Tanskanen Jacob in Jubilees

Jacob, the Torah and the Abrahamic Promise
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-3-11-142904-5
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 57, 402 Seiten

Reihe: Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies

The patriarch Jacob functions as the main character in Jubilees, one of the most important early Jewish texts outside the Bible. This study investigates two important connections made by the author of Jubilees, Jacob and the Torah, and Jacob and the Abrahamic Promise (Gen 12:1–3 and parallels), both of which play an important role in Jubilees.

Jacob functions as the perfect Israelite who follows the Deuteronomic commandments (addressed to Israel in the second person singular) to the utmost, and thus exemplifies the "holy seed" or "rest" of Israel, who will also inherit the Abrahamic Promise when they fulfil the Torah as Jacob did. Esau functions as an archetype of the apostate Israelite who will be left outside of the Promise.

The study illuminates the early reception history of the Abrahamic Promise and its close connection with Deuteronomy. It gives background for scholars of early Judaism and Christianity dealing with the reception of the Law and the Promise as well as of the parting of Judaism and Christianity, where different readings of the patriarchal stories were influential (e.g., Sifre Deuteronomy).

Zielgruppe

Scholars in the field of Biblical and deuterocanonical studies, Q

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tanskanen, Topias K.E.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften Apokryphen, Pseudepigraphen

Leseproben

1 Introduction

1.1 Aim of the Research

This study considers the use and interpretation of the Jacob Story in the Book of Jubilees, an early Jewish writing from the second temple period, which is often labelled as “Rewritten Bible.” In my opinion, Jubilees is first and foremost an exegetical elaboration on the books of Genesis and Exodus. It aims to give an authoritative interpretation to those already authoritative texts with a clear exclusive theology.

Jacob, furthermore, is the most central figure in Jubilees. Roughly half of the book deals with the Jacob traditions, starting from the beginning in Jubilees 2, where Jacob and the Sabbath are related to one another.1 My theory is that the analysis of how the Jacob Story has been used and interpreted in Jubilees presents the key to unlocking the work itself and understanding it correctly.

This study answers the following general questions regarding the use and interpretation of the Jacob Story in Jubilees:

1. How is the Jacob Story of Genesis changed in Jubilees?

2. Which interpretive techniques did the author(s) of Jubilees use when they2 rewrote Genesis?

3. What did the author(s) want to achieve by this interpretation on Jacob? What did he highlight? What is the overall purpose of the work which emphasizes the role of Jacob?

In later Jewish reception history during the rabbinical period, the Jacob traditions and Jacob’s role were highlighted in comparison with Abraham. This can be seen for example in Sifre Deuteronomy, where Jacob is highlighted in comparison with Abraham, or Isaac. There, an interpretive strategy is implemented where the addressed Israel in Deuteronomy (often in the second person singular) is connected with the patriarch Jacob, whose other name is Israel. Thus, passages which are addressed to the people of Israel are actually interpreted as being passages which are related to the patriarch Jacob.3 Taking this interpretive strategy from later Jewish reception history as a heuristic background, this study is interested in seeing which kind of interpretive strategy was implemented in Jubilees some centuries before the rabbinical text. Furthermore, certain scholars have argued that Deuteronomy was one of the main bulwarks for constructing the early Jewish identity.4 Therefore, the relationship between Deuteronomy and Jacob in Jubilees is of interest in this study. This study, thus, also seeks an answer to the following specific question:

1. How is the Book of Deuteronomy used and related to the rewritten Jacob Story in Jubilees?

Moreover, the Abrahamic Promise (Gen 12:1–3 par.) plays an important role as the overarching theme of Genesis and the Pentateuch.5 The same is true for Jubilees, where the Abrahamic Promise is even more inherently connected to the patriarch Jacob than in the present form of Genesis.6 The Abrahamic Promise and its early reception include both particularistic and universalistic tendencies.7 This leads to the following important question in this study:

1. How is the Abrahamic Promise received and interpreted in Jubilees? How is it connected to Jacob? How is Genesis 12:3b (“all the families of the land/earth will be blessed/will receive blessing/will bless themselves/wish a similar blessing in/through you and your seed”)8 understood in Jubilees?

Although this study is first and foremost devoted to the analysis of the text of Jubilees, I also relate the findings to the historical context.9 My analyses in this study are related to the following question:

1. How is the historical situation reflected in this use and interpretation of the Jacob Story in Jubilees?

In short, this study is concerned with the rewriting of Genesis and Exodus in Jubilees, with a clear focus on Jacob, the Torah, and the Abrahamic Promise and how they are related to one another. In order to accomplish the task, I have conducted three case studies (chapters 2–4) which explain these connections.

1.2 Course of the Study

This study consists of three case studies, roughly related to two distinct themes: Jacob’s relation to the Torah (esp. Deuteronomy), and Jacob’s relation to the Abrahamic Promise. These two themes form two focal points in Jubilees, and both are firmly tied to the patriarch Jacob.

In case study 1 (chapter 2), I focus on the exegetical basis for the idea that Jacob (and precisely Jacob) has received the Torah. My starting point will be Psalm 78:5, where it is stated that God established his “Testimony” in Jacob and set his “Torah” in Israel. The discussion combines the analysis of this verse and its nearby context as well as its interpretation with the psalm’s overall use in Jubilees. A previous version of chapter 2 has been published before as a separate article in SRB 10.10 I have, however, updated it somewhat and modified it to suit this monograph. I have noted those sections which are not found in the previous article.

Case study 2 (chapter 3) is a twin study of the first. In chapter 3, I focus on how the idea that Jacob received Torah and how the interpretive possibility linking the patriarch Jacob with Deuteronomy are utilized in Jubilees. As a test case, I bring Jubilees 30–32, which rewrites Genesis 34–35, into focus. This discussion is preceded by a brief survey of the overall influence of Deuteronomy on early Judaism in general. The actual analysis is then also followed by a brief discussion on the influence of Deuteronomy in Jubilees and its eschatology in particular. Thus, both chapters 2 and 3 deal with Jacob’s relationship with the Torah in Jubilees, but from two different angles: The first case study (chapter 2) focuses on the exegetical basis for such interpretation of the Jacob story, and the second case study (chapter 3) illustrates where such an interpretation can be found in Jubilees. Thus, in addition to the general research questions, the fourth research question regarding the use of Deuteronomy is also the focus of these chapters.

Case study 3 (chapter 4) which concerns Jacob’s relation to the Abrahamic Promise in Jubilees, is the longest case study. In chapter 4, I investigate all the parallel passages of Jubilees where the Abrahamic Promise is presented or alluded. Furthermore, all passages which have no direct parallels in Genesis, but which allude to the Abrahamic Promise are analysed. The focus in the analysis is to see how the author utilized and understood the Abrahamic Promise, its unconditionality or conditionality, and how this is related to the patriarch Jacob. Therefore, the fifth research question regarding the Abrahamic Promise is the focus of chapter 4.11

Before these chapters, however, in this introduction, I first deal with the textual history of Jubilees and how different versions of Jubilees are used (ch. 1.3) followed by a brief discussion on different theories regarding the composition of Jubilees and how they are dealt with in this study (ch. 1.4). The dating of Jubilees is also touched upon (ch. 1.5) before venturing towards the theoretical framework of this study as well as outlining the methodology used (ch. 1.6). A brief survey of research on Jubilees with Jacob as its focus follows (ch. 1.7). At the end of the introductory chapter (ch. 1.8), I offer a concluding summary of the discussion in this chapter as well as succinctly present the practical steps that are taken in conducting the individual but interrelated case studies on the use and interpretation of the Jacob Story in Jubilees (chs. 2–4). The results of the case studies are presented in chapter 5 along with a brief opening discussion of their implications for further study of Jubilees, as well as for the study of early and rabbinical Judaism and even early Christianity in general.

1.3 Textual History of Jubilees

In order to investigate Jubilees in detail, one should be aware of the complicated textual history of Jubilees.12 The work has survived in Hebrew, Ethiopic, Latin, and possibly other versions. In the following, I present the textual history of Jubilees in some detail together with the issues related to it. Additionally, I present how this study deals with the textual material of Jubilees.

1.3.1 Hebrew

The Book of Jubilees was originally written in Hebrew. Before the discoveries of texts near the Dead Sea in the 1940s and after, scholars had argued that the book was originally written in either Aramaic or Hebrew.13 Over a dozen textual artefacts in Hebrew containing parts of the text of Jubilees were, however, found at Qumran; the precise number is debated. The following table shows the...

Über Autor(innen)

Topias K. E. Tanskanen, Åbo Akademi Universität, Turku, Finnland.

Topias K. E. Tanskanen, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.