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Home , Abraham, Jacob, Jacob and Esau, Rebecca

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ABRAHAM’S AND PRAYER

Abraham’s Blessing to (19:26–29)

Following the births of Jacob and , Abraham noticed that preferred Esau over his , while Abraham himself and loved Jacob more (19:15–16, 19, 21, 31). After observing Esau’s behavior, Abraham decided that only Jacob would continue the with the Lord, and that he would be chosen over Esau as the forefather of his special nation (ibid., 16–18). Abraham then blessed his grandson with a blessing that included a request from to protect Jacob from the evil spirits in the world: (19:26) Then he (Abraham) summoned Jacob into the presence of his mother Rebecca, kissed him, blessed him, and said: (27) “My dear son Jacob whom I myself love, may God bless you from above the rmament. May he give you all the with which he blessed , , , and . Everything that he said to me and everything that he promised to give me may he attach to you and your descendants until eternity—like the days of heaven above the earth. (28) May the spirits of not rule over you and your descendants to remove you from following the Lord who is your God from now and forever. (29) May the Lord God become your father and you his rst-born son and people for all time. Go in peace, my son.” Abraham’s blessing to Jacob was given in the general context of the covenant between God and Abraham’s offspring, and in the specic context of the election of ( Jacob) as opposed to other nations (Esau). Abraham appealed to God to prevent “the spirits of Mastema” from ruling over Jacob and his descendants, using terminology similar to that found in other passages in Jubilees that address the origin of evil.1 Abraham blessed Jacob that he should be God’s “rst-born son” (v. 29). The motif of Israel as a rst-born appears already in the (Exod 4:22—“Thus says the Lord, Israel is my rst-born son”), but its

1 Cf. 1:20; 10:8; 11:5; 12:20. 258 chapter thirteen precise meaning is unclear. In Jubilees, this motif received a specic theological meaning: “And he chose the descendants of Jacob among [all of those whom I have seen. I have recorded them as my rst-born son and have sanctied them for myself ] for all the age(s) of eternity” (2:20 according to 4Q216 VII, 11–12; DJD 13, pp. 19–20).2 As noted above, according to the creation story in the redactional layer ( Jub. 2), Israel was chosen from the beginning of time to be God’s unique nation and his rst-born son (so too in ’ prayer in Jub. 1:19–21 and the legal passage in Jub. 15:25–34).3 The connection between the creation of the world and the election of Jacob (Israel) forms the basis of the entire rewritten creation story in Jubilees 2: throughout the chapter, the rewriter counts the number of works created on each day (vv. 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 14), for a total of twenty-two during the rst week (v. 23). The number of works during the rst week, at the end of which the holy and blessed was observed, served the rewriter as a basis for comparison with the number of generations from the creation of the world. After twenty-two generations, a person (and a nation) will be chosen, and he too will be chosen and blessed, just like the Sabbath day (2:23–24a):4

14 [ 23There were twenty-two heads of humanity] 15 from Adam until him; and twenty-two k[inds of work were made until the seventh day. The one is blessed and holy and the other is blessed]

2 The special terminology of the legal passages (“Heavenly Tablets,” “ and teudah,” etc.) is absent from Abraham’s blessing to Jacob, and I therefore do not a priori assign it to the redactional stratum, which includes Moses’ prayer (1:19–21), the creation story (ch. 2), and the legal passage on (15:25–34). However, since Abraham’s blessing is similar to these passages in its motifs, in its theological notions, and in its vocabulary used to describe Israel’s election, one can justiably include it in the discussion of the origin of evil according to the redactional layer of Jubilees. 3 4QPrayer of Enosh (4Q369; ed. H. Attridge and J. Strugnell; DJD 13, pp. 353–362) is fragmentary, but 1 II, 6–7, preserves text that includes expressions that appear in a similar context to the passage in Jubilees: “. . . and you made him as a rst-[rn] son to you [ ] like him for a prince and ruler in all your earthly land. . . .” For the use of the rst-born son motif in order to describe Israel in of the Second Temple period, see Kugel 1998a. 4 Charles (1902: xxxix–xl; 17–18) claimed that there is an extensive omission between vv. 22 and 23, based upon the evidence of Epiphanius, Syncellus, Cedrenus, and Tadshe. In his opinion, the original text also mentioned the twenty-two letters of the alphabet and the twenty-two books of . However, the goal of this chapter is to connect Israel to the Sabbath law, and there is no place for or reference to the other two motifs (letters; biblical books). It is preferable to see these two traditions as later accretions, added due to the use of the number twenty-two.