The Hebrew Bible records Moses's great farewell poem, the Song of Ha'azinu (Deuteronomy 32), a sweeping poetic indictment of Israel's future unfaithfulness. Targum Onkelos translates this poem with a combination of fidelity and expansion that reveals his deepest theological commitments.
"Let my instruction flow like rainfall" (Deuteronomy 32:2)—Onkelos renders this as "let my instruction be fragrant like rainfall, let my saying be accepted like dew." Torah is not just water. It is fragrance. It is something the world can choose to receive or reject. The metaphor shifts from passive nourishment to active acceptance.
"The Almighty's works are flawless, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness without injustice" (Deuteronomy 32:4)—Onkelos adds: "injustice does not emanate from before Him." Evil does not come from God. It comes from the choices of God's children, "who prayed to idols"—a generation "that changed its activities and became changed." Sin is self-inflicted transformation. The people were not ruined by God. They ruined themselves.
"When the Exalted One bequeathed nations, when He set apart the sons of man, He established the boundaries of peoples according to the number of the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:8)—one of the Torah's most mysterious verses. Onkelos translates it without significant deviation, preserving the idea that the structure of human civilization was designed around Israel's future existence. The nations were divided to create a framework within which Israel would operate.
"Like an eagle who rouses his nest" (Deuteronomy 32:11)—Onkelos adds "protects." God does not merely stir up the nest to push the eaglets out. God protects them, hovers over them, bears them on strong wings. The metaphor of tough love becomes a metaphor of sheltering power.