The Targum of Jonathan takes a
slightly different path toward a similar end. It distributes (and slightly
expands) its translation of the Hebrew term עץ among four occurrences of
Aramaic לוח (tablet) and six occurrences of שבט, whose meaning here requires
further discussion. The translation לוח is used when עץ is the object that
Ezekiel physically holds in his hands where שבט is used when עץ is part of the
inscription on the sticks/tablets. The translation שבט is significant precisely
because of its ambiguity: it can mean both “tribe” and “rod,” and there is good
reason to believe that its use here is intended to play on both of these
meanings. In connection with the meaning “rod,” שבט seems to encode an
additional play on the more precise nuances of “scepter” and “shepherd’s
staff,” as has been observed with the use of the Greek ῥάβδος in the LXX above.
This aspect of the play enhances the connection between the sign act in vv.
16–19 and the messianic content of vv. 21–28. In connection with the meaning
“tribe,” it may be noted that שבט is used to translate ושבטי ישראל (and the
tribes of Israel) in v. 19, and in the six instances in which it translates
Hebrew עץ it always precedes the name of a traditional tribal designation
(Judah, Joseph, Ephraim). Thus, in Tg. Jon., each use of שבט fully
comprehends the meaning “scepter / shepherd’s staff / tribe” so that the
symbolic unification of the tablets signifies both the restoration of the
monarchy and the uniting of the tribes. One difference from the LXX here is
that Tg. Jon. attempts to improve the coherence of this passage by
modifying the content of the inscriptions on the tablets whereas, in the LXX,
it is the description of the physical sticks as ῥάβδοι that gives the act
messianic importance.
One additional modification in Tg.
Jon. is worthy of note and is comparable to the LXX’s attempt to improve
this passage. As we have seen above, the MT in v. 19 retains the symbolic
imagery of the sticks in its first interpretation of the sign act, and the LXX
seeks to make this verse more of a true interpretation by translating two
instances of עץ in this verse with φυλή (tribe). The LXX does not, however, see
this change through entirely since it also retains mention of the tribes
becoming one “stick” (ῥάβδος). The Targum of Jonathan carries this change
through more thoroughly by emending “and I will make them one stick” in the MT
to “and I will make them one people.”
Thus, it appears that the
additions that were added by TSR caused the later translators of the
LXX and Tg. Jon. to make v. 19 more of a first interpretation of vv.
16–17, to ponder the meaning of עץ in this passage, and to search for an
explanation for how the symbolism in vv. 16–19 relates to the messianic content
of vv. 21–28. Both adopted the same basic tactic of expanding the connotations
of the stick imagery in a way that relates to both the messianic shepherd and
Davidic ruler images later in this passage, although they went about this in
different ways. The trajectory of interpretive revision begun in TSR,
therefore, was continued and strengthened in these later versions. (John B.
Whitley, “The Literary Expansion of Ezekiel’s ‘Two Sticks’ Sign Act (Ezekiel
37:15-28),” Harvard Theological Review 108, no. 2 [April 2015]: 322-23)
