The Targumim on Christ in Genesis (selected quotes)

Targum Onkelos:

Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the WORD OF THE LORD [Emphasis mine] walking in the garden in the evening of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from before the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Gen 9:12 And the Lord said, This is the sign of the covenant which I establish between MY WORD [Emphasis mine] and between you and every living soul that is with you, unto the generations of the world.

Rose, Tov. Jesus in the Targums (p. 12, 21) Kindle Edition.

(Fragment Targum):

Exod 12.42 “Moses shall go forth from the wilderness and the King Messiah from Rome…”

Source: Rose, Tov. Jesus in the Targums (p. 7). . Kindle Edition.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan:

Gen 35:19-21 (ESV): So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

Gen 35:21 (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan): “And Jacob moved on, and pitched his tent onward to the tower of Eder, the place whence the King Messiah is destined to reveal himself at the end of days“

Tower of Eder is near the present-day city of Bethlehem. Interestingly, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan in Genesis 35:21 states that the King Messiah would reveal himself at Bethlehem.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (also known as the Jerusalem Targum:

Gen 1: 1 In wisdom (be-hukema) the Lord created.

Gen 1: 2 And the earth was vacancy and desolation, and solitary of the sons of men, and void of every animal; and the Spirit of mercies from before the Lord breathed upon the face of the waters.

Gen 1: 5 And it was evening, and it was morning, in the order of the work of the creation, (or of the beginning) the First Day.

Gen 1: 6 And let there be a separation between the waters above and the waters below.

Gen 1: 14 And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for the sanctifying by them of the beginning of months and years.

Gen 1: 27 And the Word of the Lord created man in His likeness, in the likeness of the presence of the Lord He created him, the male and his yoke-fellow He created them.

Gen 2: 7 And Adam became a soul of life.

Gen 2: 9 And the tree of knowledge, of which any one who ate would distinguish between good and evil.

Gen 2: 15 And the Lord God took the man, and made him dwell in the Garden of Eden; and set him to do service in the law, and to keep it.

Gen 2: 18 I will make for him a yoke-fellow, going forth with him.

Gen 2: 20 And for Adam was not found a yoke-fellow going forth with him.

Gen 2: 24 Therefore a man shall leave the house of the bed of his father and his mother.

Gen 2: 25 And they knew not what is shame.

Gen 3: 7 And they made to them vestments.

Gen 3: 9 Walking in the garden in the strength of the day… And the Word of the Lord God called to Adam, and said to him, Behold, the world which I have created is manifest before Me; and how thinkest thou that the place in the midst whereof thou art, is not revealed before Me? Where is the commandment that I taught thee?

Gen 3: 15 And it shall be when the sons of the woman consider the law, and perform (its) instructions, they will be prepared to smite thee on thy head to kill thee; and when the sons of the woman forsake the commandment of the law, and perform not (its) instructions, thou wilt be ready to wound them in their heel, and hurt them. Nevertheless there shall be a medicine for the sons of the woman, but for thee, serpent, there shall be no medicine: but it is to be that for these there shall be a remedy for the heel in the days of the king Meshiha.

Gen 3: 18 And thorns and dardareen shall it increase to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb which is on the face of the field. Adam answered and said, I pray, through mercies from before Thee, O Lord, that we are not accounted before Thee as the cattle, to eat the herb which is on the face of the field. Let us now stand up, and labor with the labor of the hands, and eat food of the fruits of the earth; and in these things let there be distinction before Thee between the children of men and the cattle.

Gen 3: 24 And the Word of the Lord God said, Behold, Adam whom I have created is sole in my world, as I am sole in the heavens above. It is to be that a great people are to arise from him; from him will arise a people who will know how to discern between good and evil. And now it is good that we keep him from the garden of Eden before he stretch forth his hand and take also of the fruit of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever… And He cast out Adam, and made the glory of His Shekina to dwell at the front of the east of the garden of Eden, above the two Kerubaia. Two thousand years before He had created the world, He created the law, and prepared Gehinnam and the Garden of Eden. He prepared the garden of Eden for the righteous, that they should eat, and delight themselves with the fruit of the tree, because they had kept the commandments of the law in this world. For the wicked He prepared Gehinnam, which is like the sharp, consuming sword with two edges. He prepared in the depth of it flakes of fire and burning coals for the wicked, for their punishment for ever in the world to come, who have not kept the commandment of the law in this world. For the law is the tree of life; whoever keepeth it in this life liveth and subsisteth as the tree of life. The law is good to keep in this world, as the fruit of the tree of life in the world that cometh.

Source: Targum Jerusalem by Tov Rose.

There are obviously some errors in the Targum’s understanding. For example, it speaks of the hell and the Garden of Eden being created 2,000 years before the creation of the world. This is clearly wrong since time itself begins on Day 1, and the Garden of Eden, according to Genesis 2, is likely created on Day 6 of creation. Nevertheless, the Targums reveal the expectations of the ancient Jews concerning the Messiah. From their own texts, we know that they really had no excuse for rejecting the Christ. Also note how in Genesis 1:27, it speaks of the Word of the Lord, who is the creator, addressing another Lord (God the Father). “Word of the Lord created man in His likeness, in the likeness of the presence of the Lord”. In addition, the Spirit of God in Genesis 1 is a distinct person from the Creator-Lord Himself—Spirit of mercies from before the Lord breathed upon the face of the waters.