Targum readings of Genesis 49:10

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungbook National University

Sangju Campus

conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

21 April 2010

Genesis 49:10 is Messianic and this prophecy or promise is given and Jacob was presenting it to his sons. What then happened to the Messianic expectation is a quiet period of over 400 years of which we do not have data and with Moses, who was educated by his mother until 12 in Hebrew traditions and scriptures, penned it down in Genesis which he wrote in Midian ca. 1460 BCE. Moses knew the Messianic prophecy. It should come as no surprise since the book of Hebrews 11 explains that Moses knew Christ.

What we will do is to look at various forms of this Messianic text in Genesis 49. One can see how the original, represented in the Masoretic Text line, is deviated from, added, subtracted or modified to fit their own times or understandings later. Sometimes they understood it correctly, as did the Targumim when they said that it refers to the coming of the Messiah. We must remember that in Targumim we find evidence for both continuity of previous understanding and contextuality of their own time explanations.

Masoretic Text

The staff                            from Judah

Vulgate

The staff                            from Judah

4QBP (Qumran cave four)

The prince  of the tribe                of Judah

Targum Onkelos

The keeper of the power of the house of Judah

Targum Neophyti

The king between           the house of Judah

Socalled LXX or Septuagint

The ruler                            from Judah

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Masoretic Text

will not leave nor the chieftain

Vulgate 

will not leave nor the leader

4QBP (Qumran cave four)

will be present not even David's

Targum Onkelos

will not cease nor the scribe

Targum Neophyti

will not cease nor the scribes

Socalled LXX or Septuagint

will not leave nor the leader

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Masoretic Text

                             from his offspring

Vulgate

4QBP (Qumran cave four)

whom will be sitting on the throne

Targum Onkelos

                             between the sons of his sons

Targum Neophyti

who teach the law           among the sons of his sons

Socalled LXX or Septuagint

will not leave nor the leader from his offspring

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Masoretic Text

until will come           He who is send        and to Him is given the nations

Vulgate

until He come           that is to be sent       and he shall be the expectation of the nations                          

4QBP (Qumran cave four)

Targum Onkelos

until the Messiah comes

Targum Neophyti

until the Messiah comes

Socalled LXX or Septuagint

until may come         that which is laid in store  and he, the expectations of nations

van wyk notes:

1. The original in the consonantal text of the Masoretic tradition preserved the ANE nomadic power category. The word is a nomadic object, staff.

2. The 4QBP from Qumran, 1440 years later, paraphrased it as "keeper of power". It is now in the fragment from Qumran a non-nomadic term amidst Roman domination. The word is translated with Aramaic in mind, namely "tribe" and "prince" was added.

3. The Targumim translated it to fit their own time of synagogical hierarchy between 140-290 CE. The targumim extended it to "keeper of power" and "king".

4. The socalled LXX and Vulgate of 396 CE interpreted it with Byzantine Greek concepts of argontes and hegemon.  The object is a Byzantine object, namely a sceptre.

What is surprising about the Targumim is that they make explicit what is implicit in the original. The Messianic reference that one find implicit in the consonantal text of the Masoretic tradition, is made explicitly to refer to the Messiah. This is a correct understanding of the message of the text.