Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 50 condemns those who use flaming arrows and rely on false guidance. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan intensifies this by adding that they use swords and will fall by both the fire and their sword, expanding the metaphor into an image of violent self-destruction.
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Isaiah 50:11
Hebrew Bible
9 Look, the Sovereign Lord helps me. Who dares to condemn me? Look, all of them will wear out like clothes; a moth will eat away at them. 10 Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys his servant? Whoever walks in deep darkness, without light, should trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. 11 Look, all of you who start a fire and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows, walk in the light of the fire you started and among the flaming arrows you ignited! This is what you will receive from me: You will lie down in a place of pain.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Jonathan Isaiah 50:11
Targum
11 The nations answered and said to him: O our Lord! it is not possible for us to occupy ourselves with the law; because we continually wage war against each other, and when we gain the vic tory one over the other, we bum their houses with fire, and bring their children and their treasures into captivity, and in this manner our days are spent; thus it is impossible for us to occupy our selves with the law. The Holy One, blessed be He, answered and said unto them: Behold, all of you who stir up a fire, and lay hold on the sword; go ye, fall into the fire which ye have stirred up, and by the sword, which ye have laid hold on. This shall be unto you from my Word, ye shall turn to your destruction.
Date: 200-300 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 'All those who grasp a sword will perish by a sword' (Matthew 26:52): the sword, like the measure (see below), seems to have been a proverbial figure. In Targum Isaiah 50:11, it is applied quite graphically: 'Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who grasp a sword! Go, fall in the fire which you kindled and on the sword which you grasped!' A link to the passage in Isaiah (or any passage of Scripture) cannot be demonstrated in Jesus' saying, so the correspondence seems to be of the proverbial type, like the saying about the measure. Nonetheless, the close agreement in wording and imagery makes this a comparison of the first type ..."
Chilton, Bruce
"From Aramaic Paraphrase to Greek Testament" in Evans, Craig A. (ed.) From Prophecy to Testament: The Function of the Old Testament in the New
(pp. 23-43) Hendrickson Publishers, 2004
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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