Texts in Conversation
The Aramaic translation of Leviticus 18:21 in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan interprets the command against giving offspring to Molech as a ban on intermarriage with foreign women, linking such unions to idolatry. This reflects a tradition also found in the book of Jubilees where intermarriage is condemned and associated with defilement.
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Jubilees 30:10
Pseudepigrapha
9 For this is the way it has been ordained and written on the heavenly tablets regarding any descendant of Israel who defiles it: ‘He is to die; he is to be stoned’. 10 This law has no temporal limit. There is no remission or any forgiveness; but rather the man who has defiled his daughter within all of Israel is to be eradicated because he has given one of his descendants to Molech and has sinned by defiling them. 11 Now you, Moses, order the Israelites and testify to them that they are not to give any of their daughters to foreigners and that they are not to marry any foreign women because it is despicable before the Lord.
Date: 150-100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Pseudo Jonathan Leviticus 18:21
Targum
And unto the side of a woman in the time of the separation of her uncleanness thou shalt not draw nigh to dishonour her nakedness. Nor unto the side of thy neighbour's wife shalt thou come to defile her. And of thy offspring thou shalt not give up any to lie carnally with the daughters of the Gentiles, to perform strange worship; nor shalt thou profane the Name of thy God: I am the Lord. Nor with a male person shalt thou lie as with a woman; it is an abhorrent thing.
Date: 300-1200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... While pronouncing this general ban, the Interpolator was also seeking—as so often—to connect an incident in Genesis (the Dinah story) and a later law of the Torah with what is ordained and written on the Heavenly Tablets. In this case, the later law was Leviticus 18:21, “You shall not give any of your offspring to be passed to [the pagan god] Molech.” Molech was apparently a Canaanite deity associated with child sacrifce (see further Leviticus 20:2-5; 2 Kings 23:10, Jeremiah 32:35), and to “pass over” probably meant to “pass through fire,” as in Deuteronomy 18:10. But in later times, this verse acquired a new meaning: “And do not give of your seed for sexual relations with a daughter of the nations to pass over to idolatry” (Mishnah Megillah 4:9, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Leviticus 18:21; compare Targum Neofiti and b. Megillah 25a) ..."
Kugel, James L.
A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation
(p. 145) Brill, 2012
* 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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