Abraham had just defeated four kings and rescued his nephew. In (Genesis 15:1), God simply says "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." But the ancient Aramaic translators of Targum Jonathan gave Abraham an existential crisis the Hebrew never imagined.
In the Targum, Abraham "reasoned in his heart" after the battle and said: "Woe to me, because I have received the reward of my appointments in this world, and have no portion in the world to come." Abraham was terrified that his military victory had used up all his merit. He feared the families of the slain kings would return for revenge, and that next time, his righteousness account would be empty. The Hebrew Bible's Abraham trusts God without question. The Targum's Abraham is a theologian doing spiritual accounting, worried about the afterlife.
God's reassurance also changes. In Genesis, "I am your shield" is a metaphor. In the Targum, God says "My Memra will be your shield"—using the Aramaic theological term for God's active Word in the world. The Targum consistently avoids depicting God acting directly, instead inserting the Memra as an intermediary. This is not mere translation. It is a deliberate theology of divine distance.
The famous "Covenant Between the Parts" (Genesis 15:9-17) undergoes the most dramatic transformation. Where Genesis says birds of prey descended on the carcasses and Abraham drove them away, the Targum says "idolatrous peoples which are like unclean birds" came "to steal away the sacrifices of Israel," but "the righteousness of Abraham was a shield over them." The animal halves became a prophecy of Israel's future enemies.
Then, as the sun set, Abraham fell into a deep sleep and saw four terrors—which the Targum identifies as four kingdoms: "Terror, which is Bavel; Darkness, which is Madai; Greatness, which is Javan; Decline, which is Pheras." Babylon, Media, Greece, and Persia. The covenant vision became a preview of Jewish history's four great exiles.
And the most haunting image: "Abram saw Gehinnam ascending, smoke with flaming coals and burning flakes of fire, wherewith the wicked are to be judged." Where Genesis describes only a "smoking fire pot and flaming torch" passing between the pieces (Genesis 15:17), the Targum's Abraham witnessed hell itself rising between the sacrifices. The covenant was sealed not just with a promise, but with a vision of ultimate judgment.
After these words, when the kings had gathered together, and had fallen before Abram; and four kings had been slain, and nine hosts brought back, Abram reasoned in his heart, and said, Woe to me, because I have received the reward of my appointments in this world, and have no portion in the world to come. Or peradventure the brethren and friends of those who have been slain will combine in legions and come against me; or that at that time there was found with me the reward of a little righteousness, so that they fell before me; but the second time reward may not be found with me, and by me the name of the Heavens may be profaned. Thereupon was the word (pithgama) of the Lord with Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not; for if these men should gather together in legions and come against thee, My Word (Memra) will be thy shield: and also if these fall before thee in this world, the reward of thy good works shall be kept, and be prepared before Me in the world to come, great exceedingly.
And Abram said, Lord God, great blessings hast Thou given me, and great (are they which it is) before Thee to give me: nevertheless, what profit is to me, when I pass from the world without children, and Eliezer the manager (bar pharnasath, the son of sustenance) of my house, by whose hands signs were wrought for (or to) me in Darmasek, expects to be my heir?
And Abram said, Behold, to me Thou hast not given a son; and, behold, the manager of my house will be my heir.
And, behold, a word from before the Lord was to him, saying, He shall not be thine heir; but a son whom thou wilt beget shall be thy heir.
And He brought him forth without, and said, Look up now to the heavens, and number the stars, if thou art able to number them: and he said, So will be thy sons.
And he believed in the Lord, and had faith in the (Memra) Word of the Lord, and He reckoned it to him for righteousness (lizeku), because he parleyed not before him with words.
And He said to him, I am the Lord who brought thee out of the fiery furnace of the Kasdai, to give thee this land to inherit.
And he said, Lord God, by what may I know that I shall be the heir of it?
And He said, Bring Me oblations, and offer before Me an heifer of three years, and a goat of three years, a ram of three years, and a dove, and the young of a pigeon.
And he brought all these before Him, and divided them in the midst, and set in order every division over against its fellow; but the fowl he divided not.
And there came down idolatrous peoples which are like to unclean birds, to steal away the sacrifices of Israel; but the righteousness of Abram was a shield over them.
And when the sun was nearing to set, a deep sleep was thrown upon Abram: and, behold, four kingdoms arose to enslave his children: Terror, which is Bavel; Darkness, which is Madai; Greatness, which is Javan; Decline, which is Pheras, which is to fall, and to have no uplifting, and from whence it is to be that the children of Israel will come up.
And he said to Abram, Knowing, thou must know, that thy sons shall dwell in a land not their own, because thou hast not believed, and they will subjugate and afflict them four hundred years;
and also that the people whom they shall serve I will judge with two hundred and fifty plagues, and afterwards they shall go forth into liberty with great riches.
And thou shalt be gathered to thy fathers, thy soul shall rest in peace, and thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
And in the fourth generation of thy sons they will return hither to inherit; because the guilt of the Amoraah is not yet complete.
And when the sun had set there was darkness. And, behold, Abram saw Gehinnam ascending, smoke with flaming coals and burning flakes of fire, werewith the wicked are to be judged. And, behold, He passed between those divisions.
In that day the Lord ordained a covenant with Abram, that He would not judge therein his sons, but would deliver them from the kingdom, saying, To thy sons will I give this land, from Nilos of Mizraim unto the great river, the river Pherath,
the Shalmia, and the Kenizah, and Kadmonaah, and the
Hittaee, and the Pherizaee, and Gibaraee, and the
Emoraee, and the Kinaanaee, and the Girgeshaee, and the Jebusaee.
