The Hebrew word khathan (חָתָן), here translated “bridegroom,”
has, as its root idea, the binding through severing, the covenanting by blood;
an idea that is in the marriage-rite, as the Orientals view it, and that it is
in the rite of circumcision, also. Indeed, in the Arabic, the corresponding
term (khathan, ختان), is applied interchangeably to one who is a
relation by the way of one’s wife, and to one who is circumcised. Hence, the
words of Zipporah would imply that, by this rite of circumcision, she and her
child were brought into blood-covenant relations with the descendants of
Abraham, and her husband also was now saved to that covenant; whereas before
they were in danger of being covenanted with a bloody death. It in this idea
which seems to be in the Targum of Onkelos, where it renders Zipporah’s first words:
“By the blood of this circumcision, a khathna [a blood-won relation] is
given to us;” and her second speech: “If the blood of this circumcision had not
been given [to us; then we had had] a khathna [a blood-won relation] of
slaughter [of death].” It is as though Zipporah had said: “We are now newly covenanted
to each other, and to God, by blood; whereas, but for this, we should have been
covenanted to slaughter [or death] by blood.” (H. Clay Trumbull, The Blood
Covenant [2d ed.; 1893, repr. Kirkwood, Miss.: Impact Books, Inc., 1975, 2009],
222-23)
As Trumbull made
reference to the Targum, here are the translations of both Onkelos and Neofiti for
Exo 4:21-23:
Targum
Onqelos:
21. Then the Lord said to Moses as he was
proceeding to return to Egypt, “Concentrate on all the wonders which I have
placed in your power, in that you shall perform them before the Pharaoh, while
I will strengthen his resolve that he
will not send away the people. 22. Now
you should say to the Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is My firstborn
son.’ 23. And I say to you,
‘Send away My son, so that he may worship Me; now if you refuse to send him
away, here I am prepared to kill your firstborn son.’ ” (The Targum of Onqelos to Exodus [trans.
Bernard Grossfeld; The Aramaic Bible 7; Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press,
1990], Logos Bible Software edition)
Targum Neofiti:
21. And the Lord said to Moses: “As you go to
return to Egypt, see all the signs that I have placed in your hand. And you
shall do them before Pharaoh, and I will harden his heart and he shall not let
the people go. 22. And you
shall say to Pharaoh: ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is my first-born son. 23. And I have said to you: Let my
son go that he may worship before me;
and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I kill your first-born son.’ ”
(Targum Neofiti 1: Exodus
and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Exodus [trans. Martin McNamara, Michael Maher,
and Robert Hayward; The Aramaic Bible 2; Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical
Press, 1994], Logos Bible Software edition)
