What do Rosh HaShannah, Noah, the Aramaic Targums, Messiah rising from the dead, Moses, and Exodus 12:2, Ex 23:16, and the Creation of the World all have in common? Tune in and find out! One of the things I love about teaching context is introducing the kids to some of the extra-biblical writings because we can sometimes find surprising historical tidbits. Now, not all of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and not all of the Targum material is inspired, but when the material answers questions to things that look like inconsistencies in the Bible we definitely need to give them a closer look.
The Targums were Aramaic interpretations – in other words, they are what Jews believed the Bible was saying around the time of Yeshua and much of that information found it’s way into the Gospels and Epistles – especially when it comes to the Targumic writings about the coming Messiah! The Targumic writers clearly saw two Messiahs – a suffering servant and the conquering king. What they didn’t know was this – “would it be two separate Messiahs or one Messiah who comes twice?” Of course, we know the answer to that now!
This week’s extra resource is called The Bible Project – I really enjoy the animation: