They Wrote “Messiah” Right Into the Text — And It Wasn’t Christians Who Did It
Series: Digging Into the Sources
Related Posts
- Digging Into the Sources: Video 1 — The Hebrew Bible & Strong’s — The foundation: how to read the Tanakh in its original language and why the Hebrew words matter.
- Digging Into the Sources: Video 3 — The Midrash — The next layer: what the rabbis said about a suffering Messiah in their own stories.
Overview
The Targums are Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible that were read aloud in Jewish synagogues every Sabbath, right alongside the Hebrew text. They were not a fringe movement or a private commentary — they were regulated, authoritative worship practice, used for centuries spanning the very period when first-century Jews were deciding what they believed about the Messiah.
What makes the Targums extraordinary for Messianic research is this: Jewish translators, working from the Hebrew text in official synagogue translations, sometimes inserted the word Messiah into passages where the Hebrew text itself does not use that word. Not implied. Written in. Explicitly.
This post covers three examples — and the third one, from Isaiah 52, is the most significant.
Part One: What Is a Targum?
The Language Shift
To understand the Targums, you need to go back to Babylon. In 607 BCE, the Jewish people were exiled and deported. Over the generations that followed, their everyday spoken language shifted from Hebrew to Aramaic — the common tongue of the ancient Near East.
Hebrew remained the sacred language of Scripture. But when Jewish communities returned to the land and gathered in synagogues to hear the Torah read, many could no longer fully understand the Hebrew text being chanted.
The Meturgeman
A practice developed to address this. A reader would chant the Hebrew text aloud — verse by verse. Standing beside him, a translator called a meturgeman (Aramaic for “translator” or “interpreter”) would render each verse into Aramaic on the spot, from memory, for the congregation.
This was not mechanical translation. The meturgeman was expected to make the text clear, accessible, and applicable. Over centuries, those spoken renderings became standardized — written down, copied, and preserved. Those written Aramaic translations are the Targums.
- 📚 My Jewish Learning — What Is a Targum?: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/targum/
- 📚 Jewish Encyclopedia — Targum: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14248-targum
The Two Main Targums
| Targum | Covers | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Targum Onkelos | The Torah (Five Books of Moses) | Officially sanctioned; cited by Maimonides as authoritative. Used in Talmudic period synagogue worship throughout the rabbinic world. |
| Targum Jonathan (also: Targum Yonatan) | The Prophets (Nevi’im) | The standard Aramaic translation of the Prophets. Read alongside the Haftarah portions in synagogue. |
- 📚 Sefaria — Targum Onkelos (full Torah): https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Onkelos
- 📚 Sefaria — Targum Jonathan on the Prophets: https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Isaiah
Part Two: The Authority of the Targums
What Jewish Tradition Says
The Targums are not Scripture. Jewish tradition is clear on that. The Torah is Torah. The Prophets are the Prophets. The Targums are translations — with interpretation woven in.
But their authority within Jewish practice was substantial:
- Maimonides wrote that the Talmud’s definition of someone who “knows the Torah” refers specifically to a person who can read it in Hebrew and translate it using Targum Onkelos.
- The Mishnah set down detailed rules governing how the meturgeman was to recite the Targum in synagogue — how many verses could be translated at once, how close he must stand to the reader, and what tone was required.
- The Targums were not an optional supplement. They were regulated, authoritative worship practice.
- 📚 Mishnah Megillah 4:4–6 (rules for the meturgeman): https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Megillah.4.4
- 📚 GotQuestions — What is the Targum?: https://www.gotquestions.org/Targum.html
Why This Matters for Messianic Research
The Targums carry the weight of how Jewish communities understood and applied the Hebrew text — in real time, in real worship — across the centuries surrounding the first century CE.
When a Jewish translator, reading the Hebrew text of the prophets, felt compelled to insert the word Messiah into his Aramaic rendering, he was not making a theological argument. He was reflecting what he saw in the Hebrew — the same Hebrew text first-century Jewish readers were studying, debating, and staking their lives on.
That makes the Targums one of the most valuable windows into how first-century Jewish minds were reading the prophecies about a coming Messiah.
Part Three: Example 1 — Micah 5:2
The Hebrew Text
Micah 5:2 is one of the most cited Old Testament prophecies in the New Testament. The chief priests quoted it to Herod when the Magi asked where the Messiah was to be born (Matthew 2:4–6). Here is what the Hebrew says:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” — Micah 5:2
The word Messiah does not appear in the Hebrew. The verse describes a ruler from Bethlehem with ancient origins — but Jewish readers in the first century had to make an interpretive decision about who that ruler was.
What Targum Jonathan Says
“And you, O Bethlehem Ephrath, you who were too small to be numbered among the thousands of the house of Judah, from you shall come forth before Me the Messiah, to exercise dominion over Israel, he whose name was mentioned from before, from the days of creation.” — Targum Jonathan on Micah 5:2
The Jewish translator inserted the word Messiah — explicitly, not by implication. He also expanded “ancient days” to “from the days of creation” — a pre-existent Messiah whose name was established before the world began.
This is not a Christian reading imposed on a Jewish text. It is a Jewish reading already embedded in a Jewish text, read in synagogue worship, centuries before Matthew wrote a word.
- 📚 Sefaria — Targum Jonathan on Micah 5: https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Micah.5.2
- 📚 Sefaria — Micah 5:2 (Hebrew/English): https://www.sefaria.org/Micah.5.2
- 📚 BibleRef — Matthew 2:4–6 commentary: https://www.bibleref.com/Matthew/2/Matthew-2-4.html
Part Four: Example 2 — Numbers 24:17
The Hebrew Text
Numbers 24:17 is the oracle of Balaam — a pagan prophet hired to curse Israel who opened his mouth and blessed them instead. In verse 17, he said:
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.” — Numbers 24:17
A star from Jacob. A scepter from Israel. Jewish tradition has long seen this as a Messianic prophecy. Simon Bar Kokhba — whose name literally means “Son of the Star” — took his name from this verse when he led a Jewish revolt against Rome in 132 CE.
What Targum Onkelos Says
“When the King shall arise out of Jacob, and the Messiah shall be anointed from Israel.” — Targum Onkelos on Numbers 24:17
Targum Onkelos is not a fringe text. It is the officially sanctioned Aramaic translation of the Torah — the one used in synagogue worship throughout the Talmudic period, the one Maimonides specifically cited as authoritative. Every Shabbat when this portion of the Torah was read, Jewish congregations heard those words in Aramaic: the Messiah shall be anointed from Israel.
- 📚 Sefaria — Targum Onkelos on Numbers 24: https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Onkelos_on_Numbers.24.17
- 📚 Sefaria — Numbers 24:17 (Hebrew/English): https://www.sefaria.org/Numbers.24.17
- 📚 Jewish Encyclopedia — Bar Kokhba and Numbers 24:17: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2523-bar-kokba
Part Five: Example 3 — Isaiah 52:13 — The Most Important One
The Passage That Generated the Most Debate
Isaiah 52 and 53 is the passage that has generated more debate between Jewish and Christian scholars than almost any other text in the Hebrew Bible. Christians see it as a precise portrait of Jesus — the suffering servant, pierced for our transgressions, led like a lamb to the slaughter. Jewish scholars have argued for centuries that the servant is Israel — not an individual, and certainly not the Messiah.
But here is where it gets complicated. Here is what Targum Jonathan — the official Aramaic translation of the Prophets — says at the very opening of Isaiah 52.
The Hebrew Text
“Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.” — Isaiah 52:13
The word Messiah does not appear in the Hebrew.
What Targum Jonathan Says
“Behold, my servant Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high, and increase, and be exceeding strong.” — Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 52:13
The Targum inserts Messiah — explicitly — into the opening verse of what Christians call the Suffering Servant passage.
The Tension: Inserted, Then Rewritten
Here is where the Targum becomes theologically revealing. The same translation that inserts Messiah at verse 13 then proceeds to significantly rewrite the suffering passages that follow.
In the Hebrew text:
- The servant is disfigured (Isaiah 52:14)
- He bears our griefs and carries our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4)
- He is pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5)
- He is led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7)
In the Targum:
- The Messiah is not the one who suffers — the nations and Israel suffer
- The Messiah is reframed as a conquering intercessor who does not bleed
- The suffering is redistributed away from the Messiah onto Israel’s enemies
The Targumist opened the door — then tried to close it.
What This Tells Us
The Targum’s handling of Isaiah 52–53 is itself evidence. A Jewish scholar, reading the Hebrew text of Isaiah 52, looked at the opening words “my servant shall prosper” and wrote my servant Messiah shall prosper — because the Messianic reading was already present in the Hebrew. Then, faced with the suffering passages that followed, he struggled with what to do.
If Isaiah 52 and 53 were not so obviously about a specific suffering figure, there would have been nothing to rewrite.
This is an honest tension worth acknowledging: Jewish scholars who know the Targums well will correctly point out that the Targum’s identification of the servant as Messiah at verse 13 does not mean the whole chapter supports the Christian reading — because the Targum itself does not support that reading. What it does confirm is that first-century Jewish readers were wrestling with the word Messiah in Isaiah 52. They didn’t ignore it. They wrote it in. And then they wrestled with what it meant.
- 📚 Sefaria — Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 52: https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Isaiah.52.13
- 📚 Sefaria — Isaiah 52:13 (Hebrew/English): https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.52.13
- 📚 Sefaria — Isaiah 53 (full chapter): https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.53
- 📚 BibleRef — Isaiah 52:13 commentary: https://www.bibleref.com/Isaiah/52/Isaiah-52-13.html
- 📚 Jews for Jesus — Isaiah 53 and Jewish interpretation: https://jewsforjesus.org/jewish-resources/isaiah-53
Part Six: How Much Authority Do the Targums Carry?
The Targums sit below Scripture in the hierarchy of sources — they don’t add to the Torah or replace it, and they carry a different kind of authority than the Mishnah or Talmud. But they show something invaluable: how Jewish minds were already moving, before Christianity, before the New Testament was written, before any church council made a decision.
Jewish translators, in official synagogue worship, were reading the Hebrew prophets and thinking: Messiah. That is not a Christian projection. It is a Jewish instinct — preserved in the oldest surviving translations of the Hebrew Bible.
For anyone asking whether Jesus could be the Messiah the prophets described, the Targums are the Jewish community’s own answer to what those prophets were pointing toward.
Find These Sources Yourself on Sefaria
All three passages from this video are available free at sefaria.org:
| Passage | Sefaria Link |
|---|---|
| Targum Jonathan on Micah 5:2 | https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Micah.5.2 |
| Targum Onkelos on Numbers 24:17 | https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Onkelos_on_Numbers.24.17 |
| Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 52:13 | https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Isaiah.52.13 |
To navigate to a Targum on Sefaria: search the name of the Targum plus the book name (e.g., “Targum Jonathan Isaiah”). The English translation appears alongside the Aramaic text.
Scripture References
| Reference | Connection |
|---|---|
| Micah 5:2 | Hebrew text — ruler from Bethlehem, ancient origins |
| Numbers 24:17 | Hebrew text — star from Jacob, scepter from Israel |
| Isaiah 52:13–53:12 | Hebrew text — the Suffering Servant passage |
| Matthew 2:4–6 | Chief priests quote Micah 5:2 to Herod about Messiah’s birthplace |
| Matthew 11:3 | “Are you the Coming One?” — Messianic expectation in the first century |
Primary Sources & Further Reading
| Source | URL | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Targum Onkelos (full Torah) | https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Onkelos | Official Torah Targum |
| Targum Jonathan on Isaiah | https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Isaiah | Prophets Targum — Isaiah 52:13 |
| Mishnah Megillah 4:4–6 | https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Megillah.4.4 | Rules governing the meturgeman |
| My Jewish Learning — Targum | https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/targum/ | Jewish overview of the Targums |
| Jewish Encyclopedia — Targum | https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14248-targum | Scholarly entry on Targum history and authority |
| GotQuestions — What is the Targum? | https://www.gotquestions.org/Targum.html | Accessible overview |
| Jews for Jesus — Isaiah 53 | https://jewsforjesus.org/jewish-resources/isaiah-53 | Jewish and Messianic perspectives on the Suffering Servant |
Discussion Questions
- The Targum translators inserted the word Messiah into passages where the Hebrew text doesn’t use it. What does that tell you about what they saw in the Hebrew?
- Targum Onkelos is cited by Maimonides as authoritative — and it reads Numbers 24:17 as explicitly Messianic. How does knowing this change how you read that verse?
- The Targum on Isaiah 52 inserts Messiah at verse 13, then rewrites the suffering out of the chapters that follow. What does that tension reveal?
- If you’re Jewish: what does your tradition teach about why the Targum handled Isaiah 52–53 the way it did?
- A prophecy written 700 years before Jesus — or an Aramaic rewrite produced centuries after — which carries more weight? And why?
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