01_AzuelosVoltaggio_161_178_161_178 21/07/15 11:13 Pagina 167 167 THE “ANGEL SENT FROM BEFORE THE LORD” IN TARGUM JOSHUA 5,14 167 with their names: Michael, Gabriel and Rafael 17. Moreover, not only each angel is named, but his mission is also spelled out, as, for example, in b.BM 86b: “Michael who came to announce to Sarah, Raphael who came to heal Abraham, Gabriel who came to destroy Sodom” layrbg ~hrba ta aprl abX lapr hrX ta rXbl abX lakym) .(~wdsl hykphml lza It is made clear that each of the angels has his assigned task, although the number of angels changes through Genesis 18– 19 18 from three (18,1) to two (19,1) and finally to one (19,24) 19. 2. The “man” wrestling with Jacob in Gen 32,25 (“a man wrestled with him until daybreak”) and identified by the prophet Hosea as an angel (Hos 12,4-5) is translated literally in Targum Onqelos as arbg, while in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan he is described as “an angel (…) in the form of a man” (rbg twmdb […] akalm). Targum Neofiti goes as far as naming the wrestling angel “Sariel”. 3. The “man” who meets Joseph as he wanders lost in Gen 37,15 (“and a man found him wandering in the fields”) is translated literally as arbg in Targum Onqelos, while in Tar- gum Pseudo-Jonathan he is named as the angel Gabriel: arbg twmdb layrbg (“Gabriel in the form of a man”) 20. 17 See BerR 50:2; b.BM 86b. 18 The unclear number of divine guests is present also in the parallel Ugaritic text of the “Aqhat Epic” (or “Legend of Danel”); on this subject, see P. XELLA, “L’épisode de Danil et Kothar et Genèse 18,1-16”, VT 28 (1978) 483-488; Y. AVISHUR, “The Story of the Visit of the Angels to Abraham (Gn 18,1-16) and its Parallel in Ugaritic Literature (2 Aqht V:4-31)”, BetM 32 (1987) 168-177 (Hebrew). 19 A substantially different tradition is found in JOSEPHUS, Ant. 1.196-198. 20 For further examples, cf. M. MACH, Studies in Jewish Angelology in the Hellenistic-Roman Period (Dissertation, Tel Aviv University; Tel Aviv 1986) 40 (Hebrew).