Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Targum Jonathan of Zechariah 3 and Habakkuk 3 Affirming "Satan" Being A Supernatural Person, not a Personification

  

Satan, the angel of evil, man’s heavenly “adversary” or antagonist is translated by TJ on Zech. 3:1b-2a as חטא or חטאה, i.e., “searcher of sin”, “accuser”. This description of Satan—which contrasts with that in Job 1:6ff ; 2:1ff. (where the Aramaic translation renders סטנא)—agrees with that given in T.B. Baba Bathra 16a, according to which Satan “comes down and seduces (or: leads astray); then goes up (viz., to heaven) and arouses anger (viz., through his accusations); gets permission (i.e., to inflict punishment), and takes away the soul”. It is the function of seducer and accuser which is emphasized in TJ rather than Satan’s supernatural demonic power current in contemporary angelology.

 

Because in rabbinic theology, Satan is also the angel of death, TJ, always loath to use abstract expressions—renders Habakkuk 3:5a—“Before him (viz., God) went pestilence”—by “From before him the angel of death is sent.” Thus, where there is a choice between abstract expressions—which could easily be misunderstood by unsophisticated audiences—and the employment of an angel who in the last resort is merely an instrument to carry out the will of his divine master, TJ opts to introduce an angel. (Leivy Smolar and Moses Aberbach, Studies in Targum Jonathan to the Prophets [The Library of Biblical Studies; New York: KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1983], 225-26)