Hebraisk og engelsk Lexicon of the Old Testament, With an Appendix Containing Biblical Aramaic Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952. JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament: Supplement Series JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series JTS Journal of Theological Studies.
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INTRODUCTION
Where the Memra of the Lord is active, it represents God's activity in the world. In fact, the Memra functions as God's agent in the Targums by doing the work that the Hebrew Bible attributes to God. The Yeqara is God's weighty glory just as Jesus is the "beam of the glory of God."
Just as the Memra and the Shekinah shine the brightness of God in the Targums (Tg. Neoph.. of the glory of God" in the hearts of Christians. The Targum passages in this section describe the Memra of God as the agent or manifestation of God. Just as Jesus is the mediator of God for the New Covenant, just as Memra was God's intercessor in the past.
Just as the New Testament teaches that Jesus was a stumbling block for Israel, the Targums identify the stone as God's Memrah that will condemn his people. Although it cannot be proven that the authors of the New Testament had the Targumic tradition in mind, the similarities between the Targums and the New Testament are striking. God's agent, Memra, will be a stumbling block, just as God's agent, Jesus, was identified as the stone against which Israel was predestined to stumble.
In both cases, God's representative judges Israel according to his royal authority, because Israel did not believe in God's Messiah.
Chronicles 7:12 אעימש היל רמאו אילילב המלשל יייד ארמימ ילגתאו יל יוהמל ןידה ארתאב יתיערתאו ךתולצ תי ימדק יל יוהמל ןידה ארתאב יתיערתאו ךתולצ תי ימדק
It has been repeatedly emphasized that Jesus is the chief manifestation of God, and the Targums again point to God's agent as His visible manifestation. Therefore, the revelation of God's agent in Targum 2 Chronicles 7:12 helps point to Christ in the Old Testament. The message that Memra delivered to Solomon may also point to Christ in the Old Testament.
In addition, the Memra told Solomon that the Temple had become a place of worship "for me". This translation follows the Hebrew verbatim, and yet it is spoken by the Memra, the implication being that the temple is a place to worship God's representative, the Memra. 29For targumic passages emphasizing prayer "in the name of the Memra of the Lord," see Tg. While the Memra was receiving Solomon's prayer, he also told Solomon that the Temple had become a place of worship for the Memra.
Just as the Memra accepted worship in the temple, Jesus accepted worship in the New Testament.30 Where Jesus'. As God's representative, Jesus is the proper object of Christian worship, just as the Memra was the proper object of temple worship. Since the Targums identify God's representative as equal to God, worshiping God and worshiping his representative become one and the same.
Likewise, Memra could tell Solomon that the temple was a place of worship for him. In Targum 2 Chronicles 7:12, God appeared to Solomon through his agent, and Memra spoke aloud to Solomon that he heard his prayer and that temple worship was instituted to honor him.
God’s Manifest Agent as Redeemer and Giver of Life
The ontological identity of the Memra with the Father is similar to the ontological identity of Jesus with the Father. Indeed, as God's agent, Jesus made atonement for the sins of his people "according to the riches of his [God's]. In the Song of the Lamb, God's people will welcome Jesus as the "King of the nations" and highlight his righteous and true ways (Rev 15:3).
The targumic expansion relates obedience to God in the Hebrew Bible with obedience to the Memra, God's agent. Likewise, the Memra made Israel kings so that they would listen to the voice of God's agent. As such, Jesus is similar to the Memra in Onqelos Genesis 3:8 in being God's manifestation.
Exodus 32:13 refers primarily to the Abrahamic covenant, leading one to wonder about Memra's connection to God's covenant with Abraham. In the New Covenant, the "promised eternal inheritance" is reinforced beyond the geographical earth, but God's agent still mediates covenant blessings (Gal 3:14). Therefore, the Targums teach that Abraham's obedience to the covenant was obedience to God's agent, the.
Indeed, according to Targum Psalm 19:3, the astronomical progression of days explains more of God's representative, the Memra.60. While the context of the Targum pertains to creation and God's representative, Targum Psalm 19:3 does not necessarily contain a reference to Jesus in the Old Testament.
19:3 suggests that each day tells more about God's representative through whom he created the universe. However, the main point of Psalm 19 refers to God's general revelation rather than the revelation of God's representative. This final set of targumic references fails to portray the Memra as God's manifestation or agent.
רמימ refers to the words of a person, a body of instructions, or inner deliberation, but agency and manifestation are clearly lacking. 1 SAMUEL 15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul: The LORD has sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel; Then listen now to the sound of the words of the Lord.".
Samuel 15:1 אכלמ יוהמל ךתויברל יי חלש יתי לואשל לאומש רמאו י לע הימע לע
In addition to depicting God's manifestation, the Shekinah and Yeqara fulfill the agentic roles that the New Testament authors ascribe to Jesus. The Shekinah is often the result of disobedience in the Targums (Tg. Just as the Yeqara Shekinah depicted God's presence in the tabernacle and temple, Jesus also depicted God's manifestation as a temple.
The Targumic tradition of Israel's grumbling in the wilderness suggests that Israel grumbled against God's manifest presence, the Shekinah Jekara, which was. According to Neofitius, Yeqara Shekinah acts as the manifestation of God against whom Israel grumbled in the wilderness. The Targum interprets the presence of God that spoke to Abram as the Jekarah Shekinah.
Just as the Yeqara of the Shekinah represents God's manifest representative, so Jesus is God's manifest representative. Indeed, Jesus was God's last and most important manifestation, just as the Yeqara of the Shekinah was God's manifestation to Abram. In Neofiti Deuteronomy 23:15, the Targum interprets God's presence in the camp of Israel as "leading" (הרבדמ . היתניכש רקיא) the Yeqara of the Shekinah in the camp.
The Shekinah's Yeqara is present in the midst of the camp "to deliver." As the manifestation of God, the Shekinah's Yeqara is intended to deliver Israel from its enemies and uphold the holiness of God's people.
MT 1 Kings 22:19 ואסכ לע בשי הוהי תא יתיאר הוהי רב ד עמש ןכל רמאיו ולאמשמו ונימימ וילע דמע םימשה אבצ לכו
In this sense, God's visible agent (Jesus) provides the holiness required by God's visible presence (Yekara e Shekinah). Otherwise, failure to believe in Jesus results in "unholiness." However, instead of Jesus removing his presence as the Yekara of the Shekinah, he banishes the unholy from his presence (Matthew 25:41; Luke 13:27). In both the New Testament and the Targum, the visible presence of God will not stand unholy.
I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the heavenly host standing beside him on his right hand and on his left.”
These depictions of the Yeqara and Jesus suggest that Jesus has always been the manifestation of God's glory. Likewise, Micah saw the Yeqara of the Lord with the Hosts of Heaven surrounding him. Just as the Shekinah's Yeqara arrayed in battle array before the foreign nations (Tg.
The broader Targumic tradition seems to attribute to the Memra, the Shekinah, and the Yeqara of the Shekinah the same role as God's agent in warfare. Therefore, both the Shekinah's Yeqara and Jesus represent God's agent(s) to wage war and redeem. In Neofiti Numbers 11:25, the Targum explains God's distribution of the Spirit as the Shekinah's Yeqara, which distributes the Holy Spirit to the seventy elders.52 Therefore, the Yeqara of.
In both cases, Memra and Yeqara of the Shekinah act as agents to distribute the Holy Spirit (cf. John 20:22). Shekinah most often refers to God's manifest presence, but Yeqara may be a literal translation of the Hebrew דובכ. Targum Isaiah 11:10 gives a Messianic reference in the phrase "son of the son of Jesse".
These events refer to Jesus, as he is the final manifestation of the fullness of God's character (Heb 1:3). These passages also point to Christ, since Jesus is God's representative to carry out the work of the Father.
CONCLUSION
As an agent and manifestation of God, chapter 3 focused on examples of Memra referring to Christ, possibly referring to Christ, and not referring to Christ. While many of Memra's occurrences refer to Jesus, some become difficult to distinguish. As a manifestation of God, these terms represent God's presence with his people or in the tabernacle.
As manifestations of God with agency, the Shekinah and Yeqara reflect the roles and functions of the Memra. Sometimes the Shekinah and Yeqara act as God's agent(s) to actively carry out the Father's work. Therefore, as the manifestation of God, the New Testament portrays Jesus with terms and concepts similar to the Targumic Shekinah and Yeqara.
Although not all occurrences of Memra, Shekinah, and Yeqara refer to Jesus, the New Testament writers spiritually discerned the ways in which the Targums can point to Christ as God's agent and manifestation. Therefore, the writers of the New Testament provided an exegetical method by which Christ can be found in the Old Testament through the Aramaic Memra, Shekinah, and Yeqara of the Targums. Finally, the occurrences of Memra likely referring to Jesus indicate that Memra functions as God's agent or manifestation, and yet a connection to Jesus in the New Testament is less clear.
The Theological Appropriation of the Old Testament by the New Testament." Scottish Journal of Theology 39, no. The Use of the Old Testament in Hebrews: A Case Study in Early Jewish Biblical Interpretation.
