The Perspective from Mt. Sinai: The Book of Jubilees and Exodus 9783666550959, 9783647550954, 9783525550953

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Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements Edited by Armin Lange, Bernard M. Levinson and Vered Noam Advisory Board Katell Berthelot (University of Aix-Marseille), George Brooke (University of Manchester), Jonathan Ben Dov (University of Haifa), Beate Ego (University of Osnabrück), Esther Eshel (Bar-Ilan University), Heinz-Josef Fabry (University of Bonn), Steven Fraade (Yale University), Maxine L. Grossman (University of Maryland), Christine Hayes (Yale University), Catherine Hezser (University of London), Alex Jassen (University of Minnesota), James L. Kugel (Bar-Ilan University), Jodi Magness (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Carol Meyers, (Duke University), Eric Meyers (Duke University), Hillel Newman (University of Haifa), Christophe Nihan (University of Lausanne), Lawrence H. Schiffman (New York University), Konrad Schmid (University of ­Zurich), Adiel Schremer (Bar-Ilan University), Michael Segal (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Aharon Shemesh (Bar-Ilan University), Günter Stemberger (University of Vienna), Kristin De Troyer (University of St. Andrews), Azzan Yadin (Rutgers University) Volume 21

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

Betsy Halpern-Amaru

The Perspective from Mt. Sinai: The Book of Jubilees and Exodus

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

With 18 tables Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data available online: http://dnb.d-nb.de. ISSN 2197-0092 ISBN 978-3-647-55095-4 You can find alternative editions of this book and additional material on our Website: www.v-r.de Cover: Moses, © Bibliothèque nationale de France (RDV-1502-000437) © 2015, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Theaterstraße 13, 37073 Göttingen / Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht LLC, Bristol, CT, U. S. A. www.v-r.de All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher. Typesetting by textformart, Göttingen

‫עטרת זקנים בני בנים‬ Elisheva, Ariel, Yonatan, Eli, David, Talia, Lyla, Yair, Isabel, Jolie, Ronan, Orli, Lev

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Chapter One Setting and Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Chapter Two New Transitions and New Eras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Chapter Three Moses: A Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Chapter Four Redemption Revealed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Chapter Five Pesah and Mass ot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Chapter Six The Pesah Statute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Chapter Seven The Sabbath and Its Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Chapter Eight Closures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Index of Ancient Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Index of Modern Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

One of the fortunate aspects of an academic career is that one need not seek out new interests and ways of occupying oneself in retirement. Scholarly endeavors that once competed for time with teaching, administrative, and collegial ­duties stand uncontested in the years-long “sabbatical” awaiting the professor emerita/emeritus. Without the pressure of time, the unravelling of intellectual puzzles has endless potential. There is always another aspect to explore; additional background to acquire; and constantly the relevant new article or book to read. Only the sense of one’s own finiteness breaches that wondrous rhythm. This book is the product of such a retirement. Stepping carefully into all that freedom, I began with a conference presentation that explored the narrative of Amram burying the fathers and remaining for forty years on Mt. Hebron (Jub. 46:9–10; 47:1). Subsequently I moved on to studying the Jubilees treatment of Pesah legislation, a venture that led to a long term engagement with midrash halakah which years later came to be focused on Jubilees Sabbath laws. At some point (precisely when is unclear), I determined that there was a book to be written about Exodus narrative and law in Jubilees. Quite gradually, the pleasurable task of studying a series of textual puzzles acquired a structure and grew into a book project. A number of friends and colleagues, including my son Josh, assisted in bringing the project to completion. Generous with their time and expertise, they provided help with Ethiopic readings, good counsel, and most significantly, encouragement. I am very indebted to them. I particularly wish to thank Dena Ordan for her scrutiny of multiple revisions; Professor Michael Stone for reading many of the chapters as work-in-progress and for his unflagging support; and Professor James VanderKam for critiquing parts of the manuscript and, even more, for the great corpus of work that has stimulated my thinking and my own study of the Book of Jubilees. Lastly, I want to acknowledge my gratitude for the intellectual companionship and friendship of that amazing band of women scholars who comprise the “Library Group.” Jerusalem 5775/2015 

Betsy Halpern-Amaru

ABBREVIATIONS

AB AnBib BDB BETL BibOr BIS BN CBQ CBR CHB CSCO DCLY DJD DSD FRLANT HTR JBL JDS JJS JPS JQR JQRMS JSHRZ JSJ JSJSup JSP JSS NTS OBO RB RevQ SHR SJLA STDJ SVTP TBN TSAJ VTSup

Anchor Bible Analecta biblica Brown, F., S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum Lovaniensium Biblica et orientalia Biblical Interpretation Series Biblische Notizen Catholic Biblical Quarterly Currents in Biblical Research Cambridge History of the Bible Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook Discoveries in the Judean Desert Dead Sea Discoveries Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments Harvard Theological Review Journal of Biblical Literature Judean Desert Studies Journal of Jewish Studies Jewish Publication Society Jewish Quarterly Review Jewish Quarterly Review Monograph Series Jüdische Schriften aus hellenistisch-römischer Zeit Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman ­Periods Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Periods: Supplement Series Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Journal of Semitic Studies New Testament Studies Orbis biblicus et orientalis Review biblique Revue de Qumran Studies in the History of Religions (Supplement to Numen) Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah Studia in Veteris Testamenti pseudepigrapha Themes in Biblical Narrative Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum Supplements to Vetus Testamentum

CHAPTER ONE SETTING AND PERSPECTIVE

The epithet “the little Genesis” in ancient sources notwithstanding,1 the Book of Jubilees is significantly engaged with Exodus. The engagement occurs at multiple levels. Jubilees reworks key Exodus narratives; develops modules of Exodus law; and highlights Exodus motifs. The most fundamental connection to Exodus is the grounding of Jubilees and its narrative in the Exodus-based scenario of Moses receiving a revelation on Mt. Sinai. That formative scenario is both the setting of Jubilees and the narrational perspective of its revelation of the past. Structurally Jubilees comprises two narrations. In the frame an anonymous narrator, addressing the reader, introduces the work, identifies its setting, and defines its perimeters (Prologue, Jubilees 1, and the brief epilogue at the close of J­ubilees 50). In the body, an angel, addressing Moses, reveals the past, issues directives, and discloses the future (Jubilees 2–50).2 Each narration engages the Exodus portrait of Moses on Mt. Sinai. The anonymous narrator of the frame overtly develops the Mt. Sinai setting of the work; the angel narrator of the revelation employs that setting as the present-time pivot for a retrospect that moves backward and forward in time. This chapter focuses on the interpretive use of Exodus material in the construction of the setting and introduces the presentation and reworking of Exodus-based narrative and law in the angel narration. The opening words of the introductory frame present Jubilees as a revelation related to Moses on Mt. Sinai “when he went up to receive the stone tablets — the law and the commandments,” specifically when the Lord told him to “come up to the summit of the mountain” (Prologue, 4Q216 I, 3–4).3 The description draws from the two accounts of Moses being called to the mountain and remaining there forty days and forty nights — the summoning to receive “the stone tablets 1 On the various forms of the epithet in Greek and the Hebrew title ‫בראשית זוטא‬, see R. H. Charles, The Book of Jubilees or the Little Genesis (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1902), xiv–xvi. 2 Both narrations include scenarios in which characters engage in direct speech. Indeed, the greater part of the frame is devoted to direct speech — God addressing Moses (Jub. 1:5–18, 22–26); Moses responding (Jub. 1:19–21); and God giving directions to the angel of the presence (Jub. 1:27–28). Similarly, there are numerous instances of direct speech in the angel’s narration, some involving created monologue or dialogue, others citing or reflecting scriptural material. 3 Unless otherwise indicated, all citations of Jubilees are from the translation of James C. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees: A Critical Text (2 vols.; CSCO 510–11; Scriptores Aethiopici 87–88; Leuven: Peeters, 1989).

14

Chapter One

with the teachings and commandments” in Exod 24:12 (‫ויאמר ה' אל משה עלה אלי‬ ‫ )ההרה…ואתנה לך את לחת האבן והתורה והמצוה‬and the summoning to “the summit of the mountain” with a second set of tablets in Exod 34:2 (‫והיה נכון לבקר ועלית בבקר אל‬ ‫)הר סיני ונצבת לי שם על ראש ההר‬.4 Merged, the two accounts function as text and subtext in the backdrop that introduces the Book of Jubilees. The primary text is Exodus 24:12–13, 15–18.5 The Lord summons Moses to the mountain to receive the two6 stone tablets of the law and the commandments that he had written so that Moses may teach them (Jub. 1:1 reflecting Exod 24:12); Moses ascends the mountain (Jub. 1:2 reflecting Exod 24:13b, 15a); the glory of the Lord abides on the mountain and a cloud covers it for six days (Jub. 1:2 reflecting Exod 24:16a); on the seventh day Moses is summoned into the cloud (Jub. 1:3a reflecting Exod 24:16c, 18a) where he sees the glory of the Lord “like a fire blazing on the summit of the mountain” (Jub. 1:3b reworking Exod 24:17); Moses remains on the mountain for forty days and forty nights (Jub. 1:4 reflecting Exod 24:18c). Abbreviation and clarification notwithstanding,7 the Jubilees account substantively alters two facets of the borrowed material. A portrayal of Moses seeing “the glory of the Lord like a fire blazing on the summit of the mountain” when he enters the cloud on the seventh day (Jub. 1:3) replaces the description of the Presence of the Lord appearing to the Israelites as a consuming fire on the summit of the mountain (‫( )ומראה כבוד ה' כאש אכלת בראש ההר לעיני ישראל‬Exod 24:17), a scenario that suggests an allusion to the theophany scene portrayed in Exod 19:16–20.8 Secondly, the account of the summoning in Jubilees includes a date Portions of the Prologue, Jub. 1:1–2, 4–15, 26–28, are extant in columns I, II, IV of 4Q216 (James C. VanderKam and J. T. Milik, “4QJubileesa,” in Qumran Cave 4 — VIII Parabiblical Texts. Part 1 [ed. H. Attridge et. al.; DJD 13; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994], 1–12). 4 In Exod 19:20 God also summons Moses to the “summit of the mountain;” but that summons precedes the theophany and does not involve stone tablets. George Brooke has suggested that the author combines the three summoning occasions (Exod 19:20; 24:12; 34:2), perhaps as “a way of saying that there was only one authoritative trip up the mountain of which the Book of Jubilees is the fruit” (“Exegetical Strategies in Jubilees 1–2: New Light from 4QJubileesa,” in Studies in the Book of Jubilees [ed. M. Albani, J. Frey, A. Lange; TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997], 47). 5 On the Exodus 24 setting in Jubilees 1, see Jacques van Ruiten, “The Rewriting of Exodus 24:12–18 in Jubilees 1:1–4,” BN 79 (1995): 25–29 and James C. VanderKam, “Studies on the Prologue and Jubilees 1,” in For a Later Generation: The Transformation of Tradition in Israel, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (ed. R. A. Argall, B. A. Bow, R. A. Werline; Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2000), 266–79. 6 Two tablets are specified in Exod 31:18; 34:1, 4, 29. 7 The command to “wait there” (‫ )והיה שם‬in Exod 24:12 is omitted (Jub. 1:1). The ascent in Exod 24:13b (‫ )ויעל משה אל הר האלהים‬and in Exod 24:15 (‫ )ויעל משה אל ההר‬are combined (with '‫ הר ה‬replacing ‫ הר האלהים‬and relating back to '‫( )ויאמר ה‬Jub.1:2); the accounts of the cloud in Exod 24:15 (‫ )ויכס הענן את ההר‬and Exod 24:16 (‫ )ויכסהו הענן ששת ימים‬are merged (Jub. 1:2); and the Lord calling to Moses from the cloud (‫( )מתוך הענן‬Exod 24:16c) and Moses entering into the cloud (‫( )בתוך הענן‬Exod 24:18a) are conjoined (Jub. 1:3). See 4Q216 I, 6–9 and the textual notes in DJD XIII, 7. 8 For such a reading, see b. Yoma 4ab (R. Akiva) and Rashi on Exod 24:16.

Setting and Perspective

15

notice, specifically “during the first year of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, in the third month — on the sixteenth of the month” (Jub. 1:1). The year/month component of the date is drawn from Exod 19:1 (“in the third month9 after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt” [‫בחדש השלישי‬ ‫ )]לצאת ישראל מארץ מצרים‬where, combined with the ambiguous “on this day” (‫)ביום הזה‬, it marks the Israelite arrival to the wilderness of Sinai and introduces the encounter between Moses and God that occurs prior to the theophany at the mountain (Exod 19:3–6).10 The author of Jubilees detaches the clause from that context and employs it instead with the summoning of Moses to receive the stone tablets after the theophany (Exod 24:12). The impact of the rearrangement is clear. The summoning of Moses is not a sequel to an earlier encounter in which God presents the election of the Israelites as conditional on their adherence to His covenant (Exod 19:3–6). The association between the election of the Israelites and the covenant-making at Mt. Sinai has been deliberately suppressed,11 for, as the angel will subsequently reveal, at the time of Creation God decreed the election and sanctification of the Israelites, denoted “the descendants of Jacob,” “throughout the ages of eternity” (Jub. 2:20).12 There is no basis in the Exodus narrative for the specification of the sixteenth as the date when Moses was summoned to receive the stone tablets.13 In fact, the dating creates a time frame that is not at all evident in the account of events in Exodus 24. Introduction of a calendar date into a narrative generally signifies the passage of time and differentiates the time of the dated event from that of the preceding event. In the Exodus 24 narrative there is no indication of time passing between the summoning and ascent of Moses (Exod 24:12, 15–18) and Moses engaging the Israelites in a covenant ratification ceremony (Exod 24:4b–8).14 The

9 Literal translation. Many English translations render ‫“ בחדש השלישי‬on the third new moon.” On ‫ חדש‬as “new moon,” see Num 29:6; 1 Sam 20:18, 24, 27; and elsewhere. 10 In Exod 19:2–3 there is no summoning; the Israelites encamped in front of the mountain and Moses “went up to God.” The summoning to the summit of the mountain occurs at a later point in the Exodus 19 narrative when the theophany has already begun (Exod 19:20). 11 In contrast to VanderKam who presents the combination of Exod 19:1 and Exod 24:12 as an innocuous blending of Exodus 19 and 24 somewhat comparable to other ancient treatments of the Sinai event (“Studies on the Prologue,” 273–77), I view the compression as a deliberate strategy to suppress the association between the Sinai covenant and the conditional election of the Israelites that is set forth in Exod 19:3–6. 12 On the rearrangement of the election motif in Exod 19:3–6, see Chapter 8. 13 Attempting to integrate the dating in Jubilees with the imprecise indicators of time in the Exodus narrative of events from the Israelite arrival to Sinai (Exodus 19) through the summoning of Moses (Exodus 24), VanderKam arrives at the 16th only through the unconvincing suggestion that the author of Jubilees employed gematria (“Studies on the Prologue,” 277–78). 14 The only indicator of the passage of time in Exodus 24 is a description of Moses getting up early in the morning (‫ )וישכם בבקר‬at the beginning of the account of the covenant ratification ceremony (Exod 24:4b).

16

Chapter One

Jubilees identification of a specific calendar date creates that indicator and in effect separates what occurs on the mountain (in Jubilees) from the covenant ratification ceremony that precedes the summoning (in Exodus 24).15 Moreover, the specification of the sixteenth subtly reveals that the covenant ratification ceremony, albeit unmentioned, took place on the preceding day, i. e., the fifteenth of the third month.16 Depicting what happens after Moses enters the cloud, a Jubilees-created tableau has God repeatedly commanding Moses to write down everything that is revealed to him on the mountain. In two passages the command specifically relates to a revelation of “what (had happened) beforehand as well as what was to come;” “what is first and what is last and what is to come during all the divisions of times” which are in the torah and the te’udah (‫( )תורה ותעודה‬Jub. 1:4, 26; cf. Prologue);17 in a third it concerns a prophecy of Israel’s future apostasy that God relates to Moses (Jub. 1:7). The notion of such a command builds on several scriptural sources. The term ‫תורה ותעודה‬, an allusion to the binding and sealing of the message and teachings of Isaiah (Isa 8:16, 20),18 clearly suggests preservation of a revelation in written form. Similarly, phraseology from Deuteronomy 31 associates the message that Moses is to write “today” (Jub. 1:7) with the song that God commands him to write on the plains of Moab (Deut 31:19).19 But the primary subtext for 15 On the interpretation of the covenant ceremony in the angel narration, see Chapter 8.  16 In the angel narration the fifteenth of the third month is associated with covenant making occasions and with the festival of oaths/weeks which is also the festival of first fruits of the wheat harvest (Jub. 6:10–11, 15–21). The date is explicitly stated in the account of the exchange of oaths between Jacob and Laban (Jub. 29:5, 7). When associated with the festival, it is generally expressed more vaguely as “during this [the third] month” (Jub. 6:11, 17; 14:20) and “in the third month, in the middle of the month” (Jub. 15:1; 16:13). The most explicit dating of the festival acknowledges the fifteenth only indirectly. Making his way to Egypt, Jacob sets out from Hebron “on the first of the third month;” arrives at the well of the oath “on the seventh of the month;” indecisive about descending to Egypt, he remains there “for seven days” in the hope of having a vision; he celebrates the harvest festival; and “on the sixteenth,” the Lord appears to him (Jub. 44:1, 3–5). 17 The phrase ‫( תורה ותעודה‬or a variant thereof) is partially visible and/or reconstructed in 4Q216 I, 11 (=Jub. 1:4) and in 4Q216 IV, 4 (=Jub. 1:26). Cana Werman suggests that it also should be reconstructed in 4Q216 II, 4–5 (=Jub. 1:8) (“Te’udah: On the Meaning of the Term,” in Fifty Years of Dead Sea Scrolls Research: Studies in Memory of Jacob Licht [eds. G. Brin and B. Nitzan; Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 2001], 240–41) (Hebrew). For the various scholarly understandings of the phrase, see Brooke, “Exegetical Strategies,” 50–53; VanderKam, “Studies on the Prologue,” 269–73; Cana Werman, “‘The ‫ תורה‬and the ‫’תעודה‬ Engraved on the Tablets,” DSD 9 (2002): 75–103; trans. repr. from Tarbiz 68 [1999]: 473–92 [Hebrew]); Menahem Kister, “Two Formulae in the Book of Jubilees,” Tarbiz 70 (2001): 294–300 (Hebrew); and the discussion in Michael Segal, The Book of Jubilees: Rewritten Bible, Redaction, Ideology and Theology (JSJSup 117; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2007), 282–316. 18 Cf. Isa 29:11–12; 30:8. 19 On Deuteronomy 31 and Jub. 1:7–8, see Brooke, “Exegetical Strategies,” 49–51 and VanderKam, “Studies on the Prologue,” 267.

Setting and Perspective

17

the Jubilees-created scenario is the command to “write these words” (‫כתב לך את‬ ‫ )הדברים האלה‬that God issues to Moses on Mt. Sinai in Exod 34:27. The temporal context of the passage — at the beginning of Moses’s second stay of forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai — does not suit the Jubilees setting. Substantively, however, Exodus 34 offers both a Mt. Sinai scene in which God issues an explicit command that Moses write “these words,” a scenario that is absent from Exodus 24,20 and also an exegetical invitation to recontextualize that command. The invitation arises from a lack of clarity relative to what is to be written and who does the writing. The second half of Exod 34:27 — ‫כי על פי הדברים האלה‬ ‫ — כרתי אתך ברית ואת ישראל‬implies that “these words” refers to the preceding body of legislation introduced by ‫( הנה אנכי כרת ברית‬Exod 34:10–26). On the other hand, the account that follows in Exod 34:28 states that Moses (the unnamed, but implied subject) “wrote down on the tablets the terms of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (‫)ויכתב על הלחות את דברי הברית עשרת הדברים‬.21 That presentation of events, however, is out of sync with God’s instructions to Moses at the beginning of the chapter — Moses is to carve a second set of tablets upon which God would write “the words” (i. e., commandments) that were on the first tablets that Moses had broken (‫ויאמר ה' אל משה פסל לך שני לחת כראשונים וכתבתי על הלחת את‬ ‫( )הדברים אשר היו על לחת הראשנים אשר שברת‬Exod 34:1).22 Adopting the motif of God commanding Moses to write, the author of ­Jubilees places the command in an imagined scenario that continues the narrative of Exodus 24 once Moses has entered the cloud and begun his (first and only in Jubilees) stay of forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai. The new context allows neither of the reference points set forth for the command in Exodus 34. The substance of what Moses is to write cannot be the body of legislation that grounds the covenant (Exodus 21–23 paralleling Exod 34:10–26),23 for Moses had already written down those rules and had read “the book of the covenant” at a cer 20 In Exodus 24 there is no divine command to write. Moses repeats “all the words of the Lord and all the rules” (‫ )את כל דברי ה' ואת כל המשפטים‬to the people (Exod 24:3) and writes down “all the words of the Lord” ('‫( )את כל דברי ה‬Exod 24:4), presumably in the book of the covenant that he subsequently reads aloud in the covenant ratification ceremony (Exod 24:7). 21 That Moses is the subject is evident from the first half of the verse — ‫ויהי שם עם ה' ארבעים יום‬ ‫וארבעים לילה לחם לא אכל ומים לא שתה‬. In LXX Exod 34:28a Moses is identified by name. 22 In the Exodus account of the Sinai revelation and in Moses’ recollection of events in Deuteronomy, God inscribes the first set of tablets (Exod 24:12; 31:18; Deut 9:10). In Deuteronomy God (as he indicates in Exod 34:1) also inscribes the second set of tablets (Deut 10:2, 4). 23 The accounts in Exodus 24 and 34 exhibit a certain structural parallel. In Exodus 24 Moses recites “all the words of the Lord and all the rules” (‫ )את כל דברי ה' ואת כל המשפטים‬and writes all the words of the Lord ('‫( )את כל דברי ה‬Exod 24:3–4), seemingly, a reference to the legislation in Exodus 21–23 that begins ‫ואלה המשפטים‬. (See Ramban on Exod 24:1). In Exodus 34 God instructs Moses “to write these words” that constitute the basis for the covenant (‫כתב לך את הדברים‬ ‫( )האלה כי על פי הדברים האלה כרתי אתך ברית ואת ישראל‬Exod 34:27) seemingly a reference to the legislation in Exod 34:10–26 that is introduced by ‫הנה אנכי כרת ברית‬.

18

Chapter One

emony (Exod 24:3–4, 7) that took place, according to the Jubilees chronology, the day before Moses ascended the mountain. Similarly, the command would not refer to writing the Ten Commandments on the tablets, for God had summoned Moses to the mountain to get the tablets that God himself had already inscribed (Jub. 1:1 citing Exod 24:12). Freed from the restrictions of scriptural context, the command is transformed into a broad directive to write “all the words” or “all these words” that God conveys to Moses on the mountain (Jub. 1:5, 7, 26).24 Its spectrum broadened, the command references the prophecy of Israel’s future apostasy that God reveals at the beginning of Moses’s sojourn on the mountain (“that I am telling you today”) (Jub. 1:7), the writing of a book that demonstrates God’s faithfulness to future generations (Jub. 1:5–6), and the revelation of “what is first and what is last and what is to come during the divisions of time which are in the law and which are in the testimony…” (Jub. 1:26)—in essence, the Book of Jubilees. God does not convey the revelation that is Jubilees to Moses directly. Instead, He instructs the angel of the presence “who was going along in front of the Israelite camp” (Jub. 1:29 reflecting ‫ מלאך האלהים ההלך לפני מחנה ישראל‬in Exod 14:19)25 to “dictate26 to Moses (starting) from the beginning of the creation until the time when my temple is built among them throughout the ages of eternity” (Jub. 1:27). The artifice of an angel dictation exploits another motif in the Exodus account of Moses on Mt. Sinai, specifically the conception of an angel embodying God’s authority (“my name is with him” [‫ )]שמי בקרבו‬and epitomizing God’s voice (“listen to his voice and do everything that I say” […‫)]כי אם שמוע תשמע בקלו ועשית כל אשר אדבר‬ 24 The Hebrew of Jub. 1:5a, an adaptation of Moses’s words to the Israelites in Deut 32:46, is reconstructed in 4Q216 I, 12 — ‫]ולתועדה ויאמר אליו שים לבך לכל הדב]רים אשר אנכי מגיד לך‬. The words ‫ כל הדברים האלה‬are partially visible in 4Q216 I, 17 (=Jub. 1:7) which VanderKam and Milik reconstruct as “a slightly altered” citation of Exod 34:27—[‫]…ואתה כתוב לך] את [כ]ל [הדב‬ ‫רים האלה‬. Jub. 1:26 is not preserved in the Hebrew; but the Ethiopic wording of the command is identical to that in Jub. 1:7, hence, a citation of Exod 34:27 modified by the addition of ‫“( כל‬all”) perhaps reflecting the ‫ כל‬in Exod 24:4 ('‫ )ויכתב משה את כל דברי ה‬and 24:8 (‫)כל הדברים האלה … אשר כרת ה' עמכם על‬. 25 The phrasing is drawn from Exod 14:19; but the Mt. Sinai context reflects the setting in Exod 23:20–23; cf. 32:34; 33:2. In Exod 14:19 the narrator refers to “the angel of God” (‫ ;)מלאך האלהים‬in Exod 23:23 and 32:34 God identifies him as “my angel” (‫ )מלאכי‬and in Exod 23:20; 33:2 simply as “an angel” (‫)מלאך‬. In Jubilees he is “the angel of the presence.” On the derivation of the title, see Saul M. Olyan, A Thousand Thousands Served Him: Exegesis and the Naming of Angels in Ancient Judaism (TSAJ 36; Tubingen: T. C. B. Mohr, 1993), 105–08; James VanderKam “The Angel of the Presence in the Book of Jubilees,” DSD 7 (2000): 382–84; but also note Brooke’s comments in “Exegetical Strategies,” 53. 26 The Ethiopic translator confuses the kal (“write”) and hiph’il (“dictate”) forms of the Hebrew ‫כתב‬. On ‫ הכתיב‬in Jub. 1:27, see 4Q216 IV, 6 and Brooke, “Exegetical Strategies,” 42. On a similar confusion in the Ethiopic of Jub. 30:21; 50:6, 13, see James VanderKam, “The Putative Author of Jubilees,” JSS 26 (1981): 213–17.

Setting and Perspective

19

(Exod 23:21–22). In Exodus God sends an angel empowered with those attributes to protect and guide the Israelites from Mt. Sinai to successful conquest of the land (Exod 23:20–23; cf. Exod 32:34; 33:2). In Jubilees the attributes are translated, indeed literally so, into a narrator role authorized by God.27 God commands the angel of the presence to dictate to Moses “from the beginning of the creation….” and the angel takes the tablets “which told of the divisions of the years” (Jub. 1:27, 29)28 and begins the narration that forms the body of the Book of Jubilees. Combined with the adoption of the Moses on Mt. Sinai scenario, the use of the angel as a divine “spokesperson” lends an authority to the narration that is achieved through the strategy of first person divine voicing of legal material in the Temple Scroll.29 In the case of Jubilees that authority extends to narrative as well as to law.30 The Moses-on-Mt. Sinai scenario developed in the introductory frame remains the constant present time throughout the angel narration. Speaking in that present time, the angel recalls a Genesis-Exodus past in which he participated as an actor and reveals what is written about that past on the tablets that tell of the divisions of time in the law and testimony.31 His account extends from Creation (Genesis 1) through the end of Moses’s first forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 31) and encompasses transmission of “the book of the first law” that the angel had transcribed for Moses (Jub. 6:22; cf. 30:12).32 27 On angels as the mediator of the revelations on Sinai, see Hindy Najman, “Angels at Sinai: Exegesis, Theology, and Interpretive Authority,” DSD 7 (2000): 313–33. 28 God’s directive to the angel (Jub. 1:27–28) and the description of the angel taking up the tablets that told of “the divisions of the years” (Jub. 1:29) echo the language and motifs in God’s command to Moses to write “all these words…” in Jub. 1:26. 29 In the Temple Scroll, the divine voicing elevates the redaction over the scriptural text (Deuteronomy) that is voiced by Moses (Bernard Levinson and Molly Zahn, “Revelation Regained: The Hermeneutics of ‫ כי‬and ‫ אם‬in the Temple Scroll,” in A More Perfect Torah: At the Intersection of Philology and Hermeneutics in Deuteronomy and the Temple Scroll [Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2013], 14–15; revised repr. from DSD 9 [2002]). In Jubilees the angel mediates both the book of the first law (the Torah) that he writes and the subsequent revelation that he narrates. At the same time, in the course of his narration he alludes to divinely voiced commands within the scriptural narrative. On the use of such allusions in the Jubilees Pesah statute (Jub. 49:11, 14, 15), see Chapter 6.  30 See Hindy Najman, “Interpretation as Primordial Writing: Jubilees and Its Authority Conferring Strategies,” JSJ 30 (1999): 379–410. 31 The mixture of recollection and revelation indicates that the angel is not simply reading from the tablet that he takes (presumably in his hands [Jub. 1:29] or from God’s hand [Jub. 50:13; see Chapter 8]) when he begins his revelation. I see no basis for Segal’s reading that the angel brings the tablets to Moses before he commences his narration (Segal, The Book of ­Jubilees, 316). 32 The angel’s presentation of himself as having written the Torah (“the law”) (Jub. 6:22; 30:12) seems to contradict Jub.1:1 (=4Q216 I, 6–7 reflecting Exod 24:12) where God presents

20

Chapter One

Periodically the angel pauses to issue a directive to Moses and on occasion he discloses the future.33 But in its basic structure the angel narration is a retrospect that portrays the past through the present-time lens of an address to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Its Exodus-based content includes narrative treatments of the Egypt epoch — from the descent of the patriarchal family to the redemption of the Israelite nation at the Reed Sea; recontextualized fragments extracted from the Exodus chronicle of the Israelite journey from the wilderness of Shur to the Jubilees present-time of Moses on the mountain — and full blown treatments of Pesah and Sabbath legislation as well as allusions to Exodus legal material set in created Genesis-based contexts. In contrast to studies that have examined facets of the Exodus material in the context of Jubilees source criticism and from the perspective of comparative textual analysis,34 this study of the treatments of Exodus narrative and law in Jubilees is a literary one that focuses on the intersection of structure and content. Examining the relationship between the retrospective design and the exegesis, the analysis draws attention to manipulations of temporal and textual perspective himself as having written the Torah and the commandments. Apparently, the angel not only speaks (Exod 23:22), but also writes in God’s name. On Jub. 6:22 and 30:12 as allusions to the writing of the Torah, see VanderKam, “Putative,” 210, 214. 33 The most developed forecast is a portrait of the end-time that follows the account of Abraham’s death and is introduced by a reflection on the extent of his lifespan (Jubilees 23). Throughout the retrospect there are brief allusions to that end-time (e.g., Jub.4:26, 25:21; 50:2–5) and to future worship at the sanctuary in the Land (e.g., Jub. 3:13; 32:10; 49:16–21; 50:10–11). 34 For the source critical approach to the Exodus material in the angel narration, see Liora Ravid, “The Relationship of the Sabbath Laws in Jubilees 50:6–13 to the Rest of the Book,” Tarbiz 69 (2000): 161–66 (Hebrew); Segal, Book of Jubilees, 189–228; James Kugel, “On the Interpolations in the Book of Jubilees,” RevQ 24 (2009): 224–25; 254–57 and A Walk Through ­Jubilees. Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (JSJSup 156; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2012), esp. 32–37; 190–205; 271–73. For comparative textual analysis of Exodus narratives, see Jacques van Ruiten’s essays, “Between Jacob’s Death and Moses’ Birth: The Intertextual Relationship Between Genesis 50:15–Exodus 1:14 and Jubilees 46:1–16,” in Flores Florentino: Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Early Jewish Studies in Honour of Florentino Garcia Martínez (ed. A. Hilhorst, E. Puech, and E. Tigchelaar; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2007), 467–489; “The Birth of Moses in Egypt According to the Book of Jubilees (Jub. 47:1–9),” in The Wisdom of Egypt: Jewish, Early Christian, and Gnostic Essays in Honour of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (ed. A. Hilhorst and G. van Kooten; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2005), 42–65 and “Moses and His Parents: The Intertextual Relationship between Exodus 1:22–2:10 and Jubilees 47:1–9,” in Rewritten Bible Reconsidered: Proceedings of the Conference in Karkku, Finland, August 24–26, 2006 (Studies in Rewritten Bible 1; ed. A. Laato and J. van Ruiten; Winona Lake and Turku: Eisenbrauns and Abo Akademi University, 2008), 43–78. Unfortunately, Lutz Doering’s essay on “The Reception of the Book of Exodus in The Book of Jubilees” in The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation (ed. Thomas B. Dozdeman, Craig A. Evans, Joel N. Lohr; VTSup 164; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2014), 485–510, became available only after this book had gone to press.

Setting and Perspective

21

and attendant compositional strategies that transform Exodus narratives, facilitate hermeneutical elaborations of Exodus law, and produce cohesion in the revelation that is the Book of Jubilees. I approach Jubilees as a unitary text that may reflect the work of a single a­ uthor or the hand of a final editor. Such a stance does not reject other contemporary scholarship, but rather poses literary questions about the work as we find it in the corpus of Second Temple Jewish literature. Does the reworking of the Exodus narrative significantly alter the plain sense (p’shat) of the scriptural source text? How does the reworking relate to themes and motifs developed elsewhere in Jubilees? To what extent does the retrospective structure shape or inform the interpretation? At certain points I deal with subjects involving Jubilees material that other scholars have highlighted as evidence of redaction and/or interpolation. Those subjects include the account of the exodus from Egypt (Jubilees 48); the Pesah legislation (Jub. 49:7–22) and the treatments of Sabbath law (Jubilees 2 and 50). In treating this material I engage the work of the other Jubilees scholars. The intent of the engagement is not to challenge the redaction approach per se, but to acknowledge the critical scholarship and offer an alternative perspective that suggests areas in which particular arguments for interpolation might be reconsidered or refined. Each of the following chapters focuses on a particular facet of the treatment of Exodus in the angel narration. Chapters 2–5 examines a narrative block that reworks, recasts, and reconstructs the Egypt epoch set forth in Exodus 1–15:1935 (Jubilees 46–48; 49:1–6, 23). The retrospective stance of the narration establishes the literary grounds for presenting the Genesis-Exodus past as a single continuous story. Within that story the angel’s account of the recent past (i. e., Exodus 1–15) is reconstructed to develop themes and motifs introduced in the narrative of the distant past (i. e., the reworked Genesis). Chapter 2 (“New Transitions and New Eras”) analyzes the Jubilees markers that chronicle the transitions from patriarchal family to nationhood, from freedom to enslavement, from enslaved to endangered nation as an example of such created continuity. Subsequent chapters explore other aspects of that continuity. Chapter 3 (“Moses: A Biography”) examines the omissions, additions, and manipulations of scriptural material that construct a portrait of the young Moses compatible with the ideal leader typology 35 Since the angel’s account of the redemption at the Reed Sea draws from Exodus 15 (see Chapter 4), I include the poem within the narrative block. Other modern scholars have presented Jubilees as a retelling or rewriting of the narratives in Genesis 1–Exodus 14 (George Nickelsburg, “The Bible Rewritten and Expanded,” in Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period [ed. M. E. Stone; Essen: Van Gorcum, 1984], 97) or in Genesis 1 through Exodus 12:50 (Daniel J. Harrington, “The Bible Rewritten [Narratives],” in Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters [ed. R. A. Kraft and G. W. E. Nickelsburg: Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986], 240).

22

Chapter One

developed in the personal histories of the antediluvian notables and the founding fathers of Israel. Chapter 4 (“Redemption Revealed”) analyzes the transformation of the expansive Exodus account of the liberation from Egypt into a revelation of what Moses does not know from his own experience — the collaboration of heavenly forces in the implementation of the redemption promised to Abraham at the Covenant Between the Pieces. The story of the past comes to a climax and the diachronic treatment of Exodus narrative ends with the redemption from Egypt. Intersecting that story, a created account of the Israelites celebrating the beginning of a festival prefaces the angel’s presentation of Pesah legislation. Chapter 5 (“Pesah and Massot”) examines that Pesah-Massot celebration as conjoined facets of an ancient festival initiated by Abraham after the Akedah. In the course of his narrative of the past the angel relates to several facets of Exodus law. Oblique allusions to Exodus commands are placed in created expansions of Genesis-based narratives where they highlight the antiquity of a phenomenon and/or demonstrate the piety of an antediluvian or founding father who adheres to a particular practice. The sanctification of the descendants of Jacob is associated with the sanctification of the Sabbath at the time of creation (Jub. 2:19–21, 23–24 reflecting Exod 31:13–17). On the morning of day that he departs from the Garden of Eden, “the holiest (place) in the entire earth” (Jub. 3:12), Adam burns incense “as a pleasing fragrance — frankincense, galbanum, stacte, and aromatic spices” (Jub. 3:27 reflecting Exod 30:34; see also Jub. 16:24). In his account of the covenant with Noah, the angel instructs Moses to command the Israelites to commemorate “the festival of oaths36 and…the festival of first fruits” whose double name reflects its two-fold nature (Jub. 6:20–21 alluding to ‫ וחג שבעת תעשה לך בכורי קציר חטים‬in Exod 34:22). Each of the patriarchs celebrates a harvest festival described with terminology unique to Exodus. Abraham celebrates “the festival of the first fruits of the wheat harvest” (Jub. 15:1 reflecting ‫ בכורי קציר חטים‬in Exod 34:22); Isaac and Ishmael visit their father to celebrate “the festival of weeks [oaths] (this is the festival of the first fruits of the harvest)” (Jub. 22:1 reflecting ‫ וחג שבעת תעשה לך בכורי קציר‬in Exod 34:22); and Jacob, on the way to Egypt because of the famine, celebrates “the harvest festival — the first fruits of the grain — with old grain” (Jub. 44:4 reflecting ‫ חג הקציר‬in Exod 23:16 and ‫ בכורי חטים‬in Exod 34:22).37 36 My translation based on the context that suggests that the unpointed ‫ שבעת‬in Exod 34:22 be read shebu’ot. 37 Allusion to a legal passage in Exodus may also be intended in a number of other created narratives; but the point of reference is not certain. The instructions regarding washing that Abraham gives to Isaac — to wash his body before making an offering, and to wash his hands and feet before and again after making the offering on the altar (Jub. 21:16)—may involve a blending of the practices described in Exod 30:19 and Lev 16:4, 24 or simply indicate the practice in Second Temple times. The directive in Abraham’s final testament to all his children and grandchildren—“Do not make for yourselves gods…Do not worship them or bow to

Setting and Perspective

23

The primary attention, however, is given to two major blocks of Exodus legislation — the law relative to future commemorations of Pesah (Chapter 6 “The Pesah Statute”)38 and the laws of the Sabbath (Chapter 7 “The Sabbath and Its Law”). Each treatment is grounded in a manipulation of textual time that has the angel revealing “the book of the first law” before he begins the dictation that is Jubilees. The presumption of such a timeframe permits laws conveyed in the present-time (i. e., the time of the angel discourse in Jubilees) to interpret and expand the earlier revealed legislation.39 In the case of Pesah , allusive exegesis fuels the development of a full blown Pesah statute that is revealed to Moses not in Egypt, but in the present-time of the angel addressing him on Mt. Sinai. With the Sabbath, the manipulation of textual time supports a hermeneutical expansion of the basic Sabbath commandment in Exod 20:8–10 that is split in the angelic presentation, with one part in a Genesis-based context and the other in an Exodus-based one. Chapter 8 (“Closures”) focuses on the treatments of post-Egypt material (Exod 15:22–19:1) that is contextually and/or temporally rearranged to contexts that reorient significance and alter meaning. As its title implies, the chapter is structured around the theme of endings and explores the meetings of endings and beginnings within the retrospect that constitutes the body of the Book of Jubilees.

them” (Jub. 20:8)—could be alluding to the proscription in Exod 20:4–5 or in Deut 5:8–9. Similarly, the motif of respecting parents developed in the contrasting portraits of Esau and Jacob (Jub. 28:18–20; 35:10–13) could reflect the Decalogue command in Exod 20:12 or in Deut 5:16. 38 Chapters 5 and 6 reconsider and revise arguments presented in articles published at an early point in my study of the Pesah/Massot material in Jubilees—“The Use of Bible in Jubilees 49: The Time and Date of the Pesah Celebration,” Meghillot: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls 5–6 (2007): 81–100 and “The Festivals of Pesah and Massot in the Book of Jubilees,” in Enoch and the Mosaic Torah: The Evidence of Jubilees (ed. G. Boccaccini and G. Ibba; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2009), 309–22. 39 The manipulation of textual time results in a hermeneutical construct that is analogous to the phenomenon that engages contemporary scholars who explore rewriting as an aspect of the compositional history of the Pentateuch. In the examination of Jubilees interpretation of Exodus law (particularly in its reworking of Pesah legislation), I take note of some similarities in strategy; but my primary focus is on the Jubilees reworking that acknowledges neither documents nor seams within the Pentateuch.

CHAPTER TWO NEW TRANSITIONS AND NEW ERAS

One usually associates the issue of periodization with modern historiography. Historians disagree about the delineation of eras and the transitions that separate them, dispute the time-frames and markers that signify the end of one period and the beginning of another, and identify different figures as standing metaphorically with one foot in the past and the other in the future. Scriptural narratives and their interpretations can scarcely be considered historiography. But the concept of periodization and the kinds of questions it provokes provide a useful conceptual tool for examining the reworking of Exodus 1 in the Jubilees angel narration.1 Exodus 1 encompasses three major transitions — from patriarchal family to nationhood, from national freedom to slavery, and from enslavement to an escalation of oppression that anticipates the birth of Moses. Describing those transitions to Moses, the angel narrator of Jubilees changes the markers that delineate the shifts between the eras, reorients perspective, and develops a chronology that supports a new periodization (Jubilees 46).2

From Patriarchal Family to Israelite Nation Exodus 1 opens with a compact summary that tracks the transition from patriarchal to Israelite history. (1) These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with his household: (2) Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; (3) Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; (4) Dan, and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. (5) The total number of persons that were of Jacob’s issue came to seventy, Joseph being already in Egypt. (6) Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. (7) But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them (Exod 1:1–7).3 1 On periodization, see Lawrence Besserman, ed., The Challenge of Periodization: Old Paradigms and New Perspectives (London and New York: Routledge, 1996) and William A. Green, “Periodizing World History,” History and Theory 34.2 (May 1995): 99–111. 2 The analysis of Jubilees 46 that follows is a reworking and expansion of my argument in “Burying the Fathers: Exegetical Strategies and Source Traditions in Jubilees 46,” in Reworking the Bible: Apocryphal and Related Texts at Qumran (ed. E. G. Chazon, D. Dimant, R. Clements; STDJ 58; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2005), 135–52. 3 Unless otherwise indicated, all biblical quotations are from the JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1999).

26

Chapter Two

Chronologically the summary moves back into the lifetime of the third patriarch and forward to the emergence of the nation. Within those perimeters it highlights the descent of Jacob and his household to Egypt, the deaths of Joseph, his brothers, and their generation, and a great population spurt that moves the focus from the patriarchal family to the Israelite nation. The centrifugal point for the epochal shift is the death of Joseph and his siblings. Thereafter, Jacob’s small, extended family of seventy souls is transformed into the rapidly multiplying Israelite people. Although Jubilees frequently incorporates material related to the future nation into Genesis-based contexts, it maintains the literary distinction between the era of the patriarchs as a family narrative and that of the Israelites as a national narrative. However, it takes issue with the periodization, i. e., the point at which patriarchal era is perceived as ending and the national epoch beginning. The chronology of events in the Exodus 1 summary identifies a point of transition that coincides with the narrative shift between biblical books, specifically, the death of Joseph. Treating Genesis-Exodus as a continuous story, the angel narrator of Jubilees alters the chronology such that the transition occurs at an earlier point in time. (1) After the death of Jacob, the children of Israel became numerous in the land of Egypt. They became a populous nation, and all of them were of the same mind so that each one loved the other and each one helped the other. They became numerous and increased very much — even for ten weeks of years — for all the days of Joseph’s life. (2) There was no satan or any evil throughout all the days of Joseph’s life that he lived after his father Jacob because all of the Egyptians were honoring the children of Israel for all the days of Joseph’s life. (3) Joseph died when he was 110 years of age. He had lived for 17 years in the land of Canaan; for 10 years he remained enslaved; he was in prison for 3 years; and for 80 years he was ruling the entire land of Egypt (Jub. 46:1–3).4

The report of the population growth may adopt the sequential structure (following the death of a significant figure) and perhaps reflect the elaborate description in Exod 1:7.5 However, the substance of the pericope is interacting with fam 4 I adjust VanderKam’s translation to reflect ‫ אין שטן ואין כול רעה‬reconstructed in line 2 and a literal translation of ‫ כול ימי חיי יוסף‬in lines 1, 2, 4 of the fragment 2Q20 1 (=Jub. 46:1–3). For the reconstructed fragment, see Maurice Baillet, “Livre des Jubilés [ii],” in Les ‘Petites Grottes’ De Qumrân (ed. M. Baillet, J. Milik, R. de Vaux; DJD 3; Oxford: Clarendon, 1962), 78–79; Elisha Qimron, ed., The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2013), 2:242 (Hebrew). 5 The multiple references to the population growth in Jub. 46:1—“became numerous,” “became a populous nation,” “became numerous and increased very much”—may respond to the extravagant description in Exod 1:7 (‫ )ובני ישראל פרו וישרצו וירבו ויעצמו במאד מאד ותמלא הארץ אתם‬and/ or adopt phrasing from the more modest ‫ ויפרו וירבו מאד‬in Gen 47:27. Any argument for vocabu-

New Transitions and New Eras

27

ily scenes in Genesis 50 that Jubilees deconstructs and transposes onto a national stage. Inviting the transposition are peculiarities of phrasing that insinuate nation-narrative in the final chapters of Genesis. Immediately before a lifespan notice that anticipates Jacob’s death, the Genesis narrator indicates that “Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen” (‫)וישב ישראל בארץ מצרים בארץ גשן‬ (singular verb denoting Jacob as subject) and “acquired holdings in it and were fertile and increased greatly” (‫( )ויאחזו בה ויפרו וירבו מאד‬plural verb suggesting the Israelites as subject) (Gen 47:27). Similarly, when Joseph is on his deathbed, he addresses his brothers (‫( )אחיו‬Gen 50:24a), but elicits an oath from the Israelites (‫ )בני ישראל‬to bring up his bones when they depart Egypt and go to the land sworn to the patriarchs (Gen 50:25; cf. LXX Gen 50:25). Using the anomalies to the advantage of a new chronology, Jubilees closes the patriarchal era with Jacob’s death, noted with a citation of the lifespan report in Gen 47:28 and a formal dating in jubilee years (Jub. 45:13);6 associates the transition to nationhood with his death (Jub. 46:1); and transforms facets of the Joseph-focused family narratives in Genesis 50 into a portrait of the Israelites in Egypt under the patronage of Joseph. The account of the relationship between Joseph and his brothers after the burial of Jacob (Gen 50:15–21) is reshaped as a description of the harmony among the Israelites—“all of them were of the same mind so that each one loved the other and each one helped the other” (Jub. 46:1).7 The overlap of generations that permits Joseph to see a third generation of his grandchildren (Gen 50:23) becomes a report of the Israelites increasing in numbers for a seventy-year period (“ten weeks of years”), i. e., from the time of the initial settlement in Goshen (Gen 47:27) through “all the days of Joseph’s life” (Jub. 46:1).8 And, Joseph assuring the sustenance of his brothers and their

lary adoption remains tentative, for the Hebrew fragment (2Q20 1) begins at the end of Jub. 46:1 and does not preserve the references to population growth. 6 The lifespan report in Gen 47:28 is itself an anomaly, for unlike the parallel reports for Abraham and Isaac (Gen 25:7–8; 35:28–29), it is separated by multiple deathbed testament scenes from the account of Jacob’s death (Gen 50:33). 7 The depiction has no biblical parallel. But the ideal of brotherly love, here portrayed on a national level, may have an earlier Jubilees-created narrative as its point of reference. In a final testament that Isaac delivers to Esau and Jacob, the dying patriarch urges his two sons to “practice brotherly love among yourselves…like a man who loves himself, with each aiming at doing what is good for his brother and at doing things together on the earth.” (Jub. 36:4). Insofar as the language of the current passage recalls that scenario, it sets the era after Jacob’s death in sharp relief against the period after the death of Isaac when Esau and his sons initiate a war against ­Jacob and his sons (Jub. 37–38:14). 8 Between “after the death of Jacob,” who dies in 2188 (Jub. 45:13) and Joseph’s death in 2242 (Jub. 46:8) there is span of only 53 years. Hence, “even for ten weeks of years — for all of the days of Joseph’s life” would include the seventeen years in Goshen prior to Jacob’s death (Gen 47:27). By contrast, the next verse relates to the years of Joseph’s lifetime that “he lived after his father Jacob” (Jub. 46:2).

28

Chapter Two

children (Gen 50:21) is reworked as Joseph assuring the wellbeing of the Israelites “throughout all of days…that he lived after his father Jacob” (Jub. 46:2) The transformation of Joseph/family scenes into a national scenario reorients, but does not belittle, the significance of Joseph. His contribution to the welfare of the Israelites is heightened and his import as a public figure magnified well beyond the minimalist statement — “a new king arose who did not know Joseph”—in Exod 1:8. At the same time, the spiritual stature imputed to the son/ brother Joseph in the Genesis narratives of the family in Egypt (Genesis 48–50) dis­appears. In the Jubilees reworking there is no suggestion that Joseph is the spiritual heir to the legacy of the patriarchs. Except for a brief reference to Jacob giving Joseph two portions in the land (Jub. 45:14 alluding to Gen 48:22), the Jacob deathbed testament scenes with Joseph are deleted and their central motifs transferred to expanded accounts of the deaths of Abraham and Isaac.9 Abraham, not Jacob, presents three deathbed testaments — one to a gathering of all his progeny (Jub. 20:1–11); another to Isaac, the son who is the immediate heir (Jub. 21:1–25); and, a third to the spiritual heir, his grandson, Jacob (Jub. 22:10–24). It is Isaac, not Joseph, who “fell on his father’s face, cried, and kissed him” (Jub. 23:5 citing Gen 50:1). And Judah and Levi, the preeminent sons of Jacob, not the two sons of Joseph, accompany their father to the sickbed of the senior patriarch where, kissed and embraced, they receive special blessings at the right and left hands of their grandfather (Jub. 31:8–23 adopting the context and some of the language of Gen 48:1–20). In Jubilees there is no privileging of Joseph as heir. To the contrary, of all Jacob’s sons, it is Levi who stands out as the spiritual heir, for before he died, Jacob “gave all his books and the books of his father to his son Levi so that he could preserve them and renew them for his sons until today”(Jub. 45:16). The addition to the Genesis Jacob-deathbed scenario that Jubilees extensively truncates is telling. Whereas the deletion and summarization of those scenes respond to exegetical issues in the biblical text, the positioning of Levi at Jacob’s deathbed, a place where Joseph stands in Genesis, reflects a different Jubilees agenda —  elevation of the line of Levi. Like much of the interpretive reworking in Jubilees, the exegesis is dual functioning: it addresses problems in the biblical text (“pure” or text-weighted exegesis) and at the same time serves a polemical interest that the author seeks to promote (“applied” or polemic-informed exegesis).10 9 In Genesis, Jacob has three testament scenes — one involving Joseph alone (Gen 47:28– 31), a second with Joseph and his two sons (Genesis 48), and a third with all of the sons together (Genesis 49). Jubilees makes reference to the gathering of all the sons at Jacob’s bedside, but reduces the individual blessings in Genesis 49 to a general statement that the patriarch blessed his sons and told them what would happen to them in the near future (in Egypt) and at the end of time (Jub. 45:14). 10 On the terms “pure” and “applied” exegesis, see Geza Vermes, “Bible and Midrash: Early Old Testament Exegesis,” in Post-Biblical Jewish Studies (SJLA 8; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975), 59– 91; repr. from CHB 1 (1970). On the different types of exegesis in Jubilees, see Betsy Halpern-­

New Transitions and New Eras

29

The spiritual authority that adheres to Joseph in the Genesis accounts of the family after Jacob’s death also disappears. There is no depiction of a Joseph knowledgeable in the ways of God, reassuring insecure brothers, who, in fulfillment of Joseph’s vision as a lad (Gen 37:6–9, a scene Jubilees omits), make obeisance to him; no notice privileging Joseph to see the fulfillment of God’s promise of multiple progeny (Gen 50:23); and no patriarch-like portrait of Joseph on his deathbed recalling God’s promises “to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” and assuring his family that “he will take notice of you” (Gen 50:24–25 alluding to Exod 3:16). Instead, Joseph’s authority lies in the public forum in Egypt where there was “no satan and no evil,”11 for the Egyptians honored the Israelites “for all of the days of Joseph’s life” (Jub. 46:2). Esteem for that authority and for Joseph’s person is clearly evident in the elaborate notice that announces his death. A multi-part announcement, it combines a death/lifespan record (“Joseph died when he was 110 years of age”) (Jub. 46:3 citing Gen 50:26a); a created chronicle detailing the years of his life (“he had lived for 17 years in the land of Canaan [cf. Gen 47:28a]; for ten years he remained enslaved; he was in prison for three years; and for 80 years he was ruling the entire land of Egypt under the pharaoh”); and an acknowledgment of the end of the generation (“He died and all his brothers and all of that generation”) (Jub. 46:3 citing Exod 1:6).

From Freedom to Enslavement Another compact summary in Exodus 1 associates the transition from freedom to slavery also with the death of Joseph. In this case, the absence of Joseph’s influence on the new pharaoh and the loss of his reputation within the royal court are directly related to the monarchical concerns that precipitate enslavement of the Israelites. (8) A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. (9) And he said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are too numerous for us. (10) Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise, in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and leave the country’12(Exod 1:8–10). Amaru, “Midrash in the Book of Jubilees,” in Encyclopedia of Midrash: Biblical Interpretation in Formative Judaism (ed. J. Neusner and A. J. Avery-Peck; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2005), 1.333–48. For a focus on the “pure” exegesis in Jubilees 46, see van Ruiten, “Between Jacob’s Death,” 467–89. 11 An adaptation of ‫( אין שטן ואין פגע רע‬1 Kgs 5:18), the phrase appears four times in Jubilees — in two eschatological contexts (Jub. 23:28; 50:5); in a description of the just rule of the pharaoh after he appointed Joseph (Jub. 40:9); and here (Jub. 46:2). In each context, it involves, as in 1 Kings, a contrast between generations or eras. 12 The clause ‫ ועלה מן הארץ‬is variously translated. The JPS translation, “rise from the ground,” references Hos 2:2 and suggests “perhaps rising from their wretched condition” or “gain ascendancy over the country.” LXX and the Aramaic translations render it the equivalent

30

Chapter Two

Again Jubilees manipulates the chronology to develop a different periodization. The manipulation involves two created political scenarios, both involving burials in times of war. The first is an explanation for why Joseph, unlike Jacob, is not transported to Canaan for burial immediately after his death. To a certain extent, the Genesis narrative obscures the issue of the delayed burial by its presentation of Joseph as a somewhat of a prescient figure (Gen 50:24–25). Having omitted the literary components of that characterization, but retained the order and oath that the Israelites bring his bones along when they would leave Egypt (Jub. 46:5), Jubilees offers a detailed, inventive description of conditions preventing movement in and out of Egypt. (6) He made them swear about his bones because he knew that the Egyptians would not again bring him out and bury him on the day in the land of Canaan, since Makamaron, the king of Canaan — while he was living in the land of Asur — fought in the valley with the king of Egypt and killed him there. He pursued the Egyptians as far as the gates of Ermon. (7) He was unable to enter because another new king ruled Egypt. He was stronger than he, so he returned to the land of Canaan and the gates of Egypt were closed with no one leaving or entering Egypt (Jub. 46:6–7).

In contrast to rabbinic literature, which also addresses the matter of the delayed burial,13 the grounds Jubilees presents for the deferral relate to a war situation that resulted in total closure of the borders of Egypt. A conflict between Canaan and Egypt, the war occurs at some point during the period in which the Jubilees chronology has the Israelites thriving in Egypt. No precise date is given for the conflict; but Joseph’s knowledge of the events clearly indicates a time preceding his death. Although the narrative is notably detailed, efforts to historically contextualize its particulars have not proven particularly fruitful. Ermon, the area where the Canaanite siege of Egypt was stopped (Jub. 46:5), has been identified as Heroônpolis, which lies within the territory of Goshen, thus bringing the conflict close to the area of the Israelite settlement.14 However, Mâkamârôn, the Canaanite king who kills the king of Egypt, remains a mysterious of “go up from the country” (Tg. Ps-J. and Tg. Onq. to Exod 1:10). Since Jubilees also adopts that understanding (“they will unite with the enemy and leave our land” [Jub. 46:13]), I substitute it for the JPS translation. 13 No less a person than Moses would be involved with the transport of Joseph’s bones to Canaan (Mek. Beshallah 1). The brothers deliberately delay the burial so that Joseph will have the greater honor of being buried “by many rather than by few” (b. Sotah 13b; t. Sotah 4:7). 14 Charles, Book of Jubilees, 246; August Dillmann, ed., “Das Buch der Jubiläen,” Jahrbücher der biblischen Wissenschaft 3 (1851): 72, n. 78. The identification of Heroonpolis with Goshen appears in LXX Gen 46:28 as well as in Josephus (Ant. 2.184, 188). An addition found in the Coptic text of LXX, as well as inscriptions found at Pithom, identify Heroonpolis with that specific city (Shmuel Ahituv, “Pithom,” Encyclopedia Mikrait 6:640 [Hebrew]). Jubilees identifies the city neither with Goshen nor with Pithom.

New Transitions and New Eras

31

figure,15 and the reference to his living “in the land of Asur” may be more anachronistic than historical in character.16 The significance of the war account lies not in its historical or quasi-historical details, but rather in its construction of a particular series of events. Executing another shift in chronology, Jubilees once again moves a component of the Exodus transition narrative — the ascension of a new monarch to the throne of Egypt — to an earlier point in time. In a paraphrase of Exod 1:8 (‫ויקם מלך חדש על‬ ‫ )מצרים אשר לא ידע את יוסף‬that omits the key words, “who did not know Joseph,” Jubilees sets the succession notice into a narrative framework that totally deconstructs its functional significance within Exodus 1. In the Jubilees narrative the new monarch comes to power in the course of a war that occurs during the lifetime of Joseph whom the new pharaoh, therefore, presumably knows. Moreover, the only detrimental impact that succession has on the Israelites is that the new monarch adopts a defense strategy that impinges on any plan to transport Joseph’s body to Canaan for immediate burial after his death. In other words, the ascension of a new ruler, who, for at least a period of time, is Joseph’s contem­ porary, is of no immediate consequence to Israelite history. Having unraveled the connection between Joseph’s death and the enslavement of the Israelites in Exodus, Jubilees develops an alternative political explanation for the dramatic change in the life conditions of the Israelites: (8) Joseph died in the forty-sixth jubilee, in the sixth week, during its second year [2242]. He was buried in the land of Egypt, and all his brothers died after him. (9) Then the king of Egypt went out to fight with the king of Canaan in the forty-seventh jubilee, in the second week, during its second year [2263]. The Israelites brought out all the bones of Jacob’s sons except Joseph’s bones. They buried them in the field, in Machpelah17 in the mountain. (10) Many returned to Egypt but a few of them remained on the mountain of Hebron. Your father Amram remained with them. (11) The king of Canaan conquered the king of Egypt and closed the gates of Egypt. (12) He conceived an evil plan against the Israelites in order to make them suffer. He said to the Egyptians (13) ‘The nation of the Israelites has now increased and become more numerous than we are. Come on, let us outwit them before they multiply. Let us make them suffer in slavery before war comes our way and they, too, fight against us. Otherwise they will unite with the enemy and leave18 our land because their mind(s) and face(s look)19 toward the land of Canaan’ (Jub. 46:8–13). 15 A later version of the legend, found in Sefer Hajashar, has the Egyptian king named “Magron” (Klaus Berger, Das Buch der Jubiläen [JSHRZ 3; Gütersloh: G. Mohn, 1981], 2:330). 16 On anachronistic references to enmity between Egypt and Assyria, see Aryeh Kasher’s comments on Manetho’s reference to the Assyrians in Contra Apionem (Jerusalem: Mercaz Zalman Shazar, 1966), 2:102 and the notes to 1:77 (Hebrew). 17 For the sake of clarity, I have substituted the proper name for VanderKam’s translation, “the double cave.” 18 “They will depart” reflects LXX, Latin, Ethiopic, Exod 1:10. 19 Compare Gen 31:2 (‫ ;)וישם את פניו‬Ezek 21:2 (‫)שים פניך דרך תימנה‬.

32

Chapter Two

On the surface the pericope appears to round out the closure to the generation of Jacob’s children with an account of the burial of the brothers. But, as in the case of the Jubilees explanation for the delayed burial of Joseph, the account of the burial of Jacob’s other sons grounds a transition involving political changes in Egypt. The earlier addition left off with the siege by Canaan being stopped by the ascension of a new king, who, in the period before Joseph’s death, has the gates of Egypt closed. Approximately twenty-one years later (Jub. 46:9),20 the Egyptian king reopens the conflict and, as a consequence, also the gates of Egypt, thereby providing the Israelites with an opportunity, thwarted in the case of Joseph, to take temporary leave of Egypt and transport the bones of the tribal fathers to Canaan for burial at Machpelah. What creates opportunity for the Israelites, however, becomes the misfortune of the Egyptians. In the ensuing war, the king of Canaan conquers Egypt and closes its gates (Jub. 46:11). It is within this war context that the author of Jubilees places the Egyptian king’s change of heart toward the Israelites, “many” of whom had “returned to Egypt” before its gates were closed (Jub. 46:10). The description of how that change of heart came to be translated into a national policy of repression and enslavement (Jub. 46:12–13) develops a concrete basis for the monarchical concerns expressed in Exod 1:10. The Egyptian defeat at the hands of the king of Canaan (Jub. 46:9, 11) accounts for the anxiety that “in the event of war” the Israelites one day “may join our enemies in fighting against us” (‫והיה כי תקראנה מלחמה ונוסף גם הוא‬ …‫( )על שנאינו ונלחם בנו‬Exod 1:10). Similarly, the Israelite interest in burying the tribal fathers at Machpelah expresses an attachment to Canaan that justifies the concern that “they will go up from the land” (‫( )ועלה מן הארץ‬Exod 1:10). There is no scriptural basis for the war story that is such an integral part of the Jubilees reconstruction of the circumstances that led to Israelite enslavement. Several scholars have claimed that the war between Canaan and Egypt has a basis in historical reality and that Jubilees creatively incorporated bits of that history. Some have argued that the war account reflects the more contemporary conflict between the Ptolemies and Seleucids;21others that it suggests a fragmented historical memory either of the era after Rameses III, “when Egypt lost her Syrian dependencies,”22 or of the Hyksos period in 17th–16th century Egypt.23 20 Joseph dies “in the forty-sixth jubilee, in the sixth week, during its second year—[2242]” (Jub. 46:8); the king of Egypt goes out to war against the king of Canaan “in the forty-seventh jubilee, in the second week, during its second year [2263]” (Jub. 46:9). 21 Berger identifies the slain Egyptian king in Jub. 46:6 as Ptolemy VI and the monarch who succeeds him as Ptolemy VIII (Das Buch, 537). 22 Charles, Book of Jubilees, 246. 23 R. Kitron, “A War Between Canaan and Egypt: Fiction or Fact?” (Unpublished). Cana Werman, who supports the position that the description reflects historical events, has argued that the author of Jubilees was aware of the writings of Hellenized Jews in Egypt (“The Book of Jubilees in a Hellenistic Context,” Zion 3 [2001]: 275–96 [Hebrew]). The author’s awareness

New Transitions and New Eras

33

It is also possible that the story is essentially legendary and that the legend acquired the status of a tradition with its own literary history. A number of texts that postdate Jubilees, and in some instances possibly reflect its influence, preserve that tradition in various forms. There are references to a war between Egypt and Canaan in the accounts of the burials of Simeon and Benjamin in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, where the departure is undertaken “secretly,”24 and to Egyptian fear of a looming war with Canaan in an unknown midrash cited in Yalkut Reubeni on Exod 1:10. With the combatants and historical context changed, the war tradition also appears in a number of other sources. Josephus describes a war between Cush and Egypt in which Moses leads the Egyptian army;25 in rabbinic legend the Ephraimites, led by a descendant of Joseph, attempt to return to Canaan, but their effort is aborted after a military encounter with the Philistines;26 and in Sefer Hayashar a conflict involving Zepho, Esau’s grandson, the Kittim, and the Ishmaelites against the Egyptians assisted by the Israelites is in the background of the Egyptian enslavement of the Israelites.27 More contemporary with and a possible source for Jubilees is a formulation of the war legend that appears in the introduction to Visions of Amram ar.28 The work has not survived in the original; but the five copies found at Qumram (4Q543–4Q547) offer a presentation of the legend that demonstrates a number of

of and exegetical use of Egyptian historical traditions would come from the same source. More difficult to entertain is the view of Doron Mendels who, reading Jubilees 46 almost exclusively as a political writing, views the war account as evidence that “the relationship between Egypt and Asshur determined to a large extent the position of the Jews in Eretz Israel” (The Land of Israel as a Political Concept in Hasmonean Literature [TSAJ 15; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1987], 88). 24 Simeon’s bones are brought out “during the war of the Egyptians” (T. Sim. 8:2) and Benjamin’s “during the war of Canaan” (T. Benj. 12:4). The need for secrecy in the former is attributed to a belief that a great plague of darkness would come upon Egypt with the departure of Joseph’s bones (T. Sim. 8:3–4). On other parallels with Jubilees, see the notes in Harm W. Hollander and Marinus de Jonge, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Commentary (SVTP 8; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978), 127–28; 445. 25 Ant. 2.10. In the Chronicles of Jerahmeel a variant of the story has Moses leading Syria and the people of the East against Cush (Chr. Jerah. 45). 26 Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews (5th ed.; 7 vols.; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1958), 3:8–9; 6:2–3. In the legend the Ephraimite attempt to return is not related to the burial of the fathers. However, their efforts do have an impact, as in the Jubilees story, on the Egyptian attitude toward the Israelites. In some sources the Ephraimite attempt is presented as an attempt to hasten the end. An obscure reference in Song R. 2.7, which Ginzberg strangely relates to Jub. 46:9–11, casts Amram’s return to Canaan in that same light. 27 Josef ben Shumel Hakatan, ed. Sefer Hayashar (Berlin: Benjamin Herz, 1923), Parshat Shmot, 231–34 (Hebrew). 28 For another perspective on the Jubilees war story and the Visions of Amram, see James VanderKam,“ Jubilees 46:6–47:1 and 4QVisions of Amram,” DSD 17 (2010): 141–58.

34

Chapter Two

parallels with the war/burial stories found in Jubilees 46.29 All five copies are fragmentary and the published version in DJD 31 reflects a significant amount of reconstruction. The following selection is a composite of the legible text in the five copies that employs 4Q544 1, one of the fuller copies of the introduction to Amram’s visions, as its base.30 … ‫קהת תמן למקם ולמעמרא ולמבנא ק‬

1

… ‫שגיאין מן בני דדי כחד‬ ‫ שנת רישי ברשו‬vacat  ‫גבר ומן עבדתנא שגי לחדא עד י … רון מתין‬

2

. . ‫שמועת קרב מבהלה תאב … רתנא לארע מ … ן וסלקת למקב‬ ‫לעובע ולה בנו קבריא די אבהתהון ושבקוני אבי ק … ולמבנה ולמסב‬

3

… ‫להון כול צרכיהון מן ארע כנען‬ . . ‫ וקרבא הוא בין פלשת למצרין ונצח‬vacat ‫עד אנחנא בנין‬

4

… ‫ואחידו ג … מצרין ולא איתי אפשר … תאתה‬

5

‫שנין ארבעין וחדא ולא הוינה יכלין למתב למצרין‬

6

… ‫על כן ל‬ … ‫בין מצרין לכנען ולפלשת ובכול דן יוכבד אנ‬

7

. . .‫מטרתי‬vacat … ‫ ונש‬vacat ‫ … אנה אנתה אחרי … נסבת‬vacat ‫לא הוה‬

8

‫כולא די אתוב למצרין בשלם ואחזה אנפי אנחתי‬

9

‫………………………… חזית‬

English Translation31 1 Qahat went there to stay and to dwell and to build ‫ק‬32 … many of the sons of my uncle together 29 The fragments have been reconstructed by Émile Puech and published in Qumrân Grotte 4.XXII: Textes Araméens (ed. É. Puech; DJD 31; Oxford: Clarendon, 2001), 283–405. Although the dates of the copies are later than that usually assigned to Jubilees (160–155 BCE), Puech believes the work was known to the author of Jubilees. On paleographic grounds he dates 4Q543, 4Q544, and 4Q547 to the second half of the second century BCE; and assigns 4Q545 and 4Q546 to the first or second half of the first century BCE. Puech considers 4Q548 a possible sixth copy and treats 4Q549 as also belonging to the 4QVisions of Amram (DJD 31:285–87). Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, however, treat 4Q549 as a separate work, which they identify as “Work Mentioning Hur and Miriam” (The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998], 2:1096). 30 The composite presented here is restricted to text legible in one or more of the copies and does not include Puech’s reconstructions. A single underline marks text from 4Q544 1; a double underline indicates that the text is also found in one or more of the other copies; and a broken underline indicates text that is found in one of the copies, but not in 4Q544. Illegible text within the composite is indicated by ellipses without the number of letter spaces being counted. On the reconstruction, consult the published fragments in DJD 31.  31 Translation into English mine. 32 Presuming tombs (‫)קבריא‬.

New Transitions and New Eras

35

2 ‫גבר‬33 and our work was very great until the dead would be bur[ied]34 vacat during the first year of appearan[ce] there was a frightening rumor of war…our group returned to the land of E…and I went up to bur… 3 in haste, and they did not build the tombs of their fathers and my father Q[ahat] permitted me…to build and obtain for them all they needed from the land of Canaan… 4 Until we built vacat And war broke out between Philistia and Egypt and were victorious… 5 And they closed the ‫…ג‬35of Egypt and it was not possible…to come 6 forty-one years and we could not return to Egypt, therefore it was n[ot]36… 7 between Egypt, Canaan, and Philistia. And during all this Jochebed, (my) wif… and my guard… 8 she was not vacat…I …take another wife vacat and ‫ונש‬37… 9 all that I will return to Egypt in peace and I will see the face of my wife …I have seen

According to the legible text in the fragments,38Amram, together with Qahat and his cousins, went up from Egypt to Canaan to build tombs for the burial (of their fathers).39 Construction of those tombs, which required an extensive amount of work, was interrupted by a frightening rumor of war and the group returned to Egypt without completing the work (4Q544 1 1–3; 4Q545 1 12–17).40 The sequence of events suggests that Amram also went back to Egypt (4Q545 1 16–17);41 but with the permission of his father, Qahat, (4Q546 2 3),42 he returned to Canaan to complete the building of the tombs. While he was there, war broke out between Philistia, Canaan, and Egypt (4Q545 1 19).43 Egypt was defeated; the entries to Egypt were closed (4Q544 1 5); and for forty-one years neither Amram nor those who were with him was able to return (4Q544 1 6). If Puech is correct in reading a reference to Jochebed in the feminine verbs of 4Q544 1 8 33 Puech translates homme. 34 Presuming ‫יתקברון‬. 35 Puech has reconstructed ‫גבולי‬, but only the first letter is legible. Verbally commenting on the reconstruction, Moshe Bernstein has noted that gates, not borders, were closed in antiquity. 36 ‫( לא‬not) is presumed on the basis of the legible ‫ל‬. 37 Puech reconstructs “women” (‫)ונשין‬. 38 Except where indicated to the contrary, my comments refer to text that is legible in one or more of the five copies. Where a text appears in more than one copy, the multiple sources are identified either within the body of the analysis or in an accompanying note. 39 “Of their fathers” is reconstructed on the basis of ‫ אבהתהון‬in 4Q544 1 3. Letters of the word are also partially legible in 4Q545 1 17 and 4Q546 2 3.  40 The text is partially legible in 4Q546 2 1 and 4Q547 1–2 1. 41 The text of these lines is partially visible also in 4Q546 2 2. 42 On the basis of the plural verb (‫ )שבקוני‬in 4Q545 1 17 and 4Q546 2 3, Puech reconstructs the line such that the permission comes from Qahat and Jochebed. However, neither “my wife” nor her name is legible is this line. 43 Also partially legible in 4Q543 3 3 and 4Q544 1 4.

36

Chapter Two

(“she was not”) and 4Q547 1–2 4 (“she would come”),44 the war also prevented movement out of Egypt, for Amram’s wife was not able to join him in Canaan. During all this time Amram did not see his wife, nor did he take another wife (4Q544 1 8–9).45 Parallels between this narrative and the burial/war accounts in Jubilees 46 suggest that the author of Jubilees was aware of a tradition similar to that found in Visions of Amram, that he selectively adopted aspects of that tradition, and incorporated them within his own burial narratives. Accordingly, Joseph’s report of a war that would interfere with his being brought to Canaan for burial (Jub. 46:6) might be an adaptation of the “frightening rumor of war” that interrupted the initial burial party (Composite, line 2). Moreover, the closure of the gates of Egypt “with no one leaving or entering” (Jub. 46:7) might reflect the same closure that prevented Jochebed from leaving and Amram from returning (Composite, lines 5–7). Comparably suggestive are similarities between the burial of the fathers in Jub. 46:8–11 and the burial story in Visions. Each involves the burial of the tribal progenitors (Composite, line 3); in both the burial is associated, albeit quite differently, with a war involving Canaan and Egypt;46 and each takes particular note of Amram’s participation in the burials. More specific points of contact between the two narratives can also be suggested. “Many returned to Egypt” in Jub. 46:10 parallels the motif of the group returning to Egypt in the Composite (line 2); the presence of others remaining with Amram, as indicated by “a few of them remained” in Jub. 46:10, corresponds to the plural form of the verb “were able” (‫לא‬ ‫ )הוינה יכלין‬in the Composite (line 6). In both texts we hear that Egypt is closed to entry and exit — the king of Canaan closed the “gates of Egypt” after he defeated the king of Egypt (Jub. 46:11) and an unspecified “they” closed off access to Egypt, presumably after Philistia and Canaan defeated Egypt (Composite, line 5). Moreover, the time frames each gives for the duration of Amram’s stay in Canaan are quite similar. Jubilees does not state a specific duration; but the dates it assigns to his departure for Canaan (2263) (Jub. 46:9) and return to Egypt (2303) (Jub. 47:1) constitute a stay of forty years, notably close to the forty-one year stay in Visions (Composite, line 6). At the same time, the Jubilees narrative of the burial of the tribal fathers departs in significant ways from the tradition presented in the Visions of Amram. Most striking is the absence from Jubilees of the personal family details that are so vivid in the 4Q543–547 fragments — Amram’s cousins go up with him to build the tombs for their fathers (Composite, line 1); his father, Qahat, is twice men-

44 The reading is supported by the continuation of the narrative. 45 Partially legible in 4Q543 4 4 and 4Q547 1–2 7. 46 In Visions of Amram, Philistia is also a combatant (Composite, line 4, reflecting 4Q545 1 19 and line 7, reflecting 4Q544 1 7).

New Transitions and New Eras

37

tioned by name (Composite, lines 1, 3); and although Jochebed’s name is legible only once (Composite, line 7), her presence is clearly felt in the reference Amram makes to “my wife” not being able to come to Canaan (Composite, lines 7–8), in his attestation to not having taken another wife during the forty-one years he was in Canaan (Composite, line 8), and in his expression of longing to look upon “the face of my wife” (‫ )ואחזה אנפי אנחתי‬when he would return in peace to Egypt (Composite, line 9). The omission of such details is consistent with the national perspective that Jubilees develops throughout its reconstruction of Exod 1:1–10. At the same time, however, the reference to “your father Amram” in the Jubilees burial tale dramatically departs from that orientation. There are no personal details or development of Amram as a character; the only information offered is that he stayed on with a few others and lived “on the mountain of Hebron” (Jub. 46:10). Significantly, that particular location is not legible in any of the copies of Visions of Amram,47 suggesting the possibility that the Hebron motif may originate with Jubilees. There are multiple allusions to Hebron in the Jubilees reworking of the patriarchal narratives. Locating Alon Mamre near or at Hebron and/or identifying Alon Mamre and Kiriath-Arba with Hebron, a number of these allusions essentially replicate the material in Genesis (Jub. 13:21; 16:1, 10; 19:1–2, 5; 33:21(cf. 29:19)// Gen 13:18; 18:1; 23:2, 17, 19; 35:27).48 Abram goes to Hebron after his separation from Lot (Jub. 13:21); he is there at the time of the Covenant Between the Pieces (Jub. 14:10)49 and when the angel-visitors announce the future birth of Isaac (Jub. 16:1); he arranges for burial of Sarah at Machpelah in the area of Hebron (Jub. 19:2–9); and subsequently, he is buried at Machpelah (Jub. 23:7). Isaac is living in Hebron where Jacob, having returned from Mesopotamia, visits his father immediately before his death (Jub. 31:5). Jacob is residing there when he sends Joseph to seek out the welfare of his brothers (Jub. 34:10) and he is buried “near his 47 Puech inserts “Hebron” into his reconstruction of 4Q545 1 18; but the place name is not legible there or in any of the other copies. 48 Jub. 13:21 reads “Hebron” instead “the terebinths of Mamre, which are in Hebron” in Gen 13:18; Jub. 16:1 reads “the terebinths of Mamre” as in Gen 18:1; Jub. 16:10 reads “from Hebron” in place of “from there” in Gen 20:1; Jub. 19:5 identifies Mamre with Hebron as in Gen 23:19; Jub. 19:1 reverses the order, but keeps the identification of Kiriath-Arba with Hebron in Gen 23:2; Jub. 33:11 reads “house of Abraham” and 29:19 “the tower of his father Abraham in the mountain of Hebron” in place of “Mamre at Kiriath-Arba — now Hebron” in Gen 35:27. 49 There is no reference to Abraham’s location in the Genesis 15 account of the Covenant Between the Pieces. Jubilees rearranges the reference in Gen 14:13 (‫ )והוא שכן באלני ממרא‬to that covenant context (“He was living at the oak of Mamre that is near Hebron”) (Jub. 14:10). The rearrangement detaches the notice from the Genesis narrative of Abram’s alliance with the Amorite kings (abhorrent to the author’s worldview and omitted in Jubilees). Its placement in the middle of the Jubilees narrative of the Covenant Between the Pieces may reflect the significance ascribed to that covenant and its promises. On the Jubilees presentation of the redemption from Egypt as fulfillment of those promises, see the discussion in Chapter 4.

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father Abraham” in the grave which he, like Isaac (Jub. 36:2), had dug for himself in the cave at Machpelah “in the land of Hebron” (Jub. 45:15).50 Far more significant than its replication of Genesis material is the Jubilees incorporation of substantive additions that fill out the biblical narrative and develop a history of patriarchal residence at Hebron. Appearing relatively early in the Abraham narratives, the first of the additions includes Hebron among the places (the others being Shechem and the hill country between Bethel and Ai as in Gen 12:6, 8) where Abram goes when he initially enters the land of Canaan. Perhaps signaling the import of Hebron in the life of the patriarch, Jubilees has Abram not just stopping, but residing at Hebron for two years, during which time the city was built51 (Jub. 13:10).52 Other additions involving Hebron all relate in some way to a residential compound where each of the patriarchs resides at some point during his lifetime. 50 The passage, a summary account of Jacob’s burial, reflects the instructions Joseph ascribes to his father—“be sure to bury me in the grave I made ready for myself in the land of Canaan” (Gen 50:5). 51 The notice, “Hebron had been built at that time” (Jub. 13:10), is complemented by a notice in the subsequent account of Abram and Sarai in Egypt—“Egyptian Tanais was built at that time — seven years after Hebron” (Jub. 13:12). The combined notices are a reworking of Num 13:22 (‫ )וחברון שבע שנים נבנתה לפני צען מצרים‬placed in a context that has none of the negative overtones of the narrative of the spies in Numbers 13. On the positive presentation of the desert generation in Jubilees and the recontextualization strategy that neutralizes negative portrayals, see Jub. 50:4 and the discussion in Chapter 8. 52 Abram’s two year stay at Hebron before his descent to Egypt also appears in the Genesis Apocryphon (XIX 9–10), but without the allusion to Num 13:22. There Abram presents himself as the builder of city in which he lives for two years (‫ואתית עד די דבקת לחברון ולמדינה דן ב[נ]יאת‬ ‫( )חברון ויתבת [תמ]ן‬XIX, 9–10a as reconstructed by Daniel Machiela) before going to Egypt. On Machiela’s reconstruction, see the notes in his The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon: A New Text and Translation with Introduction and Special Treatment of Columns 13–17 (STDJ 79; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2009), 70. The relationship between Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees continues to be a subject of debate. The Apocryphon scroll is dated paleographically to 25 BCE through 50 CE. Since no other copy has been found, some scholars suggest that it may be the autograph, thus making the date of composition well after that of Jubilees (Joseph Fitzmyer, The Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave 1 (1Q20) A Commentary [3rd ed.; BibOr 18/B; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 2004], 26–28 and “Genesis Apocryphon,” in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls [ed. L. Schiffman and J. VanderKam; 2 vols.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000], 1:302). Other scholars, however, believe that Genesis Apocryphon predated and served as a source for traditions in the Book of Jubilees (Cana Werman, “Qumran and The Book of Noah,” in Pseudepigraphic Perspectives: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls [ed. E. Chazon and M. Stone; DTDJ 31; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999], 172 and Esther Eshel, “The Aramaic Levi Document, The Genesis Apocryphon, and Jubilees: A Study of Shared Traditions,” in Enoch and the Mosaic Torah: The Evidence of Jubilees (ed. G. Boccaccini and G. Ibba; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2009), 87–91. Thirdly, there is the possibility that Jubilees and Genesis Apocryphon developed independently of each other, but at certain points reflect a common set of traditions (Machiela, The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon, 140–42).

New Transitions and New Eras

39

­ ocated on “the mountain of Hebron” (Jub. 29:19; 36:20) it is variously referred L to as “the house of Abraham” (Jub. 22:24; 32:22; 33:21; cf. 44:1)53 or “the tower of Abraham” (Jub. 29:17–19; 36:12, 19; cf. 31:6; 37:14, 16, 17; 38:4–9).54 Jubilees does not indicate when this compound was constructed. Since Abraham takes up permanent residence in the Hebron area in “the first year of the first week in the forty-second jubilee [2010],” i. e., fourteen years before Sarah’s death (Jub. 19:1–2),55 presumably the house was constructed before that date. The date, exactly four hundred years before the exodus from Egypt,56 suggests that Abraham’s residence there is the beginning of a redemptive process involving the land. If so, it would 53 There is a reference to ‫ בירת אברהם‬in ALD 5:6, an account of Jacob visiting Isaac that has a parallel in the visit described in Jubilees 31 (Jonas Greenfield, Michael Stone, Esther Eshel, The Aramaic Levi Document: Edition, Translation, Commentary [SVTP 19; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2004], 153–54). Multiple allusions to a house owned by Abraham also appear in the first century CE Testament of Abraham, (e.g., Recension A: 3:1; 4:1–3; 5:1; 15:1; 17:1; Recension B: 3:4; 5:1; 6:1). Neither recension stresses the location of the house, but its luxurious nature is clearly suggested in T. Ab. 4:1–3 (Recension A). On the Aramaic Levi Document as a possible source for the author of Jubilees, see among others, Greenfield, Stone, Eshel, Aramaic Levi, 19–22; Henryk Drawnel, An Aramaic Wisdom Test from Qumran: A New Interpretation of the Levi Document (JSJSup 86; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2004, ­63–75; Pierre Grélot, “Le coutumier sacercotal ancien dans le Testament araméen de Levi,” RevQ 15 (1991), 255 and “Le livre des Jubiles et le Testament de Levi,” in Mélanges Domi­ niques Barthélemy: Études bibliques offertes à l’occasion de son 60e anniversaire (ed. P. Casetti, O. Keel, and A. Schenker; OBO 38; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1981), 109–31. 54 The Ethiopic denotation of the residence as māḫəfad, “tower, citadel, fortress,” suits certain contexts, e.g., the war between Jacob and Esau in Jubilees 37–38. In other contexts, however, a multi-dwelling compound or manor seems more appropriate, e.g., Jub. 31:6; 36:19. Paul Mandel has demonstrated that the Hebrew term ‫( בירה‬Aramaic ‫ )בירתא‬carried both understandings (“Birah as an Architectural Term in Rabbinic Literature,” Tarbiz 61 [1992], 195–217 [Hebrew]). Since no Hebrew text for the passages where the Ethiopic has māḫəfad (tower) and beta (house) is extant, one can only postulate a distinction between them in the original Hebrew. If the Hebrew read ‫בירה‬, as is suggested by ‫ בירת אברבם‬in ALD 5:6, the Greek translated it βαρις (See Syncellus 203.10 [βαρεως] reflecting Jub. 37:17, the only passage with māḫəfad that is preserved in Greek). Originally denoting a flat-bottomed boat, βαρις also came to mean both a large building/palace (as in LXX Ps 44 (45):8 [cf. LXX 2 Chr 36:19; Dan 9:2]) as well as a tower (Henry G. Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek English Lexicon [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968], 1:307). It appears that the Ethiopic translation consistently adopted māḫəfad wherever the Greek had βαρις. In contrast, where the Latin, also translated from a Greek Vorlage, is extant, bari(n) is used in passages where the Ethiopic reads māḫəfad (Jub. 29:17, 19) and also where it has the more general beta (Jub. 33:21; 34:3) (VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 1:283–84; 288–89). 55 By locating Abraham in Kiriath Arba well before Sarah’s death, Jubilees removes any suggestion that he was still living in Beersheba (to which he had returned after the crisis of the Akedah [Gen 22:19]) when Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (i. e., Hebron) (Gen 23:2). On the implication that the couple is living separately and its significance to the Jubilees conception of the ideal patriarchal marriage, see Halpern-Amaru, Empowerment, 47–73. 56 Jubilees does not provide an explicit date for the exodus from Egypt. The date is conveyed through other events that occur in the same year, i. e., Moses’s return to Egypt (Jub. 48:1) and the revelation on Sinai (Jub. 50:4).

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appear that Jubilees uses establishment of the residence at Hebron as a counterpoint to the prediction of four-hundred years of enslavement in Gen 15:13 (=Jub. 14:13).57 Such a possibility is strengthened by the motivation Jubilees has Abraham present for construction of the residence—“this house I have built for myself to put my name on it in the land…it will be called Abraham’s house” (Jub. 22:24).58 Abraham lives at this house until his death, which, if it occurs in 2051, when he is 175 (Jub. 23:8),59 is forty-one years later. Isaac, together with his family, resides with Abraham at Hebron after Sarah’s death (Jubilees 19) (a Jubilees development of the Gen 35:27 description of Hebron as “where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned”) and from there regularly travels to inspect his possessions in Beersheba (Jub. 22:2). He remains at the patriarchal homestead until sometime after Abraham’s death, whereupon he and his family move south for more than forty years.60 While Jacob is in Haran, Esau marries Ishmael’s daughter and moves to Mt. Seir, thereby leaving his parents alone in Beersheba. Consequently, Isaac and Rebecca return to “the tower of Abraham in the mountain of Hebron” 57 VanderKam, on the other hand, suggests that the four-hundred-year prediction is reflected in the time span between the Abraham’s death and the Israelite entrance into the land (“Studies in the Chronology of the Book of Jubilees,” in James VanderKam, From Revelation to Canon: Studies in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature (JSJSup 61, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999), 539. 58 My translation. The passage, which is part of Abraham’s final testament to Jacob, is enigmatic. One may understand “house” (Ethiopic bet; Hebrew ‫ )בית‬as a physical domicile or metaphorically as a family line. Comparably, the Ethiopic mədr, like the Hebrew ‫ארץ‬, can mean either “land” or “earth.” I am inclined to view the full passage as a play on the double meaning of the words. Given subsequent references to the property at Hebron as “Abraham’s house” (Jub. 31:5; 32:22; 33:21; cf. 27:27; 28:25; 29:3), I understand the first part of the passage as referring to the patriarchal residence and translate mədr as land (contra VanderKam, but in accord with Berger, Littmann, and Goldmann; [note to Jub. 22:24 in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 2:133]) and the continuation—“you will build my house and establish my name before God”—as employing “house” in the metaphoric sense of family line. 59 That Abraham dies at 175 is explicitly stated in Jub. 23:8. Since he was born in 1876 (Jub. 11:15), the date would be 2051. However, in several other passages (Jub. 21:2, 22:1, 7) where Abraham is also said to be 175, different dates are given. A Hebrew fragment (4QJubd I, 11 confirms part of the date (“the seventh”/‫ )השביעי‬in Jub. 21:2; another fragment (4QJubd II, 35) indicates an error in the jubilee number in Jub. 22:1, but the date assigned to Abraham’s death in the reconstructed Hebrew text still does not correlate with a 175-year life span. For attempts to account for the problems in the Abrahamic chronology, see VanderKam, “Studies in the Chronology,” 532–540 and Michael Segal, “The Literary Relationship Between the Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees: The Chronology of Abram and Sarai’s Descent to Egypt,” Aramaic Studies 8 (2010): 79–86. 60 He leaves Hebron “during the first year of the third week” of the forty-third jubilee (2073) and lives for seven years at the Well of the Vision (Jub. 24:1); thereafter, he moves to Gerar where he lives for twenty-one years (Jub. 24:8, 12). He subsequently goes to the valleys of Gerar for an additional seven years and then to Beersheba where he remains until after Jacob departs to Haran (2115) (Jub. 24:17, 21, 27:19; 29:17–19).

New Transitions and New Eras

41

(Jub. 29:17–19) and reside there until their deaths, in the case of Isaac, approximately forty-seven years later.61 The only patriarch born at the Hebron family residence, Jacob lives there until his twenty-seventh year when he moves south together with his father and the rest of the family. When he returns from Mesopotamia, Jacob intends to settle at Bethel; but an angel directs him to “go to the house of your father Abraham and live where your father is until the day of your father’s death” (Jub. 32:22). Thereupon, together with “all his sons,” Jacob takes up residence “at the house of Abraham near his father Isaac and his mother Rebecca” (Jub. 33:21). He lives on “the mountain of Hebron, in the tower” (Jub. 36:19) for another twenty-seven years (from 2145) until he and his extended family go down to sojourn in Egypt (2172). Supplementing this narrative of the patriarchal residence at the Hebron homestead is a record of the transference of the property across generations. On his deathbed, Abraham bequeaths it to Jacob and his descendants to hold “forever” (Jub. 22:24). At the time of his death, Isaac attempts to give the larger part of his estate, including “the tower, everything around it, and everything Abraham had acquired at the well of the oath” to “the man who was the first to be born” (Jub. 36:12). Esau, who had promised his mother on her deathbed that he would love his brother (Jub. 35:22–24), informs his father that he had sold his birthright to Jacob and that he will do “absolutely nothing about it because it belongs to him” (Jub. 36:14). Consequently, Jacob’s inheritance of the Hebron property is doubly legitimated; it is spiritually grounded in Abraham’s deathbed blessing and legally founded in the realia of a parental transfer of property to the holder of the birthright.62 That legitimacy is challenged in a war that breaks out when, Esau, not unlike Canaan son of Ham (Jubilees 8–10),63 reneges on the vow he had made to each of his parents, lays claim to Jacob’s inheritance, and ignoring Jacob’s pleas, attacks the tower (Jubilees 37). In the course of the ensuing war Jacob kills Esau; Jacob’s sons defeat the sons of Esau and their allies; and Esau’s sons are forced to pay tribute (Jub. 38:1–14).64 61 From around 2115, the year Jacob left for Haran (Jub. 27:19), until 2162, the date of Isaac’s death (Jub. 36:1, 18). On Isaac residing at ‫בירת אברהם‬, see ALD 5:6. 62 For a similar doubling to strengthen legitimacy, see the multiple bases for Levi’s elevation to the priesthood (Jub. 31:13–17 [Isaac’s blessing]; 32:1 [Levi’s dream]; 32:3 [Levi as Jacob’s tithe]). 63 After the division of the earth, Noah’s sons and grandsons take an oath not to occupy “until eternity” the share of another (Jub. 9:14–15). However, Canaan violates that oath and settles together with his sons in the land belonging to the line of Shem (Jub. 10:29–34). 64 The legend of the war between the sons of Jacob and the sons of Esau appears in various forms in Second Temple and rabbinic literature. Jubilees presents the earliest known form of the legend; abbreviated variations appear in T. Jud. 9, Yal. Reub. 162, Chr. Jerah. 37:1–14. In Sefer Ha-Yashar (Wa-Yehi) and other sources the war involves the Machpelah cave and occurs at the time of the burial of Jacob (b. Sotah 13a; PRE 39). On the history of the legend and chronology of the sources, see Charles, Book of Jubilees, 214.

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Such is the Jubilees background to the site where Amram, the grandson of Levi and the father of Moses, resides after the burial of the fathers. His presence there sustains a tradition that began with Abraham and continued through his grandfather, Levi, and his father, Qahat, each of whom had also lived at the Hebron family compound.65 Jubilees places the notice of Amram’s residence at the Hebron homestead at the end of the burial narrative (Jub. 46:10) and immediately before the account of Israelite enslavement (Jub. 46:11ff). The positioning of the notice at precisely this point in the narrative relates to the significance Jubilees attributes to the line of Levi. As we have seen, at the intersection of patriarchal and Israelite history, Jubilees has Jacob designate Levi heir to the patriarchal books (Jub. 45:16). Interrupting the flow of the narrative and undeveloped, the interjection of the Levi motif at that particular point serves only one purpose — to signal the close of one era and the beginning of another. The reference to “your father, Amram” remaining together with a few others on the “mountain of Hebron” at the close of the burial narrative is comparably awkward. The war/burial story with the Israelites going to enemy territory in a time of hostile relations between Egypt and Canaan already provides a narrative bridge to the forthcoming account of Israelite enslavement. The placement of Amram on top of that bridge interrupts an otherwise national story and is no more developed than Levi’s inheritance of his grandfather’s books. The parallels suggest that the insertion of Amram into the current context serves the same compositional function as that of Levi into the earlier narrative. Much as Levi’s inheritance signaled a shift from patriarchal to national history, so Amram’s residence at Hebron provides another Levite marker at the next historical juncture, the shift from national freedom to an enslavement that will end one hundred and forty-seven years, i. e., three jubilees (2410) (Jub. 48:1; 50:4), after Amram’s arrival at the mountain of Hebron (2263) (Jub. 46:9–10).

From Enslavement in Egypt to the Birth of Moses The last transition does not involve matters of chronological sequence, but rather the significance a chronological structure assigns to particular events. In Exodus the birth of Moses is contextualized within a description of sets of failed Egyptian policies. One set involves degrees of oppression to inhibit the continuing growth of Israelite numbers. When simply enslaving the Israelites proves ineffective (Exod 1:10–11), a policy of ruthless forced labor is imposed (Exod 1:12–14). 65 There is no specific reference to Levi or Qahat living at the Hebron residence. However, since Jacob moves there “with his sons” (Jub. 33:21), Levi would be included. That Qahat resided there with Levi is inferred from the inclusion of his name among the sons of Levi who went to Egypt when the family left Hebron (Jub. 44:14).

New Transitions and New Eras

43

Another is the initiation of a set of infanticide policies. The first strategy involves requiring the Hebrew midwives to kill the male infants (Exod 1:15–16); failure of the midwives to adhere to that requirement leads to the more rigorous policy requiring that every male newborn66 be thrown into the Nile (Exod 1:17–22). The failure of this last policy is reflected in the account of Moses’s birth and deliverance that follows immediately thereafter (Exod 2:1–10).67 Adopting a totally different structure, the Jubilees reworking retains only the Exodus account of the first phase of enslavement: the description of the building activities of the Israelites (Jub. 46:14 citing Exod 1:11); the failure of the oppressive policy (Jub. 46:15 combining Exod 1:12ab and 1:13);68 and the Egyptian attitude toward the Israelites (Jub. 46:16 citing Exod 1:12c).69 Within the citations there are two changes for purposes of clarification. Describing the building of the fortified cities as rebuilding—“They built every wall and all the fortifications which had fallen down in the cities of Egypt”—Jub. 46:14 relates the construction to the Jubilees war story. The other, a substitution of “detestable” in the sense of impure (’astarākwasa) for “despised” (‫( )ויקצו מפני‬Jub. 46:16), presents the animosity the Egyptians feel towards the Israelites in terms that reflect a Jubilees worldview.70 No second stage elevating the oppressive level of enslavement71 and no policy of infanticide72 precede the announcement of Moses’s birth. Consequently, the announcement is neither attached to nor contextualized by the account of Egyptian oppression.73 Instead, Jubilees introduces the birth of Moses with the reappearance of Amram, specifically a note indicating his return from Canaan (Jub. 47:1). No reason is given for the return; no explanation is offered for why he would elect to come 66 That the decree applies only to Israelite infants is not explicitly stated in MT Exod 1:22. In contrast, LXX, Sam., OL and EthGen 1:22 all specify a male child born to the Hebrews. 67 Such a reading views the Moses nativity story in Exod 1:1–10 as structurally connected to Exod 1:15–22. For a summary of other structural readings, see van Ruiten, “The Birth of Moses,” 44–45, particularly notes 3–8. 68 The sequence is inverted in Jub. 46:15. “They were enslaving them by force” (=Exod 1:13); “but however much they would make them suffer the more they would multiply and the more they would increase” (=Exod 1:12ab). 69 Jubilees, like LXX, OL, and EthExod 1:12c, specifically mentions “the Egyptians” whereas MT Exod 1:12c employs a pronoun. 70 See Jub. 23:17; 30:13; 33:14. 71 The introduction of that elevation, Exod 1:13, is instead rearranged and attached to the report of the failure of the policy (Jub. 46:15). 72 The story of the midwives is totally omitted; Pharaoh’s decree regarding the throwing of male infants into the river follows the announcement of Moses’s birth (Jub. 47:2) 73 Jonathan Cohen suggests that Jubilees omits the infanticide narratives to eliminate the discontinuity of the Exodus narrative, which combines the enslavement account with a doubly structured nativity story (The Origins and Evolution of the Moses Nativity Story [SHR 58; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993], 10–30). His reading misses the structural coherence of the Exodus 1:11–2:10 narrative that the Jubilees reworking seeks to deconstruct.

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to Egypt at a time when the Israelites were enslaved; and no reference is made to Jochebed that would, if only by implication, connect his return to the Exodus passage — ‫( וילך איש מבית לוי ויקח את בת לוי‬Exod 2:1)—that may have served as the exegetical basis for the Amram story in Visions of Amram.74 The only information Jubilees provides about Amram’s return from the mountain of Hebron is its date—“during the seventh week, in the seventh year, in the forty-seventh jubilee [2303], your father came from the land of Canaan” (Jub. 47:1a). The date is one hundred and forty-seven years or three jubilees before the Israelites enter the land of Canaan (2450) (Jub. 50:4).75 Unusually formulated as a set of sevens (“seventh week, in the seventh year”),76 it also marks a closure, for Amram ends his sojourn on the mountain of Hebron in the last year of six jubilees precisely to the week and the year after Abraham established permanent residence there “during the first year of the first week in the forty-second jubilee [2010])” (Jub. 19:1). Such precision highlights the dates Jubilees assigns to Abraham settling in the area of Hebron (Jub. 19:1), to Amram’s arrival at the mountain of Hebron (Jub. 46:9–10), and to Amram’s return to Egypt (Jub. 47:1). Intratextual contradictions notwithstanding, the year/week/jubilee dates are deliberately constructed77 as signposts in a Jubilees-created epoch whose central motif is the land. At the beginning of the epoch Abraham establishes permanent residence opposite Hebron (2010); at its end the Israelites enter the land (2450). Mediating the two points is Amram’s stay on the mountain of Hebron. His arrival is three jubilees before the exodus from Egypt (2263–2410). His departure, closing six jubilees of residence there by the patriarchs and their descendants, is three jubilees before the Israelite return to the land (2303–2450). The created epoch is exegetically rooted in Exodus passages that connect the imminent redemption from Egypt to the patriarchal past and to the Israelite future in the land (Exod 3:6–8, 16–17; 6:3–8). There is, however, no scriptural 74 Although no explicit connection is made to the passage in Visions of Amram, the references to Jochebed suggest that the story of Amram might be an exegetical response to Exod 2:1. If so, “he went” would refer to his going to Canaan and “he took” to his returning and again taking Jochebed as his wife. In rabbinic midrash, “he went” is understood to mean that Amram followed (went in accord with) the advice of his daughter Miriam and remarried Jochebed, whom he had divorced in order to avoid the conception of a male child who, in accord with the Pharaoh’s decree, would be drowned (b. Sotah 12a; b. B. Bat. 120a; Exod. Rab. 1.19; Num. Rab. 13.20). For another version of the midrash, see LAB 9:2–5. 75 “…49 jubilees from the time of Adam until today, and one week and two years. It is still 40 years off (for learning the Lord’s commandments) until the time he leads (them) across to the land of Canaan, after they have crossed the Jordan to the west of it” (Jub. 50:4). 76 Indeed, this is the only place in Jubilees where a date is so constructed. 77 In contrast, VanderKam argues that the week and year numbers in Jub. 19:1 reflect an error (“Studies in the Chronology,” 538–39). Segal, who argues that inconsistencies in chronology are the product of different redactions, does not comment specifically on Jub. 19:1.

New Transitions and New Eras

45

basis for making Amram and Hebron the couriers of that epoch. That Amram specifically is mentioned relates to the privileging of Levi and his line already noted in Jacob’s gift of the patriarchal books to Levi (Jub. 45:16). The transmission of those books and their teachings to Levi’s son and grandson, Qahat and Amram, is traced in the Testament of Qahat.78 Jubilees does not track that transmission to specific members of Levi’s line. Instead, it expresses the ongoing Levite privilege by having Amram, grandson of Levi and father of Moses, mediate past and future through his residence at the mountain of Hebron.79 The specification of “the mountain of Hebron” clearly relates to the tradition that the patriarchal residence was located there. That Hebron becomes a symbol for all of Canaan is more complex. The association may relate to the designation of Hebron as a Levite city at the time of the conquest (Josh 21:13; cf. 1 Chr 6:42) and to its service as the royal city in the time of David (2 Sam 2:1–4; 5:1–3). Alternatively, it may reflect the geopolitics of the Second Temple period. After the destruction of Judea in 586 BCE, Hebron became an Edomite city and throughout the Persian period it remained within Idumean territory. In the course of the Maccabean revolt, Judah Maccabee conquered the city (1 Mac 11:65) and subsequently John Hyrcannus annexed it to Judea (Josephus, Ant. 13.257; 14.88; War 1.63). That conquest is foreshadowed in the anachronistic statement— “the Edomites have not extricated themselves from the yoke of servitude, which Jacob’s sons imposed on them until today” (Jub. 38:14)—that concludes the Jubilees account of the defeat of the sons of Esau who, laying claim to the Hebron territory, attack Abraham’s tower. The legitimacy of Jacob’s claim to Hebron in Jubilees 38, and presumably also the author’s view of the Maccabean claim against the Idumeans, rests on Esau’s forfeiture of first-born birthright claims to Isaac’s property (Jub. 36:12–14; 37:1– 4). The story of that forfeiture is but one piece in a multi-tiered construction of legitimate ownership that Jubilees develops in relationship to the land. At the first and broadest tier, legitimacy is grounded in the metahistorical context of the division of the earth at the time of Noah. In that division the land falls within the territory allotted eternally to Shem who assigns it to his son Arpachshad, ancestor of Abraham (Jub. 8:12–18; 9:4). Despite an oath taken by all of Noah’s sons and grandsons foreswearing “until eternity” occupation of another’s share (Jub. 9:14–15), Canaan subsequently takes over territory belonging to Arpachshad (Jub. 10:29–34). The usurpation results in the land thereafter being called Canaan; but the appellation in no way signifies nullification of the initial division. Regardless of who resides there physically, regardless of conquest, be it partial or full, and regardless of the name it bears, the land forever remains the inalien 78 4Q542 1 II, 9–13. 79 Note the significance of Amram in ALD 12:3–4 and see the comments on the passage in Greenfield, Stone, Eshel, Aramaic Levi, 198.

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able possession of Arpachshad and his descendants. At the second tier of legitimacy, the covenant with its promise of the land elects Abraham, as opposed to any other descendant in the line, to inherit the territory allotted to Arpachshad. The third tier designates a new heir in each generation of Abraham’s descendants. The fourth level involves the transfer of property, e.g., the homestead at Hebron, acquired by the patriarchs in the course of their sojourning in the land. The metahistorical foundation of the construction is created by Jubilees. The subsequent levels involving the patriarchs are developed from Genesis material — Abraham is promised the land;80 Isaac, not Ishmael, is identified as heir to the covenant, and hence to the land (Gen 17:19–21; 26:3–5); and Jacob supplants Esau in regard to the birthright, the paternal, and the covenantal blessings (Gen 25:31–34; 27; 28:13–15). However, at a number of points Jubilees enhances the legitimacy of the transmission by adding material that brings clarification and a kind of damage control to problematic Genesis narratives. In the case of Abraham, the addition, voiced by the angel-narrator, indicates that in remaining silent about God’s promise of the land when purchasing the cave of Machpelah, the first patriarch proved his patient faithfulness (Jub. 19:8–9). In other words, acquisition of the cave by purchase in no way suggests lack of confidence in the legitimacy of the covenantal promise that assigns ownership of the cave to Abraham and his descendants. Two additions strengthen the transmission of the covenanted land to Isaac. One justifies Sarah urging the expulsion of Ishmael by portraying Abraham as erroneously thinking that both his sons would possess the land (Jub. 17:3). The other is a change of wording that has God and the angel-narrator identifying Isaac in the Akedah narrative as “your first-born son” (­bakwəraka) (Jub. 18:11, 15 reworking Gen 22:16),81 thereby assimilating the second patriarch to another tier of the legitimacy construct, the inheritance of acquired property by the first-born son. Alterations are also made to the Genesis portrayal of Jacob as heir to the birthright and to the covenantal blessings. A notice of consequence—“So Jacob became the older one, but Esau was lowered from his prominent position” (Jub. 24:7)—appears at the close of the birthright story. In the deception scene Isaac’s inability to recognize Jacob is attributed to “a turn of affairs from heaven” (Jub. 26:18) and the blessing he bestows on the disguised Jacob is expanded (“all the blessings with which the Lord has blessed me and blessed my father Abraham”) such that it encompasses the promise of the land (Jub. 26:24).

80 In Genesis Abraham is promised the land on five occasions, three of which appear in the context of covenant making — when he first enters the land (Gen 12: 7); after his separation from Lot (Gen 13:14–17); before the birth of Ishmael (Gen 15:7, 18–20); at the annunciation of Isaac (Gen 17:7–8); and after the Akedah (Gen 22:16–18). With changes to wording and context to reflect the metahistorical framework developed in its reworking of Genesis 1–11, Jubilees retains all five promissory scenes (Jub. 13:1–3, 19–21; 14:18–20; 15:6–10; 18:15–16). 81 On Isaac being designated a first-born son, see Chapter 5.

New Transitions and New Eras

47

More important from the perspective of the Jubilees construction of legitimate ownership is the creation of multiple scenes in which the first patriarch transmits both the promise of the land and already acquired property in the land directly to Jacob. Well before the accounts of Jacob’s purchase of the birthright and the deception of Isaac, Abraham encourages Rebekah’s favoritism for her younger son (Jub. 19:16–25), bestows upon Jacob a blessing that God give him “everything that he said to me and everything that he promised to give me” (Jub 19:27; cf. Jub. 19:17, 23), and bequeaths the patriarchal home in Hebron to him and his descendants (Jub. 22:24). At the narrative level the created scenes validate the future behavior of Jacob (and that of his mother). In the context of the legitimacy construct, they create a direct link between Jacob and the heir to the territory of Arpachshad. The Amram passages achieve the same type of linkage. Amram’s residence on “the mountain of Hebron” associates him with the patriarch-heir to Arpachshad who began the process of actualizing restoration of the land to its legitimate owners. Concomitantly, the dating of Amram’s return to Canaan signals not only the birth of Moses, but also the onset of the era when that restoration will be fully realized.

CHAPTER THREE MOSES: A BIOGRAPHY

Like its Exodus counterpart, the Jubilees treatment of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt begins with a biographical account of the birth and early life of Moses. In the Exodus biography Moses undergoes a series of dramatic transformations — from endangered foundling to child growing up in the Egyptian court, from royal adoptee to champion of the oppressed, from simple shepherd in the Midian homeland of his wife to advocate for his enslaved kinsmen, and from reluctant, speech-impaired leader to forceful protagonist before Pharaoh. There are no such transformations in the angel’s account. Nurtured and protected as an infant, raised in the home of his biological parents, educated in the heritage of his forebears, and his marriage to a Midianite woman unrecorded, this Moses is designed for the role of God’s envoy in the historical drama of the ten plagues and the deliverance of the Israelites from enslavement. The portrait of the young Moses follows the general outlines of the biography recounted in Exodus 2. At the same time, the scriptural material is manipulated and new information is added to produce a personal history compatible with an ideal leader typology that Jubilees develops in its constructions of the personal histories of the antediluvian notables and founding fathers of Israel. At the most basic level, the typology requires a suitable genealogical background. For Jubilees that entails descent from an endogamous marriage with a permitted level of consanguinity between the biological parents.1 The standard of endogamy is clearly satisfied by the birth announcement at the beginning of the Exodus biography that identifies Moses’s parents as “a man from the house of Levi” (‫)איש מבית לוי‬ and “the daughter of Levi” (‫)את בת לוי‬2 (Exod 2:1). At the same time, the more detailed genealogy preceding the account of the plagues presents the marriage of the parents as a union between nephew and paternal aunt (Exod 6:20; cf. Num 26:59), a degree of relationship expressly prohibited in the Leviticus incest laws (Lev 18:12, 14; 20:19).3

1 On the significance of genealogical credentials in Jubilees, see Halpern-Amaru, Empower­ ment, 17–46. 2 The Hebrew can also be understood as “a Levite woman.” 3 In Exod 6:20 Jochebed is identified as Amram’s aunt (‫)דודתו‬, a Hebrew term that appears in the Pentateuch only with reference to the paternal side (cf. Lev 18:14 and LXX Exod 6:20). In the census of clans in Numbers 26 she is listed as Amram’s wife and as a daughter born to Levi in Egypt.

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There is no reference to such a nephew-aunt marriage and no mention of its proscription in Jubilees.4 However, in the genealogies Jubilees creates for the line of Shem there are several listings that suggest an uncle-niece union, an inverted form of the relationship that is permitted by the rabbis, but forbidden in Q ­ umran law.5 Significantly, the design of each of those listings departs from the usual format that Jubilees adopts in its presentation of acceptable endogamous unions. The standard record opens with a marriage notice that provides the name of the wife, her paternal lineage, and, where the union is endogamous, her genealogical relationship to the husband.6 However, in four instances, all involving endogamous marriages, some or all of the identifying information is omitted. The first case occurs in the generation after the flood. No siblings are listed in the generation of Noah;7 consequently Shem’s wife cannot be presented as the daughter of his father’s brother or sister.8 Theoretically, however, she could be the daughter of one of Shem’s brothers, i. e., a niece. Avoiding that possibility, J­ ubilees does not create a marriage/birth-of-child record for Shem. His wife, like those of his brothers, is mentioned only in the context of a city named after her (Jub. 7:14, 15, 16) and the children from the three unions are listed without reference to the maternal side (Jub. 7:13, 18–19).

The rabbis defend the union by arguing that before Sinai the ban against a nephew marrying an aunt applied only to relationships on the maternal side and that Qahat and Jochebed shared a common father (Levi), but had different mothers (b. Sanh. 58b). 4 References to other incest prohibitions are incorporated into the Jubilees treatments of the Reuben/Bilhah (Jub. 33:10; Lev 18:8) and Judah/Tamar narratives (Jub. 41:25; Lev 18:15). 5 Rabbinic law does not forbid marriage to the daughter of a brother and explicitly commends marriage to the daughter of a sister (b. Yeb. 62b–63a). By contrast, Qumran law applies the Leviticus ban against a nephew/aunt marriage to the inverted relationship as well and forbids an uncle/niece union (CD-A V, 9–11; 11Q19a LXVI, 15–17). See Louis Ginzberg, An Unknown Jewish Sect (New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1976), 23–24; Chaim Rabin, Qumran Studies (London: Oxford University Press, 1957), 91–94; and Ya’akov Sussman, “The History of the Halakha and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Preliminary Observations on Miqsat Ma’ase HaTorah (4QMMT),” Tarbiz 59 (1990): 35–36 (Hebrew). 6 Avoiding marriage alliances with the progeny of Cain, the heads of the generations from Seth to Kenan each marry a sister. The heads of next six generations, from Mahalalel to Noah, marry cousins of the first degree and the announcements follow the standard format. For a chart of the relationships in each generation, see Halpern-Amaru, Empowerment, 29–31. 7 Genesis also makes no reference to Noah having siblings. The household that goes with him into the ark includes his wife, his three sons, and their wives (Gen 7:7, 13). 8 By contrast, Genesis Apocryphon attributes siblings to Noah who “took wives for my sons from the daughters of my brothers” and “gave my daughters to the sons of my brothers according to the eternal law [which] the Most High gave to human beings” (1QapGen VI, 8). On the phrase ‫כדת חוק עלמא‬, see Tob. 7:14 and Menahem Kister, “According to the Law of Moses and the Jews: The History of a Religious-Legal Formula,” in Atara L’Haim: Studies in the Talmud and Medieval Rabbinic Literature in Honor of Professor Haim Zalman Dimitrovsky (ed. D. Boyarin et. al.; Jerusalem: Magnes Press: 2000), 203–04 (Hebrew).

Moses: A Biography

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A different, but related problem occurs in the next generation. Noah’s sons are prolific and there are multiple opportunities for unions between cousins. However, Jubilees requires that Arpachshad, head of the line that leads to Abram,9 marry within the house of Shem. Consequently, the announcement of his marriage identifies the wife as “Rasueya, the daughter of Susan, the daughter of Elam” (Jub. 8:1). Since Elam is the eldest son of Shem, Rasueya is either Arpachshad’s niece (the daughter of Elam and an unidentified Susan) or his grandniece (the daughter of Susan who is the daughter of Elam).10 Acknowledging neither possibility, Jubilees again omits the usual description of the woman’s genealogical relationship to her husband. The relationship information is also omitted in the case of Kainan, the son of Arpachshad,11 who goes out of the line of Shem and marries a woman from the house of Japheth (Jub. 8:5).12 The omission suggests that certain unions are tolerable, i. e., they are not exogamous; but they are not noteworthy. Such unions have a clear function — Arpachshad’s marriage to his niece or grandniece establishes the line of the house of Shem and Kainan’s marriage into the house of Japhet creates the possibility for a return to a cousin union in the next generation (Jub. 8:6). Still, the author of Jubilees expresses his disquiet with these marriage relationships by designing notices that, like the notices for exogamous unions, do not include the consanguine connection between the woman and her husband. The strategy of circumventing the troubling by omission is even more striking in the Jubilees treatment of the marriage of Nahor, Abraham’s brother and the paternal grandfather of Rebekah. In this instance, as with Amram’s union with Jochebed, the problematic relationship is plainly stated in the scriptural text. A genealogical tracing of the line of Terah through his three sons indicates that the youngest son, Haran, begets Lot and dies before the family leaves Ur of the ­Chaldeans. Each of the remaining sons marries. Abram’s wife is identified only by name; but Nahor’s wife, Milcah, is identified, along with her sister Iscah, as Haran’s daughter, i. e., the niece of Nahor (Gen 11:27–29). Jubilees retains the double marriage announcement, but removes all evidence of the uncle-niece union. Omitting the information about Milcah, the notation indicates only “Nahor also 9 In accord with Gen 10:22, Jubilees lists Arpachshad as the third son of Shem (Jub. 7:18). Genesis Apocryphon identifies Arpachshad as the first-born (1QapGen XII, 10), but thereafter lists the names of Shem’s five sons in the same order as in Gen 10:22 (1QapGen XII, 11). 10 See John Rook, “The Names of the Wives from Adam to Abraham in the Book of ­Jubilees,” JSP 7 (1990): 105–17 and Charles (Book of Jubilees) who brackets “daughter of Susan” in his translation. Both treat Rasueya as the daughter of Elam. 11 The generation headed by Kainan appears in the LXX, but is lacking in the MT. Its inclusion creates twenty-two generation from Adam to Jacob. On the significance of the twenty-two generations in Jubilees, see Jub. 2:23. 12 The wife, Melka, is the daughter of Madai, son of Japheth (Jub. 8:5) and on the maternal side, the daughter of Arpachshad’s sister (unnamed) (Jub. 10:35).

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got married” (Jub. 12:11).13 In the subsequent announcement of Isaac’s marriage and the presentation of Rebekah’s genealogical credentials, Jubilees mentions Milcah by name, but again makes no reference to the nature of her blood relationship to her husband — Milcah is simply “the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor” (Jub. 19:10). The strategy of avoidance is taken a step further in the treatment of the marriage of Moses’s parents. The angel-narrator makes no reference to a marriage alliance between an unnamed man and woman from the house of Levi as in Exod 2:1, to the nephew-aunt relationship as in the Exod 6:20 genealogy, or, indeed, to the marriage of the parents at all. Absent a suitable blood relationship between husband and wife, the marriage record that precedes the account of Moses’s birth in Exodus 2 is replaced by two notices of his birth that attribute a different type of credentials to the parents. The first is a formal notice of the date—“You were born during the fourth week, in its sixth year, in the forty-eighth jubilee [2330]”14—together with an acknowledgement that it was a “time of distress for the Israelites” (Jub. 47:1). The second associates the time of Moses’s birth specifically with the decree that newborn Israelite male infants be thrown into the river (Jub. 47:2)15—“they continued throwing (them in) for seven months until you were born” (Jub. 47:3).16 13 The Jubilees reworking may also reflect awareness of the early and widespread tradition that identifies Iscah, the other daughter of Haran, with Sarai, thereby having Abram also marrying a niece (LAB 23:4; Josephus, Ant. 1.150; Tg. Ps-J. on Gen 11:20; cf. b. Meg. 14a; b. Sanh. 69b; Gen. Rab. 38.14). Countering any such identification, Jubilees dates Abram’s marriage to Sarai, “the daughter of his father,” three years before the marriage of Haran (Jub. 12:9–10). On the marriage between Abram and Sarai as a union between paternal siblings, see Halpern-Amaru, Empowerment, 36–37. 14 The date correlates with Moses dying at one hundred and twenty (Deut 34:7), forty years after the exodus. 15 The description of the decree (Jub. 47:2) is worded in a manner that permits understanding it as issued either to the Egyptians or to the Israelites. The vagueness may be a deliberate effort to combine Pharaoh’s directive to the Hebrew midwives (understood as midwives who are Hebrews), a narrative Jubilees otherwise omits (Exod 1:15), with the subsequent charge to “all his people” (Exod 1:22). If such is the case, the conflation is a temporary harmonization, for Jub. 48:14 explicitly identifies the Egyptians as the ones who drowned the Israelite infants. 16 Several scholars have understood “seven months until you were born” as indicating that the decree was primarily directed against Moses and was abrogated after seven months when he was born (Cohen, Origins, 30–31; van Ruiten, “Birth,” 60; and by the same author, “Moses and His Parents,” 71–73). They suggest that Jub. 47:3 reflects the midrashic tradition that Pharaoh issued the decree because he had been made aware of the immanent birth of a leader who would free the enslaved Israelites (Josephus, Ant. 2.205–06; b. Sotah 12b; Exod. Rab. 1.18; Pirqe R. El. 48). Nowhere does Jubilees develop either the annunciation or the frequently associated tradition that Moses was born prematurely. Hence, it is more likely that the intent in Jub. 47:3 is to create a correlation between the duration of the decree — seven months before Moses’s birth and three months thereafter when he was hidden — and the number of the plagues, a motif of

Moses: A Biography

53

The double notice permits a contextual association between the birth event and each parent. The dated birth record immediately follows the announcement of the return of “your father” from Canaan (dated twenty-seven years earlier) (Jub. 47:1),17 thereby connecting the newborn to the legacy represented by his father’s stay on the mountain of Hebron. At the same time, the notice placed within the context of the implementation of Pharaoh’s decree introduces an infancy narrative reworked to highlight the protective care given by “your mother” (Jub. 47:3). As in Exodus, Moses’s mother hides her newborn son for three months. The suggestion that the concealment is somehow conditioned by, or related to, his appearance is eliminated with the omission of “when she saw how goodly he was” (‫)ותרא כי טוב הוא‬. When her son’s hidden presence becomes known,18 she constructs, rather than simply takes, a box19 for the infant, prepares it with waterproofing material, and, demonstrating special care, sets it among the reeds before placing him in it (Jub. 47:2–4a reworking Exod 2:3). Introducing details that do not appear in the Exodus story, Jubilees pointedly refutes any suggestion of abandonment. At no time is the infant Moses, who remains on the riverbank for seven days, left alone. His mother does not simply leave him in a box hidden away among the reeds. She “would come at night and nurse” him and his sister, no longer stationed “at a distance to learn what would befall him”(Exod 2:4), protects him “from the birds” during the day (Jub. 47:4b). The maternal nursing role is a reasonable one, particularly for an infant so left for seven days.20 Moreover, it is a role that Moses’s mother assumes in the continuation of the story. However, there is no scriptural basis for the parmeasure-for measure vengeance that is developed in Jubilees 48 (Cedrenus, Historiarum Compendium, 1.85.21–86.1 cited in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 2:248, note on Jub. 47:3). Understanding “until” as encompassing the time of Moses’s birth rather than marking the endpoint of the decree, such a reading avoids the methodological problem of presupposing, without textual support, the influence of traditions that are found in later rabbinic literature. 17 Missing the contextual association with Amram’s return, Loewenstamm asserts that “the narrative begins with the birth of the child” and “the father is not mentioned at all” (“The Story of Moses’s Birth,” in Samuel E. Loewenstamm, From Babylon to Canaan: Studies in the Bible and Its Oriental Background [Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1992], 202 n. 5). 18 To clarify why she could no longer simply hide the infant, Jubilees substitutes “then they told about her” for “when she could no longer hide him” in Exod 2:3. Comparable clarification is offered by Tg. Ps.-J. (“because the Egyptians had noticed her”); Exod. Rab. 1.20; b. Sotah 12a (the Egyptians were searching the houses); and Philo, Moses 1.9–10 (she feared someone would report her and cause multiple deaths). 19 ‫ תבה‬is used in Exod 2:3 (‫)תבת גמא‬, suggesting a certain association with the structure Noah built for the Flood (‫( )תבה‬Gen 6:14). Perhaps reflecting the distinction between κιβωτος and θιβιν in the LXX, the Ethiopic Jubilees uses two different terms, tābot for the ark Noah constructs (Jub. 5:21) and nafq for the box Jochebed builds (Jub. 47:4). 20 The Exodus narrative does not indicate how long the infant Moses remains hidden on the riverbank. Given the nutritional needs of a three-month old, it is presumably a brief period of time.

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ticular task assigned to Moses’s sister. Realistically, the birds that frequent the banks of the river of Egypt would pose a danger to an infant hidden among the reeds, but so would the crocodiles, also known to inhabit the Nile.21 Yet, only the need for protection from birds is mentioned.22 Indeed, the import of that protection is highlighted, for Miriam is the first of the infant caregivers to be identified not only by her relationship to the young Moses, but also by name (“your sister Miriam” [Jub. 47:4]).23 The motif of protection from the threat of birds appears at several points in the Jubilees reworking of Genesis.24 An addition has the young Abram in Ur of Chaldeans repeatedly (“seventy times on one day”) chasing away birds25 that Mastema had sent “to eat the seed…and destroy the land” (Jub. 11:11–13, 18– 22).26 Similarly, the Jubilees account of Abram and the birds at the Covenant Between the Pieces depicts the birds27 as repeatedly descending and Abram as continually driving them off28 in order that they not touch the victims he has laid out for a sacrifice that he is offering (Jub. 14:11–12 reworking Gen 15:10–11).29 In each narrative the object of protection is related to a covenantal promise. The seeds protected by Abram produce the harvest promised in the covenant with

21 See Ezek 29:3; 32:2. 22 By contrast, Jubilees portrays Adam guarding the Garden of Eden not only against birds, but also against animals and cattle (Jub. 3:16). 23 In the Exodus 2 biography none of the caregivers is identified by name. Up to the point of the account of Miriam and the birds, Jubilees also omits personal names. Thereafter, each of the characters involved in caring for the young Moses is also identified by name. 24 Significantly, the positive role of birds in the account of Noah sending out a raven and doves in search of dry land (Gen 8:6–12) is omitted in the Jubilees narrative of the Flood (Jub. 5:29–32). 25 In the story of Abram protecting the seed crop, the birds are specifically identified as ravens (Jub. 11:18–21), but in the account of their delegation by Mastema they are described as “ravens and birds” (Jub. 11:11–12). 26 On the young Abram story, see Sebastian Brock. “Abraham and the Ravens: A Syriac Counterpart to Jubilees 11–12 and Its Implications,” JSJ (1978): 135–52; Berger, Das Buch, 388 n. 11e; Michael Knowles, “Abram and the Birds: A Subtext on the Parable of the Sower,” NTS 41.1 (1995): 145–51; and Cory Crawford, “On the Exegetical Function of the Abraham/Ravens Tradition in Jubilees 11,” HTR 97 (2004): 91–97. 27 MT Gen 15:11 specifies birds of prey (‫ ;)העיט‬Jubilees uses the generic, birds (’a‘wāf ), as in LXX OL EthGen (VanderKam, Book of Jubilees 2:84, note on Jub. 14:12). 28 The translation indicating repetitive action is based on the imperfect tense of the verbs in the Ethiopic. See VanderKam’s note on “kept coming…kept preventing…allowing” (Jub. 14:12) in Book of Jubilees, 2:84–85. 29 In contrast to Gen 15:11 where the birds of prey descend on “the carcasses” (‫)הפגרים‬, the Jubilees reworking explicitly indicates that the threatened objects are the victims that Abram has sacrificed for an offering that he completes after the covenant making (Jub. 14:11, 19–20). On Charles’s suggestion that the original Hebrew also read ‫הפגרים‬, see VanderKam’s note to Jub. 14:12 (Book of Jubilees, 2:84–85).

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55

Noah (Jub. 11:22).30 The sacrifice he protects from the birds at the Covenant Between the Pieces subsequently attests to the promises regarding his future progeny. Moreover, Jubilees explicitly links the two covenants in an addition at the close of its account of the Covenant Between the Pieces (Jub. 14:20).31 Subtler threads connect the description of Miriam’s activity to these earlier protection-from-birds narratives.32 Since she provides the protection daily for seven days, she too is engaged in repeatedly chasing away the birds. The infant she protects on the riverbank is, so to speak, a seedling from which will emerge the adult who will serve as God’s envoy in rendering judgment on the oppressor as promised in the Covenant Between the Pieces (Jub. 48:3–4; 6–7). It is also possible that Jubilees intends an association between the birds that would harm the infant Moses and those sent by Mastema to destroy the crops in Chaldea (Jub. 11:11). No mention is made of Mastema either in the reworked account of the Covenant Between the Pieces or in the Moses infancy narrative. However, insofar as these narratives manifest the danger-from-birds motif developed in the young Abram story, one might also sense the specter of Mastema’s agency behind the birds that would desecrate the sacrifice as well as those that threaten the infant hidden among the reeds. In each instance the specter foreshadows a later direct attempt by Mastema to frustrate the fulfillment of covenantal promises, in the first, instigating the sacrifice of Isaac at the Akedah (Jub. 17:15–16) and in the second, attempting to kill Moses on his way back to Egypt “to carry out punishment and revenge against the Egyptians” (Jub. 48:2–3). The second caregiver identified by name in the Jubilees biography is “Tarmuth,33 the pharaoh’s daughter” (Jub. 47:5). By omitting and rearranging ­Exodus details, the depiction again draws attention to quality of concern and protective care. Highlighting her entry into the scene, Jubilees makes no reference to the accompanying maidens who walk along the river (Exod 2:5). In the Exodus account she sights a basket and curious about its contents, sends her slave girl to fetch it (Exod 2:5). Replacing that gratuitous curiosity with a display of intuitive compassion, Jubilees instead has her hear the sound of a baby crying and in re 30 “Throughout all the days of the earth seedtime and harvest would not cease” (Jub. 6:4 citing Gen 8:22). 31 Knowles (“Abram,” 147) suggests that the story in Jubilees 11 “was inspired by” Geneses 15. Going much further, Crawford attributes the young Abram story to exegesis of problematic issues in Genesis 15 (“On the Exegetical,” 93–94). His argument, however, is seriously flawed by oversight of the reworking of Gen 15:7 in Jub. 14:7 and by misinterpretation of the ­Jubilees play on the word ‫זרע‬. 32 For a more detailed examination of the connections between the three narratives, see Betsy Halpern-Amaru, “Protection from Birds in the Book of Jubilees,” in ‘Go Out and Study the Land’ (Judg 18:2):Textual, Historical and Archaeological Studies in Honor of Hanan Eshel (ed. J. Magnes, A. Maeir, L. Schiffman; JSJSup 148; Leiden: E. J. Brill), 59–67. 33 The same name appears in Josephus, Ant. 2.224. She is called Bithiah in 1 Chr 4:18 and Batya in rabbinic literature (b. Meg. 12a; Lev. Rab. 1.3).

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sponse, send the now acknowledged maidservants to bring it to her (Jub. 47:5). She does not gaze upon the child crying in the basket (Exod 2:6), but immediately removes it. She displays no awareness that the infant is one of the Hebrew children (Exod 2:6), and hence is not knowingly defying her father when she takes pity on it (Jub. 47:6). A number of the changes that enhance the characterization of Tarmuth are invited by exegetical issues in Exodus 2:5–6. The introduction of the maidservants at the point of the discovery of the basket removes the inconsistency of a slavegirl being sent to bring the basket when the maidens are walking by the river. The rearrangement that has pharaoh’s daughter hearing the baby instead of seeing the basket avoids the anomaly of pharaoh’s daughter looking at the child and seeing a youth crying. And the omission of her awareness of the infant’s ethnic identity eliminates the question of how the royal princess knew he was a Hebrew child.34 The exegetical basis of the reworking notwithstanding, the sympathetic portrait is but one of many favorable depictions of Egyptian characters that appear in the Jubilees reworking of Genesis.35 Noah’s curse of Ham’s youngest son ­Canaan does not extend to Ham’s other sons, the eldest of which is Mitzraim (Egypt) (Jub. 7:10). When Canaan seizes territory allocated to the line of Shem, Mizraim is one of those who attempt to dissuade him from doing so (Jub. 10:29). The genealogical credentials of Hagar, the Egyptian surrogate wife of Abraham are not cast in a negative light and her conflict with Sarah (Gen 16:5–8) is omitted (Jub. 14:24). Similarly, Joseph’s marriage to the Egyptian Asenath is acknowledged without disparaging comment (Jub. 34:30; 40:10; 44:24).36 Hitherto denoted only “your mother” or simply by a pronoun (Jub. 47:3–4), Moses’s mother is the third caregiver the angel-narrator identifies by name. The new denotation appears in the context of Pharaoh’s daughter, at Miriam’s initiative, summoning and retaining “your mother Jochebed” not simply to nurse the infant (Exod 2:7, 9a), but also to “raise”37 him (Jub. 47:7). The change is a small one; but it has significant implications for the extent of Jochebed’s influence on the young Moses. Jubilees does not display her influence in a created 34 The rabbis attribute her knowledge either to an angel (b. Sotah 12b) or to the fact that he was born circumcised (b. Sotah 12a). 35 In contrast to the individual portraits, the Jubilees treatment of the Egyptian enslavement of the Israelites, like that in Exodus, portrays the oppressor nation in a negative light. 36 By contrast, see the treatments of the intermarriages of Judah and Simeon (Jub. 41:1–7; 34:21). 37 The Ethiopic reads had ana, which VanderKam translates “care for.” To underscore the distinction between wet-nursing physical care and a broader care involving training and educating, I translate it “to raise.” The term indicating the broader type of care is added to Miriam’s proposal that she summon a Hebrew to suckle the infant (Jub. 47:7 reworking Exod 2:7) and replaces the suckling role at the close of the pericope (Jub. 47:8 reworking Exod 2:9b).

Moses: A Biography

57

narrative. More subtly, its nature is intimated by the comment “she raised you”38 at the close of the pericope (Jub. 47:8). Moses remains in his mother’s care until he grows up (Jub. 47:9), a time marker that appears twice in the Exodus biography, once as an indicator that he has been weaned and hence is old enough to be brought to pharaoh’s daughter (Exod 2:10) and a second time as an indicator that he is an adult who freely moves among his brethren (Exod 2:11). Compressing the two indicators into one, Jubilees uses “growing up” (“when you had grown up”) to mark the transition to adulthood (as in Exod 2:11), but applies it (as in Exod 2:10) to the age at which Moses is brought to the daughter of pharaoh, specifically, when he “had completed three weeks” of years (Jub. 48:9).39 Consequently, for the first twenty-one years of his life Moses resides in the home of his biological Israelite parents. Over the course of those years he is not only under the influence of his mother, but also receives tutelage from his father, the third caretaker identified by name in the Jubilees biography (Jub. 47:9). One facet of that tutelage is accentuated — that Amram teaches Moses “(the art of) writing” (Jub. 47:9). Subsequently standing on Mt. Sinai in his eightieth year, Moses will employ that skill to transcribe the revelation that the angel dictates40 and repeatedly instructs him to record (Jub. 1:5, 7, 26; 2:1; 23:32; 33:18)41—a recording that becomes the Book of Jubilees. That transcription is the penultimate point in a Jubilees-created micro-history of the art of writing.42 Knowledge of the art is implied in the composition of books that are transmitted from the antediluvians through the generations of the patriarchs to Levi and his descendants. However, at specific junctures Jubilees explicitly focuses upon acquisition of the art of writing and how it is used. Its earthly origins are ascribed to Enoch who, apparently acquiring the skill without the benefit of human instruction (Jub. 4:17–19, 21–23), employs it to write the first testi 38 My translation. See previous note. 39 Jubilees uses growing up to mark the transition to adulthood in other contexts as well. It is associated with marriage (Jub. 8:6; 17:13; 41:7), independence, and moving away from one’s parental household (Jub. 11:7–8). A scriptural basis for such usage is provided not only by Exod 2:11, but also by Gen 21:20; 25:27. 40 That the angel dictates and Moses writes is clear in the Hebrew of Jub. 1:27 preserved in 4QJubileesa (4Q216 IV, 6). Hence, the other passages where the Ethiopic translator has the angel writing the revelation (Jub. 30:12, 21; 50:6, 13) may reflect a comparable confusion of the kal and hiph’il forms of the Hebrew ‫כתב‬. See Brooke, “Exegetical Strategies,” 42 and VanderKam, “The Putative,” 209–17. 41 The directive to write is repeated at points that highlight the various purposes of the writing — witness to God’s fidelity to the covenant (Jub. 1:5); evidence against Israel when it violates the covenant in the future (Jub. 1:7); revelation of “what is to come” until “the age of eternity” (Jub. 1:26); the account of creation (Jub. 2:1); an earthly record of what is written on the heavenly tablets (Jub. 23:32); and prescription of law (Jub. 33:18). 42 On the significance of writing in Jubilees, see Hindy Najman, Seconding Sinai: The Devel­ opment of Mosaic Discourse in Second Temple Judaism (JSJSup 77; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2003), esp. 119–26 and van Ruiten, “Birth,” 63.

58

Chapter Three 

mony to mankind. Arpachshad is the first to instruct his son (Kainan) in the art of writing (Jub. 8:2);43 but his acquisition of the knowledge leads to dissemination of erroneous teachings (Jub. 8:3).44 Eight generations later, Terah, like Arpachshad, provides the instruction to his son—“his father (Terah) taught him (Abram) (the art of) writing” (Jub. 11:16)— who, in contrast to Kainan, uses the knowledge to preserve true teachings. Taught Hebrew by the angel of the presence, he copies and studies the books (written in Hebrew) that had been transmitted to his father (Jub. 12:26–27).45 Jacob also acquires knowledge of the art as a youth;46 and, like Moses, records a revelation (Jub. 32:26).47 Jubilees develops no direct connection between the two revelations. Presumably the revelation that Jacob transcribed was among the books that the patriarch passed on to his grandson Levi (Jub. 45:6). However, there is no indication that those books subsequently came into the possession of Amram or were handed over to Moses. It is not from transmitted books that Moses acquires his self-awareness as an Israelite. That bond is developed during the formative years that he spends with Jochebed and Amram. Having delayed Moses’s departure from his parental home until his twenty-first year, Jubilees appropriately changes the Exodus narrative of his stay with the Egyptian royals. His father, not his mother, delivers the young adult “to the royal court” (Jub. 47:9).48 He does not subsequently “grow up,” for some unspec 43 Although there is no reference his instruction, Noah also possesses the skill, for he composes two books that he passes on to Shem. One documents the apportionment of the earth (Jub. 8:11); the other records the medicinal cures against the evil spirits that the angels had taught him (Jub. 10:12–14). 44 Separating from his father, Kainan finds a rock on which the astrological teachings of the Watchers regarding “the omens of the sun, moon, stars, and every heavenly sign” are incised, copies the inscription, and “sins on the basis of what was in it” (Jub. 8:3). 45 The sequence of events – that Terah taught Abram the skill of writing before the angel taught him Hebrew — is awkward. At best, it suggests that Terah knew written Hebrew, but not the spoken language, knowledge of which had been lost at the time of the confusion of tongues (Jub. 12:25). 46 Expanding on Gen 25:27, Jubilees portrays the young Jacob learning “(the art of) writing” and the young Esau learning “(the art of) warfare” (Jub. 19:14). The source for the instruction in writing is not mentioned. The motif of transmission from father to son in the micro-history would suggest Isaac as the teacher. However, such role would be incompatible with the Jubilees emphasis on Isaac’s favoritism for Esau (Jub. 19:15, 19, 31; 35:13). Given the close relationship between Jacob and his grandfather in Jubilees (Jub. 19:15–29; 22:10–23:3), Abraham would be an appropriate instructor, but that formulation would subvert the motif of fathers instructing their sons. Jubilees avoids the problem by not identifying Jacob’s teacher. 47 An embellishment of Gen 35:9–12, the created scene is markedly similar to that of Moses on Sinai — an angel transmitter, tablets, and most significantly, a directive to preserve the revelation in writing (Jubilees 1). 48 There are two references to his delivery in Jub. 47:9. A variant of ‫ויגדל הילד ותבאהו לבת‬ ‫( פרעה ויהי לה לבן‬Exod 2:10)—“Afterwards, when you had grown up, you were brought (lit. they brought you) to the pharaoh’s daughter and became her child” (Jub. 47:9a)—follows the brief

Moses: A Biography

59

ified reason go out among brethren he has no basis for recognizing as such,49 become conscious of their suffering, and see an Egyptian striking a “Hebrew, one of his brethren” (Exod 2:11). Instead, aware both of his origins and the situation of his kinsmen when he goes to the court at twenty-one years of age, the Moses of Jubilees remains there for another “three weeks of years.50 His departure at the age of forty-two51 is a direct consequence of the incident between the Egyptian and “one of the Israelites,”52 which he witnesses on an occasion when he goes “out of the court” (Jub. 47:10 reworking Exod 2:11).53 Moses kills the Egyptian and buries his body in the sand; but he does so without the surreptitious looking hither and thro described in Exod 2:12. Having acquired a firm identity as an Israelite during the years with his parents, the mature, forty-two year old Moses does not hesitate to act on behalf of an enslaved kinsman. The account of the circumstances that lead to Moses’s flight from Egypt generally follows the narrative in Exod 2:13–14. The day following the killing of the Egyptian, Moses encounters two kinsmen, again identified as Israelites rather than as Hebrews (Exod 2:13), fighting. When he chastises the unjust one for striking his brother, the man, here described as “angry and indignant,” indicates his knowledge of Moses’s actions on the previous day. Moses becomes frightened and runs away (Jub. 47:11–12). That the flight is specifically from the pharaoh who had become aware of the matter and was seeking to kill Moses (Exod 2:15) is omitted. The omission permits circumvention of a probable personal relationship developed over the course of the twenty-one years Moses lived at the court. Additionally, it avoids the necessity for the transition to a new pharaoh before acknowledgement that Moses’s mother raised him and the account of his father bringing him “to the royal court” follows the equally brief acknowledgement that his father taught him the art of writing (Jub. 47:9c). 49 Ezekiel the Tragedian has Jochebed tell Moses about his people before delivering him to pharaoh’s daughter (33). 50 There are a number of multiples of seven in the Jubilees biography. The decree is in effect for seven months before Moses is born (Jub. 47:3); he remains in the box on the riverbank for seven days (Jub. 47:4); he is brought to the royal court when he “completed three weeks” (21 years) (Jub. 47:9) and remains there for another “three weeks of years” (Jub. 47:10). For a similar use of multiples of seven in the Jubilees dating of events in Abraham’s life, see VanderKam, “Studies in the Chronology,” 539, n. 32. 51 Generally the rabbis have Moses coming to the Egyptian court when he is weaned. In one instance, however, he is twelve years old (Exod. Rab. 5.2). As for his age at departure, opinions vary among twenty, thirty, and most often, forty (Exod. Rab. 1.27, 30; 5.2; cf. Ginzberg, 5:404). 52 To reflect Moses’s awareness of himself as an Israelite, Jubilees replaces “Hebrews” (Exod 2:11, 13) with “Israelites” (Jub. 47:10–11). The angel narrator uses the term Hebrew only in contexts involving interaction with a non-Israelite (Jub. 47:7) or between non-Israelites (Jub. 39:10). For a similar understanding and usage of the terms in Exodus, see William Propp, Exodus; (2 vols.; AB 2–2A; New York: Doubleday, 1998), 1:239. 53 The reworking omits the reference to Moses growing up (Exod 2:11a) as well as the clause about his becoming exposed to Israelite suffering (Exod 2:11c), and changes going out “to his brothers” (Exod 2:11b) to going out “from the royal court.”

60

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Moses’s return to Egypt (Exod 2:23), indeed the second such change in the first two chapters of Exodus.54 Although reorienting assumptions about the influential forces in the hero’s youth, up to the point of Moses’s departure from Egypt, Jubilees presents his personal story along the lines recounted in Exod 2:1–15. Thereafter, it moves into a summary mode. From the perspective of the literary context of Jubilees — the angel narrator recalling past events to Moses on Sinai — the shift in narration style is a natural consequence of the recollection having arrived at events well within Moses’s memory. At the same time, selective recollection is also an exegetical strategy that permits Jubilees to exclude material deemed inappropriate in the biography of the hero-envoy. Describing the location to which Moses flees only as an anonymous “there,”55 Jubilees presents the Midian era of Moses’ life within a chronological frame that draws two words from the extensive account in Exodus — one from the beginning, “lived” (‫( )וישב‬Exod 2:15), and one from the end, “returned” (‫)וישב‬ (Exod 4:20).56 During the sixth year of the third week of the forty-ninth jubilee [2372], you went and lived there for five weeks and one year [= 36 years]. Then you returned to Egypt in the second week, during the second year in the fiftieth jubilee [2410]57 (Jub. 48:1).

The account provides the date of Moses’s arrival, the duration of his stay, and the date of his return to Egypt, but does not mention the relationship he develops with the Midianite priest, his marriage to Zipporah, the priest’s daughter, and the birth of the first child from the exogamous union (Exod 2:16–22).58 Reflecting the strategy of avoidance earlier used with the union between Moses’s parents, the omissions avert the ignominy of Moses being involved in relationships that 54 Earlier in the Exodus narrative the enslavement of the Israelites is related to the ascension of a new pharaoh (Exod 1:8). In Jubilees there is only one change in Egyptian leaders, specifically, a new king who comes to power in the course of the conflict with Canaan (Jub. 46:7). 55 The Latin has “in terram mad…” (VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 1:298). VanderKam argues that the “Ethiopic bland ‘there’ is more likely to be original” and that the Latin is “an explanatory replacement which was inserted into the text under the influence of Exod 2:15” (Book of Jubilees, 2:309). 56 Although identical when unpointed, the verbs reflect different roots — ‫ ישב‬and ‫שוב‬. 57 There are thirty-eight years between the date of departure and the date of return; Moses lives “there” for thirty-six years. Presumably the extra two years reflect the time during which he was traveling. The time frame for Moses’s return accommodates his being back in Egypt when he is eighty (Exod 7:7). Having used multiples of seven for the ages at which Moses comes to (twenty-one) and leaves (forty-two) the Egyptian court, Jubilees has him returning to Egypt thirty-eight years later. 58 There also is no reference to Moses’s second child, Eliezer (Exod 4:20; 18:4).

Moses: A Biography

61

Jubilees condemns throughout its account of the ancient and Israelite fathers. Close bonds with gentiles lead to the adoption of impure ways;59 exogamous unions are proscribed;60 and in most instances where such unions occur, there are ruinous consequences, especially in the next generation.61 The only event from the years in Midian that the angel narrator mentions is the commissioning of Moses. Presented in recollection, the elaborate, dialogical, call narrative of Exod 3:1–4:17 is radically compressed into “You know what was said62 to you at Mt. Sinai” (Jub. 48:2a).63 The individual voices of a reluctant Moses and an angry God are not heard; Aaron is not seen; and the necessity for his recruitment is never acknowledged (Exod 4:10–17).64 All that would taint the characterization of an immediately receptive, responsive envoy is obscured in the terse summary that comprises half a verse. Jubilees takes a different approach with the attack on Moses’s life when he is making his way back to Egypt.65 Introducing new characters into the scene, the 59 In the accounts of the ancients it is movement away from the parental line and/or adoption of the idolatrous practices of the family into which the generation head intermarries (e.g., Jub. 8:2–4; 11:7–8). In his final testament to Isaac and even more vehemently in a testament addressed to Jacob, Abraham counsels separation from “the nations” (Jub. 21:21; 22:16– 18). In this regard, note also the absence of any reference to Abraham’s relationship with the Amorite kings (Gen 14:13 and Jub. 13:23) and the transformation of Hirah the Adullamite from Judah’s companion and friend to his employee (Gen 38:1, 20 and Jub. 41:14). 60 The proscription is demonstrated rather than formally voiced in the accounts of the ancients. In the patriarchal narratives marriage to Canaanite women in particular is discouraged (Jub. 25:1–3; 28:8–10). However, when the proscription is formulated as a law for Israel in the context of the Dinah narrative, it is most forcefully expressed as prohibiting marriage between an Israelite male or woman and any foreigner (Jub. 30:11–17). 61 The ultimate construct of exogamy, the illicit union between the Watchers and the daughters of men, corrupts all living things and results in the Flood (Jub. 5:2–5; 7:20–26). The offspring from the exogamous unions within the line of Shem learn false teachings, adopt perverse ways, and introduce the practice of idolatry into Shem’s line (Jub. 8:6–9; 10:18–22; 11:1–9). The sons born from Esau’s unions with Canaanite women convince their father to violate his oath and go to war against Jacob (Jub. 25:1; 37:1–13; 38:1–2, 10–14). Judah’s Canaanite wife provides a negative model for their eldest son and brings disaster on the family by not permitting their youngest son to fulfill his levirate responsibility (Jub. 41:2, 7; cf. T. Jud. 10:1–6). 62 VanderKam’s translation—“you know who spoke to you”—follows the Latin (Book of ­Jubilees, 2:309). 63 The identification of the site as “Mt Sinai” is a conflation of Exod 3:1 “Horeb, the mountain of God” and “this mountain” as the place where Moses and the Israelites will worship God in Exod 3:12 (‫)בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלהים על ההר הזה‬. On Mt. Horeb as another name for Mt. Sinai, note among other passages, Exod 17:6; 33:6; Deut 1:6; 4:10, 15; 5:2; 9:8; 18:16. 64 Aaron does not appear as a character in the Book of Jubilees and there is no elevation of his particular line within the tribe of Levi. 65 Reflecting “at the lodging place” (‫ )במלון‬in Exod 4:24, the Latin identifies the locale of the attack as “in qua praeteristi eum in refectione” (Jub. 48:2), VanderKam translates the Ethiopic as “at the shady fir tree.” On the translation, see his extensive note to Jub. 48:2 (Book of Jubilees, 2:309–10).

62

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angel-narrator transforms the enigmatic account in Exod 4:24–26 into an attack by Mastema and a rescue by the angel of the presence (“I rescued you”).66 The scenario again echoes a reworked Genesis narrative, in this instance, the Jubilees account of the Akedah.67 In that narrative, Mastema, cast as a satan-like provocateur, instigates a testing of Abraham that has God’s implicit sanction and explicit cooperation (Jub. 17:15–18:2).68 However, when the test reaches the point of Abraham actually killing Isaac, an act that would negate the possibility of a “holy progeny” descending as promised through the seed of Isaac (Jub. 15:16; 16:16–18), Mastema exceeds the limits of his authority and the angel of the presence, effectively acting in the interests of the implementation of God’s promises, physically intervenes (Jub. 18:9–12).69 A comparable, but less explicit, dynamic operates in the very compact report of the attack on Moses’s life. Mastema initiates the attack “to save the Egyptians from (Moses’s) power (lit. hand)” and the angel of the presence “rescues (Moses) from his power (lit. hand)” (Jub. 48:3). God does not appear as a character in the brief account. Nonetheless, Mastema’s power derives from the “Lord Creator.” He permitted Mastema an entourage of demon spirits “to exercise the authority of (his) will among mankind…destroying and misleading…” in the time of Noah 66 In the Exodus narrative God attempts to kill Moses. The substitution of Mastema for God also appears in 4Q225 2 I, 9–10, a fragment thought to stem from a copy of Jubilees, but subsequently classified as Pseudo-Jubilees. On the Mastema tradition in the fragment, see Esther Eshel, “Matema’s Attempt on Moses’ Life in the ‘Pseudo-Jubilees’ Text from Masada,” DSD 10 (2003): 359–64. In the LXX the assailant is “the angel of the Lord.” In the Aramaic Targums it is “the angel of the Lord” (Tg. Onq and Tg. Ps.-J. to Exod 4:24), “the destroying angel” (‫)דמלאך חבלא‬ (Tg. Ps-J. to Exod 4:25–26), the destroyer (‫( )מחבלה‬Tg. Neof. to Exod 4:25; and “the angel of death” (‫( )דמלאך מותא‬Tg. Neof. to Exod 4:26). See Avigdor Shinan, “The Aggadah in the Aramaic Targums to the Pentateuch” (Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University, 1977), 2:271–72 (Hebrew) and “The Angeology of the ‘Palestinian Targums’ on the Pentateuch,” Sefarad 43 (1983): 181–98, esp. 191– 96. In rabbinic midrash the substitute figure appears both as satan (b. Ned. 32a) and as a benign angel (Exod. Rab. 2.8). 67 For other connections between the Akedah and the redemption from Egypt in Jubilees, see Chapter 5. 68 Mastema provokes the test in response to “voices in heaven” praising Abraham’s faith­ fulness. 69 The angel of the presence in Jubilees is a recasting of the angel figure in the scriptural story. Functioning solely as a divine messenger, the Genesis angel has neither an individual voice nor an independent persona. Indeed, when he speaks, it is only in the first person voice of God (Gen 22:11–12, 15–18). In contrast, the Jubilees angel of the presence intervenes in a physical way—“standing in front of Moses and in front of Prince Mastema” (Jub. 18:9a)—and when he delivers the divine message, his voice is distinguished from that of God (Jub. 18:9b–10). Service as a protector is one of several roles that Jubilees ascribes to the angel of the presence. On the roles of the angel(s) of the presence in Jubilees, see Devorah Dimant, “‫תורת המלאכים בספר היובלים לאור כתבי עדת קומראן‬-‫בני שמים‬,” in Tribute to Sara: Studies in Jewish Philosophy and Kabbala (ed. M. Idel and D. Dimant; Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1994, 103–05) (Hebrew) and VanderKam, “The Angel,” 379–93.

Moses: A Biography

63

(Jub. 10:8) and subsequently assigned those same spirits governance over all peoples save Israel to “lead them astray from following him” (Jub. 15:31).70 In the present instance, that mandate places Mastema, the head of the spirits, into immediate conflict with Moses who is on his way to fulfill his own mandate—“to carry out punishment and revenge on the Egyptians (Jub. 48:3).71 Intervening to thwart Mastema in an act that, unlike the objective that motivates it, again exceeds the boundaries of his authority, the angel of the presence enables Moses to go on to Egypt where, in accord with God’s plan, he performs “the signs and miracles” that he had been sent “to perform against the pharaoh, all his house, his servants, and his nation” (Jub. 48:4).72 As exegesis, the reworking connects the attack directly to the earlier commissioning of Moses and creates a literary continuity lacking in its Exodus counterpart. At the same time, its central motif of mandates in conflict serves as an introduction to the angel’s depiction of the heavenly forces functioning, each in accord with its own mandate, as instruments in God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt.

70 In both passages the task of misleading involves the spirits that Mastema leads. In the Jubilees treatment of the redemption from Egypt, Mastema himself does the misleading (Jub. 48:2–3, 9, 12, 15, 17–18). Several studies have focused on the role of the spirits in Jubilees (James VanderKam, “The Demons in the Book of Jubilees,” in Die Dämonen: Die Dämonlogie der israelitisch-jüdischen un frühchristlichen Literatur im Kontext ihrer Umwelt [ed. A. Lange, H. Lichtenberger, K. Diethard Römheld; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003], 339–62; Todd Hanneken, “Angels and Demons in the Book of Jubilees and Contemporary Apocalypses,” Henoch (2008): 11–25; and Annette Reed, “Angels, Demons, and the Dangerous Ones in Between: Reflections on Enochic and Mosaic Traditions in Jubilees,” in Enoch and the Mosaic Torah, 353–68). None of these studies examine Mastema’s mandate and its limitations in the Jubilees treatment of the exodus from Egypt. 71 The mandate “to carry out punishment and revenge on the Egyptians” appears to be an interpretive development of Moses being placed “in the role of God to Pharaoh” (Exod 7:1) which is followed by a reference to the chastisements God will be inflicting on the Egyptians (Exod 7:4). On the motif of revenge in the Jubilees account of the plagues and the exodus, see Chapter 4. Following Saul Olyan (A Thousand Thousands, 7–27), Segal focuses on the theological significance of Mastema replacing God in the Jubilees account of the attack. He perceives, inaccurately in my opinion, the primary conflict in the narrative to be between God and Mastema. The other thrust of Segal’s analysis, a postulate that the replacement exegesis developed in two stages, from God to the “angel of the Lord” and thereafter to Mastema, rests on parallels in later rabbinic literature rather than on intra-textual evidence within Jubilees (Book of Jubilees, Chapter 10, esp., 203–10). 72 The phrasing is a modified formulation of the description of Moses in Deut 34:11 (‫לכל‬ ‫)האתת והמופטים אשר שלחו ה' לעשות בארץ מצרים לפרעה ולכל עבדיו ולכל ארצו‬.

CHAPTER FOUR REDEMPTION REVEALED

Presenting the expansive narrative of the plagues and the liberation from Egypt in the book of Exodus within a single chapter, the Jubilees treatment has the deceptive appearance of a summary. In fact, the angel’s account is an exposition of the process of redemption that discloses the events “behind the scenes” so to speak of the scriptural narrative. Conceiving the redemption as unfolding in phases, the exposition is divided into three units. The first treats the episode of the plagues (Jub. 48:3–11); the second, the deliverance of the Israelites and drowning of the Egyptians at the Reed Sea (Jub. 48:12–17); and the third, the Israelite plundering of the Egyptians before the departure from Egypt (Jub. 48:18–19). Developed in parallel constructions, each unit comprises (a) an encounter between Mastema and the angel(s) of the presence that sets the stage for the coming redemptive act; (b) a brief account of the redemptive act; (c) a retrospect into the scriptural account that demonstrates how the heavenly forces contribute to the advancement of the redemptive act. Unit

Setting the Stage

Redemptive Act

Retrospective Excursus

I

3–4 Mastema attacks Moses; angel of the presence rescues him

5–8 God executes plagues that Moses fore-announces

9–11 Mastema and angels of the presence in the matter of the Egyptian magicians

II

12–13ab Mastema urges Egyptian pursuit; angels of the presence rescue the Israelites

13c–14 God delivers I­ sraelites and drowns the Egyptians in the Reed Sea

15–17 Mastema and angels of the presence in the matters of the pursuit and the Egyptian entry into the sea

III

18ab Angels of the presence bind Mastema on the 14th

18c Israelites plunder Egyptians in retribution for enslavement

19 Angels of the presence do not bring the Israelites out of Egypt empty-handed

The exposition is grounded in two passages, one a near-citation, the other an addition, in the Jubilees reworking of Genesis narrative. The redemption is a fulfillment of the promises embedded in the forecast of the future enslavement of Abram’s progeny at the Covenant Between the Pieces—“Know for a fact that your descendants will be aliens in a foreign land. They will enslave them1 and oppress

1 The MT reads ‫ועבדום‬.

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them for 400 years. But I will judge the nation whom they serve. Afterwards, they will leave from there with many possessions” (Jub. 14:13–14 reflecting Gen 15:13–14).2 Concomitantly, the process by which that fulfillment is achieved manifests the workings of God’s providential care for Israel as described in a created discourse appended to the narrative of Ishmael’s circumcision that follows the first annunciation of Isaac’s birth. But over Israel he did not cause any angel or spirit to rule because he alone is their ruler and he will protect them and he will seek for them at the hand of his angels and at the hand of his spirits and at the hand of all his authorities so that he might guard them and bless them and they might be his and he might be theirs henceforth and forever (Jub. 15:32).3

Distinguishing Israel from the nations over whom God had assigned the spirits to rule “in order to lead them astray from following him” (Jub. 15:31),4 the passage sets forth a concept of divine providence in which God acts not only directly, but also instrumentally, by engaging (in the sense of ‫ לדרוש מיְ ֵדי‬as in Ezek 34:10),5 2 In Genesis 15 the assurance of judgment appears as a forecast in a dream vision that follows the spreading out of the objects that God directed Abram to bring before him and precedes the covenant making that delineates the dimensions of the land promised to Abram’s seed (Gen 15:12–21). Jubilees sets the forecast within the framework of Abram offering a sacrifice. Before the dream vision “he built an altar and sacrificed all of these. He poured out their blood on the altar and divided them…” (Jub. 14:11). After the vision and the covenant making he “offered what had been spread out, the birds, their (cereal) offering and their libation” (Jub. 14:19). 3 The citation is from Orval S. Wintermute, “Jubilees: A New Translation and Introduction,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (ed. J. Charlesworth; New York: Doubleday, 1985), 2:87. Wintermute’s translation—“will seek for them at the hand of…”—understands Jub. 15:32b as modifying the immediately preceding “he will protect them” and as elaborating on the means by which God will care for Israel. By contrast, VanderKam’s translation, “will require them for himself from the hands of his angels, his spirits, and everyone, and all his powers…,” views Jub. 15:32b as an accentuation of the point made in 15:32a — that God alone governs Israel. There is a significant interpretive difference between the two translations. Wintermute’s reading, i. e., God making a reckoning at the hand of his angels, spirits, etc., permits the redemption process described in Jubilees 48 to be seen as a manifestation of the instrumentality described in Jub. 15:32. VanderKam’s reading, i. e., God taking control of Israel away from ­others and keeping it for himself, implies a basic inconsistency between the conception of God’s governance in Jubilees 15 and the description of the unfolding of events in Jubilees 48 (as well as those described in Jub. 49:2, 4). 4 Reflecting Deut 32:8–9 (‫בהנחל עליון גוים בהפרידו בני אדם יצב גבלת עמים למספר בני ישראל כי חלק‬ ‫)ה' עמו יעקב חבל נחלתו‬, the Jubilees contrast between the election of Israel and the assignment of spirits to govern the nations reads ‫ בני ישראל‬as ‫בני אלהים‬/‫ בני אלים‬and as referring to the evil spirits. On ‫ בני ישראל‬in MT Deut 32:8 as ‫בני אלהים‬/‫בני אלים‬, see LXX Deut 32:8; 4Q37; and Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 269. On Deut 32:8–9 as the exegetical basis for Jub. 15:30–32, see VanderKam, “Demons,” 351–54. 5 Although the Hebrew original is not extant, the verbal phrase wa-yətḫassasomu ’ǝm’ǝdä (Jub. 15:32) in the Ethiopic suggests ‫ לדרוש אותם מידי‬with the sense of ‫ ודרשתי את צאני מידם‬in Ezek 34:10, which is also rendered with the reflexive taḫaśaśa in the Ethiopic translation. (For ‫דרש‬ with ‫ מיד‬and the accusative, see BDB, 205).

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the forces under his authority, most specifically the spirits and the angels, on behalf of Israel. Both passages pertain not to the patriarchal era, but to a time when the patriarchal progeny has become a nation. In other words, the fulfillment of the promises at the Covenant Between the Pieces and the operation of God’s providential care over Israel are first evident in the liberation from Egypt. Consequently, Jubilees constructs its redemption exposition as a demonstration of the fulfillment of God’s promise of judgment and as a manifestation of how the heavenly forces serve as instruments in the execution of that judgment and in the protection of Israel.

The Plagues: Jub. 48:3–11 As indicated in the previous chapter, Jubilees constructs its account of the attempt on Moses’s life as a transition narrative. Echoing a motif that Jubilees develops in its treatment of the Akedah, the scene closes the biographical treatment with an analogy between the newly commissioned Moses and the first patriarch. At the same time, Mastema’s attempt to prevent Moses from carrying out “punishment and revenge on the Egyptians” and the angel’s rescue of Moses “from his power” (Jub. 48:3–4) sets the stage for the redemptive judgment that is executed through the ten plagues. Execution of judgment on the Egyptians is a central theme throughout the exposition. However, the conceptual basis for treating judgment as a redemptive act is explicitly stated in the first unit where the plagues are presented as “in accord with his (God’s) covenant which he made with Abraham to take revenge on them just as they were enslaving them with force” (Jub. 48:8). The exegetical trigger for the characterization may be the combination of God’s remembrance of the covenant and his assurance of redemption through extraordinary chastisements in Exod 6:5–6 (…‫)ואזכר את בריתי…וגאלתי אתכם בזרוע נטויה ובשפטים גדולים‬. The covenant being remembered in the Exodus passage refers to the promise of the land made to all three patriarchs (‫( )…וגם הקמתי את בריתי אתם לתת להם את ארץ כנען‬Exod 6:3–4). Jubilees replaces that broadly conceived recollection with the promise of judgment made to Abraham at the time of the Covenant Between the Pieces (‫( )את הגוי אשר יעבדו דן אנכי‬Gen 15:14 cited in Jub. 14:14).6 Going beyond a conceptual link between ‫( דן‬Gen 15:14) and ‫( שפטים‬Exod 6:6), the exposition repeatedly articulates judgment as the execution of revenge (Jub. 48:3, 5 [twice], 7, 8, 14). Such an articulation appears not in Exodus, but in Deuteronomy 32 where the terms ‫( )כי ידין ה' עמו ועל עבדיו יתנחם) דן‬Deut 32:36) and 6 In Ps 105:42 the redemption from Egypt is similarly presented as fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.

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‫( )ותאחז במשפט ידי) משפט‬Deut 32:41) are used in the context of God seeking vindication and executing vengeance on behalf of Israel (‫)אשיב נקם לצרי ולמשנאי אשלם‬ (Deut 32:41).7 Of particular significance in Deut 32:41 is the image of the vengeance being exacted by the hand of God (“my hand”) grasping hold of justice. Although a different image, “by an outstretched arm” (‫)בזרוע נטויה‬, accompanies God’s extraordinary chastisements (‫ )בשפטים גדולים‬in Exod 6:6,8 the hand image is by far more common in the scriptural exodus narrative.9 In the context of the redemption in general and the plagues in particular, it appears as “my hand” (‫)ידי‬ or “by the strong hand” (‫ )ביד חזקה‬of God.10 Jubilees also employs the hand motif, but it is the hand of Moses (“your power”) (Jub. 48:3, 6);11 the hand of Mastema (“his power”) (Jub. 48:4, 13); the hand of Pharaoh (“Pharaoh’s power”) (Jub. 48:9);12 and the hand of the (Egyptian) people (“from the power of the people”) (Jub. 48:13).13 Strikingly absent is any mention of the image of the “hand” or “strong hand” of God that pervades the scriptural narrative of the plagues and the exodus from Egypt. Indeed, precisely where one might anticipate finding the strong hand imagery, i. e., in the enumeration of the plagues that God effects against the Egyptians (Jub. 48:5), in the presentation of their execution as fulfilling God’s covenant with Abraham (Jub. 48:8), and in the drowning of the Egyptians at the Reed Sea (Jub. 48:14), Jubilees adopts the Deuteronomy 32 vengeance motif and has God, Moses, and the Israelites themselves taking revenge against the Egyptians (Jub. 48:3, 5, 7–8, 14, 18).14 7 Without the hand image, the motif of God exacting retribution appears with specific reference to Egypt in Jer 46:10 and, with a broader reference point, in Ezek 25:7 and Ps 149:7. 8 The phrase ‫ בזרוע נטויה‬appears only in this one passage in Exodus. It is the more common usage in Deuteronomy, where in combination with ‫ביד חזקה‬, it is frequently associated with the execution of the plagues and the drowning of Egyptians in the Reed Sea (e.g., Deut 4:34; 5:15; 7:8, 19; 11:2–3). 9 On the hand motif in the exodus narrative, see Patrick W. Skehan, “The Hand of Judith,” CBQ 25 (1963): 94–110. 10 Exod 3:19, 20; 6:1; 7:4–5; 9:15; 13:9; 14:31; 32:11. On ‫ ביד חזקה‬as by the hand of God in Exod 3:19 and 6:1, see Propp, Exodus, 1:186, 207, 258. The hand image is also used in the recollections of the redemption in Deut 6:21; 9:26; 11:2–3; Dan 9:16. 11 See Exod 4:21. The strong hand of Moses also appears, but in the broader context of his leadership of Israel, in the elegy of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy (‫ולכל היד החזקה ולכל המורא‬ ‫( )הגדול אשר עשה משה לעיני כל ישראל‬Deut 34:12). 12 Exod 18:10; Deut 7:8. 13 Presumably reflecting Exod 14:30; see also Exod 3:8; 18:9–10. 14 Usually the revenge motif is expressly stated with the verb baqal (Jub. 48:3, 5, 7, 8, 14). However, the motif is also presented in a description of a measure-for-measure retribution (Jub. 48:14, 18). Questioning Goldmann’s Hebrew translation of baqal as ‫נקמה‬, Segal suggests that the Ethiopic gabra baqala is simply a translation of ‫( עשה שפטים‬Book of Jubilees, 212, n. 26). He does not comment on uindictam in the Latin of 48:5 (VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 1:299) or on the absence of any reference to “the hand” or the “strong hand” of God in Jubilees 48.

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That vengeance is the rationale for the plagues is not entirely without foundation in the book of Exodus. Well before Moses’s first encounter with Pharaoh, indeed even before his return to Egypt, God tells him that Pharaoh will not respond to the wonders he will be displaying and Moses will be informing Pharaoh that God will slay his “first-born son” in recompense for Pharaoh having refused to release the Israelites, God’s “first-born son” (Exod 4:23). Presuming the ineffectiveness of the earlier plagues,15 the retribution — first-born for first-born — relates only to the last of the ten plagues. Moreover, insofar as Pharaoh’s resistance results from God having stiffened his resolve (‫)ואני אחזק את לבו ולא ישלח את העם‬ (Exod 4:22),16 the integrity of the retribution is qualified. Avoiding those limitations and also the didactic function repeatedly assigned to the plagues in Exodus (Exod 7:5, 17; 8:6, 18; 9:14, 16; 10:1–2),17 Jubilees imports the broader Deuteronomy concept of revenge as the rationale for the plagues and pointedly omits the Exodus motif of God stiffening Pharaoh’s resolve in its presentation of the plagues as the first phase of the redemption.18 A chiastic structure identifies God and Moses as the major characters in the execution of the plagues. (A) The Lord19 effected a great revenge against them on account of Israel. He struck them and killed them with blood, frogs, gnats, dog flies, bad sores which broke out in blisters; (and he struck) their cattle with death; and with hailstones — with 15 In an earlier divine forecast at the Burning Bush, God had indicated that Pharaoh would agree to the release of the Israelites only after the Egyptians had been struck by multiple plagues (Exod 3:19–20). 16 A comparable forecast in Exod 7:3 also relates the failure of the plagues to God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. In Exodus here are numerous references to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in the matter of the plagues. In some instances, God, as he foretold, does the hardening (Exod 4:21 [‫;]ואני אחזק את לבו‬ Exod 7:3 [‫ ;]אקשה את לב פרעה‬Exod 9:12 [‫ ;]ויחזק ה' את לב פרעה‬Exod 10:1, 20, 27 [‫הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב‬ ‫ ]עבדיו‬Exod 11:10 [‫)]ויחזק ה' את לב פרעה‬. In some, no source is identified (Exod 7:13 [‫]ויחזק לב פרעה‬ 14 [‫[כבד לב פרעה‬, 22 ]‫ ;]ויחזק לב פרעה‬Exod 8:15 [‫ ;]ויחזק לב פרעה‬Exod 9:7 [‫[ויחזק לב‬, 35 ]‫;)]ויכבד לב פרעה‬ and in others, Pharaoh hardens his own heart (Exod 8:11, 28 [‫ ;]והכבד את לבו‬Exod 9:34 [‫ויכבד לבו‬ ‫ ;]הוא ועבדיו‬Exod 13:15 [‫)]ויהי כי הקשה פרעה לשלחנו‬. 17 “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord…” ('‫( )וידעו מצרים כי אני ה‬Exod 7:5); “by this you (Pharaoh) shall know that I am the Lord” ('‫( )בזאת תדע כי אני ה‬Exod 7:17); “that you (Pharaoh) may know that there none like the Lord our God” (‫( )למען תדע כי אין כה' אלהינו‬Exod 8:6); “that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land” (‫)למען תדע כי אני ה' בקרב הארץ‬ (Exod 8:18); “that you may know that there is none like me in all the world” (‫בעבור תדע כי אין כמני‬ ‫( )בכל הארץ‬Exod 9:14); “to show you my power and in order that my fame may resound throughout the world” (‫( )בעבור הראתך את כחי ולמען ספר שמי בכל הארץ‬Exod 9:16); “in order that I may display these my signs among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your son and of your sons’ sons…in order that you may know that I am the Lord” (‫למען שתי אתתי אלה בקרבו ולמען‬ '‫( )תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך…וידעתם כי אני ה‬Exod 10:1–2). 18 Jubilees does develop the motif in association with Pharaoh’s pursuit of the Israelites that is treated in the second half of the exposition (Jub. 48:12, 17). 19 Letters in parenthesis and emphasis mine.

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these he annihilated everything that was growing for them; with locusts which ate whatever was left for them from the hail; with darkness; (and with the death of) their first-born of men and cattle. The Lord took revenge on all their gods and burned them up (Jub. 48:5).20 (B) Everything was sent through you, before it was done, so that you could do (it). You were speaking with the king of Egypt… (Jub. 48:6). (B1) Everything happened by your word. Ten great and severe punishments came to the land of Egypt so that you could take revenge on it for Israel (Jub. 48:7). (A1) The Lord did everything for the sake of Israel and in accord with his covenant which he made with Abraham to take revenge on them just as they were enslaving them with force (Jub. 48:8).

God, the redeemer, is the subject of the opening and closing verses of the pericope (vv. 5 and 8). He executes the plagues as judgment on behalf of Israel (A) and he fulfills the promise of revenge made in the covenant with Abraham (A1). Moses, the envoy, is the actor in the two inner verses (vv. 6–7). He (“you” in the voice of the angel-narrator) delivers verbal notice of each plague to Pharaoh and his court (B) and through his words, collaborates in the exaction of revenge on behalf of Israel (B1).21 Designed to highlight the roles of the primary actors, i. e., God the executor and Moses his envoy, the account relates only to select points in the elaborate narrative of Exodus 7–12. Each of the plagues is listed in the opening verse of the pericope. The terminology in the listing is similar to that used in the scriptural account;22 but the descriptions are significantly abridged (Jub. 48:5).23 Moreover, the sequence of two of the plagues is inverted. In Jubilees death of cattle, i. e., pestilence, (the fifth plague in Exodus) follows rather than precedes “bad sores,” i. e., boils (the sixth plague in Exodus). The inverted order — boils, pestilence, hail — is 20 Jub. 48:5 may be reflected in lines 2–3 of the fragment 4Q222. See VanderKam and Milik, “4QJubileesg,” DJD 13:87. 21 Treating Jub. 48:4–7 as a unit, Loewenstamm sees in the passage a tension between two conflated traditions, one in which God is the sole executor of the plagues, the other in which Moses is the executor (Evolution, 134). The tension disappears when Jub. 48:4c is understood as referring to the signs and miracles Moses presents before the plagues and Jub. 48:5–8 is read as a chiasmus. 22 Swarms of insects (‫ )ערב‬is rendered “dog flies” as in LXX Exod 8:21–22, 24; inflammation breaking out in boils (‫( )שחין פרח אבעבעת‬Exod 9:9–10) is “bad sores which break out with blisters;” pestilence (‫ )דבר‬is “struck their cattle with death.” 23 Blood, frogs, gnats (lice), and dog flies (swarms of insects), and darkness are listed without reference to their impact. By contrast, see Exod 7:21, 28; 8:13–14; 10:22–23. The description of hailstones, “with these he annihilated everything that was growing for them [the Egyptians]” highlights one facet of “the hail struck down all that were in the open, both man and beast; the hail also struck down all the grasses of the field and shattered all the trees of the field” (‫ויך הברד בכל ארץ מצרים את כל אשר בשדה מאדם ועד בהמה ואת כל עשב השדה הכה הברד ואת כל‬ ‫( )עץ השדה שבר‬Exod 9:25). The account of “locusts which ate whatever was left for them from the hail” reflects one component of the detailed description in Exod 10:13–15; cf. Exod 10:12.

Redemption Revealed

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most likely an exegetical response to the reference to pestilence in the message Moses is to give to Pharaoh immediately before Egypt is struck by the plague of hail (Exod 9:15).24 Supplementing the enumeration, an allusion to the execution of judgments also on the gods of Egypt (‫( )בכל אלהי מצרים אעשה שפטים‬Exod 12:12; cf. Num 33:4) is again articulated as revenge and the precise nature of the retribution is spelled out—“The Lord took revenge on all their gods and burned them up” (Jub. 48:5). The elaboration of Exod 12:12 has the Egyptian gods suffer the same fate, i. e., burning, that Jubilees assigns to “the alien gods” that Jacob’s entourage had taken from Mesopotamia (Jub. 31:1–2)25 and to the idols that were burned up when Abram set fire to the idolatrous temple in Ur of the Chaldeans (Jub. 12:12).26 There is little use of material from the Exodus account of the plagues in the description of the role of Moses. Indeed, the description of Moses speaking before Pharaoh and bringing on the plagues through his words (Jub. 48:6–7) little accords with the scriptural account.27 Making no mention of the presence or participation of Aaron, Jubilees designs a portrait that has Moses fulfilling a charge that God had placed upon him in the Exodus narrative. There are two formulations of that charge. When Moses is commissioned at the Burning Bush, it is stated as “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh and bring my people the Israelites out from Egypt “ (‫( )ועתה לכה ואשלחך אל פרעה והוצא את עמי ישראל ממצרים‬Exod 3:10). After his arrival to Egypt he is directed to “go, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt that he send the Israelites from his land” (‫בא דבר אל פרעה מלך מצרים וישלח את בני‬ ‫( )ישראל מארצו‬Exod 6:11), a charge that is subsequently restated as to “speak to 24 The reference appears in the context of God informing Pharaoh that he could have struck people, not just cattle, with the deathly pestilence, but spared him in order to show him his power. No other explanation for the inverted order of these two plagues has been offered. Indeed, several scholars have erroneously described the sequence in the Jubilees listing as identical to that in the Pentateuch (Loewenstamm, Evolution, 108; Segal, Book of Jubilees, 211 n. 24). 25 Reworking Gen 35:4 where Jacob buries ‫אלהי הנכר‬. 26 The burning of the temple of idols in Ur (Abram cycle), of the alien gods taken from Mesopotamia (Jacob cycle), and of the Egyptian gods are Jubilees additions that may reflect the account of Moses’s destruction of the golden calf (Exod 32:20; Deut 9:21) and the prescription that the Israelites destroy the images of foreign gods in fire (Deut 8:25). Segal views the burning of the Egyptian gods as exegesis of the execution of judgment (‫עשה‬ ‫( )שפטים‬Exod 12:12), which in Ezek 30:14–19 is rendered by fire. On the burning specifically of Egyptian idols, see Jer 43:12–13; 1QM XIV, 1; and the other sources cited in Segal, Book of Jubilees, 212, n. 27. 27 Moses does not announce the plagues of lice (Exod 8:12), boils (9:8–10), or darkness (Exod 10:21–22). Before the onset of the other seven plagues God tells Moses what to say to Pharaoh, but only with locusts (where Aaron is also a messenger) is the scene portrayed (Exod 10:3–11). Moreover, it is not Moses’s word that activates each of the plagues. They are set off through an act of Aaron (blood, frogs, lice) (Exod 7:19–20; 8:2, 13), of Moses (boils; hail, locusts, darkness) (Exod 9:8–10, 22–23; 10:12–13, 22), and directly by God (swarms, pestilence, death of first-born) (Exod 8:20; 9:6; 12:29).

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Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to you” (‫דבר אל פרעה מלך מצרים את כל אשר אני‬ ‫( )דבר אליך‬Exod 6:29).28 The emphasis on everything being sent through Moses before it was done and everything happening by his word (Jub. 48:6–7) reflects the latter formulation. Jubilees does not credit Moses with bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, a role implied by the directive ‫ הוצא‬at the Burning Bush (Exod 3:10), but one which multiple other passages in Exodus (and elsewhere) attribute only to God (e.g., Exod 6:6–7; 7:4–5; 12:51; 13:3, 9).29 Avoiding a dual ascription, Jubilees develops a collaborative one. Through his words, Moses, like God, takes revenge on behalf of Israel (Jub. 48:7). At the same time, the counterpoint structure and wording of the portrayal belies any suggestion of parity between the two roles. God effects the plagues and executes the revenge (Jub. 48:5, 8). His envoy announces each plague before it is done, and in so doing, becomes a collaborator in the revenge (Jub. 48:6–7). The description of the redemptive act is followed by a retrospective excursus that addresses the matter of the Egyptian magicians and brings Prince Mastema30 and the angel of the presence back into the redemption scenario. His earlier attempt to keep Moses from reaching Egypt frustrated by the angel of the presence (Jub. 48:3–4), Mastema now tries to undermine him at court, specifically, by helping the Egyptian magicians replicate the signs that Moses performs before Pharaoh.31 The angels of the presence permit the replications (“permitted them to do evil”), but do not allow the magicians to do healings; and subsequently when God executes the plague of sores, the angels deprive them of the ability to “perform a single sign” (Jub. 48:9–11). As Exodus exegesis, the treatment functions at several levels. Substantively, it explains how the magicians were able to replicate God’s wondrous acts and explains why they were unable to bring about healings.32 At the same time, its syn 28 The directive is repeated, but addressed to both Moses and Aaron, in Exod 6:23, 26–27. 29 In Deuteronomy particularly there are numerous references to God having brought the Israelites (or “you”) out of Egypt (Deut 6:12, 23; 7:8; 9:26, 29). A notable exception appears in the Deut 9:12 where, recollecting the sin of the golden calf, God describes Moses as the one who brought the Israelites out of Egypt. A third perspective, that an angel sent by God redeems the Israelites from Egypt, appears in Num 20:16. On that motif in the Jubilees exposition, see Jub. 48:19 and the discussion below. 30 Throughout Chapter 48 Mastema is referred to as “prince of Mastema” (Jub. 48:2, 9, 12). Elsewhere in the work he is sometimes called “Mastema” (Jub. 10:8; 18:9; 19:28; 49:2) and sometimes “Prince Mastema” or “prince of Mastema” (Jub. 11:5, 11; 17:16; 18:12). Insofar as a pattern is discernible, Jubilees appears to employ the prince title in contexts where Mastema is actively engaged in corrupting humans and accusing, or in some other way troubling, Israel. 31 A similar tradition in the Testament of Solomon has the demon Abezethibou assisting the magicians Jannes and Jabres (T. Sol. 25:3–4). 32 Their inability to produce healings is never explicitly stated in Exodus. It is implied by Pharaoh’s appeal to Moses in the case of the frogs (Exod 8:4), and possibly suggested by ‫להוציא‬, a term that can be understood either as “to produce” or “to remove,” in the account of the lice

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optic style obscures the discontinuous appearances of the Exodus magicians who replicate or attempt to replicate the plagues of blood, frogs, and lice (Exod 7:22; 8:3, 14), acknowledge the lice as “the finger of God” (Exod 8:15), are absent from the scenes of the swarms and pestilence (the fourth and fifth plagues in Exodus), but reappear, at least referentially, when their own affliction prevents them replicating the boils (the sixth plague in Exodus) (Exod 9:11).33 The primary purpose of the retrospect, however, is to expose the inner workings of the redemption process, specifically to demonstrate how the heavenly forces contribute to its advancement. A vignette supplementing the presentation of the plagues as divine retribution for the forceful enslavement of the Israelites, it presents the magicians as another attempt by Mastema to keep Moses from fulfilling his mandate in regard to the Egyptians. Much as Mastema had attacked Moses on the way to Egypt in order to protect the Egyptians “from his power” (Jub. 48:3), so at the Egyptian court, he helps the magicians so that Moses will “fall into the pharaoh’s power” (Jub. 48:9). Similarly, just as the angel of the presence countered Mastema’s attempt to kill Moses (Jub. 48:3), so, together with other angels of the presence (“we”), he counteracts Mastema by limiting the power of the magician to undermine Moses when he appears before Pharaoh (Jub. 48:10–11). There is another dimension to the vignette. As pointed out at the close of the previous chapter, in attempting to kill Moses, Mastema exceeds the boundaries of the authority assigned to him (Jub. 10:8; 15:31) and in rescuing Moses, the angel of the presence restores earthly affairs such that events may unfold in accord with God’s plan. By contrast, insofar as the success of the magicians encourages Egyptian intransigence34 and thereby justifies the execution of additional plagues, Mastema’s actions not only accord with a mandate to lead those he governs astray, but also reflect a common agenda with the angels who permit the magicians “to do evil” (Jub. 48:10). Far from impeding the revenge that God seeks to execute on the Egyptians, Mastema, like the angels of the presence, contributes to its intensity. In other words, the chief of the spirits and the angels, each in accord with its own mandate, serve as instruments for avenging the forced enslavement of the plague (Exod 8:14). On Exod 8:14, see Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1965), 70–71 (Hebrew) and Benno Jacobs’ comments in The Second Book of the Bible: Exodus (trans. Walter Jacob with Y. Elman; Hoboken, New Jersey: Ktav, 1992), 264–65. 33 That their failure to duplicate the boils is due only to their own affliction may be interpreted as an indication that they replicated the preceding two plagues. However, the magicians are not mentioned in the narrative accounts of those plagues. 34 Only in the case of the first plague does the Exodus account overtly state that the magicians encourage Pharaoh’s resistance (Exod 7:22). In the other two instances where the magicians duplicate plagues, his stubbornness is attributed either to the removal of the plague (frogs [Exod 8:11]) or simply to a general obstinacy (‫( )ויחזק לב פרעה‬lice [Exod 8:15]).

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Israelites.35 Demonstrating the multi-faceted character of the providential care that God exercises on behalf of Israel, the exposition portrays the judgment as a redemptive process involving multiple players. God himself directly strikes the plagues that execute judgment; his envoy, Moses, expedites the judgment through his words; and God’s heavenly forces, the angels of the presence and Mastema, contribute to its force through their manipulation of the magicians.

The Sea: Jub. 48:12–14 The exposition of the second stage of redemption manifests a comparable dynamic of direct and instrumental divine providence. In this instance, however, the operation of the combination is more overtly acknowledged. Again introduced by an encounter between Mastema and the angel of the presence, the unit opens at some point after the Israelite departure from Egypt.36 Mastema, not yet “put to shame” and having “gained strength” after his earlier failure, urges (“cried out to”) the Egyptians to pursue the Israelites “with all the Egyptian army — with their chariots, their horses — and with all the throng of the Egyptian people” (Jub. 48:12).37 In response, the angel of the presence, protecting not only Moses, but the Israelites as well, “stood between you (Moses), between the Egyptians and between the Israelites,”38 and together with the other angels of the presence, “rescued the Israelites from his power and the power of the people” (Jub. 48:13ab). The motifs, as well as the language in which they are expressed, are familiar. Not put to shame as he had been at the Akedah (Jub. 18:12), Mastema continues to ally himself with ostensible Egyptian interests. As with his attack on Moses in the first unit, the alliance itself is within the authority of his mandate; but enabling the Egyptian forces to overtake Moses and the Israelites is not. Assuming the same protective stance by which he had obstructed Mastema at the sacrifice of Isaac (Jub. 18:9), the angel of the presence, here together with his cohorts, rescues the Israelites, as he had rescued Moses, “from his (i. e., Mastema’s) power” (Jub. 48:4). 35 Not connecting the account of the magicians to the preceding description of God executing revenge for Israel, Segal argues that the magician pericope, indeed Jubilees 48 in general, distances God from events (Book of Jubilees, 215–16). 36 The point of time in relationship to the Israelite departure is not specified in the introduction to the unit. However, the retrospective excursus at the end of the unit dates the initiation of the pursuit on the 19th (Jub. 48:16). 37 The phrase “with all the Egyptian army — with their chariots, their horses” reflects LXX Exod 14:17. “All the throng of the Egyptian people” may have evolved from “took his people with him” in Exod 14:6. 38 My translation. The Ethiopic repeats “between” (mā’əkala) to emphasize that the angel is protecting both Moses as well as the Israelites from the Egyptians. For translators’ treatments of the repeated preposition, see the note to Jub. 48:13 in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 2:313.

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In addition to echoing the earlier depictions of encounters between Mastema and the angel of the presence, the portrait also draws from the description of the pursuit in Exodus. The angel positioning himself between the Israelites and the Egyptians adopts the angelic protection described in Exod 14:19–20.39 A more selective use of Exodus material is evident in the matter of the initiation of the pursuit. In two passages, the divine forecast in Exod 14:4 (‫וחזקתי את לב פרעה ורדף‬ ‫ )אחריהם‬and the account of events in Exod 14:8 (‫ויחזק ה' את לב פרעה…וירדף אחרי בני‬ ‫)ישראל‬, the pursuit is ascribed to God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. However, in Exod 14:5 it is attributed to Pharaoh (and his servants) having undergone an unexplained “change of heart” (‫)ויהפך לבב פרעה ועבדיו‬.40 Using the vagueness of the latter formulation as an invitation, Jubilees attributes the change of heart to Mastema crying out to the Egyptians.41 Consequently, in the introduction to the second unit the heavenly forces, specifically Mastema and the angel of the presence with his entourage, set events in motion and bring the Egyptians and the Israelites to the sea where God himself carries out the deliverance and the judgment. 13c. The Lord brought them out through the middle of the sea as if on dry ground. 14. All of the people whom he brought out to pursue the Israelites the Lord our God threw into the sea — to the depths of the abyss — in place of the Israelites, just as the Egyptians had thrown their sons into the river. He took revenge on 1,000,000 of them, 1000 men (who were) strong and also very brave perished for one infant of your people whom they had thrown into the river (Jub. 48:13c–14).

The description of the redemptive acts draws from accounts in Exodus, but each component is magnified. The Israelites do not march through the sea on dry ground that has been exposed by the splitting of the waters (Exod 14:22; 15:19). Instead, God delivers them directly “through the middle of the sea as if42 on dry 39 “The angel of God who had been going ahead of the Israelite army now moved and followed behind them, and the pillar of cloud shifted from in front of them and took up a place behind them and it came between the army of the Egyptians and the army of Israel…” (‫ויסע מלאך‬ ‫האלהים ההלך לפני מחנה ישראל וילך מאחריהם ויסע עמוד הענן מפניהם ויעמד מאחריהם ויבא בין מחנה מצרים ובין‬ …‫( )מחנה ישראל‬Exod 14:19–20). In Exod 13:21 (see also Exod 14:24), it is not an angel, but “the Lord” who went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (‫וה' הלך לפניהם‬ …‫)יומם בעמוד ענן…ולילה בעמוד אש‬. Jubilees does not address the discontinuity directly, but its conception of divine providence operating through heavenly forces does bring the two passages into harmony. 40 On the treatment of the inconsistencies by modern source critics, see Propp, Exodus, 1:476–77, 480. 41 Jubilees may be modeling Mastema’s crying out to the Egyptians after the Israelites crying out to the Lord when they sight the Egyptians advancing on them (Exod 14:10). Much as it leaves out descriptions of Moses’s hesitance, Jubilees also omits any portrayal of the Israelites as fearful and reluctant. 42 Emphasis mine.

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ground” (Jub. 48:13c). God not only throws the Egyptians into the sea,43 but also, inflicting a triumphant judgment on the Egyptians, executes a thousand-fold revenge for their having drowned the Israelite infants.44 The scenario, like that in the Song in Exodus 15, is a totally God-centered drama.45 Moses who has a major collaborative role in the Exodus narrative (Exod 14:16, 21, 26–27)46 does not appear.47 Nor, for that matter, do the angels of the presence or Mastema. Indeed, the initiation of the pursuit attributed in the introductory section to Mastema’s urging (Jub. 48:12) here becomes, as in Exod 14:4, 8, an act of God—“all the people whom he brought out to pursue the Israelites, the Lord our God threw into the sea…” (Jub. 48:14).48 The two ascriptions stand together, not as conflicting formulations, but as a manifestation of the effectual operation of divine providence. Fulfilling his mandate, Mastema directly brings about Pharaoh’s change of mind; at the same time, permitting Mastema to fulfill his mandate without impediment, God is the ultimate or final cause for the hardening of heart that brings Pharaoh and the Egyptians out in pursuit of the I­ sraelites. The motif of heavenly forces serving as God’s instruments in the unfolding of events is further developed in the excursus that immediately follows the re 43 “Threw into the sea” reproduces ‫ ירה בים‬in Exod 15:4; “to the depths of the abyss” echoes ‫ תהומות יכסימו ירדו במצולת‬in Exod 15:5; and “who were very strong and very brave” most likely reflects ‫ מבחר שלשיו‬in Exod 15:4. 44 The exaggerated vengeance motif, preserved in Cedrenus, Historiarum Compendium; Denis, Fragmenta, 101, may reflect the influence of Exod 15:9–10, which juxtaposes the arrogant aims of the Egyptians and the fate they suffer at the hands of the Lord. A similar motif, but without the Jubilees-inflated numbers, is developed in Wis 18:5, LAB 9:10, and Mek. Shirata 4.  45 The Jubilees account focuses solely on God’s redemptive judgment of the Egyptians. No mention is made of his causing them to panic (Exod 14:24), locking the wheels of their chariots (Exod 14:25), or hurling them back into the sea when they attempt to flee (Exod 14:27). 46 God directs Moses to lift his rod and hold it over the sea to split the waters (Exod 14:16); he does so to expose the dry ground for the Israelites to cross on (Exod 14:21) and, at God’s directive, does it again to return the waters to their normal state to come back on the Egyptians (Exod 14:26–27). 47 Indeed, aside from the oblique reference to his presence among the Israelites protected by the angel of the presence (Jub. 14:13a), Moses is not mentioned in the second unit of the Jubilees exposition. His absence may reflect the influence of the enumeration of God’s redemptive acts on behalf of Israel in Deut 11:4, where Moses makes no reference to his own role. 48 Segal understands the “he” in the passage as referring not to God, but to Mastema. He treats vv. 13–14a as a chiasmus that contrasts the powers of God and the angels with Mastema’s lack of power (Book of Jubilees, 218). His reading places the referent for “he” four full sentences back (Jub. 48:12) and requires one to leap over the subject in the immediately preceding sentence, “The Lord brought them out through the middle of the sea as if on dry ground” (Jub. 48:13c). Moreover, it ignores the literary structure of the unit — an introductory encounter in which the heavenly forces are the primaries (hence, Mastema initiates the pursuit) and a report of the redemptive actions in which God is the sole actor (hence, the initiator of the pursuit).

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port of God’s redemptive acts. Like the excursus at the close of the first unit, this one moves back in time to an earlier scenario. It opens with Mastema having been bound and locked up behind the Israelites49 from the fourteenth to the eighteenth of the month “so that he could not accuse them” (Jub. 48:15).50 No explanation is given for the concern with Mastema accusing the Israelites on those particular days. Instead, inverting the usual sequence of Mastema acting and thereafter the angel(s) responding, the excursus moves immediately to the angel (or angels) of the presence promoting the redemptive process and advancing the redemption scenario by releasing Mastema on the nineteenth of the month so that he “could help the Egyptians pursue the Israelites” (Jub. 48:16).51 Exodus provides no date for the initiation of that pursuit. According to Exod 14:5, Pharaoh decided to go after the Israelites when he “was told that the people (the Israelites) had fled,” implying at least four days after their departure, when it would become have become abundantly clear that the Israelites would not be returning from the three-day festival they were supposedly celebrating in the desert (Exod 5:3; 8:23).52 A very different impression is conveyed in Exod 14:8 where the Egyptians initiate the pursuit “as the Israelites were departing defiantly, boldly,” implying the same day. Associating the angels’ release of Mastema with the beginning of the pursuit, Jubilees provides the precise date of the nineteenth, i. e., four days after the Israelite departure as implied by Exod 14:5,53 thereby permitting the Israelites to reach the edge of the desert, to turn back, and to be encamped by the sea when the pursuing Egyptians overtake them at night 49 The binding and locking up are presented without identification of who does the restraining of Mastema. Subsequently, however, the angel narrator indicates that “we,” i. e., he and the other angels of the presence, did the binding on the 14th (Jub. 48:18), presumably, as with the binding of the evil spirits in the time of Noah (Jub. 10:5–9), in response to a directive from God. 50 Mastema engages in two types of activities. Inherent to his nature and his name (‫שטם‬/‫שטן‬ /‫)משטימה‬, he is “the satan” (Jub. 10:11), the adversary who harasses and accuses the righteous. (On the derivation of the name ‫ משטימה‬and its connection to the word ‫שטן‬, see Olyan, 66–67.) Concomitantly, as head of the spirits God mandates to govern the nations “in order lead them astray from following him” (Jub. 15:31), he gives encouragement to the Egyptians. In this excursus the two roles are intertwined. 51 Jub. 48:15 refers to only Mastema being locked away; but the Ethiopic of Jub. 48:16 reads a plural suffix and a plural verb thereafter — “we released them so that they could help.” Although almost all manuscripts attest these plural forms (see VanderKam’s note to 48:16, The Book of Jubilees, 2:314), I, with Segal and others (Book of Jubilees, 219, n. 46), attribute the plural to a scribal error, perhaps under the influence of the account of the binding of Mastema’s entourage of spirits in Jub. 10:3–11. The reading of singular pronominal endings is consistent with the account of God employing the “forces of Mastema” to kill the Egyptian first-born on the night of the 15th (Jub. 49:16), a time when Mastema himself was locked up (Jub. 48:15). 52 For such an implication, see b. Meg. 31a and Rashi on Exod 14:5. 53 The same Exodus verse provided the basis for the attribution of the initiation of the pursuit to Mastema’s encouragement (Jub. 48:12).

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at the beginning of the twenty-first.54 On the shore of the sea Mastema once again advances the redemption process, this time by stiffening the Egyptian resolve and making them stubborn so that they will follow the Israelites into the sea (Jub. 48:17a).55 The usual angelic intervention that obstructs, limits, or mediates the impact of Mastema’s activity,56 does not occur. Instead, the second half of the verse indicates “they were made stubborn by the Lord our God so that he could strike the Egyptians and throw them into the sea” (Jub. 48:17b). The Egyptian entry into the sea is related to a hardening of heart in only one Exodus passage where it appears in the context of a collaborative plan of action. Moses is to raise the rod in his arm to split the waters of the sea so that the Israelites may march into the sea on dry ground; God will stiffen the hearts of the Egyptians so that they go in after them (‫)ואני מחזק את לב מצרים ויבאו אחריהם‬ (Exod 14:16–17). Perhaps reflecting an awareness of the illogic of the Egyptians needing encouragement, i. e., their hearts stiffened, when they, like the Israelites, can see the dry ground, the subsequent account of the Israelite and Egyptian entries into the sea makes no mention of God hardening the Egyptian resolve. Moses holds his arm over the sea; God sends a strong east wind that splits the waters;

54 Exodus indicates that the engagement with the Egyptians at the sea occurred “at night,” (Exod 14:20–21), but does not indicate a date. Jubilees does not explicitly identify the date, but implies the night of the twenty-first by having the Israelites complete their celebration of the festival of Massot on the seashore after they had safely crossed the sea (Jub. 49:23). On the correspondence between the dates of the Massot festival and the Israelite journey from Egypt to across the Reed Sea, see Chapter 5. Rashi develops a comparable schedule, but overtly combines the implications of Exod 14:5 with the travel record in Exod 14:1. He has the Pharaoh informed of the flight on the fourth day after the Israelite departure, the Egyptian army in pursuit on the fifth and sixth days, and drowning in the Reed Sea on the night of the seventh day after the exodus from Egypt (Rashi on Exod 14:5). 55 The phrasing of the description, “he stiffened their resolve and made them stubborn,” suggests that the Hebrew original of the Jubilees passage employed a combination of forms of ‫חזק‬ and ‫כבד‬, verbs used, along with the less frequent ‫( הקשה‬Exod 7:3; 13:15), to express stiffening of resolve in MT Exodus. Within the Exodus narrative, the two verbs occasionally appear within one pericope, but never in combination (Exod 4:21; 7:13, 22; 8:15; 9:12, 35; 10:27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17 [‫ ;]חזק‬Exod 7:14; 8:11, 28; 9:7, 34, 10:1 [‫)]כבד‬. If the Hebrew original had such a combination, it suggests a deliberate conversion of the passive ‫( הכבד‬to be honored or glorified), being used in a wordplay that assigns a didactic function to God’s encouragement of the Egyptians in Exod 14:17–18. As indicated earlier, the very strong didactic motif in the Exodus account is totally absent from the Jubilees 48 exposition. 56 Mastema attempts to kill Moses and the angel of the presence intervenes (Jub. 48:3–4a); Mastema assists the Egyptian magicians; but the angel of the presence and his entourage limit and subsequently deprive them of the ability to replicate plagues (Jub. 48:9–11); Mastema encourages the Egyptian pursuit of the Israelites; but the angels of the presence curb his powers by not permitting the Egyptians to overtake the Israelites before they reach the sea (Jub. 48:12–13ab).

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the Israelites enter into the sea on dry ground; and the Egyptians, with no stiffening of resolve, simply follow after them (Exod 14:21–23). Jubilees resolves the logical problem with a different scenario, one that magnifies both the faithful confidence of the Israelites and the absence of any such confidence on the part of the Egyptians. There is no splitting of the sea. Testifying to their surety of being under God’s protective care, the Israelites enter directly into the sea “as if ” it were dry ground (Jub. 18:17b). The Egyptians, on the other hand, are willing to enter the sea after them only because Mastema has “stiffened their resolve and made them stubborn” and “they have been made stubborn by the Lord our God” (Jub. 48:17). Several facets of the double ascription are telling. It appears not in the account of God executing the redemptive act, but in the excursus that focuses on the activities of the heavenly forces. Mastema is the sole heavenly force operating in the scene, for the angels of the presence do not intervene. Moreover, the allusion to God stiffening the Egyptian resolve in Exod 14:17 — ‫ — ואני הנני מחזק את לב מצרים‬ is shifted into passive voice and placed after Jubilees has already attributed the stiffening of resolve to Mastema. The excursus context, the absence of any activity on the part of the angel of the presence, the passive construction, and the sequence of the two ascriptions, all point to Mastema functioning as an agent of God.57 Mastema makes the Egyptians stubborn enough to enter the sea after the Israelites. He does so without any intervention on the part of the angel of the presence, for God required58 the hardening of resolve at the hands of Mastema that resulted in the Egyptians entering into the sea.

The Plundering of the Egyptians: Jub. 48:18–19 Consisting of only two verses, the last unit is notably brief. No longer moving chronologically through events, it turns back to the binding and locking up of Mastema so that he is not able to accuse the Israelites. The dates of the lockup, from the fourteenth to the eighteenth, coincide with multiple occasions when the Israelites would have been particularly vulnerable to Mastema’s accusations. On the fourteenth, they were sacrificing the pesah and placing the blood sign on the doors of their houses (Jub. 49:1; 3); on the night of the fifteenth, they were celebrating (eating) the pesah as the tenth plague was striking the Egyp 57 In contrast, Segal treats all passages that attribute the same activity to Mastema and to God as evidence of two stages of composition. Hence, he ascribes the first half of the verse (Jub. 48:17a) to the rewriter who attributes God’s act to Mastema and the second half (Jub. 48:17b) to a later redactor who is reinserting the scriptural perspective (Book of Jubilees, 219–22). 58 I use the word ‘require’ here not to indicate divine need, but rather in the sense employed in Jub. 15:32, to require or seek at the hands of (‫)לדרוש מידי‬.

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tian (Jub. 49:1–6);59and from the fifteenth to the eighteenth, they were journeying toward the desert and turning back toward the sea.60 However, the unit focuses on one date, the fourteenth, and on one episode, the Israelite plundering of Egyptian possessions prior to their departure from Egypt. Its brevity notwithstanding, the unit demonstrates the fulfillment of another of the promises God made at the Covenant Between the Pieces. The first two units dealt with fulfillment of the promise of divine judgment (Jub. 14:14a reflecting Gen 15:14a); the third unit relates the judgment to the last part of the verse, the assurance that Abraham’s descendants would depart with many possessions (Jub. 14:14b reflecting Gen 15:14b [‫)]ואחרי כן יצאו ברכש גדול‬. The highlighting of this particular event closes the exposition (and Jubilees 48) at the point of the Israelite pesah celebration in Egypt, which is treated at the beginning of the next chapter (Jubilees 49). The introductory section of the unit again involves an encounter between Mastema and the angel of the presence. Now identified as those responsible for the binding described in Jub. 48:15, the angel of the presence and his entourage prevent Mastema from accusing the Israelites on the fourteenth61 when “they were requesting utensils and clothing from the Egyptians — utensils of silver, utensils of gold, and utensils of bronze” (Jub. 48:18ab). The description of the Israelite activity is drawn, with slight modifications, from Exod 12:35.62 However, that the Egyptians acquiesce to the Israelite request because Mastema has been prevented from accusing them63 is a Jubilees-designed interpretive construct. Assuming a role that Exodus assigns to God (‫[ וה' נתן את חן העם בעיני מצרים‬Exod 12:35 cf. Exod 3:21a]), who in Jubilees acts directly on the Egyptians only to execute judgment against them, the angels of the presence assure that the Egyptians are favorably disposed toward the Israelites. 59 Jubilees does not indicate a date for the Israelite departure, but implies that it coincides with the date of the pesah celebration in Egypt, which is explicitly identified as the 15th (Jub. 49:2, 5; cf. Josephus, Ant. 2.312–13). 60 On the route, see Exod 13:18, 20; 14:1–2. The presumed dates of the first part of their journey are based upon the description of the Israelites celebrating the festival of Massot as they depart Egypt and completing that celebration when they arrive safely on the other side of the sea (Jub. 49:23). 61 On the date, see the notes on 48:17 in VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 2:314 and in Charles, Book of Jubilees, 252. 62 The same items are enumerated in God’s directive in Exod 3:22. Jubilees adds to that enumeration “utensils of bronze.” One scholar has attributed the addition to the bronze used in the construction of the tabernacle, which would not have been available unless the Israelites had brought it with them when they left Egypt (James Kugel, Traditions of the Bible [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998], 556). 63 The Jubilees reworking implies that the Egyptians were naturally disposed to give the requested items and would have withheld them only under the negative influence of Mastema. Portraying the Egyptians in a more overtly favorable light, Josephus describes them as honoring “the Hebrews with gifts, some to speed their departure, others from neighborly feelings toward old acquaintances” (Ant. 2.314).

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At this point one would anticipate, as in the earlier units, a description of a redemptive act in which God directly avenges Israel. However, here Jubilees inserts a particular purpose for the Israelite request—“so that they [the Israelites] could plunder the Egyptians in return for the fact that they were made to work when they enslaved them by force” (Jub. 48:18c).64 The fact of the plundering reflects the Israelite stripping of the Egyptians (‫ )וינצלו את המצרים‬in the Exodus account (Exod 12:36). The retaliatory purpose assigned to it, on the other hand, is a deliberately phrased intra-textual allusion to the earlier description of God executing the plagues “in accord with his covenant which he made with Abraham to take revenge on them just as they were enslaving them with force” (Jub. 48:8).65 Drawn from Exod 1:13 (‫)ויעבדו מצרים את בני ישראל בפרך‬, the phrase “enslave by force” does not appear in the forecast of events set forth in the account of the Covenant Between the Pieces in Jub. 14:13 (reflecting Gen 15:13). There the servitude is described in terms of oppression or suffering (‫ וְ עִ נו אֹתם‬in Gen 15:13). However, in its account of the Egyptian servitude, Jubilees associates enslaving by force (‫ וַ יַ עֲ ִבדו… ְב ָפ ֶרך‬in Exod 1:13) with “making them suffer” (‫ יְ עַ נו‬in Exod 1:12a) — “They were enslaving them by force, but however much they would make them suffer…” (Jub. 46:15). The resonant phrasing—“enslaved them by force”—identifies the Israelite plundering as another measure for measure act of judgment — this time at the hand of the Israelites. At the same time, the plundering is also connected to the last part of God’s assurances at the Covenant Between the Pieces, specifically, that Abraham’s descendants would depart Egypt “with many possessions” (Jub. 14:14 reflecting Gen 15:14 [‫)]ואחרי כן יצאו ברכש גדול‬. A similar assurance, expressed with a different formulation, is given to Moses in Exodus. Revealing the future liberation to the newly commissioned Moses, God tells him that when the Israelites leave Egypt they would not go out empty-handed (‫( )והיה כי תלכון לא תלכו ריקם‬Exod 3:21). The recollection of the Israelite departure in Exod 12:35–36 describes events as having occurred as God had assured in Exod 3:21–22. The Israelites requested the items from the Egyptians; God disposed the Egyptians favorably toward them; and the Israelites stripped the Egyptians.66 The only element of the forecast missing from the description of its fulfillment is a reference to the Israelites not leaving Egypt empty-handed (Exod 3:21b). Taking advantage of the omission, 64 Emphasis mine. The retaliation motif also appears in Philo, but he justifies the stripping primarily as compensation for the years of slave labor (Moses 1.141–42). That justification also appears in Ezek. Trag. 166 and in Megillat Ta’anit. (See Vered Noam, ed., Megillat Ta’anit: Versions, Interpretation, History [Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2003], 75 [Hebrew]). 65 Emphasis mine. 66 ‫( ונתתי את חן העם הזה בעיני מצרים‬Exod 3:21a)//‫( וה' נתן את חן העם בעיני מצרים‬Exod 12:36a); ‫ושאלה‬ …‫( אישה משכנתה‬Exod 3:22a)//‫( וישאלו ממצרים כלי…וֵ יֵ ְש ִאלום‬Exod 12:35b, 36b); ‫ונצלתם את מצרים‬ (Exod 3:22b)//‫( וינצלו את מצרים‬Exod 12:36c). There is no parallel to ‫( והיה כי תלכון לא תלכו ריקם‬Exod 3:21b) in Exod 12:35–36.

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Jubilees creates the account and places it in the mouth of the angel narrator to close the excursus, the unit, and the exposition: “We did not bring the Israelites out of Egypt empty-handed” (Jub. 48:19). The passage combines language from the forecast to Moses in Exod 3:21b with a motif from an extra-Exodus passage that overtly acknowledges God’s deployment of a heavenly force to liberate the Israelites from Egypt—“We cried to the Lord and he heard our plea, and he sent an angel who freed us from Egypt” (…‫( )ונצעק אל ה' וישמע קלנו וישלח מלאך ויצאנו ממצרים‬Num 20:14). The combination places the fulfillment of the assurance to Moses within the same literary context as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. Moreover, the closing line provides a scriptural proof text for the Jubilees construction of the redemption process as a demonstration of how God exercises his providential care for Israel not only directly, but also at the hands of the heavenly forces that serve as his instruments.

CHAPTER FIVE PESAH  AND MASSOT

In the book of Exodus Pesah1 and Massot are introduced in the context of the narrative of the tenth plague (Exodus 12). The location of their introduction is problematic, for the festival material, primarily legislative in nature, is presented within an account that shifts between narration and legislation, between present and future, and from one festival to the other.2 As a result, the storyline is discontinuous; the connection between narration of the present and law for the future is often ambiguous; and the relationship between Pesah and Massot is unclear. The Jubilees presentation of Pesah and Massot also involves a combination of narrative and law, shifts in temporal perspective, and characterizations of the festivals both as fused and discrete. But Jubilees constructs its treatment in such a way that the law and narrative are in interplay; the temporal shifts are integral to the overall treatment; and the fused and discrete manifestations of the festivals are interrelated. Jubilees sets the presentation within three constructs: (a) an account of a Pesah/Massot proto-festival celebrated by Abraham after the Akedah (Jub. 18: 1 I avoid the word Passover, which in contemporary usage refers to a festival in which the two festivals are fused, and employ Pesah and Massot for the discrete festivals and Pesah/Massot for the single festival. 2 The following outline illustrates the shifts: 12:1–2 12:3–11 12:12–13 12:14–18 12:19–20 12:21–23 12:24–27

Legislation for future Narrative present Narrative future Legislation for future Legislation for future Narrative present Legislation for future

Calendar reform Directives for Egypt pesah rite Divine forecast of tenth plague Ordination of “this day” and of a seven-day Massot festival Unleavened bread and Massot Moses addresses elders Observance of the pesah rite after Israelite entrance into the land 12:28 Narrative present Israelites did as God directed 12:29–41 Narrative present The tenth plague and exodus 12:42 Legislation for future Observance of “this night” 12:43–49 Legislation for future Formal Pesah statute 12:50–51 Narrative present Repeats 12:28 and 12:41 Contemporary biblical scholarship views Exodus 12 as a redacted composite of different source traditions. For source critical analyses, see, among others, Propp, 1:373–82; Israel Knohl, The Sanctuary of Silence (Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1995), 19–23; and Shimon Bar-On, “Festival Legislation in the Torah” (Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1999), 73–143 (Hebrew).

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18–19); (b) prescriptive recollections portraying the Israelites eating the pesah at the beginning of a festival on the night of the tenth plague (Jub. 49:1–6) and celebrating Massot in the course of the exodus (Jub. 49:22b-23); and (c) a Pesah statute (‫ )חקת הפסח‬encompassing a wide array of legislation for the post-Egypt commemoration (Jub. 49:7–22a). In this chapter I focus on the patriarchal proto-­ festival and on the prescriptive recollections of the Israelite celebrations.3

The Pesah /Massot Proto-Festival The Book of Jubilees creates an antediluvian and/or patriarchal past for all the Torah-legislated festivals.4 Accounts of festival initiation, renewal, celebration, and ordination for commemoration in the future appear throughout the reworked Genesis narratives of the patriarchs. In almost all of these Jubilees-created scenes, the festival is clearly identified by name, date, ritual, or some combination thereof.5 Such is not the case with Pesah and Massot. The portrait Jubilees develops of their patriarchal antecedent is opaque.

3 The greater part of the legislative material, specifically the Pesah statute, is examined in Chapter 6. 4 Shabu’ot and Sukkot receive the fullest treatments. Shabu’ot is celebrated in heaven from the time of creation; Noah originates its earthly celebration; Abraham renews the festival; and it is celebrated by each of Israel’s patriarchs (Jub. 6:17–22; 14:20; 15:1–2; 22:1–5; 44:1–4). Abraham is the first celebrant of Sukkot, a festival also celebrated by Jacob who adds “the Addition” (Jub. 16:20–31; 32:4–7, 27–29). Jubilees makes no reference to a ‫ יום תרועה‬or ‫ ;שבתון זכרון תרועה‬but the first of the seventh month is one of the four memorial day festivals established by Noah and Abraham’s first revelation occurs “at the beginning (i. e., on the new moon) of the seventh month” (Jub. 12:16–22). An allusion to Yom Kippur appears before the narrative of the Flood (Jub. 5:17–18); but its origin and ordination for the “children of Israel” (‫ )בני ישראל‬are associated with “the sons of Jacob” (‫ )בני יעקב‬deceiving their father in the matter of Joseph on the tenth day of the seventh month (Jub. 34:12–19). On the Jubilees treatment of Shabu’ot/Shebu’ot, see Werner Eiss, “Das Wochenfest im Jubiläenbuch und im antiken Judentum,” in Studies in the Book of Jubilees (ed. M. Albani, J. Frey, A. Lange; TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997), 165–78. On the Joseph story and Yom Kippur, see Calum Carmichael, “The Story of Joseph and the Book of Jubilees,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls in Their Historical Context (ed. T. H. Lim; Edinburgh: Clark, 2000), 143–58. 5 A variety of scriptural terms for Shavu’ot and Sukkot are employed in the patriarchal celebration accounts. Shavu’ot is also the “festival of firstfruits” (Jub. 6:21; 15:1; 22:1 reflecting ‫יום‬ ‫ הבכורים‬in Num 28:26) and “the harvest festival” (Jub. 44:4 reflecting ‫ חג הקציר‬in Exod 23:16). Similarly, Abraham calls the festival of Sukkot “festival of the Lord” (Jub. 16:27 reflecting '‫חג ה‬ and/or '‫ חג לה‬in Lev 23:39; Num 29:12) and Jacob calls it “the Festival” (Jub. 32:27 reflecting ‫החג‬ in 1 Kgs 8:65; 2 Chr 5:3; 7:8–9). Where appropriate, reference is also made to specific festival rituals — offering sacrifices and bringing firstfruits on Shavu’ot (Jub. 15:2; 22:4–5); seven days of living in tents, offering sacrifices, and circumambulating the altar with the four species on Sukkot (Jub. 16:21–25, 31); and fasting (affliction of self) on Yom Kippur (Jub. 34:18).

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At the close of the narrative of the Akedah the angel-narrator describes Abraham, living in Beersheba and regularly celebrating a seven-day festival whose commemoration is ordained for the future. (18) He used to celebrate this festival joyfully for seven days during all the years. He named it the festival of the Lord in accord with the seven days during which he went and returned safely. (19) This is the way it is ordained and written on the heavenly tablets regarding Israel and his descendants: (they are) to celebrate this festival joyfully for seven days6 (Jub. 18:18–19).

The general structure of the account is similar to that employed in the earlier portrait of Abraham’s celebration of Sukkot: narration of the events that precede celebration of the festival (Jub. 16:16–19/Jub. 17:15–18:17); description of the celebration (Jub. 16:20–26, 317/Jub. 18:18a); naming of the festival by the celebrant (Jub. 16:27/Jub 18:18b); and ordination of its future commemoration by Israel (Jub. 16:28–30/Jub. 18:19). Substantively, however, the portrayal is most unusual. The festival is referred to as “this festival” without a clarifying antecedent. No date, specific sacrifices, or distinguishing rituals are mentioned; and the usual celebration description is telescoped into a brief narrator-voiced report of a practice that Abraham adopted at some unspecified point in time after his return from the Akedah. That the celebration involves a proto-Pesah/Massot festival is evident only from clues embedded in the account. One such clue is the phrase, “joyfully for seven days” (sabu‘a ‘elata bafĕssĕhā), that is employed in the report of Abraham’s practice (Jub. 18:18) and again in the inscription on the heavenly tablets (Jub. 18:19). The Hebrew equivalent of that phrase ‫ שבעת ימים בשמחה‬appears in two scriptural sources, both involving Pesah/Massot — Ezra’s description of the celebration by the returning exiles (Ezra 6:22) and the Chronicler’s account of the delayed celebration organized by Hezekiah (2 Chr 30:21).8 The unusual sin 6 My translation. The Ethiopic reads sabu‘a ‘əlata bafəssəhā in the beginning (v. 18) and the end of the passage (v. 19). VanderKam translates the phrase “joyfully for seven days” in Jub. 18:18, but renders it “for seven days with festal happiness” in Jub. 18:19. (For his rationale, see the note on Jub. 18:19 in Book of Jubilees, 2:109). 7 Imitating the pattern in Leviticus 23, Jubilees places the ritual of the four species at the end of the celebration account. 8 According to Jacob Milgrom, the festivals are fused in both accounts (Leviticus [3 vols; AB 3–3B; Doubleday: New York, 1991–2001], 1972); according to Japhet, they are fused in 2 Chronicles 30, but separate, sequential celebrations in Ezra (Sara Japhet, 1 & 2 Chronicles: A Commentary [London: SCM Press, 1993], 948). There is no mandate for joyous celebration of Pesah/Massot in the Torah. Its absence is particularly striking in Deuteronomy 16 where rejoicing is prescribed for the celebrations of Shavu’ot (Deut 16:11) and Sukkot (Deut 16:13–15), but not for celebration of the fused Pesah/ Massot festival. On the joy motif in Jubilees, see Betsy Halpern-Amaru, “Joy as Piety in the Book of Jubilees,” JJS 66 (2005):185–205.

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gular form of the possessive pronoun in the inscription on the heavenly tablets that mandates future celebration of the festival “by Israel and his9 descendants” offers another clue. Evoking the play on Israel/Jacob in the introduction to the national history—“these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt… the persons that were of Jacob’s issue (‫ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה…כל נפש יצאי‬ ‫( )ירך יעקב‬Exod 1:1, 5), it cues the Egypt context of the festival. The designation of the festival is also suggestive. Abraham calls it “festival of the Lord,”10 and the name, not the festival per se, is said to accord with the duration of Abraham’s travel (Jub. 18:18). In the Exodus account of Moses’s confrontations with Pharaoh, “festival of the Lord” is also the name of the festival whose celebration requires that all the Israelites take leave of Egypt (‫( )נלך כי חג ה' לנו‬Exod 10:9) to travel a distance of three days into the wilderness (Exod 3:18; 5:3; 8:23). Treating Moses’s “festival of the Lord” as anticipating Massot, which commemorates the exodus from Egypt (Exod 12:17; 13:3– 8; cf. Deut 16:3), Jubilees has Abraham associate the appellation with his own travel, specifically, “the seven days during which he went and returned safely” (Jub. 18:18). The reference is to the journey to and back from the Akedah. At the same time, the “went and returned” phrasing suggests a subtle play on the Exodus description of the route the Israelites took out of Egypt. Following the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, they went to the “edge of the wilderness” (Exod 13:20); at God’s direction, however, they turned back and encamped “by the sea” (Exod 14:1); and after encountering the pursuing Egyptians, they went safely into the wilderness of Shur (Exod 15:22).11 A Pesah counterpart to the connection between Massot and Abraham’s festival is embedded within the Jubilees narrative of the Akedah. The account opens with Mastema challenging Abraham’s fidelity “during the seventh week, in the first year during the first month — in this jubilee — on the twelfth of this month” 9 Emphasis mine. The inscription for Sukkot also refers to “Israel,” but the “they” that follows clearly indicates an understanding of “Israelites” (Jub. 16:29). The inscription for Shevu’ot is expressed with a generalized “they” (Jub. 6:17) because the earthly celebration of the festival is initially ordained in the time of Noah. 10 The designation is the same that Abraham had earlier given to Sukkot (Jub. 16:27 reflecting '‫ חג ה‬in Lev 23:39). In Lev 23:41 the phrasing is '‫( חג לה‬cf. Num 29:12). The variant is also used with Pesah/Massot; in Exod 12:14 the unidentified festival that is to be commemorated “this day” is termed '‫ חג לה‬as is the last day of Massot in Exod 13:6. 11 Although Jubilees subsequently correlates the time span from the exodus to the crossing of the Reed Sea with the seven-day Massot festival (Jub. 49:23) (see “Israelite Celebrations” below), it does not explicitly relate the correlation to the Israelite travel route. As noted earlier (Chapter 4), that relationship is fully developed in rabbinic tradition. Pharaoh begins pursuit of the Israelites when he realizes that they have not taken a temporary three-day leave to celebrate the festival. In those three days the Israelites arrive at the edge of the desert, but then retrace their steps (a second three-day journey) back to the sea, which they cross on the 22nd, i. e., on the seventh day of Passover (b. Meg. 31a; Rashi on Exod 14:5).

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(Jub. 17:15),12 a date that is highlighted by the unusual sequence of the com­ ponents in its formulation.13 Responding to God’s directive, Abraham departs early the next morning14 and, as in Gen 22:4, arrives at the high place “on the third day” (Jub. 18:3). No further dates or times are indicated. However, a striking change in how the rescued Isaac is identified in relationship to Abraham intimates that the events on the mountain parallel stages in the Pesah ritual. In the initial directives God refers to Isaac as “your beloved one” (fəquraka), the Ethiopic equivalent of ‫ידידך‬ (Jub. 18:2).15 But at the moment of rescue, the restraining angel identifies Isaac as “your firstborn son” (bakwəraka, the Ethiopic equivalent of ‫)בכורך‬, a designation that God repeats in the covenant making at the close of the account (Jub. 18:11, 15).16 Unique to Jubilees, the designation at this juncture in the narrative transforms Isaac into a first-born son whose delivery from harm foreshadows the delivery of the Israelite first-born sons from harm on the night of the tenth plague. The Exodus narrative does not provide a precise date for the tenth plague. Forecasting the event, however, God indicates that it will take place “on this night” (‫( )בלילה הזה‬Exod 12:12–13; cf. 12:29), the night following the slaughter of the pesah “at twilight” (‫ )בין הערבים‬on “the fourteenth of the first month” (Exod 12:6), indeed, the same “this night” (‫ )בלילה הזה‬on which the Israelites are to be eating the roasted pesah (Exod 12:8). The created account of those events in Jubilees is more precise. Applying the principle of the day beginning at sunset,17 it portrays the Israelites joyfully eating the pesah (slaughtered “on the fourteen before eve 12 Literal translation. 13 In his translation VanderKam rearranges the components to accord with the usual formulation, which juxtaposes month and date of month (Book of Jubilees, 2:105). Segal does not view the unusual formulation as intentional highlighting. Instead, he treats it as evidence of redaction and ascribes it to the chronological redactor (Book of Jubilees, 191 n. 6). 14 Since “Abraham got up early in the morning” (Jub. 18:2–3 citing Gen 20:2–3) immediately follows God’s directive, it is reasonable to presume that the directive was given the preceding night. 15 Isaac is identified by his relationship to Abraham three times in Genesis 22 — when God issues the directive to go to the high place (Gen 22:2), when the angel restrains Abraham (Gen 22:12), and when God renews the covenant (Gen 22:16). MT Genesis reads ‫ יחידך‬in all three passages. The LXX, OL, EthGen read the equivalent of ‫ ידידך‬in the three passages. 16 The Hebrew text is no longer extant. All of the Ethiopic manuscripts used in VanderKam’s critical edition attest bakwəraka or some form thereof for Jub. 18:11. All, but three of the Ethiopic manuscripts attest bakwəraka for Jub. 18:15. The Latin reads primogenito (‫ )בכורך‬in Jub. 18:11 and unigenito (‫ )יחידך‬in Jub. 18:15. Commenting on bakwraka in Jub. 18:15, VanderKam notes that “since the Ethiopic is unique, it is perhaps more likely to be original” (Book of Jubilees, 2:108). On the various readings, see Betsy Halpern-Amaru, “A Note on Isaac as First-Born in Jubilees and Only Son in 4Q225,” DSD 13 (2006): 130–31. 17 On the principle of the day beginning at sunset, see Joseph Baumgarten, “The Beginning of the Day in the Calendar of Jubilees,” in Studies in Qumran Law (SJLA 24; Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1977), 124–30; repr from JBL 77 (1958).

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ning”) “at night on the fifteenth from the time of sunset” as the plague raged in the houses of the Egyptians (Jub. 49:1–6).18 The transformation of Isaac into a first-born suggests that a parallel time frame is operating in the Jubilees account of the Akedah.19 Abraham departs early on the morning of the 12th, travels throughout that day, the 13th, much of the 14th, and arrives at the scene of the Akedah “on the third day.” The binding that precedes the “slaughter” of Isaac takes place, like the slaughter of the pesah victim, at twilight on the 14th.20 The rescue from harm that transforms the bound Isaac into a first-born, like the delivery of the Israelite first-born that it prefigures, takes place after twilight, hence, on the night of the 15th.21 Like Genesis 22, Jubilees does not portray the events after the rescue of Isaac and the renewal of the covenant. However, the reader knows from the festival pericope at the end of the Akedah narrative (Jub. 18:18–19) that the entire epi 18 On the created account of the celebration in Egypt, see the discussion below. 19 The dating of events in the Jubilees Akedah narrative has long been a scholarly concern. Among the more recent studies, see James VanderKam, “The Aqedah, Jubilees, and PseudoJubilees,” in The Quest for Context and Meaning: Studies in Biblical Intertextuality in Honor of James A. Sanders, [eds. C. Evans and S. Talmon; BIS 28; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997), 245; Leroy Hui­zenga, “The Battle for Isaac: Exploring the Composition and Function of the Aqedah in the Book of Jubilees, JSP 13 (2002): 44–45; Jacques van Ruiten, “Abraham, Job and the Book of Jubilees: The Intertextual Relationship of Genesis 22:1–19, Job 1:1–2:13 and Jubilees 17:15–18:19,” in The Sacrifice of Isaac: The Aqedah (Genesis 22) and Its Interpretations (ed. E. Noort and E. Tigchelaar; TBN 4; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2002), 74–75; Segal, Book of Jubilees, 192–93; and Cana Werman, “Narrative in Service of Halacha: Abraham, Prince Mastema, and the Paschal Offering in Jubilees,” in Law and Narrative in the Bible and Neighbouring Ancient Cultures (ed. K-P Adam, F. Avemarie, and N. Vazana; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 13–15. Standing outside the general consensus, Baumgarten ignores the date in Jub. 17:15 and has the departure take place on the 15th with the dates of travel coincident with the dates of the Massot festival (“The Calendar of the Book of Jubilees and the Bible,” in his Studies in Qumran Law [SJLA 24; Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1977], 103–04, esp. n. 9; repr. from Tarbiz 32 [1963]). 20 The parallel between the bound Isaac and the pesah victim may have been influenced by the use of the term “slaughter” (‫)שחט‬, not sacrifice (‫)זבח‬, in both narratives. Abraham binds Isaac and takes a knife “to slaughter his son” (‫( )לשחט את בנו‬Gen 22:10) and the Israelites are to slaughter (‫ )וישחטו‬the pesah victim at twilight on the 14th (Exod 12:6). However, the influence is not evident in the Ethiopic translation of Jubilees which reads zbha in the Isaac context (Jub. 18:8) and tabha with the pesah (Jub. 49:1, 12, 18). 21 Although he does not relate to the firstborn motif, Roger Le Déaut is one of the few scholars to recognize that Jubilees intends the events of Akedah to extend from the afternoon of the 14th into the night of the 15th (La Nuit Pascale: Essai sur la signification de la Pâque juive à partir du Targum d’ Exode XII 42 [AnBib 22; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1963], 179–84). Most others treat the binding and the release as a single event that occurs on the 14th. In his analysis VanderKam correctly points to a parallel with “the very time for the Passover meal,” but, ignoring the change of date at sunset, identifies it as the 14th (“Aqedah,” 247). Ascribing no significance to the designation of Isaac as a firstborn, Werman postulates an equation between the sacrifice of the ram and the pesah sacrifice and dates the deliverance, like the binding, on the 14th (“Narrative,” 13). Segal gives attention to the motif of firstborn, but does not read it as a signal for the timing of events on the mountain (Book of Jubilees, 195–98).

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sode involves a time frame of seven days. Six of those days are engaged in travel, three going and three returning, leaving one day unaccounted for. It seems most reasonable that before beginning the three-day journey back to Beersheba the patriarch would spend the night and part, if not all, of the next day, the 15th, at the mountain rejoicing in the delivery of his son, thus bringing him back to Beersheba after sundown on the 18th.22 “This festival” that he subsequently celebrates “joyfully for seven days” would have as its starting point the recollection of that celebratory day, not the outset of the unknown venture (the 12th) nor the angst of the day of the binding (the 14th). Thus, Abraham’s festival begins on the 15th, the night following the evening of the 14th and, in commemoration of the going and returning safely, continues for seven days. Its assigned name and seven-day duration identify it as a patriarchal proto-Massot; but the Isaac’s transformation into a firstborn distinguishes the first night of those seven days and associates it with Pesah.

Israelite Celebrations Whereas Pesah and Massot are fused and their individual identities veiled in the Jubilees portrayal of Abraham’s festival, in its accounts of their celebration by the Israelites they appear as discrete, consecutive festivals, each of which is grounded in the patriarchal proto-festival. The celebration accounts appear in Jubilees 49, a chapter primarily devoted to legislation for future commemoration of the festivals, but which also includes descriptions of events that fall within the time span covered in Jubilees 48.23 Structured as recollections, these descriptions function as case histories that the angel narrator, speaking to Moses on Sinai, presents in support of legislation prescribing particular facets of the festival commemorations.24 22 Since the 18th falls on the Sabbath, VanderKam and others have suggested that Abraham began his return on the morning of the 15th, traveled the 16–17th and rested on the 18th. Baumgarten, however, has argued that “the dating of Abraham’s journeys has nothing to do with the Sabbath,” for the Sabbath law applied to the descendants of Jacob (Jub. 2:20) (Baumgarten, “The Calendar,” 104, 108–09). Cana Werman, who has Abraham remaining, in accord with “the customs of pilgrimage,” on the mountain through the 15th and traveling back to Beersheba on the 16th, 17th, 18th, does not address the matter of the Sabbath (“Narrative,” 14–15). 23 Avoiding the shifts between narration and legislation characteristic of Exodus 12, Jubilees first presents a narration of events, i. e., the ten plagues and the exodus from Egypt (Jubilees 48) and thereafter, a treatment of the festivals (Jubilees 49). The structure involves backtracking with some of the episodes presented in Jubilees 48 being presented from a different perspective in Jubilees 49. In contrast to Segal who attributes the differences in perspective to composition by different authors (Book of Jubilees, 226–28), this analysis views them as reflections of the different foci of the two chapters. 24 The juxtaposition of narrative and law, of past and future, is a common feature in Jubilees. In the usual structure, the angel narrator recounts an event from the past and, thereafter, with or without an extensive halakic excursus, presents legislation for the future (e.g., Jub. 28:1–7; 30;

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Both recollections are created by Jubilees; both are composed to engage and interpret Exodus narratives; and in both accounts the Israelite festival celebration is connected to the patriarchal antecedent. The recollection of the Egypt Pesah celebration is occasioned by legislation of a commemoration schedule that is stated in the dated terms so conspicuously absent from the account of the Akedah-based festival. Speaking to Moses on Sinai, the angel-narrator directs him to remember the commands God has given regarding the pesah “so that you may celebrate it at its set time on the fourteenth of the first month, that you may sacrifice it before evening and so that they might eat it at night on the evening of the fifteenth from the time of sunset” (Jub. 49:1).25 Constructed as a pastiche,26 a patchwork of phrases drawn from multiple scriptural sources, the prescription separates the two phases of the Pesah ritual and sets a date and time for each. The date for the sacrifice is a paraphrased citation of the directions for the first post-exodus Pesah commemoration—“at its set time on the fourteenth of this month” (‫ויעשו בני ישראל את הפסח במועדו בארבעה עשר יום‬ ‫( )בחדש הזה‬Num 9:2–3a).27 The time of day, “before evening,” is an emended formulation of Deut 16:4—“that you sacrifice in the evening” (‫—)אשר תזבח בערב‬that understands “evening” as designating the evening sacrifice.28 The schedule for eating the pesah is developed with phrases from three passages that, in contrast to the commemoration legislation in Exodus, relate Pesah to the time of exodus (Num 33:3; Deut 16:1; and Deut 16:6).29 Indicating that the Israelites departed in clear sight of the Egyptians “on the fifteenth day of the first 33:1–20; 41). In Jubilees 49 the juxtaposition is inverted; the law for the future is stated and then the narrative is presented to demonstrate that the practice prescribed for the commemoration derives from the earlier Israelite celebration. 25 Italics indicate adoption of a scriptural phrase. Although none of Jubilees 49 is preserved in the Hebrew, the Ethiopic “preserves a solid representation of the second-century Hebrew text” (James VanderKam, “Recent Scholarship on the Book of Jubilees,” CBR 6 [2008]: 407). 26 On the pastiche as a mode of composition, see Esther Chazon, “Sacrifice and Prayer in ‘The Words of the Luminaries,’” in Scripture and Prayer (ed. J. Kugel; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006), 25–41. 27 The phrase “to do/celebrate the pesah” is the normative phrasing for prescriptions and descriptions of post-exodus commemorations (e.g., Exod 12:48; Num 9:2, 3, 4, 5; Deut 16:1; Josh 5:10; 2 Kgs 23:21; 2 Chr 30:5; 35:1, 16–19). Because the phrasing does not specify a particular facet of the ritual, it can be understood as referring to the full ritual or specifically to its beginning, i. e., the sacrificial stage. 28 The Jubilees prescription is comparable to that in the Temple Scroll—“they shall sacrifice before the evening sacrifice” (‫( )וזבחו לפני מנחת הערב‬11Q19 XVII, 7). In rabbinic halakah the pesah is sacrificed after the evening Tamid (m. Pes. 5.1; cf. Josephus, War 6.423). 29 In the Exodus commemoration legislation Massot is associated with the exodus (Exod 12:17, 13:6–8) and Pesah with the saving of the first-born Israelites (Exod 12:25–27). On the transformation of the Exodus Pesah and Massot in Deuteronomy 16, see Bernard Levinson, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 54–97.

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month…on the morrow of the pesah offering” (‫ויסעו מרעמסס בחדש הראשון בחמישה‬ ‫)עשר יום לחדש הראשון ממחרת הפסח יצאו בני ישראל ביד רמה לעיני כל מצרים‬, the travel account in Num 33:3 implies a departure in daylight, a time of day also implicit in Moses’s directive that the Israelites not leave their homes in Egypt until the morning after the pesah celebration (Exod 12:22). No specific date is mentioned in Deuteronomy 16. But Deut 16:1 refers to a departure, not in daytime, but “at night” (‫)כי בחדש האביב הוציאך ה' אלהיך ממצרים לילה‬, a time that accords with the Exodus 12 narrative of the tenth plague striking the Egyptians “in the middle of the night,” Pharaoh rising “in the night,” summoning Moses and Aaron “in the night” and pressing the Israelites to leave immediately, by implication that same night (Exod 12:29–32). Another Deuteronomy passage (Deut 16:6) describes the departure from Egypt as occurring, not at night, but in the evening at sundown (‫)בערב כבוא השמש מועד צאתך ממצרים‬. Harmonizing the three sources, the Jubilees prescription adopts the explicit “at night” (‫ )לילה‬from Deut 16:1, the equally explicit “on the fifteenth” (‫ )בחמישה עשר יום‬from Num 33:3, and combines them with phrases from Deut 16:6 to indicate that the starting point of night is “in the evening” (‫ )בערב‬and that the calendar date shifts from the fourteenth to the fifteenth “from the time of sunset” (‫)כבוא השמש‬.30 At first glance the intricate combination of phrases in the eating schedule appears overdone. Certainly, “at night” would have sufficed to distinguish the time for the eating from the “before evening” time for the sacrifice. However, the prescription is deliberately designed to go beyond that distinction and establish a commemoration schedule that spans two calendar dates. The first of those dates, the sacrifice on the 14th, appears in the directives for the Egypt Pesah in Exodus 12 (Exod 12:6),31 in the account of the commemoration in the wilderness (Num 9:3, 5), as well as in multiple Torah passages legislating the post-Egypt commemoration of Pesah.32 Such is not the case with eating the pesah on the 15th. The directives for celebration in Egypt prescribe only that the pesah be eaten “this night” (‫( )בלילה הזה‬Exod 12:8) and in the Torah festival legislation the 15th of the first month is associated solely with the beginning of Massot.33 Rectifying 30 The command in Deut 16:6 is phrased in terms of the sacrifice, but mentions three points in time—“You shall offer the pesah, in the evening, at sunset, the appointed time when you departed from Egypt” (‫)תזבח את הפסח בערב כבוא השמש מועד צאתך ממצרים‬. Applying all three time points to the eating phase of the ritual, Jubilees cites the first two phrases and, understanding ‫ מועד‬as referring to a date, converts the third into “the fifteenth” as stated in Num 33:3. In contrast to Jubilees, the rabbis interpret Deut 16:6 as denoting three separate points in time for three different activities (Mek. Pisha 5; b. Ber. 9a). 31 The directive in Exod 12:6 specifies that the pesah victim be slaughtered on the 14th of the first month. 32 Lev 23:5; 28:16; cf. Ezra 6:19; Ezek 45:21; 2 Chr 35:1. 33 The first day of Massot is variously identified in the Torah sources. In the festival calendars it is the 15th of the first month (Lev 23:6; Num 28:17); in certain legislative passages in Exodus, it is the more vague “at the set time in the month of Abib (Exod 23:15; 34:18); in Exodus

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both contexts, Jubilees creates a direct connection between the fifteenth and “this night” of Exod 12:8 in a recollection of the Israelites eating the pesah in Egypt. (2) For on this night — it was the beginning of the festival and the beginning of joy — you were eating the pesah in Egypt when all the forces of Mastema were sent to kill every first-born in the land of Egypt — from the pharaoh’s first-born to the firstborn of the captive slave-girl at the millstone and to the cattle as well. (3) This is that which the Lord gave them: into each house on whose door they saw the blood of a year-old lamb, they were not to enter that house to kill but were to pass over (it) in order to save all who were in the house because the sign of the blood was on its door. (4) The Lord’s forces did everything that the Lord ordered them. They passed over all the Israelites. The plague did not come on them to destroy any of them — from cattle to mankind to dogs. (5) The plague on Egypt was very great. There was no house in Egypt in which there was no corpse, crying, and mourning. (6) All Israel was eating the paschal meat, drinking the wine, and glorifying, blessing, and praising the Lord God of their fathers. They were ready to leave the Egyptian yoke and evil slavery (Jub. 49:2–6).

There is no scriptural parallel to the Jubilees-created scenario. Exodus offers multiple forecasts of the tenth plague (Exod 11:4–7; 12:12–13, 23, 27),34 a summary report of its execution (Exod 12:29) and two brief acknowledgements that the Israelites did precisely as the Lord had commanded (Exod 12:28, 50),35 but no account of the Israelites celebrating a festival and eating the pesah on the night of the tenth plague. Filling that lacuna, the Jubilees recollection places “this night” in exegetical play with the eating schedule prescribed in Jub. 49:1, with the festival Abraham institutes in Jub. 18:18–19, and with the forecasts of the tenth plague in Exodus 11–12. The play between “this night” and the eating schedule is developed through a structure that implies a causal connection between the prescription and the narrative. The prescription schedule closes with the requirement that the pesah be eaten “at night, on the evening of the fifteenth from the time of sunset;” immediately thereafter the recollection of the Israelites eating the pesah opens with “for on this night…you were eating the pesah in Egypt…” (Jub. 49:2). Consequently, 12–13, it is identified, with one exception, as the day of the departure from Egypt (Exod 12:17; 13:3–5; cf. Deut 16:3). The exception, Exod 12:18, has the first day of Massot coincide with the sacrifice of the pesah, i. e., on “the fourteenth day of the month at evening.” On the exception, see Milgrom, Leviticus, 1967; 1974, 1976 and Knohl, Sanctuary, 19–23. 34 The multiple forecasts appear in Moses’s predictions to Pharaoh’s court (Exod 11:4), in God’s predictions to Moses and Aaron (Exod 12:12–13), and in the directive Moses gives to the elders (Exod 12:23, 27). 35 Following Moses’s directives to the Israelite elders, the narrator indicates: “The Israelites went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did” (Exod 12:28). An identically worded acknowledgement is again stated after presentation of the Pesah statute (Exod 12:50).

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“this night” is associated with the 15th and the Israelite celebration in Egypt becomes a proof text for the eating schedule in the prescription.36 The second exegetical play with the phrase “this night” is embedded in the appositive clause—“it was the beginning of the festival and the beginning of joy.” The definite article modifying “festival” suggests that the Israelites are engaged in celebration of a previously established festival; the phrase, “beginning of ” intimates that the festival extends beyond “this night;” and the reference to “the beginning of joy” implies that the extended festival is associated with joy. Cumulatively, the phrasing points to “this night” marking the beginning of the seven-day patriarchal festival that was initiated after the Akedah and ordained for joyous celebration by “the descendants of Israel” (Jub. 18:18–19). Among the events that the proto-festival commemorates is the delivery of Abraham’s “first-born” son from harm. Consequently, on “this night” the Israelites in Egypt are celebrating the beginning of the ordained patriarchal festival and at the same time, evoking the patriarchal experience, experiencing divine protection of their own first-born sons. Composed from forecast material in Exodus 11–12, the account of the tenth plague that follows demonstrates that events “on this night” unfold precisely as had been foretold. As forewarned (Exod 11:5), “every first-born in the land of Egypt — from the pharaoh’s first-born to the first-born of the captive slave-girl at the millstone and the cattle as well”37—is struck down (Jub. 49:2). As predicted (Exod 12:13, 23), the blood from the year-old pesah lamb (Exod 12:5) on the door of each Israelite house serves as a sign; the forces of destruction are directed not to enter that house, “but to pass over (it) in order to save all who were inside the house” (Jub. 49:3);38 and as forecast (Exod 11:7), no Israelite—“from cattle to mankind to dogs”39 is harmed (Jub. 49:4). 36 The same structure is employed in Exod 12:11–12, where the directions for hurried eating of the pesah are related by a causal connective to a divine forecast of the night of the tenth plague. Jub. 49:1–2 adopts the structural relationship between law and narrative in that passage, but inverts the temporal perspective such that the law is grounded in an event in the past rather than in one that has yet to occur. 37 The report of the plague in Exod 12:29 employs slightly different images – “from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne, to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle.” To demonstrate fulfillment of the forecast, Jubilees uses the language of Exod 11:5. 38 In Exod 12:13 God will see the sign of the blood and will “pass over you” (‫;)ופסחתי עליכם‬ in Exod 12:23, God, seeing the sign of the blood, will “protect the entry” (‫ )ופסח ה' על הפתח‬and not permit the Destroyer to enter. Jub. 49:3 reflects Exod 12:13 in that the forces of destruction “pass over;” at the same time, it reflects the protection motif of Exod 12:23 in having the forces acting solely in accord with God’s directions. On ‫ פסח‬as “pass over” and as “protect” in Exodus 12, see Sebastian Brock, “An Early Interpretation of pāsah: ’aggēn in the Palestinian Targum,” in Interpreting the Hebrew Bible: Essay in Honour of E .I .J. Rosenthal (ed. J. A. Emerton and S. C. Reif; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 27–34. 39 The phrasing in Jubilees is an interpretive adaptation of “not a dog shall snarl at any of the Israelites, at man, or beast” (‫( )לא יחרץ כלב לשנו למאיש ועד בהמה‬Exod 11:7).

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Precisely who executes the destruction and provides the protection is more complex. In three of the Exodus forecasts (Exod 11:4; 12:12–13, 27) and in the execution report (Exod 12:29), God strikes down the Egyptian first-born and protects the Israelites. However, in the forecast of Exod 12:23 “the Destroyer” (‫ )המשחית‬is the executor of the plague and God is the protector who prevents the Destroyer from entering the Israelite houses. The unusual personification of the force of destruction invites the insertion of a motif involving Mastema. It cannot be the Prince himself, for Jubilees has absented Mastema from the events of “this night” by having him bound and locked up on the fourteenth and released only on the nineteenth (Jub. 48:15–16, 18).40 Consequently, “the forces of Mastema” replace the Destroyer of Exod 12:23. Neither under Mastema’s control nor serving his interest in aiding the Egyptians (Jub. 48:3, 9, 12, 15), they become “the Lord’s forces,”41 and acting in strict accord with the Lord’s orders, pass over all the Israelites. The series of transformations — from “the Destroyer” (Exod 12:23) to “the forces of Mastema” (Jub. 49:2) to “the Lord’s forces” (Jub. 49:4)—resolve the tension between Exod 12:23 and passages that present God as the sole executor of the plague. The juxtaposed portraits of the activities of the Egyptians and Israelites that close the account are not exegetically developed from the forecast material in Exodus 11–12. The characterization of the Egyptians crying and mourning is an elaboration of the execution report in Exod 12:30 (‫ותהי צעקה גדלה במצרים כי אין בית‬ ‫)אשר אין שם מת‬. And the depiction of the Israelites is a counter portrait to the image suggested by the directives in Exod 12:11, which require the participants, with girded loins, sandaled feet, and staff in hand, to eat the pesah hurriedly. In contrast, Jubilees portrays the Israelites eating the pesah, drinking wine, praising and blessing God42 in a joyous celebration that betrays no sense of haste or agitation. They are ready to leave Egypt — but that readiness has been transformed into confident anticipation of the promised liberation from Egypt. 40 Arguing that the portrayals of Mastema in Jubilees 48 and 49 reflect different theological perspectives, Segal discounts the continuity exhibited by the presumption of the binding of Mastema (Jubilees 48) in the account of the tenth plague (Jubilees 49) (Segal, Book of Jubilees, 223–27). 41 The notion that God takes over Mastema’s forces is consistent with the Jubilees account of how these forces initially came under Mastema’s control. At Noah’s request, God has nine tenths of the evil spirits and impure demons descended from the Watchers imprisoned in the place of judgment, but assigns the remaining one tenth to Mastema “for destroying and misleading…” (Jub. 10:1–11). On demons and evil spirits in Jubilees, see VanderKam, “The Demons,” 339–64 and Reed, “Angels,” 353–68. 42 The praising of God may be borrowed from the Chronicler’s account of the delayed Pesah/Massot celebration decreed by Hezekiah (2 Chr 30:21). An association between drinking wine and joy is found in Ps 104:15, Prov 21:17, and Eccl 8:15; but Jubilees is the earliest known source to present wine drinking as part of the celebration of Pesah. On wine drinking as a facet of joyous celebration in other Jubilees contexts, see Jub. 7:6; 22:4–5; 31:22; 45:5.

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An extensive array of legislation for future commemorations, a Pesah statue,43 follows the description of the Egypt Pesah celebration (Jub. 49:7–22a). At its close, indeed attached to the concluding command, Jubilees presents Massot. No dates are provided; but the positioning of its presentation clearly indicates that Massot backs up to the eating of the pesah on the night of the fifteenth.44 (22) Now you, Moses, order the Israelites to keep the statute of Pesah45 as it was commanded to you so that you may tell them its year each year, the time of the days, and the festival of unleavened bread so that they may eat unleavened bread for seven days to celebrate its festival, to bring its sacrifice before the Lord on the altar of your God each day during those seven days of joy.46 (23) For you celebrated this festival hastily when you were leaving Egypt until the time you crossed the sea into the wilderness of Sur, because you completed it on the seashore (Jub. 49:22–23).

Encompassing only one and a half of the twenty-three verses in Jubilees 49, the treatment is notably brief. Nonetheless, it demonstrates a structure and com­ positional strategy similar to that employed with Pesah in Jub. 49:1–6. Legislation for the future commemoration is causally connected to a recollection of the Israelite celebration in the past and reworked Exodus material is creatively inter­ woven with intra-textual allusions that associate Massot with the proto-festival initiated by Abraham. Since there is no body of Massot legislation comparable to that for Pesah, all the legislation for celebration of Massot is presented in the introductory prescription. There are three facets to the legislation: the eating of unleavened bread; the bringing of a daily festival sacrifice; and a description of the festival as “seven days of joy.” The requirement that unleavened bread be eaten for the seven days appears in multiple Torah passages relating to Massot (Exod 12:15; 13:6; 23:15; 34:18; Lev 23:6; Num 28:17).47 In two of those passages the obligation is combined, as here, with the bringing of a daily festival sacrifice (Lev 23:6; Num 28:17,

43 See Chapter 6. 44 The consecutive nature of the two festivals is implied in Lev 23:5–8 and Num 28:16–25. However, the amount of attention given to each festival in Jubilees more resembles the celebration accounts in 2 Chr 35:1–16 and Ezra 6:19–22, in which extensive descriptions of Pesah are followed by a far briefer account of Massot. 45 My translation. 46 Literal translation. 47 The Jubilees phrasing, “as I commanded you,” appears in Exod 23:15; 34:18. In several passages the obligation is stated both positively and negatively (Exod 12:20; 13:7). In others it is as a prohibition against eating leavened bread (Exod 13:3; Deut 16:3 on the first day and positively stated for the remaining six days in Deut 16:8). In rabbinic halakah the eating of unleavened bread is required on the first day, but leavened bread is proscribed for all seven days (Mek. Pisha 8; b. Pes. 120a)

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cf. 28:24).48 Jubilees does not describe the sacrifices nor does it distinguish the first and/or the last of the seven days as a “holy occasion” (‫)מקרא קדש‬, festival to the Lord ('‫)חג לה‬, or solemn gathering ('‫( )עצרת לה‬Exod 12:16; Lev 23:6, 8; Num 28:18, 25 [first and seventh]; Exod 13:6; Deut 16:8 [seventh]).49 In the account of Hezekiah’s celebration in 2 Chronicles 30 there also is no distinction of the first and/or last day of the Massot festival.50 That celebration takes place in the second month and is extended an additional seven days. Given its concern with calendar stability and set dates for the festivals, it is most unlikely that Jubilees would validate such practices. Yet, the phrase “seven days of joy” (sab῾ mawā‘əlä fəssəha) in its prescription of Massot (Jub. 49:22b) is markedly close to the Hebrew ‫ שבעת ימים שמחה‬51 that appears in the account of the festival extension (2 Chr 30:23). Adoption of the phrase accesses both the motif of joy and the conceptual notion of extension. Combining the two, Jubilees presents Massot, “the seven days of joy,” as an extension of the festival, “the beginning of joy” (Jub. 49:2), that the Israelites were celebrating on the night of the tenth plague. Hence, although associated with different events in the national history, each celebration is a manifestation of the patriarchal festival ordained for joyous celebration by Jacob’s descendants (Jub. 18:19). The brief recollection that immediately follows again develops a parallel between the experience of the Israelites and that of the first patriarch. Involving, like the patriarchal festival, a travel motif, the recollection portrays the Israelites celebrating “this festival hastily” from the time they departed Egypt until they crossed the Reed Sea “into the wilderness of Sur” (Jub. 49:23 alluding to Exod 15:22).52 In the current context “this festival” (zātta ba‘āla) clearly has the festival of Massot as its referent. But it is hardly coincidental that Jubilees employed the same phrase to introduce the unidentified patriarchal festival—“He used to celebrated this festival (zātta ba‘āla) joyfully for seven days during all the years” (Jub. 18:18). Like the patriarchal journey, the Israelite one entails seven days of travel and a deliverance, in Abraham’s case from the plotting of Mastema and in this instance,

48 Insofar as Jubilees does not describe the nature of the sacrifices, it reflects the festival calendar in Leviticus 23; but the phrasing, “each day during…seven days,” more reflects that in Num 28:24a. 49 That the seventh is a “solemn gathering” ('‫ )עצרת לה‬is explicitly stated in Deut 16:8 and in light of that verse, reconstructed in the Temple Scroll (11Q19 XLVII, 16). Deut 16:16 implies attendance at the sanctuary on the first day; but in Deut 16:7 the celebrant is permitted to return home in the morning after eating the pesah. 50 Neither the first nor the last day of Massot is distinguished in any of the later scriptural sources. See Ezek 45:21; Ezra 6:22; 2 Chr 8:12–13; 35:17. 51 The literal translation of the Hebrew phrase is “a seven-day joy.” The Ethiopic employs the construct “seven days of joy,” which VanderKam translates “seven joyful days.” 52 ‫( ויסע משה את ישראל מים סוף ויצאו אל מדבר שור‬Exod 15:22).

Pesah and Massot

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from the threat of the pursuing Egyptians assisted, with God’s endorsement, by Mastema (Jub. 48:12–14, 16–17).53 Unlike the recollection of the Israelites eating the pesah on the night of the tenth plague, the account of their celebration of Massot is a Jubilees-imagined event without any basis in the Exodus narrative. Departing in haste, the Israelites prepare unleavened bread (massot) for their journey (Exod 12:34, 39;54 Deut 16:3); but nowhere does the Exodus narrative suggest that the massot is connected to the Israelites celebrating a festival when they depart Egypt. Jubilees adopts the motif of haste, but attributes the unleavened bread not to a hurried departure, but to the necessity to celebrate “this festival hastily” over the course of the seven-day journey from Egypt to the wilderness on the other side of the Reed Sea (Jub. 49:23). The explanation is a creative rearrangement that transfers the hurried eating of the pesah in the Exodus directives for the Israelite celebration of Pesah in Egypt (Exod 12:11) to a Jubilees-created Israelite celebration of Massot. Consequently, the first night of the celebration of the patriarchal festival, coincident with the eating of the pesah on the night of the tenth plague, entails unhurried rejoicing and praising of God.55 On the other hand, the celebration of the remaining seven days of the festival, which coincide with the journey from Egypt to safety on the other side of the sea, is rushed. The rearrangement sustains the Jubilees portrayal of the Israelites as unperturbed and “ready to leave the Egyptian yoke and evil slavery” (Jub. 49:6). At the same time, it avoids the indignities of the harried flight from Egypt described in Exod 12:31–3956 and permits, in its place, the image of the bold, defiant Israelite departure depicted in Exod 14:8 (cf. Num 33:3). The convergence of biblical interpretation and polemic is evident in the prescriptive recollections that Jubilees creates for the two festivals. In each case, the design brings order and coherence to the chaotic mixture of law and narrative and of Pesah and Massot material in Exodus 12–13. At the same time, the content demonstrates the fulfillment of divine forecasts and supports the Jubilees conception of a glorious, proud Israelite nation emerging from Egypt. In a similar vein, the presentation of Pesah and Massot as separate consecutive festivals permanently merged as common celebrations of a single patriarchal proto-festival discerns, not unlike modern source critics, the discrete and fused presentations

53 See Chapter 4.  54 In Exod 12:34 the unleavened bread is attributed to unavailability of kneading bowls, which the Israelites had already packed in their cloaks; in Exod 12:39 the unleavened bread is attributed to having been driven out of Egypt without sufficient time to prepare provisions. 55 The hurried eating of the pesah is also omitted in the Jubilees formulation of the Pesah statute. 56 The rejection of a hurried departure may also reflect the influence of Isa 52:12 (cf. Mek. Pisha 7).

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of Pesah/Massot in the scriptural sources.57 The structure created in Jubilees accounts for that divergence in the sources and concurrently supports the author’s interest in ascribing a patriarchal origin to the festivals. The dual agenda of scriptural interpretation and promotion of polemical interests is also apparent in the Pesah statute that is positioned between the prescriptive recollections of the Israelite celebrating Pesah and Massot (Jub. 49:7– 22a). Indeed, the same compositional strategies employed in those prescriptive recollections — manipulation of temporal perspective and compositions constructed of a mosaic of allusions — are utilized in the statute. In the statue, however, the material is entirely legal; the temporal manipulation involves movement forward in time; and the allusions are primarily intertextual proof-texts designed to service a system of halakic exegesis.

57 Scholars generally agree that the festivals are fused in Deuteronomy 16 and 2 Chronicles 30. As noted above, there are divergent opinions regarding the accounts in Ezra 6 and 2 Chronicles 35. A number of scholars also see the festivals as fused in Exod 12:14, 18–20; 12:42; Lev 23:7; Num 28:17. For the critical scholarship on the various passages, see among others, Milgrom, Leviticus, 1967, 1971–74; Knohl, Sanctuary, 19–23; Bar-On, “Festival,” 73–143; Propp, Exodus, 1:373–82; and Alexander Rofe, Introduction to Deuteronomy (Jerusalem: Akademon Publishing House, 1988), 38–40 (Hebrew).

CHAPTER SIX THE PESAH  STATUTE

The Jubilees Pesah statute (‫ )חקת הפסח‬is comprised of sixteen commands presented in five thematic sets. Each set addresses a particular facet of the commemoration — its date, time of day, ritual, organization, and celebration in the land. In tandem, each set exegetically engages an aspect of the statute material that appears in Exodus 12–13. Indeed, to a significant extent the Jubilees statute is an interpretive reworking of that statute material, which in its Exodus contexts is unclear or in some way contextually ambiguous. References to a statute appear in four passages in Exodus. Exod 12:14 institutes remembrance of “this day” and ordains celebration of a “festival of the Lord throughout your generations” as an “eternal statute” (‫והיה היום הזה לכם לזכרון וחגתם‬ ‫)אתו חג לה' לדרתיכם חקת עולם תחגהו‬. Since the festival is not specified,1 the passage may be understood as relating either to the directives for the pesah sacrifice in Egypt that precede it or to the legislation regarding unleavened bread that immediately follows.2 A second statute passage is attached to Moses’s instructions to the elders regarding the sign of the blood on the Israelite houses—“You shall observe this thing as a statute for all time, for you and your descendants” (‫ושמרתם את הדבר הזה‬ ‫ )לחק לך ולבניך עד עולם‬and “when you enter the land…you shall observe this rite… ‘you shall say, it is the pesah sacrifice to the Lord’” (‫והיה כי תבאו אל הארץ…ושמרתם‬ …'‫( )את העבודה הזאת…ואמרתם זבח פסח הוא לה‬Exod 12:24–27). The statute clearly relates to Pesah; but even more so than Exod 12:14, the immediate context of Exod 12:24–27 suggests that the blood rite of the Egypt celebration is to be retained in the subsequent commemorations.3 Two other references to a statute are contextually separated from the ritual of the Egypt celebration. Annual observance of “this statute” (‫ושמרת את החקה הזאת‬ ‫ )למועדה מימים ימימה‬is legislated in Exod 13:10. But the referent for “this statute” is 1 A command with similar wording in Exod 12:17, “observe this day throughout the ages as a statute for all time” (‫)ושמרתם את היום הזה לדרתיכם חקת עולם‬, relates the commemoration to the day of the exodus and celebration of the Massot festival. 2 On Exod 12:14 as a late source (P or possibly H) that reflects the merging of Pesah and the first day of Massot, see Knohl, Sanctuary, 20; Milgrom, Leviticus, 1967. 3 Indeed, Milgrom cites Exod 12:22–27a as evidence of commemoration at local altars and in accord with the directives for the Egypt Pesah. The pesah was offered at a local altar; the blood and meat were brought home where the former was smeared on the entrance and the latter consumed (Milgrom, Leviticus, 1976).

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obscured by commands regarding unleavened bread (vv. 6–7), the exodus (v. 8), and phylacteries (vv. 9, 16) as well as by the commands regarding consecration of the first-born (Exod 13:1–2, 11–15).4 Only one passage, Exod 12:43–49, refers unambiguously to “the Pesah statute” (‫ )זאת חקת הפסח‬and specifies its content. There, the regulations focus on the matter of eating the pesah offering — who is to eat it, who is proscribed from eating it, and how it is to be eaten. The clear identification of Pesah and the relatively comprehensive content notwithstanding, this statute passage is also not without difficulties. Its placement after the account of the Israelite departure from Egypt (Exod 12:37–42) and much of the detail — references to slaves, hired laborers and resident aliens — clearly imply legislation for the future. However, the verses that frame the passage, Exod 12:43 (‫ואמר ה' אל משה‬ …‫ )ואהרן זאת חקת הפסח‬and Exod 12:50 (‫ויעשו כל בני ישראל כאשר צוה ה' את משה ואת אהרן‬ ‫)כן עשו‬, suggest that the Israelite celebration in Egypt was in accord with this statute law.5 Jubilees designs a statute that disengages the statute material in Exodus 12–13 from the ambiguities described above and at the same time exegetically engages those ambiguities. Key to its design is separation of the statute law from the Exodus Egypt narrative context where the legislation awkwardly antedates the events that are to be commemorated. Structural separation is achieved by presentation of the body of the statute (Jub. 49:7–22a) after the prescriptive narrative recollection of the Pesah celebration in Egypt (Jub. 49:1–6) and before that of Massot (Jub. 49:22b-23). Even more significant is a temporal rearrangement that moves enactment of the statute to the Jubilees-created present time of the angel of the 4 The legal material in Exodus 13 is variously classified. Levinson considers Exod 13:3–10 a proto-Deuteronomic unit that provides “insight into the nature of the pre-Deuteronomy Festival of Unleavened Bread” (Deuteronomy, 67–68; 76). Molly Zahn, on the other hand, argues for the late composition of Exod 13:1–16 and highlights the reuse and adaptation of material from Deuteronomy and Exodus 34 in the commands surrounding the statute reference in Exod 13:10 (Exod 13:6–7//Deut 16:8ab; Exod 13:8//Deut 6:21; Exod 13:9, 16//Deut 6:8 [cf. 11, 18]; Exod 13:12–13//Exod 34:19–20ab) (“Reexamining Empirical Models: The Case of Exodus 13,” in Das Deuteronomium zwischen Pentateuch und Deuteronomistischem Gesechichitswerk (ed. E. Otto and R. Achenbach; FRLANT 206; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004), 36–55; esp. 49–51. 5 In addition to the references in Exodus 12–13, a statute is presumed in the directive that the Israelites in the wilderness commemorate Pesah “in accord with all its statutes and laws” (‫( )ככל חקתיו ומשפטיו‬Num 9:3). Allusions to a statute also appear in the instructions for Pesah Sheni, which is to be celebrated “in accord with all the Pesah statute” ((‫( ככל חקת הפסח‬Num 9:12) and “in accord with the Pesah statute and its law” (‫( )כחקת הפסח וכמשפטו‬Num 9:14). The instructions for the delayed commemoration include a number of the directives given for the Egypt-Pesah — offering the sacrifice “between the evenings” on the 14th (Num 9:11; Exod 12:6); eating the pesah with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Num 9:11; Exod 12:8); and, without reference to burning the remnant, a prohibition against leaving any over until morning (Num 9:12; Exod 12:10). It also incorporates two aspects of the statute in Exod 12:43–49, specifically, the ban against breaking a bone (Num 9:11; Exod 12:46) and the participation of the resident alien (‫)גר‬, but without the Exodus specification of circumcision (Num 9:14; Exod 12:48–49).

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101

presence addressing Moses on Sinai. With Sinai as its authority, the statute gains access to the corpus of Pesah-related legislation in the Torah. That corpus provides a depository of proof-texts that are employed in exegesis of the problematic statute passages in Exodus 12–13. Developed through allusions, the exegesis is integrated into the composition of the sixteen individual commands.6 Not all the Pesah-related legislation in the Torah is included in the Jubilees statute. Quite to the contrary, the compositional use of allusions is discriminating. A command may incorporate only select facets of a legislative passage; allusive phrases may be altered in a way that changes their meaning; and the imported material may be placed within a command that negates the clear sense of the source context.7 There also are instances where the content of a command is derived from the directives given for the celebration in Egypt. In such cases a variant of recollection is used and the command is voiced in the past tense—“this is what the Lord commanded you” (Jub. 49:11) and “the Lord ordered the Israelites” (Jub. 49:14)—or framed by commandments bearing such an introduction (Jub. 49:12–13).8 On straightforward reading, the commands are verbose, repetitious, and at times rather opaque. To a significant extent the wordiness, repetition, and opacity are a direct consequence of the allusion exegesis operating within each command. “Reading” the statute requires identification of the allusions and analysis of their exegetical functions. In the date-related commands, there is the added challenge of encryptions that the reader must decipher in order for the system of allusions to become clear. To ease the way, the following analysis treats the commands in their thematic contexts. Each section begins with a discussion of the theme developed within the set, followed by an analysis of the exegesis operating within the individual commands. To facilitate clarity, a table summary of the allusion exegesis introduces the exegetical analysis in each section. 6 My understanding of the statute as allusive exegesis to resolve problematic passages in Exodus 12–13 substantially differs from that of VanderKam who suggests that the author adduced Pesah material from elsewhere in the Pentateuch in order to supplement the information in Exodus 12 (James VanderKam, “Exegesis of Pentatuechal Legislation in Jubilees and Related Texts Found at Qumran,” in Pentateuchal Traditions in the Late Second Temple Period: Proceedings of the International Workshop in Tokyo August 28–31, 200; [ed. Akio Moriya and Gohei Hata; JSJSup 158; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2012], 190–99). 7 Contemporary pentateuchal scholars who highlight analogous strategies in the biblical treatments of Pesah and Massot view the methods of composition in Second Temple texts (e.g., the Temple Scroll) as “empirical models” for tracing the compositional history of the material in the Pentateuch (Levinson, Deuteronomy, 72–93; Zahn, “Reexamining,” 36–55). The use of the Jubilees 49 as such an “empirical model” is complicated by the lack of any of the text in the Hebrew original. 8 The recollections not only link the statute being revealed by the angel at Mt. Sinai to the narrative of the redemption from Egypt, but also, provide a divine voicing, that gives authority to the command. On divine voicing as a strategy, see Levinson, More Perfect, 14–15 and, with specific application to the presentation of Pesah/Massot in Exodus, Zahn, “Reexamining, 44–45.

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The Date Within the statute the date of the commemoration receives the greatest attention. It is the principal subject of three commands (Jub. 49:7–9), a secondary theme in almost every other command,9 and a signature point of reference in the concluding command (Jub. 49:22a). The date-focused commands reaffirm the position set forth in the opening prescription of Jub.  49:1 — the commemoration spans two dates: the sacrifice of the pesah on the 14th and the eating of the pesah on the 15th. However, the formulation in the statute differs significantly from that in the introductory prescription. There is no supporting narrative of events such as presented in Jub. 49:2–6. Instead, the authority for the dating rests solely on halakic proof-texts conveyed through an ingenious system of allusions. To develop these proof-texts Jubilees adopts a most unusual compositional design for the date commands. With the exception of one command where the 14th is specified (Jub. 49:10), date numbers are represented by phrases alluding to Torah passages or Jubilees-created terms that signify the 14th, the 15th, or both. The system of signification operates in accord with three basic principles. First, the timing of events as set forth in the prescriptive recollection of the celebration in Egypt (Jub. 49:1–6) is presumed. Hence, explicit reference to and/or allusions to passages dealing with the sacrifice of the pesah indicate the 14th. Similarly, explicit references and/or allusions to passages involving the night of the tenth plague and/or the eating the pesah indicate the 15th. Secondly, the date signifier may be triggered by the content of a command, by a full or partial citation, by an abstracted scriptural phrase, and/or by one of the Jubilees-created date terms. Thirdly, with the exception of the command in Jub. 49:8, each of the date commands is composed such that it incorporates signifiers for both the 14th and the 15th. The three date commands are constructed to service a broad agenda. In addition to providing wide-ranging Torah support for sacrifice on the 14th and eating on the 15th, certain of them proscribe a delay in the scheduling of the commemoration, and all three engage in a hermeneutics that relates the contextually ambiguous Exod 12:14 (‫)והיה היום הזה לכם לזכרון וחגתם אתו חג לה' לדרתיכם חקת עולם תחגהו‬ to Pesah. Each command focuses on a different facet of the verse. The first command (Jub. 49:7) deals with “this day” (‫ )היום הזה‬and “as a remembrance” (‫;)לזכרון‬ the second (Jub. 49:8) with “eternal statute” (‫ )חקת עולם‬and “throughout your generations” (‫ ;)לדרתיכם‬and the third (Jub. 49:9) with “festival of the Lord” ('‫)חג לה‬.



9 There are no references, encoded or overt, to the date in the commands in Jub. 49:13, 19. 

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Jub. 49:7–9, 22a: Exegesis of Exod 12:14 First Command Jub. 49:7 Now you remember this day all the days of your lifetime. Celebrate it from year to year all the days all your lifetime, once a year on its day in accord with all of its law. Then you will not change a day from the day or from month to month. Allusion

Source

Content

remember this day all the days of your lifetime

Exod 12:14 ‫והיה היום הזה לכם לזכרון‬

“This day shall be one of remembrance for you”

Deut 16:3–4 ‫למען תזכר…כל ימי חייך‬

“So that you remember the day of your departure from Egypt all the days of your lifetime…none of the flesh… until morning”

from year to year

Exod 13:10

Keep this statute from year to year — referring to the Exod 12:43 statute stipulating who is may eat the pesah

15th (eating)

on its day (ba‘əlatu)

Lev 23:5, 37 ‫דבר יום ביומו‬

Offerings for sacred occasions at set times, with 14th for the pesah

14th (sacrifice)

in accord with all its law

Num 9:14

Pesah sheni sacrifice and eating of the pesah

14–15th (sacrifice and eating)

‫מימים ימימה‬

‫…וכמשפטו‬ Cf. Num 9:11–13.

Date(s) 15th (eating)

Second Command Jub. 49:8 For it is an eternal statute and it is engraved on the heavenly tablets regarding the Israelites that they are to celebrate it each and every year on its day, once a year, throughout all their generations (lit.). There is no temporal limit because it is ordained forever. Allusion

Source

Content Eternal statute to commemorate this day

eternal statute…

Exod 12:14

throughout all their generations

Exod 12:42

Exod 12:43ff ‫זאת חקת הפסח‬ …‫לא יאכל בו‬

Statute legislating who to eat pesah

on its day (ba‘əlatu)

Lev 23:5, 37 ‫דבר יום ביומו‬

Offerings for sacred occasions at set times, 14th prescribed for the pesah offering.

‫חקת עולם‬ ‫לדרתם‬

Date(s) 15 (eating) th

throughout their generations

14th (sacrifice)

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Third Command Jub. 49:9 The man who is pure but does not come to celebrate it — on the time of its day (lit.) to bring a sacrifice that is pleasing before the Lord and to eat and drink before the Lord on the day of his festival — that man who is pure and nearby is to be uprooted because he did not bring the Lord’s sacrifice at its set time (lit.). That man will bear responsibility for his own sin.10 Allusion

Source

Content

Date(s)

The man who is pure… to bring a sacrifice…to eat and drink before the Lord

Num 9:13

Revised citation

14–15th (sacrifice and eating)

on the time of its day (bagize ‘əlatu)

Jubilees-created day term

To bring a sacrifice

14th (sacrifice)

day of his festival

Exod 12:14

This day “ a festival of the Lord” Not to leave the fat of “my festival” offering until morning Not to leave flesh of the pesah offering until morning

15th (eating)

Citation

14th (sacrifice)

Exod 23:18

'‫חג לה‬ ‫חלב חגי‬

Exod 34:25 ‫זבח חג הפסח‬ at its set time

Num 9:13 ‫ במעדו‬alluding to Num 9:2–3

10

The first command opens with the angel directing Moses to “remember this day.” In this instance recollection is not being used as a device to manipulate temporal perspective. Rather, it is an allusion that begins the exegesis of Exod 12:14 by associating “this day shall be to you one of remembrance” (‫)והיה היום הזה לכם לזכרון‬ with “remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt all the days of your lifetime” (‫ )תזכר את יום צאתך מארץ מצרים כל ימי חייך‬in Deut 16:3.11 The Deuteronomy passage relates the day of the exodus not only to the prohibition of leavened bread (Massot), but also to the eating of the pesah—“none of the flesh of what you slaughter on the evening of the first day shall be left until morning”

10 There are no dashes in the Ethiopic. In order to expose the embedded date indicators I have repositioned the dashes that VanderKam inserts into his English translation. 11 The opening of the Jubilees command echoes the phrasing of Exod 13:3—“Remember this day, on which you went free from Egypt…no leavened bread shall be eaten” (‫זכור את היום הזה‬ ‫)אשר יצאתם ממצרים…ולא תאכל חמץ‬. Since that passage associates remembrance of the day of the exodus solely with the proscription of leavened bread, Jubilees uses an analogous command in Deuteronomy 16 that also deals with Pesah legislation.

The Pesah Statute

105

(‫( )ולא ילין מן הבשר אשר תזבח בערב ביום הראשון לבקר‬Deut 16:4). Culling “remember” and “all the days of your lifetime” from Deut 16:3, Jubilees strings those phrases together with “this day” from Exod 12:14. As a result, the command connects “this day” that is to be memorialized with eating the pesah (Deut 16:4) and thereby signifies the 15th. There are three additional date indicators in Jub. 49:7: “from year to year” (’am῾ām la῾ām), “on its day” (ba῾əlatu) and “in accord with all its law” (­ bakamakwəllu heggu). The phrase, “from year to year” (‫)מימים ימימה‬,12 appears in another Exodus statute passage with a problematic referent—“You shall keep this statute at its set time from year to year” (‫)ושמרת את החקה הזאת למועדה מימים ימימה‬ (Exod 13:10). “This statute” could refer either to the immediately preceding command regarding phylacteries (Exod 13:9), to the command regarding the dedication of firstlings (Exod 13:2, 12–13), or to an earlier passage where the Pesah statute prescribes who is permitted to eat the pesah (Exod 12:43).13 Adopting the latter understanding,14 the Jubilees command employs the allusive “from year to year” with its referred eating context (Exod 12:43)15 as an additional signifier for the 15th. The third signifying phrase, “on its day” (‫)ביומו‬, is drawn from the introduction to the Leviticus calendar of sacrifices—“These are the set times of the Lord that you shall celebrate as sacred occasions, bringing offerings by fire to the Lord… on each day what is proper to it” (‫אלה מועדי ה' אשר תקראו אתם מקראי קדש להקריב עלה‬ ‫( )ומנחה זבח ונסכים דבר יום ביומו‬Lev 23:37). In the subsequent enumeration of the set times, the 14th of the first month is designated as the date for the pesah offering (Lev 23:5). Consequently here and elsewhere in the Jubilees statute, “on its day” indicates sacrifice on the 14th. The phrase, “in accord with all its laws,” formulated in the plural (‫)כמשפטיו‬, appears in Num 9:3 with reference to a command that the Israelites, in the second year after the exodus, commemorate Pesah (‫ )ויעשו את הפסח‬on the 14th of the first month. The Jubilees command, however, adopts the singular form, “in accord with all its law” found in Num 9:14 (‫)כמשפטו‬, a passage regulating the participation of the resident alien in the commemoration of Pesah Sheni.16 The preference 12 The phrase ‫ מימים ימימה‬does not appear elsewhere in the Pentateuch; it is found in Judges (11:46; 21:19) and 1 Samuel (1:3; 2:19). 13 On Exodus 13 creating a relationship between motifs that are drawn from earlier sources, see Zahn, esp. 49–53. 14 Rabbi Akiba expresses the same understanding. The opposing position of R. Jose relates the phrase to the command regarding phylacteries (b. Menah. 36b; b. ‘Erub. 96a; cf. Mek. Pisha 17; cf. Tg. Ps.-J. on Exod 13:10). 15 The phrase “from year to year” expressed as ‫ שנה בשנה‬also appears in Deut 15:20 where it pertains to the requirement to annually eat firstlings at the sanctuary. An allusion to this passage is incorporated into Jub. 49:18. 16 The Jubilees treatment of the participation of the ger is addressed below in the context of the analysis of Jub. 49:16.

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for the formulation in Num 9:14 relates to the content of the entire pericope. Like Num 9:3, the regulations for Pesah Sheni in Num 9:14 mention the 14th, albeit in the second month. However, in contrast to the directive in Num 9:3, those regulations specifically mention the eating of the pesah (Num 9:11–12), thereby indicating that “doing” (‫ )עשה‬the Pesah17 involves sacrifice (the 14th) and also eating (the 15th). Since the command already contains indicators for the 14th and 15th, the allusion to the Pesah Sheni pericope suggests positive reception of that special-circumstance adjustment to the Pesah commemoration schedule. In fact, Jubilees permits no adjustment whatsoever. Echoing the concern with disturbance of holy days and festivals that appears in the presentation of the Jubilees 364-day calendar (Jub. 6:32–37), Jub. 49:7 proscribes precisely the kind of postponement that the Numbers 9 pericope prescribes. Indeed, the closing words of the command negate the meaning that the allusive phrase “in accord with all its law” possesses in its source context. The prohibition against altering the schedule “a day from the day or from month to month” immediately follows the allusion. Consequently, only when the prohibition is adhered to, i. e., the schedule is in no way altered, is the Pesah commemoration “in accord with all its law!”18 No reference is made to Pesah Sheni. Avoiding direct discord with a Torah text, the command simply forbids a delay in the commemoration of “this day,” i. e., the 15th19 — notably a delay that of necessity would break apart commemoration of the Jubilees-fused ­Pesah-Massot festival. The same strategy, which amounts to negation of source context, is employed to the same end elsewhere in the statute (Jub. 49:9), indicating that the structure of Jub. 49:7 is no accident. There are references to Pesah Sheni in both Qumran and rabbinic sources.20 Hence, although there is

17 “Doing (‫ )עשה‬the Pesah” is employed no less than twelve times in Num 9:1–14. Except for Num 9:7, where the ritually impure express particular concern with being debarred from offering the sacrifice, and Num 9:11–12, which presents directives for how the pesah is to be eaten, there is no delineation of ritual stages. 18 VanderKam acknowledges the consequence nature of the compositional phrasing by beginning the proscription section of Jub. 49:7 with “Then…” 19 The command does not specify the date or its activity; but “this day” that is to be commemorated refers back to the account of the Israelites eating the pesah on the eve of their departure from Egypt (Jub. 49:6). 20 References to Pesah Sheni clearly appear in Qumran mishmarot texts (4Q320 4 III, 4, 14; IV, 9; V, 3, 12; VI, 7l; 4Q321 2 II, 5, 9; III, 8). On the other hand, an injunction against advancing or delaying festivals appears, without reference to Pesah Sheni, in several sectarian texts (1QS I, 13–15; 4Q266 2 I, 2; 4Q268 1 4). If, as Yadin suggested, a command regarding Pesah Sheni appeared in the missing part at the top of column 18 of the Temple Scroll, it would be the single reference to the institutionalized postponement in that scroll (The Temple Scroll [ed., Y. Yadin; 3 vols.; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University and the Shrine of the Book, 1977–1983], 2:76). On the rabbinic treatment of Pesah Sheni, see m. Pes. 9.1–4.

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no scholarly consensus regarding the issue, the exclusion of the institutionalized delay may be unique to Jubilees.21 Interpretation of ambiguities in Exod 12:14 continues in the second date command (Jub. 49:8). Focusing on the term “eternal statute” (‫)חקת עולם‬, the exegesis intends to demonstrate that the statute to be kept “throughout your generations” (‫( )לדרתיכם‬Exod 12:14) relates to the commemoration of Pesah. The key terms, “eternal statute” and “throughout your generations,” also appear in Exod 12:17, but there they are explicitly associated with Massot and the exodus from Egypt. Jub. 49:8 works around the Massot connection by alluding to a third passage where a command to observe a night of vigil “throughout their generations” (‫ )לדרתם‬is associated with the redemption from Egypt,22 but immediately followed by presentation of a Pesah statute stipulating who is permitted to eat the pesah (Exod 12:43ff). Jub. 49:8 draws the phrase “throughout their generations” (‫ )לדרתם‬from Exod 12:42, thereby associating the “eternal statute” (‫ )חקת עולם‬of Exod 12:14 with the statute in Exod 12:43 ff. The eating provisions in the latter statute provide an indicator for the 15th and “on its day” (‫)יום ביומו‬, alluding to the sacrificial calendar in Lev 23:5, 37, again is the marker for the 14th.23 At first glance, the third date-focused command (Jub. 49:9) appears to be little more than a spliced and inflated citation of Num 9:13. In fact, the alterations reflect a carefully designed structure. The command opens with a partial citation of the beginning of Num 9:13—“the man who is pure but does not come to celebrate…” (…‫)והאיש אשר הוא טהור…וחדל לעשות‬.24 Interrupting the citation, an addition highlighting the two different stages of the commemoration — bringing the 21 Without reference to the impact of Pesah Sheni on a Pesah celebration fused with the festival of Massot, Stéphane Saulnier, in a paper presented at the Fourth Enoch Seminar, argued that the commands in Jubilees 49 proscribed the institution of Pesah Sheni (“Jub 49:1–14 and the [Absent] Second Passover: How and [Why] To Do Away with An Unwanted Festival,” Short Studies on Enoch and Jubilees Presented at the Fourth Enoch Seminar at Camaldoli [8–12 July 2007], Henoch 31 [2009]: 42–48). Lutz Doering, responding to Saulnier and to my own presentation, cautioned against such a conclusion (“Purity and Impurity in the Book of Jubilees,” in Enoch and the Mosaic Torah, 266). At another conference James VanderKam argued that the proscription in Jub. 49:7 applies only to the festival itself and “may be saying nothing about the second Passover,” which the author of Jubilees omits because it is outside the perimeters of his work and is not relevant to him (“Exegesis,” 197–98). 22 ‫( ליל שמרים הוא לה' להוציאם מארץ מצרים הוא הלילה הזה לה' שמרים לכל בני ישראל לדרתם‬Exod 12:42). 23 Since the date commands in Jub. 49:7 and Jub. 49:9 each include one allusion that points to the two dates, it is tempting to suggest that the phrase “each and every year” (bakwəllu ‘āmat wa‘āmat/‫ )בכל שנה ושנה‬is a playful allusion to the commemoration of the 14th and 15th, albeit in the month of Adar (!), in Esth 9:27. However, one can hardly consider Jubilees a “playful” text. Moreover, slight variants of the same phrase appear in reference to Shavuot (Jub. 6:17) and Succot (Jub. 16:29). In Jub. 6:17 it is the covenant that is to be renewed “each and every year” and in Jub. 16:29 it is the law (legislating Succot) that is eternal “throughout their history in each and every year.” 24 Num 9:13 begins: “The man who is pure and not on a journey…” The phrase “not on a journey” is omitted in the Jubilees opening.

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sacrifice; eating and drinking — follows. Thereafter, the command turns back to the beginning of Num 9:13 and cites the verse in full, with a small, but significant, change discussed below. There are several date indicators within the addition. Bringing a sacrifice is to be done “on the time of its day” (bagize ‘əlatu).25 This day-term does not allude to a scriptural passage; rather, it is a Jubilees adaptation of “at its set time” (‫)במועדו‬, created to indicate that each phase of the Pesah ritual has its own day. Depending on context, the phrase may indicate either the 14th or the 15th. In this command the term modifies bringing the sacrifice, hence, the 14th. The eating and drinking are to take place on the 15th, here expressed as “the day of his festival” (ba‘əlatä ba‘ālu), a phrase associated by analogy with “the festival of the Lord” ('‫ )חג לה‬in Exod 12:14. The analogy involves two passages. In Exod 23:18 a prohibition against leaving “the fat of my festival offering” (‫ )חלב חגי‬until morning appears in the context of a set of commands unrelated to Pesah.26 However, a similar prohibition, accompanied by the same series of commands, is stated with explicit reference to the “sacrifice of the Pesah festival” (‫ )זבח חג הפסח‬in Exod 34:25.27 Understanding Exod 23:18 and Exod 34:25 as both referring to the pesah offering that is to be consumed before morning, Jubilees shifts the pronominal suffix to third person (i. e., “my festival” to “his festival”) and associates the “festival of the Lord” (i. e., “his festival”) in Exod 12:14 with the eating of the pesah on the night of the 15th.28 The identification is of particular import, for Exod 34:25 is the only Torah passage in which Pesah is explicitly denoted a ‫חג‬, a term associated with pilgrimage and celebratory eating at the central sanctuary.29 The last date signal in the command, “at its set time” (‫)במועדו‬, appears in the citation of Num 9:13. The intent of the Num 9:13 prescription is to require all those who do not fall within the special circumstances permitting Pesah Sheni to follow the schedule “at its set time,” i. e., on the 14th of the first month as prescribed in 25 Literal translation. VanderKam notes that the Latin has “on the day of its time,” a phrase that appears in Jub. 49:10, 14–15. 26 The commands include prescriptions relating to the use of only unleavened products in the sacrificial cult and the bringing of first fruits, and an injunction against seething a kid in its mother’s milk (Exod 23:18–19; cf. Exod 34:25–26). 27 On the relationship between Exod 34:25 (‫לא תשחט על חמץ דם זבחי ולא ילין עד הבקר זבח חג‬ ‫ )הפסח‬and Exod 23:18 (‫)לא תשחט על חמץ דם זבחי ולא ילין חלב חגי עד הבקר‬, see Milgrom, Leviticus, 2070–71 and Levinson, Deuteronomy, 69–70. 28 The phrase '‫ חג לה‬can be translated “festival to the Lord,” or as “festival of the Lord” (also rendered '‫)חג ה‬. The Jubilees exegesis reflects the latter understanding. On “festival of the Lord” as a term for Massot and as the name of the proto-festival that encompasses Pesah and Massot in Jubilees 18, see Chapter 5. 29 On Exod 34:25b as a late Deuteronomistic interpolation, see Levinson, Deuteronomy, 69. On the festival commemoration being held at a central sanctuary, see Milgrom’s comments on the phrase '‫( פסח לה‬Leviticus, 1971).

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Num 9:2–3. The beginning of Num 9:13—“a man who is pure and not on a journey” (‫ )והאיש אשר הוא טהור ובדרך לא היה‬describes circumstances that are the parallel inverse of the conditions that warrant celebration of Pesah Sheni in Num 9:10—“defiled by a corpse or on a long journey” (‫איש איש כי יהיה טמא לנפש או בדרך‬ ‫)רחוקה‬. Breaking the inverted parallel, the Jubilees command substitutes “the man who is pure and nearby” for “a man who is pure and not on a journey.” The substitution does not alter the plain sense of the original wording; it does sever the referential connection between “not on a journey” in Num 9:13 and “on a long journey” in Num 9:10. Although more subtle than the negation of Pesah Sheni in Jub. 49:7, the effect is the same sort of decontextualization.30 Whereas Num 9:13 in situ defines the limited applicability of the Pesah Sheni law, the revised citation in Jub. 49:9 does no more than describe the conditions under which one is required to offer the pesah “at its set time,” on the 14th of the first month. The concern with date developed in Jub. 49:7–9 is also evident in commands primarily focused on other motifs. In some cases the date issue is integrated with the new motif; in others, the date information is simply inserted into the command. In all but one of these commands (Jub. 49:10), the dates are signified solely through date-terms and allusions. Only in its final command does Jubilees depart from the cryptic system of allusions and, in doing so, provide a key to its workings. 31 32

Jub. 49:22a Now you, Moses, order the Israelites to keep the Pesah statute31 as it was commanded to you so that you may tell them its year each year, its day of the days.32

Retaining the terminology, but deviating from the allusion strategy employed throughout the statute, this date-related command contains no allusions to scriptural passages. Instead, “its day of the days” (wa‘əlato la‘əlatāt) (lit.), a term deliberately formulated in the plural, indicates that the statute requires the dual-phased commemoration to span two dates, i. e., the day of the sacrifice (the 14th) and the day of the eating (the 15th).

The Time of Day Prescription of the time of day for the Pesah commemoration is the primary theme in three statute commands. Several time periods are prescribed in the Torah—“between the evenings” (‫( )בין הערבים‬Exod 12:6; Lev 23:5; Num 9:3, 5, 11); 30 Ignoring the revised wording that severs the connection between Num 9:10 and 13, James Kugel sees a limited Pesah Sheni option in Jub. 49:9 (“On the Interpolations,” 254). 31 My translation. 32 Literal translation.

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“in the evening” (‫( )בערב‬Deut 16:4); and “in the evening at sunset” (‫בערב כבוא‬ ‫( )השמש‬Deut 16:6). Whereas the opening verse of Jubilees 49 uses the Deuteronomy 16 terminology,33 these commands focus on “between the evenings” (‫בין‬ ‫)הערבים‬. The Jubilees exposition of the phrase involves a mishmarot-like division in which the day and night are each separated into three parts. Within each part there is an evening — the last third of the day and the first third of the night. Hence, “between the evenings” is the block of time between the beginning of the evening of the day and the end of the evening of the night. Compositionally, the three time commands form a single unit. The first defines the time frame of “between the evenings;” the second presents the time prescribed for the Egypt celebration as a precedent for later commemorations; and the third, supplemented by an elaboration in Jub. 49:19, places each phase of the commemoration within the Jubilees interpretation of “between the evenings.” Jub. 49:10–12: Exegesis of Exod 12:6, 8 First Command

34

Jub. 49:10 The Israelites are to come and celebrate the pesah on the day of its time (lit.) — on the fourteenth of the first month — between the evenings, from the third part of the day until the third part of the night. For two parts of the day have been given for light and its third part for evening. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

Israelites…to come and celebrate…

Num 9:2 ‫ויעשו בני ישראל את הפסח‬ ‫במועדו‬

Command for celebration in wilderness

Addition of word “come” to indicate 14th

on the day of its time (ba‘əlatä gizehu)34

Jubilees-created term

Substituted for ‫במעדו‬

Indicates “between the evenings” spans two dates

between the evenings

Num 9:3

Time “to do” the commemoration

Block of time encompassing two evenings, one of day, one of night

‫בין הערבים‬

33 See Chapter 5. 34 VanderKam translates ba‘əlatä gizehu (lit. “on the day of its time”) as “its specific day” and bagize ‘əlatu (lit. “on the time of its day”) (Jub. 49:9) “its prescribed day.” However, he indicates that the two phrases seem to express the same meaning (Note on Jub. 49:9 in Book of Jubilees, 2:317). By contrast, I suggest that “on the day of its time” refers to the 14th and 15th whereas “on the time of its day” refers, depending on context, either to the 14th or to the 15th.

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Second Command Jub. 49:11 This is what the Lord commanded you — to celebrate it between the evenings. Allusion between the evenings

Source

Content

Exod 12:6 ‫ושחטו אתו…בין הערבים‬. . Exod 12:8 ‫ואכלו את הבשר ביליה הזה‬

Directives for Egypt Pesah

Significance “that night” falls within “between the evenings”

Third Command Jub. 49:12 It is not to be sacrificed at any hour of the daylight but in the hour of the boundary of the evening. They will eat it during the evening hour(s) until the third part of the night. Any of its meat that is left over from the third part of the night and beyond is to be burned. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

the night

Exod 12:8 ‫ואכלו את הבשר‬ ‫בליליה הזה‬

Eat that same night

Time for eating falls “between the evenings”

any of its meat left over…to be burned

Exod 12:10 ‫והנתר ממנו…באש‬ ‫תשרפו‬

Any of it left over to be burned

Revised Citation Sets end to time for eating

The opening command in the set defines “between the evenings” (‫ )בין הערבים‬in the context of a subtly revised citation of Num 9:2–3. The command in Num 9:2 directs the Israelites to commemorate (lit. “do”) (‫ )ויעשו‬Pesah in the Sinai wilderness “at its set time” (‫)במועדו‬, defined in Num 9:3 as “between the evenings” on the fourteenth of the first month. Jub. 49:10 rephrases the directive as “to come and celebrate the Pesah,” and substitutes “on the day of its time” (ba‘əlatä gizehu) for “at its set time” (‫)במועדו‬. The addition of the word “come” highlights the fact that the starting point of “between the evenings” is on the 14th, precisely defined as “from the third part of the day.” The replacement of “at its set time” is necessitated by the association of that term solely with the 14th in Pesah-related Torah passages.35 The term Jubilees substitutes, “on the day of its time,” is created to indicate that one comes on the 14th, but the commemoration taking place “between the evenings” spans two dates — the last part of 14th (the evening

35 The association is explicit in Num 9:2–3, assumed in the allusive relationship between Num 9:13 and Num 9:11, and implied in the Leviticus 23 calendar schedule of “the set times of the Lord” ('‫( )מועדי ה‬Lev 23:2, 4, 37). On the use of “at set time” as a marker for the 14th in the encoded date system, see Jub. 49:9, 15, 16.

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hours for the sacrifice) through the first part of the 15th (the evening hours for the eating). The exegetical foundation of the Jubilees exposition rests on the directions for the Egypt-Pesah that require the selected paschal victim to be watched over until the fourteenth, be slaughtered “between the evenings” (‫( )בין הערבים‬Exod 12:6), and be eaten “on this night” (‫( )בלילה הזה‬Exod 12:8). Presenting only the time frame in Exod 12:6, the command in Jub. 49:11 understands “on this night” as included within “between the evenings.” Formulated in the past tense (“the Lord commanded you”), it is the first in a series of commands (Jub. 49:11–14) derived from the directives for the Egypt Pesah. The second command legislates the time of each phase of the Pesah ritual within the time block of “between the evenings.” For the sacrifice, it proscribes “any hour of the daylight” and prescribes “in the hour of the boundary of the evening” (Jub. 49:12). In Jub. 49:1936 the starting point of that time is refined as “in the evening when the sun sets” (‫( )בערב כבוא השמש‬citing Deut 16:6) with the phrase, “in the third part of the day,” indicating the beginning of sunset.37 Consequently, “the hour of the boundary of the evening” starts when the sun begins its descent, thereby indicating the eighth hour of the day.38 The time for eating the sacrifice is “during the evening hour(s) until the third part of the night,” with its endpoint emphasized by a partial citation of Exod 12:10 (‫והנתר ממנו…באש‬ ‫ )תשרפו‬that is rephrased—“any of its meat that is left over from the third part of the night and beyond is to be burned”39—to exclude eating any of it beyond the fourth hour of the night.40 The content of Jub. 49:12, specifically, its distinction between the time for sacrifice and the time for eating, bears a certain resemblance to the prescription in Jub. 49:1—“…celebrate it at its time on the fourteenth of the first month, that you may sacrifice it before evening, and so that they may eat it at night on the eve-

36 “…sacrifice the pesah in the evening when the sun sets, in the third part of the day” (Jub. 49:19c). 37 The phrase, “in the evening, when the sun sets” (‫( )בערב כבוא השמש‬Deut 16:6) can be understood as when the sun begins its descent or as when the sun completes its descent. Hence, “in the third part of the day” is added to indicate the former. 38 An extension of time for the sacrifice, presumably to accommodate the sacrifices of the many celebrants, is also found in Philo (Laws 2.145) and in rabbinic literature (Mek. Pisha 5; m. ­Pesah. 5.1). 39 The biblical injunction against any of the pesah meat being left until morning also appears in Exod 34:25; Num 9:12; and Deut 16:4; but only in Exod 12:10 is burning of the remains specified. 40 In the Temple Scroll legislation for Pesah, no distinction is made between the parts of the night; the pesah is to be eaten simply “at night” (11QTa XVII, 8), presumably until the morning. R. Akiba also permits eating until morning; but the halakah permits eating only until midnight (m. Pesah. 10.9; b. Pesah. 120b; cf. m. Pesah. 5.8; m. Zebah. 5.8).

The Pesah Statute

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ning of the fifteenth from the time of sunset.” However different foci are operating within the two commands. The introductory prescription is primarily interested in establishing that the celebration spans two different dates. It does so by prescribing the end point in time for the sacrifice and the starting point for the eating. In other words, it focuses on the point at which the evening of the day (the 14th) ends and the evening of the night (the 15th) begins, i. e., the midpoint of “between the evenings.” Conversely, Jub. 49:12 is interested in establishing the outer points of “between the evenings”—when the evening of the day (the time for the sacrifice) begins and when the evening of the night (the time for eating) ends. Their different foci notwithstanding, the prescriptions in Jub. 49:12 and in Jub. 49:1 are in fact complementary. The statute command designates no precise end point in its sacrifice schedule and its prescription of “during the evening hour(s)” as the starting point for eating the pesah is relatively vague. Presumably, the times in both instances are those prescribed in Jub. 49:1—“before evening,” i. e., of the night,41 for the sacrifice and “at night…from the time of sunset,” i. e., when the sun completes its descent,42 for the eating. The exegesis based on the plural form of “between the evenings” is original to Jubilees. No comparable treatment is evident in the Qumran literature dealing with Pesah. The phrase ‫ בין הערבים‬is clearly visible only in 4QpaleoGen-Exodl 7 II, 21 (Exod 12:6) and 4QLevb 9 II, 4 (Lev 23:5); it may be reconstructed in 4QLevNuma 53–54 3 (Num 9:5)43 and in the Temple Scroll (11Q19a XVII, 6).44 The ancillary phrase, “in the third part of the day” (Jub. 49:10, 19), does appear in the Temple Scroll, but only in the context of the Day of Memorial (11Q19 XXV, 8).45

41 Deut 16:4 refers to sacrifice “in the evening,” but deals with the subject of eating, i. e., not leaving any of the meat until morning. Hence, in the language of the statute, the sacrifice would be offered before the “the evening of the night.” 42 The reference to night indicates the end of sunset, hence, the opposite of Jub. 49:19 where sunset, combined with “the third part of the day,” refers to when the sun begins its descent. 43 Line 1 of the fragment reproduces Num 9:3, but where the MT and LXX have ‫בין הערבים‬, the scribe wrote ‫( ביום‬Eugene Ulrich, “4QLev-Numa,” Qumran Cave 4.VII Genesis to Numbers [ed. E. Ulrich, et. al.; DJD 12; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994], 168). 44 The reconstruction is based on Lev 23:5 (Yadin, Temple, 2:73–74) and is confirmed by Elisha Qimron (The Temple Scroll: A Critical Edition with Extensive Reconstructions JDS 3; [Beer Sheva-Jerusalem: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press and Israel Exploration Society, 1996], 27). 45 Yadin suggests that the same phrase ‫בשלישת היום‬, may also have appeared in the Pesah context of 11Q19 XVII, 7; but it is neither visible in the fragment nor presented in the reconstruction which reads ‫“( במועדו‬at its set time”). The suggestion is primarily based on the similarity between the preceding words ‫ וזבחו לפני מנחת הערב‬and “that you may sacrifice it before evening” in Jub. 49:1 as well as the similarity between line 8 (…‫ )מבן עשרים שנה‬and Jub. 49:17 (Yadin, Temple 1:96–97; 2:74). Qimron, on the other hand, reconstructs ‫ יזבחהו כול זכר‬at the end line 7, thereby making it the beginning of the regulation that continues into line 8 (Qimron, Temple, 27).

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In rabbinic sources there are multiple treatments of “between the evenings” in relation to the Pesah ritual. Generally, rabbinic exegesis, reflecting the usage in Exod 12:6 and Lev 23:5, applies the phrase specifically to the timing of the sacrifice.46 However, the opinion voiced by ben Bathyra in one discussion of the term is notably close to the exegetical approach taken in the Jubilees statute: “‘Between the evenings slaughter it,’ says the law. This means fix one evening time for its slaughtering and another evening time for its eating” (Mek. Pisha 5).47

The Festival Ritual This set of commands addresses the relationship between the Exodus 12 directives for the Egypt celebration and the ritual requirements for cooking and consuming the pesah in future commemorations. Although they allude to different passages and develop different themes, each of the three commands deals with a protection motif. The first introduces the motif in association with the prohibition against breaking a bone of the pesah (Exod 12:9, 46); the second relates that specific prohibition to commemoration of the festal day commanded in Exod 12:14; and the third connects annual commemoration in accord with the prescribed schedule, i. e., sacrifice on the 14th and festive eating on the 15th, to the protection from plague assured in Exod 12:13, 23.  Absent from these commands is any reference to eating the pesah with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Exod 12:8; cf. Num 9:11), to eating hastily (Exod 12:11; cf. Deut 16:3), or with “loins girded,” “sandals on feet,” and “staff in hand” (Exod 12:11). Bitter herbs, bread of affliction (‫( )לחם עני‬Deut 16:3) and hurried eating are incompatible with the joyous celebration described in Jub. 49:2–6. Moreover, the omissions also have an exegetical basis. The dissonance between the directive to eat the pesah with unleavened bread in Exod 12:8 (the ritual for the night of 15th) and the requirement that leaven be removed from the houses “on the first day” (i. e., the day of the 15th) in Exod 12:15 is eliminated.48 In addition, the association of haste only with Massot avoids duplication of a motif that appears in regard both to eating the pesah (Exod 12:11)49 and to eating un­ leavened bread (Exod 12:39; Deut 16:3).

46 On the various rabbinic understandings of ‫ בין הערבים‬see the entry in volume 3 of the Talmudic Encyclopedia (ed., S. Zevin, rev. ed.; Talmudic Encyclopedia Pub. Ltd., 1981), 3:121–22 (Hebrew). 47 Translation from Lauterbach edition, 1.43. 48 An alternative resolution is to interpret “the first day” in Exod 12:15 as the day preceding the festival, i. e., during the day of the 14th (Mek. Pisha 8). 49 Treating ‫ בחפזון‬as meaning with commotion or bustle, some rabbis argue that it relates to the confusion of the Egyptians; others relate it to the confusion of the Israelites (Mek. Pisha 7).

115

The Pesah Statute

However, the central exegetical thrust of the ritual commands in the statute is to demonstrate that neither the festival commemoration commanded in Exod 12:14 nor observance of “this thing” (‫ )הדבר הזה‬commanded in Exod 12:24 includes, as the immediate contexts of the two verses suggest, the act of placing a blood sign on the house. The protection provided by the blood sign at the time of the Egypt Pesah is thereafter provided by an annual commemoration held in accord with the prescribed schedule. Jub. 49:13–15: Exegesis of Exod 12:9, 13–14, 23–24, 46c First Command Jub. 49:13 They are not to boil it in water nor eat it raw, but roasted on a fire, cooked with care on a fire — the head with its internal parts and its feet. They are to roast it on a fire. There will be no breaking of any bone in it because no bone of the Israelites will be broken. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

not to boil in water nor eat it raw but roasted on a fire

LXX Exod 12:9

Revised citation

Directive from Egypt celebration incorpora­ ted into statute

the head with its internal part and its feet

Exod 12:9 ‫ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו‬

Revised citation

Directive from Egypt celebration in statute

cooked…on a fire

2 Chr 35:13 ‫ויבשלו הפסח באש‬

Citation

Harmonization Exod 12:8 and Deut 16:7

no breaking of any bone in it

Exod 12:46 ‫ועצם לא תשברו בו‬

Revised citation

Rearranged to directives in Egypt and in statute

no bone of Israelites will be broken

Exod 12:13 ‫ולא יהיה בכם נגף‬

Blood on door sign of protection from tenth plague

Not breaking bone of pesah a sign of protection

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Chapter Six 

Second Command

50

Jub. 49:14 Therefore the Lord ordered the Israelites to celebrate the pesah on the day of its time (lit.). No bone of it is to be broken because it is a festival day and a day which has been commanded. From it there is to be no passing over a day from the day or a month from the month because it is to be celebrated on his festival day.50 Allusion

Source

Content

Lord ordered …celebrate the pesah

Num 9:2 ‫ויעשו בני ישראל את‬ ‫הפסח במועדו‬

Command that Israelites celebrate the pesah

Command to commemorate involves 14–15th

on the day of its time (ba‘əlatä gizehu)

Jubilees-created term

Term indicating 14– 15th

Substituted for “at its set time” in Num 9:2 to include 15th

no bone of it to be broken

Num 9:12 ‫ועצם לא ישברו בו‬

Context of Pesah Sheni

Rearranged to first month

festival day…his festival day

Exod 12:14; cf. 23:18; 34:25

Day of eating the pesah a festival of the Lord

Relates no bone broken to the Lord’s festival on the 15th

'‫חג לה‬

Significance

Third Command Jub. 49:15 Now you order the Israelites to celebrate the pesah each year during their times, once a year on the day of its time (lit.). Then a pleasing memorial will come before the Lord and no plague will come upon them to kill and to strike (them) during that year when they have celebrated the pesah at its set time (lit.) in every respect as it was commanded. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

Now you order…during their times

Exod 12:24 ‫ושמרתם את הדבר הזה‬ ‫לך ולבניך עד עולם‬

Observance of “this thing” as part of statute

Clarifies observance of “this thing”

on the day of its time (ba‘əlatä gizehu)

Jubilees- created term

Indicator for 14–15th

Commemoration spans two dates

pleasing memorial

Exod 12:14 ‫והיה היום הזה לכם לזכרון‬

Day of remembrance

Day of remembering and eating on 15th; cf. Jub. 49:7

no plague will come upon them to kill…

Exod 12:23 ‫ולא יתן המשחית לבא אל‬ ‫בתיכם לנגף‬

Blood on houses protects from plague

Commemoration on prescribed dates protects from plague

at its set time

Num 9:2–3 ‫ויעשו…במועדו בארבעה‬ ‫עשר יום‬

pesah sacrifice

14th (sacrifice)

50 Translation mine. VanderKam’s translation of ba‘əlatä ba‘ālu as “its festal day” obscures the allusion to Exod 12:14 as well as the intra-textual connection to the same phrase in Jub. 49:9, which he translates “the day of his festival.”

The Pesah Statute

117

Jub. 49:13 sets forth the protection motif in the context of the directives in Exod 12:9. The first sentence of the command is a slightly modified citation of LXX Exod 12:951 with the words “cooked with care on a fire” inserted in the middle. The requirement to cook on a fire effects harmonization, as in 2 Chr 35:13 (‫)ויבשלו הפסח באש‬, between the roasting (‫ )צלי אש‬commanded in Exod 12:9 and the cooking legislated (‫ )ויבשלו‬in Deut 16:7. There is no scriptural counterpart to the Jubilees admonition to handle the pesah “with care.” It is added to create a context for the prohibition against breaking a bone of the pesah that immediately follows.52 That prohibition appears in the Pesah statute of Exod 12:43–49 (v. 46; cf. Num 9:12), but is not included in the Exodus directives for the Egypt Pesah. Treating the bone-breaking injunction as an aspect of the Egypt celebration,53 Jubilees places it together with rituals for the commemoration that are derived from the Egypt directives.54 Consequently, within the command the unbroken bone functions, like the blood sign on the Israelite houses in Egypt (Exod 12:13), as a sign of protection assuring that “no bone of the Israelites will be broken.” The motif of no-bone-to-be-broken continues in the second command (Jub. 49:14) where it is related by allusion to the festival day legislated in Exod 12:14. The opening echoes the divine charge in Num 9:2: “Let the Israelites celebrate the Pesah at its set time (‫)ויעשו בני ישראל את הפסח במועדו‬,” but again replaces “at its set time” (‫( )במועדו‬the 14th as in Num 9:3) with “on the day of its time,” the Jubilees-created indicator for a commemoration spanning two dates (the 14th15th) (cf. Jub. 49:10, 15). Thereafter, the command abstracts the proscription against breaking a bone of the pesah that appears in the context of the eating instructions for Pesah Sheni in Num 9:12 and associates it with commemoration of the festival day legislated in Exod 12:14. Like the abstraction and relocation of ­Pesah Sheni material in other statute commands (Jub. 49:7, 9), this rearrangement also negates the source context. Indeed, Jub. 49:14 closes with another warning against any change to the date of the commemoration,55 this time with particular emphasis on “his festival day,” which Jub. 49:9 identifies as the day of eating the pesah (hence, the 15th). The last command in the triad connects the apotropaic motif to the full commemoration. The introductory words, “now you order the Israelites …,” indi 51 The sequence of the prohibitions against eating it raw or cooking it in water is reversed in MT Exod 12:9 (…‫)אל תאכלו ממנו נא ובשל מבשל במים‬. The sequence in Jub. 49:13—“the head with its internal parts and its feet”—departs from the LXX and MT, both of which read “head, legs, and entrails.” 52 In contrast to VanderKam who suggests that the Ethiopic ba’asstahamem and the Latin diligenter are attempts at rendering ‫ בחפזון‬in Exod 12:9 (Book of Jubilees, 2:317). 53 Compare Mek. Pisha 6.51. 54 The content of Jub. 49:11–13 is encompassed within the recollection of pre-Sinai legislation introduced by “the Lord commanded you” in Jub. 49:10. 55 See Jub. 49:7 and comments above.

118

Chapter Six 

cate that the legislation being set forth does not involve recollection of a ritual associated with the directives for the Egypt Pesah, but rather, is derived from Sinai. The continuation of the sentence—“to celebrate the pesah each year during their times”56—is an allusive paraphrase that presents the commemoration as “this thing” (‫ )הדבר הזה‬that the Israelites are to observe as “an institution for all time, for you and for your descendants” (‫)ושמרתם את הדבר הזה לחק לך ולבניך עד עולם‬ in Exod 12:24. The composition is date-encoded—“the day of its time” indicates the 14th-15th; “at its set time” signals the 14th (Num 9:3); and “a pleasing memorial,” alluding to “the day of remembrance” in Exod 12:14, points to the 16th57. The encoded dates provide no new exegetical insights. Their purpose is to set forth the prescribed two-date commemoration schedule in support of the argument that faithful adherence to the legislated schedule provides protection from plague. The protective effect of annual commemoration neither duplicates nor conflicts with the motif developed around the unbroken bone in the first command in the set (Jub. 49:13).58 Like the blood on the houses (Exod 12:13), the unbroken bone, serves as a sign or symbol of the protection; it is the commemoration done “in every respect as it was commanded” (Jub. 49:15) that effects the protection.59 The contrast suggests that the apotropaic motif in the statute has little to do with magic.60 The concern with protection derives from an exegetical interest in developing a relationship between Exod 12:13, 23 and the post-Egypt commemoration legislated in Exod 12:14, 24. That exegetical framework aside, the association between the properly done commemoration and the warding off of plague expresses the connection between fidelity to commandments and well-being that is characteristic of Jubilees’ theology.61

56 On “during their times,” see VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 2:321. 57 Properly commemorated, “the day of remembrance” (Exod 12:14) becomes a “pleasing memorial before the Lord” (Jub. 49:15). 58 The unbroken bone in Jub. 49:13 replaces the “sign of the blood” in Exod 12:13 whereas the properly done commemoration in Jub. 49:15 replaces “the blood” in Exod 12:23. On the blood rite as a sign see Michael V. Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant, RB 81 (1974): 574–75. On Exod 12:13 as a rewriting of Exod 12:23 see Bar-On, “Festival,” 105–06. 59 For a similar rabbinic position see R. Ishmael’s interpretation of “when I see the blood”/“when he sees the blood” (Exod 12:13, 23) in Mek. Pisha 7, 11.  60 For a different perspective see Aharon Shemesh, “‫ ”פסח זה על שום מה‬AJSR 21 (1996): 1–17 (Hebrew Section). 61 The relationship between fidelity and well-being is strongly expressed in the testaments Jubilees creates for Abraham. Among other examples see Jub. 20:7–10; 21:21–24.

The Pesah Statute

119

Organization of the Commemoration Two commands in the statute deal with the organization of the post-Egypt commemoration of Pesah. In contrast to the celebration in Egypt, the pesah is to be eaten only at the central sanctuary;62 the entire community of Israel is to participate; but the community is conceptualized in the limited terms of Israelite men aged twenty and above (Jub. 49:16–17). In all its aspects the organization legislated in Jubilees runs counter to that prescribed in the Pesah statute of Exod 12:43–49. In the matter of locale for the eating, the Exodus statute suggests that the post-Egypt commemoration replicates the Egypt celebration. The requirement that the pesah be eaten “in one house” (‫( )בבית אחד‬Exod 12:46) implies a commemoration by household comparable to that prescribed in the directives for the Egypt Pesah (Exod 12:3–4). Similarly, the prohibition against taking the pesah “outside the house” (‫לא תוציא מן הבית מן הבשר‬ ‫( )חוצה‬Exod 12:46) suggests consumption in the household residences as directed in Exod 12:7.63 In the matter of who participates in the eating, however, the Exodus statute defines the commemoration community in terms hardly appropriate for the Israelites in Egypt — all citizens, circumcised resident aliens, and circumcised slaves are included; all foreigners; uncircumcised bondsmen and slaves are excluded (Exod 12:43–45, 47–49).

62 Although the Ethiopic here and in Jub. 49:17 reads betä maqdasū, it is used, as VanderKam’s translation indicates, in a broad sense that includes the tabernacle (Jub. 49:18) as well as the subsequent temple. 63 The requirement that the pesah be eaten “in one house” can be understood either as within one household or as in individual dwellings. However, the prohibition against bringing the pesah “outside the house” treats “house,” not as household, but as a physical dwelling. (On the rabbinic treatment of the two understandings of ‫ בית‬in Exod 12:46, see Mek. Pisha 15). There is no such proscription in the directives God gives to Moses (Exod 12:2–10). However, the directions that Moses passes on to the elders include a prohibition against leaving the house on the night of the celebration (Exod 12:22).

120

Chapter Six 

Jub. 49:16–17: Exegesis of Exod 12:46–49 First Command

64

Jub. 49:16 It is no longer to be eaten outside the Lord’s sanctuary but before the Lord’s sanctuary. All the assembled community of Israel64 are to celebrate it at its set time (lit). Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

no longer to be eaten

Deut 12:5–12, esp. 12 ‫לא תעשון ככל אשר אנחנו‬ ‫עושים פה היום‬

After entry into land, offerings consumed by lay presenters to be eaten only at central sanctuary

Distinction between Egypt and post-Egypt

all the assembled community of Israel

Exod 12:6 ‫כל קהל עדת ישראל‬

Who to slaughter the pesah victim in the Egypt directives

Replaces ‫כל עדת ישראל‬ in Exod 12:47

shall celebrate it at its set time

Num 9:2 ‫ויעשו…פסח במועדו‬

Command to sacrifice the pesah on 14th

Replaces “shall commemorate it” (‫יעשו‬ ‫ )אתו‬in Exod 12:47.

Second Command Jub. 49:17 Every man who has come on its day, who is 20 years of age and above, is to eat it in the sanctuary of your God before the Lord, because this is the way it has been written and ordained — that they are to eat it in the Lord’s sanctuary. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

every man…20 years of age and above

Exod 30:12–15

Census of men twenty and above; one-half shekel offering to avoid plague

Connects participation requirement to plague motif

on its day (ba‘əlatu)

Lev 23:5, 37

Sacrificial calendar; 14th for the pesah sacrifice

Sacrifice on 14th

Eat it in the sanctuary of your God before the Lord

Deut 12:18 ‫כי אם לפני ה' אלהיך‬ ‫תאכלנה במקום אשר‬ …‫יבחר ה' אלהיך בו‬

Sacrifices consumed by presenter to be eaten “before the Lord” at the place “the Lord your God will choose”

Applied to pesah

‫יום ביומו‬

The two commands do not so much interpret the organizational structure in Exod 12:46–49 as replace it with a formulation drawn from other scriptural pas 64 My translation.

The Pesah Statute

121

sages. The change from eating in houses to eating only at a central sanctuary is expressed with a formulation, “no longer to be eaten” (Jub. 49:16), that echoes Deut 12:8–11, a passage legislating a change from current practice65 to sacrificial worship only at a central site after the entrance into the land.66 By contrast, Leviticus, which locates all sacrificial activity at the tabernacle (Lev 17:1–9), suggests that centralized worship was in place from Sinai onward. The first command (Jub. 49:16) brings the two points of view together, albeit with particular emphasis on the locale of the eating. That the pesah is “no longer to be eaten outside the Lord’s sanctuary” adopts the change of venue motif of Deuteronomy. At the same time, by employing the motif in the context of a Sinai-legislated distinction between the home-based Egypt celebration and a sanctuary-based commemoration thereafter, the Jubilees command remains substantively consistent with the position set forth in Leviticus. The stipulation of participation—“all the assembled community of Israel are to celebrate it at its time”—draws phrasing from a revised citation of the commemoration command in Num 9:2 (‫)ויעשו בני ישראל את הפסח במועדו‬. Were it not revised, the citation would simply be incorporating a reference to sacrifice on the 14th into a command that otherwise deals only with eating.67 However, the revision indicates that something more is at play. Instead of “the Israelites,” the Ethiopic reads wakwəllu hezbä māḫbaromu la’srā’ēl,68 an awkward phrase that suggests the comparably awkward Hebrew wording ‫ כל קהל עדת ישראל‬in Exod 12:6.69 If that is the case, the intent is to define the Israelite community commanded to commemorate the post-Egypt Pesah as comparable in character to the one commanded to slaughter the pesah in Egypt (Exod 12:6). In such a community there would be no circumcised resident alien (‫ )גר‬who is the focus of so much attention in the Exodus Pesah statute (Exod 12:47–49; cf. Num 9:14). The resident alien is nowhere mentioned in the Jubilees statute. Given the range of its stipulations, the omission is striking enough to suggest deliberate exclusion.

65 “Do not act as we all now act here…” (…‫( )לא תעשון ככל אשר אנחנו עושים פה היום‬Deut 12:8). 66 The legislation applies to all sacrifices, but highlights offerings consumed by lay presenters (Deut 12:11–12). 67 Throughout the Jubilees statute “at its set time” is used as an indicator for sacrifice on the 14th. 68 VanderKam translates the phrase literally as “all the people of the Israelite congregation.” In his notes on Jub. 49:16 he suggests that the Ethiopic “probably reflects ‫( ”עם קהל ישראל‬Book of Jubilees, 2:322). Were such the case, the more likely, but still awkward, Hebrew syntax would be ‫( קהל עם ישראל‬cf. ‫[ קהל העם‬Jer 26:17]). Unfortunately, we have no fragment that preserves the Hebrew of Jub. 49:16. 69 Commenting on the awkwardness of the Hebrew phrase, Propp speculates that it is a conflation of ‫ קהל ישראל‬and ‫( עדת ישראל‬Exodus,1:359).

122

Chapter Six 

Precisely how “all the assembly of the community of Israel” fulfills the obligation is not specified.70 That the participation is not all-inclusive is clear, for the second command (Jub. 49:17) speaks only of men aged twenty and above. They are to come “on its day” (indicating sacrifice on the 14th) and eat the pesah (a signifier for the 15th) in the sanctuary. The sanctuary requirement is stated with an allusion that places the pesah within the general Deuteronomy rule that sacrifices consumed by presenters be eaten “before the Lord” (Deut 12:7, 12). The gender and age specification may relate to military conscription (Num 1:3; 26:2), service in the Temple,71 or, further developing the plague motif in Jub. 49:15, it may reflect census enrollment of those twenty and above who are to make a half-shekel expiation offering in order to avoid an outbreak of plague (Exod 30:12–15). Neither the exclusion of women and minors nor the requirement that the eating take place only at the sanctuary has a parallel in rabbinic law.72 Moreover, according to Josephus, Second Temple-period practice permitted both the participation of women (War 6.426) and eating in private houses within Jerusalem (Ant. 18.29).73 However, comparable restrictions are found in several sectarian texts from Qumran. The Pesah legislation in the Temple Scroll includes a markedly similar rule (XVII, 8–9)74and 4Q265 prohibits minors and women from partaking of the pesah.75

70 The rabbis use “all the assembly of the community of Israel” as a proof text for sacrifice in three successive groups (Mek. Pisha 5; m. Pesah. 5.5) as well as for the position that a single ­pesah offering discharges the obligation for all Israel (Mek. Pisha 5; cf. b. Pesah. 78b; b .Qidd. 41b). 71 According to Ezra, Levites began service in the Temple at age 20 (Ezra 3:8); however, in Numbers, Levite service starts at age 30 (Num 4:3) or at age 25 (Num 8:24). 72 Except for exceptional circumstances, women and minors are permitted to partake of the pesah (m. Pesah. 8.1; b. Pesah. 88a) and the pesah can be eaten within the city walls of Jerusalem (m. Zebah. 5.8; m. Mak. 3.3; m. Pesah. 5.10; 7.12). 73 Cf. Matt 26:18; Mark 14:13, 16; Luke 22:10 ff. 74 “…from twent[y] years old (?) and upwards they shall keep it; and let them eat it at night in the courts of [the] hol[l]y (place)…” (‫מבן עשרי[ם] שנה ומעלה יעשו אותו ואכלוהו בלילה בחצרות‬ …‫)]ה]קדש‬. On eating in the courts, see Jub. 49:20. 75 Joseph Baumgarten, “Miscellaneous Rules,” Qumran Cave 4.XXV: Halakhic Texts (ed. J. Baumgarten et al.; DJD 35; Oxford: Clarendon, 1999), 63–64. See also Joseph Baumgarten, “Scripture and Law in 4Q265,” in Biblical Perspectives: Early Use and Interpretation of the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Proceedings of the First International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 12–14 May, 1996 (ed. M. Stone and E. Chazon, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998), 30–33.

123

The Pesah Statute

Commemoration in the Land The last set of commands deals with the Pesah commemoration after the Israelites come into the land, with a particular focus on the sacrificial ritual. The invitation for that focus comes from Exod 12:25, specifically, Moses’s directive that when the Israelites enter the land (…‫)והיה כי תבואו אל הארץ‬, they are to observe “this worship” (‫)העבודה הזאת‬, which is identified as the pesah sacrifice (‫ )זבח פסח‬in Exod 12:27. The primary intent of the commands is to clarify that the rite for this ‫ זבח פסח‬is not the same as the one directed for the Egypt celebration. Each of four commands in the set relates to a central sacrificial site in the land. The first, Jub. 49:18, legislates sacrifice of the pesah in the tabernacle that serves as a provisional central site until the temple is built; the second and third, Jub. 49:19–20, prescribe the worship service at the temple; and the last command in the set, Jub. 49:21, proscribes commemoration at a local site. Jub. 49:18–21: Exegesis of Exod 12:25–27, 46; Deut 16:5–6 First Command

76

Jub. 49:18 When the Israelites enter the land which they will possess — the land of Canaan —  and set up the Lord’s tabernacle in the middle of the land in one of their tribal groups (until the time when the Lord’s temple will be built in the land), they are to come and celebrate the pesah in the Lord’s tabernacle and sacrifice it before the Lord from year to year. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

Celebration at the tab- Reworking to reflect When the Israel- Exod 12:25 ites enter the land ‫ והיה כי תבואו אל‬ernacle when you enter Jubilees land theology which they will '‫ הארץ אשר יתן ה‬the land of Canaan ‫לכם…ושמרתם את‬ possess — the land ‫העבודה הזאת‬ of Canaan in one of their tribal groups

Deut 12:14

Sacrifices to be offered Specific application to ‫ באחד שבטיך‬at sanctuary “in one of the pesah your tribal territories”76

…come and celebrate the pesah in the Lord’s tabernacle

Sacrifice at place God Deut 16:6 ‫ כי אם אל המקום‬will choose ‫אשר יבחר…לשכן‬ …‫שמו שם תזבח‬

Centralized celebration

before the Lord from year to year

Deut 15:20

Parallel command for sacrifice of pesah

Legislates eating of ‫ לפני ה' אלהיך‬firstlings …‫תאכלנו שנה בשנה‬

76 Deut 12:13–14 specifies “your burnt offerings” (‫)עלתיך‬, but the term denotes all types of sacrifice (Jeffrey Tigay, The Book of Deuteronomy: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation. JPS Torah Commentary; (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1996), 123.

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Chapter Six 

Second Command Jub. 49:19 At the time when the house is built in the Lord’s name in the land which they will possess they are to go there and sacrifice the pesah in the evening when the sun sets, in the third part of the day. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

house built in the Lord’s name

Deut 16:6 ‫כי אם במקום אשר‬ ‫יבחר…שם תזבח את‬ …‫הפסח‬

Place where Lord… will choose to establish his name

Metonym for the temple

land they will possess

Deut 12:1 ‫אשר נתן ה' אלהי אבתיך‬ …‫לך לרשתה‬

Laws and rules to be observed “in the land” God will give them to possess

Applied to era when temple is built

sacrifice pesah in the evening when the sun sets

Deut 16:6 ‫בערב כבוא השמש‬ cf. Jub. 49:10

When to sacrifice the pesah

Harmonization of “in the evening at sundown” and “between the evenings”

Third Command Jub. 49:20 They will offer its blood on the base of the altar. They are to place the fat on the fire which is above the altar and are to eat its meat roasted on a fire in the courtyard of the sanctuary in the name of the Lord. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

meat roasted on a fire

Exod 12:8 Directive for cooking ‫הבשר…צלי אש‬ cf. Jub. 49:13

Interprets Deut 16:7 in light of Exod 12:8

…sanctuary in the name of the Lord

Place where God will Deut 16:6 '‫ המקום אשר יבחר ה‬choose to establish his ‫ אלהיך לשכן שמו‬name …‫שם‬

Understood as reference to temple

125

The Pesah Statute

Fourth Command Jub. 49:21 They will not be able to celebrate the pesah in their cities or in any places except before the Lord’s tabernacle or otherwise before the house in which his name has resided. Then they will not go astray from the Lord. Allusion

Source

Content

Significance

they will not be able to celebrate …in their cities

Deut 16:5 ‫לא תוכל לזבח את‬ ‫הפסח באחד שעריך‬

Proscribes sacrifice (‫ )לזבח‬of pesah at local sanctuary

Citation revised to include both sacrifice and eating

except before the Lord’s tabernacle or before the house…

Deut 16:6 ‫כי אם אל המקום אשר‬ …‫יבחר‬

Celebration only at place Lord will choose

Replaces “place Lord will choose” with tabernacle and temple

house in which his name has resided

Deut 16:6 …‫לשכן שמו שם‬

Central sanctuary

Metonym for the temple

The first command in the set paraphrases the opening words of Exod 12:25, “when you enter the land” (‫)והיה כי תבואו אל הארץ‬, but replaces “which the Lord will give you as he promised” (‫ )אשר יתן ה' לכם כאשר דבר‬with “which they will possess — the land of Canaan…” The rephrasing reflects Jubilees land theology. In that theology “giving” the land is the assignment of title to a particular branch within the line of Shem, to whom the land had been allotted at the time of the division of the earth. As the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites inherit the title and have already been given the land. Hence, the command is phrased not in terms of the gift of the land, but rather in terms of physical possession of territory that had been illegitimately occupied by Canaan (Jub. 10:29–34).77 The body of the command translates the mandate to observe “this worship ritual” (‫ )העבודה הזאת‬in Exod 12:25 into a charge to sacrifice the pesah annually at the tabernacle which has been set up in the middle of the land. The result is an interfacing of the Exodus 12 passage with the legislation of central sacrifice in Deut. 16:5, which Jubilees accesses with the allusive phrase “in one of their tribal groups.”78 Another allusion to a Deuteronomy passage is a Jubilees-crafted embellishment that adopts the language of legislation related to the eating of firstlings in Deut 15:20 (‫)לפני ה'…משנה בשנה‬79 to create a parallel rule for the sacrifice of the pesah.80 77 On Jubilees land theology, see Chapter 2. 78 On “in one of your tribal groups,” see VanderKam’s notes to Jub. 49:18 (Book of Jubilees, 2:322). 79 By contrast, “from year to year” expressed with ‫ מימים ימימה‬appears in Exod 13:10 and is employed as an allusive phrase in Jub. 49:7. 80 That firstlings (and other sacrifices) are to be brought to the place God will choose is also legislated in Deut 12:6; but “before the Lord from year to year” is not used in that passage.

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Up to this point in the statute the requirements for a sanctuary-based commemoration of the pesah are developed from application of Deuteronomy rules for other types of sacrifices (Jub. 49:16–18). By contrast, the next three commands (Jub. 49:19–21) employ the Pesah legislation in Deuteronomy 16 as a resource for prescriptions involving the ritual at the temple. The particular focus on the temple is expressed in each command with a variant of ‫במקום אשר יבחר ה' אלהיך‬ ‫( לשכן שמו שם‬Deut 16:6).81 When the “the house is built in the Lord’s name,” the Israelites are go there to sacrifice the pesah (Jub. 49:19); they are to eat its meat in “the courtyard of the sanctuary in the name of the Lord” (Jub. 49:20); and they are forbidden to celebrate the pesah anywhere except “before the Lord’s tabernacle or otherwise before the house in which his name has resided” (Jub. 49:21). Substantively, the temple-related commands bring facets of the legislation in Deut 16:5–7 into harmony with earlier prescriptions in the Jubilees statute. Understanding “in the evening when the sun sets” (‫( )בערב כבוא השמש‬Deut 16:6) as “in the third part of the day,” Jub. 49:19 has the time of day prescribed for the sacrifice in Deut 16:6 accord with that developed from the phrase “between the evenings” in Jub. 49:10.82 Similarly, Jub. 49:20 interprets “you shall cook” (‫)ובשלת‬ in Deut 16:7 as “roasted on a fire,” thereby bringing that requirement in line with the prescription in Jub. 49:13 that includes both “cooking” and “roasting.” Intriguingly, the other ritual details in Jub. 49:20 — offering the blood “on the base of the altar,” placing the fat “on the fire which is above the altar,” and eating the pesah specifically “in the courtyard”—are not developed from the Pesah legislation in Deuteronomy 16, and do not appear with specific reference to the pesah elsewhere in the Torah.83 Dashing of the blood and burning of parts are mentioned in the account of Josiah’s sacrifice of the pesah “as prescribed in the scroll of Moses” (2 Chr 35:10–11; cf. 30:15–16). But neither there nor in the description of the celebration organized by Hezekiah (2 Chr 30:15–16) does the Chronicler include the details specified in Jub. 49:20.84 It is possible that the prescriptions are derived from analogies comparable to those used by rabbis for the

81 In Deuteronomy various formulations of “the place in which God will establish his name” are used without specification of a particular central place of worship (e.g., Deut 12:4, 11, 21, 24). However, in 1 Kings 8:17–19, 44, 48 (cf. 2 Chronicles 6) and elsewhere, the place where God’s name dwells is identified with the temple in Jerusalem. 82 See the exegesis of “between the evenings” in Jub. 49:10–12 above. 83 At most, identification of “the fat of my festal offering” (‫ )חלב חגי‬in Exod 23:18 with “the sacrifice of the Pesah festival” (‫ )זבח חג הפסח‬in Exod 34:25 implies that the fat of the pesah is offered. On that identification, see the comments on Jub. 49:7. 84 On the descriptions in Chronicles, see Japhet, Chronicles, 949–50 and Milgrom, Leviticus, 1973. On the ritual according with the teachings of Moses, see David Weiss Halivni, “Reflections on Classical Jewish Hermeneutics,” American Academy for Jewish Research 62 (1996), 19–127.

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offering of the blood and fat85 or through an exegesis, like the one underlying the Temple Scroll requirement that the pesah be eaten “in the courts of [the] ho[l]y (place)” (11Q19 XVII, 8–9), that has not been preserved.86 But the allusive exegetical clues that Jubilees systematically employs throughout the statute are missing here. Their absence suggests the alternate possibility that the descriptive details in Jub. 49:20 reflect Second Temple era traditions that are incorporated in order to connect “this worship” (‫ )העבודה הזאת‬in Exod 12:25–27 to contemporary ritual practice at the temple. The last of the land-based commands treats the proscription against slaughtering the pesah at local sites in Deut 16:5 (‫)…לא תוכל לזבח את הפסח באחד שעריך‬. Extending that proscription to apply to the full commemoration—“they will not be able to celebrate the pesah in their cities…” (Jub. 49:21),87 Jubilees constructs this temple-related command to encompass, like multiple other commands in the statute, sacrifice and eating, and hence, the 14th and 15th. The argument for a commemoration spanning two dates is central to the statute. Jubilees designs the opening commands (Jub. 49:7–9) as coded proof-texts for that position and, coming full circle, reasserts the position, without proof-texts, in the last command in the statute (Jub. 49:22a).88 Substantively, the Jubilees Pesah statute legislation involves six principles: (1) The commemoration, like the celebration in Egypt, spans two dates; the sacrifice is to be offered in the last part (the evening) of the day on the 14th and eaten in the first part (the evening) of the night on the 15th, which is a festival day. (2) No change to the prescribed schedule is permitted. (3) The festival ritual includes specific requirements for cooking and eating the pesah. It is not to be boiled in water or eaten raw, but roasted and cooked with care. Much as no bone of an Israelite will be broken, so no bone of the pesah is to be broken. Any of the meat left beyond the prescribed hours for eating is to be burnt. (4) Annual com 85 The rules for the blood and fat of the pesah are derived from the use of the plural pronominal endings (“their blood” — ‫“ ;דמם‬their fat” — ‫ )חלבם‬in the prescription for sacrifice of firstlings in Num 18:17 (Sifre on Num 18:17; m. Pes. 5.6; b. Pes. 64a) and from the plural formulation, “sacrifices” (‫)זבחיך‬, in Deut 12:27 (R. Isaac, Sifre on Num 18:17). That the blood of the pesah is to be offered specifically on “the base of altar” is deduced by application of the rule for burnt offerings in Lev 1:11 and 4:7 (b. Pes. 64b-65a). 86 There is no rabbinic parallel to the Jubilees specification of the courtyard; the rabbis permit the pesah to be eaten anywhere in the city (m. Zebah. 5.8). The eating in the “courtyard” or “courts” of the sanctuary could reflect, among other possibilities, adaptation of the drinking of the new wine “in my sacred courts” (‫ )בחצרות קדשי‬in Isa. 62:9 or of the rule that the priests consume the leftovers of the grain offering in “the holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting” (‫ )במקום קדש בחצר אהל מועד‬in Lev 6:9. 87 Jub. 49:21 omits the “which the Lord your God is giving you” that modifies settlements in Deut 16:5. On the omission as an expression of Jubilees land theology, see the comments on Jub. 49:18. 88 On Jub. 49:22a, see the foregoing analysis of the date commands.

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memoration in accord with the prescribed schedule protects the Israelites from plague. (5) Only Israelite males twenty years of age and above are to participate in the commemoration, which is to be held at the central sanctuary. (6) The commemoration in the land is to take place either at the tabernacle or, when it is built, at the temple where the blood and fat of the sacrifice are offered on the altar and the meat eaten in the courtyard. Some of these principles accord with the rabbinic halakah;89 others more reflect interests particular to the author of Jubilees. The significance of the statute lies not so much in its accordance or the lack thereof with rabbinic halakah, but rather in the ingenuity of its compositional design. Responding to the entwinement of the Egypt present and the post-Egypt future and the intermixture of Pesah and Massot legislation in Exodus 12–13, Jubilees develops a structure that disengages the statute from the Egypt narrative context and associates it instead with legislation given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. A manipulation of “textual time” has the angel writing the “book of the first law” (Jub. 6:22; 30:12), i. e., the Torah law, before he begins dictating the revelation that is Jubilees. Hence, the legislation transmitted to Moses on Mt. Sinai reflects two revelations. One is the substance of the individual commands that angel-narrator is conveying to Moses in the Jubilees present time. The other is the earlier revealed “book of the first law” that the angel references in the allusions embedded within the individual commands. The intersection of the two revelations90 permits exegetical expansion of two areas of Exodus law in Jubilees — the Pesah statute (‫ )חקת הפסח‬and Sabbath legislation that we turn to in the next chapter.

89 On the Pesah legislation in Jubilees and rabbinic halakah, see Chanoch Albeck, Das Buch der Jubiläen und die Halacha (Bericht über die Lehranstalt für die Wissenchaft des Judentums in Berlin 47; Berlin: Siegfried Shalom, 1930), 12–15. 90 A far less developed, but overtly acknowledged, intersection of the two revelations also occurs with the legislation for the observance of the Festival of Weeks/Oaths that is attached to the account of Noah after the Flood. Directing Moses to command the Israelites to commemorate the festival, the angel notes that he has “already written (this) in the book of the first law” and “told you about its sacrifice…” (Jub. 6:22). In this instance there is no hermeneutical expansion of law. The allusion to the Exodus legal material is a component in a narrative elaboration that associates “the festival of oaths” with covenant renewal (Jub. 6:15–17).

CHAPTER SEVEN THE SABBATH AND ITS LAW

The allusive exegesis that produces the Jubilees Pesah statute also operates with the Sabbath, the other area of Exodus-based law that is developed within the angel narration. In the case of the Sabbath, the treatment involves a created connection between Exodus law and Genesis narrative, interpretive deployment of scriptural formulations of Sabbath law, and exegetical elaboration that goes beyond the perimeters of Torah legislation. Contemporary scholars have given considerable attention to the Sabbath material in Jubilees.1 The discussion that follows is informed by that scholarship, elaborates on its insights, and in certain instances arrives at different conclusions. There are three components to the treatment of the Sabbath in Jubilees: (a) narrative expansion of the account of the institution of the Sabbath at the time of Creation (Jub. 2:1, 17–25 expanding Gen 2:1–3);2 (b) interpretive extension of 1 On the concept of the Sabbath, see Lutz Doering, “The Concept of the Sabbath in the Book of Jubilees,” in Studies in the Book of Jubilees (ed. M. Albani, J. Frey, A. Lange. TSAJ 65; Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 1997), 179–205; idem, Schabbat: Sabbathalacha und — praxis im antiken Judentum und Urchristentum (TSAF 78; Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 1999), 43–118. For comparisons between specific proscriptions in Jubilees and Qumran (particularly, the Damascus Document) and rabbinic Sabbath law, see in addition to Doering’s studies, Vered Noam and Elisha Qimron, “A Qumran Composition of Sabbath Laws and Its Contribution to the Study of Early Halakah,” DSD 16 (2009): 55–96; and Lawrence Schiffman, The Halakhah at Qumran, (SJLA 16; Leiden: E. J. Brill), 84–131. On the Sabbath material in Jubilees 2, see Odel H. Steck, “Die Aufnahme von Gen 1 in Jubiläen 2 und 4. Esra 6,” JSJ 8 (1977):154–72 (esp. 160–62); James VanderKam, “Genesis 1 in Jubilees 2,” DSD 1 (1994): 300–21 (esp. 315–21); Jacques van Ruiten, “Exod 31,12–17 and Jubilees 2, 1.17–33,” in Studies in the Book of Exodus (ed., Marc Vervenne; BETL 126; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1996), 567–75; idem, Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1–11 in the Book of Jubilees (JSJSup 66; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2000), 47–66; and Kugel, “On the Interpolations,” 224–25; idem, A Walk, 32–37. The Sabbath legislation in Jub. 50:6–13 has been examined primarily in the context of a debate over its redaction. On that debate, see Ravid, “The Relationship,” 161–66; Doering, “Jub. 50:6–13; James VanderKam, “The End of the Matter? Jubilees 50:6–13 and the Unity of the Book,” in Heavenly Tablets: Interpretation, Identity and Tradition in Ancient Judaism (ed. L. LiDonnici and A. Lieber; JSJSup 119; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2007), 273–84; and Kugel, A Walk, 271–73. 2 The Hebrew is partially preserved in 4Q216 VII, 1–17 (=Jub. 2:13–24) (VanderKam and Milik, “4QJubileesa,” DJD 13:19–22). Since the Hebrew equivalent of Jub. 2:24b (4Q216 VII, 17) reads ‫וזאת התעודה [והתורה הראש]ונה‬ and Jub.2:33 (not extant in Hebrew) ends with “this law and testimony was given to the Israelites…,” Doering has suggested that 2:24b–33 forms a separate structure (Lutz Doering, “Jub 2,24

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the biblical command to sanctify the Sabbath (Jub. 2:26–33); (c) interpretive extension of the prohibition against doing any work on the seventh day in the Decalogue (Jub. 50:6–13). Within each component the exegesis relates to one or more facets of Exodus Sabbath legislation (primarily Exod 16:5, 23; 31:13–17; 35:2), at times through explicit citation or allusion, at times through creative adaptation of a theme or motif.

The Sabbath Narrative: Jub. 2:1, 17–25 The expanded account of the institution of the Sabbath in Jubilees 2 draws its primary themes from the Sabbath legislation in Exod 31:13–17. Foremost of those themes is the connection between the Sabbath and the sanctification of Israel that is overtly, if tersely, expressed in Exod 31:13 (‫אך את שבתתי תשמרו כי אות הוא ביני ובניכם‬ ‫) לדרתיכם לדעת כי אני ה' מקדשכם‬. The Exodus context suggests the sanctification of Israel that is consequent to the covenant making at Mt. Sinai.3 Jubilees, however, imports the connection into a narrative expansion of Gen 2:2–3, where the sanctification of Israel is consequent to and intimately associated with the sanctification of the seventh day at the time of Creation (Jub. 2:19–21, 23–24). The Jubilees rearrangement is invited by the double signifying functions of the Sabbath in the Exodus 31 legislation — as a sign that God has sanctified Israel (…‫כי אות הוא‬ ‫( )לדעת כי אני מקדשכם‬Exod 31:13) and as a sign that he completed the work of Creation in six days and rested on the seventh (‫אות היא לעולם כי ששת ימים עשה את השמים‬ ‫( )ואת הארץ וביום השביעי שבת וינפש‬Exod 31:17).4 Within the Jubilees Sabbath narrative, the sign motif appears in three progressively particularistic contexts. First, God completed all his works in six days, kept Sabbath on the seventh day, and sanctified it “for all ages and set it as a sign for all his works” (Jub. 2:1).5 Second, he gave the Sabbath day “as a great sign” to the highest angels (“the angels of the nach 4QJuba VIII,17 und der Aufbau von Jub 2, 17–33,” BN 84 (1996): 23–28). However, the account of God giving the Sabbath as a festal day to all his creation and issuing orders regarding its observance (Jub. 2:25) is part of the narrative expansion. Hence, it seems more likely that ‫וזאת‬ [‫ התעודה והתורה הראש[ונה‬in line 17 (cf. Jub. 2:24b) refers to the narrative and law in Jub. 2:25 (not extant in Hebrew) and that “this law and testimony” in Jub. 2:33 refers to the preceding law and narrative (Jub. 2:26–32) that the angel directs Moses to convey to the Israelites. 3 The suggestion is fostered by God’s assurance that an Israel faithful to his laws would become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod 19:5–6) and by the similarity between the blood ritual in the ceremony that confirms the covenant (Exod 24:7–8) and the rite that sanctifies Aaron and his sons (Exod 29:21). On the Jubilees interpretation of the blood ritual in the covenant confirmation ceremony, see Chapter 8. 4 The motif of the Sabbath as a double sign also appears in Ezek 20:12, 20. There, the significations are reciprocal aspects of the Sinai covenant relationship — the Sabbath is a sign that God sanctifies Israel (v. 12) and a sign that Israel knows that the Lord is their God (v. 20). 5 A reworking of Gen 2:2–3 that incorporates the sign motif in Exod 31:17.

The Sabbath and Its Law

131

presence and all the angels of holiness”) so that they, like God, “work for six days” (reflecting Exod 31:17) and “cease6 [keep sabbath] from all work on the seventh day” (Jub. 2:17).7 Lastly, God made “a sign on it” by which the sanctified Israel would cease, i. e., keep sabbath, with the higher angels on the seventh day “to eat, drink, and bless the Creator of all as he had blessed them and sanctified them for himself…”(Jub. 2:20).8 The Jubilees portrait of such a Sabbath celebration has no scriptural basis.9 Celebratory eating, drinking, and by inference, expressions of gratitude to God occur in two Exodus narratives entailing consumption of well-being offerings. In one, the feasting comes in response to experiencing a vision of God, i. e., being in the divine presence (‫( )ויחזו את האלהים ויאכלו וישתו‬Exod 24:11).10 In the other, the eating and drinking are associated with sacrificial offerings and celebration of an unnamed festival (‫ויאמר חג לה' מחר וישכימו ממחרת ויעלו עלת ויגשו שלמים וישב העם לאכל‬ ‫( )ושתו ויקמו לצחק‬Exod 32:5–6). In neither Exodus narrative is the festival celebration or the vision of God related to the Sabbath. However, the angel narrator of Jubilees construes the institution of the Sabbath at Creation in terms that associate the day (and the concomitant eating and drinking) with each experience. After completing the work of Creation in six days God gave a “holy festal day to all his creation” and issued an order that “anyone who would do any work on it was to die; also that the one who would defile it was to die” (Jub. 2:25).11 The characterization of the Sabbath as a “holy festal day” has scriptural underpin 6 Literal translation. VanderKam translates the Ethiopic equivalent of the Hebrew verb ‫ שבת‬as “keep sabbath.” To avoid confusion with ‫ לשמר שבת‬and to access scriptural allusions (e.g., Gen 2:2–3), I employ the often more awkward literal translation with Vanderkam’s translation in brackets. 7 The Hebrew text preserved in 4Q216 VII, 6–7 differs from the Ethiopic version of Jub. 2:17. See the textual notes in DJD 13:21. 8 Here incorporating the sign motif in Exod 31:13. 9 In the rabbinic tradition obligatory eating on the Sabbath is associated with the command ‫ וקראת לשבת ענג‬in Isa 58:13 (b. Šabb. 117a–119a). 10 The connection between the well-being offering and the feasting is implied rather than explicitly stated in Exodus 24. At Moses’s direction, the young men of Israel offer well-being sacrifices as part of the covenant ceremony (‫)וישלח את נערי בני ישראל ויעלו עלת ויזבחו זבחים לה' פרים‬ (Exod 24:5). Following the covenant ceremony, Moses, Aaron, his sons — Nadav and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel ascend the mountain, have a vision of God, and eat and drink—presumably celebrating and consuming the well-being sacrifices. On the presumption, see Rashbam and Ramban on Exod 24:11 and Milgrom’s notes to Lev 9:4 where a direct association is made between celebratory well-being offerings and an anticipated experience of being in the presence of God (Milgrom, Leviticus, 573). Not all commentators view the eating and drinking in such a positive light. See, for instance, Tanh. Ahare Mot 13 and Rashi on Exod 24:11. 11 Since the preceding verses (Jub. 2:19–22 and 23–24) stress the relationship between the sanctification of Israel and the Sabbath, Kugel finds the shift to the universal perspective in Jub. 2:25 “jangling” and ascribes it to the hand of the “Interpolator” who, according to Kugel, adds Jub. 2:24 as well as the law and narrative in Jub. 2:26–33 (A Walk, 273, n. 58). Kugel does

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nings in the inclusion of the seventh day as ‫ שבת שבתון מקרא קדש‬in the Leviticus 23 list of the fixed times of the Lord ('‫ )מועדי ה‬that the Israelites are to proclaim as sacred occasions (Lev 23:1–3).12 Within that list the Sabbath is described as belonging to God ('‫( )שבת הוא לה‬Lev 23:3). A similar description appears in Exod 16:25 ('‫ ;)שבת היום לה‬in Exod 35:2 ('‫ ;)שבת שבתון לה‬and, with the relationship expressed in terms of holiness, in Exod 16:23 (‫ )שבתון שבת קדש לה' מחר‬and Exod 31:15a ('‫)שבת שבתון קדש לה‬.13 Creatively interpreting Gen 2:2–3 in the light of such passages, the Jubilees narrative presents the Sabbath as a holy festal day so closely associated with God that, like '‫קדשי ה‬, it is susceptible to contamination.14 That susceptibility is subtly conveyed by a reformulation of ‫( מחלליה מות יומת‬Exod 31:14a) that substitutes “defile” (‫ )טמא‬for “desecrate” (‫ )חלל‬in the second of the two orders that God issues when he institutes the holy festal day for all creation (Jub. 2:25).15 not comment on the universal in Jub. 2:1 (“He sanctified it [the seventh day] for all ages and set it as a sign for all his works”). By contrast, I see the coexistence of universal and Israel-focused elements as natural in a narrative that locates the election/sanctification of Israel within an expansion of Gen 2:2–3. There are two interpretive treatments of Gen 2:2–3 in the expansion and universal/particular elements coexist in each of them. One interpretation focuses on the Sabbath as a sign for all God’s works, for the higher angels, and for the descendants of Jacob whom God has sanctified for himself (Jub. 2:1, 15–22). The other centers on the inherent holiness of the Sabbath as a holy festal day that God gave “to all his creation” and as a sanctified day specifically (and particularly) associated with the sanctified Israel (Jub. 2:23–25). 12 None of the Jubilees fragments from Qumran preserve the Hebrew equivalent of “festal day.” Doering suggests ‫ יום מועד‬as the underlying expression and notes the inclusion of the Sabbath among ‫( ימי המועדים‬in contrast to ‫ )ימי המעשה‬in the Temple Scroll (11Q19a XLIII, 15–16) (“The Concept,” 192–93; Schabbat, 66–67). 13 On reading '‫ שבת… לה‬as a possessive dative to be rendered “of the Lord” (i. e., belonging to the Lord), see Milgrom, Leviticus, 1962. Divine possession is similarly expressed in the engraving of '‫ ק ֶֹדש לה‬on the frontlet of the High Priest (Exod 28:36; 39:30) and in the description of property transferred to God (‫ )הקדיש‬as '‫( ק ֶֹדש לה‬Leviticus 27). For a comparable reading of '‫ חג לה‬in Exod 12:14, see Jub. 49:9 and the discussion in Chapter 6.  14 On the designation of the Sabbath as ‫ ק ֶֹדש‬and ‫ ָקדֹש‬in Jubilees, see Doering, “The Concept,” 193–94. On the priestly concern with contamination of '‫ק ְד ֵשי ה‬,ָ see Leviticus 4–5 and Milgrom’s comments on sancta contamination (Leviticus, 976–85). 15 God issues two orders in Jub. 2:25, neither of which is extant in Hebrew. The first order—“anyone who would do any work on it is to die”—is expressed with yəmut in the Ethiopic, reflecting Exod 35:2 (‫)כל העשה בו מאלכה יומת‬. The formulation of the penalty for defilement in the Ethiopic (mota layəmut) reflects the infinitive absolute (‫ )מות יומת‬in Exod 31:14a (cf. Exod 31:15; Num 15:35). On the distinctive use of the two formulations in Jubilees, see the discussion of the Sabbath law in Jubilees 50 below. The substitution of ‫ טמא‬for ‫ חלל‬in the second order is evident only by the use of rkwsa in the Ethiopic. The substitution reoccurs in the next verse (Jub. 2:26), which is preserved in 4Q218 1 1–2. However, the term ‫ טמא‬is not visible and is reconstructed (‫ )לבלתי טמאו‬at the end of line 1. For the distinction between the terms for ‫ טמא‬and ‫ חלל‬in Ethiopic, see Jub. 30:15 where rkwsa (defile/pollute) and gammana (desecrate/profane) are used in a paraphrase of ‫טמא את מקדשי‬ ‫( ולחלל את שם קדשי‬Lev 20:3).

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The substitution produces a concern with purity in the face of encounter with the divine presence. Such a concern is expressed with forms of the verb ‫ קדש‬in the Exodus account of the theophany at Mt. Sinai (Exod 19:10, 14, 22).16 In the Exodus narratives the concern is focused on particular persons (the Israelites in Exod 19:10, 14–15, the kohanim17 in 19:22) who would experience the divine presence at Mt. Sinai. Imported into the Jubilees account of the institution of the holy festal day for all creation, the concern with purity becomes a vehicle for associating the Sabbath day with the divine presence.18 In the Jubilees legislation for Israel that association lays the foundation for a conception of the day as possessing the character of divine sancta.

Sabbath Legislation for the Israelites: Jub. 2:26–33; 50:6–13a Substantively, the Sabbath legislation in Jubilees is an interpretive treatment of the Decalogue Sabbath commandment that is split between two presentations, one focused on the obligation to sanctify the day (Jub. 2:26–33), the other on the proscription of all work (Jub. 50:6–13a). Exegetically, the legislation is powered by variant formulations of Sabbath law in four Exodus passages. In two of those passages, the day, denoted respectively “the Sabbath” and “the seventh day,” is pre-

16 The Israelites are to be in a state of purity (‫)לך אל העם וקדשתם היום ומחר…ויקדש את העם‬, i. e., they are to wash their garments and abstain from sexual intercourse for three days before the theophany (Exod 19:10, 14–15). The “priests who come near the Lord” are to purify themselves so that the Lord does not “break out against them” ('‫)וגם הכהנים הנגשים אל ה' יתקדשו פן יפרץ בהם ה‬ (Exod 19:22). There is no explicit reference to purity in the account of the leaders of Israel who ate and drank after envisioning God on the mountain. However, the comment that God did not raise his hand against the Israelite leaders (‫( )ואל אצילי בני ישראל לא שלח ידו‬Exod 24:11; cf. Exod 19:22) may be interpreted as an indication that they, like the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, were in a state of purity. The comment has also been interpreted as God withholding or postponing a punishment that was in fact deserved (Lev R. 20; Tanh Ahare Mot 7; and Rashi on Exod 24:11). 17 Interpreters variously identify ‫ הכהנים‬in Exod 19:22 as the priests who bring sacrifices (presumably in the future since they have not yet been ordained) (Rashi; Ramban); as the first born who were positioned at the boundary of the sacred space at the mountain and hence, physically closer to God (Ibn Ezra); as Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu who are at Mt. Sinai (Exod 24:1) (Gersonides); and as the seventy elders who are also first born sons (Hizkuni). 18 The connection that I suggest between eating and drinking on the Sabbath (Jub. 2:21), the account of the elders eating and drinking after envisioning God (Exod 24:11), and the substitution of ‫“( טמא‬defile”) for ‫“( חלל‬desecrate”) in the penalty statement issued at Creation (Jub. 2:25) is an elaboration of Doering’s suggestion that the exchange of terms is not only a matter of language (Jacob Milgrom, “The Concept of Purity in Jubilees and the Temple Scroll,” RevQ 16 [1993]: 277–84), but also expresses a concern with ritual purity (“Concept,” 195–96).

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sented as “holiness for you” (‫)קדש לכם‬19 (Exod 31:14 [‫;]ושמרתם את השבת כי קדש הוא לכם‬ 35:2 [‫ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש שבת שבתון לה' כל העשה בו מלאכה‬ ‫)]יומת‬.20 In two others, the day, respectively denoted “tomorrow” and “the seventh day,” is described as “holiness of (belonging to) the Lord” ('‫( )קדש לה‬Exod 16:23 [‫ ;]שבתון שבת קדש לה' מחר‬31:15 [‫וביום השביעי שבת שבתון קדש לה' כל העשה מלאכה ביום‬ ‫)]השבת מות יומת‬. The holiness phrases — ‫ קדש לכם‬and '‫ — קדש לה‬embedded in these passages are never directly referenced in the Jubilees legislation. Nonetheless, each phrase undergirds a particular facet of the Jubilees treatment of Sabbath law. The elaboration of the commandment to sanctify in Jubilees 2 (vv. 26–28) is rooted in the conception of the Sabbath day as ‫( קדש לכם‬Exod 31:14). The extension of law (v. 29) that accompanies that commandment highlights the Sabbath, i. e., “tomorrow,” as '‫( קדש לה‬Exod 16:23).21 The parallel set of phrases associated with the seventh day fuel the legislation at the end of Jubilees 50 (vv. 50:8, 12–13a). The elaboration of the prohibition against all work opens with an allusion to a text that presents the “seventh day” as ‫( קדש לכם‬Jub. 50:8a reflecting Exod 35:2) and closes with an allusion to a text that presents the “seventh day” as '‫( קדש לה‬Jub. 50:13a reflecting Exod 31:15). Supplementing these passages, a set of commands prescribing celebration of the Sabbath as a festal day (Jub. 50:9–10) is rooted in a Leviticus text identifying the “seventh day” as ‫( מקרא קדש‬Lev 23:2–3).22 As indicated, none of the holiness phrases is explicitly mentioned in the Jubilees legislation. Albeit uncited, they operate silently through the scriptural texts that are engaged in the interpretive treatments of Sabbath law in Jubilees 2 and 50.

19 The lamed that indicates possession may be translated either “of ” (in the sense of belonging to) or “for.” When combined with pronominal ending (‫)לכם‬, “for you” seems to better fit English syntax. 20 “For you” (‫ )לכם‬is lacking in the LXX and Syriac versions of Exod 35:2. On the variants, see the textual notes in Propp, Exodus, 2:637. 21 The command in Exod 16:23 presumes the preparation on the sixth day that God directs in Exod 16:5. On the relationship between the two passages, see the textual note in Propp, Exodus, 1:597. 22 ‫ ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי שבת שבתון‬.‫… מועדי ה' אשר תקראו אתם מקראי קדש אלה הם מועדי‬ ‫( מקרא קדש כל מלאכה לא תעשו שבת הוא לה' בכל מושבתיכם‬Lev 23:2–3).

The Sabbath and Its Law

135

A. Sabbath Law in Jubilees 2 (Jub. 2:26–33)23 Key Texts: (i) Exod 31:14 (‫)ושמרתם את השבת כי קדש הוא לכם‬ (ii) Exod 16:23 (‫)שתבון שבת קדש לה' מחר‬ The legislation in Jubilees 2 is presented as commandment and law that the angel narrator directs Moses to convey to the Israelites. It comprises: (a) statement and elaboration of the command to sanctify the day (Jub. 2:26); (b) penalty for violation and consequence of adherence to the command to sanctify (Jub. 2:27– 28); (c) ancillary extension of law addressing the issue of inadvertent violation (“through the error of their minds”) (Jub. 2:29–30ab); and (d) explication of the particular relationship between Israel and the Sabbath (Jub. 2:30c–33). Each section engages the theme of sanctification either directly or through scriptural allusion and in each section intra-textual allusions interface the legislation with the Jubilees Sabbath narrative. Notably, throughout the Jubilees 2 legislation the day is denoted “this day” or “it,” a deliberate vagueness that conceals the day denotation associated with the cryptic phrases ‫ קדש לכם‬and '‫קדש לה‬.24 Most probably formulated with the verb ‫שמר‬,25 the opening command (“to observe this day so that they may sanctify it…”) is an interpretation of the causal connection between observance of the Sabbath and its holiness (‫ושמרתם את‬ ‫ )השבת כי קֹדש הוא לכם‬in Exod 31:14a.26 Translating the connection into an obligation to sanctify the day, the command interprets “sanctifying it” as “not doing any work on it and not defiling it” ([‫)לקד[שו לבלתי עשות בו כל מלאכה ולבלתי טמאו‬

23 The Hebrew of Jub. 2:26–27, partially reconstructed, is preserved in 4Q218 Fragment 1 (DJD 13:35–38). [‫ לקד[שו ולבלתי עשות בו כל מלאכה ולבלתי טמאו כי‬1 [‫ ]קדוש הוא [מ]כל הימים כל [המחלל אתו מות יומת‬2 [‫ ]וכ]ל העשה בו מלאכה ונכרתה [לע]ו[ל]ם [ל]מ[ע]ן [ישמר[ו‬3 [‫ ]בני ישראל ]את היום הז[ה לדורו]תם ולא יכרתו מן הא[רץ‬4 The rest of the Jubilees 2 legislation is not extant in the Hebrew. 24 Since the account of God instituting a holy, festal day to all his creation (Jub. 2:25) immediately precedes the legislation for Israel in Jubilees 2, “this day”/“it” may be understood as referring to the holy festal day in the narrative. In Jub. 50:9 “this day,” identified as the Sabbath, is “a festal day and a holy day” that God has given to Israel. 25 The Hebrew is not preserved in 4Q218. 26 In the Exodus 31 Sabbath legislation the command to keep (‫ )שמר‬the Sabbath is repeated in different formulations and with various rationales. The first, “because it is a sign to know that God sanctifies Israel (…‫( ) את שבתתי תשמרו כי אות הוא ביני ובניכם לדרתיכם לדעת כי אני ה' מקדשכם‬v. 13), is developed in the narrative (Jub. 2:19–21); the second, “because it is holy to Israel” (‫ושמרתם‬ …‫( )את השבת כי קדש הוא לכם‬v. 14a), and the third, “because God created the world in six days and ceased work on the seventh…” (‫ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת…כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים ואת הארץ‬ ‫( )וביום השביעי שבת וינפש‬vv. 16–17a), are treated in the legislation (Jub. 2:26–27).

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(Jub. 2:26b=4Q218, line 1).27 The construction — a prohibitive formulation set in apposition to the positive command “to sanctify” — reflects Jer 17:24b (‫ולקדש את‬ ‫—)יום השבת לבלתי עשות בֹה כל מלאכה‬with the addition of ‫ ולבלתי טמאו‬expressing concern with contamination of the sacred. The violations — work and defilement — are those specified in the orders that God issued when he established a holy festal day for all creation (Jub. 2:25). In the legislation for the Israelites they are formulated in the negative, i. e., not working, not defiling. The proscriptive articulation, the concern with defilement (added to the proscription of work in the Jeremiah citation), and the rationale, “because it is holier than all (other) days” (‫)]כי] קדוש הוא [מ]כל הימים‬ (Jub. 2:26c=4Q218, line 2), suggest adaptation of the notion that divine sancta (in this case the Sabbath) are defiled by inadvertent violation of prohibitive commandments (Lev 4:2, 13, 22, 27; 5:15, 17).28 In Leviticus 4–5 such violations require sacrificial offerings that purify the defiled and redress sacrilege against the Lord’s sancta.29 Jubilees makes no provision for such sacrificial offerings. Instead, the sanctification command (Jub. 2:26 interpreting Exod 31:14a) is followed by a penalty law (a modified version of Exod 31:14b) that stipulates death for one who desecrates the day ([‫ )כל [המחלל אתו מות יומת‬and uprooting (karet) forever30 for one who does work (‫)]וכ]ל העשה בו מלאכה ונכרתה [לעו[ל]ם‬ (4Q218, lines 2b–3a; cf. Jub 2:27a).31

27 Emended citation. Neither proscription is legible in 4Q218. VanderKam and Milik reconstruct [‫ לקד[שו ולבלתי עשות בו כל מלאכה ולבלתי טמאו כי‬from the Ethiopic (Jub. 2:26). The vav (‫ )ולבלתי עשות‬in their reconstruction is problematic and is omitted in the above citation. 28 An abbreviated form of the hattat legislation in Leviticus 4 appears without the specification of prohibitive commandments in Num 15:22–28. Both scriptural contexts deal with inadvertent violations; neither mentions violation of the Sabbath. But in Numbers inadvertent violation (requiring sacrificial expiation) is set over against deliberate violation (‫ )ביד רמה‬penalized by karet (‫( )ונכרתה הנפש ההוא מקרב עמה‬Num 15:30–31). The contrast is followed by a narrative of an Israelite gathering wood on the Sabbath at some point in time during the wilderness years. Consulted by the elders seeking the appropriate penalty, God commands that the violator be put to death (‫ )מות יומת‬by stoning (Num 15:32–36). Presenting only a positive picture of the wilderness years (Jub. 50:4), Jubilees does not allude to the narrative or to the specific violation of gathering wood on the Sabbath. On the Jubilees portrayal of the Israelites after the exodus from Egypt, see Chapter 8.  29 On the purifying function of the ‫ חטאת‬offering, see Milgrom, Leviticus, 253–58; on the ‫ אשם‬offering and sacrilege against the Lord’s sancta, see Milgrom’s comments on Lev 5:15 (‫נפש כי‬ '‫( )תמעל מעל וחטאה בשגגה ִמ ָק ְד ֵשי ה‬Leviticus, 320–36). 30 In the Ethiopic the penalty for doing work is eternal death (mota yəmut la‘ālam), a translation inconsistent with the simple yəmut formulation employed in other Jubilees contexts relating to the proscription of work (Jub. 2:25; 50:8; 13). On the formulation, see the discussion of the penalty clause in Jub. 50:8a below. 31 The parallel structure in 4Q218 is similar to that in LXX Exod 31:14. The formulation in MT (‫ )מחלליה מות יומת כי כל העשה בה מלאכה ונכרתה הנפש ההוא מקרב עמיה‬relates the two clauses (Propp Exodus, 1:403–04).

The Sabbath and Its Law

137

The Jubilees legislation does not immediately distinguish between desecration with the penalty of death and doing work with the penalty of karet.32 That they involve violations of the sacred is clear, for additions connect the full penalty law to divine acts of sanctification. An intent clause—“so that the Israelites may observe this day throughout their history and not be uprooted from the earth”—associates the law with God’s relationship to Israel (Jub. 2:27 [4Q218 3b–4] interpreting Exod 31:16–17a; cf. Jub. 2:19–20).33 In Exod 31:16–17a observance of the Sabbath is to be sustained as an eternal covenant (‫ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת לעשות‬ …‫)את השבת לדרתם ברית עולם ביני ובין בני ישראל אות הוא לעלם‬. Treating ‫ ברית עולם‬as an allusion to the endurance of the covenant with Abraham (‫…ביני ובינך ובין זרעך אחריך‬ …‫( )לדרתם ברית עולם‬Gen 17:7), the author of Jubilees includes an intent clause, parallel to that in Jub. 2:27—“so that they may not be uprooted from the earth”—in a created law attached to the treatment of the Genesis 17 narrative (Jub. 15:28). The parallel is fostered by similaritiies in phrasing and by the sign motif common to the two scriptural contexts — observance of the Sabbath as a sign of sanctification and God’s ceasing the work of Creation in Exod 31:17 (cf. Exod 31:13) and circumcision as a sign of the covenant in Gen 17:11. A justification clause — “for it is a blessed day, it is a holy day”34—then connects the penalty to God’s consecration of the Sabbath day (Jub. 2:27 interpreting Gen 2:3; cf. Jub. 2:23–24). Thereafter, an assurance that “everyone who observes (the day), ceasing from all his work on it”35 will be “holy and blessed throughout all times” like the highest angels (Jub. 2:28)36 is juxtaposed to the concern with 32 Presumably the death penalty for desecration (Jub. 2:27a reflecting Exod 31:14a) is administered by the community (Num 15:35) and the karet for doing work (4Q218 line 3a reflecting Exod 31:14b) reflects the hand of God. The precise character of karet is never spelled out in Scriptures or in Jubilees. In Exod 31:14 (and most often in pentateuchal law), karet is expressed in terms of uprooting “from his people/ from Israel”(‫( )מקרב עמיה\עמו\מישראל\מעדת ישראל‬Gen 17:14; Exod 12:15, 19; 30:33, 38; Lev 7:20– 21, 25, 27; 17:4, 9, 10; 19:8; 23:29; Num 9:13; 15:20; 19:13, 20). “Uprooted forever” (‫)נכרת לעולם‬ appears only in Obad 1:10, where it is explicitly associated with God; karet “from the earth” does not appear in any scriptural context. In Jubilees karet is most often expressed as uprooting “from the earth” (Jub. 2:27; 6:12; 15:26, 28, 34; 20:4; 22:20; 30:22; 31:20; 33:19) and like, “uprooted forever” (Jub. 10:30; 36:6), appears in contexts that imply divine agency. In the three passages where Jubilees employs the scriptural “uprooted from his people/from Israel,” one is a citation (Jub. 15:14 citing Gen 17:14); the other two associate the uprooting with human execution of the death penalty (Jub. 30:7; 33:13, 17). 33 ‫( ל]מ[ע]ן [ישמר[ו] [בני ישראל ] את היום הז[ה לדורו]תם ולא יכרתו מן הא[רץ‬Jub. 2:27=4Q218 3b–4). …‫( ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת לעשות את השבת לדרתם ברית עולם ביני ובין בני ישראל אות הוא לעלם‬Exod 31:16–17a). 34 The clause is not extant in the Hebrew fragment. 35 Triggered by …‫( וביום השביעי שבת‬Exod 31:17b), the wording clearly reflects ‫כי בו שבת מכל‬ ‫ מלאכתו‬in Gen 2:3. 36 Jub. 2:28 synthesizes several motifs in the Sabbath narrative: that the angels of presence and holiness join with God in ceasing from work on the seventh day (Jub. 2:18); that God will sanctify and bless Israel as he sanctified the Sabbath day (Jub. 2:19); that the sanctified Israel

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uprooting. In other words, ceasing from work on the day is the signature of sanctification and results in community with the higher angels (who observe the Sabbath with God in heaven and on earth). Doing work on the day is the antithesis of sanctification and results in being uprooted forever (karet), implicitly from the community of the holy, and explicitly from the earth.37 The two formulations — ceasing from work (associated with sanctification) and doing work (associated with uprooting) — are combined in the ancillary law that explicitly addresses the matter of unintentional Israelite violation (“neglect… through the error of their minds”) of “this day” (Jub. 2:29). Two kinds of violation are highlighted: doing what “they wish” and “work that they had not prepared for themselves…on the sixth day.” Each alludes to a scriptural passage that presents the Sabbath day in terms that suggest the status of divine sancta. The first violation — doing what they wish — accesses the reference to the day as “my holy day” in Isa 58:13 (‫)אם תשיב משבת רגלך עשות חפציך ביום קדשי‬. The second adopts the principle of preparation on the sixth day (‫( )והיה ביום הששי והכינו את אשר יביאו‬Exod 16:5) in the Exodus 16 legislation where the Sabbath, denoted only as “tomorrow,” is described in terms of “holiness of (belonging to) the Lord” (‫)שבתון שבת קדש לה' מחר‬ (Exod 16:23; cf. Exod 16:25).38 The two allusions frame an enumeration of ac­ tivities involving work that is to be prepared on the sixth day and carefully avoided on the Sabbath. Three specific activities are mentioned; each involves preparation on the sixth day and relates to some facet of the Sabbath directives that are set forth in Exodus 16.39

would cease from work [keep sabbath] together with the higher angels (Jub. 2:21); and that Israel is blessed and holy like the Sabbath is blessed and holy (Jub. 2:23–24). 37 The juxtaposition is sharper in the presentation of the law of ‫ברית מילה‬. One who is not circumcised on the eighth day carries no sign that “he belongs to the Lord.” He has violated the covenant and is meant for being “uprooted from the earth.” One who is circumcised acquires the nature of the angels of the presence and the angels of holiness who were circumcised from the day of their creation. “In front of the angels of the presence and the angels of holiness he sanctified Israel to be with him and his holy angels” (Jub. 15:26–27). 38 On Exod 16:23 presuming Exod 16:5, see Propp, Exodus, 1:597. 39 In contrast to Doering and Schiffman who connect bringing in or removing through their gates in Jub. 2:29c to ‫ הביא‬and ‫ הוציא‬in Jer 17:21–22 (Doering, Schabbat, 582; Schiffman, Halakah, 113).

139

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Work Activities Related to Preparation on the Sixth Day

40 41 42 43

Jub. 2:29…the day on which it is not proper to do what they wish, namely: to prepare on it anything that is to be eaten or drunk; to draw water; to bring in or remove on it anything which one carries in their gates—(any) work that they had not prepared in their dwellings on the sixth day.40 Activity

Sixth Day Principle Exod 16:5

Association

to prepare on it anything that is to be eaten or drunk

‫והיה ביום הששי והכינו‬

Exod 16:22–23 ‫ויהי ביום הששי… את אשר תאפו‬ …‫אפו ואת אשר תבשלו בשלו‬

to draw water41

‫והיה ביום הששי והכינו‬

Exod 16:5 ‫והיה ביום הששי והכינו את אשר יביאו‬

to bring in or remove anything which one carries in their gates42

‫והיה ביום הששי והכינו‬

Exod 16:5, 2943 ‫ והיה ביום הששי והכינו את אשר יביאו‬5 ‫ …על כן הוא נתן לכם ביום הששי‬29 …‫לחם יומים שבו איש תחתיו‬

The enumeration of activities within the category of work to be prepared on the sixth day (hence not inadvertently doing work on the next day) is followed by a command “not to bring (anything) out or in from house to house on this day…” (Jub. 2:30a). Substantively, the command is superfluous; the activities it forbids 40 The phrasing reflects the directive that the Israelites prepare on the sixth day (the double portion of manna) that they brought in (to their dwellings) (‫)והיה ביום הששי והכינו את אשר יביאו‬ (Exod 16:5). In the context of Sabbath law, however, it is awkward. Preparation on the sixth day would not be restricted to activities “in their dwellings.” An alternative is to understand the passage as referring to any work not prepared to be in their dwelling on the sixth day, i. e., before the onset of the Sabbath. In such a reading, the sixth day preparation rule in Jub. 2:29 primarily concerns the issue of transport on the Sabbath. 41 In Jub. 50:8 drawing water not prepared on the sixth day appears without the reference to “in their dwellings.” On the prohibition, see Doering, Schabbat, 72–75. 42 On gates (’anqas) as portal of the house, see Jub. 49:3 and the dual application (‫בשער חצרו‬ ‫ )ובשער עירו‬in 4Q264 frag. 3 (+ 4Q421a frag. 12). For the reconstruction, see Noam and Qimron, “Qumran,” 61–62. 43 Since it is the third item in a series explicitly involving preparation on the sixth day, I connect the bringing in and removing to passages in Exodus 16 that employ or imply the verbal forms ‫ הביא‬and ‫הוציא‬. Exod 16:5 explicitly refers to bringing into the dwelling. Following ibn Ezra, one may understand ‫ שבו איש תחתיו‬in Exod 16:29b as prohibiting ‫יציאות‬, i. e., going out with a container (to collect manna). The clause ‫ אל יצא איש ממקומו ביום השביעי‬in Exod 16:29c has been understood as implying bringing out (Tosafot b. Shabb. 2a [‫ ]יציאות‬and C. Albeck, “Hashlamot We-Tosafot,” Shishah Sidrei Mishnah mefurashim al-yedei C. Albeck: Seder Moed [Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1959], 2:405 [Hebrew]). However, the prohibitive formulation and the association with the seventh day make the passage an unlikely reference point for Jub. 2:29 where the activities and the scriptural passages associated with them are framed in positive terms.

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(bringing out or bringing in) are subsumed, albeit in reverse order (bringing in; bringing out) within the sixth day preparation principle in the preceding verse (Jub. 2:29c). From the perspective of its negative structure, however, the command is a deliberate, strategic, addition.44 Positioned in a context involving unintentional work, it epitomizes the prohibitive commandment whose violation disturbs the sacred, in this instance, “the day that is more holy and more blessed than any of the jubilee of jubilees” (Jub. 2:30). An interpretive adaptation of Jer 17:22 (‫לא תוציאו משא מבתיכם ביום השבת וכל מלאכה לא תעשו וקדשתם את יום השבת כאשר צויתי את‬ ‫)אבותיכם‬, the prohibition complements the opening command (Jub. 2:26) which adapts another passage in Jeremiah 17—‫…לבלתי הביא משא…ביום השבת ולקדש את יום‬ ‫( השבת לבלתי עשות בו כל מאלכה‬v. 24b)—to interpret the obligation “to sanctify.” The last part of the Jubilees 2 legislation is a narrative extension elaborating on the particular relationship between the holiness of the Sabbath day and of Israel. Alluding to the earlier created narrative, the angel acknowledges that the obligation to cease [keep sabbath] on earth was made known to all humanity (Jub. 2:30b alluding to Jub. 2:25c). However, active participation in celebrating the sanctified day is exclusive to those who are themselves sanctified. The privilege was granted to the highest angels “who ceased [kept sabbath] in heaven before it was made known to all humanity” (Jub. 2:30b alluding to Jub. 2:17–18). Thereafter it was given to Israel, the only people that God sanctified and gave the right “to eat, drink, and cease [keep sabbath] on it upon the earth” (2:31b alluding to Jub. 2:19–21). The extension does not in fact harmonize the discrepancy between the universal and Israel-focused perspectives already evident in the created account of the institution of the Sabbath and the associated election of the descendants of Jacob. What it does do is focus the discrepancy on the motif of ‫ קדש‬that, in its various aspects, lies at the heart of the Sabbath legislation in Jubilees. B. Sabbath Law in Jubilees 50 (Jub. 50:6–13) Key Texts: (i) Exod 35:2 (‫)וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש שבת שבתון לה' כל העשה בו מלאכה יומת‬ (ii) Exod 31:15 (‫)וביום השביעי שבת שבתון קדש לה' כל העשה מלאכה ביום השבת מות יומת‬ (iii) Lev 23:3 ('‫)וביום השביעי שבת שבתון מקרא קדש כל מלאכה לא תעשו שבת הוא לה‬ Presented as recollected dictation (“I have now dictated to you” [Jub. 50:6]),45 rather than as legislation that the angel is immediately conveying to Moses 44 By contrast, Doering views the prohibitive construction (Jub. 2:30a) as an editorial addition (“Concept,” 182 n. 17). 45 My translation. This is one of several instances where the Ethiopic translator confuses the kal (“write”) and hiph’il (“dictate”) forms of the Hebrew ‫כתב‬. See VanderKam, “Putative,” 213–17.

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141

(cf. Jub. 2:26, 29), the commands and statutes at the end of Jubilees 50 focus on the issue of work.46 Structural differences notwithstanding, the treatment of the work command encompasses the basic components of the presentation of the sanctification command in Jubilees 2: fundamental commandment; penalty statement; exegetical clarification and extension of the law; and elaborative allusions to the Jubilees-created Sabbath narrative. The fundamental command is the prohibition against work in the Decalogue, here expressed with a modified citation of Exod 20:8–10: “You will work for six days, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Do not do any work on it — you, your children, your male, and female servants, all your cattle, or the foreigner who is with you” (Jub. 50:7).47 The most significant modification is the substitution of ‫( נכר‬foreigner) (nakir in Ethiopic) for ‫( גר‬sojourner). I would suggest that the author of Jubilees deliberately adopts the language of Gen 17:12 (‫( )יליד בית ומקנת כסף מכל בן נכר אשר לא מזרעך הוא‬note wəlud nakir in Jub. 15:12) to indicate rejection of gradual assimilation or conversion into the community of Israel.48 The outsider who resides among the Israelites and is subject to its law, as in the case of the foreign slave who is to be circumcised (Jub. 15:12), always remains a “foreigner” (‫)נכר‬. Such a reading is consistent with the absence of any reference to the ger elsewhere in Jubilees, with the omission of the concept in the Pesah statute, and with the emphasis on genealogical purity throughout Jubilees.49 The penalty statement that immediately follows—“the man who does any work on it is to die” (Jub. 50:8a)—combines ‫ כל מלאכה‬in Exod 20:10 with the death penalty ‫( יומת‬yəmut in the Ethiopic)50 for doing work in Exod 35:2 (‫ ;וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש שבת שבתון לה' כל העשה בו מלאכה יומת‬cf. τελεντάτω in LXX Exod 35:2). The formulation is striking, for Exod 35:2 is the only scriptural text where the death penalty for Sabbath violation is expressed with ‫ יומת‬as opposed to 46 Jub. 50:6–13 is not extant in Hebrew. 47 The continuation of Exod 20:9, “You shall do all your work” (‫)ועשית כל מלאכתך‬, and all of Exod 20:11 (…‫ )כי ששת ימים עשה…וינח ביום השביעי על כן ברך‬are omitted. There are several additions, many of which accord with the LXX, OL, and Ethiopic versions of Exod 20:10. See VanderKam’s notes to Jub. 50:7 in Book of Jubilees, 2:325–26. 48 In contrast to Doering who believes the original Hebrew of Jub. 50:7 read ‫( גר‬Lutz Doering, “Jub. 50:6–13 als Schlussabschnitt des Jubiläenbuchs — Nachtrag aus Qumran oder ursprünglicher Bestandteil des Werks?,” RevQ 79 [2002]:382). 49 See Halpern-Amaru, Empowerment, 154–59; Christine E. Hayes, Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion from the Bible to the Talmud (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 73–81; and Martha Himmelfarb, A Kingdom of Priests: Ancestry and Merit in Ancient Judaism (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 74–80. 50 The citation of ‫ כל מלאכה‬is not evident in the Ethiopic which reads kwəllu in Jub. 50:7 and məntəhi in Jub. 50:8a. Here, and in multiple other passages, the Ethiopic renders the Hebrew pu’al ‫ יומת‬as yəmut or mota yəmut (Jub. 2:25 [yəmut; mota layəmut]; 2:27 [mota yəmut]; 24:13 [mota yəmut]; 33:10 [mota yəmut]; 50:8 [yəmut], 13 [yəmut]). The causative form (’amota) appears in two Jubilees-created legal contexts (Jub. 30:9; cf. Lev 20:2 [‫ ;]מות יומת‬Jub. 33:13; cf. Lev 20:12 [‫)]מות יומתו‬.

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the infinitive absolute ‫( מות יומת‬Exod 31:14–15; Num 15:35). Within the Sabbath legislation Jubilees employs the simple penalty formulation (yəmut) in contexts involving the prohibition against work (Jub. 50:8 [twice], 13) and the infinitive absolute formulation (mota yəmut) in contexts involving desecration that violates the commandment to sanctify (Jub. 2:27).51 Indeed, the distinction is also evident in the orders regarding the holy, festal day that God institutes for all creation in the Jubilees Sabbath narrative. The penalty for doing work is formulated yəmut, the penalty for defiling as mota layəmut (Jub. 2:25, extant only in Ethiopic). The penalty clause (Jub. 50:8a) that immediately follows the statement of the Decalogue commandment in the Jubilees 50 work legislation serves as a heading for an exegesis that understands the proscription of ‫( כל מלאכה‬Exod 20:10) as indicating different classes of work, each embracing a particular set of activities. The exegesis distinguishes two categories of proscribed work: (a) work that desecrates “this day” (Jub. 50:8); (b) work that does not involve desecration (Jub. 50:12– 13a).52 Each category is set forth with a penalty clause that combines an allusion to a facet of Exod 31:14–15 with the simple formulation of the death sentence as in Exod 35:2:53 (a) “Any man who desecrates…is to die (yəmut)” (Jub. 50:8 reflecting Exod 31:14c [‫ ]מחלליה‬and Exod 35:2 [‫)]יומת‬. (b) “Any man who does work… on the Sabbath day is to die (yəmut)” (Jub. 50:12–13a reflecting Exod 31:15c […‫ ]כל העשה מלאכה ביום שבת‬and Exod 35:2 [‫)]יומת‬.54 The distinctive nature of the particular category is allusively revealed by the proscribed activities55 listed between the two halves of its frame. The activities enumerated within the category of work that desecrates all reflect scriptural passages that contain a variant of the term ‫קדש‬. Concomitantly, the activities enumerated within the category of work that does not entail desecration reflect biblical passages that associate the activity or a class to which it belongs with the terms ‫ יום השביעי‬and/or ‫מלאכה‬. Finally, the two classes of work (each with its proscribed activities) are separated by a set of prescriptive commands that bring the notion of the Sabbath as a festal day into the work legislation (Jub. 50:9–11). 51 As noted earlier, the Hebrew of Jub. 2:27, a modified citation of the penalty in Exod 31:14, is preserved in 4Q218, lines 2b–3a. The penalty for desecration (‫)מחלליה מות יומת‬, reconstructed in 4Q218, is rendered with mota yəmut in the Ethiopic. The karet penalty for doing work, which is legible in 4Q218, is rendered mota yəmut la‘ālam in the Ethiopic. 52 The rabbis make a comparable distinction but on totally different grounds. Activities that constitute work are proscribed on the basis of ‫ לא תעשה כל מלאכה‬in Exod 20:10; activities that detract from restfulness (‫ )שבות‬are proscribed on the basis of ‫ את שבתתי תשמרו‬in Exod 31:13 (Mek. Shabbata 1) 53 As indicated above, Jubilees formulates the penalty in active voice, cf. τελεντάτω LXX Exod 35:2. 54 The phrase ‫ ביום השבת‬appears in the penalty clause only in MT Exod 31:15; in the LXX and the Syriac the equivalent of ‫ ביום השביעי‬is repeated at the end of the verse. 55 The enumerated items may reflect older halakic lists. The author of Jubilees encodes their presentation and provides a scriptural basis for their proscription.

143

The Sabbath and Its Law

To demonstrate the systematic operation of the codes, I display the enumerations of proscribed activities within each category of work in table-form with the code terms highlighted. In accord with the sequence of the commands in the Jubilees 50 legislation, the festal day prescriptions are discussed between the two table presentations. Work that Desecrates: Encoded ‫ קדש‬with and without ‫שבת‬

56 57 58 59 60

Jub. 50:8b… Any man who desecrates this day — who lies with a woman; who says anything about work on it — that he is to set out on a trip on it, or about any selling or buying — who on it draws water which he had not prepared for himself on the sixth day; or who lifts any load to bring (it) outside his tent or his house — is to die.56 Activity

Scriptural Source

Association57

who lies with a woman58

Exod 19:10, 14–15

who says anything about work — that he is to set out on a trip on it, or about any selling or buying — 

Isa 58:1359

who on it draws water which he had not prepared for himself on the sixth day60

Exod 16:5, 23

‫ והיה ביום השישי והכינו את אשר‬5 …‫יביאו‬ ‫ שבתון שבת קדש לה' מחר‬23

who lifts any load to bring (it) outside his tent or his house

Jer 17:21–22

…‫ ואל תשאו משא ביום השבת‬21 ‫ ולא תוציאו משא מבתיכם ביום‬22 ‫השבת…וקדשתם את יום השבת‬

‫ ויאמר ה' אל משה לך אל העם‬10 …‫וקדשתם היום‬ ‫ וירד משה מן ההר ויקדש את העם‬14 ‫ויכבסו שמלתם‬ ‫ ויאמר אל העם …אל תגשו אל אשה‬15 ‫אם תשיב משבת רגליך עשות חפצך‬ ‫ביום קדשי וקראת לשבת ענג לקדוש‬ ‫ה' מכבד וכבדתו מעשות דרכיך ממצוא‬ ‫חפצך ודבר דבר‬.

56 For purposes of clarity, I have added a dash after “selling or buying” and a dash before “is to die”. 57 Doering identifies most of the verse associations cited here; but he does not highlight the exegetical significance of ‫ קדש‬or a variant thereof in the associated verses (Schabbat, 72–87; 581–82). 58 For a similar position among Qumran sectarians, see Elisha Qumran, “‘‫אל יתערב איש מרצונו‬ ‫( ’בשבת‬Damascus Document 11.4),” in Proceedings of the Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies (Division D Hebrew Section; Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, 1986), 9–14. 59 I do not see a connection to Neh 10:32; 13:15f (Doering, Schabbat, 86, 581–82). To my understanding, the desecration relates to talking about, not actually engaging in, commerce. 60 Unlike Jub. 2:29, there is no mention of “in their dwellings” here; hence the concern is not with transport into the dwelling before the onset of the Sabbath. It would appear that drawing water is a fundamental act of preparation on the sixth day and entails desecrating work if done on the Sabbath.

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Celebration of the Sabbath as a Festal Day: Jub. 50:9–11 The enumeration of activities within the category of work that desecrates is immediately followed by a set of prescriptive commands that present the Sabbath as a festal day. Each prescriptive command is paired with a category of work, echoes its primary concern, and to some degree, exposes its coded motif(s). Partner to the proscription of work that desecrates, the first prescription combines the notion of the Sabbath as a festal day with the conception of it being a holy day (Jub. 50:9). Departing from the ambiguous denotation “this day”/“it,” the command refers to the Sabbath by name; states the preparation on the sixth day principle that accesses identification of the day as '‫( קדש לה‬Exod 16:5, 23).61 The celebratory activities it prescribes—“eat, drink, rest, cease [keep sabbath] on this day from all work, and bless the Lord your God who has given you a festal day and a holy day”—recall the Sabbath celebration associated with the sanctification of Israel in the Jubilees-created Sabbath narrative (Jub. 2:20–21).62 Unlike its counterpart in the Jubilees 2 legislation,63 the recollection makes no attempt to soften the narrative discrepancy between the particular — the sanctified descendants of Jacob eating, drinking, and ceasing [keeping sabbath] with the angels (Jub. 2:21)—and the universal — God giving a holy festal day to all his creation (Jub. 2:25). Indeed, the conception of the Sabbath as a festal day and holy day is imported into the Jubilees 50 legislation with no acknowledgment of its place in the Jubilees Sabbath narrative. The Genesis-based context of God instituting the Sabbath “to all his creation” has been replaced, at least implicitly, by the Exodus 16 notion of the Sabbath as a day that God instituted (“gave”) particularly for Israel (Exod 16:29 — ‫)ראו כי ה' נתן לכם השבת‬. The second prescriptive command contains similar motifs — celebration of the day is an honor the Lord had given to Israel; they are “to eat, drink, and be filled64 on this festal day and to rest on it from any work that belongs to the work of mankind…” (Jub. 50:10). There is no reference to the day as a holy day in this 61 On the sixth day preparation principle, see Jub. 2:29 and the discussion above. 62 In the Sabbath narrative the descendants of Jacob bless “the creator of all as he had blessed and sanctified them for himself….” (Jub. 2:21). There is no mention of “rest” in the narrative of the Sabbath celebration together with the angels. Its inclusion in Jub. 50:9 may reflect the connection between God resting and sanctification of the Sabbath in Exod 20:11 (‫וינח ביום‬ ‫)השביעי על כן ברך את יום השבת ויקדשהו‬. 63 Although he does not explicitly mention the holy festal day, at the end of the Jubilees 2 legislation the angel narrator acknowledges the universal context of the institution of the Sabbath and attempts to harmonize it with the particular focus on Israel (Jub. 2:31–32). 64 The motif of being sated (“filled”) may be adopted from the narrative of the manna (‫ובבקר‬ ‫( )תשבעו לחם‬Exod 16:12). Alternatively, the common motif of “the Lord having given you” may be a literary trigger for an association between the fruitfulness of the land (‫ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את‬ ‫ )ה' אלהיך על הארץ הטבה אשר נתן לך‬in Deut 8:10) and the double portions of manna (‫ראו כי ה' נתן לכם‬ ‫ )השבת על כן הוא נתן לכם ביום הששי לחם יומים‬in Exod 16:29.

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prescription. The primary purpose of the command is to connect the notion of festal celebration to the category of work unrelated to desecration and to exclude work activities related to sanctuary worship, specifically the burning of incense in the sanctuary and the offering of daily and festival sacrifices, from the category of proscribed work that is presented immediately thereafter.65 Work That Does Not Entail Desecration: Encoded ‫ יום השביעי‬and/or ‫מלאכה‬ 66

67 68 69

Jub. 50:12–13a Any man who does work — 66who goes on a trip; who works farmland whether at his home or in any (other) place; who lights a fire; who rides any animal; who travels the sea by ship; any man who beats or kills anything, who slits the throat of an animal or bird, who catches either a wild animal, a bird, or a fish; who fasts; who makes war on the Sabbath day—(13) a man who does any of these things on the Sabbath day is to die… Activity

Scriptural Source

Association67

who goes on a trip68

Exod 16:29

‫שבו איש תחתיו‬ ‫אל יצא איש ממקמו ביום השביעי‬

who works farmland whether at his home or in any (other) place

Exod 34:21

‫ששת ימים תעבד‬ ‫וביום השביעי תשבת‬ ‫בחריש ובקציר תשבת‬

who lights a fire

Exod 35:2–3

‫ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה‬ ‫וביום השביעי יהיה לכם קדש‬ '‫שבת שבתון לה‬ ‫כל העשה בו מלאכה יומת‬ ‫לא תבערו אש בכל משבתיכם‬ ‫ביום השבת‬.

who rides any animal

Deut 5:14; Exod 23:1269

…‫ויום השביעי‬ ‫לא תעשה כל מלאכה‬ ‫אתה…ושורך וחמרך וכל בהמתך‬

65 The burning of incense prescribed as part of the daily worship (Exod 30:7–8) is excluded from the prohibition against making a fire on the seventh day (Jub. 50:12 alluding to Exod 35:2– 3). The exclusion relative to the bringing of daily and festival sacrifices (also involving activities classified as work in Jub. 50:12, e.g., making a fire, killing an animal or bird) interprets ‫ על‬in Num 28:10 (‫ )על עלת התמיד‬and ‫ מלבד‬in Lev 23:37–38 ('‫ )מלבד שבתות ה‬as “in addition to.” On the interpretation, see the discussions in Schiffman, Halakhah, 128–31 and Doering, Schabbat, 68. 66 For purposes of clarity, I substitute a dash for the semicolon in VanderKam’s translation. 67 Although Doering does not identify the code words operating in the exegesis, he associates the first four items in the Jub. 50:12 list with the passages cited above (Schabbat, 90–99, 581–82). The scriptural passages associated with the other four proscriptions — Ps. 107:23 (travel on a ship), Exod 20:11 (beating, slaughter, hunting of an animal or fish), 2 Sam 12:16–20 (fasting), and Jer 50:22–25 (making war)—are my suggestions. 68 To be distinguished from speaking about going on a trip (Jub. 50:8), which falls in the category of work that desecrates. 69 The formulation in Deut 5:14 (‫ )ושורך וחמורך וכל בהמתך‬appears to combine Exod 20:9 (‫ )ובהמתך‬and Exod 23:12 (‫)שורך וחמרך‬.

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who travels the sea by ship

Ps 107:23

any man who beats or kills anything; who slits the throat of an animal or bird, who catches either a wild animal, a bird, or a fish

Exod 20:1170

who fasts

2 Sam 12:16–20

who makes war on the ­Sabbath day

Jer 50:22–25

a man who does any of these things on the Sabbath day is to die…

Exod 31:15 Exod 35:2

‫יורדי הים באניות‬ ‫עשי מלאכה במים רבים‬ '‫כי ששת ימים עשה ה‬ ‫את השמים ואת הארץ‬ ‫את הים כל אשר בם‬ ‫וינח ביום השביעי‬ …‫… ויצם דוד צום‬16 …‫ ויהי ביום השביעי‬18 ‫ ויקם דוד…ויבא אל ביתו‬20 ‫וישאל וישימו לו‬ ‫לחם ויאכל‬ …‫ קול מלחמה בארץ‬22 ‫ פתח ה' את אוצרו‬25 ‫ויוצא כלי זעמו‬ …‫כי מלאכה היא‬ …‫כל העשה מלאכה ביום השבת‬... ‫כל העושה בו מלאכה יומת‬

70

Each of the presentations of Sabbath law in Jubilees is concerned, albeit with greater and lesser opacity, with both the sanctity of the day and the issue of work. The focus of the legislation in Jubilees 2 is on the obligation to sanctify the Sabbath. That obligation involves ceasing (‫ )שבת‬from work on the day that God has sanctified. In the Jubilees 50 work-focused legislation the formulation is inverted. Desecration is a mode of work that violates (the sanctity of) the day on which doing any work (except that associated with sanctuary worship) is forbidden. The intersecting motifs of sanctification and desecration/ceasing from work and not doing work are the signatures of the scriptural passages that drive the treatments of Sabbath law in Jubilees. In these key passages the day is variously denoted “the Sabbath,” “the seventh day,” “tomorrow” (i. e., the day after the sixth day), and is invariably associated with holiness, specifically as '‫קדש לה‬, ‫קדש לכם‬, and as a ‫מקרא‬ ‫קדש‬. The holiness phrases are not cited in the Jubilees legislation. However, each phrase is embedded in a scriptural passage that drives the treatment of a partic 70 Like the proscription of ‫ הצד צבי‬in rabbinic literature, the connection between catching (or killing) an animal and work on the seventh day lacks a clear-cut scriptural basis. With some hesitation, I suggest Exod 20:11. It contains one of the key terms, ‫יום השביעי‬, and relates to the creation of animals in the heavens, on earth, and in the waters. The proscription rests, albeit indirectly, on the phrase ‫ כל אשר בם‬in Exod 20:11 and the forbidden activities involve an undoing, so to speak, of God’s creative work

The Sabbath and Its Law

147

ular aspect of Jubilees Sabbath law. The deployment of selective allusions to these passages within the Jubilees legislation displays a systematic pattern of exegesis and demonstrates a continuity between the presentations of Sabbath law in Jubilees 2 and 50 that hitherto has not been acknowledged.

CHAPTER EIGHT CLOSURES

The retrospective design that shapes the reworking of Exodus narrative and law in the angel narration also informs its closure. A retrospect is amenable to several possible endings. The climax to a central theme can provide a closure, with the narration continuing, but with the essence of its story already told. The narrator may bring the retrospect up to the immediate present-time setting of the narration and, with or without an accompanying revelation of the future, close there. A third possibility would have the retrospective narration come full circle back to the point at which it began. The angel narration in Jubilees displays a medley of the three types of closure.1

Thematic Closure The sequential, substantive reworking of scriptural narrative in the angel narration ends with the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt and across the Reed Sea (Jubilees 48).2 From the perspective of its reworking of Genesis-Exodus, the account of the past has come to a climax. It has demonstrated fulfillment of God’s promises within the perimeters of the Genesis-Exodus storyline. Indeed, it is precisely for the purpose of such a demonstration that God, in the opening frame of Jubilees, directs Moses to record what is revealed to him on the mountain — that the transcribed revelation would serve as a testimony (‫ )תעודה‬to God’s faithfulness (Jub. 1:5–6 [4Q216 I, 12–17; cf. 4Q216 II, 4–5]).3 Like Deuteronomy 31 that influences much of its vocabulary, the divine forecast that accompanies the direc 1 Although they do not address retrospective narrations in particular, several modern scholars have examined the different types of endings in biblical narratives. See Frank Polak, Biblical Narrative: Aspects of Art and Design, (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1994) (Hebrew); Yairah Amit, “Endings — Especially Reversal Endings,” Scriptura 87 (2004), 213–26, and, on the development of multiple endings in biblical narratives, Isaac Gottlieb, “Sof Davar: Biblical Endings,” Prooftexts 11 (1991), 213–24 (esp. 216). 2 The narrative portions of Jubilees 49, i. e., the description of the Egypt Pesah celebration (vv. 2–6) and the account of the Israelites completing their celebration of Massot on the shore of the Sea (v. 23), fall within the time span of the events recounted in Jubilees 48. 3 On Jubilees as a “testimony” (‫ )תעודה‬that, like the song in Deuteronomy 32 (‫)ענתה לעד‬, functions as evidence, see the textual note on the reconstruction of lines 4–5 of 4Q216 II as ‫וענתה‬ ‫=( התעודה אל התעודה הזאת‬Jub. 1:8) in VanderKam and Milik, “4QJubileesa,” DJD 13:10. For an alternative reconstruction, see Werman, “Te’udah,” 240–41.

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tive focuses on Israel’s future infidelity (Jub. 1:7–14). By contrast, Israelite faithlessness finds no place in the angel’s account of the past, nor for that matter in his disclosure of the near future.4 Testifying to God’s faithfulness, the angel’s narrative highlights God’s unique relationship with Israel, the revelation and transmission of heavenly secrets, the making of covenants, and the fulfillment of divine promises, dramatically culminating in the God-directed redemption from Egypt. Exodus narratives subsequent to the scriptural account of that redemption are reduced, omitted, reoriented, and/or reinterpreted within new contexts. From the narratives of the Israelites making their way from the Reed Sea to Mt. Sinai (Exod 15:22–19:1) the angel retains only two brief geographical site references, each of which is detached from an episode of Israelite obstreperousness and deployed in a positive context. The Israelite entrance “into the wilderness of Sur” (‫( )ויצאו אל מדבר שור‬Exod 15:22) that prefaces the narrative of the bitter waters in Exodus 15 is placed in association with the Israelites completing their celebration of the seven-day Massot festival on the shore of the Reed Sea (Jub. 49:23). Similarly, with no mention of the episode with the manna, “the wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai” (‫( )מדבר סין אשר בין אילם ובין סיני‬Exod 16:1) is associated solely with revelation of the law regarding the Sabbath (Jub. 50:1).5 The quarrel over water at Rephidim (Exod 17:1–7), the encounter with Amalek (Exod 17:8–16), and the meeting between Moses and Jethro (Exodus 18) are totally omitted. Elements from the narrative of covenant-making at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19– 24:11) do appear in the angel narration. However, they are exported across the illusory boundary between biblical books and rearranged to reworked Genesis contexts that turn the plain sense of the Exodus material on its head. The most notable rearrangement is the retrojection of the election of Israel from the Mt. Sinai context in Exodus to a Jubilees-created metahistorical context that links the sanctification of Israel to the sanctification of the Sabbath at the time of C ­ reation.6 He said to us: ‘I will now separate a people for myself from among my nations. They, too, will cease [keep sabbath].7 I will sanctify the people for myself and will bless them as I sanctified the Sabbath day… They will become my people and I will be 4 The angel ascribes the forty years in the wilderness before the entry into the land not to Israelite faithlessness, (as recounted in Numbers 14 and recalled by Moses in Deuteronomy 1), but to an allocation of time “for learning the Lord’s commandments” (Jub. 50:4). On the other hand, Israel’s apostasy is a central theme in the angel’s revelations of the distant future (Jub. 15:33–34; 23:11–23). 5 Concepts from the Exodus 16 narrative are employed in the Sabbath legislation presented in Jubilees 2 and 50. Note in particular the principle of preparation on the sixth day (Jub. 2:29, 50:8, 9a). 6 See the discussion of the Jubilees Sabbath narrative in Chapter 7.  7 The equivalent of the Hebrew ‫ישבתו‬. As indicated earlier, I use the literal translation with VanderKam’s “keep sabbath” in brackets.

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come their God. I have chosen the descendants of Jacob among all of those whom I have seen. I have recorded them as my first-born son and have sanctified them for myself throughout the ages of eternity’…In this way he made a sign on it by which they, too, would cease [keep sabbath] with us on the seventh day to eat, drink, and bless the creator of all as he had blessed them and sanctified them for himself as a noteworthy people out of all the nations; and to cease [keep sabbath] together with us (Jub. 2:19–21).

The phrase, “a noteworthy people”8 (Jub. 2:21), echoes language found at the beginning of the Exodus narrative of the Sinai covenant (“You shall be my treasured possession among all of the peoples”) (‫( )והייתם לי סגלה מכל העמים‬Exod 19:5; cf. Deut 7:6).9 In that passage ‫ סגלה מכל העמים‬is one of two characterizations of the relationship that God will have with Israel if it is obedient and keeps the covenant, contextually a most reasonable stipulation given the accounts of Israelite faithlessness in the preceding narratives (Exodus 16–17:7). The other characterization, “you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (‫תהיו לי ממלכת‬ ‫( )כהנים וגוי קדוש‬Exod 19:6), does not appear in the angel’s account of the sanctification of Israel at the time of Creation. However, in a portrayal of the election being disclosed to Abraham both descriptions are deposited into the mouths of the angels10 who reveal the destiny of the progeny that will descend through the patriarch’s yet unborn son. …one of Isaac’s sons would become a holy progeny…his descendants would become a people whom the Lord possesses11out of all the nations and they would become a kingdom, a priesthood, and a holy people (Jub. 16:18).

Subsequently, Abraham, encouraging Rebekah’s favoritism for Jacob, tells her, “I know that the Lord will choose him as his own people (who will be) special from all who are on the surface of the earth (Jub. 19:18). In these portraits the disclo 8 Jub. 2:19–21 is partially preserved in 4Q216 VII, 9–13. The phrase ‫ עם סגולה‬is reconstructed by VanderKam and Milik at the end of line 12. ‫“( מכל הגוים‬from all the [gentile] nations”), not ‫מכל העמים‬, is legible at the beginning of line 13. Brooke has suggested that the substitution of ‫ הגוים‬for ‫ העמים‬serves to accentuate the “difference between the people of God and the nations” (“Exegetical Strategies,” 44). On the problematic translation of ‫ סגולה‬in the Ethiopic, see VanderKam’s notes on Jub. 2:21; 16:18; 19:18 (Book of Jubilees, 2:13, 98, 113–14). 9 Other phrases in Jub. 2:19–21 reflect language that is employed in the Exodus account of the redemption from Egypt. At the Burning Bush God refers to Israel as “my first-born son” (Exod 4:22); when Moses and the Israelites first experience resistance on the part of Pharaoh, God assures them “I will take you to be my people and I will be your God” (‫ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם‬ ‫( )והייתי לכם לאלהים‬Exod 6:7). Israel as “God’s first-born son” appears only in Exod 4:22. That Israel becomes God’s people and he their God is also in Lev 26:11. On comparable phrasing in prophetic literature, see the passages cited in van Ruiten, Primaeval, 59–60. 10 A character in his own narration, the angel-narrator is one of the returning angels and presents the disclosure in the first person plural voice. 11 See VanderKam’s note on Jub. 16:18 (Book of Jubilees, 2:98).

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sure has two temporal points of reference. From the perspective of the characters in the narrative, it relates to the future. From the perspective of the angel-narrator, Moses-the-recorder, and not incidentally, the reader of Jubilees, the disclosure relates to the election already decreed at the time of Creation. Notably absent from the revelation to Abraham (Jub. 16:18) as well as from angel’s description of the sanctification of Israel at Creation (Jub. 2:19–21) is any mention of the condition that characterizes the election of Israel at Sinai—“if you obey me faithfully and keep my covenant…” (‫ועתה אם שמוע תשמעו בקלי ושמרתם את‬ ‫( )בריתי‬Exod 19:5a). Indeed, a different paradigm operates in the Jubilees account of the sanctification of Israel. Observing the law, in this instance the law regarding the Sabbath, is not a prerequisite for the election of Israel, but rather a derivative of Israel having been sanctified—“I have chosen the descendants of Jacob… and have sanctified them for myself throughout the ages of eternity. I will tell them about the Sabbath days so that they may cease [keep sabbath] from all work on them” (Jub. 2:20). The relationship between sanctification and divine law is also expressed, indeed in language that again echoes the description of election in Exod 19:5b–6a, in an excursus appended to the narrative of Reuben and Bilhah. No sin is greater than the sexual impurity which they commit on the earth because Israel is a holy people for the Lord its God. It is the nation which he possesses; it is a priestly nation; it is a priestly kingdom; it is what he owns. No such impurity will be seen among the holy people (Jub. 33:20).

The formal covenant ceremony described in Exod 24:7–8 is another component of the narrative of the Israelites at Mt. Sinai that appears in a Genesis-based context within the angel’s narration. In this instance, however, there is no temporal rearrangement. The ceremony remains in its Exodus context; but it is given an association that assigns it a new meaning. In the scriptural account there are three facets to the ceremony at Mt. Sinai: (1) a formal reading of the book of covenant (‫( )ספר הברית‬Exod 24:7a); (2) a formal declaration of acceptance on the part of the Israelites (“All that the Lord has spoken we will do and obey!”12 [‫( )]כל אשר דבר ה' נעשה ונשמע‬Exod 24:7b); (3) sprinkling of sacrificial blood upon the people (‫ )ויקח משה את הדם ויזרק על העם‬accompanied by a formal declaration of covenant making (“This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord now makes with you concerning all these commands” [‫הנה דם‬ ‫( )]הברית אשר כרת ה' עמכם על כל הדברים האלה‬Exod 24:8). The formal Israelite declaration—“we will do and obey”—can readily be understood as a ritualized acceptance of the condition that God had set forth for the nation’s election—“if you

12 Literal translation. In contrast to the other Exodus accounts of the Israelites agreeing to adhere to the covenant (Exod 19:8; 24:3), the declaration in Exod 24:7b is presented as part of the formal ceremony.

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will obey me faithfully and keep my covenant” (‫ועתה אם שמוע תשמעו בקלי ושמרתם‬ ‫( )את בריתי‬Exod 19:5a).13 Moreover, the unusual ritual of sprinkling blood on the people sufficiently resembles the blood ritual in the ordination ceremony that makes Aaron and his sons (and their vestments) “holy” (‫והזית על אהרון ועל בגדיו ועל‬ ‫( )בניו ועל בגדי בניו אתו וקדש הוא ובגדיו ובניו ובגדי בניו אתו‬Exod 29:21; cf. Lev 8:30)14 as to imply that the Sinai ritual similarly invests the Israelites as a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”15 Undermining both implications, the angel associates the Mt. Sinai ceremony and its ritual with a covenant that Noah had made in the same month (Jub. 6:10– 11).16 In response to a proscription of the consumption (and shedding) of blood legislated in God’s covenant with Noah (Jub. 6:4 interpreting Gen 8:21; Jub. 6:5–9 paraphrasing Gen 9:1–7),17 Noah (together his sons) swore an oath “not to consume any blood that was in any animate being” and made a covenant “before the Lord God forever throughout all the history of the earth” (Jub. 6:10). It was “for this reason,” the angel informs Moses, that God directed you also “to make a covenant — accompanied by an oath — with the Israelites during this month on the mountain and to sprinkle blood on them because of all the words of the covenant which the Lord was making with them for all times” (Jub. 6:11 interpreting Exod 24:7–8). The explanation ends in a paraphrase of ‫אשר כרת ה' עמכם על כל הדברים האלה‬ in Exod 24:8 with a telling addition (“for all times”) that makes God’s covenant with Israel at Sinai, like His covenant with Noah (Jub. 6:4, 15), an eternal one. 13 Such an understanding is spelled out in Mek. Bahodesh 3.  14 In the ordination ritual for Aaron and his sons, blood from a sacrificed ram is first placed on the lobe of the candidate’s right ear, thumb of the right hand, and big toe of the right foot. Thereafter, some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil are sprinkled on the candidate and on his vestments (Exod 29:19–21). 15 The causative form of the verb ‫ )והזית) נזה‬is used for the sprinkling in the ritual with Aaron and his sons whereas ‫ זרק‬is employed in the covenant ceremony. On the parallel between ‫ זריקה‬in Exod 24:8 and ‫ הזיה‬in Exod 29:21, see ibn Ezra on Exod 24:7. On the sprinkling in the covenant ceremony functioning like the blood sprinkling ritual in the initiation of Aaron and his sons, see Propp, Exodus, 2:309. 16 Noah made a covenant “in this month” (Jub. 6:10 referring back to “the third month” in Jub. 6:1); “for this reason” God told Moses to make a covenant with the Israelites on the mountain “in this month” (Jub. 6:11); and the festival of oaths that commemorates God’s covenant with Noah is to be celebrated “during this month” (Jub. 6:17). No precise date is mentioned in the Noah context. However, the fifteenth of the third month is identified (albeit indirectly) as the date of the festival of oaths in Jub. 44:4. And, as noted earlier, the dating of Moses being called to the mountain on the sixteenth of the third month (Jub. 1:1) implies that the covenant-­ making at Sinai, which occurs before Moses is called to the mountain (Exodus 24), took place on the fifteenth. 17 On the interpretive reworking of Gen 8:20–9:17 in Jubilees 6, see the variant analyses of Cana Werman, “The Story of the Flood in the Book of Jubilees,” Tarbiz 64 (1995): 193–201 (Hebrew); William Gilders, “Blood and Covenant: Interpretive Elaboration on Genesis 9:4–6 in the Book of Jubilees,” JSOP 15 (2006): 83–118; and van Ruiten, Primaeval History, 214–56.

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There is no scriptural basis for the association between the Noah and Sinai covenants. In Genesis the prohibition against consuming blood is not presented as a stipulation of a covenant that God makes after Noah’s sacrifice.18 Noah and his sons do not swear an oath not to consume blood; and Noah does not make a covenant. Moreover, in Exodus God does not give instructions relating to the covenant ceremony. Moses initiates the ceremony without a divine directive to do so. Contrived by Jubilees, the Noah covenant scenario is designed as an analogue to the circumstances of the covenant making at Mt. Sinai.19 God sets forth a covenantal stipulation (the covenant with Noah in Jub. 5:6//the address to Moses in Exod 19:5–6). In turn, the concerned party affirms acceptance of the stipulation (the oath taken by Noah and his sons in Jub. 6:10//the declaration of the Israelites in Exod 24:7) and formalizes the covenant. In the created Noah account there is no precise parallel to the sprinkling rite at Mt. Sinai. Rather, the shared motif, i. e., the blood that Noah vows not to consume and the blood that Moses sprinkles, is sufficient basis for the causal connection that Jubilees establishes between the two covenant scenarios.20 The Sinai covenant ceremony remains in its scriptural context. However, the rituals of that ceremony no longer suggest, even by implication, a sanctification of Israel consequent to acceptance of the conditional election that God sets forth in Exod 19:5–6. Recast as a renewal of Noah’s ancient covenant and oath, the ceremony at the foot of Mt. Sinai marks no major turning point in God’s relation 18 In response to Noah’s sacrifice God makes the determination to himself (‫)ויאמר ה' אל לבו‬ to never again destroy the earth (Gen 8:21–22). He issues the prohibition against the consumption and shedding of blood as a limitation to the dominion over the creatures of the earth that he assigns to humans (Gen 9:1–7) and then makes a formal covenant with Noah and his descendants (Gen 9:8–17). Jubilees rearranges phrases from the description of the covenant making at the end of the pericope (Gen 9:9a, 11ac) to God’s earlier response to Noah’s sacrifice (Gen 8:21) and transforms God’s words to himself (Gen 8:21) into making a covenant (Jub. 6:4). Van Ruiten ascribes the rearrangement to a desire to avoid an overlap between Gen 8:21 and Gen 9:11 (Primaeval History, 229); Segal views it as a setup for transforming the proscription against eating and shedding blood into a covenant stipulation (Book of Jubilees, 30). 19 Dorothy Peters notes the linkage between the Noahic and Mosaic covenants in Jubilees, but does not relate specifically to the covenant ceremony in Exodus 24 (“The Recombination and Evolution of Noah Traditions As Found in the Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees: The DNA of Fraternal Twins,” in Qumran Cave 1 Revisited: Texts from Cave 1 Sixty Years After Their Discovery: Proceedings of the Sixth Meeting of the IOQS in Ljublijana [STDJ 91; ed. D. Falk et. al; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2010], 231). 20 Van Ruiten suggests that the sprinkling of blood “could be a reminder of the most important condition of Noah’s Covenant — not to consume blood” (Primaeval History, 241). Gilders views the recontextualization of the Exodus rite as a demonstration of “the legitimate use of blood” (Gilders, “Blood,” 96). And James Kugel has argued that the entire Noah covenant pericope (Jub. 6:9–16) reflects the hand of a creative interpolator for whom the blood prohibition was “absolutely crucial” (“On the Interpolations,” RevQ 24 [2009]: 241–43).

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ship with Israel. In the Jubilees reconstructed Genesis-Exodus story, the drama of God’s relationship with Israel originates at the time of Creation; it is confirmed in promises made to the patriarchs; and it comes to culmination in a redemption scenario that reveals the inner workings of divine providence.

Present Time Closure The setting established in the opening frame of Jubilees — Moses recording the words being dictated by the angel of the presence on Mt. Sinai (Jub. 1:1–4, 26– 29)—remains the existential present time throughout the angel’s narration. In the accounts of the antediluvian and patriarchal fathers the Mt. Sinai present-time is primarily a subtle backdrop that comes to the foreground when the angel, momentarily pausing in his account of the past, directs Moses to “write” (Jub. 2:1; 23:32; 33:18) or to “command, “order,” “tell” the Israelites to observe a particular command (Jub. 2:26, 29; 6:13, 20, 32; 15:28; 30:11; 33:13, 19; 41:26; 49:15, 22).21 As the angel moves to events in which Moses participates, the instances of direct personal address, signified by “I,” “you,” and “your,” progressively increase until the final chapter of Jubilees where the account of the past is subsumed in a personal discourse that brings the retrospective narration up to the present time of the dictation on Mt. Sinai. The discourse begins immediately after the presentation of the law relating to the festival of Massot (Jub. 49:23), which the Israelites finished celebrating on the shore after crossing the Sea. Insinuating that it was he who had instructed Moses (and through him, the Israelites) with regard to the law of Massot,22 the angel describes three occasions on which he also conveyed Sabbath-type legislation to Moses.23 21 With the exception of Jub. 2:1, 23:32, all the passages are included in the nineteen sections of Jubilees that Kugel ascribes to “the Interpolator” (“On the Interpolations,” 262–65). The shift to present-time address in the account of Noah’s covenant (Jub. 6:11 [“For this reason he told you…”]) is unusual in that the angel is not relating an event in the distant past to a directive or law that Moses is to convey to the Israelites. Instead, he is creating an association between two events that occurred in the past, i. e., Noah’s covenant and oath and the covenant and oath that took place before Moses ascended the mountain where he is being addressed by the angel. 22 There is no scriptural basis for the suggestion that an angel revealed the law of Massot to Moses. 23 In Jubilees 50 the term Sabbath is used both in the narrow sense of the Sabbath day and in the broad sense of a category that encompasses the Sabbath day and the sabbatical year. The broad conception may be an imitation of the rubric “my Sabbaths” (‫( )שבתותי‬e.g., Exod 31:13; Lev 19:3, 30; 26:2) and/or reflect scriptural designation of both the Sabbath day and the Sabbath year as belonging to the Lord (e.g., Exod 16:25 ['‫ ;]כי שבת היום לה‬Lev 23:3 ['‫ ;]שבת הוא לה‬Lev 25:2 ['‫[ובשנה השביעית…שבת לה‬, 4 ]'‫)]ושבתה הארץ שבת לה‬.

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After this law I informed you about the sabbath days in the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. On Mt. Sinai I told you about the sabbaths of the land and the years of the jubilees in the sabbaths of the years…I have now dictated24 to you the sabbath commandments and all the statutes of its laws (Jub. 50:1–2, 6).

The three occasions are mentioned in chronological order of their occurrence, a sequence that has been overlooked by contemporary scholars troubled by the shifts from Sabbath day to sabbatical year (“sabbaths of the land”), to jubilee years (“sabbaths of the years”), and back to Sabbath day in the legislation at the close of Jubilees 50.25 Albeit minimally connected to the Exodus storyline, each occasion is presented in a context that reveals its place in the order of events recounted within the scriptural narrative. The reference to geographical site readily identifies the first occasion as an allusion to the Sabbath law given in connection with the episode of the manna that occurs in the course of the Israelite travel through the wilderness to Mt. Sinai (Exod 16:23–30).26 There is no mention of an angel in the Exodus account of the Sabbath legislation given in association with the collection of the manna. The mediating role ascribed to the angel narrator is a Jubilees contrivance that explains how Moses knew the Sabbath law that he presents to the Israelites as the word of the Lord ('‫( )הוא אשר דבר ה‬Exod 16:23, 25–26).27 The precise context of the second occasion is less obvious. As earlier noted, in Jubilees there are two revelations on Mt. Sinai — the revelation of past and future that the angel is dictating to Moses (Jub. 1:27–29) and “the book of the first law,” i. e., the Torah, that the angel had previously written for Moses (Jub. 6:22; 30:12).28 The language employed in Jub. 50:2 indicates a reference to the Torah law, specifically to the legislation regarding the “sabbaths of the land” (the sabbatical year) and “the sabbaths of the years” (the jubilee year) in Leviticus 25–26.29 The 24 Here, as in 50:13, the Ethiopic translator confuses the kal and hiph’il forms of the Hebrew ‫כתב‬. When citing those passages, I presume the hiph’il form in the original Hebrew and use “dictate.” On the confusion in the Ethiopic, see VanderKam, “Putative,” 209–17. 25 See in particular Ravid, “The Relationship,” 161–66 and Kister’s argument discussed in Segal, Book of Jubilees, 20. 26 As noted earlier, the angel does not mention the manna episode that is the occasion for the revelation of Sabbath law in the wilderness. 27 In the preceding narrative (Exod 16:4–16) God informs Moses about the provision of the manna with the double portion on the sixth day and provides the rule for its collection, but does not mention the Sabbath per se. 28 On Jub. 6:22 and 30:12 (citing Gen 34:14) referring to the Pentateuch, see VanderKam, “Putative,” 210, 214. 29 Legislation of the sabbatical year appears in Exod 23:10–11 where it is immediately followed by a command to cease from work on the seventh day (‫( )וביום השביעי תשבת‬Exod 23:12). There is no reference to the jubilee year in Exodus 23. The subject of jubilee year is first addressed in Leviticus 25. The terms “sabbaths of the land” and “sabbaths of the years” in Jub. 50:2a appear to be drawn from Lev 25:6 (‫ )שבת הארץ‬and Lev 25:8 (‫)שבתת שנים‬. The conception of the land observing “its

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legislation in Leviticus is set forth in the contextual framework of laws that God reveals to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness (Lev 1:1); but the sabbatical and jubilee year legislation is presented as a revelation given to Moses at an earlier time, specifically “on Mt. Sinai” (Lev 25:1).30 Creating a similar temporal structure, the author of Jubilees has the angel disclosing the sabbatical and jubilee year legislation in the book of the first law, but acknowledging that disclosure in the context of a later revelation, i. e., the account of events that he is dictating to Moses. The angel’s articulation of the legislation—“the land shall observe its sabbaths when they live on it and they are to know the year of the jubilee” (Jub. 50:3)—is an adaptation of “when you enter the land…the land shall observe a Sabbath of the Lord” in Lev 25:2. In Leviticus 25 instructions for calculation of the sabbatical (v. 3) and then, of the jubilee year (v. 8) follow. The angel presents a different calculation, a computation of years that reveals the date when the Israelites will enter the land and will know the year of the jubilee (Jub. 50:4).31 The date is 2450, the jubilee of jubilees (50 x 49). Much as the Israelites living in the land are required to restore property to its individual owner in the jubilee year, so in the jubilee of jubilees God will lead the Israelites to the land of Canaan (Jub. 50:4), thereby restoring the land to its legitimate heirs (Jub. 8:12–18; 9:4;

sabbaths” in Jub. 50:3 imitates the personification of the land in Lev 26:34, 43; the description of Israelites living “confidently in the entire land” at the close of the pericope (Jub. 50:5) incor­ porates language reminiscent of ‫ וישבתם על הארץ לבטח‬in Lev 25:18c–19. 30 The presentation of the legislation in Leviticus 25–26 as law revealed earlier at Sinai has been variously interpreted in rabbinic literature and in contemporary scholarship. According to Rabbi Ishmael the closing words of Lev 26:46 — ‫אלה החקים והמשפטים והתורת אשר נתן ה'… בהר סיני ביד‬ ‫ — משה‬identify the entire pericope as legislation in the book of the covenant that Moses read to the Israelites before the formal covenant making at Mt. Sinai (Exod 24:4–7) (Mek. Bahodesh 3) (presented in VanderKam, “The End,” 279–80). Ibn Ezra views the laws in the two chapters as part of the Book of the Covenant given at Mt. Sinai that was transposed so as to make their violation a reason for expulsion (Ibn Ezra on Lev 25:1); Ramban associates the legislation with the second covenant making on Mt. Sinai after the sin of the Golden Calf (Exod 34:10–26) (Ramban on Lev 25:1). For the contemporary scholarship, see Milgrom, Leviticus, 2151–52 and Bernard Levinson, “The Manumission of Hermeneutics: The Slave Laws of the Pentateuch as a Challenge to Contemporary Pentateuchal Theory,” in Congress Volume Leiden 2004 (VTSup 109; ed. Andre Lemaire; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2006), 281–324. In contrast to Milgrom who views a search for stages of growth in Leviticus 25 “meaningless,” (Leviticus, 2150), Levinson explores Leviticus 25 (H) as a creative re-redaction of legal traditions developed in the Covenant Code (Exod 21:2– 11; 23:10–11) and redacted in D (Deut 15:1, 12–18). He sees the Mt. Sinai ascription in Lev 25:1 as an assertion that presents the rewriting as “more original than the tradition it both rewrites and expands” (“Manumission,” 322–23). 31 In an earlier verse the angel indicates he did not reveal the year of the jubilee when he told Moses about “the sabbaths of the land and years of the jubilees in the sabbaths of the years” on Mt. Sinai (Jub. 50:2).

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10:29–34).32 The thematic continuity of the restoration motif stands in striking contrast to the formulation of the date. Unlike other date formulations in Jubilees, it is not expressed in units of year, week, and jubilee, e.g., the seventh year in the seventh week of the 50th jubilee (=2450).33 Instead, the date is produced through a calculation that employs “today” as a reference point for a past that extends “ forty-nine jubilees from the time of Adam until today, and one week and two years” and for a future that is “still forty years off ” (i. e., from today) (Jub. 50:4). In the context of the Jubilees calculation “until today”34 denotes, albeit obliquely, the present time of the angel addressing Moses on Mt. Sinai, which is the third occasion on which the angel reveals Sabbath law. A more precise indication of that present point in time is provided by the angel’s announcement—“I have now35 dictated36 for you the Sabbath commandments and all the statutes of its laws” (Jub. 50:6). Enumerating those commandments, the angel ends his narration with a recollection of God having placed the tablets on which the laws were written “in my hands so that I could dictate for you the laws of each specific time in every division of its times” (Jub. 50:13). The description carries a double allusion. The references to dictation and to the division of times recall the present-time setting established in the opening frame of Jubilees (Jub. 1:26, 27, 29). However, the scene recollected at the end of angel narration is not the same as the one depicted in the opening frame. In the scenario that introduces the narration God commands Moses to record all that he is told regarding “the divisions of time which are in the law and which are in the testimony…” (Jub. 1:26) and directs the angel of the presence to “dictate” to Moses (Jub. 1.27); the angel takes “the tablets (which told) of the divisions of the years 32 On the children of Israel/Jacob as the heirs of the original owners, see Chapter 2.  VanderKam suggests that Jubilees also intends an analogy between the required release of the individual Israelite slave in the jubilee year and the release of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt in the fiftieth jubilee year (2410), much as suggested in Lev 25:54–55 (“Studies in the Chronology,” 542–43). However, such a motif is notably undeveloped in Jubilees. In contrast to the entry into the land, the exodus from Egypt is not a dated event. That it occurs in the fiftieth jubilee is evident only from the dating of Moses’s return to Egypt (Jub. 48:1). Moreover, there is no narrative connection between the angel’s account of the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt (Jubilees 48) and his recollection of having told Moses about the sabbaths of the years (the jubilee years) on Mt. Sinai. The recollected legislation is linked only to the forthcoming entrance into the land (Jub. 50:2–3). 33 Such a formulation of ‘sevens’ is used in the date of Amram’s return from Canaan (“during the seventh week, in the seventh year in the forty-seventh jubilee [2303]” [Jub. 47:1]). On the significance of the date, see the discussion in Chapter 2. 34 In Jub. 50:4 “until today” refers to a specific point in time. Elsewhere in the angel’s account of the past the phrase “until today” (or “today”) is employed as a quasi-historical elaboration comparable to ‫ עד היום הזה‬in Gen 47:26 (Jub. 45:12); Deut 2:22 (Jub. 38:14); Deut 3:14 (Jub. 29:9–11); Deut 10:8 (Jub. 45:16). See also Jub. 16:5 for which there is no scriptural parallel. 35 Emphasis mine 36 On “dictate” here and in Jub. 50:13, see VanderKam, “Putative,” 209–17.

Closures

159

from the time the law and the testimony were created…” (Jub. 1:29) and begins his address to Moses (Jub. 2:1). There is no mention of God placing the tablets in the angel’s hands. That image more closely resembles the closing scene of the Exodus account of Moses’s first forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai—“When he finished speaking with him on Mt. Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the Pact inscribed with the finger of God” (‫ויתן אל משה ככלתו לדבר אתו בהר סיני שני לחת העדת‬ ‫( )לחת אבן כתבים באצבע אלהים‬Exod 31:18). Substituting the angel narrator for Moses, the author of Jubilees creates an ending that combines the Exodus scene with recollection of the scenario that introduces the angel’s dictation. The result is a closure that encases the present-time of the angel narration within a fusion of ending and beginning.

Circular Closure The Sabbath legislation that the angel sets forth at the close of his narration (Jub. 50:6–13a) displays another meeting of ending with beginning, for it circles back and reengages texts and motifs that are introduced in the treatment of the Sabbath and its law in the angel’s account of Creation (Jub. 2:1, 17–33). At one level the circularity reflects the contextual and temporal relationship between the narration of the angel and the scriptural narrative. Unlike the setting which remains fixed in time, the content of the narration moves through time. Tracking the scriptural storyline by allusions, the angel ends his account of the recent past at the point where the revelations to Moses in the course of his first stay on Mt. Sinai come to a close in Exodus, i. e., with a revelation of Sabbath law (Exod 31:13–17). That contextual end point is also a temporal beginning point, for the angel begins his narration and his account of Creation with a précis that weaves an allusion to the Sabbath as a sign in Exod 31:17 into a reworking of Gen 2:2–3 (Jub. 2:1=4Q216 V, 3).37 At another level, the circularity is the product of a deliberate discontinuity in design that splits the presentation of Sabbath legislation between two contexts. Following his account of the sanctifications of the Sabbath and of Israel at the time of Creation the angel reveals Sabbath laws and, as with the presentation of other legislation,38 directs Moses to convey (“command”/“inform and tell”) the law to the Israelites (Jub. 2:26, 29). No comparable directive accompanies the laws at the end of the narration. Without preface, the angel, as if reengaging a 37 “…in six days the Lord God completed all his works, everything that he had created, and ceased [kept sabbath] on the seventh day. He sanctified it for all ages and set it as a sign for all his works” (Jub. 2:1 =4Q216 V, 3), combining Gen 2:2–3a (‫ויכל אלהים ביום השביעי מלאכתו אשר עשה‬ ‫ )וישבת ביום השביעי…ויקדש אתו‬and the sign motif ( ‫ )אות הוא לעלם‬in Exod 31:17. 38 Jub. 6:13, 20, 32; 15:28; 30:11; 33:13, 19; 41:26; 49:15, 22.

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suspended theme, enumerates “the sabbath commandments and all the statutes of its laws” that he has “now dictated” to Moses (Jub. 50:6). The resulting impression is of a return to an earlier conversation — a return that places the laws enumerated at the end of the angel narration under the umbrella of the directives that introduce the Sabbath legislation in Jubilees 2. In such a reading, the legislation at the end of Jubilees 50 is not an addendum by a third hand as Kugel has suggested,39 but rather a finale to a revelation whose separate parts form a coherent whole. Indeed, as we have seen, the expositions of Sabbath law in Jubilees 2 and 50 stand in complementary relationship. Each undertakes explication and expansion of the fundamental Sabbath law in the Decalogue (Exod 20:8–10), one accentuating the sanctify component of that law, the other highlighting its proscription of all work. Each involves a hermeneutics that engages biblical presentations of the Sabbath day (or “tomorrow”) and the seventh day as ‫ קדש לכם‬and '‫קדש לה‬, with one set of the phrases associated with the command to sanctify, the other set with the proscription of all work. Furthermore, intra-textual allusions tie each presentation of law to the portrayal of Sabbath celebration in the ­Jubilees Creation narrative, one striving to harmonize its universal and particular expressions (Jub. 2:31–33), the other moving its holy festal day concept into an Israel-focused Exodus context. The two presentations of Sabbath law are situated at separate ends of the angel’s narration — one set of laws transects the beginning part of the narration; the other comes at its closure. But the separation is an illusion of context, for the angel imparts the Sabbath law — both sets — in the present-time of addressing Moses on Sinai. The splitting of the event is a literary strategy — one that places the date-focused narrative spoken by the angel within a legislative envelope that acknowledges no passage of time.

39 Kugel views the absence of an accompanying directive to the enumeration of laws in Jubilees 50 as evidence of a “third hand,” i. e., a hand different from that of the original author as well as from that of the “Interpolator” to whom Kugel ascribes the Sabbath legislation in Jubilees 2 and the laws associated with the directives referenced in the above note (Walk, 271–73; 284–89).

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INDEX OF ANCIENT SOURCES

Hebrew Bible Genesis 1 19, 46 1–11 46 1–Exodus 12:50 21 1–Exodus 14 21 2:1–3 129 2:3 137 2:2–3 130, 131, 132, 159 6:14 53 7:1 63 7:4 63 7:7 50 7:13 50 8:6–12 54 8:20–9:17 153 8:21 153, 154 8:21–22 154 8:22 55 9:1–7 153, 154 9:8–17 154 9:9 154 9:11 154 10:22 51 11:27–29 51 12:6 38 12:7 46 12:8 38 13:14–17 46 13:18 37 14:13 37, 61 15 37, 55, 66 15:7 46, 55 15:10–11 54 15:11 54 15:12–21 66 15:13 40, 81 15:13–14 66 15:14 67, 80, 81 15:18–20 46 16:5–8 56 17 137 17:7 137

17:7–8 46 17:11 137 17:12 141 17:14 137 17:19–21 46 18:1 37 20:1 37 20:2–3 87 21:20 57 22 87, 88 22:2 87 22:4 87 22:10 88 22:11–12 62 22:12 87 22:15–18 62 22:16 46, 87 22:16–18 46 22:19 39 23:2 37, 39 23:17 37 23:19 37 25:7–8 27 25:27 37, 57, 58 25:31–34 46 26:3–5 46 27 46 28:13–15 46 31:2 31 34:14 156 35:4 71 35:9–12 58 35:27 37, 40 35:28–29 27 37:6–9 29 38:1 61 38:20 61 47:26 158 47:27 26, 27 47:28 27, 29 47:28–31 28 48 28

172

Index of Ancient Sources

49 28 48–50 28 48:1–20 28 48:22 28 50 27 50:1 28 50:5 38 50:15–21 27 50:21 28 50:23 27, 29 50:24 27 50:24–25 29, 30 50:25 25, 27 50:26 29 50:33 27 Exodus 1–15 21 1–15:19 21 1 25, 26, 29, 31 1:1 86 1:1–7 26 1:1–10 37 1:5 86 1:6 29 1:7 26 1:8 28, 31, 60 1:8–10 29 1:10 32, 33 1:10–11 42 1:11 43 1:11–2:10 43 1:12 43, 81 1:12–14 42 1:13 43, 81 1:15 52 1:15–16 43 1:15–22 43 1:17–22 43 1:22 43, 52 2 49, 52, 54 2:1 44, 49, 52 2:1–10 43 2:1–15 60 2:3 53 2:4 53 2:5–6 56 2:5 55 2:6 56 2:7 56 2:9 56

2:10 57, 58 2:11 57, 58, 59 2:12 59 2:13 59 2:13–14 59 2:15 59, 60 2:16–22 60 2:23 60 3:1 61 3:1–4:17 61 3:6–8 44 3:8 68 3:10 71, 72 3:12 61 3:16 29 3:16–17 44 3:18 86 3:19 68 3:19–20 69 3:20 68 3:21 80, 81, 82 3:21–22 81 3:22 80, 81 4:10–17 61 4:20 60 4:21 68, 78 4:22 69, 151 4:23 69 4:24 61 4:24–26 61 5:3 77, 86 6:1 68, 86 6:3–4 67 6:3–8 44 6:5–6 67 6:6 67, 68 6:6–7 72 6:7 151 6:11 71 6:20 49, 52 6:23 72 6:26–27 72 6:29 72 7–12 70 7:1 63 7:3 78 7:4 63 7:4–5 68 7:5 69 7:7 60 7:13 78

Index of Ancient Sources 7:14 78 7:17 69 7:19–20 71 7:21 70 7:22 69, 73, 78 7:28 70 8:2 71 8:3 73 8:4 72 8:6 69 8:11 69, 73, 78 8:12 71 8:13 71 8:13–14 70 8:14 73 8:15 69, 73, 76 8:18 69 8:20 71 8:21–22 70 8:23 77, 86 8:28 69, 76 9:6 71 9:7 69, 76 9:8–10 71 9:9–10 70 9:11 73 9:12 69, 78 9:14 69 9:15 68, 71 9:16 69 9:22–23 71 9:25 70 9:34 69, 78 9:35 69, 78 10:1 69, 78 10:1–2 69 10:3–11 71 10:9 86 10:12 70 10:12–13 71 10: 13–15 70 10:20 69 10:21–22 71 10:22 71 10:22–23 70 10:27 69, 78 11–12 92, 93, 94 11:4 92, 94 11:4–7 92 11:5 93 11:7 93

11:10 12

173

69, 78 83, 89, 91, 93, 101, 114, 125 12–13 87, 91, 92, 97, 99, 100, 101, 128 12:1–2 83 12:2–10 119 12:3–4 119 12:3–11 83 12:5 93 12:6 87, 88, 91, 100, 111, 112, 113, 120, 121 12:7 119 12:8 87, 91, 92, 100, 111, 112, 114, 115, 124 12:9 114, 115, 117 12:10 100, 111, 112 12:11 94, 97, 114 12:11–12 93 12:12 71 12:12–13 83, 92, 94 12:13 93, 114, 115, 117, 118 12:13–14 115 12:14 86, 98, 99, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 115, 116, 117, 118, 132 12:14–18 83 12:15 95, 114, 137 12:16 96 12:17 86, 90, 92, 99, 107 12:18 92 12:18–20 98 12:19 137 12:19–20 83 12:20 95 12:21–23 83 12:22 91, 119 12:22–27 99 12:23 92, 93, 94, 114, 116, 118 12:23–24 115 12:24 115, 116, 118 12:24–27 83, 99 12:25 123, 125 12:25–27 90, 123, 127 12:27 92, 94, 123 12:28 83, 92 12:29 71, 87, 92, 93, 94 12:29–32 91 12:29–41 83 12:30 94

174

Index of Ancient Sources

12:31–39 97 12:34 97 12:35 80, 81 12:35–36 81 12:36 80, 81 12:37–42 100 12:39 97, 114 12:42 83, 98, 103, 107 12:43 100, 103, 105, 107 12:43–45 119 12:43–49 83, 100, 117, 119 12:46 100, 114, 115, 117, 119 12:46–49 120 12:47 120 12:47–49 119, 121 12:48 90 12:48–49 100 12:50 92, 100 12:50–51 83 12:51 72 13 100, 105 13:1–2 100 13:1–16 100 13:2 105 13:3 72, 95, 104 13:3–5 92 13:3–8 86 13:3–10 100 13:6 86, 95, 96 13:6–7 100 13:6–8 90 13:7 95 13:8 100 13:9 72, 100, 105 13:10 99, 100, 103, 125 13:11–15 100 13:12–13 100 13:15 69, 78 13:16 100, 105 13:18 80 13:20 80, 86 13:21 75 14:1 78, 86 14:1–2 80 14:4 75, 76, 78 14:5 75, 77, 78 14:6 74 14:8 75, 77, 97 14:10 75 14:13 76 14:16 76 14:16–17 78

14: 17 74, 78, 79 14:17–18 78 14:19 18, 43 14:19–20 75 14:20–21 78 14:21 76 14:21–23 79 14:22 75 14:24 75, 76 14:25 76 14:26–27 76 14:27 76 14:30 68 14:31 68 15 21, 43, 76, 150 15:4 76 15:5 76 15:9–10 76 15:19 75 15:22 86, 96, 150 15:22–19:1 23, 43, 150 16 138, 139, 144, 150 16–17:7 151 16:1 150 16:4–16 156 16:5 130, 134, 138, 139, 143, 144 16:12 144 16:22–23 139 16:23 130, 132, 134, 135, 138, 156 16:23–30 156 16:25 132, 138, 155 16:25–26 156 16:29 139, 144, 145 17:1–7 150 17:6 61 17:8–16 150 18 150 18:4 60, 61 18:9–10 68 18:10 68 19 15, 44 19–24:11 150 19:1 15, 44 19:2–3 15, 29 19:3–6 15, 44 19:5 151, 152, 153 19:5–6 130, 152, 154 19:6 151 19:8 152 19:10 133, 143

Index of Ancient Sources 19:14–15 133 19:16–20 14, 44 19:20 14, 15 19:22 133 20:4–5 23 20:8–10 23, 141, 160 20:9 141, 145 20:10 141, 142 20:11 141, 144, 145, 146 20:12 23 21–23 17 21:2–11 157 23 156 23:10–11 156 23:12 145, 156 23:15 91, 95 23:16 22, 84 23:18 104, 108, 116, 126 23:18–19 108 23:20–23 18, 19 23:20 18 23:21–22 19 23:22 20 23:23 18 24 14, 15, 16, 17, 131, 154 24:1 133 24:3–4 18 24:3 17, 152 24:4 15, 17 24:4–7 157 24:4–8 15 24:5 131 24:7 17, 18, 152, 154 24:7–8 130, 152, 153 24:8 18, 152, 153 24:11 131, 133 24:12 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 24:12–13 14 24:13 14 24:15 14 24:15–18 14, 15 24:16 14 24:17 14 24:18 14 28:36 132 29: 21 130, 153 29:19–21 153 30:7–8 145 30:12–15 120, 122 30:19 22 30:33 137 30:34 22

175

30:38 137 31 19, 135 31:13 130, 131, 135, 137, 142, 155 31:13–17 22, 130, 159 31:14 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 142 31:14–15 142 31:15 132, 134, 140, 142, 146 31:16–17 135, 137 31:17 130, 131, 137, 159 31:18 14, 17, 159 32: 5–6 131 32:11 68 32:20 71 32:34 18, 19 33:2 18, 19 33:6 61 34 17, 100 34:1 14, 17 34:2 14 34:4 14 34:10–26 17, 157 34:18 91, 95 34:19–20 100 34:21 145 34:22 22 34:25 104, 108, 112, 116, 126 34:25–26 108 34:27 17, 18 34:28 17 34:29 14 35:2 130, 132, 134, 140, 141, 142, 146 35:2–3 145 39:30 132 Leviticus 1:1 157 1:11 127 4 136 4–5 132, 136 4:2 136 4:7 127 4:13 136 4:22 136 4:27 136 5:15 136 5:17 136 6:9 127 7:20–21 137 7:25 137

176

Index of Ancient Sources

7:27 137 7:41 137 8:30 153 9:4 131 16:4 22 16:24 22 17:1–9 121 17:9 137 17:10 137 18:8 50 18:12 49 18:14 49 18:15 50 19:3 155 19:8 137 19:30 155 20:2 132 20:12 141 20:19 49 23 85, 96, 111, 132 23:1–3 132 23:2 111 23:2–3 111, 134 23:3 132, 140, 155 23:4 111 23:5 91, 103, 105, 107, 109, 113, 114, 120 23:5–8 95 23:6 91, 95, 96 23:7 98 23:8 96 23:29 137 23:37–38 145 23:37 103, 105, 107, 111, 120 23:39 84, 86 23:41 86 25 156, 157 25–26 156, 157 25:1 157 25:2 155, 157 25:3 157 25:4 155 25:6 156 25:8 156, 157 25:18–19 157 25:54–55 158 26:2 155 26:11 151 26:34 157 26:46 157

27 132 28:16 91 Numbers 1:3 122 4:3 122 8:24 122 9 106 9:1–14 106 9:2 90, 110, 111, 116, 117, 120, 121 9:2–3 90, 104, 109, 111, 116 9:3 90, 91, 100, 105, 106, 109, 110, 111, 113, 117 9:4 90 9:5 90, 91, 109, 113 9:7 106 9:10 109 9:11 100, 109, 111, 114 9:11–12 106 9:11–13 103 9:12 100, 112, 116, 117 9:13 104, 107, 108, 109, 111, 137 9:14 100, 103, 105, 106 13 38 13:22 38 14 150 15:20 137 15:22–28 136 15:30–31 136 15:32–36 136 15:35 132, 137, 142 18:17 127 19:20 137 20:14 82 20:16 72 26 49 26:2 122 26:59 49 28:10 145 28:16–25 95 28:17 91, 95, 98 28:18 96 28:24 96 28:25 96 28:26 84 29:6 15 29:12 84, 86 33:3 91, 97 33:4 71

Index of Ancient Sources Deuteronomy 1 150 1:6 61 2:22 158 3:14 158 4:10 61 4:15 61 4:34 68 5:2 61 5:8–9 23 5:14 145 5:15 68 5:16 23 6:8 100 6:11 100 6:12 68 6:18 100 6:21 68, 100 6:23 72 7:6 151 7:8 68, 72 7:19 68 8:10 144 8:25 71 9:8 61 9:10 17 9:12 72 9:21 71 9:26 68, 72 9:29 68 10:2 17 10:4 17 10:8 158 11:2–3 68 11:4 76 12:1 124 12:4 126 12:5–12 120 12:6 125 12:7 122 12:8 121 12:8–11 121 12:11 126 12:11–12 121 12:12 120, 122 12:14 123 12:13–14 123 12:18 120 12:21 126 12:24 126 12:27 127

177

15:1 157 15:12–18 157 15:20 105, 123, 125 16 85, 90, 91, 98, 110, 126 16:1 90, 91 16:3 86, 92, 95, 97, 104, 105, 114 16:3–4 103 16:4 90, 105, 110, 112, 113 16:5 125, 127 16:5–6 123 16:5–7 126 16:6 90, 91, 110, 112, 123, 124, 125, 126 16:7 96, 115, 117, 124, 126 16:8 95, 96, 100 16:11 85 16:13–15 85 16:16 96 18:16 61 31 16, 149 31:19 16 32 67, 68, 149 32:8–9 66 32:8 66 32:36 67 32:41 68 32:46 18 34:7 52 34:11 63 34:12 68 Joshua 5:10 90 21:13 45 Judges 11:46 105 21:19 105 1 Samuel 1:3 105 2:19 105 20:18 15 20:24 15 20:27 15 2 Samuel 2:1–4 45 5:1–3 45 12:16–20 145, 146

178

Index of Ancient Sources

1 Kings 1 Kings 29 5:18 29 8:17–19 126 8:44 126 8:48 126 8:65 84 2 Kings 23:21 90 Isaiah 8:16 16 8:20 16 29:11–12 16 30:8 16 52:12 97 58:13 131, 138, 143 62:9 127 Jeremiah 17 140 17:21–22 138, 143 17:22 140 17:24 136 26:17 121 43:12–13 71 46:10 68 50:22–25 145, 146 Ezekiel 20:12 130 20:20 130 21:2 31 25:7 68 29:3 54 30:14–19 71 32:2 54 34:10 66 45:21 91, 96 Hosea 2:2 29 Obadiah 1:10 137 Psalms 104:15 94 105:42 67

107:23 145, 146 149:7 68 Proverbs 21:17 94 Ecclesiastes 8:15 94 Esther 9:27

107

Daniel 9:16 68 Ezra 3:8 122 6 98 6:19 91 6:19–22 96 6:22 85, 96 Nehemiah 10:32 143 13:15 143 1 Chronicles 4:18 55 6:42 45 10:32 143 13:15 143 2 Chronicles 5:3 84 6 126 7:8–9 84 8:12–13 96 30 85, 96, 98 30:5 90 30:15–16 126 30:21 85, 94 30:23 96 35 98 35:1 90, 91 35:1–16 95 35:10–11 126 35:13 115, 117 35:16–19 90 35:17 96 36:19 39

179

Index of Ancient Sources

Ancient Versions and Translations Ethiopic Gen 22:2 Gen 22:12 Gen 22:16 Exod 1:10 Exod 1:12 Exod 1:22

87 87 87 31 43 43

Old Latin Gen 22:2 Gen 22:12 Gen 22:16 Exod 1:10 Exod 1:12 Exod 1:22 Exod 20:10

87 87 87 31 43 43 141

Samaritan Exod 1:22

43

Septuagint Gen 15:11 Gen 22:2 Gen 22:12 Gen 22:16 Gen 46:28 Gen 50:25 Exod 1:10 Exod 1:12 Exod 1:22 Exod 2:3 Exod 4:24 Exod 6:20 Exod 8:21–22

54 87 87 87 30 25 31 43` 43 53 62 49 70

Exod 8:24 Exod 12:9 Exod 14:17 Exod 20:10 Exod 31:14 Exod 31:15 Exod 34:28 Exod 35:2 Deut 32:8 Dan 9:2 Ps 44 (45):8 2 Chr 36:19

70 115, 117 74 141 136 142 17, 43 134, 142 66 39 39 39

Syriac Exod 31:15 Exod 35:2

142 134

Targum Onqelos Exod 1:10 Exod 4:24 Exod 4:25–26

30 62 62

Targum Neofiti Exod 4:25 Exod 4:26

62 62

Targum Pseudo–Jonathan Gen 11:20 52 Exod 1:10 30 Exod 2:3 53 Exod 4:24 62 Exod 4:25–26 62 Exod 13:10 122

Apocrypha Tobit 7:14 50

1 Maccabees 11:65 45

Wisdom of Solomon 18:5 76

Pseudepigrapha Aramaic Levi Document 5:6 39, 41 12:3–4 45

Jubilees Prologue 1

13, 14, 16 13, 14, 58

180

Index of Ancient Sources

1:1 14, 15, 18, 19, 153 1:1–2 14 1:1–4 155 1:2 14 1:3 14 1:4 14, 16 1:4–15 14 1:5 18, 57 1:5–6 18, 149 1:5–18 13 1:7 16, 18 1:7–8 16 1:7–14 150 1:8 16, 149 1:9–16 154 1:19–21 13 1:22–26 13 1:26 16, 18, 19, 57, 158 1:26–28 14 1:26–29 155 1:27 18, 19, 57, 158 1:27–28 13, 19 1:27–29 155 1:29 18, 19, 158 2 20, 129, 130, 134, 135, 140, 141, 144, 146, 147, 150, 160 2–50 13 2:1 57, 130, 132, 155, 159 2:2–33 133 2:13–24 129 2:15–22 132 2:17 131 2:17–18 140 2:17–25 129, 130 2:18 137 2:19 137 2:19–20 137 2:19–21 22, 130, 135, 140, 151 2:19–22 131 2:20 15, 89, 131, 152 2:21 133, 138, 144, 151 2:23 51 2:23–24 22, 130, 131, 137, 138 2:23–25 132 2:24 129, 131 2:24–33 129 2:25 130, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 140, 142, 144 2:26 132, 135, 136, 141,155, 159

2:26–27 135 2:26–28 134 2:26–32 130 2:26–33 130, 131, 133, 135 2:27 137, 141, 142 2:27–28 135 2:28 137 2:29 134, 138, 139, 140, 141, 143, 144, 150, 155, 159 2:29–30 135 2:30 139, 140 2:30–33 135 2:31 140 2:31–32 144 2:31–33 160 2:33 129, 130 3:12 22 3:13 20 3:16 54 3:27 22 4:17–19 57 4:21–23 57 4:26 20 5:2–5 61 5:6 154 5:17–18 84 5:21 53 5:29–32 54 6 153 6:1 153 6:4 55, 153, 154 6:5–9 153 6:10 153, 154 6:10–11 16, 153 6:11 16, 153, 155 6:12 137 6:13 155, 159 6:15 153 6:15–17 128 6:15–21 16 6:17 16, 86, 107, 153 6:17–22 84 6:20 155, 159 6:20–21 22 6:21 84 6:22 19, 20, 128, 155, 156 6:32 155, 159 6:32–37 106 7:6 94 7:10 56 7:13 50

Index of Ancient Sources 7:14 50 7:15 50 7:16 50 7:18–19 51 7:18 51 7:20–26 61 8–10 41 8:1 51 8:5 51 8:2–4 61 8:6 51, 57 8:6–9 61 8:11 58 8:12–18 45, 157 9:4 45, 157 9:14–15 41 10:1–11 94 10:3–11 77 10:5–9 77 10:8 62, 72, 73 10:11 77 10:12–14 58 10:18–22 61 10:29–34 41, 125, 158 10:29 56 10:30 137 10:35 51 11:1–9 61 11:5 72 11:7–8 57, 61 11:11 55, 72 11:11–12 54 11:11–13 54 11:15 40 11:16 58 11:18–21 54 11:18–22 54 11:22 55 12:9–10 52 12:11 52 12:12 71 12:16–22 84 12:25 58 12:26–27 58 13:1–3 46 13:10 38 13:12 38 13:19–21 46 13:21 37 13:23 61 14:8 55

14:10 37 14:11 54, 66 14:11–12 54 14:12 54 14:13 40, 81 14:13–14 66 14:14 67, 80, 81 14:18–20 46 14:19–20 54 14:19 66 14:20 16, 55, 84 14:24 56 15 66 15:1 16, 84 15:1–2 84 15:2 84 15:6–10 46 15:12 141 15:14 137 15:16 62 15:26 137 15:26–27 138 15:28 137, 155, 159 15:30–32 66 15:31 63, 66, 73, 77 15:32 66, 79 15:33–34 150 15:34 137 16:1 37 16:5 158 16:10 37 16:13 16 16:16–18 62 16:16–19 85 16:18 151 16:20–26 85 16:20–31 84 16:21–25 84 16:24 22 16:27 84, 85, 86 16:28–30 85 16:29 86, 107 16:31 84, 85 17:3 46 17:13 57 17:15 87, 88 17:15–16 55 17:15–18:2 62 17:15–18:17 85 17:16 72 18 108

181

182

Index of Ancient Sources

18:2 87 18:2–3 87 18:3 87 18:8 88 18:9 62, 72, 74 18:9–10 62 18:9–12 62 18:11 46, 87 18:12 72, 74 18:15 46, 87 18:15–16 46 18:17 79 18:18 85, 86, 96 18:18–19 83–84, 85, 88, 93 18–19 85, 96 19 40 19:1–2 37, 39 19:1 37, 41 19:2–9 37 19:5 37 19:8–9 46 19:10 52 19:14 58 19:15–29 58 19:15 58 19:16–25 47 19:17 47 19:18 151 19:19 58 19:23 47 19:27 47 19:28 72 19:31 58 20:1–11 28 20:4 137 20:7–10 118 20:8 23 21:1–24 118 21:1–25 28 21:16 22 21:21 61 21:21–24 118 22:1 22, 40, 84 22:1–5 84 22:2 40 22:4–5 84, 94 22:7 40 22:10–23:3 58 22:10–24 28 22:16–18 61 22:24 39, 40, 41, 47

23 20 23:5 28 23:7 37 23:8 29, 40 23:11–23 150 23:17 43 23:28 29 23:32 57, 155 24:1 40 24:7 46 24:8 40 24:12 40 24:13 141 24:17 40 24:21 40 25:1 61 25:1–3 61 25:21 20 26:18 46 26:24 46 27:19 40, 41 27:27 40 28:8–10 61 28:18–20 23 28:25 40 29:3 40 29:5 16 29:7 16 29:9–11 158 29:17 39 29: 17–19 39, 40, 41 29:19 37, 39 30 89 30:7 137 30:9 141 30:11 155, 159 30:11–17 61 30:12 19, 20, 57, 128, 155, 156 30:13 43, 155, 159 30:15 132 30:21 18, 57 30:22 137 31 39 31:1–2 71 31:5 37, 40 31:6 39 31:8–23 28 31:13–17 41 31:20 137 31:22 94

Index of Ancient Sources 32:1 41 32:3 41 32:4–7 84 32:10 20 32:22 39, 40, 41 32:26 58 32:27 84 32:27–29 84 33:1–20 90 33:3 141 33:10 50, 141 33:11 37, 155, 159 33:12 155, 156 33:13 141, 155, 159 33:14 43 33:17 137 33:18 57, 155 33:19 137, 155, 159 33:20 152 33:21 37, 39, 40, 41, 42 34:3 39 34:10 37 34:12–19 84 34:18 84 34:21 56 34:30 56 35:10–13 23 35:13 58 35:22–24 41 36:1 41 36:2 38 36:4 27 36:6 137 36:12–14 45 36:12 39, 41 36:14 41 36:18 41 36:19 39 36:20 39 37 41 37:1–13 61 37–38 39 37–38:14 27 37:1–4 45 37:14 39 37:16 39 37:17 39 38 45 38:1–14 31 38:1–2 61 38:4–9 39

183

38:10–14 61 38:14 45, 158 39:10 59 40:9 29 40:10 56 41 90 41:1–7 56 41:2 61 41:7 57, 61 41:14 61 41:25 50 41:26 155, 159 44:1 16, 39 44:1–4 84 44:3–5 16 44:4 22, 84, 153 44:14 42 44:24 56 45:5 94 45:6 58 45:12 156 45:13 27 45:14 28 45:15 38 45:16 28, 42, 45, 156 46–48 21 46 25, 26, 29, 33, 34, 36 46:1–3 26 46:1 26, 27 46:2 27, 28, 29 46:3 29 46:5 30 46:6 32, 36, 58 46:6–7 30 46:7 36, 60 46:8–11 36 46:8–13 31 46:8 27, 32 46:9–10 42, 44 46:9–11 33 46:9 32, 36 46:10 32, 36, 37 46:11 32, 36 46:12–13 32 46:13 30 46:14 43 46:15 43, 81 46:16 43 47:1 36, 43, 44, 52, 53 47:2 43, 52 47:2–4 53

184

Index of Ancient Sources

47:3–4 56 47:3 52, 53, 59 47:4 53, 59 47:5 55, 56 47:6 56 47:7 56, 59 47:8 56, 57 47:9 57, 58, 59 47:10 59 47:10–11 59 47:11–12 53 48 21, 53, 66, 68, 70, 72, 80, 89, 90, 94, 149, 158 48:1 39, 42, 60, 158 48:2 61, 72 48:2–3 55, 63 48:3 62, 63, 67, 68, 73, 94 48:3–4 55, 65, 67, 72, 78 48:3–11 65, 67 48:4 63, 68, 70, 74 48:4–7 70 48:5 67, 68, 70, 71, 72 48:5–8 70 48:6 68, 70 48:6–7 55, 71, 72 48:7 67, 68, 70, 72 48:7–8 68 48:8 67, 68, 70, 81 48:9 57, 63, 68, 73, 94 48:9–11 72, 78 48:10 73 48:10–11 73 48:12 69, 72, 74, 76, 77, 90, 97 48:12–13 78 48:12–14 74, 97 48:12–17 65 48:13 68, 74, 76 48:13–14 75, 76 48:14 52, 67, 68 48:15 63, 77, 80, 94 48:15–16 94 48:15–17 65 48:16 74, 77 48:16–17 97 48:17 69, 78, 79, 80 48:17–18 63 48:18 65, 68, 77, 80, 81, 94 48:18–19 65, 79 48:19 72, 82 49 80, 89, 90, 94, 95, 101, 110, 149

49:1

79, 88, 90, 92, 102, 112, 113 49:1–2 93 49:1–6 21, 80,84, 88, 95, 100, 102 49:2 66, 72, 80, 92, 93, 96 49:2–6 92, 102, 114, 149 49:3 79, 93, 139 49:4 66, 93, 94 49:5 80 49:6 97, 106 49:7 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 109, 116, 117, 125, 127 49:7–9 102, 103, 109, 127 49:7–22 21, 84, 95, 98, 100 49:8 102, 103, 107 49:9 102, 104, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 116, 117, 132 49:10 102, 108, 110, 111, 117, 124, 126 49:10–12 110, 126 49:11 19, 101, 111, 112 49:11–13 117 49:11–14 112 49:12 88, 111, 112, 113 49:12–13 101 49:13 102, 115, 117, 118, 124, 126 49:13–15 115 49:14 19, 101, 116, 117 49:14–15 108 49:15 19, 111, 116, 117, 118, 122, 155, 159 49:16 77, 105, 111, 120, 121 49:16–17 119, 120 49:16–18 126 49:16–21 20 49:17 113, 119, 120, 122 49:18 88, 105, 119, 123, 125, 127 49: 18–21 123 49:19 102, 110, 112, 113, 124, 126 49:19–20 123 49:19–21 126 49:20 122, 124, 126, 127 49:21 123, 125, 126, 127 49:22 96, 102, 103, 109, 127, 155, 159

185

Index of Ancient Sources 49:22–23 49:23

84, 95, 100 20, 78, 80, 86, 96, 97 149, 150, 155 50 21, 132, 134, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 150, 155, 156, 160 50:1 150 50:1–2 156 50:2 155, 156, 157 50:2–3 158 50:2–5 20 50:3 157 50:4 39, 42, 44, 130, 136, 150, 158 50:5 29, 157 50:6 18, 57, 140, 156, 158 50:6–13 129, 130, 133, 141, 159 50:7 141 50:8 134, 136, 139, 141, 142, 143, 145, 150 50:9 135, 144, 150 50:9–10 134 50:9–11 142, 144 50:10 144 50:10–11 20 50:12 145 50:12–13 134, 142, 145

50:13

18, 19, 57, 134, 136, 141, 156, 158

Pseudo-Philo 9:2–5 44 9:10 76 23:4 52 Testament of Abraham Rescension A 3:1; 4:1–3; 5:1; 15:1; 17:1 39 Rescension B 3:4; 5:1; 6:1 39 Testament of Solomon 25:3–4 72 Testament of. Benjamin 12:4 33 Testament of Judah 9 41 10:1–6 61 T. Simeon 8:2 33 8:3–4 33

Dead Sea Scrolls 1Qap Genar (Genesis Apocryphon) VI, 8 50 XII, 10 51 XII, 11 51 XIX 9–10 38 1QM (War Scroll) XIV, 1

71

1QS (Rule of the Community) I, 13–15 106 2Q20 (2QJubileesb) 1 1–2, 4

26, 27

4Q11 (4QpaleoGenesis–Exodusl) 7 II, 21 113 4Q23 (4QLeviticus–Numbersa) 53–54 1 113 53–54 3 113

4Q24 (4QLevb) 9 II, 4

113

4Q37 (4QDeuteronomyj) 66 4Q216 (4QJubileesa) I, II, IV I, 3–4 I, 6–7 I, 6–9 I, 11 I, 12 I, 12–17 I, 17 II, 4–5 IV, 4 IV 6 V, 3 VII, 1–17 VII, 17

14 13 19 14 16 18 149 18 16, 149 16 18, 57 159 129 129

186 VII, 6–7 VII, 9–13

Index of Ancient Sources 129, 131 151

4Q218 (4QJubileesc) 136 1 135, 136 1 1–2 132 1 2 136 1 2b–3a 136, 142 1 3a 137 1 3b–4 137 4Q219 (4QJubileesd) I, 11 II, 35

40 40

4Q222 (4QJubileesg) 70 4Q225 (4Qpseudo–Jubileesa) 2 I, 9–10

62

4Q264 (4QHalakhah B) 3

139

4Q265 (4Miscellaneous Rules)

122

4Q266 (Damascus Documenta) 2 I, 2 106 4Q268 (Damascus Documentc) 1 4 106

4Q543 (4QVisions of Amram ara) 3 3 35 4 4 36 4Q544 (4QVisions of Amram arb) 1 34 1 1, 3 35 1 4 35 1 5 35 1 6 35 1 7 36 1 8 34 1 8–9 36 4Q545 (4QVisions of Amram arc) 1 7 36 1 12–17 35 1 16–17 35 1 17 35 1 18 37 1 19 35, 36 4Q546 (4QVisions of Amram ard) 2 1 35 2 2 35 2 3 35 4Q547 (4QVisions of Amram are) 1–2 1 35 1–2 4 36 1–2 7 36

4Q320 (4QCalendrical Document A) 4 III, 4, 14 106 IV, 9 106 V, 3, 12 106 VI, 71 106

4Q548 (4QVisions of Amram arf ) 34

4Q321 (4QCalendrical Document Ba) 2 II, 5, 9 106 III, 8 106

45

11Q19a (Temple Scroll) XVII 6 XVII, 7 XVII, 8 XVII, 8–9 XXV, 8 XLIII, 15–16 XLVII, 16 LXVI, 15–17

33, 36

CD–A (Damascus Documenta) V, 9–11 50

4Q421 (4QWays of Righteousnessb) Fragment 12 139 4Q542 (Testament of Qahat) 1 II, 9–13 4Q543–4Q547 (4QVisions of Amram)

4Q549 (4QVisions of Amram arg) 34 113 90, 113 112 122, 127 113 132 96 50

Index of Ancient Sources

Hellenistic Jewish Literature Ezekiel the Tragedian Exagoge 33 59 166 81

2.184 30 2.188 45 2.205–6 52 2.224 55 2.312–13 80 2.314 80 13. 257 45 14.88 45 18.29 122 Jewish War 1.163 45 6.423 90 6.426 122

Philo Life of Moses 1.9–10 53 1.142–43 81 Laws 2.145 112 Josephus Antiquities 1.150 52 2:10 33

New Testament Matthew 26:18 122 Mark 14:13 122

Luke 22:10 122

Mishnah, Tosefta, And Talmud Mishnah m. Makkot 3.3 112 m. Pesahim 5.1 90, 112 5.5 122 5.6 127 5.8 112 5.10 122 7.12 122 8.1 122 9.1–4 106 10.9 112 m. Zevahim 5.8 112, 122, 127 Tosefta t. Sota 4:7 30

Talmud b. Baba Batra 120a 44 b. Berachot 9a 91 b. Eruvin 96a 105 b. Megillah 12a 55 14a 52 31a 77, 86 b. Menahot 36b 105 b. Nedarim 32a 62 b. Pesahim 64a 127 64b–65a 127 78b 122 88a 122 120a 95

187

188

Index of Ancient Sources

120b 112 b. Qiddishin 41b 122 b. Sanhedrin 58b 50 69b 52 b. Shabbat 117a–119a 131

b. Sota 12a 44, 53, 56 12b 52, 56 13a 41 13b 30 b. Yebamot 62b–63a 50 b.Yoma 4ab 14

Midrash Genesis Rabbah 38.14 52 Exodus Rabbah 1.18 52 1.19 44 1.20 53 1.27 59 1.30 59 2.8 62 5.2 59 Leviticus Rabbah 1.3 54 20 133 Numbers Rabbah 13.20 44 Songs Rabbah 2.7 33 2.7 33

Mekilta de Rabbi Ishmael Pisha 5 91, 105, 112, 113 6 117 7 97, 114, 118 8 95, 114 11 118 15 119 17 105 Beshallah 1 30 Shirata 4 76 Bahodesh 3 153 Shabbata 1 142 Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer 39 41 48 52 Sifre Num 18:17

127

Later Rabbinic And Other Jewish Texts Chronicles of Jerahmeel 37:1–14 41 45 33 Hizkuni Exod 19:22

133

Ibn Ezra Exod 16:29b Exod 19:22 Exod 24:7 Lev 25:1

133 133 153 157

Ralbag (Gersonides) 19:22 133

Ramban Exod 19:22 Exod 24:1 Exod 24:11 Lev 25:1

133 17 131 157

Rashbam Exod 24:11

131

Rashi Exod 14:5 Exod 19:22 Exod 24:11 Exod 24:16

77, 78, 86 133 131, 133 14

189

Index of Ancient Sources Sefer HaYashar

33, 41

Tosafot b. Shabbat 2a

139

Yalkut Reuveni

33, 41

INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS

Albeck, C. Ahituv, S. Amit, Y.

128, 139, 161 30, 161 149, 161

Baillet, M. Bar-On, S. Baumgarten, J. Besserman, L. Berger, K. Bernstein, M. Brock, S. Brooke, G.

26, 161 83, 98, 118, 161 87, 88, 89, 122, 161 25, 161 31, 32, 40, 54, 161 35, 161 54, 93, 161 14, 16, 18, 57, 151, 161

Carmichael, C. Cassuto, U. Charles, R. H.

84, 162 73, 162 13, 30, 32, 41, 51, 54, 80, 162 90, 162 43, 52, 162 54, 55, 162

Chazon, E. Cohen, J. Crawford, C. Dimant, D. Doering, L.

Grélot, P.

39, 163

Halivni, D. 126, 163 Halpern-Amaru, B. 23, 28, 39, 49, 50, 52, 55, 85, 87, 141, 163 Hanneken, T. 63 Harrington, D. 21, 164 Hartom, E. 164 Hayes, C. 141, 164 Henten, J. 164 Himmelfarb, M. 141, 164 Hollander, H. 33, 164 Horst, P. 164 Huizenga, L. 88, 164 Jacobs, B. Jaubert, A. Japhet, S.

73, 164 164 85, 126, 164

Kasher, A. Kister, M. Kitron, R. Klein, M. Knowles, M. Knohl, I. Kugler, R. Kugel, J.

31 16, 50, 156, 164 32 164 54, 55, 164 83, 92, 98, 99, 164 164 20, 80, 109, 129, 131, 154, 155, 160, 164 88, 164 19, 90, 100, 101, 108, 157, 164, 165 40 53, 70, 71, 165

De Jonge, M. Dillmann, A. Drawnel, H.

62, 162 20, 107, 129, 132, 133, 138, 139, 140, 141, 143, 145, 162 33, 162 30, 162 39, 162

Eiss, W. Eshel, E.

84, 162 38, 39, 45, 62, 162

Le Déaut Levinson, B.

Falk, D. Finkelstein, L. Fitzmyer, J. Fox, M.

162 162 38, 163 118, 163

Littmann, E. Loewenstamm, S.

Garcia Martinez, F. Gilders,W. Ginzberg, L. Goldmann, M. Gottlieb, I. Green, W. A. Greenfield, J.

34, 163 153, 154, 163 33, 50, 59, 163 40, 163 149, 163 25, 163 39, 45, 163

Machiela, D. Mandel, P. McKay, J. Mendels, D. Milgrom, J. Milik, J. T.

38, 165 39, 165 165 33, 165 85, 92, 98, 99, 108, 126, 131, 132, 133, 136, 157, 165 14, 18, 70, 129, 136, 149, 151, 168

192

Index of Modern Authors

Najman, H. Nickelsburg, G. Noam, V.

19, 57, 165 21, 165 81, 129, 139, 165

Olyan, S.

18, 63, 77, 165

Peters, D. Polak, E. Propp, W.

154, 165 149, 165 59, 68, 75, 83, 98, 121, 134, 136, 138, 153, 165 34, 35, 37, 165

Puech, E. Qimron, E.

26, 113, 129, 139, 165, 166

Rabin, C. Ravid, L. Reed, A. Rofe, A. Rook, J. Ruiten, J. van

50, 166 20, 129, 156, 166 63, 94, 166 98, 166 51, 166 14, 20, 29, 43, 52, 57, 88, 129, 151, 153, 154, 166

Saulnier, S. Schiffman, L. Schueller, E. Scott, J. Segal, J. Segal, M.

107, 167 129, 138, 145, 167 167 167 167 16, 19, 20, 40, 44, 63, 68, 71, 74, 76, 77, 79, 87, 88, 89, 94, 154, 156, 167 118, 167 62, 167 167

Shemesh, A. Shinan, A. Silver, D.

Skehan, P. Steck, O. Stone, M. Sussman, Y.

68, 167 129, 167 39, 45, 167 50, 167

Tchernowitz, C. Tigay, J. Tigchelaar, E. Tov, E.

167 123, 167 34, 167 66, 167

Ulrich, E.

113, 167

VanderKam, J.

13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 26, 33, 38, 39, 40, 44, 53, 54, 56, 57, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 68, 70, 74, 77, 80, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 94, 96, 101, 104, 106, 107, 108, 110, 116, 117, 118, 121, 125, 129, 131, 136, 140, 141, 145, 149, 150, 151, 156, 157, 158, 167, 168 28, 168

Vermes, G. Wacholder, B. Z. Werman, C. Wintermute, O.

168 16, 33, 38, 88, 89, 149, 153, 168, 169 66, 169

Yadin, Y.

106, 113, 169

Zahn, M.

19, 100, 101, 105, 165, 169 169

Zeitlin, S.