138926 FEB 7 1910 CBR AB23 ΤΟ THE TARGUMISTS MUCH NEGLECTED BY MOST STUDENTS OF THE SCRIPTURES YET FOR THOSE WHO DESIRE TO TRACE THE GROWTH OF TRADITION AND TO DISTINGUISH FACT FROM NON-FACT UNIQUELY VALUABLE PREFACE IN submitting to the public the Seventh Part of Diatessarica the author cannot but feel that he may be supposed to be rejecting the warning attributed to Solomon, " And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end: and much study is a weariness to the flesh." But there are at least two other versions of this saying under either of which I could find shelter; and they appear morally though perhaps not critically sound. One of these warns the son to beware of those who say "Of making books there is no end." Another, the Targum, punctuates and expands so as to give the following rendering: "And furthermore, my son, be admonished to make very many books of wisdom, so that there may be no end, and to study the words of the Law, and to attain understanding in weariness of the flesh1." 1 On the Targums, see Schürer 1. i. 154-60. He says (1) that they "belong to the Rabbinical Literature, inasmuch as expression is given in them likewise to the traditional understanding of the Scripture text." But he adds (2) “We mention here only the Targums on the Pentateuch and on the Prophets, for the Targums on the Sacred Writings or Kethubim can scarcely come under consideration by us owing to their late origin." After mentioning the two Targums attributed severally to Onkelos (on the Pentateuch) and to Jonathan ben Uzziel (on the Prophets)—" placed by some about the middle of the first century”—he says (3) “Even if the two Targums were first issued during the third and fourth centuries, it cannot be doubted that they are based upon earlier works, and only form the conclusion of a process that had been going on for several centuries." The reader will perceive from the second of these extracts that the Not that I would claim for all the preceding parts of this series that they are "books of wisdom." But I do venture to claim that they are "books of fact." They sometimes add suggested explanations; but seldom, if ever, without alleging facts. It is as a store-house of facts-facts carefully ascertained, fully and impartially stated, and so arranged and indexed as to be readily accessible—that Diatessarica appeals to students of the New Testament. In order to make these facts accessible to students who may wish to refer to the series in some library but may not be able to purchase it owing to its cost, I have decided to publish the Indices to this and the preceding Parts (I-VII) in a separate volume shortly after, if not simultaneously with, the present publication. My hope is that, long after Silanus the Christian is forgotten, these Notes-originally entitled Notes to Silanus but now Notes on New Testament Criticism1together with the Indices to Diatessarica, may remain in use for New Testament research. If some of the Notes appear too full of detail and digression, I must ask my readers to remember that they are (most of them) not intended so much for perusal as for reference. The Note on "The Son of Man," for example, has been quotation from the Targum on the title-page of the present work must not be taken as a specimen of Targums in general. Schürer arranges the principal Targums thus: 2. JONATHAN ON THE PROPHETS (this includes "the historical books," outside the Pentateuch, as well as "the prophets properly so called "). 3. PSEUDO-JONATHAN AND JERUSALMI ON THE PENTATEUCH. These "are only two different recensions of one and the same Targum," and "both are quoted by older authorities (Aruch and Elia) under the name 'Targum Jerusalmi.'” Hence "Pseudo-Jonathan" is often referred to as "Jer. I," and Jerusalmi as "Jer. II." But there are reasons for thinking "Jerusalmi," of which only fragments are extant, to be earlier than 'Pseudo-Jonathan." Some call "Jerusalmi" the "Palestinian " Targum. For abbreviated references to the Targums, see below, pp. xxviii—ix. 1. See Apologia pp. vii―viii. |
