TANHUMETH

He was a form of the Sun-god and bridegroom of Ishtar. He was celebrated as a shepherd, cut off in early life or slain by the boar (winter). Ishtar descended to Hades to bring him back to lite. He was mourned on the second of the month Tammuz (June). His Canaanite name Adonai gave rise to the Greek Adonis, and he was later identified with the Egyptian Osiris. In Am 8'° and Zee 1211' the mourning for 'the only son' may be a reference to this annual mourning, and the words of the refrain, 'Ah me, ah mel' (Jer 22i8) may be recalled.

C. H. W. Johns.

TANHUMETH.— The father (?) of Seraiah, one of the Heb. captains who joined Gedaliah at Mizpah (2 K 25^, Jer 408).

TANIS (Jth l'»).— See Zoan.

TANNER.— See Arts and Ckafts, 5.

TAPHATH.— Daughter of Solomon and wife of Ben-abinadab (1 K 4»).

TAPPUAH.— 1. A 'son ' of Hebron (1 Ch 2«). Prob-ably the name is that of a town in the Shephglah (Jos 15". It was probably to the N. of WSdy es-Sunt, but the site has not been recovered. 2. See En-tappuah. 3. One }f the towns W. of Jordan whose kings Joshua smote (Jos 12"). It was perhaps the same place as No. 2 above; but this is by no means certain. See also TipHSAH and Tephon.

TARALAH.— An unknown town of Ben3amin(Jos 18").

TAREA.— See Taheea.

TARES (Gr. zizania, Arab, zuwan) are certain kinds of darnel growing plentifully in cornfields. The bearded darnel (Lolium temulentum) most resembles wheat. The seeds, though often poisonous to human beings on account of parasitic growths in them, are sold as chicken's food. When harvest approaches and the tares can be distinguished, they are carefully weeded out by hand by women and children (of. Mt IS"-'").

E. W. G. Masterman.

TARGET. — See Aemohh Arms, 2.

TARGUMS. — Originally the word ' targum meant "translation' in reference to any language; but it acquired a restricted meaning, and came to be used only of translation from Hebrew into Aramaic. As early as the time of Ezra we find the verb used in reference to a document written in Aramaic (Ezr 4'), though in this passage the addition 'in Aramaic' is made, showing that the restricted meaning had not yet come into vogue. As early as the time of the Second Temple the language of the Holy Scriptures, Hebrew, was not under-stood by the bulk of the Jewish people, for it had been supplanted by Aramaic. When, therefore, the Scrip-tures were read in synagogues, it became necessary to translate them, in order that they might be under-stood by the congregation. The official translator who performed this duty was called the methwrgeman or targeman, which is equivalent to the modern dragoman ('interpreter'). The way in which it was done was as follows: — In the case of the Pentateuch (the 'Law') a verse was read in Hebrew, and then translated into Aramaic, and so on to the end of the appointed portion; but in the case of the prophetical writings three verses were read and then translated. Whether this system was the custom originally may be doubted; it was prob-ably done in a less formal way at first. By degrees the translation became stereotyped, and weis ultimately reduced to writing; and thus the Targums, the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible, came into existence. The various Targums which are still extant will be enumerated below. As literary products they are of late date, but they occupy a highly important place in post-Biblical Jewish religious literature, because they embody the traditional exegesis of the Scriptures. They have for many centuries ceased to be used in the synagogue; from the 9th cent, onwards their use has

TARGUMS

been discontinued. It is, however, interesting to note an exception in the case of Southern Arabia, where the custom still survives; and in Bokhara the Persian Jews read the Targum, with the Persian paraphrase of it, to the lesson from the Prophets for the last day of the Passover Feast, namely, Is 10'«-12. There are Targums to all the books of the Bible, with the exception of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah; as these are to a large extent written in Aramaic, one can understand why Targums to these books should be wanting. Most of tlie Targums are mainly paraphrases; the only one which is in the form of a translation in the modern sense of the word is the Targum of Onkelos to the, Pentateuch; this is, on the whole, a fairly literal trans-lation. Isolated passages in the Bible which are written in Aramaic, as in Genesis and Jeremiah, are also called Targums. The following is a list of the Targums which are in existence:

1. Targum of Onkelos to the Pentateuch, called also Targum Babli, i.e. the Babylonian Targum.

2. The Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch, called also Targum Jerushalmi, i.e. the Jerusalem Targum.

3. The 'Fragment Targum' to the Pentateuch.

4. The Targum of Jonathan to the proptietical books (these include what we call the historical books).

5. The Targum Jerushalmi to the prophetical books.

6. The Targum to the Psalms.

7. The Targum to Job.

8. The Targum to Proverbs.

9-13.The Targums to the Five JWe^'MoiAC Rolls'), namely: Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther; the Book of Esther has three Targums to it.

14. The Targum to Chronicles.

For printed editions of these, reference may be made to the bibliographies given in Schurer, HJP i. i. pp. 160-163, and in the JE xii. 63.

To come now to a brief description of these Targums: The Targum of Onkelos is the oldest of all the Targums that have come down to us; it is for the most part a literal translation of the Pentateuch, only here and there assuming the form of a paraphrase. The name of this Targum owes its origin to a passage in the Babylonian Talmud (Megillah, 3a), in which it is said: 'The Targum to the Pentateuch was composed by the proselyte Onkelos at the dictation of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua'; and in the Jerusalem Talmud (.Megillah, 71c) it is said: 'Aquila the proselyte translated the Penta-teuch in the presence of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua. That Aquila is the same as Onkelos can scarcely admit of doubt. In the tractate Abodah zara, 11a, we are told that this Onkelos was the pupil of Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder, who lived in the second half of the 1st cent. a.d. Seeing that this Targum rests on tradition, it will be clear that we have in it an ancient witness to Jewish exegesis; indeed, it is the earliest example of Midrashio tradition that we possess; and not only so, but as this Targum is mainly a translation, it is a most important authority for the pre-Massoretic text of the Pentateuch. This shows of what high value the Targum of Onkelos is, and that it is not without reason that it has always been regarded with great veneration. It is characteristic of the Targum of Onkelos that, unlike the other Targums, the Midrashio element is greatly sub-ordinated to simple translation; when it does appear it is mainly in poetic passages, though not exclusively(cf. Gn 49, Nu 24, Dt 32. 33, which are prophetic in character. The idea apparently was that greater licence was per-mitted in dealing with passages of this kind than with those in which the legal element predominated. As with the Targums generally, so with that of Onkelos, there is a marked tendency to avoid anthropomorphisms and expressions which might appear derogatory to the dignity of God; this may be seen, for example, in Gn H<, where the words 'The Lord came down," which seemed anthropomorphic, are rendered in this Targum, 'the Lord revealed Himself.' Then again, the transcendent character of the Almighty is emphasized by substituting for the Divine Person intermediate agencies like the

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