Texts in Conversation
In Exodus 19, the people are said “to meet God,” language that implies God has a physical form. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos avoids this by removing any hint that God has a physical form, instead referring to meeting the “Memra”.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 19:17
Hebrew Bible
16 On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Onkelos Exodus 19:17
Targum
16 And on the morning of the third day there were voices and lightning and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet very loud; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses led the people out of the camp to meet the Memra of the Lord; and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 And Mount Sinai was all smoking, because the Lord was revealed upon it in fire; and its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.
Date: 50–500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Rather than the impossible biblical anthropomorphism likrat haElohim, 'to meet God.' Rashi, based on the Mekhilta, states: 'the Shekhinah went forth to meet them as a groom Who goes forth to meet a bride [to give the Torah to Israel).' Our translator avoids such anthropomorphic depictions. He only uses Shekhinah to depict God's presence in heaven or with the Israelites. The Shekhinah never 'travels.' Saadiah renders the phrase as 'to receive the word of God.' Ibn Ezra understands 'to meet God' as the readiness to accept God. The Aramaic, again, transforms the biblical Elohim into the Tetragrammaton here and in verse 19 ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 121.
* 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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