Texts in Conversation
Exodus 29 states that God will live among the Israelites, implying physical presence. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos avoids this by using “Shekhinah” to instead depict a mediated divine presence. It also translates the plural “Elohim” to a singular to avoid suggesting polytheism.
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Exodus 29:45
Hebrew Bible
44 “So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons that they may minister as priests to me. 45 I will reside among the Israelites, and I will be their God, 46 and they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the Lord their God.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Onkelos Exodus 29:45
Targum
44 So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests. 45 I will cause my Shekinah to dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God. 46 They will know that I the Lord am their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt that I might cause my Shekinah to dwell among them, I the Lord am their God.
Date: 100-200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Onkelos inserts Shekhinah (God's presence), to remove the anthropomorphism, when the Bible mentions God dwelling in heaven or among the Israelites ... the Targum singularizes the biblical Elohim (which is a plural form) to escape the undesirable notion of a polytheistic deity ..."
Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner
Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text
(pp. 203-204) Gefen, 2006
* 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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