A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. That is, the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us today from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

Genesis 9

¹ And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. — God blessed Noah and his sons; assuring them of his goodwill and his gracious intentions;

— and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth; depopulated by the flood: this is a renewal of the blessing on Adam;

² And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. — and the fear of you and the dread of you; this not only reestablishes man’s dominion over the animals, but also incorporate the fear of humans;

— Jewish writings, however, say a new stage is reached where man hereafter is invested with the right to take the life of animals for food; perhaps this was also when certain animals or beasts became wild; lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, wolves and foxes;

³ Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. — the grant of sustenance is no longer confined to just vegetable, but extended to the animal kinds, with two solemn restrictions;

— animals were slain for sacrifice from the earliest times; but whether they were used for food before this time we are not certain; but now “every creeper that is alive” is granted for food.

— “every moving thing” is everything that moves with the body living, and therefore this seems to describe any animal, clean or unclean; the phrase “that is alive” seems to exclude animals that have died a natural death, or were killed by wild beasts, from being used as food.

⁴ “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. — the animal must be slain before any part of it is used for food; and as it lives so long as the blood flows in its veins, the life-blood must be drawn before its flesh may be eaten;

— Gill explains it another way: not that the blood is of itself the life, but because it is a means of life, should not be eaten; but blood properly let out, and dressed, or mixed with other things, might be eaten, only that it could not to be eaten with the flesh, though it might separately;

— the Targum of Jonathan says, “but flesh which is torn of the living beast, what time the life is in it, or that torn from a slaughtered animal before all the breath has gone forth, you shall not eat.”

⁵ And surely your blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. — your blood of your lives; or your blood, which is for your souls;

⁶ Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man. — whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; that is, he that is guilty of wilful murder shall surely be put to death;

— in the image of God made he man; so that murder is not only an offence against man, but also an injury to God, and a contempt of that image of God which all men are obliged to reverence and maintain;

⁷ And you, be ye fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.” — and you, be ye fruitful and multiply; instead of taking away the lives of men, the great concern should be to multiply them;

⁸ And God spoke unto Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

⁹ “And I, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you, — and I, behold, I establish my covenant with you; my covenant of the preservation of the creatures in common, a promise that they should not be destroyed any more by a flood;

¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you — of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark to every beast of the earth. — of every fowl, of every cattle, and of every beast of the earth, but no dinosaur exist as living creatures today; hence the obvious conclusion is that the dinosaurs were not among these “cattles” or beasts; otherwise they would be alive today;

¹¹ And I will establish My covenant with you: Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.” — again, the obvious conclusion is that the dinosaurs were not among these “cattles” or beasts; otherwise, today, they would be in our zoos, or reserves, and not in our museums;

¹² And God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: — the covenant is made between God and Noah (and his posterity) and every living creature that is with you;

— that is, any creature that have survived through the Flood, in the ark, would be alive today, but the dinosaurs are only bones and skeletons today; destroyed amass millions of years ago;

— the Targum of Jonathan says,

“I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your children after you; and with every living soul that is with you, of birds, and of cattle, and of every beast of the earth that is with you, of all that go forth from the ark, of every beast of the earth.

And I will establish my covenant with you, and will not again cause all flesh to perish by the waters of a flood; and there shall not again be a flood to destroy the earth.

And the Lord said, This is the sign of the covenant which I establish between My Word and between you and every living soul that is with you, unto the generations of the world.” Genesis 9:9-12 Jonathan

— the Message Bible says:

Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals—that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.” Genesis 9:8-11 MSG

God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth.

From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.” Genesis 9:12-16 MSG

¹³ I do set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. — I set my bow in the clouds; the rainbow, was seen in the clouds before, but was never a seal of the covenant till now;

¹⁴ And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud. — that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; for the rainbow is always in a thin, not a thick cloud; after the heavy showers are fallen from the thick clouds, and a small thin one remains, then the rainbow is seen;

¹⁵ And I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. — and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh; this is repeated to remove those fears which would be repeated as God would remember his covenant, which he can never forget;

¹⁶ And the rainbow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” — and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth;

¹⁷ And God said unto Noah, “This is the token of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” — unfortunately, “all flesh” doesn’t include the dinosaurs, otherwise they would still be alive today, in our zoos or in the wild;

¹⁸ And the sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan. — and the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham and Japheth, who are here again mentioned as the heads of the nations into which the family of man developed;

— and Ham is the father of Canaan; this is observed for the sake of the following history, concerning the behaviour of the one to Noah, and of the ultimate curse on Canaan;

¹⁹ These are the three sons of Noah, and from them was the whole earth overspread. — these are the three sons of Noah; and his only ones; and if he had any more, they left no posterity behind them; and of them was the whole earth overspread, with inhabitants, by them and their posterity only;

²⁰ And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard. — Noah began to be an husbandman; or rather, Noah, being a husbandman, began to plant a vineyard;

²¹ And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. — SDAs (Seventh-day Adventists, over twenty millions of them spread all over the world) claim the use of grape juice in ancient times were masquerading as wine; but have they ever come to their senses and ask how could unfermented grape juice make Noah drunk?

— having already two great disappointments in quick succession in the 1840s might make a third less disappointing and painful than the first two;

²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren outside. — and Ham saw the nakedness of his father; he looked with pleasure and delight on his father’s nakedness; not offering to cover him; instead he just went off and told his brethren withside;

²³ And Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. — and Shem and Japheth took a garment; they not only would not see it themselves, but provided that no one else might see it; herein setting an example of good deeds with reference to other men’s sin and shame;

²⁴ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. — now Ham was not the youngest son, but Shem; but only younger, compared to Japheth; and it is not Ham who is cursed, but Canaan, Ham’s fourth or youngest son.

²⁵ And he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” — Cursed be Canaan; Noah declares a curse on Canaan, the son of Ham; perhaps this grandson of his was more guilty than the rest; a servant of servants, that is, the vilest and worst of servants; but why?

²⁶ And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. — Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; Abraham and all his posterity were included in the descendants of Shem;

²⁷ God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” — God shall enlarge Japheth; it is the God of the universe to enlarge Japheth with the most numerous posterity; as most of the inhabitants of northern and eastern parts of Asia are descended from Japheth;

— other definitions or meanings for “enlarge” pathah H6601 (2) to be spacious, wide or open: Genesis 9:27 may God make wide for Japhet (give him an extensive inheritance); (3) entice or seduces as a man seduces a virgin;

— and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; inhabit the countries belonging to the posterity of Shem; the Targum of Jonathan says “the Lord shall beautify the borders of Japhet, and his sons shall be proselyted and dwell in the schools of Shem;”

— or from a more modern version of Jonathan:

“May the Lord enlarge the territory of Japheth, and may his descendants convert and dwell in the study hall of Shem, and let Canaan be a servant to them.” ChatGPT

“The Lord shall beautify the borders of Japhet, and his sons shall be proselyted and dwell in the schools of Shem, and Canaan shall be a servant to them.” CoPilot

Voice: May God make plenty of room for Japheth’s family and give them homes among Shem’s tents.

²⁸ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. — and Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years; so that he not only saw the old wicked world, and its destruction, but another wickedness again: the building of the tower of Babel;

²⁹ And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died. — Noah lived twenty years more than Adam did, and within nineteen of Methuselah, and his age must be called a good old age; and what is honourable of all the patriarchs is also applicable to him.

Genesis 10

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¹ Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and unto them were sons born after the flood. — this chapter shows concerning the three sons of Noah, where the whole population were spread from one of these seventy, has come.

² The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. — the sons of Japheth; Japheth is placed first, because he was, the oldest brother: Genesis 9:24; Genesis 10:21; of seven sons and his descendants were the most numerous and most widely spread from the birthplace of mankind;

— they seem to have been settled north of the Caspian, and to have wandered north and east from that point;

³ And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah.

⁴ And the sons of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim.

⁵ By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided into their lands, every one after his own tongue, according to their families, into their nations. — from these were distributed the tribes of the islands of the Gentiles, every one according to his language, to his kindred in their nations.

— the grandchildren of Noah are identified according to Josephus (Antiquities 1:6.1):

Now they were the grandchildren of Noah, in honor of whom names were imposed on the nations by those that first seized upon them. Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded along Asia, as far as the river Tansis, and along Europe to Cadiz; and settling themselves on the lands which they light upon, which none had inhabited before, they called the nations by their own names.

For Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, [Galls,] but were then called Gomerites. Magog founded those that from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians. Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japhet; from Madai came the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks; but from Javan, Ionia, and all the Grecians, are derived. Thobel founded the Thobelites, who are now called Iberes; and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch; now they are Cappadocians.

There is also a mark of their ancient denomination still to be shown; for there is even now among them a city called Mazaca, which may inform those that are able to understand, that so was the entire nation once called. Thiras also called those whom he ruled over Thirasians; but the Greeks changed the name into Thracians. And so many were the countries that had the children of Japhet for their inhabitants.

Of the three sons of Gomer, Aschanax founded the Aschanaxians, who are now called by the Greeks Rheginians. So did Riphath found the Ripheans, now called Paphlagonians; and Thrugramma the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians.

Of the three sons of Javan also, the son of Japhet, Elisa gave name to the Eliseans, who were his subjects; they are now the Aeolians. Tharsus to the Tharsians, for so was Cilicia of old called; the sign of which is this, that the noblest city they have, and a metropolis also, is Tarsus, the tau being by change put for the theta.

Cethimus possessed the island Cethima: it is now called Cyprus; and from that it is that all islands, and the greatest part of the sea-coasts, are named Cethim by the Hebrews: and one city there is in Cyprus that has been able to preserve its denomination; it has been called Citius by those who use the language of the Greeks, and has not, by the use of that dialect, escaped the name of Cethim.

And so many nations have the children and grandchildren of Japhet possessed. Now when I have premised somewhat, which perhaps the Greeks do not know, I will return and explain what I have omitted; for such names are pronounced here after the manner of the Greeks, to please my readers; for our own country language does not so pronounce them: but the names in all cases are of one and the same ending; for the name we here pronounce Noeas, is there Noah, and in every case retains the same termination.

⁶ And the sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim, and Put and Canaan.

⁷ And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah, and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan.

— the Targum of Jonathan says

And the sons of Kush, Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raama, and Sabteka, and the name of their provinces, Sinirai, and Hindiki, and Semadi, and Lubai, and Zingai. And the sons of Mauritinos, Zmargad and Mezag.

⁸ And Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.

⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”

¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

¹¹ Out of that land he went forth to Assyria, and built Nineveh and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; the same is a great city.

¹³ And Mizraim begot Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim — Mizraim has seven sons, most of the descendants of Mizraim settled in Africa, with the exception of the Philistines, who migrated into the country to which they gave their name; Palestine;

¹⁴ and Pathrusim and Casluhim (out of whom came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.

— the Philistines; were originally Egyptians, since they descended from Mizraim; they sprung from both the Casluhim and the Pathrusim; Rashi says they exchanged the intimacy of their wives with one another, hence the Philistines sprung from them both;

— they had five principal cities – Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron; but today, they are still dominating the Gaza strip;

¹⁵ And Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; — today a city of Sidon (or Zidon); the firstborn, and is in Lebanon; where Joshua smote them: Joshua 11:8, 19:28;

— and Tyre, for that was built by the Sidonians; today they are part of Lebanon, and both cities are dominated by the Hezbollah;

¹⁶ and the Jebusite and the Amorite, and the Girgashite

¹⁷ and the Hivite, and the Arkite and the Sinite,

¹⁸ and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; and as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboiim, even unto Lasha.

²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their tongues, in their countries and in their nations.

— the children of Ham are identified according to Josephus (Antiquities 1:6.2):

The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus; seizing upon all that was on its sea-coasts, and as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away; others of them being changed, and another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there are which have kept their denominations entire.

For of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Chus; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Chusites. The memory also of the Mesraites is preserved in their name; for all we who inhabit this country [of Judea] called Egypt Mestre, and the Egyptians Mestreans.

Phut also was the founder of Libya, and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself: there is also a river in the country of Moors which bears that name; whence it is that we may see the greatest part of the Grecian historiographers mention that river and the adjoining country by the apellation of Phut: but the name it has now has been by change given it from one of the sons of Mesraim, who was called Lybyos. We will inform you presently what has been the occasion why it has been called Africa also.

Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, inhabited the country now called Judea, and called it from his own name Canaan. The children of these [four] were these: Sabas, who founded the Sabeans; Evilas, who founded the Evileans, who are called Getuli; Sabathes founded the Sabathens, they are now called by the Greeks Astaborans; Sabactas settled the Sabactens; and Ragmus the Ragmeans; and he had two sons, the one of whom, Judadas, settled the Judadeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians, and left them his name; as did Sabas to the Sabeans: but Nimrod, the son of Chus, staid and tyrannized at Babylon, as we have already informed you.

Now all the children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim; for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine. As for the rest, Ludieim, and Enemim, and Labim, who alone inhabited in Libya, and called the country from himself, Nedim, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and Cephthorim, we know nothing of them besides their names; for the Ethiopic war which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that those cities were overthrown. The sons of Canaan were these: Sidonius, who also built a city of the same name; it is called by the Greeks Sidon

Amathus inhabited in Amathine, which is even now called Amathe by the inhabitants, although the Macedonians named it Epiphania, from one of his posterity: Arudeus possessed the island Aradus: Arucas possessed Arce, which is in Libanus. But for the seven others, [Eueus,] Chetteus, Jebuseus, Amorreus, Gergesus, Eudeus, Sineus, Samareus, we have nothing in the sacred books but their names, for the Hebrews overthrew their cities; and their calamities came upon them on the occasion following.

²¹ Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.

²² The children of Shem: Elam and Asshur, and Arphaxad and Lud and Aram.

²³ And the children of Aram: Uz and Hul, and Gether and Mash.

²⁴ And Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber.

²⁵ And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.

²⁶ And Joktan begot Almodad and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth and Jerah,

²⁷ and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah,

²⁸ and Obal and Abimael and Sheba,

²⁹ and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

³⁰ And their dwelling was from Mesha as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east.

³¹ These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, according to their nations.

— the children of Shem are identified according to Josephus (Antiquities 1:6.4):

Shem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, who inhabited the land that began at Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean. For Elam left behind him the Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians.

Ashur lived at the city Nineve; and named his subjects Assyrians, who became the most fortunate nation, beyond others. Arphaxad named the Arphaxadites, who are now called Chaldeans. Aram had the Aramites, which the Greeks called Syrians; as Laud founded the Laudites, which are now called Lydians.

Of the four sons of Aram, Uz founded Trachonitis and Damascus: this country lies between Palestine and Celesyria. Ul founded Armenia; and Gather the Bactrians; and Mesa the Mesaneans; it is now called Charax Spasini.

Sala was the son of Arphaxad; and his son was Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews Hebrews. Heber begat Joetan and Phaleg: he was called Phaleg, because he was born at the dispersion of the nations to their several countries; for Phaleg among the Hebrews signifies division. 

Now Joctan, one of the sons of Heber, had these sons, Elmodad, Saleph, Asermoth, Jera, Adoram, Aizel, Decla, Ebal, Abimael, Sabeus, Ophir, Euilat, and Jobab. These inhabited from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asiaadjoining to it. And this shall suffice concerning the sons of Shem.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and by these were the nations divided on the earth after the flood.

~ by Joel on July 13, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses