Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up
thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat
thy flesh from off thee. (Gen 40:19)
Commenting
on this text, we read the following from the Targumim a
reference to crucifixion (albeit, posthumous crucifixion):
(Tg.
Onq.) At the end of three days Pharaoh will remove your head from
you, and he will suspend you on the cross, and the birds will eat
your flesh from you
(Tg.
Neof.) Toward the end of three days Pharaoh will lift your head from upon
you, and will suspend you on a cross, and the birds will eat your
flesh from upon your head.
(Tg.
Ps.-J.) At the end of tree days Pharaoh will remove by the sword
your head from upon your body, and he will suspend you on the
three, and the birds will eat your flesh from you.
Commenting on how these Aramaic paraphrases understood Hebrew תלה as a
reference to crucifixion, Chapman and Schnabel note that:
Although Aramaic תלא was available
as the equivalent of Hebrew תלה the targumim commonly employed צלב in
translating OT passages that mention human suspension. The terminology of צלב (and
cognates) is much more exclusively focused on human bodily suspension,
including crucifixion, and thus it represents a shift toward more technical
terms. This is true throughout targumim on other biblical books as well as here
in Genesis . . .this sample from Genesis will serve to illustrate some key
trends in the targumic traditions. First, one does observe the shift toward
more technical suspension vocabulary with צלב and צליבה. These
terms also served as standard Aramaic vocabulary for the kinds of crucifixions
that the Romans performed. And thus by using this language, the original
readers and hearers of the targumim may have felt some increased resonance
between the biblical text and the suspension practices of their day. Second, in
two of these targumic texts the meturgeman
also clarifies the Hebrew for “lift up your head” here means to “remove your
head by the sword.” Thus the suspension is even more clearly post mortem in Onqelos and Pseudo-Jonathan.
Note how similar trends were observed above concerning targumic renderings of
Deut 21:22-23 (the language becomes more technical concerning bodily suspension,
but the rabbinic desire to emphasize post
mortem suspension is also evident). (David W. Chapman and Eckhard J. Schnabel, The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus: Texts
and Commentary [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2019], 696-97)
