Jonathan Isaiah 43:12

Targum

10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, the Messiah, in whom is my delight, in order that ye may know, and that ye may believe in me, and understand that I am He who was from the beginning; yea, ages after ages are mine, and beside me there is no god. 11 I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no saviour. 12 I, I have declared unto Abraham your father what would come to pass; I, I redeemed you out of Egypt, as I swore to him between the pieces; and I, I have made you to hear the doctrine of my law from Sinai, and ye are still alive, when there was no strange god among you; yea, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. 13 Yea, from eternity I am He; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will do it, and who shall turn it back? 14 Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, Because of your sins I led you captive to Babylon; but I will prostrate all of them with their oars, yea, the Chaldeans in the ships of which they boast.

John 8:56

New Testament

54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worthless. The one who glorifies me is my Father, about whom you people say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 Yet you do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his teaching. 56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. 57 Then the Judeans replied, “You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!”

 Notes and References

"... Like John 8:28, John 8:58 has additional points of reference in the Targums. Firstly, there are references to Abraham added to Targum Isaiah among the "I am he' sayings found there. Secondly, there are many "I am he" sayings in the Palestinian Targums involving Abraham and the divine Word, which, if Jesus' listeners were accustomed to hearing them recited in the synagogue, would be further reason for taking this verse as a claim to being the God of Abraham, and would explain John's motivation for identifying Jesus as the divine Word ... Both of these passages might explain what Jesus meant by "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56), which leads to the claim of 8:58 ..."

Ronning, John L. The Jewish Targums and John's Logos Theology (pp. 210-211) Baker Academic, 2017

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