Texts in Conversation
In Exodus 19, God descends and answers Moses with a voice. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos avoids this human description, saying that God remained in heaven and was indirectly “revealed” instead of physically descending.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 19:19
Hebrew Bible
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. 19 When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking and God was answering him with a voice. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Oneklos Exodus 19:19
Targum
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. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and he was answered by a voice from the presence of the Lord. 20 And the Lord was revealed on Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain; and Moses went up.
Date: 50–500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... With this awkward translation, Onkelos avoids the biblical anthropomorphism "and God answered him with a voice." The Mekhilta suggests the meaning of the verse to be that God responded to Moses by providing him with a voice strong enough to be heard by the people of Israel when Moses recited the last eight of the Ten Commandments. According to the Babylonian Talmud (Makkot 24a) it was only the first two commandments that the Israelites heard directly from God ... The targumist changes the biblical 'the Lord descended,' as in verse 18. His translation conforms to the statement in verse 20:19 that God spoke 'from heaven' and not from the mountain. The Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 5a) confirms that God did not descend to the mountain. In order to reconcile the two conflicting verses, the Mekhilta midrashically and anthropomorphically describes how God's 'throne of glory' descended upon the mountain (while God remained in the heaven) ..."
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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