Texts in Conversation
Isaiah describes seeing God directly, but the Aramaic translation in the Targum avoids this by focusing on divine glory. This interpretation may follow an early Aramaic tradition that also influenced John's Gospel, which says Isaiah saw the Messiah's glory.
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Isaiah 6:1
Hebrew Bible
1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and they used the remaining two to fly. 3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!”
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Jonathan Isaiah 6:1
Targum
1 In the year in which King Uzziah was smitten with the leprosy the prophet said, I saw the glory of the Lord sitting upon His throne, high, and lifted up unto the highest heavens, and the temple was filled with the brightness of His glory. 2 Holy ministers on high stood before him: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, that it should not see; and with twain he covered his body, that it should not be seen; and with twain he was ministering.
Date: 200-300 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
John 12:41
New Testament
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn to me, and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ’s glory and spoke about him. 42 Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.
Date: 90-110 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... It is not impossible that the author of the Fourth Gospel, using these quotations from the prophet Isaiah, may have also had other texts of his in mind and texts of the Targumic tradition. In John 12:41, Isaiah’s vision is referred to the glory of Jesus. The theme of “glory” is an important point in the Targumic tradition ... The text of Isaiah, who speaks about the vision of God: I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1), reads in the Aramaic translation (Targum Isaiah 6:1) ... In the light of the Aramaic version, the text of the Fourth Gospel becomes more comprehensible: Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke of him (John 12:41) ..."
Wróbel, Mirosław S.
Ideological and Intertextual Relations Between the Targum Isaiah and the Gospel of John
(pp. 85-102) Collectanea Theologica, No. 93, 2023
* 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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