9
interpretation, it came to signify a new birth in the life of the nation.
30
The "two
bloods" motif, which was existent in the time of Melito, is found in the following
three passages.
31
(a) The Targum Ps-Jonathan
on Exod 12:13 says, "The blood of the Passover
sacrifice and that of the cut of circumcision will be mixed (
m'rb
) by you, so as to
make it a sign on the houses in which you dwell. When I see the merit (zkwt) of
the blood, I will spare you."
32
(b) The Targum of Ezekiel, which injects national events into the allegory of
Yahwehs courtship with Israel in Ezek 16, expands the MTs twofold declaration
In your blood, I said to you, ,,Live!" (Ezek 16:6) with two key events: "By the blood
of the circumcision I will have pity on you; and I said to you, By the blood of the
Passover lambs will I redeem you."
33
In context, the targum links the blood of
Abrahams circumcision with the blood of the Passover and treats them both as
the beginning of Yahwehs marriage
-covenant with Israel (cf. Ezek 16:8).
34
(c) Mekilta Pisha 5 on Exod 12:6 follows the midrash in Targum Ezek 16, and
adds, "Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, assigned them two duties
30
Some ancient interpreters believe Passover inaugurated Israels entrance into the Sinai
covenant (cf. Wisdom of Solomon 18:8-
9: "For by the same means by which you punished our
enemies, you called us to yourself an
d glorified us"). They see a connection between the
sprinkling of blood in Exod 12:22 and either (a) the sprinkling of blood during the covenant
ratification at Sinai in Exod 24:7 (so Exodus Rabbah, Shemoth 1.36 on Exod 2:25; Hilary of
Poitiers De Mysteriis 2.9), or (b) the sprinkling of blood and oil for the consecration of priests in
Exod 29:21 and Lev 8:30 (cf. Israels entrance into the "covenant" as a "kingdom of priests" in
Exod 19:5,6) (Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 3.55.8). In the latter case, the consecration of
OT priests provides an interesting parallel to the consecration of Christians in baptismal
anointing. (See the talmudic tradition in b. Horayot 12a, which says that the priests in Lev 8:12
were anointed in the shape of a ,,chi").
31
See the discussion in footnotes below for indicators that date the tradition to the late
first or early second century AD.
32
For the Aramaic text, see Clarke, Pseudo-Jonathan and for the English translation, see
McNamara, Hayward and Maher, Pseudo-Jonathan. Though this tradition is difficult to date, the
reference to the "merit of the blood" is significant in that it points to early (2
nd
generation)
Tannaitic debates over whose merit brought the Exodus (the patriarchs or the wilderness
generations?)
33
For English translation, see Samson Levey, The Targum of Ezekiel (Aramaic Bible 13;
Wilmington: Glazier, 1987), 50. Levey believes much of the Targum of Ezekiel was redacted by
R. Johanan ben Zakai at Yavneh (p. 2).
34
Exodus Rabbah Bo 19.5 on Exod 12:44 call
s the Exodus circumcision "the seal of
Abraham."