these?36 Beyond this Rabbinic theology has not preserved to us the doctrine of Personal
distinctions in the Godhead. And yet, if words have any meaning, the Memra is a
hypostasis, though the distinction of permanent, personal Subsistence is not marked. Nor
yet, to complete this subject, is the Memra identified with the Messiah. In the Targum
Onkelos distinct mention is twice made of Him,37 while in the other Targumim no fewer than
seventy-one Biblical passages are rendered with explicit reference to Him.
26. Hammejuchad, `appropriatum;' hammephorash , `expositum,' `separatum,' the `t etragrammaton,' or
. There was also a Shem with `twelve,' and one with `forty-two' letters (Kidd.
four-lettered name,
71a).
27. Or Ruach ham Maqom, Ab. iii. 10, and frequently in the Talmud.
28. Levy (Neuhebr. Wörterb. i. p. 374 a.) seems to imply that in the Midrash the term dibbur occupies
the same place and meaning. But with all deference I cannot agree with this opinion, nor do the
passages quoted bear it out.
29. The `word,' as spoken, is distinguished from the `Word' as speaking, or revealing Himself. The
former is generally designated by the term `pithgama .' Thus in Gen. XV. 1, `After these words (things)
came the "pithgama" of Jehovah to Abram in prophecy, saying, Fear not, Abram, My "Memra" shall be
thy strength, and thy very great reward.' Still, the term Memra , as applied not only to man, but also in
reference to God, is not always the equivalent of `the Logos.'
30. The various passages in the Targum of Onkelos, the Jerusalem, and the Pseudo-Jonathan Targum
on the Pentateuch will be found enumerated and classified, as those in which it is a doubtful, a fair, or
an unquestionable inference, that the word Memra is intended for God revealing Himself, in Appendix
II.: `Philo and Rabbinic Theology.'
31. As, for example, Gen. xxviii. 21, `the Memra of Jehovah shall be my God.'
32. As, for example, Num. xxiii. 21, `the Memra of Jehovah their God is their helper, and the Shekhinah of
their King is in the midst of them.'
33. That term is often used by Onkelos. Besides, the expression itself is `the Memra of Jehovah.'
34. Onkelos only once (in Ex. iv. 24) paraphrases Jehovah by `Malakha.'
35. Metatron, either = µετα θρονον, or µετα τυραννον. In the Talmud it is applied to the Angel of
Jehovah (Ex. xxiii. 20), `the Prince of the World,' `the Prince of the Face' or `of the Presence,' as they call
him; he who sits in the innermost chamber before God, while the other angels only hear His commands
from behind the veil (Chag. 15 a; 16 a; Toseft. ad Chull. 60 a; Jeb. 16 b). This Metatron of the Talmud
and the Kabbalah is also the Adam Qadmon, or archetypal man.
36. Of deep interest is Onkelos' rendering of Deut. xxxiii. 27, where, instead of `underneath are the
everlasting arms,' Onkelos has, `and by His Memra was the world created,' exactly as in St John i. 10.
Now this divergence of Onkelos from the Hebrew text seems unaccountable. Winer, whose inaugural
dissertation, `De Onkeloso ejusque paraph. Chald.' Lips. 1820, most modern writers have followed (with
amplifications, chiefly from Luzzato's Philoxenus), makes no reference to this passage, nor do his
successors, so far as I know. It is curious that, as our present Hebrew text of this verse consists of three
words, so does the rendering of Onkelos, and that both end with the same word. Is the rendering of
Onkelos then a paraphrase, or does it represent another reading? Another interesting passage is Deut.
viii. 3. Its quotation by Christ in St. Matt. iv. 4 is deeply interesting, as read in the light of the rendering
of Onkelos, `Not by bread alone is man s ustained, but by every forthcoming Memra from before