Texts in Conversation
Psalm 50 presents God's universal ownership of animals to describe his rule. The Aramaic translation in the Targum expands this into an Eden scene where these beasts are reserved for the righteous as an eschatological reward.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalm 50:10
Hebrew Bible
8 I am not condemning you because of your sacrifices, or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. 9 I do not need to take a bull from your household or goats from your sheepfolds. 10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me, as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills. 11 I keep track of every bird in the hills, and the insects of the field are mine. 12 Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all it contains belong to me.
Date: 600–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Targum Psalm 50:10
Targum
8 I am not rebuking you on account of your sacrifices that you did not offer before me in exile, for your holocausts that your fathers offered are in front of me always. 9 From the day that my sanctuary was laid waste, I have not accepted a bull from your hands, or rams from your flock. 10 For mine are all the animals of the forest, and I have prepared for the righteous in the Garden of Eden clean beasts and a wild bull who grazes every day on a thousand mountains. 11 Manifest before me are all the kinds of birds who fly in the air of heaven; and the rooster whose legs rest on the earth, while his head reaches to heaven, rejoicing before me. 12 If the time of the continual morning sacrifice should arrive, I would not tell you; for mine is the earth and its fullness.
Date: 200–600 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... Despite the fact that some rabbinic passages postulate that Behemoth is a “clean beast” and Leviathan is a “clean fish,” a frequent labelling of the monsters’ eschatological consumption as a “recompense” for the prohibition of certain fish once again points to their problematic nature in relation to the Jewish dietary laws. [...] Targum on Psalms 50:10 states that “for every animal of the forest is mine, and in the Garden of Eden [...] I designated for the righteous the clean beasts and the wild ox that grazes all day long (on) a thousand mountains.” ...”
Andrei A. Orlov, “Eschatological Consumption of Leviathan and Behemoth as Revelation of the Messianic Torah,” in Watering the Garden: Studies in Honor of Deirdre Dempsey, ed. Andrei A. Orlov, Biblical Intersections 19 (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2022), 273.
* 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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