Texts in Conversation
John 12 describes the crowd’s refusal to believe despite seeing miracles, a pattern of unbelief that is connected to Isaiah. This may have also been influenced by Aramaic traditions, similar to those in the translation of Numbers in Targum Neofiti.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
John 12:37
New Testament
36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he went away and hid himself from them. 37 Although Jesus had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in him, 38 so that the word of the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled. He said, “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 For this reason they could not believe because again Isaiah said, 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.
Date: 90–110 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Neofiti Numbers 14:11
Targum
8 If the Lord takes pleasure in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land producing good fruit, pure as milk and sweet as honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Glory of the Shekinah of the Lord. Do not fear the people of the land, for just as eating bread is easy for us, destroying them seems easy to us. Their protective shadow has left them, and the Memra of the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” 10 All the assembled people said to stone them. The Glory of the Shekinah of the Lord was revealed in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel. 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people be angry before me? How long will they refuse to believe in the Name of my Memra, despite all the signs of my miraculous wonders that I have done among them? 12 I will kill them with pestilence and destroy them. It is possible before me to make you a nation greater and stronger than they are.”
Date: 300–1000 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... It has been argued that the Fourth Gospel's use of logos may parallel a divine name translation device in the Targums. The Aramaic terms 'memra' and 'word' are often substituted for 'God.' 'Memra of the Lord' is not only a substitution for the tetragrammaton (YHWH), but implies a more thorough theology of the name of God, especially with the more recently discovered Targum Neofiti dated earlier from Palestine. In our comparisons (e.g., Divine Presence), we will note a combination of the targumic Word with Shekinah, glory, or the glory of the Shekinah (compare John 1:14). Related to Memra or Memer (e.g., as Divine Creator) is dibbera (feminine of Hebrew dabar, 'word' e.g., used in Seeing God, Descent of the Spirit). Although some of our comparisons may be merely formal or incidental, others may reflect similar language and expressions originating from a common milieu ..."
Charles Puskas and Michael Robbins, Conceptual Worlds of the Fourth Gospel: Intertextuality and Early Reception (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021), 97.
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,