Texts in Conversation
In Isaiah 6, winged seraphs appear around the divine throne, an image of cosmic, heavenly figures common in the ancient Near East. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan maintains the image but removes the mythological details.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 6:2
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!”
Jonathan Isaiah 6:2
Targum
1 In the year that King Uzziah was struck with leprosy, the prophet said, I saw the glory of the LORD sitting on His throne, high and lifted up to 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 two he covered his face, so that it could not see; with two he covered his body, so that it could not be seen; and with two he was ministering. 3 One cried to another, and they were saying, “Holy in the highest and exalted heavens is the house of His Shekinah; holy on the earth is the work of His might; holy forever and ever is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of the brightness of His glory.”
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Notes and References
"... From the outset, it is made clear that God's “glory” is seen, which is consistent with orthodox rabbinic thinking (compare also John 12:41). In a passage associated with the Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 49a), R. Judah ben Ilai is portrayed as warning against translations which speak of seeing God directly (compare Exodus 33:20), and against those which speak of seeing some angelic substitute. Rather, the use of the term “glory” is recommended: such a usage avoids the Charybdis of thinking of God as visible and the Scylla of replacing him with an angel. This discussion, which is worked out in respect of Exodus 24:10, accords with the practice of the Isaiah Targum. Far from running any risk of multitheism by referring to angels instead of God, the meturgeman pictures the seraphim as mere “attendants” whose entire purpose is to serve modestly (verse 2; compare the similar interpretation of this verse in the Pesiqta de Rab Kahana 9.43–45) ..."
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