2. Character, etc.— In the historical books the exe- gesis is simple and tolerably literal. A few words are added occasionally, which have no representatives in the original, but they are not many. The interpreta- tion is good, giving the sense fully and fairly ; but in the prophetic books the tex^ is more freely handled, for, as Zunz justly remarks (op. cit. p. 63), "The propheti- cal writings, not containing anything of the nature of legal enactment, admitted of a greater latitude in hand- ling the text. This became even unavoidable because of the more obscure language and the predictions con- cerning Israel's future by which they are characterized. Even in the case of the historical books, Jonathan often acts the part of an expositor. In the case of the prophets themselves, this course of exposition — in reality becom- ing a Haggadah — is pursued almost uninterruptedly." "This pervading, often misunderstood, characteristic," says Hiivernick, "constitutes the chief proof, confirmed also by external evidence, of the oneness of the author- ship of this Targum ; for not only do parallel passages (such as Isa. xxxvi-xxxix ; comp. 2 Kings xviii, 13 sq. ; Isa. ii, 24; Mic. v, 1-3) literally harmonize, but he is also in the habit of furnishing, particularlj- the poet- ical porlions of the historical books (Judg. v; 1 Sam. ii; 2 Sam. xxiii), with profuse ailditions. These ad-
ditions often very much resemble each other (comp, Judg. v, 8 with Isa. x, 4 ; 2 Sam. xxiii, 4 with Isa. xxx, -iC)."
Another peculiarity of this Targum are the Jewish dogmatical opinions of that day with which the work is interwoven, and the theological representations, in introducing wiiich a special preference was given to the book of Daniel. Examples of this are the interpreting of the phrase "stars of God" by "people of (iod" (Isa. xiv, 13; comp. Dan. viii, 10; 2 IMacc. ix, 10) ; the ap- plication of the passage in Dan. xii, 1 to that in Isa. iv, 2. In Isa. X, 32 the author introduces a legend framed in imitation of the narrative in Dan. iii, which is re- peated by later Targumists (comp. Targ. Jems.; Gen. xi, 28; xvi, 5; 2 Chron. xxviii, 3); in Isa. xxii, 14 and Ixv, 35 he has interwoven the doctrine concerning the second death (comp. Hev. ii, 11), which the wicked should die in the next world or kingdom of the Messiah ; and in Isa. xxx, 33 he mentions Gehenna. In various places the notices respecting the Messiah's offices, char- acter, and conduct, the eflects of his advent and per- sonal influence, harmonize with those of the New-Test, writers (comp. Isa. xlii, 1 sq. ; JMatt. xii, 17 sq.) ; but from this the Sept. differs, and at other times the N. T. writers differ from this Targum. Isa. liii it recognises as referring to the Jlessiah, and assumes a suffering and expiatorj^ Messiah. Its author nevertheless here, as well as elsewhere (Mic. v, 1), indulges in many perversions. He seems to have entertained — in germ, at least — the idea, which became further developed in the Talmud, of a Messiah submitting to obscurity for the sake of the sins of the people, and then appearing in glory (comp. Mic. iv, 8 with Zech. iii, 8 ; iv, 7).
There is little doubt that the text has received sev- eral interpolations. To this head Zunz (op. cit. p. 63, 282) refers all that is hostile to Home, e. g. Exod. xxxix, 16: 1 Sam. ii, 5; Isa. xxxiv, 9. So, too, Armillus, in Isa. xi, 14. To these may be added perhaps Germania, from Gomer. in Ezek. xxxviii, 6; the sujierstitious leg- end inserted in Isa. x, 32 relative to the army and camp of Sennacherib; and the peculiar story about Sis- era (Judg. V, 8). Even Kashi^speaks of interpolations in the text of Jonathan (Ezek. xlvii, 19); and Wolf says (Bibl. I/eb. ii, 1165), "Quaj vero, vel quod ad voces et barbaras, vel ad res ajtate ejus inferiores, aut futilia nonniilla, quamvis pauca triplicis hujus generis exsteut, ibi occurrunt, ea mcrito falsarii cujusdam ingenio ad- scrfljuntur." The printed text of the Antwerp Poly- glot confirms this supposition of interpolations, since several of them are wanting there. So long as we have no critical edition of this Targum, we must be careful to draw the inference, as did jMorinus and Toss, in favor of a very late origin of the Targum ; for a perusal of the recently published edition of this Targum by Lagarde, from the Codex Keuchliii, and its comparison with our present editions, will only show the corrupt state in which the text at present is.
The style of Jonathan is, upon the whole, the same as that of Onkelos. Eichhorn and Berthold asserted that this Targum teems with "exotic words." Yet, notwithstanding their assertion, we believe that Carp- zov (Grit. Sacra, p. 461) is correct when he says, "Cujus nitor sermonis Chaldan et dictionis laudatur puritas, ad Onkelosum proxime accedens et purum de- flectens a puro tersoque Chaldaismo Biblico." The text lying at the basis of the Targum is the Masoret- ic one; yet it differs from the Masoretic text in vari- ous places, where it appears to follow preferable read- ings. But the freedom which the translator took makes it difficult to tell in every case what particu- lar form of the text lay before him. Hence great caution must be used in applying the Targum to crit- ical purposes, and the more so as we have not as yet a critical edition.