DISSERTATION IV. 2g5 The targums are paraphrases, or explanations of several parts of the Old Testament, in the Chaldee language, written by Onkelos, Jonathan, &c. The exact time of their writing is not agreed among, the learned, but generally supposed to be in the same century wherein Christ lived, or at least in the next century following : They speak very frequently con- cerning the " memra" or the word of God, which is the same with the "logos," and they make it to signify these severalthings : I. The word, or " memra," in these writings, often sig- nifies God himself. There is a great number of places, inwhich when the Hebrew bible declares that God, spake or acted any thing, these commentators ascribe those speeches, actions, &c. to the " memra," or word. It was the voice of the word* of the Lord God walking in thegarden, that Adam heard : It was the word of the Lord was with the lad Ishmael, and helped hint in the wilderness. It is by the word of the Lord their God I will save them, says the targum where Hosea says, I will save them bÿ Jehovah their Gail ; Hosea i. 7. It was the word that. saved Noah in the time of the flood, and made a covenant with him. It was the word that brought Abraham out of Chaldea, and commanded him to sacrifice, and in whom Abraham. believed. It is the word that redeems Israel out of Egypt, and against whom Israel murmured: It is the word whose presence is promised in the tabernacle; whose protec- tion was promised to Moses, when he desired to see God. It is the word whose commandments the Israelites were care- fully to observe. It is the word that dweltin the pillar ofa cloud, and led Israel through the wilderness, and that spake out of the fire at Horeb. It is the word that created the world, that made man after his image, that spoke to Adam in the garden ; that lifted up Enoch to heaven ; and that talked with Moses in the tabernacle. It is the word to whom Moses prays, and who gives statutes to Israel. The word sent fiery serpents, and punished Israel for their various crimes. Theword said, he had sworn to give Israel the land of Canaan ; and where the scripture. says to Abraham, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, there both Onkelos and Jonathan interpret it, " By my word have I sworn, saith the Lord." See Dr. Allix's " Judgment of the Ancient Jewish Church," chapter 12, 13. See Dr. Lightfoot's " Harmony of the Evangelists, on John i. L and Horm Hebraica: in Locum. That God himself is often signified by the " memra," or word, appears further by the use of the same term, with re- s This is the first place in thebible where the targums mention the " mem- va" of Jehovah ; and it is remarkable, that the text itself mentions the a voice of Godwalktne," before anyword was spoken t Whence Dr. Owen infers,that tine expression may denote, the essential word of God, the person of theSono See First Volume onHebrews," page 114, and 116,
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