations and allusions.
\nDelbert Burkett gave further support for this view by relating John 7:34, \u201cYou will seek me but will not find me \u2026\u201d (similarly 8:21) to Amos 8:11\u201312, which predicts a famine for hearing the words of the LORD: \u201cThey will wander from sea to sea \u2026 to seek the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.\u201d This passage is especially striking in that the context indicates that the sign of the fulfillment of this judgment is that \u201cI will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight\u201d (Amos 8:9; cf. Matt 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). That John does not mention this darkening of the land does not necessarily count against this allusion if (as I assume) John\u2019s intended audience is already familiar with the synoptic tradition.
\nAs impressive as Burkett\u2019s argument is, John 7:34 can also be used to furnish equally striking support for each of the other views to be discussed. Support for the notion that the Logos title is based on the OT \u201cword of the LORD\u201d can also be found in John 14:6, where Jesus calls himself \u201cthe truth\u201d and later says that the Father\u2019s \u201cword is truth\u201d (17:17), echoing Ps 119:60, \u201cthe sum of your words is truth.\u201d Thus, \u201cJesus is the truth\u201d implies \u201cJesus is the [OT] word.\u201d
\nAndreas J. K\u00f6stenberger offered four lines of support for the idea that the OT word of the LORD is preferable to either Wisdom or Philo\u2019s Logos as a basis for the Logos title:<\/p>\n
(1) the evangelist\u2019s deliberate effort to echo the opening words of the Hebrew Scriptures by the phrase \u201cin the beginning\u201d; (2) the reappearance of several significant terms from Gen 1 in John 1 (\u201clight,\u201d \u201cdarkness,\u201d \u201clife\u201d); (3) the Prologue\u2019s OT allusions, be it to Israel\u2019s wilderness wanderings (1:14: \u201cpitched his tent\u201d) or to the giving of the law (1:17\u201318); and (4) the evangelist\u2019s adaptation of Isa. 55:9\u201311 for his basic Christological framework.<\/p>\n
Wisdom in the Wisdom Literature<\/p>\n
Interpreters have also made a reasonable case for the second view\u2014that the idea of Wisdom as developed in Proverbs, Sirach, Baruch, and Wisdom of Solomon provides a possible background to John\u2019s Logos. Thomas H. Tobin, though an advocate of the third view, summarized the connection to Wisdom as follows:<\/p>\n
Both the logos of the hymn in the Prologue [of John] and wisdom in Jewish wisdom literature are with God in the beginning; both are involved in the creation of the world; both seek to find a place among humankind; both are within a Jewish tradition of speculation about the deeper meanings of the early chapters of Genesis. In addition, many of the parallels between the logos in the hymn and the figure of wisdom are found in passages which like the hymn are poetic in character (Prov 8:22\u201331; Sir 24). The parallels are not simply conceptual but also stylistic.<\/p>\n
Especially of interest in connection with John 1:14 is Sirach\u2019s image of Wisdom as dwelling in a tent among men:<\/p>\n
I (Wisdom) dwelt in the highest heavens,
\nand my throne was in a pillar of cloud.
\nAlone I compassed the vault of heaven
\nand traversed the depths of the abyss.
\nOver waves of the sea, over all the earth,
\nand over every people and nation I have held sway.
\nAmong all these I sought a resting place;
\nin whose territory should I abide?
\n\u201cThen the Creator of all things gave me a command,
\nand my Creator chose the place for my tent.
\nHe said, \u2018Make your dwelling in Jacob,
\nand in Israel receive your inheritance.\u2019 \u201d (Sir 24:4\u20138 NRSV)<\/p>\n
\u201cDwelt\u201d in v. 4 and \u201cmake your dwelling\u201d in v. 8 are from \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9, often used in the LXX to translate the Hebrew verb \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df, used for God\u2019s dwelling among his people. John 1:14 uses the similar verb \u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9. Likewise, \u201ctent\u201d in v. 8 is \u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03ae, used in the LXX for the tabernacle. Similarities to John 1:14 are thus obvious. Of course, there is a major difference as well, since John says that all things were created through the Word, whereas in the wisdom passage, Wisdom is said to be \u201ccreated\u201d by \u201cthe Creator of all things.\u201d
\nBaruch 3:36\u201337 also is reminiscent of John 1:14: \u201c(God) found the whole way to knowledge, and gave her to his servant Jacob and to Israel, whom he loved. Afterward she appeared on earth and lived [\u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03bd\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03ad\u03c6\u03c9] with humankind\u201d (NRSV).
\nThe view that John\u2019s Word depends on Wisdom in the Wisdom Literature has much in common with the view that the Logos title depends on the OT word of God, since Wisdom is specifically equated with God\u2019s written word. Immediately following the quote just given about Wisdom living with humankind, we read of Wisdom, \u201cShe is the book of the commandments of God, the law that endures forever. All who hold her fast will live, and those who forsake her will die\u201d (Bar 4:1 NRSV). Thus, Wisdom \u201cappeared upon earth\u201d as the Torah given to Israel.
\nIn Proverbs the message of Wisdom is essentially the same as that of the Law and the Prophets: fear God, heed his commandments, and live. Craig Keener thinks that John combined the idea of Torah (OT word in its most complete sense) and Wisdom to present Jesus as Torah, because his life exhibited perfect obedience to (thus was a revelation of) the Torah.
\nIn terms of the close verbal parallels to John\u2019s Prologue, the Wisdom background can be seen as an improvement over the OT word background. There is nothing as explicit as \u201cand Wisdom became flesh,\u201d but Dodd notes that the fact that Wisdom is immanent among men \u201cprovides a kind of matrix in which the idea of incarnation might be shaped.\u201d In addition, he notes that the Wisdom literature comes closer to the proposition \u201cthe Word was God\u201d because \u201cthe functions assigned to Wisdom are often clearly those which are elsewhere assigned to God Himself.\u201d For example, while the passages quoted above speak of Wisdom dwelling among humankind (specifically, Israel), the OT speaks of the LORD himself dwelling among humankind.
\nGlory is an attribute of Wisdom, and Wisdom is associated with the glory of God (Wis 7:25; 9:11; Sir 14:27). Wisdom is also unique (Wis 7:22, using \u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03ae\u03c2 as in John 1:14, 18), which leads Martin Scott to conclude, \u201cJust as the glory of the unique Sophia is seen as she comes into the world, so too the glory of the unique Logos is seen as he comes among human beings as a human.\u201d However, Wis 7:22 says that Wisdom has a spirit that is \u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03ae\u03c2, and there is no Wisdom text that uses phraseology anything like \u201cthe glory of the unique Wisdom is seen as she comes into the world.\u201d
\nOther texts in John could be used to support a personified Wisdom background to \u201cthe Word\u201d in John. In 15:10, Jesus says, \u201cIf you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.\u201d Because Jesus defines love for him as keeping his commandments (14:15, 21; 15:14), 15:10 could also be interpreted, \u201cIf you love me, you will abide in my love,\u201d agreeing with Prov 8:17, where Wisdom says, \u201cI love those who love me, and those who diligently seek me shall find me.\u201d This last phrase could also be connected to John 7:34 (\u201cYou [the Jews] will seek me but will not find me\u201d), the same verse Burkett connected to Amos 8:11\u201312 to support the OT word view (see above). John 7:34 could support the view that outside the Prologue, the Gospel of John depicts Jesus as Wisdom; they will not find him because they do not seek diligently. Proverbs 14:6 makes a similar point about wisdom, though the verb \u201cfind\u201d is not actually used: \u201cThe scornful seeks wisdom, but there is none.\u201d With Jesus understood as Wisdom, this verse would imply that they do not find him because they are scoffers (cf. Luke 16:14, where the Pharisees are scoffing at him).
\nWhile the personified Wisdom interpretation might be preferable to the OT word interpretation, as it accords better with the statement \u201cthe Word was God,\u201d it has the disadvantage that John uses \u201cWord,\u201d not \u201cWisdom.\u201d The switch to \u201cword\u201d is sometimes explained as due to the avoidance of the feminine gender of the word \u201cwisdom\u201d (both in Greek and Hebrew, not to mention Aramaic). Further, \u201cword\u201d is an appropriate substitute for \u201cwisdom\u201d on the grounds that either (1) personified Wisdom is the wisdom of the OT word or (2) Philo\u2019s Logos incorporates Wisdom and brings us closer to \u201cthe Word was God.\u201d This leads us to a discussion of the Logos in Philo.<\/p>\n
The Logos in Philo<\/p>\n
One of the most prominent advocates of the third view was C. H. Dodd, who wrote that \u201cWith Wisdom we are already half-way to Philo\u2019s Logos.\u201d Dodd argued for the following parallels between the Logos in Philo and John\u2019s Prologue:<\/p>\n
In the beginning was the Word<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore creation, God conceived in His mind the \u03ba\u03cc\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bd\u03bf\u03b7\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2 [the world perceptible to the mind], which is His \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2.\u201d This plan of the world is analogous to that of an architect before he builds a city. \u201cDiscerned only by the intellect,\u201d this plan can only be called \u201cthe Word of God\u201d (On the Creation of the World 24).<\/p>\n
The Word was with [\u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2] God<\/p>\n
\u201cGod sent forth His younger son, the \u03ba\u03cc\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f30\u03c3\u03b8\u03b7\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2, but kept the elder, \u03ba\u03cc\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bd\u03bf\u03b7\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2 = \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 (see above), \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u02bc \u1f11\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u1ff7 (with him).\u201d God decided that this older son \u201cshould remain in His own keeping\u201d (That God Is Unchangeable 31).<\/p>\n
The Word was God<\/p>\n
\u201cThe anarthrous \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2 may be used of the \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 while \u1f41 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2 is reserved for the Self-existent.\u201d Dodd cites On Dreams 1.229\u201330 where Philo is commenting on Gen 31:13, which in the LXX reads, \u201cI am (the) God [\u1f41 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2] who appeared to you (Jacob) in the place of God\u201d (\u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u1ff3 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6, without the definite article, for MT Bethel). What Moses calls \u201cGod\u201d without the article is \u201cHis chief Word.\u201d Dodd could have cited this text also under \u201cthe Word was with God,\u201d since Philo is wondering why God does not say to Jacob \u201cin my place,\u201d but rather \u201c \u2018in the place of God,\u2019 as though it were another\u2019s\u201d (On Dreams 1.228). This apparent \u201cother\u201d is the Logos.<\/p>\n
All things came into being through him<\/p>\n
In On the Cherubim 127 Philo says that God is the cause of the world coming into existence, while \u201cits instrument (is) the word of God, through which it was framed.\u201d<\/p>\n
In him was life<\/p>\n
Dodd did not find a direct parallel, but pointed to On Flight and Finding 97, where Philo interprets the command to flee to a city of refuge as a command to flee \u201cto the supreme Divine Word, who is the fountain of Wisdom, in order that he may draw from the stream and, released from death, gain life eternal as his prize.\u201d In On the Posterity of Cain 68\u201369, Philo says, \u201che that lives an irrational [\u1f00\u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03c9\u03c2] life has been cut off from the life of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Word is true light<\/p>\n
In On Dreams 1.75, Philo refers to God as light, and the highest model of light: \u201cFor the model or pattern was the Word which contained all His fullness\u2014light, in fact.\u201d On the Creation of the World 33 speaks of the adversary relationship between light and darkness. In On the Confusion of Tongues 60\u201363, Philo calls the incorporeal light \u201cthe eldest son,\u201d elsewhere called \u201cHis first-born\u201d which is also elsewhere called the Logos.<\/p>\n
To those who received him, he gave the right to become children of God<\/p>\n
Philo notes that Moses calls the Israelites \u201csons of God\u201d in Deut 14:1: \u201cBut if there be any as yet unfit to be called a Son of God, let him press to take his place under God\u2019s First-born, the Word\u201d who is called by many names, such as \u201cthe Name of God, and His Word, and the Man after His image,\u201d so that at least \u201cwe may be sons of His invisible image, the most holy Word\u201d (On the Confusion of Tongues 145\u201347).<\/p>\n
No man has seen God at any time \u2026<\/p>\n
Commenting on Exod 24:10, which in the LXX reads, \u201cthey saw the place where the God of Israel stood\u201d (cf. the MT: \u201cthey saw the God of Israel\u201d), Philo says that those who choose Moses as their guide will see this place. It is natural to \u201cdesire to see the Existent if they may, but, if they cannot, to see at any rate his image, the most holy Word\u201d (On the Confusion of Tongues 96\u201397).<\/p>\n
Tobin has also advocated Philo\u2019s Logos over wisdom as the source of John\u2019s Logos title. He reasons that the fact that we find \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 and not \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03af\u03b1 in John 1 shows that the author has moved beyond wisdom speculation to the kind of Logos speculation found in Philo, in which the \u201clogos overshadows wisdom in importance,\u201d is \u201ca reality which existed with God before creation,\u201d is described with \u201cthe anarthrous theos (God)\u201d connected to \u201cin the beginning\u201d from Gen 1:1, was the instrument of creation, and is associated with light and with becoming children of God.
\nDespite these parallels, Philo\u2019s Logos falls short in providing a complete explanation for the Logos of John 1, specifically, \u201cthe Word became flesh.\u201d Dodd maintains, however, that this sentiment is more understandable in Philo than in the Wisdom literature since in Philo the Logos is not a word but \u201ccreative reason,\u201d which in some sense is \u201cimmanent in man, as the equivalent of the divine, essential humanity.\u201d
\nDodd also explained why the word \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 is not used in this Philonic sense in the Gospel itself: \u201cIt is only in the Prologue that the evangelist deals with cosmology.\u201d Even so, he maintained that the Logos theology pervaded the Gospel. As evidence, he noted: (1) \u201ctruth\u201d as used in the Gospel is very close to \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 in Philo; (2) the metaphysics of John is not unlike Philo (Jesus\u2019 use of \u1f00\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 for true light, true bread, true vine); (3) the term \u201cSon of Man\u201d is best understood as true man (\u1f04\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2) or \u201cthe Idea of Man,\u201d identified in Philo with the Logos. Thus, \u201cthe substance of a Logos-doctrine similar to that of Philo is present all through the gospel.\u201d
\nReturning to John 7:34, we have noted previously how this text (\u201cYou will seek me, but will not find me\u201d) can be related either to OT Word or to wisdom texts so as to provide striking support for either of the two previously discussed views. But if one was inclined to explain the Logos title as deriving from Philo, one can also find support for this view in John 7:34.
\nIn Questions and Answers on Genesis 3.27, Philo explains the meaning of Gen 16:7 (\u201cAn angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water \u2026\u201d), in the course of which he says, \u201cIf the divine Logos is to be found, he seeks it\u201d\u2014\u201che\u201d being \u201cthe soul that progresses\u201d who is not \u201ccompletely foolish.\u201d In On Flight and Finding 5, Philo identifies the angel of the LORD who found Hagar (Gen 21:17) as the divine Word [\u03b8\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2].
\nIn On Flight and Finding 120, Philo discusses the possible combinations of seeking and finding: (1) some neither seek nor find; (2) some both seek and find; (3) some seek but do not find; (4) some do not seek yet find. John 7:34 would put Jesus\u2019 hearers in the third category, but Philo\u2019s discussion of the second category is actually more pertinent to John\u2019s Gospel. In a discussion of the manna in the wilderness, Philo says that the Israelites\u2019 question concerning the manna (Exod 16:15, \u201cWhat is it?\u201d) was an inquiry of those seeking to know about \u201cWhat it is that nourishes the soul,\u201d adding that they \u201cbecame learners and found it to be a saying of God [\u1fe5\u1fc6\u03bc\u03b1 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6], that is the Divine Word [\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd \u03b8\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bf\u03bd], from which all kinds of instruction and wisdom flow in perpetual stream\u201d (On Flight and Finding, 137). Such a view of the manna as divine word could be seen as underlying John 6, where Jesus, called the divine Word in the Prologue, presents himself as the true manna (vv. 32ff.), after being both sought and found (vv. 24\u201325). In closing his discussion of seeking and finding, Philo quotes Moses from Deut 4:29, that if Israel seeks the LORD with all their soul, they will find him (On Flight and Finding, 142). Deuteronomy 4:29 assumes that Israel has been exiled for their sins, and promises restoration, which is of relevance to John if, as most interpreters believe, the Gospel is also written from a post-AD 70 perspective, so that Palestinian Jews have experienced a recent exile and would naturally hope for a restoration such as Deut 4:29 anticipates.
\nWhile Philo ascribes spiritual motives to the Israelites\u2019 seeking to know what the manna is, implying that this is why they found what they sought, Jesus says that his hearers seek him for baser motives: \u201cYou seek me, not because you saw miracles, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled\u201d (John 6:26). He goes on to direct their attention to spiritual nourishment and their need to feed upon him, the one whom John has called \u201cthe Word.\u201d Their rejection of this invitation means that they will fall not into Philo\u2019s second category but into his third: \u201cYou will seek me but will not find me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Summary<\/p>\n
In this chapter, we have reviewed the plausible arguments for three views of the source of John\u2019s Logos title. A wrong hypothesis will typically be harder to recognize as wrong, the closer it is to the correct one. It is easy to assume that data which is consistent with a particular hypothesis confirms that hypothesis and thereby to overlook the fact that the data might also be consistent with another hypothesis. We saw that John 7:34 could be interpreted to support any of these three views, which diminishes its value in supporting any one of them in particular. Further, John 7:34 can just as plausibly be interpreted as consistent with a Targum derivation of the Logos title. I make the case for such an understanding in ch. 8, but at this point I will simply mention that the Targum view takes \u201cthe Word\u201d as a divine title denoting the name of God. Consequently, one may, for example, relate John 7:34 directly to Deut 4:29 (the passage mentioned by Philo, and noted above, which promises that if Israel seeks the LORD with all their heart, they will find him) or Isa 55:6 (\u201cSeek the LORD while he may be found\u201d), two passages that imply the possibility of seeking God but not finding him.
\nMethodologically, when faced with multiple possible interpretations, one must identify the one that best explains all the data. When there are competing views, it is necessary to explain why one\u2019s favored view is better than the others. As we have seen, Dodd did so when advocating Philo\u2019s Logos, except that he did not consider the \u201cWord\u201d language of the Targums, even though (as we shall see) he acknowledged that the targumic Word was conceptually similar to Philo\u2019s Logos. Often interpreters completely overlook the Targum view. We will address the arguments of those who do consider this view in ch. 12, when we will be in a better position to critique them.<\/p>\n
A PRELIMINARY CASE FOR DERIVING THE LOGOS TITLE FROM THE TARGUMS<\/p>\n
What Are the Targums?<\/p>\n
\u201cTargum\u201d is a Hebrew word (also used in Aramaic) meaning \u201ctranslation,\u201d and it is used especially for Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Scriptures that were read in the synagogues on the Sabbath and on feast or fast days. Scholars usually assume that the practice of translation was necessitated by the loss of Hebrew fluency by Jews growing up in exile. Nehemiah 8:7\u20138 says that after Ezra\u2019s reading of the law, the Levites explained the law to the people: \u201cThey read from the book, from the law of God, translating [or explaining] to give the sense so that they understood the reading\u201d (v. 8 NASB). Other versions say not that they translated, but that they made clear, or read clearly or distinctly. In any case, the NASB translation of Neh 8:8 seems to be a good summary of the goal of the Targums. Translations developed over time, and at some point began to be written down, though in the synagogue they were recited, not read, so as not to be put at the same level as the Hebrew Scriptures. The written Targums were subject to modification from one generation to another, while the Hebrew Scriptures were preserved as they were received. All of the extant Targums seem to date from the second century C.E. and later, yet a number of the translations would preserve readings that were current in the first century, as is evident from various passages from the NT itself. For the Targums of individual books or sets of books described below, the relevant volumes of The Aramaic Bible provide suitable introductions with bibliographies (Collegeville, Minn., Liturgical Press; Edinburgh, T&T Clark). This ongoing project, started in 1987, aims to provide English translations for all the Targums.<\/p>\n
Targums Jonathan and Onqelos<\/p>\n
Targum Jonathan (Tg. Jon.) covers the Former and Latter Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the minor prophets). Tradition ascribed this Targum to Jonathan ben Uzziel, who lived in the first century C.E., although it is more likely a product of many hands and continued to be modified into the fourth century. Targum Onqelos (Tg. Onq.) covers the Pentateuch and, like Jonathan, probably has many authors. Onqelos and Jonathan are considered \u201cofficial\u201d Targums in the sense that they are supposed to represent rabbinic Judaism after C.E. 70. They apparently originated in Palestinian Judaism, but their latest editions were done in Babylon.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian Targums of the Pentateuch<\/p>\n
Targums considered \u201cPalestinian\u201d (Pal. Tgs.) are Neofiti 1 (Tg. Neof.), Pseudo-Jonathan (Tg. Ps.-J.), and the Fragmentary Targums (Frg. Tgs.). In the case of Tg. Ps.-J., both \u201cPalestinian\u201d and \u201cTargum\u201d need qualification. Michael Maher suggests that Ps.-J., though based on a Targum, is not a proper \u201cTargum\u201d in that (1) it shows signs of being a scholarly work meant to be read and studied in private by other scholars rather than recited publicly in the synagogue as a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures; and (2) it approaches the genre \u201crewritten Bible\u201d because of the extensive embellishments which have little or nothing to do with translating the relevant Hebrew text. \u201cPalestinian\u201d is also problematic because that term is supposed to distinguish these Targums from the \u201cofficial\u201d Targum of the Pentateuch, namely, Tg. Onq. Yet it is clear that in a great many cases Tg. Ps.-J. agrees with Tg. Onq. against the Pal. Tgs. This fact underscores the importance of the discovery of Tg. Neof. sixty years ago; until then we did not have \u201cPalestinian\u201d renderings of a great number of passages in the Pentateuch.
\nThe name Pseudo-Jonathan came about due to the fact that at one time (e.g., J. W. Etheridge\u2019s nineteenth-century translation) the author was considered to be the same Jonathan who was thought to have authored Tg. Jon., the Targum of the Prophets. This conclusion seems to have resulted from mistaking the initials TJ (\u05ea\u05d9), likely meaning \u201cTargum Jerusalem,\u201d for \u201cTargum Jonathan.\u201d When the mistake was realized, the text then became known as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. Of course, as noted above, Jonathan did not write the Targum of the Prophets, either, but the Targum of the Prophets is not called Pseudo-Jonathan.
\nThe Frg. Tgs. are not fragments of manuscripts of complete Targums but rather portions of Palestinian Targums of the Pentateuch that were selected and copied out according to some unknown principle. The two major types are called P (after the Paris MS 110) and V (after MSS from the Vatican, N\u00fcrnberg, and Leipzig). In this book, Frg. Tg. V indicates a reading found in one or more of the MSS of this type.
\nTargum Neofiti, thought to be a copy of a Targum from about the fourth century, is therefore the only complete Palestinian Targum of the Pentateuch. Actually, as Martin McNamara notes, because of the extensive marginal and interlinear glosses (Tg. Neof. [mg.] \/ [int.]), it is a witness also to three other types of Palestinian Targums. Neofiti glosses tend to agree with the Frg. Tgs. (where extant) more closely than does the body of the text. Neofiti was discovered in the Vatican library in 1949, about the same time as the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered in the caves of Judea. It had been overlooked for some time because it was considered to be just another copy of Tg. Onq. Neofiti, so called because it was produced by a college for Jewish converts to Catholicism (thus neophytes).
\nFragments of Targum manuscripts from the famous Cairo Synagogue Genizah (CTgs.), not to be confused with the Frg. Tgs., often agree with one or more of the Palestinian Targum readings. McNamara\u2019s volumes on Tg. Neof. in The Aramaic Bible series include readings of interest from these fragments.
\nBesides having odd-sounding names, the Palestinian Targums are characterized by more paraphrase and inclusion of legendary material than Tg. Onq. They also tend to be of more significance for NT studies, including (as we shall see) the concept of the divine Word.<\/p>\n
Other Targums<\/p>\n
Targums of the other OT books, with the exception of Ezra-Nehemiah and Daniel (originally written partly in Aramaic), also exist and are relevant for our study. The Tosefta Targum of the Prophets (Tos. Tg.) consists of Targums of individual verses in the Prophets which have a more \u201cPalestinian\u201d character than Tg. Jon. and may be witnesses to a now (mostly) lost Palestinian Targum of the Prophets.<\/p>\n
There is some evidence that there may once have been a Palestinian Targum to the Prophets that contained large units of material added into the translation. The evidence is that some manuscripts of the known Targum to the Prophets preserve such additional material in their margins. Similarly, medieval scholars such as Rashi and Kim\u1e25i cite prophetic traditions in Aramaic designated as Targum Yerushalmi (i.e., Palestinian Targum) as do some manuscripts such as Codex Reuchlinianus. The best explanation for this material is that they once belonged to a complete Palestinian Targum to the Prophets, but during the early middle ages when the more literal Jonathan Targum to the Prophets became the dominant targum in the West, the aggadic material was extracted to preserve it alongside the newly authoritative translation, while the Palestinian Targum itself was lost.<\/p>\n
The Aramaic texts of the Targums are available online, through the \u201cComprehensive Aramaic Lexicon\u201d project (CAL) of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. The texts are displayed a verse or chapter at a time, with some morphological information. Online dictionaries and concordance searches are also available on the website. Etheridge\u2019s nineteenth-century English translations of Tg. Onq., Tg. Ps.-J., and Frg. Tg. V (labeled \u201cJerusalem\u201d), along with recent English translations of the Targums of Psalms, Lamentations, Ruth, and Song of Songs, are available online through \u201cThe Newsletter for Targumic and Cognate Studies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Divine Word in the Targums<\/p>\n
In the Targums, the divine Word is usually indicated by a form of the Aramaic word \u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 (Memra), which, when so used, is not a translation of anything in the Hebrew text; rather, the phrase \u201cthe Word of the LORD,\u201d is often a circumlocution, or substitute, for the Tetragrammaton (the \u201cfour letters,\u201d \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4, or YHWH), the pre-eminent OT name for God. \u201cThe Word of the LORD\u201d is actually more than a circumlocution, since \u201cLord\u201d by itself was already in use as a substitute for the divine name, as is clear from a comparison of the MT and the LXX. In recitation of the Targums, when the Hebrew \u2018Adonay was used, rather than another Hebrew word meaning \u201cLord,\u201d the hearers would know that the Tetragrammaton was meant.
\n\u201cMemra\u201d is the emphatic (definite) form of \u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 (memar), from the root \u05d0\u05de\u05e8. Aramaic memar may be used simply as a translation of a Hebrew word for \u201cword\u201d (usually the etymologically related \u05d0\u05b5\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 or \u05d0\u05b4\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4). When the word is used as a circumlocution for the divine name, it is of particular interest with relation to the Logos title. When so used, in English translations of the Targums it is often transliterated consistently as Memra, even though the underlying Aramaic spelling changes depending on whether or not the word is emphatic or has pronominal suffixes.
\nAnother important word used in \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d as a way of rendering MT \u201cthe LORD\u201d is \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 (Dibbera), also spelled \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 (Dibbura). This word is used primarily in the Pal. Tgs. of the Pentateuch and appears infrequently compared to \u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0. Yet, among its relatively few uses are several that give key support to the view that the Logos title in John does in fact depend on the Word of the LORD terminology from the Targums. Dibbera\/Dibbura is generally overlooked by those considering the Targums as possible background for the Logos title, though its use was noted as long ago as the nineteenth century by Ferdinand Weber and B. F. Westcott.
\nTo some extent, Memra and Dibbera are used interchangeably, as can be seen from several examples: (1) Gen 3:8 says that Adam and Eve heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden; in v. 10 Adam says, \u201cI heard the sound of you.\u201d In Pal. Tgs. Gen 3:8, 10, Adam and Eve hear the sound\/voice of \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d strolling about in the garden. Both Memra (Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. Gen 3:8, 10; Frg. Tg. P Gen 3:8) and Dibbera (Tg. Neof. [mg.] and Frg. Tg. P Gen 3:10) are used. (2) In giving instructions for the building of the ark of the covenant, the LORD says, \u201cthere I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you concerning the sons of Israel\u201d (Exod 25:22). In place of \u201cI will meet you,\u201d Tg. Neof., Tg. Ps.-J., and Tg. Onq. all read \u201cI will appoint my Memra.\u201d In reporting the fulfillment of this purpose in Num 7:89, Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. say that from above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim, the Dibbera used to speak to Moses. Also, in Num 17:[4] God describes the place before the ark as the place where he meets with Moses, and again Tg. Neof., Tg. Ps.-J., and Tg. Onq. say that his Memra meets Moses there. (3) Leviticus 1:1 says, \u201cThe LORD called to Moses and spoke to him.\u201d The Tg. Ps.-J. Lev 1:1 says the Dibbera of the LORD called to him and the Memra of the LORD spoke to him. Targum Neofiti and Frg. Tg. V also use Dibbera as subject of the verb \u201ccall,\u201d and both of the Frg. Tg. traditions use Memra as subject of the verb \u201cspoke.\u201d When \u201cWord\u201d (capitalized) appears in Targum passages in this book, Memra is meant, unless otherwise indicated (e.g. by adding Dibbera\/Dibbura in brackets).
\nBut despite the overlap between the two terms, Dibbera is used in a more specialized sense than Memra. Etan Levine notes that Memra is used for more or less the full range of God\u2019s activities in the world; Memra \u201cconveys the being and doing of YHWH, across the entire spectrum.\u201d Samson H. Levey notes the Memra \u201cis everything that God is supposed to be, and its manifold activity encompasses the entire spectrum of divine endeavor,\u201d but \u201cthe Dibbur is the divine word, limited to speech, articulation, proclamation.\u201d
\nSince Dibbera by itself means divine speech, it is not necessary to say \u201cthe Dibbera of LORD.\u201d Thus, in Num 7:89, cited above, the Pal. Tgs. say, \u201cFrom there the Dibbera (not the Dibbera of the LORD) used to speak with (Moses).\u201d This is potentially significant since in the Prologue John calls Jesus \u201cthe Word,\u201d not \u201cthe Word of the Lord\u201d or \u201cthe Word of God\u201d (although this term is used for Jesus in Rev 19:13). George Foot Moore argued against the idea of relating Memra to John\u2019s Logos because<\/p>\n
memra does not occur without a genitive\u2014\u201cthe word of the Lord,\u201d \u201cmy word,\u201d etc., or a circumlocution for the genitive, \u201ca memar from before the LORD.\u201d \u201cThe Memra,\u201d \u201cthe Word,\u201d is not found in the Targums, notwithstanding all that is written about it by authors who have not read them.<\/p>\n
However, John called Jesus \u201cthe Word\u201d based on both Memra and Dibbera, this objection loses its force. As shown below, several passages in John 1 seem to be illumined by passages in the Pal. Tgs. of the Pentateuch, where Jesus in the NT corresponds to the Dibbera, \u201cthe Word,\u201d of the Targums.
\nIn its \u201ccommon\u201d meaning, \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 is used for the Ten Commandments, which are the ten \u201cwords\u201d in Hebrew, rendered in the LXX with both \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03b9 (Exod 34:28; Deut 10:4) and \u1fe5\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 (Deut 4:13). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Deut 4:12\u201313 illustrates the two usages: \u201cYou heard the voice of the Word [\u05d3\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0] \u2026 And he declared to you his covenant, \u2026 the ten words [\u05d3\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0].\u201d Dibbera is also not used in pronominal expressions such as \u201cmy Word.\u201d \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 is also found once as a biblical Hebrew word, if the pointing is correct, where again it has the connotation of divine speech: \u201cThe word [\u05d4\u05b7\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8] is not in them (the false prophets)\u201d (Jer 5:13).
\nAn objection to examining targumic passages containing Dibbera with passages in John could be made on the basis that \u201cDibbura is usually held to be a late and secondary insertion within the Targumic versions.\u201d Against this view I would draw attention to the use of Dibbura in Tg. Ezek. 1:25. Levey notes how Tg. Ezek. (part of Tg. Jon. of the Prophets) avoids use of the term \u201cMessiah,\u201d despite a number of opportunities to use it, and where one might expect it to be used. For example, in Tg. Ezek. 34:23\u201324; 37:24\u201325, \u201cmy servant David\u201d is translated literally, whereas \u201cDavid their king\u201d in Jer 30:9 and Hos 3:5 is rendered \u201cthe Messiah, son of David, their king\u201d in Tg. Jon. In Levey\u2019s view, \u201cMerkabah Mysticism\u201d is substituted for \u201cMessianic activism\u201d in Tg. Ezek. in order to avoid Roman persecution of Jewish nationalism. Levey ascribes this substitution to the work of Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai. The Merkabah is the divine chariot seen by Ezekiel, and it is in this context that Dibbura is used (the angels\u2019 wings were silent before the Word).
\nSince the term Dibbura is used only here in all of Tg. Jon. of the Former and Latter Prophets, it would seem reasonable to ascribe the unique use of Dibbura in Tg. Ezek. 1 also to Johanan ben Zakkai. But Johanan ben Zakkai was a contemporary of Johanan ben Zebadiah, better known as John son of Zebedee, the traditional author of the Gospel named for him. It could be, then, that Tg. Ezek. preserves an early usage of Dibbura which does not appear elsewhere in Tg. Jon., and that the use of Dibbura\/Dibbera in the Pal. Tgs. of the Pentateuch dates at least as far back as the first century.
\nFor an example of Memra being used in the Targums where the MT refers to God, apparently to guard the transcendence of God, consider Exod 34:5. The MT reads, \u201cThe LORD came down in the cloud,\u201d whereas a marginal gloss of Tg. Neof. for this passage reads, \u201cThe Word of the LORD was revealed.\u201d Two devices safeguard the transcendence of God here: (1) changing the anthropomorphic \u201ccame down\u201d to \u201cwas revealed\u201d; (2) changing \u201cthe LORD\u201d to \u201cthe Word of the LORD.\u201d
\nAnthropomorphic references to God\u2019s hand, arm, etc., were also frequently changed to \u201cWord\u201d in targumic translations. For instance, in the MT of Exod 33:22, God says to Moses, \u201cI will cover you with my hand,\u201d while Tg. Onq. reads, \u201cI will shield you with my Word.\u201d Such a practice could be considered an extension of the substitution of \u201ccommand\u201d for \u201cmouth,\u201d as in Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. Exod 17:1, where Israel journeyed \u201caccording to the word of the LORD\u201d (MT, \u201caccording to the mouth of the LORD\u201d). A substitution like this may be done for the sake of idiom, not simply to remove the anthropomorphism. In such cases, Memra in the Targums could be understood literally as God\u2019s word, that is, command. The Word may also be used for anthropopathisms, as in Tg. Isa. 63:5, \u201cBy the Word of my pleasure I helped them\u201d (MT: \u201cmy wrath sustained me\u201d).
\nThere is some dispute about whether the Targums have avoidance of anthropomorphisms as a goal, not only because the Targums do not consistently avoid anthropomorphisms, but also because some language that has been interpreted as anti-anthropomorphic is also used of kings or people in general, meaning we may be dealing with language of respect or idiomatic renderings. Still, as Andrew Chester says, \u201cthe Pentateuchal Targumim change a very great number of expressions which bear directly upon the understanding of God, and a substantial number of which in Old Testament scholarship are generally labeled \u2018anthropomorphisms.\u2019 \u201d The targumists may not have been concerned so much with avoiding anthropomorphisms per se as with avoiding wrong impressions about God on the part of the synagogue hearers. Thus anthropomorphisms which would not mislead ordinary people could be translated literally. \u201cThe main point is their concern for the most appropriate way to speak of God in the synagogue setting.\u201d Similarly, Robert Hayward notes that some anthropomorphisms remain in the Targums, but the targumist \u201ccan act quite drastically\u201d when \u201canthropomorphic language of the Bible might lead to misconceptions about God,\u201d citing the example of Tg. Jer. 14:8\u20139, where Jeremiah\u2019s question to God, \u201cWhy are you like a stranger in the land \u2026 like a mighty man who cannot save?\u201d is changed so that the inhabitants of Judah are strangers in the land, whom God is able to save.
\nAs for the transcendence of God, McNamara explains the \u201cextremely frequent use\u201d of \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d to refer to God as due to \u201cthe religious mentality which produced the Targums [which] shrank from speaking of God as acting directly in the world and spoke instead of his Memra doing so.\u201d This aspect of the targumic Word is conceptually similar to Philo\u2019s Logos. Similarly, J. Stanley McIvor writes, \u201cThe Targumist ensures that God is God and remains \u2018high and lifted up\u2019 \u201d; he achieves this purpose through various means, such as \u201cby removing God from the scene of direct action or direct contact with human beings\u201d and \u201cby rephrasing many expressions which might suggest that there was something human about God.\u201d In Isa 57:15, the one who is \u201chigh and lifted up\u201d says, \u201cI dwell in a high and holy place, yet also with the contrite and lowly of spirit.\u201d That is, he is both transcendent and imminent. But in the Targum, he is \u201chigh and lifted up\u201d\u2014period:<\/p>\n
For thus says the high and lofty One who dwells in the heavens, whose name is Holy; in the height he dwells, and his Shekhinah is holy. He promises to deliver the broken in heart and the humble of spirit, to establish the spirit of the humble, and to help the heart of the broken.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the nearness of God is rendered literally throughout some Targums, such as Tg. Onq. and Tg. Ps.
\nThe targumic Word is frequently employed in passages that speak of God\u2019s interaction with his creation, including humankind (especially his people), a fact consistent with the view that such usage is meant to guard the transcendence of God. In such passages, what the MT ascribes to God the Targums often ascribe to his Word. Above, we noted Levey\u2019s description of the targumic Word: \u201cIt is everything that God is supposed to be, and its manifold activity encompasses the entire spectrum of divine endeavor.\u201d Levey was not promoting any connection between the Logos of John and the targumic Word, but what he said agrees closely with what John says about the Word. \u201cIt is everything that God is supposed to be\u201d agrees with \u201cthe Word was God\u201d (John 1:1), or as REB translates it, \u201cWhat God was, the Word was.\u201d As for the divine Word encompassing \u201cthe entire spectrum of divine endeavor,\u201d we see in John\u2019s Gospel that the Son\u2019s activities encompass the entire spectrum of divine activity in the OT. John says explicitly that creation was accomplished through the Son (1:3), but in addition John shows us that the redemption of Israel from Egypt was accomplished through the Son who came down from heaven, the law was given through the Son, Israel was led through the wilderness by the Son, as his bride, and Israel had life by believing in the Son (as shown in chs. four through eight below). The Targums employ Word in describing the works of God in all these categories.
\nOf course, it would be going too far to say that since the divine Word \u201cis everything that God is supposed to be,\u201d therefore \u201cthe Son is everything that the Father is supposed to be.\u201d The Son is not the Father; the Son is in relationship to the Father, a relationship of love, trust, dependence, and submission. This relationship between the Father and the Son is not the same as that between God and his Word in the Targums, where reference to the divine Word is simply a way of speaking of God himself under certain circumstances, and sometimes \u201cmy Word\u201d in the Targums is equivalent to \u201cmyself\u201d in the MT. In many contexts, one could view the divine Word as a projection of the transcendent God into his creation. But the Son in John and the Word in the Targums share the same relationship with God in the fact that they both speak the words of God, interact with his people, and accomplish his will in the world.
\nThe divine Word is also associated with the divine name. The targumic paraphrase \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d for YHWH in the MT is sometimes further developed as \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD,\u201d as we can see for example in various renderings of Gen 15:6:<\/p>\n
MT
\nTg. Onq.
\nTg. Ps.-J.
\nTg. Neof.
\nAbram believed in the LORD.
\nHe believed in the Word of the LORD.
\nHe had faith in the Word of the LORD.
\nAbram believed in the name of the Word of the LORD.<\/p>\n
Faith in Jesus, or faith in his name, is a key issue in John\u2019s Gospel, analogous to faith in the divine Word, or the name of the divine Word, in the Targums. This will be explored in more detail in ch. 8.
\nA close association between the divine Word and the divine name is also seen in Tg. Isa. 48:11. In the MT, God says, \u201cFor my own sake, for my own sake I will act.\u201d In the Targum, this becomes, \u201cFor the sake of my name, for the sake of my Word.\u201d Similarly, Tg. Neof. Num 6:27 says, \u201cso shall they put my name, my Word, upon the sons of Israel.\u201d The association of the divine Word with the name of God is also of interest for John\u2019s Gospel, which expresses the theme that the Father\u2019s name (i.e., the Tetragrammaton, YHWH) is given to the Son and that the Son\u2019s mission is to make known or manifest the Father\u2019s name to his people (John 17:6, 11\u201312, 26). Similarly, John 1:18 says that while no man has seen God (the Father), the Son has explained him. \u201cExplained\u201d is the Greek word from which comes our word \u201cexegesis\u201d (\u1f10\u03be\u03b7\u03b3\u03ad\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9). In light of this, it is interesting to note what Chester wrote of the targumic Word and glory of the Shekinah as used in the Targums of the Pentateuch: \u201cIn a sense, both these terms are used as an exegesis of the divine names, especially the tetragrammaton.\u201d
\nIt is my contention that understanding the Logos title of the Gospel of John is based on targumic \u201cWord\u201d best fits the OT background to John 1:14 and its context, can also explain at least in part the evidence put forth for the other views, and leads to the recognition of a close connection between John\u2019s Prologue and the body of his Gospel. That is, John\u2019s Gospel as a whole can be seen as showing us what it meant by the statement that \u201cthe Word [that is, YHWH the Son] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.\u201d We will see that the so-called Pal. Tgs. to the Pentateuch are of greatest interest with respect to this subject.<\/p>\n
Evidence from John 1<\/p>\n
In this section, we look at various passages from John 1 that can be understood to support the view that the Logos title is based on the divine Word of the Targums. Since we are looking only at ch. 1, the case will be made only in a preliminary way. After examination of those passages, we will also be able to see, in a preliminary way, how John has adapted the divine Word of the Targums to the person of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
The Word Was with God, and the Word Was God (John 1:1)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Word of the LORD\u201d (or, \u201cMy Word,\u201d etc.) in the Targums is usually a translation of names and titles of God in the MT; it is a divine title. Hundreds of times, the targumic Word corresponds to the divine name or some other designation of God in the MT. The divine Word of the Targums is thus a circumlocution for God, a way of saying \u201cGod\u201d or the Tetragrammaton. McNamara points out that such a use constitutes metonymy, that is, calling something by an attribute or feature associated with it. \u201cThe Word of the LORD\u201d can be taken literally in many cases, but often it simply means \u201cthe LORD.\u201d We can compare it to the expression \u201cthe name of the LORD\u201d in Isa 30:27, \u201cBehold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,\u201d where the reference is to God coming in judgment (NLT: \u201cLook! The LORD is coming from far away\u201d).
\nWhile \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d is a metonym for \u201cthe LORD,\u201d its use is not random or arbitrary (though it is inconsistent). As already noted, it tends to be used when God is interacting with his creation, so that God can be viewed as transcendent, yet still immanent. Thus, \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d is metonymy used under particular circumstances, such as in the act of creation itself, as noted below. God remains transcendent over creation; his Word creates. In terms of language, the very words \u201chis Word\u201d imply a certain distinction between God and his Word, even though conceptually that Word is something like a projection of God himself into the creation. While this targumic relationship between God and his Word is not nearly as developed as the relationship between the Father and the Son, who are distinct persons, yet in both cases the Word is God, and yet to some extent distinct from God.
\nThe targumic Word is explicitly called God in many passages. In Gen 17:7\u20138, where God says to Abraham, \u201cI will establish my covenant \u2026 to be God to you,\u201d and \u201cI will be their God,\u201d Tg. Neof. has \u201cto be, in my Word, God to you\u201d and \u201cI will be to them in my Word a savior [or redeemer] God.\u201d Similar expressions are found in Tg. Neof. Exod 6:7; 29:45; Lev 11:45 [mg.]; 22:33; 25:38; 26:12, 45; Num 15:41 [mg.]; Deut 26:17. In Tg. Neof. Lev 26:12, the context of the promise of the Word of the LORD being a savior God is that the LORD will make the glory of his Shekinah dwell among them (v. 11). For MT \u201cI will walk among you,\u201d Tg. Neof. has \u201cMy Word will go among you.\u201d Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Lev 26:12 also refers to the divine Word as a savior God. Targum Neofiti Deut 26:17 is also of interest, in light of Pilate\u2019s presentation of Jesus as king in John 19: \u201cThis day you have made the Word of the LORD your God to be King over you, so that he may be for you a savior God, [promising] to walk in ways that are right before him\u201d (also Frg. Tg. V, CTg. AA).
\nTgs. Onq. and Jonathan usually render God\u2019s promises to be God to individuals or to Israel literally. However, Tg. Onq. Gen 28:21 has Jacob vow, \u201cThe Word of the LORD will be my God,\u201d and in Tg. Onq. Exod 19:17 (also Frg. Tg. P), Moses brings the people to meet the Word of the LORD (MT: to meet God), to which we might compare the declaration of Thomas to Jesus the Word, \u201cmy Lord and my God\u201d (John 20:28). In Tg. Onq. Deut 4:24, Moses says, \u201cthe LORD your God, his Word, is a consuming fire, a jealous [or zealous] God.\u201d Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Deut 4:24 says, \u201cthe LORD your God, his Word is a consuming fire; the jealous God is a fire, and he avenges himself in jealousy.\u201d When Jesus cleansed the temple, the disciples were reminded of the zeal of a man, David (John 2:17; Ps 69:9). Identifying Jesus as the Word who is God points more significantly to divine zeal in the cleansing of the temple.<\/p>\n
Creation through the Word, Who Was in the Beginning with God (John 1:1\u20133, 10)<\/p>\n
Targum Onqelos and Tg. Ps.-J. of Gen 1 do not ascribe creation to the divine Word, but the Word of the LORD is the subject of verbs in the creation account seventeen times in Tg. Neof. and twenty-five times in Frg. Tg. P. In Frg. Tg. V\u2019s abbreviated account, the divine Word is the subject of the verb \u201ccreate\u201d only in v. 27, but v. 28 is quoted in Gen 35:9 of the same Targum, with the Word of the LORD as subject of \u201cblessed\u201d and \u201csaid\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.] here agrees with Frg. Tg. V, but, interestingly, Frg. Tg. P Gen 35:9 has \u201cGod\u201d as subject).
\nFurther, where the MT of Gen 1 says \u201cand it was so,\u201d Tg. Neof. and\/or Frg. Tg. P say that it was so \u201caccording to his Word\u201d (Tg. Neof. Gen 1:7, 9, 11, 15, 24, 30) or \u201cthrough the decree of his Word\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.] Gen 1:24; Frg. Tg. P Gen 1:7, 9, 11, 15, 24). Targum Neofiti Gen 1:3 says \u201cthere was light according to the decree of his Word,\u201d while Frg. Tg. P says \u201cthere was light through his Word.\u201d
\nOutside of the creation account itself, Tg. Neof. [mg.] Gen 3:1 says that the serpent was more clever than all the beasts of the field which \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d created. In Tg. Neof. Gen 14:19, Melchizedek says, \u201cBlessed is Abram before God Most High, who by his Word created the heavens and the earth,\u201d and Abram echoes this description of God in v. 22. Both Tg. Neof. Exod 20:11 and 31:17 say \u201cIn six days the LORD created the heavens and the earth,\u201d and in both passages, the gloss \u201cand the Word of the LORD perfected\u201d suggests an alternate text which could have read either \u201cIn six days the Word of the LORD created and perfected\u201d etc. or \u201cIn six days the LORD created and the Word of the LORD perfected,\u201d etc. And although Tg. Onq. of Gen 1 does not depict creation through the divine Word, Tg. Onq. Deut 33:27 does, in a manner very close to John 1:10, implying that the divine Word was \u201cwith God in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tg. Onq. Deut 33:27
\nJohn 1:10
\nThe dwelling place of God is from the beginning, (when) through his Word the world was made.
\nThe world through him (the Word) was made.<\/p>\n
The existence of the Word from the beginning is also implied in Tg. Neof., which uses the oath formula, \u201cI live and exist in my Word forever\u201d (Tg. Neof. Num 14:21; Deut 32:40; Frg. Tg. V Deut 32:40), and in Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tg. V Deut 32:39, which render \u201cI am he\u201d as \u201cI, in my Word, am he.\u201d As God exists, so does his uncreated Word; it therefore existed \u201cfrom the beginning,\u201d which in such contexts means prior to creation.
\nTargum Psalms 124:8 says, \u201cOur help is in the name of the Word of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.\u201d Clearly, based on comparison to the MT, the name of the divine Word is the Tetragrammaton; this name is given to the Son according to John 17:11\u201312. The MT of Ps 33:6 says, \u201cBy the word of the LORD [\u05d1\u05b4\u05bc\u05d3\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05e8 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4] the heavens were made.\u201d Usually the Targums translate \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 from the MT with Aramaic \u05e4\u05b4\u05bc\u05ea\u05b0\u05d2\u05b8\u05bc\u05dd (Tg. Ps. 33:6 uses \u05de\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4), but some MSS of Tg. Ps. 33:6 use Memra.
\nSeveral passages from Tg. Jon. also indicate that all things were made through the divine Word:<\/p>\n
Tg. Isa. 44:24
\nI am the LORD, who made all things; I stretched out the heavens by [or through] my Word (MT: by myself [\u05dc\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9]); I founded the earth by my might (MT: who was with me? [ketib; \u05de\u05d9 \u05d0\u05ea\u05d9] or from with me [qere; \u05de\u05d0\u05ea\u05d9] = by myself).
\nTg. Isa. 45:12
\nI, by my Word, (MT: I) made the earth, and created man upon it; I, by my might (MT, my hands), stretched out the heavens.
\nTg. Isa. 48:13
\nBy my Word (MT: my hand) I founded the earth, by my might (MT, my right hand) I stretched out the heavens.
\nTg. Jer. 27:5
\nI, by my Word, (MT: I) made the earth, the men and beasts on the face of the earth, by my great power (= MT), and by my uplifted arm (= MT).<\/p>\n
According to these four passages, all things were made through the Memra, just as John says of the Logos. The question \u201cWho was with me\u201d (ketib in the MT of Isa 44:24) is of interest as well. The Targum renders it \u201cby my might,\u201d probably to agree with Tg. Isa. 45:12; 48:13; and even Tg. Jer. 27:5, where \u201cby my great power\u201d agrees with the Hebrew. But if one looks at both the Hebrew and the Aramaic of Isa 44:24, as John may have done, the question in the MT, \u201cWho was with me\u201d (i.e., in creation; with the implied answer of \u201cno one\u201d) is answered in the Targum, \u201cMy Word was with me.\u201d To be sure, the Word of the Targums is not another divine Person any more than God\u2019s attribute of strength is another. In fact, one could insist that in these passages Memra should be taken literally as God\u2019s decree, thus should not be capitalized. But that would not mean that John could not have adapted the Targum language for his own purpose, observing that the close association of God and his Word is analogous to the close association between the Father and the Son. Accordingly, to which the idea of creation through the Son, who \u201cwas in the beginning with God,\u201d does not contradict the statement that God acted \u201cby myself\u201d in creation.
\nIsrael also was created: \u201cThus says the LORD your creator [\u05d1\u05e8\u05d0 (used for the creation of man in Gen 1:27)], Jacob, and he who formed you [\u05d9\u05e6\u05e8 (used for the creation of Adam in Gen 2:7)], Israel \u2026\u201d (Isa 43:1). God goes on to say \u201cyou are mine,\u201d where the Targum has \u05d3\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9, \u201cmy own,\u201d which we discuss below as the Aramaic basis for \u201chis own\u201d of John 1:11.
\nIsrael\u2019s creation is not unrelated to the original creation, as we discuss below when considering the Word as light, and Israel\u2019s creation is said in several places in the Pal. Tgs. of the Song of Moses (Deut 32) to be accomplished through the divine Word. The MT of this chapter speaks of God making Israel, sometimes using the childbirth or Father-child motif, reminiscent of Gen 1, to speak of Israel\u2019s creation through their redemption from Egypt and their wilderness experiences. Verse 10 uses the noun \u05ea\u05b9\u05bc\u05ab\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc to describe the wilderness where God cared for Israel, and the next verse uses the verb \u05e8\u05d7\u05e3 (piel) to compare God to an eagle hovering over its young. As Meredith G. Kline noted, the only other place in the Pentateuch where these two words appear is Gen 1:2, so it seems likely that the creation theme is being deliberately alluded to. Israel\u2019s creation is described directly or indirectly in several verses: \u201cIs he not your Father who created you [\u05e7\u05e0\u05d4; some translate bought]? Did he not make [\u05e2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d4] and establish [\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05df] you?\u201d (v. 6); \u201c(Israel) forgot God who made [\u05e2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d4] him\u201d (v. 15); and \u201cYou forgot God who brought you to birth [polel; \u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc]\u201d (v. 18). For v. 15, Tgs. Ps.-J. and Onq. say that Israel forsook \u201cthe fear of God who made them\u201d; Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tg. V say that Israel forgot or forsook \u201cthe Word of God who created them\u201d (using \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9, the Aramaic cognate of \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0). For v. 18, Tg. Ps.-J. joins Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tg. V in speaking of Israel forsaking \u201cthe Word of God who made them\u201d (various verbs are used). One might object that in such expressions the antecedent of \u201cwho\u201d is not \u201cthe Word of God\u201d but simply \u201cGod,\u201d just as the phrase \u201cthey forsook the fear of God who made them\u201d ascribes creation to God, not the fear of God. Grammatically this is possible, but the creation of Israel spoken of took place in the redemption of Israel from Egypt, in which, according to the Targums, the divine Word is often the subject or agent of redemption. Another objection might be that this creation is not that spoken of in John 1:1\u20133, 10, which was accomplished through the Word. Nevertheless, there is a close link between creation and redemption, redemption being brought about by a new creation, which would be one reason for John to begin his Gospel by mentioning that the original creation was through the Word, while the rest of the Gospel highlights redemption through the Word.
\nIn any case, whether or not we include Pal. Tgs. Deut 32:15, 18 among the Targum passages which speak of creation through the divine Word, it is surprising that Moore claimed that the Targums do not ascribe creation to the Word of the LORD and, therefore, that the targumic Word has nothing to do with the Logos in John or Philo. \u201cIn the Targums memra \u2026 is not the creative word in the cosmogony of Genesis or reminiscences of it.\u201d Moore allowed that Tg. Isa. 45:12 was an apparent exception, but of the kind that proves the rule (presumably meaning that Memra could be taken literally here; thus, there is no hypostatization). Then he pointed to another exception, Tg. Onq. Deut 33:27, without noting its striking similarity to John 1:10. Moore considered Tg. Onq. and Tg. Jon., not the Pal. Tgs., because the former were more authoritative, apparently not wondering whether John might be more interested in the latter because of their popular nature. He did, however, refer to the Pal. Tgs. elsewhere, saying that, unlike Philo\u2019s Logos, the Memra is not the agency of creation: \u201cConsequently, the theory that derives the Logos-Word of John 1, 1\u20135 straight from the Palestinian memra is fallacious.\u201d He thus overlooked cases in Tg. Jon. (Isa 44:24; 48:13; Jer 27:5), which we discussed above, as well as the Frg. Tgs. (which are earlier than Tg. Ps.-J.). Although Tg. Neof. was not discovered until a few decades after Moore wrote, the other Targums were available.<\/p>\n
The Word as Light, Shining in Darkness, in Conflict with Darkness (John 1:4\u20135, 9)<\/p>\n
We have already noted Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tg. P Gen 1:3, \u201cthere was light according to the decree of his Word\u201d and \u201cthere was light through his Word.\u201d Many have pointed to a closer identification between Memra and the light at the beginning of creation in the haggadah or poem of the Four Nights, which appears as an extensive addition to Exod 12:42 (where the MT refers to the Passover night of watching) in Tg. Neof., Frg. Tg. V, CTg. FF and as an addition to Exod 15:18 (MT: \u201cThe LORD will reign\u201d) in Frg. Tg. P. The first night corresponds to the darkness of Gen 1:2, when God gave the command \u201clet there be light.\u201d<\/p>\n
CTg. FF: The first night, when the Word of the LORD was revealed upon the world to create it, and the world was formless and void, and darkness was spread over the surface of Tg. Neof. reads similarly, except that there it is \u201cthe LORD\u201d (not \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d) who is revealed. The words for \u201cwas light and it shone\u201d are slightly different, but glosses agree with CTg. FF. Receiving\/Not Receiving the Divine Word; Believing in His Name (John 1:11\u201312)<\/p>\n In these verses, John indicates that the Word came to those who were \u201chis own\u201d and contrasts his own, who did not receive (\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9) him, with those who did receive (\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9) him, those who believed in his name. In the Targums, the idea of receiving or not receiving the Word of the LORD is very common, where the MT speaks of listening to God himself (or his voice) or coming to him, etc. MT of Exod 14:31 We can carry out a similar analysis of Tg. Ps. 106:25 to show how the \u201creceive\/not receive\u201d language of John 1:11\u201312 likewise can be related to a frequent use of the targumic Word. The reference is to the great rebellion of Num 14, when Israel refused to enter the promised land:<\/p>\n MT of Ps 106:25 We can also relate Tg. Onq. and Tg. Ps.-J. Num 14:22 to John 1:14 and 2:11, 23:<\/p>\n The men who have seen my glory and my signs which I have done \u2026 and have not received my Word.<\/p>\n John 1:11, 14: His own did not receive him (the Word).\u2026 The Word became flesh and \u2026 we beheld his glory.<\/p>\n John 2:11: He manifested his glory.<\/p>\n John 2:23: Many believed in his name, beholding his signs which he was doing.<\/p>\n John could easily see biblical history repeating itself in his own generation; some believed, most did not. John 12:37 The targumic expression \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD\u201d cannot be taken literally. The LORD\u2019s Word has no name of its own, and phrases such as \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD\u201d and \u201cthe name of my Word\u201d occur in the Targums where the MT has the Tetragrammaton, or in contexts such as Tg. Ps. 106:12 (mentioned above) where, though the MT does not have the Tetragrammaton, it is clear that the Tetragrammaton is meant (in this case because the language depends on another passage [Exod 14:31] where the Tetragrammaton is used). We are thus forced again to the conclusion that \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d is metonymy for \u201cthe LORD\u201d; thus, \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD\u201d is \u201cthe name of the LORD,\u201d i.e., the Tetragrammaton. Further confirmation that \u201chis name\u201d should be interpreted in light of the Targums as the Tetragrammaton is found in John 2:23 and 3:18, which also speak of people believing in his name, and in other passages which speak of belief or disbelief in Jesus (John 5:46; 12:37; 14:1). The context of all these passages suggests a connection between this theme in John and a Targum passage that speaks of belief\/disbelief in the name of the Word of the LORD, which stands for the Tetragrammaton (see ch. 8 for further discussion and demonstration of this conclusion). MT To summarize:<\/p>\n MT Targum Joshua 5:6 likewise says that the wilderness generation perished because it did not receive the Word of the LORD. Likewise, the exile of Israel and Judah took place because of a failure to receive the Word of the Lord (Tg. 2 Kgs. 18:12; Tg. Jer. 40:3). Such passages are significant to John\u2019s Gospel not only because of the similarity in wording to John 1:11\u201312, but also because of the Gospel\u2019s modeling of the generation that rejected Jesus after the wilderness generation (as we will discuss in ch. 8, and because John is writing from a post-exilic perspective, which might naturally be compared to earlier exiles and give rise to identical explanations). Further, John\u2019s identification of Jesus as the Word would suggest a reason for Jerusalem\u2019s destruction in C.E. 70 that could make sense to Aramaic-speaking Jews who contemplated that catastrophe in relation to the covenant curses: \u201cIf in this you do not receive my Word \u2026 you shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters \u2026 and I will destroy your cities and make desolate your sanctuaries\u201d (Tg. Onq. Lev 26:27\u201331). Word, Glory, Shekinah (John 1:14)<\/p>\n \u201cThe Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.\u201d In ch. 2 we explore the idea of God dwelling among his people and manifesting his glory as an important OT theme (e.g., Exod 40:34\u201335). \u201cGlory\u201d could be directly related to OT references to God\u2019s glory when he dwells among his people. Further, in John\u2019s word \u201cdwelt\u201d we have the rare situation where a Greek word (\u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9) is related to a Semitic word, namely, the Hebrew verb used for God dwelling among his people, \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df as well as the noun \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05df used for the tabernacle (translated in Greek as \u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03ae). \u03a3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9 can also be related to the Aramaic word \u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b4\u05d9\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0, the Shekinah, the manifest presence of God. This word is used commonly in the Targums with the word \u201cglory,\u201d and the two are commonly also found with Memra. Charles F. Burney suggested, therefore, that \u201cso far from owing his \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2-doctrine to an Alexandrian source, [John] is soaked through and through with the Palestinian Jewish thought which is represented by the Targums.\u201d For proof Burney noted that John 12:40\u201341 says that Isaiah saw Christ\u2019s glory, which depends on Isa 6:1, where Tg. Isa. reads, \u201cI saw the glory [\u05d9\u05b0\u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0] of the LORD resting on a throne,\u201d and v. 5 says, \u201cmy eyes have seen the glory of the Shekinah of the King of the ages.\u201d Deut 5:24 (MT) Deuteronomy 5:24 looks back to God\u2019s revelation on Mt. Sinai to all the people. As we shall see in ch. 2, John 1:14 also has echoes of God\u2019s revelation on Sinai, but primarily of the private revelation to Moses in Exod 34. MT Whether Tos. Tg. Zech. 2:10 existed in a similar form to that above in John\u2019s day we cannot be sure, but the conceptual similarities between the two passages could be used to argue that this targumic way of speaking is early. John of course would have to have transformed the idea of the divine Word being revealed into the idea of the Word becoming flesh, which, we can be sure, was not in the mind of the targumist. Jesus Identified as the Word and the Messiah in His Baptism (John 1:32\u201334)<\/p>\n John 1:32\u201334 twice mentions the Spirit descending and remaining on Jesus, thereby identifying him as the Son of God. The association of the Spirit with the Messiah in OT prophecy is well known (Isa 11:2; 42:1; 61:1) and can be seen in continuity with the Spirit of God coming upon David when he was anointed to be king (1 Sam 16:13). The Spirit \u201cremaining [\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9] on him\u201d especially agrees with Isa 11:2: \u201cthe Spirit of the LORD will rest [\u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b8\u05d7\u05b8\u05d4] upon him (a Branch from the roots of Jesse).\u201d John\u2019s testimony about Jesus that he is \u201cthe Son of God\u201d could be understood in a purely human sense, in connection with Isa 11:2, since the concept of sonship expressed in the metaphor \u201cI will be a Father to him, and he will be to me a son\u201d (2 Sam 7:14\/\/1 Chr 17:13) originally applied to Solomon, a man from the roots of Jesse. But John\u2019s testimony also strikingly resembles Tg. Ps.-J. Num 7:89, noted above for its use of Dibbera, and the verbs \u201cdescending\u201d and \u201cremaining\u201d used by John can be related to the Messiah of the MT of Isa 11:2 (\u201cresting\u201d) and to the Word of the LORD from this Targum passage (\u201cdescending\u201d):<\/p>\n Tg. Ps.-J. Num 7:89 Targum Isaiah 11:2 uses the verb \u05e9\u05c1\u05e8\u05d9 for \u201crest.\u201d This verb (or the causative) is also used in the Targums for the dwelling of the Shekinah. For example, it appears in Tg. Song 3:10, which is reminiscent of Num 7:89: \u201cBetween the cherubim over the mercy seat dwelt [\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8\u05d9] the Shekinah of the LORD, who made his name dwell [\u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05df] in Jerusalem.\u201d Thus the Shekinah dwells, and the Word speaks, from between the cherubim. One might add that Tg. Isa. 6:1\u20138, noted above, conveys the same idea, since in that passage Isaiah sees the heavenly reality represented by the situation in the holy of holies (i.e., he sees the glory of the Lord\u2019s Shekinah in the temple, with angels, and hears the voice of the Lord\u2019s Word speak to him). The Word Speaks to Jacob and Nathanael (John 1:43\u201351)<\/p>\n As many interpreters recognize, the Lord\u2019s words to Nathanael, \u201cyou [pl.] shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man,\u201d draw in some way upon Gen 28:12, Jacob\u2019s dream of a ladder extending from earth to heaven:<\/p>\n Gen 28:12 This comparison can be analyzed from at least three perspectives:<\/p>\n 1. In a verbal comparison of John 1:51 to the LXX of Gen 28:12, \u201cthe Son of Man\u201d takes the place of the ladder:<\/p>\n Gen 28:12 Noting this similarity, Burkett suggests that substituting Jesus for the ladder symbolizes that Jesus is the way to heaven, much as Jesus says in calling himself the way to the Father (14:6).<\/p>\n 2. To state the obvious, John 1:51 portrays Jesus as a man\u2014the Son of Man. As we shall argue in ch. 4, the Son of Man title depends in part on the depiction of Jacob in the OT as a new Adam.<\/p>\n 3. Jesus\u2019 dialogue with Nathanael has several features that correspond to the LORD speaking to Jacob in Gen 28: (a) Jesus calls Nathanael \u201can Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit\u201d (John 1:47). Jacob was at Bethel, fleeing for his life, precisely because of his deceit in Gen 27 (\u201cYour brother came in deceit\u201d; v. 35). His deceit consisted in lying about his identity (v. 32). \u201cIsrael\u201d was the name given to Jacob when he had lost his deceit, answering truthfully when asked, \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d (Gen 32:27\u201328). Nathanael is thus like Jacob after he was renamed Israel. (b) What Jesus claims Nathanael (and\/or others) will see is similar to what Jacob did see (the angels of God ascending and descending). (c) Nathanael\u2019s astonishment and change of mind at the revelation of Jesus recall Jacob\u2019s at Bethel (Gen 28:16\u201317). HOW JOHN HAS ADAPTED THE DIVINE WORD OF THE TARGUMS AS A TITLE FOR JESUS<\/p>\n One might observe first of all that the examples discussed above seem to justify including Dibbera\/Dibbura along with Memra in examining the possibility of a targumic background to the Logos title. Although Dibbera\/Dibbura appears in a small number of cases compared to Memra, it figures prominently in possible Targum passages illuminating portions of John 1. Of the seven passages from John 1 that we looked at in the previous section, Dibbera\/Dibbura figures in the last three (John 1:14\u201318, 32\u201334, and 43\u201351). These results reinforce the suggestion that John\u2019s terminology of \u201cthe Word\u201d fits targumic usage, since Dibbera\/Dibbura is used in this absolute sense, while Memra is not (or at least, its absolute usage is rare enough to be considered anomalous when it does occur). Adding to this conclusion is the fact that though John 1:32\u201334 is the fourth of the passages discussed above, chronologically it would be the first identification of Jesus as the Word in the ministry of Jesus, coming after his baptism, which, again, recalls Pal. Tgs. Num 7:89, \u201cfrom there the Word [Dibbera] spoke to him.\u201d JOHN\u2019S MOTIVES FOR THE LOGOS TITLE<\/p>\n Although at this point there is much more to be said in favor of the Targums as forming the background for the Word of John\u2019s Gospel, from what has already been seen we can suggest John\u2019s motivation for identifying Jesus as the targumic Word who has become flesh. I would put John\u2019s motives in two categories: Christology and apologetics.<\/p>\n Christology<\/p>\n If it is correct to say that the Logos title has a Targum background based on the fact that the Word of the LORD implies the Tetragrammaton and refers to God through metonymy, especially as he interacts with his creation, then presumably John has a christological motive for identifying Jesus as the Word. Jesus is YHWH the Son. John is unique in calling Jesus the Word, but is he unique in identifying him as YHWH? We discuss this question in ch. 11, but the short answer for now is no. In terms of Christology, then, the question becomes, why does John use this particular way of saying that Jesus is YHWH? John 12:37 Is the similarity a coincidence? Does John just happen to use the terminology of Num 14:11 without intending that we see a parallel? Or are we to understand that history is repeating itself such that the unbelief of the Jews in Jesus parallels the unbelief of the OT Israelites in YHWH their redeemer? When we read this passage in conjunction with the Prologue of John\u2019s gospel, where Jesus is referred to as the Word who is God, and in light of the Targums of Num 14:11, we see that in John 12:37 the Gospel writer clearly intends to portray Jesus as YHWH, the God of Israel, now come in the flesh:<\/p>\n Tg. Neof. Num 14:11 In short, identifying Jesus as the Word helps readers make the proper connection between John 12:37 and Num 14:11 and draw the appropriate christological conclusion. Jesus says to Philip in the upper room, \u201cHave I been with you so long, and you have not come to know me?\u201d (John 14:9). But this is the same Philip who was not slow to recognize Jesus as the Messiah: \u201cWe have found him of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets wrote\u2014Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph\u201d (1:45). Perhaps John observed many in the church in its second and third generations who, like Philip, acknowledged and believed in Jesus as the Messiah, but did not fully comprehend his divine nature. This, it seems to me, is John\u2019s great christological burden as he writes.<\/p>\n Apologetics<\/p>\n I believe there is a second reason that John identifies Jesus as the Word. John might have seen the incorporation of the Memra theology into the Targums as a providential preparation for the coming of the Son into the world. Beyond the passages which are of christological significance, there are many texts that over time could be looked back upon as something like the \u201cprophecy\u201d of Caiaphas (John 11:49\u201352). John says that Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. What John takes from this statement is quite different from what Caiaphas meant. Similarly, there are many texts in the Targums that speak of the divine Word with no explicit intention to refer to the Messiah, but which, when \u201cSon\u201d is substituted for \u201cWord,\u201d can be taken as \u201cunwitting prophecies\u201d in the same sense. The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile because of their sins, because they dealt falsely with my Word, so that I removed my Shekinah from them, and delivered them into the hand of their enemies, and they were slain by the sword, all of them.<\/p>\n If the tradition of the cessation of the miracles indicating the presence of the Shekinah in Israel was current when John wrote, then combining this tradition with Tg. Ezek. 39:23 would lead naturally to the question, \u201cHow did the LORD\u2019s people deal falsely with his Word forty years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem?\u201d John provides a compelling answer by identifying Jesus as this divine Word.<\/p>\n CONCLUSION<\/p>\n We have now seen in a preliminary way that a Targum background to the Logos title makes good sense and that there is a good deal of evidence for it just from the first chapter of John, both in the Prologue and beyond. In the next chapter, we will go into more detail on the OT background of John 1:14\u201318, reinforcing what has been said so far. The third chapter examines the overall mission of Jesus as revealing the Father\u2019s name, and what that means in the light of the Targums. In subsequent chapters, we will see that Jesus as a human speaks and acts as people of God did in OT times, yet without their sinful failures. At the same time, he speaks and acts on earth as the LORD did when he \u201ccame down\u201d from heaven in OT times. These two features are explained by John\u2019s assertion that \u201cthe Word [i.e., YHWH, the Son] became flesh, and dwelt among us.\u201d In both features we will see continuity with the OT as well as change due to the incarnation. Thus, much of John\u2019s Gospel can be seen as a commentary on this introductory statement. In the synagogue readings in Palestine, the Jews would hear the Scriptures read in Hebrew, then in an Aramaic translation. Those who knew both languages would hear first of the person and works of the LORD as recorded in the MT. Then they would very often hear in Aramaic of the person and works of the Word of the LORD. John shows his readers that this progression of thought was not just a curiosity of the Aramaic translations recited in the synagogues every Sabbath, but pointed to a deeper reality in the history of redemption, in the transition from the old covenant to the new, from the pre-incarnate Word to the incarnate Word.<\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n The Old Testament Background to John 1:14\u201318<\/p>\n INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n In this chapter, we look at the OT background of John 1:14 both with and without reference to the Targums, again with a view to answering the question of which of the four views of the Logos title is supported by the OT background to John 1:14 itself. First we look at the theme of God dwelling among his people and manifesting his glory, without reference to the Targums, to see what conclusions can be drawn in terms of the meaning of the Logos title. Next we look at Targum texts that combine references to the Word and the Shekinah or glory of the Shekinah, or Targum texts referring to the Word that have alternate readings (or Targum texts) referring to the Shekinah, to see if they provide support for the idea that John is employing terminology from the Targums. Finally, we look at a commonly proposed OT background to John 1:14\u201318, namely, the revelation of the glory of the LORD to Moses in Exod 34. Each of these studies supports the view that John derived the Logos title from the Targums.<\/p>\n THE MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD IN THE TABERNACLE AND THE TEMPLE<\/p>\n Part of the argument outlined in ch. 1 for a targumic background for the Logos title rested on the view that John uses or alludes to three terms that are important in how the Targums render OT texts dealing with revelation: Word (Memra and Dibbera), glory, and Shekinah. Of course, \u201cglory\u201d is important in the Hebrew text of the OT itself, though it does not occur there as often as in the Targums. Similarly, while the term Shekinah does not occur in the Hebrew MT, the related verb \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df (\u201cdwell\u201d) and noun \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05df (\u201ctabernacle\u201d) do occur, allowing the possibility that \u201cdwelt\u201d in John 1:14 alludes to these terms rather than directly to the Shekinah. One could argue therefore that the Targums are not necessary to explain John\u2019s terminology, and we would be left wondering whether the Logos title comes from the idea of the OT word of the LORD, from personified Wisdom, or from Philo\u2019s Logos. In this section, we essentially look at \u201c\u2014\u2014 dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory\u201d from an OT perspective, in order to try to fill in the conceptual blank. The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled [\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df] on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (40:34\u201335)<\/p>\n All of this suggests that anyone familiar with these events who looked at John\u2019s expression \u201c\u2014\u2014 dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,\u201d would naturally infer that the name of God was to be inserted in the blank. This supposition would be based on understanding John 1:14 in light of an important theme developed over sixteen chapters in the law of Moses, as opposed to two verses in intertestamental Wisdom literature which only support \u201cdwelt among us,\u201d not \u201cand we saw his glory\u201d (see ch. 1, in the subsection, Three Plausible Proposals: Wisdom in the Wisdom Literature), and which are in any case arguably dependent on this dominant theme of Exodus. It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. (1 Kgs 8:13\u201314; similarly, 2 Chr 5:13\u201314; 7:1\u20133)<\/p>\n Again, with this history in mind, in our \u201cfill in the blank\u201d exercise we would posit that \u201cthe Word\u201d in John 1:14 refers to the name of God. Again we note that the source material covers numerous chapters of the OT (1 Kgs 6\u20138, paralleled and supplemented in 1 Chr 28, 29; 2 Chr 2\u20137), in contrast to a couple of verses from the Wisdom literature that parallel only the first half of the sentence for which we are filling in the blank. From the first verse of the Gospel of John, we are confronted with the Logos\u2014a concept which Philo considers identical with the Name\u2014precisely as divine. It is therefore perfectly reasonable that exegetes have taken vs. 14 as an allusion to the temple, even though it speaks of the Logos rather than of the Name.<\/p>\n For OT support one could point to passages where God\u2019s name is said to dwell among his people. \u201cI will shake all the nations; and they will come [with] the wealth of all the nations; and I will fill this house with glory,\u201d says the LORD of hosts.\u2026 \u201cThe latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,\u201d says the LORD of hosts, \u201cand in this place I shall give peace,\u201d declares the LORD of hosts. (Hag 2:7, 9)<\/p>\n For John, the incarnation and earthly ministry of YHWH the Son represents the next phase of this theme, again involving both discontinuity and continuity. John expresses the continuity, if we allow that \u201cthe Word\u201d implies the Tetragrammaton: \u201cYHWH [the Son] \u2026 tabernacled among us, and we saw his glory.\u201d As Leon Morris put it:<\/p>\n John is saying to his readers, then, that the glory that had been manifested in one way or another in the wilderness wanderings and later, as at the dedication of Solomon\u2019s temple \u2026 was manifested in its fullness in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.<\/p>\n Change is seen in that instead of an inanimate tent, or a temple whose fate is connected to the obedience of the house of David, this dwelling place is flesh\u2014the perfectly obedient son of David. The Ten Commandments are not in an ark inside this tabernacle as tablets of stone but are expressed in his lifelong perfect obedience to the law. WORD, GLORY, AND SHEKINAH IN THE TARGUMS<\/p>\n In this section we expand on the argument from ch. 1 that John 1:14 takes its vocabulary from these three important targumic terms. We noted there how all three are found in Tg. Isa. 6:1\u20138, and even in the single verse, Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 5:24. We further noted that both of these passages are also significant because they can be related to John\u2019s Gospel: John tells us that Isaiah saw Christ\u2019s glory, and John 1:14 goes beyond the mere employment of targumic terms in its similarity to Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 5:24 (\u201cthe Word of the LORD our God has shown us the Shekinah of his glory \u2026 and the voice of the Word we have heard\u201d). Moreover, both John 1:14 and Deut 5:24 look back at the revelation of God\u2019s glory on Mt. Sinai (we explore this further in the next section). Targum Passages<\/p>\n Genesis<\/p>\n 1. In ch. 1, we noted that the Word of the LORD is frequently the subject of verbs in the creation account in Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tg. P. But in Tg. Neof., \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d is used as the subject of these verbs five times (Gen 1:17, 28, 29; 2:3 [2x]), with no discernable difference in use or meaning. In all five cases, Frg. Tg. P reads \u201cthe Word of the LORD,\u201d as does 1:28 as quoted in Frg. Tg. V Gen 35:9 as well as Tg. Neof. [mg.] for 1:29 and both cases of 2:3. Exodus<\/p>\n 9. \u201cThe Word of the LORD\u201d was revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Tg. Neof. Exod 3:8; 4:1 [mg.]); \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d called out and spoke to Moses (Tg. Neof. Exod 3:4, 14 [mg.]; 4:2 [mg.], 6 [mg.], 11 [mg.], 21 [mg.]; Frg. Tgs. P, V Exod 3:14), and Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u2019s Shekinah\u201d (Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. Exod 3:6; Tg. Onq. reads, \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d). Leviticus<\/p>\n 22. In Lev 9:4, at the consecration of Aaron and his sons, Moses tells the people to take certain sacrifices and offerings, \u201cfor today the LORD shall appear to you.\u201d Targum Neofiti has \u201ctoday the Word of the LORD will be revealed to you\u201d; Tg. Ps.-J. has \u201ctoday the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD will be revealed to you\u201d; and Tg. Onq. has \u201cthe glory of the LORD will be revealed to you.\u201d In place of the MT of 9:6, \u201cso that the glory of the LORD may appear to you,\u201d Tgs. Neof. [+ mg.] and Ps.-J. both say \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD will be revealed.\u201d Targum Onqelos renders as in v. 4 (= MT of v. 6). The Targums translate v. 23, \u201cthe glory of the LORD appeared to all the people,\u201d consistently with v. 6. In Ps.-J., the Shekinah is not immediately revealed after Aaron\u2019s sacrifice, causing Aaron to wonder whether \u201cthe Word of the LORD was not pleased with the work of my hands.\u201d Then he and Moses blessed the people, saying, \u201cMay the Word of the LORD receive with favor your offerings, and may he remit and forgive your sins,\u201d at which point \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u2019s Shekinah\u201d was revealed. Numbers<\/p>\n 25. Whenever the people set out with the ark of the covenant, Moses would pray, \u201cRise up, O Word of the LORD\u201d (Frg. Tg. V and Tg. Neof. [mg.] Num 10:35), or \u201cLet the Word of the LORD be revealed in the power of your anger\u201d (Tg. Ps.-J.). Whenever the ark rested, Moses would pray, \u201cTurn, O Word of the LORD, from your mighty wrath\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.]; Frg. Tg. V 10:36), or, according to Tg. Ps.-J. Num 10:36, \u201cReturn, O Word of the LORD \u2026 and let the glory of your Shekinah dwell among them\u201d (similarly the second part in Tg. Neof.). Targum Onqelos Num 10:36 has \u201cReturn, O Word of the LORD \u2026 and dwell in your glory.\u201d Deuteronomy<\/p>\n 35. In Deut 1:30, Moses recorded his attempt to persuade the Israelites not to be dismayed by the report of the ten spies (Num 13\u201314). He assured them, \u201cThe LORD your God who goes before you will fight for you.\u201d In Tg. Onq., the LORD will go before them and \u201chis Word will fight for you.\u201d In Tg. Ps.-J., it is \u201cthe Word of the LORD your God\u201d who will go before them and fight for them; Tg. Neof. reads, \u201cIn the glory of his Shekinah he will lead before you.\u201d Tg. Onq. Deut 31:6, 8 41. Deuteronomy 31:15 reads, \u201cThe LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud,\u201d which Tg. Onq. translates literally (except for using \u201cwas revealed\u201d for \u201cappeared\u201d). In Tg. Neof., \u201cthe Word of the LORD was revealed,\u201d and in Tg. Ps.-J. \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed.\u201d The Former Prophets<\/p>\n 43. In Tg. Josh. 22:31, Phinehas said to the tribes on the east side of the Jordan, \u201cThis day we know that the Shekinah of the LORD dwells among us (MT: \u201cthe LORD is among us\u201d), that you have not acted deceitfully against the Word of the LORD (MT: \u201chave not rebelled against the LORD\u201d).\u201d The Latter Prophets<\/p>\n 47. Targum Isaiah 6:1\u20138. In his call to the prophetic office (Isa 6), Isaiah saw something of the reality modeled by the ark and the cherubim in the holy of holies. He said, \u201cI saw the Lord, sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple\u201d (v. 1). In Tg. Isa., this reads, \u201cI saw the glory of the LORD \u2026 and the temple was filled with the brilliance of his glory\u201d (the LXX also says \u201chis glory filled the temple\u201d). In Tg. Isa. 6:5, the prophet said, \u201cMy eyes have seen the glory of the Shekinah of the eternal king.\u201d Verse 6 refers to \u201chim whose Shekinah is upon the throne of glory in the heavens,\u201d and in v. 8 Isaiah said, \u201cI heard the voice of the Word of the LORD.\u201d Also note again Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 4:7, perhaps giving us a \u201cPalestinian\u201d version of Tg. Isa. 6:1: \u201cThe Word of the LORD sits upon his throne, high and lifted up, and hears our prayer.\u201d Psalms<\/p>\n 53. In Tg. Ps. 16:8, David says, \u201cI have placed the LORD {the Word of the LORD} before me continually; because his Shekinah rests at my right hand, I shall not be moved.\u201d Chronicles<\/p>\n 59. In Tg. 1 Chr 23:25 David says \u201cthe Word of the LORD God of Israel has given rest to his people and caused his Shekinah to dwell in Jerusalem forever.\u201d Discussion<\/p>\n (1) A considerable number of the passages cited above deal with the same theme we dealt with in the previous section\u2014the LORD\u2019s dwelling among his people and manifesting his glory. Passages cited in no. 18 speak of the tabernacle as a place where God\u2019s Word would meet Israel (think of how much of John\u2019s Gospel has Israel meeting the Word in the temple), of his Word being for them a savior God, and of the glory of his Shekinah dwelling there. The passages cited in nos. 22, 23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 41, 45, and 46 speak of the fulfillment of these purposes in the tabernacle or in relation to the ark when Israel is on the move. JOHN 1:14\u201318 AND EXODUS 33:18\u201334:7<\/p>\n The dependence of John 1:14\u201318 on the account of the manifestation of the glory of the LORD to Moses on Mt. Sinai after the golden calf incident is evident enough when we look at this account in the Hebrew text, or a literal translation of it. It is even more evident when we look at this account in the Pal. Tgs. of the Pentateuch, where the revelation to Moses is a revelation of the divine Word, adding more evidence for the view that the Logos title is based on the Targums.<\/p>\n \u201cFull of Grace and Truth\u201d and Exodus 34:6<\/p>\n Hanson wrote in 1976 that \u201cby far the largest number of scholars whom I have consulted\u201d saw a dependence of \u201cfull of grace and truth\u201d (\u03c0\u03bb\u03ae\u03c1\u03b7\u03c2 \u03c7\u03ac\u03c1\u03b9\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f00\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03b5\u03af\u03b1\u03c2) in John 1:14 on God\u2019s self description in Exod 34:6, \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d7\u05b6\u05ab\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea \u201cabounding in lovingkindness and truth\u201d (NASB); \u201cabounding in love and faithfulness\u201d (NIV). The case for relating these phrases further is strengthened by \u201cthe accumulation of allusions to Exod 33\u201334 in John 1:14\u201318,\u201d which \u201cleaves little doubt that John\u2019s phrase is a conscious allusion to the occurrence in that context.\u201d 22Surely all the men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put me to the test these ten times, and have not listened to my voice (Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J.: have not received my Word), 23shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers \u2026 24but my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully (Tg. Neof.: has followed my Word fully), I will bring into the land.<\/p>\n Thus John\u2019s phrase \u201cfull of grace and truth\u201d likely reflects not only the original context in Exod 34:6, but also the secondary one in Num 14, where there are important connections to John\u2019s Gospel, including the Prologue and the idea of receiving the Word. We also noted in ch. 1 the similarity between John 12:37 and Num 14:11. The Glory of the Word Seen by Moses and John<\/p>\n The manifestation of the glory of the LORD to Moses in Exod 34 is in response to his request, \u201cShow me your glory\u201d in Exod 33:18. Similarly, John says, \u201cWe saw his glory\u201d (John 1:14). John tells us, \u201cNo man has seen God at any time\u201d (v. 18), which means that Moses, whom John mentions in v. 17, did not see him either. Therefore,<\/p>\n On those occasions in Israel\u2019s history when God is described as being seen, it was not in fact God [the Father] who was seen, but the Logos. John says this totidem verbis in 12:41, where he describes Isaiah\u2019s vision in the Temple as Isaiah having seen Jesus\u2019 glory; in other words, Jahweh Sabaoth is the Logos.<\/p>\n John also says that the one and only God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him, which agrees with Exod 34:5\u20137 where the manifestation of the LORD\u2019s glory is accomplished by proclamation of the divine name, and an explanation of the divine person, which includes the description \u201cfull of grace and truth.\u201d Craig Evans sees the description of the eternal Son \u201cwho is in the bosom of the Father\u201d as a contrast \u201cwith Moses\u2019 fleeting glimpse of God\u2019s \u2018back\u2019 (Exod. 33:23).\u201d MT Moses responds, vv. 15\u201316:<\/p>\n MT In Tgs. Ps.-J. and Neof. [mg.], the Shekinah speaks, evidencing the overlap of Shekinah and Word, and the miraculous is mentioned as evidence that the Shekinah is among his people, just as John sees the miracles as evidence that the Word \u201cdwelt among us.\u201d In making this addition, the targumists may have taken a cue from the verb \u201cdistinguished\u201d (niphal of \u05e4\u05dc\u05d4), which was used (in the hiphil) in the course of narrating the miracles in Egypt. These miracles both distinguished Israel from Egypt (Exod 8:22; 9:4; 11:7) and demonstrated that the LORD dwelt in the midst of the land (8:22; listed on p. 53, no. 10 of this chapter). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Tg. Neof. Exod 8:22, and Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 9:4 interpret this verb as being from the root \u05e4\u05dc\u05d0, to do miracles:<\/p>\n MT of Exod 8:22 In Exod 33:17\u201318, the LORD grants the request of Moses, and Moses makes the further request, \u201cShow me your glory.\u201d The LORD says that he will make all his goodness pass before Moses, and,<\/p>\n MT Observations<\/p>\n 1. In Tg. Ps.-J., the LORD says, \u201cI will proclaim the name of the Word of the LORD before you.\u201d This proclamation of the name of the Word of the LORD in v. 6 of the next chapter (34:6) includes the description, \u201cfull of grace and truth,\u201d with obvious implications for associating the Logos with Memra\/Dibbera.<\/p>\n 2. Although there is considerable variety in how the various Targums handle the contrast \u201cYou will see my back but my face will not be seen,\u201d Tg. Neof. (and mg.) and both Frg. Tg. traditions all say that Moses will be allowed to see only the Word. In all of these, Dibbura\/Dibbera is used for Word. Recall that this term can stand alone, \u201cthe Word,\u201d as does the Logos in John. That is, it is not used with personal pronouns and need not be followed by \u201cof the LORD.\u201d It is also interesting that the other two Targums have obscure words that could be a corruption of Dibbera (Tg. Onq.) or due to conflation (Tg. Ps.-J.). In any case, interpreters have already seen a fit between this passage and John without looking at the Targums, and the case gets stronger when we look at the Targums, especially Pal. Tgs. which speak of Moses seeing \u201cthe Word of the glory of my Shekinah\u201d (Tg. Neof.; Frg. Tg. V), \u201cthe Word of glory\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.]), or \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d (Frg. Tg. P). MT Again we note the association in Tg. Ps.-J. of \u201cabounding to do kindness and truth\u201d (which I have related to \u201cfull of grace and truth,\u201d John 1:14) with the proclamation of \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD\u201d (which I have related to \u201chis [the Word\u2019s] name,\u201d John 1:12). This observation provides a convenient conclusion as we go to the next chapter, where we study the mission of Jesus as the revealer of the divine name; that is, the name of the Father, which has also been given to the Son. We will also see in subsequent chapters more evidence of the importance of Exod 34 in John\u2019s Gospel. Reflecting on the language of the Targums, John shows his readers in the person and work of Christ an extended revelation of the glory of God such as was seen briefly by Moses on Mt. Sinai.<\/p>\n CONCLUSIONS<\/p>\n Several different lines of evidence have now been considered that point to the conclusion that John\u2019s Logos\u2014\u201cthe Word\u201d\u2014is a divine title taken from the Targums: (1) \u201cWord,\u201d \u201cglory,\u201d and \u201cShekinah\u201d are three key expressions used in the Targums to describe God manifesting his presence among, and interacting with, his people. They seem to form the background for three words John uses in John 1:14, namely, \u201cWord,\u201d \u201cdwelt,\u201d and \u201cglory.\u201d Even without consulting the Targums, we can appreciate that 1:14 alludes to the OT pattern of God dwelling among his people and manifesting his glory, which entails the conclusion that \u201cthe Word\u201d must be a divine title or allude to the name of God. (2) These three targumic terms are frequently collocated in the Targums, and many passages where this occurs have a direct bearing on John\u2019s Gospel. (3) The OT background of John 1:14\u201318 points especially to the revelation of God to Moses in Exod 33\u201334, where the corresponding Targum passages make abundant use of the concept of the divine Word in order to convey the idea that Moses saw the glory of the divine Word, but did not see the face of God.<\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n The Name of the Father and the Mission of Jesus<\/p>\n INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n There are four references to the name of the Father in John 17. In two of them Jesus says he has manifested or made known the Father\u2019s name to the disciples, and in the other two Jesus says that the Father\u2019s name is given to the Son. These references to the Father\u2019s name can be grouped as follows:<\/p>\n I manifested [\u1f10\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u03ad\u03c1\u03c9\u03c3\u03b1] your name to the men whom you gave to me (v. 6). Jesus\u2019 prayer makes it clear that the manifestation of, or making known, the name of the Father to the disciples\u2014that name which is also given to the Son\u2014is central to the mission of Jesus. In this chapter, we ask what is the Father\u2019s name, what is the meaning of that name, and how did Jesus fulfill the mission of making that name known? The last question is again taken up in chs. four through eight. THE NAME OF THE FATHER<\/p>\n The following considerations suggest that the name of the Father in John 17 is the Tetragrammaton.<\/p>\n 1. Jesus said to the Jews, \u201cI have come in my Father\u2019s name, and you do not receive me\u201d (5:43), which can be compared to \u201cBlessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord\u201d (12:13), a citation of Ps 118:26, where \u201cLord\u201d stands for the Tetragrammaton. Further, the phrase \u201cyou do not receive me\u201d parallels an earlier portion of Ps 118: \u201cThe stone that the builders rejected\u201d (v. 22), strengthening the connection between John 5:43 and 12:13. Thus the implication for John 17:11\u201312 of John 12:13 is that, as Burkett states, \u201cthe Son has been given the Father\u2019s name, i.e., \u2018Yahweh.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n 2. Jesus\u2019 statement in John 17:6, 26 that he made known the Father\u2019s name to the disciples can be related to 4:26, because in that verse Jesus uses the language of Isa 52:6, where the LORD promises that there will be a day when his people know his name. The connection between Isa 52:6 and John 4:26 is not evident in translation, unless one translates more literally than is usually done:<\/p>\n Isa 52:6 The translation of John 4:26 is not entirely literal, but it reflects the fact that Hebrew \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05be\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 (\u201cI [am] he\u201d) is usually translated in the LXX, including at Isa 52:6, idiomatically by \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 (lit.: \u201cI, I am\u201d). THE MEANING OF THE TETRAGRAMMATON<\/p>\n Most would agree that Exod 3:14 has something to do with explaining the meaning of the divine name. The Hebrew \u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 is often translated \u201cI am who I am.\u201d Alviero Niccacci notes, however, that this translation is problematic since clause-initial \u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 would be expected to express volition (a promise, etc.). Taking the first \u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 as volitional would lead to the possibility of \u201cI will be who I will be,\u201d which would not seem to be much of an explanation. Niccacci argues that the second \u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 is not future, but a past habitual, \u201cI will be who I have been,\u201d and that such an interpretation suits the context, in which God is stressing that he is the God of the fathers. That is, he is the God of the fathers, who made promises to the fathers, and he will be the God of Israel and keep the promises he made concerning Israel to the fathers (most obviously, to bring them from Egypt and make them his people in the promised land). One could use the perfect tense to express the idea of being in the past, as, for example, in such expressions as \u201cJust as I was [\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9] with Moses, so I will be with you\u201d (Josh 1:5), but the imperfect could be used as well. Niccacci cites the use of \u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 in 2 Sam 15:34, where David suggests that Hushai the Archite pledge loyalty to Absalom with the preface, \u201cI used to be [\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4] your father\u2019s servant.\u201d Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39 Revelation 1:8, besides being similar to the Targum text, also contains the LXX of Exod 3:14, \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 \u1f41 \u1f62\u03bd (I am he who is), though split up. In Rev 1:4, following the preposition \u201cfrom\u201d (\u1f00\u03c0\u03cc), one would expect \u201chim who is \u2026\u201d to be in the genitive case, but it is in the nominative, making the phrase (including the definite articles) look like non-declining Hebrew names taken over from the OT, which would be the case if it stands for the Tetragrammaton. Also of potential interest for the possibility that Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39 is expounding the divine name, in Deut 32:3 Moses says \u201cI will proclaim the name of the LORD,\u201d so that \u201cthe overall scope and purpose of the song is presented as a proclamation of the name of the Lord\u201d (though Tg. Ps.-J. as well as Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tgs. P, V change \u201cproclaim [\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0] the name\u201d to \u201cpray [\u05e6\u05dc\u05d9] in the name\u201d). Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 3:14 These descriptions of God in Revelation use present and past tenses of the verb \u201cto be.\u201d In Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tg. P, it is past and future; Tg. Ps.-J. has present and future (Tg. Ps.-J. also refers to the past, by describing God\u2019s creation in the past, rather than saying that he existed in the past). Isa 41:4: Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am he (LXX: \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9).<\/p>\n Targum Isaiah does not use \u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 here and paraphrases considerably: \u201cI, the LORD, created the world from the beginning, even the ages of ages are mine, and besides me there is no God.\u201d<\/p>\n Isa 43:10: You are my witnesses, declares the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he (LXX: \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9). Before me there was no God formed, and there will be none after me.<\/p>\n Here Tg. Isa. does use \u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 for MT \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0, and in addition it adds another \u201cI am he\u201d saying. For the second sentence quoted above, Tg. Isa. has \u201cI am he who is from the beginning [\u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d3\u05de\u05dc\u05e7\u05d3\u05de\u05d9\u05df], even the ages of ages are mine, and there is no God besides me.\u201d<\/p>\n Isa 43:13: Even from eternity I am he [\u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0], and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand; I act and who can reverse it?<\/p>\n Besides having \u201cI am he\u201d in common with Deut 32:39, the saying \u201cthere is no one who can deliver out of my hand\u201d also agrees with that verse. Here the LXX omits \u201cI am he\u201d but translates \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd as \u201cfrom the beginning\u201d (\u1f00\u03c0\u02bc \u1f00\u03c1\u03c7\u1fc6\u03c2), joined to the previous verse, \u201cI am the Lord God from the beginning.\u201d Targum Isaiah translates this phrase as \u201cfrom eternity I am he\u201d (\u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05de\u05d0 \u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0). Modern translations disagree as to whether \u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd refers to the beginning of time (\u201cbefore there was day\u201d) or to the future (\u201cfrom now on\u201d), as if it were from \u05de\u05b5\u05d4\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd, \u201cfrom today.\u201d The LXX and Tg. Isa., at least, take it as referring to the beginning.<\/p>\n Isa 43:25: I, even I, am he [\u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0; Tg.: \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0] who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake (Tg.: who forgives your sins for my name\u2019s sake).<\/p>\n The LXX translates the beginning of this verse with a double \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9, which has led some interpreters to think that already in the LXX \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 is used as a surrogate for the Tetragrammaton: \u201cI am \u2018I am he.\u2019 \u201d The Targum could be taken the same way, or as the MT is translated above. The Targum paraphrase of God\u2019s self-description in this verse bears a strinking resemblance to 1 John 2:12: \u201cI write to you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name\u2019s sake.\u201d In the Johannine context, \u201chis name\u201d is Christ\u2019s name, which, if based on Tg. Isa. 43:25, must be the Tetragrammaton. That Tg. Isa. 43:25 is the source of John\u2019s language is further suggested by the fact that John goes on to utilize a Targum paraphrase of another \u201cI am he\u201d saying from the same chapter of Isaiah: \u201cI write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning\u201d (\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u1f00\u03c0\u02bc \u1f00\u03c1\u03c7\u1fc6\u03c2, vv. 13\u201314; see Isa 43:10 above). While it is true that the LXX of Isa 43:13 uses \u1f00\u03c0\u02bc \u1f00\u03c1\u03c7\u1fc6\u03c2, as noted above, John 2:12 clearly agrees with Tg. Isa. 43:25, not the LXX of this verse, which is rendered literally; this makes it likely that John derived his language from the Targum rather than from the LXX. Further, as we see below, \u201cI am he who is from the beginning\u201d is used twice more in the Targum of this section of Isaiah, and in ch. 8 we will see that the \u201cI am he\u201d saying of Isa 43:10 is quite important for interpreting a number of the \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 sayings of Jesus in John\u2019s Gospel.<\/p>\n Isa 44:6: Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: \u201cI am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides me.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither the MT nor the LXX uses \u201cI am he\u201d here, but the Isaiah Targum reads identically to Tg. Isa. 43:10, to give us a double \u201cI am he\u201d: \u201cI am he; I am he who is from the beginning; even the ages of ages are mine. Besides me there is no God.\u201d In this case, \u201cI am he who is from the beginning\u201d paraphrases MT \u201cI am the first,\u201d and another \u201cI am he\u201d is added at the beginning. Likely the motivation for this addition is to make this verse identical to Tg. Isa. 48:12 where \u201cI am he\u201d and \u201cI am the first and the last\u201d are together in the MT, and \u201cI am the first\u201d is paraphrased as in Tg. Isa. 44:6 (see Isa 48:12 below).<\/p>\n Isa 46:4: Even to (your) old age, I am he (LXX: \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9), and even to (your) time of gray hair, I [\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 LXX: \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9] will bear (you). I have acted, and I will carry (you); and I will bear, and I will deliver.<\/p>\n Targum Isaiah reads here, \u201cEven to eternity, I am he, and to the age of ages my Word endures.\u201d The association of the divine Word with \u201cI am he\u201d is not quite so close as in Tg. Neof. Deut 32:39, \u201cI, I in my Word, am he.\u201d<\/p>\n Isa 48:12: Listen to me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am he, I am the first, indeed I am the last.<\/p>\n The LXX has \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u1ff6\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b1\u1f30\u1ff6\u03bd\u03b1, essentially combining \u201cI am he\u201d with \u201cI am the first\u201d and \u201cI am the last.\u201d As noted above, Tg. Isa. reads as in Tg. Isa. 43:10 and 44:6: \u201cI am he. I am he who is from the beginning. Even the ages of ages are mine, and besides me there is no God.\u201d Targum Isaiah 48:12 begins by saying, \u201cReceive my Word, O those of the house of Jacob\u201d (see ch. 1 on the language of John 1:11\u201312), and v. 13 says, \u201cBy my Word I founded the earth\u201d (again, see ch. 1, on the targumic background of John 1:1\u20133, 10).<\/p>\n Isa 51:12: I, even I, am he [\u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0; Tg.: \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0] who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies? And of the son of man who is made like grass?<\/p>\n Here again, as in Isa 43:25, the LXX translates with a double \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 which might be understood, \u201cI am \u2018I am he.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Isa 52:6: Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day (they shall know) that I am he (LXX: \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9), the one who is speaking; here I am.<\/p>\n Targum Isaiah paraphrases in such a way that the promise is not of God\u2019s people knowing his name, but of the other nations: \u201cTherefore my name shall be exalted among the peoples; therefore in that time you shall know that it is I who speak, and my Word endures.\u201d It is of interest that the Targums render the future divine \u201cHere I am\u201d as \u201cMy Word endures,\u201d in light of the dependence of John 4:26 on Isa 52:6, which we noted above. Isaiah 52:6 is the last in a series of nine OT \u201cI am he\u201d sayings (counting Deut 32:39, but not counting Isa 44:6 where \u201cI am he\u201d is not in the MT); John 4:26 is the first in a series of twenty-two \u201cI am he\u201d sayings of Jesus in John. As the first of these in John is based on the last of them in Isaiah, Jesus the divine Word is basically picking up where he left off in Isaiah, saying that the promised time of revelation of the divine name has come. THE NAME OF THE FATHER IS GIVEN TO THE SON<\/p>\n As noted above, twice in John 17:11\u201312 Jesus says that the Father\u2019s name has been given to him. As we have seen, this name refers to the Tetragrammaton. This passage is among the clearest indications of the deity of Jesus Christ in the NT, since there can be no clearer indication of deity than possession of the name YHWH. Unfortunately, the value of John 17:11\u201312 in refuting Arianism is reduced by the fact that in each case there is a variant reading of the text stating that it was the disciples rather than the Father\u2019s name that had been given to the Son. The KJV, which translates \u201cthose whom thou hast given me\u201d (v. 11) and \u201cthose that thou gavest me\u201d (v. 12), is based on these variants. However, the variants were rejected by the committee that produced the UBS (United Bible Societies) text because, as Bruce Metzger explained in commenting on both variants, \u201cThe reading that best accounts for the origin of the others [i.e., the reading that states that it was the Father\u2019s name that had been given to the son] has also the strongest attestation.\u201d The UBS text is also preferable on the grounds that it is the more difficult text. Any scribes who were unaware that the Father\u2019s name referred to the Tetragrammaton might have mistakenly understood \u201cFather\u201d as the name being referred to. To avoid the perceived heresy of modalism\u2014the implication that Jesus is the Father, they made a slight change in the text. Modern translators also seem confused about the meaning and importance of the Father\u2019s name in John 17. Of the four references to \u201cyour name\u201d in John 17, the NIV retains only one (v. 11; a footnote gives the correct reading for vv. 6, 26). In 17:12 \u201cyour name\u201d is changed to \u201cthe name,\u201d which could be interpreted as the name Jesus. NLT does not use the word \u201cname\u201d at all in its translation of these verses. Ps 102:27; Heb 1:12 Hebrews thus agrees with John 17 in saying that the Tetragrammaton, the Father\u2019s name, the distinguished name, is given to the Son. Paul makes the same point in Phil 2:9, where he says that the name above all names is given to Jesus; Paul\u2019s reference in v. 10 to Isa 45:23 (\u201cevery knee will bow to me\u201d) shows that the \u201cname\u201d in question is the Tetragrammaton.<\/p>\n THE MISSION OF JESUS: EXPLAINING THE DIVINE NAME<\/p>\n If the mission of Jesus is to reveal the name of God, and if the meaning of that name is that the LORD is the one true God, and that he does not change, then we can see a motivation for John\u2019s use of the targumic Word as a title for Jesus. Recall from ch. 1 some of the things that scholars have said in describing the targumic Word: Levine stated that this title \u201cconveys the being and doing of YHWH, across the entire spectrum.\u201d Levey wrote that the targumic Word \u201cis everything that God is supposed to be, and its manifold activity encompasses the entire spectrum of divine endeavor.\u201d Chester noted that Word and Shekinah \u201care used as an exegesis of the divine names, especially the tetragrammaton.\u201d None of these scholars, incidentally, is an advocate of a Targum background of the Logos title. 1 Why John Calls Jesus \u201cthe Word\u201d INTRODUCTION This book depends entirely on, and argues for, the view that John\u2019s decision to call Jesus \u201cthe Word,\u201d the Logos (\u1f41 \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2), was influenced by the Targums, the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, many or most of which were prepared for recitation in the synagogue after … <\/p>\n
\nFragmentary Targum V begins like CTg. FF, saying that \u201cthe Word of the LORD was revealed,\u201d and it ends with \u201cand the Word of the LORD shone and gave light\u201d (\u05e0\u05d4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05de\u05e0\u05d4\u05e8). Fragmentary Targum P Exod 15:18 says that the LORD was revealed, etc., and \u201cthrough his Word shone and gave light\u201d (\u05d5\u05d1\u05de\u05d9\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e0\u05d4\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05de\u05e0\u05d4\u05d9\u05e8).
\nThe CTg. FF and Tg. Neof. are particularly close to John in saying both that the Word was \u201clight\u201d (using the noun) and that the Word \u201cshone.\u201d As Robert Kysar notes, \u201cthe parallels between this targumic passage and the prologue are striking: the prevailing darkness, the word\u2019s existence at the beginning of creation, the identification of word and light, and the shining of the light in the darkness.\u201d
\nMcNamara criticizes Billerbeck because \u201cin the course of his extensive treatment of the Memra in the Targums (which runs to thirty-two pages), [he] does not even once cite or refer to the text of Ex 12:42. Nowhere, in fact, in the entire four volumes of the Kommentar is the relevant part of the verse cited.\u201d Targum Neofiti was not available to Billerbeck, but the Frg. Tg. tradition was.
\nSome might wonder why John would care about this extrabiblical Jewish legend of the Four Nights, or what could be viewed as mere allegory of Gen 1:1\u20133. One answer might be that John saw an incident in the ministry of Jesus which could be viewed as a revelation of Jesus along the lines of the appearance of the Word as light on the first night. That incident was the appearance of Jesus to his disciples over the wind-driven waters, in the darkness, recalling the pre-creation conditions of the world when, according to the poem, \u201cthe Word of the LORD was the Light, and it gave light\u201d (John 6:16\u201321). This incident occurred just prior to the Passover, when the hymn of the Four Nights would presumably be recited (6:4). One could also view the incident as a somewhat literalistic picture of John 1:12, with Jesus coming to a remnant of his own and this remnant receiving him. \u201cThey were willing to receive him into the boat\u201d (John 6:21, which uses \u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9 for \u201creceive\u201d as in John 1:12). We will discuss this passage further in ch. 8 in connection with the \u201cI am he\u201d saying of John 6:20, where we will see that Tg. Isa. 43 will help us complete the picture.
\nAnother case where the divine Word is associated with shining light is Tg. Neof. Exod 13:21\u201322, which says that \u201cthe Word of the LORD led on before them during the daytime in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fiery cloud to give them light.\u2026 The pillar of cloud did not cease during the daytime, nor the pillar of fire by night, leading and standing in readiness and shining before the people\u201d (similarly Frg. Tg. P for v. 21). The divine Word in the pillar of fire leading the Israelites can also be seen as background to John 8:12, where Jesus is the light of the world, so that his followers should not remain in darkness (more on this in ch. 8).
\nAfter saying that the light shines in the darkness, John goes on to say that the darkness did not overtake it (1:5), which suggests conflict between light and darkness, a theme also found in the body of the Gospel (3:19). \u201cOvertake\u201d is \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9, which some versions (including the Vulgate) translate as \u201cunderstand.\u201d Yet a prima facie case for the translation \u201covertake\u201d can be made from John 12:35, which has so much in common with 1:5: \u201cJesus said to them, \u2018For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you.\u201d
\n\u201cI will overtake \u2026 my hand will destroy them\u201d was Pharaoh\u2019s boast as he set out after the Israelites (Exod 15:9). Pharaoh was thwarted, however, because the pillar of cloud came between the Israelites and the Egyptians, and when darkness came, the cloud remained to keep the Egyptians in darkness, while the night for the Israelites was illuminated. Thus darkness (identified with the Egyptians) did not overcome light (identified with the Israelites). Again, according to Tg. Neof. Exod 13:21\u201322, the divine Word was in the pillar of cloud and fire, even though this statement is not repeated in Exod 14 in connection with the pillar of fire. For \u201cI will overtake\u201d (Exod 15:9), the LXX uses \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9 (middle voice).
\nIn an acrostic poem to Exod 14:30 in CTg. T, the Red Sea is depicted as refusing to part for the Israelites, but then \u201cThe voice of the Holy Spirit called out to Moses and the Word [Dibbera] began speaking to him.\u2026 The sea heard the Word speaking to Moses
\nThus Pal. Tg. texts describing the appearance of light at creation as well as light in the pillar of fire associate the divine Word closely with this light. We should observe that even apart from the Targums, there is more than light that binds these two texts together. The division of light and darkness at the Red Sea may be part of a reenactment of the first three days of creation (most obviously with the third day corresponding to the drying up of the Red Sea, and dry land appearing). Light is thus connected with redemption, conceived of as symbolic of a new creation. Again, recognizing redemption as a new creation allows us to see a link between John\u2019s Prologue, where John identifies the divine Word as the agent of creation, and the body of the Gospel, which deals not with creation but with redemption, which was also accomplished through the divine Word according to the Targums (more on this in chs. four through seven). The targumic divine Word is associated both with light shining in the darkness at creation and with the redemption of Israel, when light is in victorious conflict with darkness.
\nSome MSS of Tg. Ps. 27:1 say \u201cThe Word of the LORD is my light and my redemption.\u201d We can compare \u201cmy light\u201d to \u201cthe light of men,\u201d John 1:4. The context of Ps 27:1 is one of danger from evildoers who, when they approach, stumble and fall. This could be figuratively connected with John 1:5, which says that the darkness did not overcome the light. The stumbling and falling of those who came to arrest Jesus (John 18:6) could similarly serve as a sign that though the forces of darkness appear to succeed, they are actually in the category of those who perish.
\nA variant reading of Tos. Tg. Zech. 2:10 is quite striking in its association of the divine Word with light. In the MT, the LORD says, \u201cSing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst.\u201d The Tos. Tg. reads, \u201cRejoice and be glad, assembly of Zion, for the glory {Word} of the Lord will be revealed, and he shall illumine the world from the brilliance of his glory, in that he said (i.e., promised) to make his Shekinah dwell in your midst. And it is not before him to act falsely, and he will not turn from what he says. Behold, like the light {splendor} of morning which goes forth and prevails [or increases, becomes strong; \u05ea\u05e7\u05d9\u05e3] and increases his light to all the world more than all.\u201d
\nThe text with the variant \u201cWord\u201d (Memra) is like the poem of the Four Nights in associating light with the divine Word, but here the light happens not at creation but on the occasion when the LORD comes to dwell with his people. He illumines all the world with his light, and his light prevails over darkness. Thus this text adds two parallels to the Word as light in John 1 that are not in the poem of the Four Nights: \u201cThe true light which enlightens every man\u201d (1:9) agrees with \u201cincreases his light to all the world,\u201d and \u201cthe darkness did not overcome it\u201d (1:5) agrees with the Tos. Tg. description of the light as prevailing from morning (thus prevailing over darkness). Judges 5:31 (where the wording is similar to Tos. Tg. Zech. 2:10) speaks of the sun going forth in its strength as a simile for the righteous, in contrast to the LORD\u2019s enemies, who perish.
\nA further parallel between Tos. Tg. Zech. 2:10 and John\u2019s Prologue pertains to John 1:14, which we discuss below. Rimon Kasher compares the character of the Tos. Tgs. of the Prophets to Tg. Jon., noting that they tend to be more like Tg. Ps.-J. than Jonathan, that they arose in the synagogue rather than the academy, and that they are later than Jonathan in their final form but \u201cobviously \u2026 may also contain traces of ancient traditions.\u201d<\/from><\/p>\n
\nIt has been suggested that \u201chis own\u201d from v. 11 reflects an underlying Aramaic \u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05bc. Moses says to Israel in Tg. Onq. Deut 32:6, \u201cYou (Israel) are his (God\u2019s) own.\u201d \u201cMy own\u201d (\u05d3\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9) is what God calls Israel in Tgs Ps.-J. and Onq. Lev 25:55 and Tg. Isa. 43:1. In Tg. Isa. 46:3 (and many other places), he urges them (whom he has called \u201cmy own\u201d) to \u201creceive my Word\u201d (for MT \u201clisten to me\u201d). \u201cMy own\u201d is also what God calls \u201cthe ages of the ages\u201d in conjunction with some of the \u201cI am he\u201d declarations in Isaiah (Tg. Isa. 41:4; 43:10; 48:12). Indeed, Isa 43:10 is echoed by Jesus in John 13:19 and alluded to in other places (see chs. eight and nine below).
\nConcerning the expression \u201cthose who believed in his name,\u201d Anthony Tyrell Hanson comments, \u201cin the context this must refer to the name of the Logos.\u201d The expression \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD\u201d is common in the Pal. Tgs. of the Pentateuch and is found also in other Targums, except for the \u201cofficial\u201d Targums, Tg. Onq. (the Pentateuch) and Tg. Jon. (the Former and Latter Prophets).
\nBoth the idea of believing in the name of the Word of the LORD and the idea of not receiving the Word of the LORD are found in Tg. Ps. 106. Psalm 106:12 says that after Israel passed through the Red Sea and witnessed the destruction of the Egyptians, \u201cthey believed his words.\u201d This probably refers to Exod 14:31, which says they \u201cbelieved in the LORD and in his servant Moses.\u201d Palestinian Targums Exod 14:31 speaks of believing in the name of the Word of the LORD, language also used to interpret Ps 106:12. The following shows how plausible it is to associate John\u2019s language with that of the Targums:<\/p>\n
\nThe people \u2026 believed in the LORD.
\nTg. Ps.-J., Tg. Neof., Frg. Tg. P, and CTg. J Exod 14:31
\nThe people \u2026 believed in the name of the Word of the LORD.
\nMT of Ps 106:12
\nThey believed his words.
\nTg. Ps. 106:12
\nThey believed in the name of his Word.
\nJohn 1:12
\nHe gave the right to become children of God to those who believed in his (the Word\u2019s) name.<\/p>\n
\nThey did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
\nTg. Ps. 106:25
\nThey did not receive the Word of the Lord.
\nMT of Num 14:22
\nAll the men \u2026 who have not listened to my voice.
\nTg. Onq. and Tg. Ps.-J. Num 14:22
\nThe men who \u2026 have not received my Word.<\/p>\n
\nA few verses earlier in Numbers (14:11), the LORD asks, \u201cHow long will they not believe in me,\u201d which in Tg. Neof. becomes, \u201cHow long will they not believe in the name of my Word?\u201d Numbers 14:11 seems to be paraphrased in John 12:37 and applied to Jesus. The corresponding passage in Tg. Neof. makes it natural to suppose that John has taken the Logos title from the Targums:<\/p>\n
\nThough he had performed so many signs before them, they were not believing in him.
\nNum 14:11 (MT)
\nHow long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs which I have performed in their midst?
\nTg. Neof. Num 14:11
\nHow long will they not believe in the name of my Word (Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J.: believe in my Word), in spite of all the signs of my miracles which I have performed among them?<\/p>\n
\nMost commonly, \u201clistening\u201d (Heb) to the LORD or to the voice of the LORD in the MT is rendered as \u201creceiving\u201d in the Targums. \u201cReceiving\u201d is used to render other expressions as well, such as turning to the LORD and coming to the LORD. If John was thinking of the Aramaic \u05e7\u05d1\u05d9\u05dc, he could have expressed it in Greek with \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03c9 (just as modern English translations of Targums use \u201cheed,\u201d \u201clisten to,\u201d \u201cattend to,\u201d etc.). Likewise, \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03c9 in various Gospel passages could reflect an originally spoken Aramaic \u05e7\u05d1\u05d9\u05dc, but John\u2019s use of the literal translation \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9\/\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9 in 1:11\u201312 helps us make the connection to \u05e7\u05d1\u05d9\u05dc of the Targums.
\nThe expression \u201cthe name of the Word [Memra] of the LORD\u201d (or variants such as \u201cthe name of my Word\u201d) is used differently in Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. For example, the language of believing\/not believing in \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD\u201d is found in Tg. Neof., but in these passages Tg. Ps.-J. usually agrees with Tg. Onq., which speaks of believing or disbelieving in \u201cthe Word of the LORD.\u201d We can illustrate this with Deut 9:23, where Moses speaks of the refusal of Israel to enter the promised land. As we saw for Tg. Ps. 106, so we see in the various Targums of Deut 9:23 both the \u201creceive\u201d language and the \u201cbelieve in his name\u201d language of John 1:11\u201312:<\/p>\n
\nYou rebelled against the mouth of the LORD your God and did not believe him or listen to his voice.
\nTg. Neof.
\nYou rebelled against the decree of the Word of the LORD your God, and you did not believe in the holy name of the Word of the LORD, and you did not listen to the voice of his Word.
\nTgs. Onq. and Ps.-J.
\nYou rebelled against the Word of the LORD your God and did not believe him and did not receive his Word.<\/p>\n
\nTg. Neof.
\nTgs. Onq., Ps.-J.
\nyou did not:
\nbelieve him
\nbelieve in the holy name of the Word of the LORD
\nbelieve him
\nyou did not:
\nlisten to his voice
\nlisten to the voice of his Word
\nreceive his Word<\/p>\n
\nIn Ezek 3:7, God says to Ezekiel, \u201cThe house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me.\u201d In Tg. Ezek., he says, \u201cthey will not be willing to receive from you because they will not be willing to receive my Word\u201d [\u05dc\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9]. Jesus the Word uses similar language in speaking of those whom he sends: \u201cWhoever receives [\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9] the one I send receives me (the Word), and whoever receives me receives him who sent me\u201d (John 13:20; similarly Matt 10:40, which uses \u03b4\u03ad\u03c7\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9 for \u201creceive\u201d).
\nFinally, we note that John\u2019s connection between receiving the Word and being given the right to become children of God (1:12) can be seen as based on the reading of Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. Exod 19:5\u20136: \u201cIf you will diligently receive my Word, \u2026 you shall be before me \u2026 a holy people.\u201d This passage is cited in Jer 7:23, where Tg. Jer. reads, \u201cReceive my Word, and I will be your God and you shall be a people before me.\u201d The equation of the holy people of God and the children of God is made in Deut 14:1\u20132: \u201cYou are children (Tg. Ps.-J.: beloved children; cf. Eph 5:1) of the LORD your God.\u2026 You are a holy people.\u201d
\nWe should also take note of the doctrinal implications of understanding the word \u201creceive\u201d in John 1:11\u201312 according to the Aramaic background. To \u201creceive the Word of the LORD\u201d has connotations of obedience, and is thus not accurately explained as analogous to merely receiving a gift.<\/p>\n
\nIt should however be noted that the use of \u201cglory\u201d in John 12:41 does not prove influence from Tg. Isa. 6:1, since the LXX of that verse interprets \u201cthe train of his robe\u201d as \u201chis glory\u201d (similarly, Tg. Isa.: \u201cthe brilliance of his glory\u201d). That is, \u201cIsaiah saw his glory\u201d could be influenced by LXX Isa 6:1 \u201cI saw the Lord \u2026 and the temple was full of his glory.\u201d On the other hand, a connection between John 12:41 and Tg. Isa. 6:1 seems likely if one has already accepted a targumic background of the Logos title, since Tg. Isa. 6:8 says Isaiah heard the voice of the Word of the Lord speaking to him. In Tg. Isa. 6:5, Isaiah pronounces woe upon himself, because, he says, \u201cmy eyes have seen the glory of the Shekinah of the eternal King.\u201d Thus in these two verses from Isaiah\u2019s commissioning we have the three key targumic words that have been connected to John 1:14. Further, Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 4:7 borrows a phrase from Isa 6:1 with a significant variation from Tg. Isa.: \u201cThe Word of the LORD sits on his throne, high and lifted up.\u201d We may infer that the now-lost \u201cPalestinian\u201d Targum of Isa 6:1 might have read something like, \u201cI saw the Word of the LORD sitting on his throne, high and lifted up, \u2026 and the temple was filled with the brilliance of his glory.\u201d If such a reading existed in John\u2019s day, the connection to John 12:41 would be even more obvious.
\nTg. Ps.-J. Deut 5:24 also associates these three key words:<\/p>\n
\nTg. Ps.-J. Deut 5:24
\nAnd you said, \u201cBehold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire.\u201d
\nAnd you said, \u201cBehold, the Word of the LORD our God has shown us the Shekinah of his glory and the greatness of his praise, and we have heard the voice of his Word from the midst of the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWe also noted above that one variant of Tos. Tg. Zech. 2:10, besides associating the divine Word with light which illumines the whole world, also speaks of his glory and making his Shekinah dwell among his people. Below is a comparison of John 1:14, MT, Tg. Zech., and Tos. Tg. Zech. 2:10:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell (LXX: \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9) in your midst,\u201d declares the LORD.
\nTg. Zech.
\nRejoice and be glad, O congregation of Zion, for behold, I will reveal myself and I will make my Shekinah dwell in your midst, says the LORD.
\nTos. Tg. Zech.
\nRejoice and be glad, assembly of Zion, for the Word {glory} of the LORD will be revealed, and he shall illumine the world from the brilliance of his glory, in that he said to make his Shekinah dwell in your midst.
\nJohn 1:14
\nThe Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.<\/p>\n
\nBurney\u2019s observation about the relationship between the Word, glory, and Shekinah in the Targums implies that in assessing the likelihood of a targumic background to the Logos title, we are interested not only in potential Johannine allusions to the targumic Word, but also in possible allusions to the Shekinah, the glory of the Shekinah, etc. It is often the case that in a particular passage both \u201cWord\u201d and \u201cShekinah\u201d (or \u201cglory\u201d or \u201cglory of the Shekinah\u201d) are used, or that one Targum might use \u201cWord\u201d where another uses \u201cShekinah.\u201d In the case of Tg. Neof., this variation often occurs between the main text and marginal readings.
\nOne important place where the divine Word, glory, and Shekinah occur together is in the revelation of the glory of God to Moses on Mt. Sinai after the golden calf incident (Exod 33\u201334). In Tg. Neof. Exod 33:23, for example, God says to Moses, \u201cYou shall see the Word of the glory of my Shekinah\u201d (mg.: \u201cI make you see the Word of glory\u201d). Dibbura occurs in both the main text and the marginal reading. This passage is especially significant because John 1:14\u201318 arguably has this revelation of the glory of God to Moses as its background, with \u201cfull of grace and truth\u201d being John\u2019s translation of \u201cabounding in kindness and truth\u201d of Exod 34:6 (\u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d7\u05b6\u05ab\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea). The OT background of John 1:14\u201318 is explored in more detail in ch. 2.<\/p>\n
\nWhen Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with him [YHWH], he heard the voice of the Spirit who was speaking with him, as he descended from the heaven of heavens over the mercy seat which was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim. And from there was the Word [Dibbera] speaking with him.
\nIsa 11:1\u20132
\nA branch from (Jesse\u2019s) roots shall bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him.
\nJohn 1:32\u201333
\nI have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and he remained upon him. And I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, \u201cHe upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe two verbs \u201cdescending\u201d (agreeing with Tg. Ps.-J. Num 7:89) and \u201cremaining\u201d (agreeing with the MT of Isa 11:2) support the idea that \u201cthe Word (who used to speak to Moses from between the cherubim) has become flesh (from the root of David).\u201d This connection further implies that \u201cSon of God\u201d in John the Baptist\u2019s testimony (John 1:34) is not a merely human title connected to 2 Sam 7:14, but corresponds to the targumic divine \u201cWord of the LORD,\u201d now become a man. We also see that the initiative for this identification is from the Father, who chose this means to identify his Son to the Jews through John\u2019s testimony.
\nIt also may be observed that in this linking of \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d with the Messiah on whom the Spirit rests, there is a clear difference from the usage of the Memra\/Dibbera of the Targums, where the Word represents God, but not the Messiah. For example, Tg. Isa. 42:1 says, \u201cBehold, my servant, \u2026 my chosen in whom my Memra (MT: my soul) is pleased. I will put my Holy Spirit upon him.\u201d That God\u2019s Memra is pleased with the Messiah obviously demonstrates that John\u2019s usage of the Logos title (if targumic) represents an adaptation, not a simple reproduction. The targumists did not think of the Word of the LORD as the Son of God in any NT sense. When the Targum says \u201cthe Word spoke to Moses,\u201d it is a way of saying \u201cYHWH spoke to Moses.\u201d
\nCould this connection between the Targums and the Spirit\u2019s descent upon Jesus be mere coincidence? Is there any other reason to see John\u2019s report of the baptism of Jesus as connected to Ps.-J. Num 7:89? In answer I would point to what might be called the Moses-Elijah-John the Baptist typology. A comparison of Exod 34 to 1 Kgs 19 (Moses and Elijah seeing God on Mt. Sinai) would seem to establish Elijah as a \u201cnew Moses.\u201d That John the Baptist is considered a \u201cnew Elijah\u201d is further evident in the Synoptic Gospels (Matt 3:4 and Mark 1:6 compared to 2 Kgs 1:8; also Matt 11:14; 17:12; Mark 9:13; Luke 1:17). Viewing the Gospel of John\u2019s experience of the Spirit\u2019s descent upon Jesus in the light of the OT experience of Moses in the holy of holies as described in Tg. Ps.-J. Num 7:89 provides another way in which John the Baptist could be considered a new Moses (though there are differences, such as Moses hearing the Spirit speak, John seeing the dove representing the Spirit, and John hearing the Father speak). Perhaps John has also pointed in this direction in that the first three people mentioned by name in his gospel (besides Jesus) are John the Baptist (1:6, 15, 19), Moses (v. 17), and Elijah (vv. 21, 25).
\nMoses died outside the promised land for his episode of unbelief, and was succeeded by Joshua, who brought Israel into the promised land. In this sense, Joshua is one greater than Moses, and God began to exalt Joshua at the miraculous crossing of the Jordan (Josh 3:7). One sees the same pattern in Elijah and Elisha (2 Kgs 2:14), the new Moses\/Joshua pair. Elijah crosses over to the east side of the Jordan before being taken up by the whirlwind, and God begins to exalt the successor Elisha in the miracle of crossing the Jordan. Then Elisha follows Joshua\u2019s path into the promised land, where he fulfills Elijah\u2019s unfinished mandate. Likewise, John the Baptist speaks of his successor as one who is greater than him (John 1:15, 27), and the Father begins to exalt Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan. John died at Herod\u2019s palace (Matt 14:10; Mark 6:27), which according to Josephus at least was Machaerus, on the east side of the Jordan (Ant. 18.119). That John was aware of this typology is further evident from the fact that he added to the Synoptic material, since the activities of Jesus at the Jordan in John 1 are reminiscent of those of Joshua at the Jordan before Israel crossed, as we will see below in ch. 5.
\nThis combination of OT and targumic backgrounds to Jesus\u2019 baptism therefore sheds light on the phrase \u201cthe Word became flesh\u201d not only by reference to prophecy (Isa 11:2), but also by typological connections to Israel\u2019s history. The Word has become \u201cflesh\u201d\u2014a man like Joshua (his human namesake) and Elisha (a name with the same meaning as Joshua). Since the Synoptic Gospels also describe the Spirit descending upon Jesus, they too could convey the message \u201cthe Word has become flesh\u201d to those familiar with the reading of Tg. Ps.-J. Num 7:89 (see ch. 11).
\nWhile it is true that there is no direct proof that the reading in Tg. Ps.-J. Num 7:89 was current in the first century, interpreters must account for John\u2019s emphasis on the Spirit \u201cdescending\u201d and \u201cremaining\u201d on Jesus. The interpretation offered above does so in a way that agrees with a stated theme of John\u2019s Gospel, namely, the Word became flesh. We will see this theme brought out over and over as we examine John\u2019s Gospel from the Targum background. Therefore, one can turn the tables and suggest that John 1:32\u201334 can be considered evidence that Tg. Ps.-J. Num 7:89 preserves a pre-Christian tradition. It would hardly be the only case where Tg. Ps.-J., alone of the Targums, preserves a passage of interest to NT studies.<\/p>\n
\nJohn 1:51
\n(Jacob) had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending upon it.
\nAnd he said to (Nathanael), \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you [pl.], you [pl.] will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.<\/p>\n
\nJohn 1:51
\n\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f31 \u1f04\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f00\u03bd\u03ad\u03b2\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ad\u03b2\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd \u1f10\u03c0\u02bc \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03ae\u03c2
\n\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u1f00\u03b3\u03b3\u03ad\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b2\u03b1\u03af\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03b2\u03b1\u03af\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03c5\u1f31\u1f78\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03ce\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5<\/p>\n
\nInterpreters tend to focus on and pick one or at most two of these three perspectives\u2014Jesus as the ladder, Jesus as the new Jacob, or the pre-incarnate Jesus as the one who appeared to Jacob. But there is no reason not to combine them: \u201cAll three interpretations of the Son of Man are conclusions an ancient reader well versed in the Scriptures and in the on-going tradition of their interpretation might reach after pondering John\u2019s Gospel.\u201d
\nTurning to the Pal. Tgs., we note that all of them (including both traditions of the Frg. Tgs.) have a lengthy addition at Gen 28:10 describing a legend of five miracles that \u201cwere done for our father Jacob when he went forth from Beersheba to go to Haran.\u201d The first miracle was that \u201cthe hours of the day were shortened, and the sun set before its time, because the Word [Dibbera or Dibbura] desired to speak to him.\u201d (This desire led to the LORD\u2019s appearance to Jacob in his dream.)
\nA number of parallels are evident between the LORD speaking to Jacob (in the MT) and Jesus speaking to Nathanael. In the Pal. Tgs. the parallel is with the Word speaking to Jacob. Three perspectives on John 1:51 and its OT and targumic contexts show us (1) Jesus as the ladder from earth to heaven; (2) Jesus as a man; and (3) Jesus as the divine Word who spoke to Jacob and now speaks to Nathanael. In combination, they suggest that the invisible Word (who spoke to Jacob) has become flesh (a person like Jacob but without sin) so as to provide for lost people (not for angels) a way to heaven. In ch. 9 we will see that the \u201cI am he\u201d (\u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9) sayings of Jesus in John can be placed into these same three categories.
\nRecalling Burney\u2019s suggestion that in John 1:14 not just \u201cthe Word\u201d but \u201cdwelt\u201d and \u201chis glory\u201d reflect targumic concepts (the Shekinah and the glory, or the glory of the Shekinah), we note that these latter two are combined in Tg. Neof. and Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 28:16. For MT \u201csurely the LORD is in this place,\u201d they say \u201ctruly the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD dwells in this place.\u201d Targum Onqelos reads similarly but omits \u201cthe Shekinah of.\u201d Elsewhere John connects the revelation of the glory of Jesus to the evidence of the supernatural in his working of miracles (John 2:11). Here likewise Jesus gives evidence of the supernatural in his knowledge of Nathanael\u2019s circumstances when Philip called him (1:48). Nathanael\u2019s experience could thus be described, even without referring to the Targums, as seeing the glory of the Word who became flesh and dwelt amongst us. Turning to the Pal. Tgs., we find much the same language describing Jacob\u2019s experience at Bethel before the Word became flesh.
\nWe can also see in the rest of John\u2019s Gospel various elements of the Word\u2019s promises to Jacob and Jacob\u2019s vow at Bethel as rendered in the Targums, if we understand them as fulfilled in Jesus the Word. The common divine promise to be with someone is often rendered in the Targums with the idea that God will be with someone in his Word (always Memra) or that the Word of the LORD will be with them or that his Word will be for their help. For MT \u201cI am with you\u201d Tgs. Ps.-J. and Onq. Gen 28:15 read \u201cMy Word is for your help\u201d (similarly v. 20, and Tg. Neof. [mg.] v. 20). In Tg. Neof. this phrase is rendered \u201cI, in my Word, am with you.\u201d In John 13:33, Jesus the Word says he will be with the disciples a little while longer. In 14:16, he says, \u201cI will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper, that he might be with you forever,\u201d which means that until then Jesus (the Word) has been their helper (similarly, 1 John 2:1). Genesis 28:15 also says, \u201cI will not leave you until I have done what I have promised,\u201d which in Tg. Neof. is \u201cMy Word will not leave you \u2026\u201d (Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J.: \u201cI will not leave you\u201d). Jesus the Word likewise says in connection with the promise of another helper, \u201cI will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you\u201d (John 14:18).
\nFor MT \u201cthe LORD will be my God,\u201d Tg. Onq. Gen 28:21 reads, \u201cthe Word of the LORD shall be my God.\u201d Tg. Neof. [mg.] and CTg. E read, \u201c(if) the Word of the LORD is for my help as a redeemer God.\u201d
\nAt the same time, this journey on which Jacob is embarking can also be seen to provide a paradigm for the mission of Jesus Christ during the \u201clittle while\u201d that he is with Israel. Jacob left his father\u2019s house on a two-fold mission. The first was to save his life from his brother Esau, whom he had wronged (Gen 27:41\u201345). The second was to find a wife (Gen 28:1\u20132). Likewise Jesus has left his Father\u2019s house and will return (John 14:12, 28) when his mission is complete. Based on the idea of the church being the bride of Christ (which we explore in chapter six as we look at John 4 in part from a background of Jacob meeting his bride Rachel at a well in Gen 29), we can relate this second mission of Jacob to the mission of Jesus. But since the bride of Christ is gained by saving her (eternal) life, this mission of Jesus also relates to the first mission of Jacob: Jesus left his Father\u2019s house because of the wrong Jacob did, and to save Jacob\u2019s life (the same may be said of all of God\u2019s people), not just for \u201ca few days\u201d (Gen 27:44), but forever. Seeing the twofold mission of Jacob as a paradigm of Christ\u2019s mission is consistent with the fact that in Isa 49:3\u20135 the Servant of the Lord is named \u201cIsrael,\u201d and this same mission is described in different words, \u201cto bring Jacob back\u201d to God.
\nOne might dismiss the foregoing interpretation based on Pal. Tgs. Gen 28:10 by saying that the addition of the five legends is late (it is not in Tg. Onq.) and of no interest to NT studies. Against this, it is of interest that another of these five miracles is apparently alluded to in John 4:14, a fact which makes it more plausible that the first legend was also known at the time, and thus that something like the present reading of Pal. Tgs. Gen 28:10 was extant in the first century. The fifth miracle (the fourth in Tg. Ps.-J.) was that when Jacob removed the stone from the mouth of the well (Gen 29:10), the water surged up and overflowed for twenty years, the time that Jacob lived in Haran. Similarly, in response to the Samaritan woman\u2019s question, \u201cYou are not greater than our father Jacob are you?\u201d Jesus replies that for anyone who drinks \u201cthe water that I shall give,\u201d that water \u201cshall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.\u201d* \u201cOur father Jacob\u201d or \u201cJacob our father\u201d occurs six to seven times in the Pal. Tg. legend (except that it does not occur at all in Tg. Ps.-J.). Thus even if the legend were true, what was believed about Jacob is insignificant when compared with the work of Jesus in giving the waters of eternal life to his people. While we might be tempted to ignore the embellishments of the Targums as distracting inventions designed to cast the spotlight on humans (Jacob in this case), it is plain that familiarity with them can add to our understanding of the Gospel of John. It follows that it is the task of the interpreter to discover and bring this information out to educate those who read the Gospel without knowledge of this background.<\/p>\n
\nJohn Lightfoot wrote in 1859 that almost all then-recent commentaries took note of targumic Memra and that this expression \u201cmay something (i.e., somewhat) enlighten the matter now before us.\u201d Lightfoot was noncommittal, however, noting, for example, that for \u201cby my Spirit\u201d of Zech 7:12 the Targum has \u201cby my Word,\u201d which would not fit John\u2019s purpose. We have already noted that the Word is clearly not the Messiah in the Targums (see above on Tg. Isa. 42:1, where God\u2019s Word delights in the Servant of the LORD; the MT says \u201cmy Soul delights in him\u201d). For another example, on the fourth night of the haggadah of the Four Nights mentioned above, the Messiah and Moses return, with the Word of the LORD leading them. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Deut 30:4 says that the divine Word will gather Israel through the mediation of Elijah and the Messiah.
\nClearly, then, if the divine Word of the Targums lies behind John\u2019s Logos title, some modification of the concept would be required in the process of appropriation. Does that fact constitute evidence against the Targum background of the Logos title? Not when one recognizes that all proposals regarding the origin of the Logos title require some modification of the source concept. For instance, neither the OT word of the LORD, nor Wisdom, nor Philo\u2019s Logos is identified with the Messiah. Reasons that scholars have rejected targumic Memra\/Dibbera as the background for the Logos title will be explored more in ch. 12. For now we can say that a substantial number of passages in John 1 make good sense when seen against a targumic background for the Logos title, and that these connections reinforce John\u2019s opening statement that \u201cthe Word was God.\u201d In particular, the Targums support that idea that the divine Word was the God of Moses (John 1:14 compared to Pal. Tgs. Exod 33\u201334, to be examined in more detail in ch. 2; and John 1:32\u201333 compared to Pal. Tgs. Num 7:89) and the God of Jacob (John 1:51 compared to Pal. Tgs. Gen 28:10). These results suggest that McNamara was correct in his proposal that John used the Logos title because in the Targums the Word of the LORD is a metonym for God. While we can\u2019t claim that the divine Word of the Targums refers explicitly to the second person of the Godhead, the fact that the divine Word is employed especially in contexts where God interacts with the creation to accomplish his will in the world (especially the redemption of his people) makes it a suitable term to apply specifically to the Son. While Memra and Dibbera in the Targums are used to refer to God under certain circumstances, and Memra implies the name of God, the Tetragrammaton, John uses Logos specifically and exclusively of the Son. Thus the Targums make clear that by \u201cthe Word,\u201d John means, in NT terms, \u201cYHWH the Son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nI suggested above that the symbolism of the Spirit descending as a dove at the baptism of Jesus points to a Targum reading of Num 7:89 that would identify Jesus as the Word who spoke to Moses from between the cherubim. My reader might have taken note of the fact that, although the reports of the baptism of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels do not stress \u201cdescending\u201d and \u201cremaining,\u201d corresponding to Jesus as \u201cWord\u201d and as \u201cMessiah,\u201d nevertheless the Synoptics point just as readily to Tg. Ps.-J. Num 7:89 as does John, since they also describe the Spirit descending on Jesus. They too could have said \u201cthe Word has become flesh.\u201d In ch. 11, we will note a number of other synoptic texts where the same conclusion comes out. Why, then, does only John explicitly identify Jesus as the Word?
\nMy suggestion is that in terms of Christology, identifying Jesus as the Word is only a means to an end. That end is to identify Jesus as both fully God and fully human. The goal is not simply to identify Jesus as the divine Word of the Targums; rather, identifying Jesus as the Word is a means to identifying him as YHWH the God of Israel, a name he shares with the Father (as we discuss in more detail in ch. 3). For Aramaic-speaking Jews, accustomed to hearing the Scriptures read in the synagogue, the Aramaic Scriptures help make a connection between what John says about Jesus, or what Jesus says about himself, and what the OT says about God, or what in the OT God says about himself.
\nAgain we can note how John 12:37 seems to depend on Num 14:11:<\/p>\n
\nMT of Num 14:11
\nThough he had performed so many signs before them, they were not believing in him.
\nHow long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs which I have performed in their midst?<\/p>\n
\nTgs. Onq. and Ps.-J.
\nHow long will they not believe in the name of my Word, in spite of all the signs of my miracles which I have performed among them?
\nHow long will they not believe in my Word \u2026<\/p>\n
\nWe will look at the phenomenon of unwitting targumic prophecies with reference to the divine Word of the Targums in ch. 10. I suggest that John identifies Jesus as the Word as a way of appealing to his fellow Aramaic-speaking Jews who have survived the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in C.E. 70. Ezekiel 39:23 says that as a consequence of the exile to Babylon, \u201cThe nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity, because they acted unfaithfully against me, and I hid my face from them, so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell by the sword, all of them.\u201d The changes made in Tg. Ezek. are quite suggestive of the first-century C.E. exile, once Jesus of Nazareth is identified as the divine Word, especially in light of the Jewish tradition that the miracles indicating the presence of the Shekinah in Israel ceased forty years prior to the destruction of the temple by the Romans:<\/p>\n
\nOur main problem in filling in the blank is that there are no explicit passages that use any of the OT words for \u201cword\u201d that would be suitable for this purpose. If we therefore allow for the possibility that John\u2019s \u201cWord\u201d is really \u201cWisdom,\u201d we can find a parallel to \u201cdwelt among us,\u201d although the parallel is with intertestamental Wisdom literature, not the OT (see ch. 1, in the subsection, Three Plausible Proposals: Wisdom in the Wisdom Literature). Even if we grant that for John (or whoever wrote the Prologue or the hymn, poem, etc. upon which the Prologue is based) such literature was part of Scripture or at least expressed ideas suitable for his purposes, there would still be no parallel in the Wisdom literature to John\u2019s statement that \u201cwe saw his glory.\u201d Advocates of Philo\u2019s Logos have not found a close parallel to this phrase either.
\nIf we keep our focus on the OT, however, we see the LORD dwelling among his people in the tabernacle and the temple, and manifesting his glory to his people. As noted above, the Hebrew verb for \u201cdwell\u201d is \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df, and the word for \u201ctabernacle\u201d is \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05df, both of which can be related to the verb \u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9 \u201cdwell,\u201d used in John 1:14. In the LXX, the related noun \u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03ae, \u201ctent,\u201d is used for the tabernacle. For the Pentateuch, the LXX often avoids translating \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df (when God is the subject) with a verb that means \u201cdwell.\u201d For example, in the LXX the phrase \u201cthat I might dwell among them\u201d (Exod 29:46) is \u201cto be called upon by them.\u201d However, one time in the Pentateuch (Num 35:34), and often outside of the Pentateuch, the LXX uses \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9 to translate verbal forms of \u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05df where the subject is God, his tabernacle, his name, or his glory. In Rev 21:3, \u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9 is used much as \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9 is in the LXX, in a way that also reminds us of John 1:14: \u201cthe tabernacle [\u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03ae] of God is with men, and he will dwell [\u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9] with them, and they shall be his people; and God himself will be with them.\u201d This can be compared to Exod 29:45: \u201cI will dwell in the midst of the Israelites, and I will be their God.\u201d In the LXX, \u03c3\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd\u03cc\u03c9 is used only in three verses, always with human subjects (Gen 13:12; Judg 5:17; 8:11).
\nThe tabernacle was built so that the LORD, after delivering his people from Egypt, might dwell among them and be their God (Exod 25:8; 29:45\u201346). When the tabernacle was built, the glory of the LORD filled it in an evident way, consecrating it and indicating that this purpose was accomplished (40:34\u201335). Instructions for the construction of the tabernacle, its anointing, the priestly garments, and priestly ordination and consecration offerings take up chs. 25 through 31 of the book of Exodus. After the sin with the golden calf, the threatened destruction of the nation, the intercession of Moses, and the partial judgment of the people (Exod 32), Moses set up the tent of meeting \u201coutside the camp, far off from the camp,\u201d and \u201ceveryone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp\u201d (33:7). This \u201ctent of meeting\u201d (\u05d0\u05b9\u05ab\u05d4\u05b6\u05dc \u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e2\u05b5\u05d3) predates the tabernacle, but this term was used often for the tabernacle (starting at 27:21) when the instructions for its construction were given, as well as after it was built. The fact that Moses set up this tent of meeting \u201coutside the camp,\u201d in contrast to the tabernacle, which would be erected in the midst of the camp with the tribes around it (Num 2) so that \u201cI might dwell in their midst\u201d (Exod 29:46), would seem to support the rabbinical interpretation of Exod 33:7 that the LORD had in effect excommunicated the nation and that the Israelites who wanted to seek the LORD must go outside the camp to do so (Exodus Rabbah 45.3; this interpretation will be discussed in connection with John 7:34 and 12:26 in ch. 8). After the LORD shows his glory to Moses and Moses returns from the mountain with the second giving of the Ten Commandments (Exod 34), the instructions given in chs 25\u201331 are carried out. The tabernacle is erected on New Year\u2019s Day (40:2, 17), and then,<\/p>\n
\nThe theme continues when the time comes to build a temple. We see both continuity with Israel\u2019s past as well as change from it, in keeping with the fact that there has also been a change in Israel\u2019s government with the establishment of the monarchy and David\u2019s dynasty, with Jerusalem as the permanent capital city. In terms of change, or discontinuity, we can point to the permanence and fixed location of the temple (a reflection of the peace and increased security provided to Israel by David\u2019s victories), its greater grandeur (i.e., \u201cglory\u201d in the physical sense), and the fact that its fate is not connected to the obedience to the covenant of the Israelites in general, but to the obedience of the house of David (1 Kgs 9:1\u20139).
\nIn terms of continuity, the temple has the same general arrangement as the tabernacle, and the same ark is housed in the holy of holies, containing the terms of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Most importantly, the temple serves the same purpose as the tabernacle: \u201cI will dwell [\u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9] among the sons of Israel\u201d (1 Kgs 6:13), the fulfillment of which is indicated again by the visible manifestation of the glory of God at the temple\u2019s dedication, much as in the tabernacle in the wilderness:<\/p>\n
\nAn alert interpreter, then, not knowing anything of Philo or the Targums, might suppose that \u201cthe Word\u201d is a circumlocution for the name of God, which was no longer pronounced, similar to \u201cthe Name,\u201d which John uses elsewhere (3 John 7). Or if we had Philo but not the Targums, one might suppose that John was using \u201cthe Word\u201d for \u201cthe name of God,\u201d as did Philo (and perhaps other contemporaries who are unknown to us today). This is basically the conclusion that John C. Meagher came to:<\/p>\n
\nIn its sad history, Israel later sees the destruction of the temple \u201cfor the sins of Manasseh,\u201d son of David (2 Kgs 24:3; 25:9), but not before the glory of the LORD has departed from the temple, as seen in Ezekiel\u2019s vision (Ezek 10:18\u201319; 11:23). When the second temple is built after the return of the Jews from exile, there is again continuity in that the temple itself is built on the same site as the first. There is also discontinuity, in that the ark is no more, the temple seems insignificant compared with its former glory (Hag 2:3), and there is no statement \u201cthe glory of the LORD filled the temple.\u201d Instead, there is a promise for the future in light of the present, apparent relative insignificance of the temple:<\/p>\n
\nSolomon\u2019s temple was destroyed for the sins of the house of David, but the life of Jesus, also from the house of David, is one of perfect obedience. This temple will be destroyed for the sins of others, that is, his people, then raised again (rebuilt) on the third day (2:19).
\nWithout even considering the Targums, then, we have seen that through a careful examination of John 1:14 in light of the significant OT theme of God dwelling among his people and manifesting his glory, one could arrive at the same conclusion as that which I proposed in ch. 1 based on the Targums, namely, that \u201cthe Word\u201d stands for the Tetragrammaton. \u201cThe Word\u201d means \u201cYHWH the Son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nOur procedure will be to list passages in canonical order where there is some kind of combination of the targumic Word with Shekinah, glory, or the glory of the Shekinah. The \u201ccombination\u201d could be of several kinds. A single Targum might employ all the relevant terms, as in the examples given above. Where there is more than one Targum for a passage, one might use Word, another might use glory and\/or Shekinah. This kind of example will come from the Pentateuch, where we have not only Tgs. Onq., Ps.-J., and Neof., but sometimes in addition also marginal readings in Tg. Neof., two Frg. Tg. traditions, and fragments of Pal. Tgs. of the Pentateuch from the Cairo Genizah. And sometimes where there is only one Targum of a passage (e.g., the Tg. Ps. and Tg. Jon. of the Prophets), different manuscripts of that Targum differ in their use of these terms.
\nAlthough we should still keep in mind that all the extant Targums postdate the first century, the sheer number of examples that can be listed, and the fact that so many of them can be related to various passages in John\u2019s Gospel, seems to indicate that the extant Targums reflect an earlier interpretive tradition. Thus it would be foolish simply to ignore them a priori based on the late date of the extant manuscripts.
\nAssuming that the Targums do indeed preserve earlier readings of the Hebrew Bible, an Aramaic-speaking Jew, having heard the Targums recited in the synagogue weekly and on feast\/fast days, could easily be led to think in these terms when he or she read John 1:14 thoughtfully, even though it is written in Greek. I also intend to show that a large proportion of these examples deal with contexts that I discussed in the preceding section where I deliberately left the Targums out of the discussion (i.e., passages concerning the construction of the tabernacle and temple).<\/p>\n
\n2. In Gen 3:8, 10 Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Word of the LORD walking in the garden (Tgs. Onq. v. 10, and in a variant of v. 8, Neof., Ps.-J., Frg. Tg. P, and Tg. Neof. [mg.] v. 10; Dibbura is used in v. 10 in Tg. Neof. [mg.], Frg. Tg. P; otherwise, Memra). They hid from before the Word of the LORD in Tg. Neof. [mg.], Frg. Tg. P Gen 3:8. The Word of the LORD called out to Adam in the garden in Tg. Neof. [mg.], Frg. Tgs. P, V Gen 3:9. God made the glory of the Shekinah dwell between the cherubim (as in the holy of holies) in the garden (Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 3:24), above the garden (Frg. Tg. P), or to the east of the garden (Tg. Neof., Frg. Tg. V).
\n3. In Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 16:13, Hagar gave thanks \u201cbefore the LORD whose Word had spoken to her,\u201d in the course of which she said, \u201cbehold, here indeed the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed.\u201d In Tg. Neof., Frg. Tgs. P, V, she \u201cprayed in the name of the Word of the LORD who was revealed to her.\u201d
\n4. Targum Neofiti Gen 17:1 says that \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d was revealed to Abraham and spoke to him (also in vv. 3, 9 [mg.], 15 [mg.], \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d spoke with him). Targum Neofiti v. 22 says that \u201cwhen he finished speaking with him, the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD (Tgs. Ps.-J. and Onq.: \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d) went up from him.\u201d
\n5. Targum Neofiti and Frg. Tgs. P, V Gen 18:1 say that \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d was revealed to Abraham (likewise in Frg. Tg. V Gen 35:9 which looks back on this incident), while Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 18:1 says \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d was revealed to him. In Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. 18:3, Abraham implored, \u201cDo not let the glory of your Shekinah go up from your servant.\u201d In 18:17 of both of these Targums (and Frg. Tgs. P, V), the LORD said to Abraham in (or through) his Word, \u201cShall I hide \u2026,\u201d and in both, \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD went up from him\u201d (v. 33); Tg. Onq. has \u201cthe glory of the LORD.\u201d
\n6. Targum Neofiti and Frg. Tgs. P, V Gen 22:14 say that on Mt. Moriah \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed\u201d to Abraham (Tg. Ps.-J.: \u201cthe Shekinah of the LORD\u201d), for MT \u201con the mount of the LORD it will be provided\u201d (which could also be rendered, \u201che will be seen\u201d). This happened in the course of \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d testing Abraham (Tgs. Neof. [mg.] and Ps.-J. Gen 22:1).
\n7. Jacob stopped at Bethel on his way to Haran due to the miraculous shortening of the day, which happened because \u201cthe Word [Dibbera\/Dibbura] desired to speak with him\u201d (Tgs. Neof., Ps.-J., Frg. Tgs. P, V Gen 28:10). The speaking occurred in his dream that night, after which Jacob said, \u201cTruly the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD dwells in this place\u201d (Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. Gen 28:16; Tg. Onq. reads \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Tg. Onq. Gen 28:13 say that \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d stood above him and spoke to him (in the dream).
\n8. When Jacob returned to Bethel more than twenty years later, \u201cthe Word of the LORD was revealed to him\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.], Frg. Tg. V, and CTg. C Gen 35:9), and \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD went up from him\u201d (Tg. Neof., Tg. Ps.-J., and CTg. C Gen 35:13; Tg. Onq. reads \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d). Jacob named the place where the Word of the LORD spoke to him \u201cBethel\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.] Gen 35:15). He also called it \u201cEl who made his Shekinah dwell in Bethel\u201d (Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 35:7). Tg. Neof. [mg.] Gen 35:7 says Jacob \u201cworshiped and prayed there in the name of the Word of the LORD, the God who was revealed to him in Bethel, for the glory of the Shekinah of the Lord was revealed to him there when he fled from before Esau.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n10. In Tg. Neof. Exod 8:22, the LORD said to Pharaoh that he will perform miracles in Egypt \u201cso that you may know that I am he, the LORD, whose Word dwells [mg.: \u201cthe glory of whose Shekinah dwells\u201d] within the land.\u201d
\n11. On Passover night, \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d (CTg. AA Exod 12:12, 23; Tg. Neof. Exod 11:4; 12:12 + [mg.]; 12:23 [mg.]) or \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 12:23) or \u201cthe glory of his Shekinah\u201d (Tg. Neof. Exod 12:23) or \u201cthe Shekinah of his glory\u201d (Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 12:12) passed through (or was revealed in) the land of Egypt; \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d struck down the Egyptian firstborn (Tg. Neof. [mg.], Tg. Ps.-J. and CTg. AA Exod 12:29) and saw the blood (CTg. AA Exod 12:13) and defended the Israelites (Tg. Neof. Exod 12:13 (+ [mg.]), 23; Tg. Ps.-J. 12:23).
\n12. As the Israelites left Egypt, they were led by \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tg. P Exod 13:21) or \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u2019s Shekinah\u201d (Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 13:21) in the pillar of fire and cloud.
\n13. At the Red Sea, Moses encouraged the people by telling them that \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u2019s Shekinah\u201d gains Israel\u2019s battle victories for them (Tg. Neof. [mg.] and Frg. Tg. V Exod 14:13\u201314; cf. Frg. Tg. V Exod 15:3) and that \u201cthe Word of the LORD will wage war for you\u201d (Frg. Tg. P Exod 14:14). Subsequently, \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d looked down upon the Egyptians (Tg. Neof. [mg.] and Frg. Tg. V Exod 14:24) and drowned them in the sea (Tg. Neof. [mg.] and Frg. Tg. P Exod 14:27) after the Egyptians acknowledged that \u201cthis is the Word of the LORD who fought for them in Egypt\u201d (Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 14:25).
\n14. At Massah the Israelites tested the LORD, asking, \u201cIs the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD dwelling among us or not?\u201d (Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. Exod 17:7; Tg. Onq. reads, \u201cIs the Shekinah of the LORD among us?\u201d). At this place the LORD said, \u201cMy Word will stand in readiness on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock\u201d (Tg. Neof. 17:6).
\n15. For the clause \u201cI will come to you in a thick cloud\u201d (Exod 19:9), Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tgs. P, V have \u201cMy Word will be revealed to you\u201d; Tg. Ps.-J. has \u201cI will be revealed to you in the thickness of the cloud of glory.\u201d For the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Neof. Exod 19:11) or \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.], Frg. Tgs. P, V) were to be revealed on the third day.
\n16. On the third day Moses brought the people to meet \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Onq. and Frg. Tg. P Exod 19:17) or \u201cthe Shekinah of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Ps.-J.) or \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Neof., Frg. Tg. V, and CTg. F).
\n17. For \u201cThe LORD came down on Mt. Sinai \u2026 and the LORD called to Moses\u201d (Exod 19:20), Tg. Neof. and CTg. F say \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed.\u201d Targum Neofiti [mg.] and Frg. Tgs. P, V say \u201cthe Word of the LORD was revealed.\u201d Targum Neofiti says \u201cthe Word (Memra) of the LORD called to him.\u201d Fragmentary Targums P, V say \u201cthe Word (Dibbera) of the LORD called to him.\u201d
\n18. The LORD promised that after the tabernacle was constructed, he would meet with the Israelites at the doorway of the tent of meeting, which would be consecrated by his glory, and he would dwell among them and be their God, and \u201cthey shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell (MT, \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df) among them; I am the LORD their God\u201d (Exod 29:43, 45\u201346). Targum Neofiti, Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Onq. 29:43 read, \u201cI will appoint my Word to be there for the sons of Israel.\u201d Verse 45 of the same Targums have \u201cI will make my Shekinah (Tg. Neof. [int.]: \u201cthe glory of my Shekinah)\u201d dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel,\u201d and Tg. Neof. continues \u201cmy Word will be for them a redeeming God.\u201d For MT \u201cthat I might dwell among them\u201d (v. 46), Tg. Neof. says \u201cso that the glory of my Shekinah might dwell among them;\u201d Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Onq. read \u201cmy Shekinah\u201d instead of \u201cthe glory of my Shekinah.\u201d
\n19. After the golden calf incident, the LORD told Moses, \u201cI will not go up (to the promised land) in your midst \u2026 lest I destroy you on your way\u201d (Exod 33:3); and in v. 5 Moses is told to inform the people of this. Targum Neofiti and Tg. Ps.-J. of these two verses speak of the glory of the LORD\u2019s Shekinah not going up among them, but Tg. Neof. [mg.] 33:3 says, \u201cMy Word will not go up before you.\u201d In Tg. Neof. [mg.] 33:1, 5, it is the Word of the LORD who was speaking to Moses about the glory of his Shekinah in vv. 3, 5. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan adds to v. 3, \u201cMy glory will not dwell where you reside in your camps.\u201d Similarly, in Tg. Onq. 33:3, 5 God said he will cause \u201chis Shekinah\u201d not to go up in their midst.
\n20. In response to Moses\u2019 request, \u201cShow me your glory\u201d (Exod 33:18), the LORD says that when \u201cthe glory of my Shekinah\u201d passes by, \u201cYou will see the Word (Dibbera) of the glory of [my] Shekinah, but it is not possible for you to see the face of the glory of my Shekinah\u201d (Tg. Neof. Exod 33:22\u201323; Frg. Tg. V 33:23 is like Tg. Neof.). According to Tg. Neof. [mg.] 33:21, this was spoken by \u201cthe Word of the LORD.\u201d Targum Neofiti [mg.] 33:23 says, \u201cI will make [you] see the Word (Dibbura) of glory.\u201d In Frg. Tg. P 33:23, God tells Moses he will see the \u201cWord (Dibbura) of the LORD,\u201d but it is impossible for him to see \u201cthe glory of my Shekinah.\u201d Targum Onqelos 33:20 and Tg. Ps.-J. 33:23 say Moses will not be able to see \u201cthe face of the glory of my Shekinah.\u201d Targum Onqelos 33:22\u201323 says, \u201cWhen my glory passes by, I will \u2026 shield you with my Word (MT: \u201chand\u201d) until I have passed by.\u201d
\n21. Exodus 34:5 says that the LORD came down in the cloud and stood by Moses. In the Targums, this is rendered, \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed\u201d (Tg. Neof.), \u201cthe Word of the LORD was revealed\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.]), and \u201cthe LORD revealed himself in the clouds of the glory of his Shekinah\u201d (Tg. Ps.-J.). All the Targums of 34:6 (including both Frg. Tg. traditions) have \u201cthe Shekinah of the LORD\u201d or \u201cthe glory of his Shekinah\u201d pass before Moses.<\/p>\n
\n23. After the death of Aaron\u2019s two sons, the LORD told Moses to warn Aaron that he may not enter at any time into the holy of holies, lest he die, \u201cfor I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat\u201d (Lev 16:2). In Tg. Neof., \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d and \u201cthe Shekinah of his glory\u201d are equated: \u201cIn my cloud, the glory of my Shekinah, my Word, is revealed over the mercy seat.\u201d In Tg. Ps.-J., he spoke, \u201cMy Shekinah is revealed in the clouds of my glory over the mercy seat.\u201d Targum Onqelos has, \u201cI will be revealed\u201d for \u201cI will appear.\u201d
\n24. In Lev 26:11\u201312, the LORD promised that if Israel is obedient, (1) \u201cI will put my dwelling [\u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 my mishkan] among you,\u201d (2) \u201cand my soul will not reject you.\u201d (3) \u201cI will also walk among you\u201d (4) \u201cand be your God.\u201d These promises are rendered as follows in the Targums: for (1), Tg. Onq. translates literally; Tg. Neof. has \u201cI will make the glory of my Shekinah dwell among you,\u201d and Tg. Ps.-J. has \u201cI will put the Shekinah of my glory among you.\u201d For (2), Tg. Neof. translates literally; Tgs. Ps.-J. and Onq. read, \u201cmy Word will not reject you.\u201d For (3), Tg. Neof. says, \u201cMy Word will go among you\u201d; Tg. Onq. has \u201cI will make my Shekinah dwell among you\u201d; Tg. Ps.-J. is like Tg. Onq. but with \u201cthe glory of my Shekinah.\u201d For (4), Tg. Onq. translates literally, and Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. say, \u201cmy Word will be to you a redeeming God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n26. According to Num 11:20, Israel\u2019s dissatisfaction with the manna provided by God and their demand for meat indicated that \u201cyou have rejected the LORD who is among you.\u201d Targum Onqelos says \u201cYou have despised (or, rejected) the Word of the LORD, whose Shekinah dwells among you;\u201d similarly Tg. Ps.-J. which says \u201cthe glory of whose Shekinah dwells among you.\u201d Targum Neofiti says \u201cYou rebelled against what is according to the decree of the Word of the LORD, the glory of whose Shekinah dwells among you.\u201d In v. 17, the LORD promised Moses \u201cI will come down and speak with you,\u201d and v. 25 says, \u201cThe LORD came down in the cloud.\u201d In v. 17, Tg. Neof. has \u201cI will be revealed in my Word,\u201d and in v. 25 it has \u201cThe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed in the cloud.\u201d Targum Pseudo-Jonathan has \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah\u201d in both passages, and Tg. Onq. says \u201cI will be revealed\u201d (v. 17) and \u201cthe LORD was revealed\u201d (v. 25).
\n27. In Num 12:5, \u201cThe LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent.\u201d In Tg. Onq., he \u201crevealed himself.\u201d In Tg. Ps.-J., \u201cThe glory of the LORD was revealed in the pillar of the cloud of glory.\u201d In Tg. Neof., \u201cThe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed in the pillar of cloud.\u201d Targum Neofiti [mg.] has \u201cthe Word of the LORD.\u201d
\n28. In Num 14:9, Joshua and Caleb told the people not to rebel against the LORD by refusing to go into the promised land. In the Targums they say, \u201cdo not rebel against the Word of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Onq.), or \u201cagainst the name of the Word of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.]), or \u201cagainst the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Neof.).
\n29. In Num 14:14, Moses says in his prayer that the nations have heard \u201cthat you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, and that eye to eye you are seen, O LORD, and your cloud stands over them.\u201d For \u201cyou are in the midst of this people\u201d Tg. Neof. says \u201cyou are he, the glory of whose Shekinah is in the midst of this people,\u201d while Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. say \u201cyour Shekinah dwells in the midst of this people.\u201d For \u201ceye to eye you are seen,\u201d Tg. Neof. says \u201cappearance to appearance you have been revealed in your Word,\u201d while Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. say \u201cwith their eyes they saw the Shekinah of your glory.\u201d For \u201cyour cloud,\u201d Tg. Neof. says \u201cthe cloud of the glory of your Shekinah,\u201d while Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. translate literally.
\n30. In Num 14:41, Moses asks the Israelites, \u201cWhy are you transgressing the mouth of the LORD?\u201d Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. say \u201cagainst the decree of the Word of the LORD,\u201d Tg. Neof. \u201cagainst what is according to the decree of the LORD.\u201d In v. 42 Moses warns them not to go up and fight, lest they be defeated, \u201cfor the LORD is not in your midst,\u201d for which Tg. Onq. says \u201cthe Shekinah of the Lord is not in your midst.\u201d Tg. Ps.-J. says \u201cthe Shekinah of the LORD does not dwell in your midst, \u2026 and the cloud of glory will not go with you.\u201d Tg. Neof. says \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the Lord does not dwell over you.\u201d In v. 43, Moses says, (1) they will be defeated \u201cbecause you have turned back from (following) after the LORD,\u201d and (2) \u201cthe LORD will not be with you.\u201d For (1) Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. say \u201cyou have turned back from the worship of the LORD,\u201d Tg. Neof. says \u201cyou have turned back from (following) after the Word of the LORD.\u201d For (2), Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. say \u201cthe Word of the LORD will not be for your help,\u201d as does Tg. Neof. [mg.] (Neof. main text, \u201cthe LORD will not be with you\u201d).
\n31 & 32. During the rebellion of Korah, \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed\u201d to the people (Tg. Neof. Num 16:19; Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J.: \u201cthe glory of the LORD\u201d), and \u201cthe Word of the LORD spoke with Moses and Aaron\u201d (Tg. Neof. [mg.] 16:20]). One finds the same situation in the Targums of Num 20:6\u20137, except that Tg. Ps.-J. agrees with Tg. Neof. in the use of Shekinah (v. 6).
\n33. Num 21:5 says that the hungry and thirsty Israelites \u201cspoke against God and against Moses.\u201d For \u201cGod,\u201d Tgs. Neof., Ps.-J., and Onq. say \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d (Tg. Onq. has a variant, they complained \u201cbefore the LORD\u201d). In v. 7, after the snakes were sent among them, they confessed they had spoken against the LORD. For \u201cthe LORD,\u201d Tg. Ps.-J. says \u201cthe glory of the Shekinah of the LORD,\u201d Tg. Onq. says \u201cbefore the LORD,\u201d and Tg. Neof. says \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d (mg. adds \u201cname of the\u201d).
\n34. In Tg. Onq. Num 23:21, Balaam prophesied, \u201cThe Word of the LORD their God is their helper, and the Shekinah of their King is among them.\u201d The Frg. Tgs. P, V are similar but have \u201cglory\u201d instead of \u201cShekinah.\u201d The Tgs. Ps.-J. and Neof. are similar to Tg. Onq. in their use of \u201cthe Word\u201d (Tg. Neof. has \u201cthe Word of the LORD is with them\u201d), but do not refer to \u201cthe Shekinah.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n36. In Deut 5:24, Moses quoted the people\u2019s response to hearing the Ten Commandments from Mt. Sinai: \u201cBehold the LORD our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire.\u201d In Tg. Ps.-J., this is rendered, \u201cBehold, the Word of the LORD our God has shown us the Shekinah of his glory \u2026 and the voice of his Word we have heard from the midst of the fire.\u201d Targum Neofiti is similar but has \u201chis glory\u201d instead of \u201cthe Shekinah of his glory,\u201d and adds another reference to the divine Word: \u201cthis day we have seen that the Word of the LORD speaks with man (lit., the son of man) and he lives.\u201d Targum Onqelos also says \u201cwe heard the voice of his Word.\u201d The CTg. D says, \u201cThe LORD our God has shown us his glory and might, and the voice of his Word [Dibbera] we have heard.\u2026 His Word speaks.\u201d
\n37. In Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 9:3, Moses assured Israel, \u201cthe LORD your God, the Shekinah of his glory goes before you, his Word is a consuming fire.\u201d Targum Neofiti is similar to the first part (\u201cthe glory of his Shekinah leads before you\u201d; mg.: \u201cthe Shekinah of his glory), Tg. Onq. resembles the second part (\u201chis Word is a consuming fire\u201d).
\n38. In Deut 12:5, Moses told Israel to seek the LORD at the place which (1) \u201cthe LORD your God shall choose from all your tribes,\u201d (2) \u201cto put his name there.\u201d In Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 12:5, (1) \u201cthe Word of the LORD your God\u201d chooses the place (2) \u201cto cause his Shekinah to dwell\u201d (similarly v. 11). In Tgs. Onq. and Neof. (1) is translated literally (but in Tg. Neof. 12:14 \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d chooses); for (2), Tg. Onq. agrees with Tg. Ps.-J., and Tg. Neof. has \u201cthe glory of his Shekinah.\u201d
\n39. In Deut 23:14, Moses said, (1) \u201cThe LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and defeat your enemies before you; therefore your camp must be holy \u2026\u201d (2) \u201clest he turn away from you.\u201d For (1), Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J. have \u201cthe LORD your God, his Shekinah\u201d; Tg. Neof. has \u201cthe LORD your God, the glory of his Shekinah.\u201d For (2), Tg. Neof. has \u201cthat the glory of his Shekinah not turn back\u201d; Tg. Ps.-J. has \u201cthat his Shekinah not go up\u201d; and Tg. Onq. has \u201clest his Word turn away from doing good to you.\u201d
\n40. In Deut 31:3\u20138, Moses again assured Israel that the LORD will cross over before the Israelites, go with them, go ahead of them, and fight for them. The LORD\u2019s Shekinah, the glory of his Shekinah, and his Word are used in various ways in the Targums of this passage:<\/p>\n
\n6The LORD your God, his Word will lead before you; he will not forsake you.\u2026 8The LORD, he will lead before you, his Word will be for your help; he will not forsake you.
\nTg. Ps.-J. Deut 31:3, 5, 6, 8
\n3The LORD your God, even his Shekinah shall cross before you.\u2026 5The Word of the LORD will hand them (the Canaanites) over before you.\u2026 6The LORD your God, his Shekinah leads before you.\u2026 8The Word of the LORD, his Shekinah, is leading before you and his Word will be for your help.
\nTg. Neof. Deut 31:3, 4, 6, 8
\n3The LORD your God, the glory of whose Shekinah leads before you.\u2026 4The Word of the LORD will do to them (the Canaanites) as he did to Sihon.\u2026 6The LORD your God, the glory of whose Shekinah leads before you \u2026 8the Word of the LORD, the glory of whose Shekinah is leading before you, shall be for your help.<\/p>\n
\n42. In Deut 31:17\u201318, Moses anticipated that the Israelites will ask, in time of calamity, \u201cIs it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?\u201d and God responded, \u201cI will surely hide my face from them.\u201d In Tg. Neof., they will ask, \u201cIs it not because the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD is not dwelling among us?\u201d and God said, \u201cI in my Word will surely hide the face of my good pleasure.\u201d In Tgs. Onq. and Ps.-J., they said, \u201cIs it not because the Shekinah of my God no longer is \/ dwells in my midst?\u201d and God will say, \u201cI will surely make my Shekinah go up from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n44. In Tg. Judg. 6:12, the angel of the LORD said to Gideon, \u201cThe Word of the LORD is for your help,\u201d to which Gideon responded in v. 13, \u201cIf the Shekinah of the LORD is for our help.\u2026\u201d A variant of v. 13 has, \u201cIf the Word of the LORD is for our help.\u2026\u201d
\n45. In Tg. 1 Sam. 4:4, the Israelites sent to Shiloh to take possession of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, \u201cwhose Shekinah dwells above the cherubim.\u201d It seems from the similar phrase in 2 Sam 6:2 that the figures of the cherubim on the ark are meant: \u201cwhose Shekinah dwells above the cherubim upon it\u201d (i.e., upon the ark). When the ark above which the Shekinah dwells was taken into battle, the Philistines asked, \u201cWho will save us from the hand of the Word of the LORD?\u201d (Tg. 1 Sam. 4:8).
\n46. Targum 2 Samuel 6:2 is noted in the paragraph above; at v. 7 it says that \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d struck down Uzzah.<\/p>\n
\nIn connection with Isa 6, we can also note the promise of Tg. Isa. 30:20, \u201cYour eyes will see the Shekinah in the sanctuary,\u201d for MT \u201cYour eyes will see your Teacher.\u201d So in the Targum, this is a prediction that in the future Israel in general will see the Shekinah in the temple as Isaiah himself did. Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians might naturally have seen this as being fulfilled when Jesus taught in the temple.
\n48. Targum Ezekiel 39:23 says, \u201cThe nations will know that the house of Israel were exiled because of their sins, because they have dealt falsely with my Word (MT: acted unfaithfully against me), so that I removed my Shekinah (MT: hid my face) from them.\u201d
\n49. In Tg. Ezek. 43:7, 9, the LORD promised to make his Shekinah dwell in the temple described to Ezekiel. Verse 8 recalls how the Israelites had defiled the temple by placing idolatrous buildings \u201cbeside my temple court, with only a wall of my holy temple between my Word and them\u201d (indicating the presence of the Word of the LORD in the temple).
\n50. Targum Hos. 5:6\u20137 says, \u201cHe has withdrawn his Shekinah from them; against the Word of the LORD they have dealt falsely.\u201d Similarly, v. 15: \u201cI will withdraw my Shekinah; I will return to my holy dwelling in heaven.\u201d
\n51. In Tg. Zech. 2:5, the LORD promised concerning Jerusalem, \u201cMy Word (MT: I) will be to her \u2026 like a wall of fire encircling her round about, and in glory I will make my Shekinah dwell in her midst (MT: I will be the glory in her midst).\u201d
\n52. Tosefta Targum Zechariah 2:10 says, \u201cRejoice and be glad, assembly of Zion, for the glory {Word} of the LORD will be revealed, and he shall illumine the world from the brilliance of his glory, in that he said to make his Shekinah dwell in your midst.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n54. In Tg. Ps. 44, Israel\u2019s victories in battle are accomplished \u201cthrough your Word\u201d (v. 5; MT: \u201cthrough you\u201d), while defeat is due to \u201cthe Shekinah\u201d not dwelling with their armies (v. 9; MT: \u201cYou do not go out with our armies\u201d), or \u201cthe Shekinah of God\u2019s glory\u201d having withdrawn (v. 24; MT: \u201cHe hides his face\u201d). In v. 5, \u201cyour Word\u201d is in parallel with \u201cyour name.\u201d
\n55. Targum Psalms 46 says that \u201cthe LORD\u2019s Shekinah\u201d is in the midst of Jerusalem (v. 5), and \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d is for the help of his people (vv. 7, 11).
\n56. In Tg. Ps. 57:1, David says that he trusts \u201cin your Word\u201d (MT: \u201cin you\u201d) and \u201cin the shadow of your Shekinah\u201d (MT: \u201cof your wings\u201d).
\n57. Targum Psalms 68:16 says, \u201cBehold, the Word of the LORD has desired Mt. Sinai, that is humble, to cause his Shekinah to dwell upon it\u201d (for the giving of the law).
\n58. Targum Psalms 125:2 says, \u201cThe Word of the LORD is round about his people.\u201d A variant reads \u201cthe Shekinah of the LORD.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n60 & 61. In Tg. 2 Chr. 6:1 Solomon says \u201cthe Lord was pleased to make his Shekinah dwell in the city of Jerusalem, in the temple that I built for the name of his Word\u201d (similarly Jehoshaphat in 20:8\u20139).
\n62. In Tg. 2 Chr. 19:6, Jehoshaphat says to the judges he had appointed and sent out, \u201cyou are judging before the Word of the LORD and his Shekinah dwells with you in the passing of judgment.\u201d
\n63. In Tg. 2 Chr. 30:7\u20139, Hezekiah invites the survivors in the northern kingdom to come and celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. Speaking of the captives, he says, \u201cIf you return to the fear of the LORD, your brethren and your sons, \u2026 he will return in his Word to restore them to this land.\u2026 He will not take up his Shekinah from you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe passages in nos. 60 and 61 say that the temple was built for the name of God\u2019s Word (the Tetragrammaton), and the Shekinah dwells there, as Isaiah saw in no. 47. Forty-nine speaks of this purpose being fulfilled in a future temple.
\nOther passages deal with the issue of the LORD dwelling among or revealing himself to his people, leading his people through the wilderness, etc., without explicitly mentioning the ark or the tabernacle or the temple (nos. 12, 14, 19, 24, 26, 28\u201330, 35, 37, 39, 40, 42, 43, 51, 54, 58, 59). Finally, 52 is unique in promising a future revelation of the Word in glory (reading the variant Memra) when the Shekinah dwells in the midst of the LORD\u2019s people.
\n(2) More than half of the passages listed above (thirty-nine of sixty-three) have the LORD\u2019s Word in the same context, setting, scene, etc., as his Shekinah or the glory of his Shekinah, as opposed to the other twenty-four passages where Word is an alternative for God\u2019s glory or the glory of his Shekinah. In one case (no. 23), which could perhaps be the result of conflating two readings, the terms are equated. Typically, the Shekinah of the LORD manifests the presence of God among his people, often visibly, while his Word speaks or interacts with his people in other ways. From these results one might ask, if both \u201cglory\u201d and the idea of being visible tend to be associated with the Shekinah more than the Word, why does John call Jesus the Word rather than the Shekinah?
\nOne answer is that the targumic Word is more comprehensive than Shekinah in describing divine activity. The targumic Word is said to be God, and connected with the name of God, while the Shekinah is not. While Shekinah may be used in the Targums for \u201cname\u201d in the MT in passages which speak of God\u2019s name dwelling in a particular place (Deut 12:5, etc.), the Targums themselves do not speak of the name of the Shekinah as they do of the name of the Word. We saw above in nos. 18, 33, 60, and 61 that the Memra is explicitly identified as God (the Tetragrammaton), and examples can be multiplied in other passages where we have Word but not glory and\/or Shekinah, such as the common expression mentioned in ch. 1, \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD.\u201d
\nAdditionally, the fact that there are so many passages where Word is an alternate for God\u2019s glory or the glory of his Shekinah is evidence of considerable overlap in usage of the terms; they are not kept strictly to distinct spheres of usage. Thus we do have passages that speak of the glory of God\u2019s Word (no. 20) or associate the Word of the LORD and the glory of his Shekinah (nos. 19, 26, 36, 38, 40, 57), which is understandable since in the Targums, as in John 1:1, \u201cthe Word was God.\u201d Number 20 is of special interest because it deals with the revelation of the glory of God to Moses on Mt. Sinai (as do 19 and 21), which many scholars see as an important background to John 1:14\u201318. We will discuss this in the next section.
\nOther passages speak of the LORD\u2019s Word rather than (or as an alternate reading to) his Shekinah dwelling among Israel, or going among or before Israel (10, 12, 24), or of Israel (or Moses by himself) meeting and\/or seeing his Word (16, 18, 20, 23, 29). Such passages fit nicely with the terminology of John 1:14.
\n(3) A considerable number of these passages can be related to specific passages in John and\/or to categories of divine activity which the Gospel ascribes to the person of Jesus. We will discuss these in subsequent chapters of this book. We have already examined nos. 7, 36, and 47 in ch. 1. Number 10 is of interest because God says (in Tg. Neof.) not only that his Word dwells in the land, but also that Pharaoh should know this because of the miracles God does. Similarly, the first instance in which Jesus\u2019 disciples \u201cbeheld his (the Word\u2019s) glory\u201d is at Cana, where Jesus changes the water into wine. This \u201cbeginning of signs\u201d is like the beginning of signs in Egypt, when water in the Nile was turned blood red (for further discussion, see ch. 8).
\nThe passages in nos. 24 and 25 can both be related to John 14. Number 24 is similar to John 14:23, as we see below in ch. 7 (the theme of Jesus as divine lawgiver), while no. 25 can be related to John 14:1\u20136, and is discussed in ch. 5 (the theme of Jesus as divine warrior). Numbers 15, 16, 17, 36, and 57 above are also connected with the theme of the divine lawgiver, while 11, 13, 40, 45, 46, and 54 also relate to the theme of the divine warrior. The passages in nos. 18, 19, 30, 42, 50, and 63 can be related to the theme of the withdrawal of the Shekinah, which we discuss in ch. 8, relating that theme to John 7:34 and 12:26.
\nIn short, examination of targumic passages where Word, glory, and Shekinah are either synonymous alternatives or occur together in the same context supports the conclusion that John intended 1:14 to bring these terms to the mind of his Aramaic-speaking Jewish readers. Contemporary readers, as well as John\u2019s original Greek-speaking readers, can profit by being educated in the terminology of the Aramaic translations of the OT Scriptures. While it is likely that there was some degree of textual change between the first century Targums and those now extant, the similarities that do exist should convince us of the likelihood that if we had the first-century Targums, we would probably see an even longer list of passages relevant to John. Indeed, the above list of sixty-three passages would have been shorter by about a fourth before the discovery of Tg. Neof., convincing us that the discovery of additional targumic evidence has tended to confirm the observation of Gustaf Dalman and Charles Burney that John is using or alluding to Targum terminology in John 1:14.<\/p>\n
\nA second group of scholars mentioned by Hanson acknowledges a dependence of \u201cgrace and truth\u201d on the common Hebrew word pair \u05d7\u05b6\u05ab\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea but doubts a specific connection to Exod 34:6. In considering this possibility, it should be noted that although \u05d7\u05b6\u05ab\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea is common in the OT, \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d7\u05b6\u05ab\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u05d5\u05b6\u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea occurs only in Exod 34:6 and Ps 86:15, both of which describe God, and Ps 86:15 is clearly a quote from Exod 34:6. Thus although \u201cgrace and truth\u201d from John 1:17 might theoretically be related to any of the two dozen or so OT passages where \u05d7\u05b6\u05ab\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 and \u05d0\u05b1\u05de\u05b6\u05ea are associated, and which might speak of God or men, \u201cfull of grace and truth\u201d from John 1:14 must be related to one of these two passages that describes God, unless one denies any connection at all between the two phrases (the position of the third group mentioned by Hanson, \u201ca very small group indeed\u201d).
\nSo if we just had \u201cgrace and truth\u201d in John 1:14 (as in v. 17), we might see a messianic implication from Ps 40:10, where David says, \u201cI have not hidden your kindness and your truth from the great congregation.\u201d The author of Hebrews takes this Psalm as a pattern for the work of Christ (Heb 10:5\u201310), and John might have done the same thing\u2014\u201cgrace and truth came by Jesus Christ\u201d (v. 17) being meant to indicate that Jesus did (in a greater way, to be sure) what David did. But \u201cfull of grace and truth\u201d from v. 14 can only be referred to descriptions of God in the OT. Of course, the statement that \u201cthe Word became flesh\u201d could account for why one use of \u201cgrace and truth\u201d could be related to David or some other person (v. 17) while the other (v. 14) refers to God.
\nA shortened version of this OT phrase, \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d7\u05b6\u05ab\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 \u201cabounding in kindness,\u201d occurs in Num 14:18; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:5; 103:8; Joel 2:13; and Jonah 4:2 (it is probably also behind Paul\u2019s expression \u201crich in mercy,\u201d Eph 2:4). This phrase, too, is used only of God and is always dependent on Exod 34:6. In Num 14:18, Moses is quoting from the revelation he received in Exod 34, as part of his petition that the LORD forgive Israel for choosing to go back to Egypt rather than to enter the promised land. The LORD grants his request, but says,<\/p>\n
\nIn the other occurrences of \u05e8\u05b7\u05d1 \u05d7\u05b6\u05ab\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 (Neh 9:17; Ps 86:5; 103:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2), only Ps 86:5 does not indicate in its immediate context its dependence on Exod 34:6 directly or indirectly via Num 14:18. Yet here there can be no doubt because the fuller expression, as noted above, is used ten verses later, and there the dependence on Exod 34:6 is obvious. In Joel 2:13 and Jonah 4:2, the phrase \u201crelenting concerning harm\u201d (\u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b4\u05d7\u05b8\u05dd \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4) is added after \u201cabounding in kindness.\u201d This phrase is likely taken from Exod 32:12, 14, where Moses asks the LORD to relent from wiping out the nation after the sin of the golden calf. Targum Jonathan of Joel 2:13 and Jonah 4:2 says that God draws back his Word from inflicting evil.<\/p>\n
\nIn the previous section, we noted the use of glory, Shekinah, and Word in the Targums of this portion of Exodus. Since the dependence of John 1:14\u201318 on Exod 33 and 34 is generally acknowledged by scholars apart from any reference to the Targums, the fact that in some of these Targums Moses sees the glory of the Word, or the Word of glory, should be considered strong evidence in favor of a targumic background for the Logos title.
\nAgain we note the context: Moses has set up the tent of meeting outside the camp, and there \u201cthe LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend\u201d (Exod 33:11). According to Tg. Neof. [mg.], it was \u201cthe Word of the LORD\u201d who spoke with him there. According to Tg. Ps.-J. of the same verse, \u201cHe would hear the voice of the Word [Dibbura], but he would not see the splendor of his face \u2026 and when the voice of the Word [Dibbura] had gone up, he would return to the camp.\u201d Thus outside the camp, Moses heard the voice of the Word, as Israel had from Mt. Sinai and as Moses would later hear from the holy of holies. In v. 13, he says, \u201cLet me know your ways, that I may know you, so that I might find favor in your sight.\u201d The LORD responds in v. 14:<\/p>\n
\nMy presence [lit.: face] will go with you, and I will give you rest.
\nTg. Onq.
\nMy Shekinah will go, and I will give you rest.
\nTg. Neof.
\nThe glory of my Shekinah will lead among you, and I will prepare a resting place for you.
\nTg. Neof. [mg.]
\nThe face of my good pleasure will lead you and give you rest.
\nTg. Ps.-J.
\nWait until the face of my anger has passed, and afterwards I will give you rest.<\/p>\n
\nIf your presence does not go, do not lead us up from here. For by what can it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we may be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people on the face of the earth?
\nTg. Onq.
\nIf your Shekinah does not go among us \u2026 Is it not by your Shekinah going with us \u2026?
\nTg. Neof.
\nIf the glory of your Shekinah is not among us \u2026 If not by the glory of your Shekinah leading [mg.: speaking] with us, and signs and wonders shall be performed with us.\u2026
\nTg. Ps.-J.
\nIf your presence [lit.: face] does not go among us \u2026 unless your Shekinah speaks with us and wonders are performed for us.\u2026<\/p>\n
\nOn that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, \u2026 so that you might know that I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land.
\nTg. Neof.
\nI will do signs and miracles on that day with the land of Goshen, upon which my people dwell \u2026 so that you may know that I am he, the Lord, whose Word dwells [mg.: the glory of whose Shekinah dwells] within the land.<\/p>\n
\n19I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.\u2026 20You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.\u2026 22And it shall be that while my glory is passing by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.
\nTg. Onq.
\n19I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you.\u2026 20You cannot see the face of my Shekinah {my glory}, for no man can see me and survive.\u2026 22When my glory passes by \u2026 I will cover you by my Word until I have passed by, 23and I will take away the \u2014\u2014 of my glory, and you will see that which is after me, but that which is before me shall not be seen.
\nTg. Neof.
\n[this portion of v. 19 is omitted in Neofiti] 20You cannot see my face, for it is not possible that a son of man see my face and live.\u2026 22When the glory of my Shekinah passes by \u2026 I shall spread my palm over you until the groups of angels, which you shall see, pass by. 23And I will make the groups of angels pass by, and they will stand and serve before me, and you will see the Word [Dibbera] of the glory of my Shekinah, but it is not possible that you see the face of the glory of my Shekinah.
\nTg. Neof. [mg.]
\n21The Word of the LORD (said \u2026), 23\u201cAnd I will make (you) see the Word [Dibbura] of glory.\u201d
\nFrg. Tg. P
\n23I will remove the groups of angels who stand and serve before me, and you will see the Word [Dibbura] of the LORD, but the glory of my Shekinah it is not possible for you to see.
\nFrg. Tg. V
\n19I will proclaim the good name of the LORD before you.\u2026 23I will remove the groups of angels who stand and serve before me, and you will see the Word [Dibbera] of the glory of my Shekinah, but
\nTg. Ps.-J.
\n19I will proclaim the name of the Word of the LORD before you.\u2026 20It is not possible for you to see my face, for man may not see me and survive.\u2026 22And when the glory of my Shekinah passes by \u2026 I will protect you with my Word until the time I pass by. 23And I will make the groups of angels who stand and serve before me pass by, and you will see the knot \u2014\u2014 of the phylacteries of the glory of my Shekinah, but the face of the glory of my Shekinah it is not possible for you to see.<\/the>\n
\nThe revelation of the LORD\u2019s glory occurs in 34:5\u20137. Again the various Targum readings are of interest:<\/p>\n
\n5The LORD came down in the cloud and stood with him there as he called on the name of the LORD. 6The LORD passed by before him and proclaimed, \u201cThe LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in kindness and truth.\u2026\u201d
\nTg. Onq.
\n5The LORD was revealed in the cloud.\u2026 6And the LORD made his Shekinah pass before him.\u2026
\nTg. Neof.
\n5The glory of the Shekinah of the LORD was revealed in the cloud, and he stood beside him there, and he prayed there in the name of the Word of the LORD. 6And the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD passed by, and Moses prayed and said, \u201cO LORD, O LORD, gracious and merciful God, patient, far from anger and near to mercy and abounding to do kindness and truth.\u2026\u201d
\nTg. Neof. [mg.]
\n5The Word of the LORD was revealed.
\nFrg. Tg. P
\n6The glory of the Shekinah of the LORD passed before him, and Moses prayed, and he said, \u201cO LORD God.\u2026\u201d
\nFrg. Tg. V
\n6And the glory of the Shekinah of the LORD passed before him, and Moses prayed and said, \u201cO LORD, O LORD, merciful and gracious God, patient, far from anger and near to mercy and abounding to do kindness and truth.\u2026\u201d
\nTg. Ps.-J.
\n5The LORD was revealed in the clouds of the glory of his Shekinah. And Moses stationed himself there with him, and Moses proclaimed the name of the Word of the LORD. 6The LORD made his Shekinah pass before him and he called out, \u201cThe LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, patient and bringing mercy near, and abounding to do kindness and truth.\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\nKeep them in your name which you have given me (v. 11).
\nI was keeping them in your name which you have given me (v. 12).
\nI have made known [\u1f10\u03b3\u03bd\u03ce\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03b1] your name to them, and will make it known (v. 26).<\/p>\n
\nAs we saw in ch. 2, John 1:14\u201318 recalls the manifestation of the glory of the LORD (or in the language of the Pal. Tgs., the glory of the Word) to Moses in Exod 34. The revelation of the glory of God involved a proclamation of the divine name before Moses, including the LORD\u2019s description of himself as \u201cfull of grace and truth\u201d (34:6). The words and deeds of Jesus before the disciples can likewise be seen (and I believe John intended them to be seen) as an exposition of the divine name, as one would expect based on Jesus\u2019 words in John 17:6, 26. As noted in ch. 1, often in the Pal. Tgs., including Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 34:6, the divine name is \u201cthe name of the Word of the LORD.\u201d This means that if we see the background of the Logos title as being this targumic Word, there is a \u201cfit\u201d with the Gospel, where the Father\u2019s name, YHWH, is also the name of the Son (\u201cyour name which you have given me\u201d), whom John has called \u201cthe Word.\u201d The targumic \u201cWord\u201d seems to be closely related to the divine name also in Tg. Isa. 48:12, where the MT\u2019s \u201cFor my own sake, for my own sake,\u201d is rendered \u201cFor the sake of my name, for the sake of my Word.\u201d Some parallel between \u201cWord\u201d and \u201cname\u201d also seems to be presumed in Tg. Isa. 26:13, where MT \u201cThrough you alone we commemorate your name\u201d becomes \u201cWe trust in your Word, we praise your name.\u201d More often, MT \u201cname\u201d is in the Targums \u201cShekinah,\u201d in contexts where God speaks of causing his name to dwell (Tgs. Onq., Ps.-J., and Neof. Deut 12:11, 21; 14:23; 16:2, 6, 11; 26:2; Tg. 1 Kgs. 11:36; Tg. 2 Kgs. 21:4, 7; Tg. 2 Chr. 6:20; 12:13; 33:7; Tg. Jer. 7:12). Again we note that such passages are of interest because of the conceptual overlap between \u201cWord\u201d and \u201cShekinah.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIsa 52:6 (LXX)
\nJohn 4:26
\nTherefore my people shall know my name. Therefore, in that day (they shall know) that I am he, the one who is speaking, here am I.
\n[\u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05b7\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05b5\u05bc\u05ab\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9]
\nI am he, the one speaking; I am here.
\n[\u1f18\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 \u1f41 \u03bb\u03b1\u03bb\u1ff6\u03bd, \u03c0\u03ac\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03bc\u03b9]
\nI am he, the one who is speaking to you.
\n[\u1f18\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 \u1f41 \u03bb\u03b1\u03bb\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c3\u03bf\u03b9]<\/p>\n
\nArguably, \u201cmy name\u201d in Isa 52:6 refers to the Tetragrammaton. The \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 sayings of Jesus in John are examined in more detail in chs. eight and nine, but for now we can see how John 4:26 can be read along the same lines as John 17:6, 26, that the mission of Jesus was to reveal the name of the Father (YHWH) to his people, and in agreement with John 17:11\u201312, which says that this name is also given to the Son, since the Son says \u201cI am he\u201d in a manner that seems to be based on God\u2019s \u201cI am he\u201d in Isa 52:6. In ch. 6 we will show how the Samaritan woman does in fact symbolize the people of God once we properly understand the OT background to John 4, so that Jesus is fulfilling the promise: \u201cmy people will know my name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNiccacci notes that this seems to be the interpretation of Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 3:14, since the expansion of \u201cI am he\u201d in Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39 (\u201cI am he who is, and was, and I am he who will be\u201d) is similar to Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 3:14 (\u201cI am he who is and who will be\u201d), which follows a description of God as \u201che who said, and the world was.\u201d That is, God is described in terms of continuity in the past, present, and future. Targum Neofiti and Frg. Tg. P Exod 3:14 refer to the past and future when rendering the text, as noted below.
\nIn Rev 1:4, 8; 4:8, we find something very similar to Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39:<\/p>\n
\nI am he who is, and was, and I am he who will be.
\nRev 1:4
\nGrace and peace to you, from him who is, who was, and who is to come.
\nRev 1:8
\nI am he [\u1f18\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9], the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is [\u1f41 \u1f62\u03bd], and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
\nRev 4:8
\nHoly, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.<\/p>\n
\nAs Niccacci suggests, we can also compare Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39 with Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 3:14, and it is instructive to compare Tg. Ps.-J. Exod 3:14 with the other Pal. Tg. readings of that verse, and then to a shorter paraphrase of the divine name also found in Revelation:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHe who said, and the world was, who said, and everything was.\u201d And the LORD said to Moses, \u201cThus you shall say to the children of Israel, \u2018I am he [\u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0] who is and who will be has sent me to you.\u2019 \u201d
\nTg. Neof. Exod 3:14
\n(after reproducing the Hebrew \u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05b6\u05d4) He who said, and the world was from the beginning, and is to say to it again: \u201cBe!\u201d, and it will be.
\nFrg. Tg. P
\n(similar to Tg. Neof. [mg. 1]) The one who said to the world in the beginning, \u201cBe!\u201d, and it was, and who will say to it in the future, \u201cBe!\u201d, and it will be (spoken by the Word of the LORD).
\nTg. Neof. [mg. 2]
\n\u201cI was before the world was created and I was after the world was created. I am he [\u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0] who was for your help in the captivity of the Egyptians, and I am he [\u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0] who is yet to be for your help in every generation.\u201d And he said, \u201cThus you shall say to the children of Israel, \u2018\u05d0\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 has sent me to you.\u2019 \u201d
\nRev 11:17
\nWe give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, the one who is, and who was.
\nRev 16:5
\nRighteous are you, the one who is, and who was.<\/p>\n
\nThere is good reason to think, therefore, that Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39 reflects an interpretation of the meaning of the divine name given in Exod 3:14 as \u201cI will be who I have been,\u201d that is, \u201cI am the same, past, present, future.\u201d Some of the Pal. Tgs. of Exod 3:14 use \u201cI am he\u201d (\u05d0\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0) to expound the divine name, as noted above (Tgs. Ps.-J. and Neof.). Obviously, this expression could have been taken from Deut 32:39 itself, but there could also be some influence from the repeated use of \u201cI am he\u201d by God in Isaiah. These sayings occur with respect to God\u2019s activity in the past, present, and future; this fact, along with their combination with \u201cI am the first and the last,\u201d might have influenced or reinforced the interpretation of Exod 3:14 given above. These sayings occur as follows:<\/p>\n
\nThe use of \u201cI am he\u201d in Isaiah can be seen as supporting the interpretation of the meaning of the divine name in Exod 3:14 given above, since (1) the \u201cI am he\u201d sayings refer to God\u2019s constancy in the past (Isa 43:13), present (Isa 41:4; 43:10, 25; 48:12; 51:12), and future (46:4; 52:6), and (2) they occur along with the \u201cI am the first and the last\u201d sayings (Isa 41:4; 44:6; 48:12), which point to the whole spectrum of time. These sayings assure the LORD\u2019s people that the LORD is the one true God, the same past, present, and future, in contrast with the gods of pagans, many of whom follow a changing career path, often starting out as mere mortals.<\/p>\n
\nElsewhere in the NT we see that the divine name is given to the Son. Just as the LORD says in Isaiah, so too Jesus says in Revelation, \u201cI am he\u201d (1:17; 2:23; 21:6; 22:16) and \u201cI am the first and the last\u201d (1:17; 2:8; 22:13). The two sayings are together in Rev 1:17, just as in Isa 41:4. In both Isaiah and Revelation, \u201cI am he, the first and the last\u201d is the first \u201cI am he\u201d saying in the series. In Rev 2:23 (\u201call the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts\u201d), which follows closely Jer 17:10 (\u201cI, the LORD, search the heart \u2026\u201d), \u1f10\u03b3\u03ce \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9 stands for LXX \u1f10\u03b3\u1f7c \u03ba\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2.
\nFurther, after saying \u201cI am the first and the last\u201d in Rev 1:17, Jesus says \u201cI am the Living One, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever\u201d (v. 18), which could be viewed as an incarnational adaptation of Deut 32:39\u201340, both by reference to MT\/LXX\/Tg. Onq. (\u201cI kill and make alive \u2026 I live forever\u201d), and to the Pal. Tgs. The present (the Living One), past (I was dead), and future (I am alive forever) of Rev 1:18 reminds us of Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39 (I am he who is and was and I am he who will be), and \u201cI am alive forever,\u201d spoken by the divine Word, can be related to Tg. Neof. and Frg. Tg. V Deut 32:40, \u201cI live and exist in my Word forever.\u201d Similarly, in Rev 2:8, Jesus is \u201cthe first and the last, who died, and has come to life.\u201d
\nWe also find in the book of Hebrews a title of Jesus that is similar to Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39: \u201cJesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever\u201d (Heb 13:18). There is good reason to think that this is an allusion to the Tetragrammaton, similar to \u201cI am he who is and was, and I am he who will be\u201d of Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39. In Heb 1:4, the author says that the Son has inherited a more excellent name than the angels. The word for \u201cmore excellent\u201d (the comparative of \u03b4\u03b9\u03ac\u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2) could also be translated \u201cmore distinguished.\u201d
\nThe Tetragrammaton is referred to as \u201cthe distinguished name\u201d (\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d0 \u05de\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05d0 with slight variations of spelling) or \u201cthe great and distinguished name\u201d in Tg. Neof. Exod 32:25; Tgs. Neof. and Ps.-J. Exod 33:6; and Tg. Ps.-J. Num 20:8. In these three passages, Targum references to the Name occur in additions to the text (i.e., the MT has no reference to the name of God). But in Tg. Ps.-J. Lev 24:11, \u201cthe great and glorious name of distinction\u201d (\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d0 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d3\u05de\u05ea\u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05c1) translates \u201cthe Name\u201d that was blasphemed, which in context must mean YHWH. In Judg 13:18, the angel of the LORD asks Manoah, \u201cWhy do you ask my name, since it is Wonderful?\u201d Targum Judges 13:18 uses the word \u05de\u05b0\u05e4\u05b8\u05e8\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1 for \u201cWonderful\u201d: \u201cWhy do you ask my name, (seeing) it is Ineffable?\u201d (meaning that it is the name of God).
\nNot only is the title \u201cWonderful\u201d from Judg 13 used in the promise of the divine child in Isa 9:6, but the wording of the promise \u201cBehold, you will become pregnant and bear a son\u201d (Judg 13:5, 7) is used in Isa 7:14, slightly adapted, in the prediction of the birth of Immanuel. The root \u05e4\u05dc\u05d0 from which \u201cWonderful\u201d comes, is used also in connection with the miraculous conception of Isaac (Gen 18:14): \u201cIs anything too difficult for the LORD?\u201d (\u05d4\u05b2\u05d9\u05b4\u05e4\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b5\u05d0 \u05de\u05b5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8). Thus the use of \u201cWonderful\u201d in Isa 9:6, pointing back to Judg 13:18, where it can be taken as a reference to the name of God, and whose context (Judg 13:5, 7) in turn points to Isa 7:14, could be the basis for the writer\u2019s statement that the Son has \u201ca more distinguished name\u201d than the angels (implying that the angel of the LORD in Judg 13 is a manifestation of the LORD himself, rather than a created angelic being). That is, the \u201cmore distinguished name\u201d of the Son is not \u201cSon\u201d but YHWH.
\nBut the author of Hebrews makes his point, not by referring to the messianic prophecies of Isa 7:14 and 9:6, but by citing Ps 102:25\u201327: \u201cYou, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth.\u2026 You are the same, and your years will not come to an end.\u201d The author quotes this passage in a series of OT passages that refer to the Son, meaning therefore that \u201cYou, Lord\u201d addressed by the psalmist is the Son (the psalm itself makes no reference to the Messiah as a human). In addressing God, the psalmist is addressing the Son, who bears the name of God, no less so than the Father. Interpreters who try to make Ps 102 a \u201cmessianic psalm\u201d miss the point: the Messiah bears the divine name; therefore he is present before the incarnation so that when the psalmist addresses YHWH, he is addressing the Son, whether he knows it or not. The author of Hebrews, like John in his Prologue, takes the work of the Son back to creation, by identifying Jesus with the Lord who in the beginning founded the earth, just as in 1:2 the author of Hebrews said that the world was made through the Son.
\nNow if the author of Hebrews simply wanted to apply the divine name to the Son, identifying Jesus as the God of Israel, he could have picked any of hundreds of OT texts that, like Ps 102, speak of God but not of a future Messiah. Why would he pick Ps 102? The reason may be that \u201cYou are the same\u201d (\u1f41 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2) from Ps 102:27 translates the Hebrew \u201cYou are he\u201d (also reflected in the Tg.) the second person equivalent of the divine \u201cI am he\u201d so important in Deut 32:39 and Isaiah. The LXX translator possibly picked up on the significance of \u201cI am he\u201d in Deut 32:39 and Isaiah, namely, as an affirmation that the meaning of the divine name is that God is the same, past, present, and future, and thus renders the second person equivalent \u201cyou are he\u201d as \u201cyou are the same.\u201d A number of English translations translate Ps 102:27 as did the LXX. Interestingly, NASB translates \u201cI am he\u201d in Isa 46:4 as \u201cI will be the same.\u201d I am suggesting, then, that the more distinguished name of the Son is the Tetragrammaton, and that the author of Hebrews chooses Ps 102:27 to convey that fact because the phrase \u201cyou are the same\u201d expresses the meaning of the divine name. Confirmation of this interpretation can be inferred from Heb 13:8, where \u201cthe same\u201d is applied explicitly to Jesus as part of what could be interpreted as a paraphrase of the divine name along the lines of Tg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39:<\/p>\n
\nHeb 13:8
\nTg. Ps.-J. Deut 32:39
\nYou are the same [\u1f41 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2; for MT \u201cYou are he\u201d], and your years shall not fail.
\nJesus Christ, the same [\u1f41 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2] yesterday, today, and forever.
\nI am he who is and was, and I am he who will be.<\/p>\n
\nWhat I intend to show in chs. four through eight is that in the person and work of Jesus Christ, John shows us a comprehensive continuation of the divine person and work from the old covenant. That is, as the meaning of the name of God suggests, he does not change, even in that most decisive event of human history, the incarnation. The statement, \u201cI will be in the future who I have been in the past\u201d finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Christ. Of course, one of the first things John tells us is that Jesus was \u201cfull of grace and truth,\u201d applying to Jesus that phrase from God\u2019s self-disclosure to Moses (Exod 34:6), a phrase that is used exclusively for God in the OT, which God spoke to Moses in proclaiming his name before him and showing him his glory. Even though he has taken on human nature, he is still \u201cthe same\u201d as when Moses saw him in his glory.
\nThe conception that the LORD is the one who comes down from heaven to reveal his name is another theme from Exod 34 (v. 5) that John applies to Jesus (see ch. 4). In 34:11, the LORD promises to fight for his people, as does Jesus (see ch. 5). In 34:12\u201316, the LORD warns Israel that he is a jealous God, that Israel must not intermarry with Canaanites, who would cause their sons to commit spiritual immorality with Canaanite deities. Likewise John shows us Jesus as the bridegroom of his people (see ch. 6). In 34:7, the LORD quotes from the second commandment, speaking as Israel\u2019s lawgiver, as does Jesus (see ch. 7). Thus in John we see that the Word who became flesh does indeed convey \u201cthe being and doing of YHWH, across the entire spectrum.\u201d As REB translates John 1:1, \u201cWhat God was, the Word was.\u201d
\nWe have, then, several explanations of the divine name. In Exod 3:14, he is the one who does not change. In 34:6\u20137, there is a moral explanation of the divine attributes which (according to 3:14) do not change: \u201cfull of grace and truth.\u201d Then in 34:10\u201316, we might say we have an experiential explanation of the divine name, as his attributes are revealed in how he deals with his people according to these various categories of \u201cbeing and doing.\u201d
\nIt would seem, then, that John viewed the ministry of Jesus as analogous to the revelation of God to Moses in Exod 34, which was in response to the petition of Moses, \u201cShow me your glory\u201d (33:18). This revelation by Jesus can be described in the same terms as those given to Moses: \u201cI will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you\u201d (33:19).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"