Jubilees on Israel as a Holy Progeny

Chapter 16

17All the descendants of his [Abraham’s—Ed.] sons would become nations and be numbered with the nations. But one of Isaac’s sons would become a holy progeny and would not be numbered among the nations, 18for he would become the share of the Most High. All his descendants had fallen into the [share] that God owns so that they would become a treasured people of the Lord out of all the nations; and that they would become a kingdom, a priesthood, and a holy people. [ . . . ]

Chapter 22

10He [Isaac—Ed.] summoned Jacob and said to him, [ . . . ]

16“Now you, my son Jacob,
remember what I say
and keep the commandments of your father Abraham.
Separate from the nations,
and do not eat with them.
Do not act as they do,
and do not become their companion,
for their actions are something that is impure,
and all their ways are defiled and something abominable and detestable.” [ . . . ]

Chapter 30

7If there is a man in Israel who wishes to give his daughter or his sister to any foreigner, he is to die. He is to be stoned because he has done something shameful within Israel. The woman is to be burned because she has defiled the reputation of her father’s house; she is to be uprooted from Israel. 8No prostitute or impurity is to be found within Israel throughout all the time of the earth’s history, for Israel is holy to the Lord. Any man who has defiled it is to die; he is to be stoned. 9For this is the way it has been ordained and written on the heavenly tablets regarding any descendant of Israel who defiles [it]: “He is to die; he is to be stoned.” 10This law has no temporal end. There is no remission or any forgiveness; but rather the man who has defiled his daughter within all of Israel is to be eradicated because he has given one of his descendants to Molech and has sinned by defiling it.

11Now you, Moses, order the Israelites and testify to them that they are not to give any of their daughters to foreigners and that they are not to marry any foreign women because it is despicable before the Lord.

Translated by James C. VanderKam.

Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation unless otherwise noted.

Credits

Jubilees 16:17–18; 22:10, 16; 30:7–11, trans. James C. VanderKam, in James C. VanderKam, Jubilees: A Commentary in Two Volumes, vol. 1, ed. Sidnie White Crawford, Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018), p. 527, 647, 813. Used with permission of 1517 Media.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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