God of the Jehudaee Calls for Release

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 9:13 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 18, 2025

After the boils, the Lord does not relent. He sends Moses back to the palace, and the command has not changed.

"Arise in the morning, and place thyself before Pharoh, and say to him, Thus saith the Lord, the God of the Jehudaee, Emancipate My people, that they may worship before Me" (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 9:13). The Aramaic paraphrase, associated with the school of Yonatan ben Uzziel, uses a remarkable phrase — Elaha d'Yehudaee, the God of the Judeans. Not just a tribal deity. Not just the God of slaves. The God of a people whose name the Targum stamps onto the moment.

The demand is emancipation. The Targum's word is deliberate: Moses is not to ask for a vacation, a temporary leave, or a negotiated compromise. He is to demand release, the setting-free of a nation.

And the purpose is not freedom for its own sake. It is freedom for worship. "That they may worship before Me." The Maggid hears the full frame here: Israel was not rescued from Egypt to become another Egypt. They were rescued to serve the Holy One. That is the whole argument of Exodus in a single sentence, and the Targum makes sure we hear it before the hail begins to fall.

Themes

Moses Exile Prayer

Biblical References

Exodus 9:13

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