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A TARGUM MS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 167
A NOTEWORTHY TAEGUM MS. IN THE BRITISH
MUSEUM.
MSS. of the Targum are not scarce in the British Museum, in fact,
they may be enumerated by scores. Many are of extreme interest and
of far-reaching importance. Such is conspicuously the case with those
splendid specimens which were brought from Southern Arabia, and are
punctuated with the superlinear vowel-signs. Prof. Dalman has recently
published the first volume of his Aramaic and New-Hebrew Dictionary,
and has based his readings, wherever possible, upon one or another of
these clear and beautifully preserved texts. His examples from the
former prophets are founded upon the readings from the British
Museum MS. Oriental 2210; for the latter prophets he has used
Or. 221 1, and for the five "scrolls" Or. 2375. These MSS. are
invaluable for the reconstruction of the Targum editions, which have
become very corrupt, in the course of time, by the mistakes of suc-
cessive generations of copyists, who erred either through ignorance
or carelessness.
But of far greater importance is the unique MS. of the Targum
Jerushalmi I (Add. 27031). As far as I know, it is the only MS. of
this Targum — the Pseudo-Jonathan— in existence. And, strange to
say, it appears to have been overlooked by the keen German scholars.
In the year 1884 Dr. Berliner wrote : " Unfortunately a critical
edition of the two Jerusalem Targums must be indefinitely post-
poned until we obtain a MS. upon which to base our text. In the
meantime we are perforce compelled to rely upon the faulty editions,
in which different readings are frequently confused, since for the
Pseudo-Jonathan no MS. has hitherto been found " (Berliner, Targum
Onkelos, II, p. 123, Berlin, 1884). Dr. Berliner's remark was repeated
as recently as last year by Dr. Grinsburg. The following is a quota-
tion from an article in the Monatsschriftfiir Geschichte und Wissenschafi
des Jttdenthutns, by Prof. Dalman : " He (Dr. Ginsburg) says that
MSS. of the Pseudo-Jonathan are not to be found, and refers to
a communication from Mr. Margoliouth of London, according to
l68 THE JEWISH QUABTERLY REVIEW
whom the MS. of the Pseudo-Jonathan in the British Museum is
an abstract from the Walton Polyglot." That such a source for
this MS. is impossible is pointed out by Prof. Dalman, with whom
Mr. Margoliouth is in full accord, for the Polyglot did not appear
until 1657, whilst the censor's mark in the MS. bears the date 1593 (or
1 598). Two MSS. of this Targum were known to Azaria de Bossi, and
are quoted by him in his Meor Enajim, ch. ix. De Rossi wrote his
great work in 1570. He says: minn bv D^D^'B' D'Dinn '2 "TT'NT
viiiBa ainai vno nsia ^32 Dvs'cjn t3 'nh n^on n^D d^dh nb
naicjoa d^dp hvw^ Y'ln T-a 'sni bwy$ p |n:v Dunn Nine'
»h rcB'Nin Dwin D''^''nnD dhob' ''■obmy omn inaa^ ■\'hwy\
N?11X jD N7X NnD3n3. "I have seen two complete Targums upon
the Pentateuch, agreeing literally with each other; one is in the
possession of the noble Foa family; on the fly-leaf this Targum
is called the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel ; the other belongs
to R. Samuel Kasis of Mantua, but its title is Targum Jerushalmi.
Both render the word ' Bereshit ' by ' from the beginning,' and not
by 'in wisdom.' " Now we know that the British Museum MS. is not
identical with that which Foa possessed, because the latter served as
basis to the text of the first edition which appeared in Venice in the
year 1591. In Asher Forin's introduction to that edition he states
that the text is based upon a MS. which came from the library of
Isaac Foa (ilNia pnV ?B> IBmD rCJO), and was then in the possession
of Foa's sons. Add. 27031 differs in many respects from the editio
pHnceps. This is most noticeable in the case of those verses which
have been omitted, either accidentally or designedly, from the 1591
edition. Prof. Dalman mentions upwards of a dozen in his Dialekt-
proben (Leipzig, 1896, p. 35). On the other hand, Leviticus xxiv. 31
occurs in the edition, but is wanting in the MS. Add. 27031 cannot
then be identified with the one seen by De Rossi, which was the
property of the Foa family. The other MS. which De Rossi saw
belonged to R. Samuel Kasis (D'Dp), and was called 'Dbm' DU"in.
Now on the fly-leaf of our MS. the following inscription occurs :
"CDpnia nOJS 'JN NXIDS i^J '•aoa ]^:p "The purchase of my
money, without grudging, I, Santa, son of R. Kasis." I read the last
last word ''l?''PP'l^?, i.e. O^Dp Ul p. The characters are similar
to those used in the body of the work, but the ink is a little blacker.
Whilst I am fairly confident of the correctness of my identification,
it must be pointed out that two objections may be raised. In the first
place the MS. in the British Museum is called ^NTiy p |nJ1^ DUin,
whereas the copy which De Rossi saw bore the inscription DlJin
''U7V\y. Again, De Rossi states that the two MSS. which he saw were
A TAEGUM MS. IN THE BKITISH MUSEUM 169
practically identical, which is not the case with Add. 27031 and the
firat edition, which was based upon Foa's MS. If the British Museum
really possesses the MS. which De Rossi saw, then Add. 27031 is not
only of literary, but also of historical, value. The MS. itself is
remarkably well preserved. It contains 231 folios, pajjer. Although
with a little practice, it is on the whole not difficult to read, still, in
many cases, the letters N and D, V and D are scarcely distinguishable.
It is entirely unpunctuated, and is written in the peculiar and
characteristic Italian hand. By the censor's mark on folio 231 b we
may see that it is a product of the sixteenth century. Its variations
from the first edition, although not numerous, are occasionally
important. For a new edition both sources would have to be used,
for obvious mistakes do occasionally occur which could be rectified
by reference to the 1591 edition. We should also have to use
a beautifully preserved fourteenth- century MS. (Add. 21 160), in
which a few readings from the Targum Jerushalmi occur which do
not always agree with those in Add. 27031, In the latter MS. the
custos occurs at the foot of every page, and occasionally marginal
notes or variant readings are added. Scribes' errors are rare ; when
they do occur, we usually find them corrected on the margin by
a later hand. It must be conceded that the censor has exercised his
prerogative very sparingly. He has scribbled his signature at the
end of the work, but the decipherment is entirely beyond me.
Mr. Margoliouth reads it Dominico Ferosol, while Prof. Dalman
thinks it is Dominico Jerosolomitano, who is known as the author of
the Canon Expurgationis (1596J. He has tampered with the Targum
to Numbers xxiv. 19. The Hebrew of this verse runs ^PKIP '^111
TiyiO nnb* T'^Nm, which the Revised Version renders, "And out of
Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from
the city." The prophecies of Balaam, with their forecasts of the
future, naturally lend themselves admirably to Midrashic paraphrase,
and the Targums usually have recourse to Hagadic amplification in
all such poetical passages. Yet even here Onkelos is literal. " One
will descend from the house of Jacob, who will destroy him who
escapes from the city of the nations," a rendering which is perhaps
preferable to that of the R. V. Onkelos takes the word 'ni'l from
the root nT", whilst the R. V. finds the root in mi. The Pseudo-
Jonathan, according to our MS., paraphrases: "And a ruler shall
arise from the house of Jacob, and will destroy and annihilate [the
remnant which has escaped from Constantinople, the guilty city, and
will lay waste and desolate the rebellious city, even Rome] and
Caesarea, the strong cities of the nations." I have indicated by
brackets the portion deleted by the censor; the words are thickly
170 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW
scratched out, but can just be deciphered. The two words ^Dll K^H,
" even Rome," do not occur in the editio princeps. Caesarea, founded
by King Herod, became the metropolis of Palestine after the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem, and was known as Roma Minor. The fragmentary
Targum Jerushalmi II thus renders our verse, "A king will arise
from the house of Jacob, and will destroy what will remain of the
strong city."
I hope to be able to publish this MS., and compare its readings with
those of the first edition. My efforts would be confined to establishing
a correct, critical, consonantal text, similar to De Lagarde's edition of
the Targum of the Prophets. No vowel- signs would be added. Such
a work appears to be a desideratum, if only to dispel the illusions
which still exist upon the subject. This Targum for centuries bore
the honoured name of Jonathan ben Uzziel, the author of the Targum
of the Prophets. It redounds to the eternal honour of that greatest
of critics, Zunz, that he finally and authoritatively gave the quietus
to this mistake. With a critical acumen, which has rarely been
equalled and never surpassed, he conclusively proved that the so-
called Targum Jonathan was merely another and fuller recension of
the fragmentary Targum Jerushalmi II. As is now well known, the
blunder originated in mistaking the initials ''"n for irUV DIJin,
whereas they really stand for WE'll'' DOin. He goes on to point
out that our Targum is of comparatively late origin, being more
recent than the name Constantinople, than the final casting of the
Jewish Calendar, than the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and
than the Babylonian Talmud. All these facts tend to show that its
date is approximately about the second half of the seventh century
(Zunz, GottesdiemtUche Vortrdge, pp. 75-76). That the dialect in
which it is written is most puzzling, and occasionally corrupt, need
not discourage the student, as many of the difficulties are the result
of the barbarous vocalization, and disappear with an improved text.
Prof. Dalman places the language of this Targum under the column
headed "Mixed Aramaic," since both "Judaean" and "Galilean"
forms occur in it. At the same time it must be clearly understood
that, as an exegetical aid, it is practically valueless. As Havernick
says : " The fewer the exegetical facilities, accordingly, which this
paraphrase offers for the understanding of the Old Testament, the
more important it is as being replete with examples of the mode of
interpreting, and of the theological doctrines in vogue among the
Jews of a later period. The more so because the traditions peculiar
to it were derived not only from the Talmud, but also from older
Targums written in a freer style, their higher antiquity being some-
times confirmed by the New Testament " (Havernick : Introduction to
A TARGUM MS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 17I
the Old Testament, translated by Alexander, Edinburgh, 1872, p. 337).
As an instance he mentions 2 Timothy iii. 8 : " Now as Jannes and
Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth." Jannes
and Jambres occur nowhere in the Bible, but appear in this Targum
to Exodus vii. 11, as the names of those of Pharaoh's wise men and
sorcerers, who, by their enchantments, were able to equal Moses'
wonderful actions. This Targum teems with hundreds of similar
peculiar and interesting Midrashim, which frequently throw much
light upon the contemporary literature.
H. Barnstein.
