Why Pseudo-Jonathan Told Moses That Pharaoh Was Going to Refuse

One of the harder questions in the Exodus narrative is why the Holy One sent Moses to Pharaoh at all when He already knew Pharaoh would say no. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus, the expansive Aramaic Targum preserving older traditions in a later redacted form, makes the foreknowledge explicit.

In the Targum, the Holy One tells Moses in advance that Pharaoh will refuse, names the land Israel is being lifted into by its specific peoples, and gives Moses and Aaron not only a mission to the king but an admonition for Israel as well. Three passages from the Targum show how the briefing was conducted.

The Land Named by Its Peoples

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 3:17 records the Holy One's promise. I will bring you up out from the oppression of the Mizraee into the land of the Kenaanaee, and Hittaee, and Amoraee, and Pherizaee, and Hivaee, and Jebusaee, to the land that yieldeth milk and honey.

The Targum is careful to name all six peoples the Israelites will encounter on entering the land. The Hebrew also lists them. The Aramaic preserves the list precisely because the list is the legal description of the territory being transferred. Each of these peoples currently holds part of the territory. The Holy One's promise is not vague. It is a specific cession of named territories that named peoples currently occupy.

The teaching is operational. Moses is being briefed on which existing political entities he will displace. The mission is not a relocation into empty land. It is a transfer of territory from named occupants to a freshly emerged nation, and the Targum is preserving the list so that the reader understands the scope of what was being promised.

The Refusal That Was Already Known

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 3:19 handles the awkward foreknowledge directly. It is manifest before Me that the king of Mizraim will not let you go, no, not from fear of Him who is Mighty, until that by My Word he shall have been punished with evil plagues.

The Aramaic underscores two facts the Hebrew leaves implicit. First, the Holy One knows in advance that Pharaoh will refuse. Second, Pharaoh will not yield to fear of divine power alone. He will yield only after the plagues have done their work. The Targum frames the entire plague sequence as the prerequisite the Holy One already knew would be necessary.

The teaching addresses the Moses problem directly. Moses, in the Aramaic, is not being sent to convince Pharaoh. He is being sent to initiate the sequence that will require Pharaoh's resistance to fail. The mission's success was therefore not measured by the immediate response to the first request. It was measured by the cumulative effect of the plagues that the request would set in motion.

The Admonition for Israel and the Mission to Pharaoh

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 6:13 describes the joint commission Moses and Aaron receive. The Lord spake with Moses and with Aaron, and gave them admonition for the sons of Israel, and sent them to Pharaoh, king of Mizraim, to send forth the children of Israel from the land of Mizraim.

The Aramaic specifies a double mission. There is a mission to Pharaoh, instructing him to release Israel. There is an admonition to Israel itself, instructing them about the behavior expected of them once liberated. The Targum is sharpening a duty the Hebrew leaves implicit. The prophets are not only diplomatic emissaries to the king. They are also teachers to their own people.

The teaching has structural weight. The Exodus, in the Aramaic reading, is not only about leaving Egypt. It is also about Israel becoming the kind of people that can live free. The admonition Moses and Aaron carry to Israel is the curriculum for that transformation. Without it, the geographic liberation would not produce the moral one.

Why the Briefing Was Full

Stack the three passages and the Targum's reading of the early Exodus chapters becomes legible. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan refuses to send Moses into the king's court without a full briefing.

The land being promised is described by its current occupants, so Moses knows what is being transferred. The king's refusal is predicted in advance, so Moses understands his mission is to initiate a sequence rather than to persuade in a single audience. The mission itself is doubled, so Moses and Aaron know they are responsible not only for the king's compliance but for Israel's preparation. The Targum's briefing is the briefing the Hebrew bible's economy of words did not deliver but the reader needed.