The Song of Moses in (Deuteronomy 32) is the Torah's great poem. Targum Jonathan wraps it in an elaborate theological commentary that dwarfs the original. It opens with Moses choosing his witnesses—heaven and earth—because "they do not taste of death in this world, and their destination is to be renewed in the world to come." Eternal witnesses for an eternal covenant.
The Targum inserts a remarkable numerological detail: Moses "would not permit himself to pronounce the Holy Name until he had dedicated his mouth at the beginning of his hymn with eighty and five letters, making twenty and one words." Eighty-five letters of preparation before speaking God's Name. The Targum counts every syllable Moses uttered before daring to invoke the divine.
Then comes the vision. Moses says: "When I ascended the mountain of Sinai, I beheld the Lord of all the worlds dividing the day into four portions: three hours employed in the law, three with judgment, three in making marriage bonds between man and woman, and three hours in the care of every created thing." God has a daily schedule. He studies Torah for three hours. He judges for three. He plays matchmaker for three. He sustains creation for three. This image of a cosmic workday appears nowhere in the Torah.
When God allotted the nations, "He cast the lot among the seventy angels, the princes of the nations." Each nation received a guardian angel. But when Israel's lot came up, "Michael opened his lips and said: Let the good portion of the Name of the Lord's Word be with Him. Gabriel opened his lips with thanksgivings." The two great archangels rejoiced that God kept Israel for Himself. The punishment passages name specific empires—"the foolish Babylonian people," captivity "in Media and Elam," the Greeks "who bite with their teeth like wild beasts," and the Syrians "venomous as basilisks." The Targum concludes with messianic revelation: "When the Word of the Lord shall reveal Himself to redeem His people, He will say to all the nations: Behold now, that I am He who Am, and Was, and Will Be."