Originally Posted by Praxeas
But in the Targumim we meet yet another expression, which, strange to say, never occurs in the Talmud.1 It is that of the Memra, Logos, or ‘Word.’ Not that the term is exclusively applied to the Divine Logos.2 But it stands out as perhaps the most remarkable fact in this literature, that God—not as in His permanent manifestation, or manifest Presence—but as revealing Himself, is designated Memra.
Altogether that term, as applied to God, occurs in the Targum Onkelos 179 times, in the so-called Jerusalem Targum 99 times, and in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan 321 times. A critical analysis shows that in 82 instances in Onkelos, in 71 instances in the Jerusalem Targum, and in 213 instances in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the designation Memra is not only distinguished from God, but evidently refers to God as revealing Himself.3
But what does this imply? The distinction between God and the Memra of Jehovah is marked in many passages.4 Similarly, the Memra of Jehovah is distinguished from the Shekhinah.5 Nor is the term used instead of the sacred word Jehovah;6 nor for the well-known Old Testament expression ‘the Angel of the Lord;’7 nor yet for the Metatron of the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and of the Talmud.8 Does it then represent an older tradition underlying all these?9
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,a while in the other Targumim no fewer than seventy-one Biblical passages are rendered with explicit reference to Him.
Reference: Edersheim, A. (1896). Vol. 1: The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (46–48). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
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