A Note on Isaac as First-Born in ' Jubilees' and Only Son in 4Q225.pdf

7/24/2019 A Note on Isaac as First-Born in ' Jubilees' and Only Son in 4Q225.pdf

1/8

A Note on Isaac as First-Born in "Jubilees" and Only Son in 4Q225

Author(s): Betsy Halpern-AmaruSource: Dead Sea Discoveries, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2006), pp. 127-133Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4193394.

Accessed: 07/01/2015 14:55

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

BRILLis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toDead Sea Discoveries.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 184.168.27.152 on Wed, 7 Jan 2015 14:55:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=baphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/4193394?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/4193394?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bap


2/8

A NOTE ON ISAAC

AS

FIRST-BORN

IN

JUBILEES AND

ONLY SON

IN

4Q225

BETSY

HALPERN-AMARU

Jerusalem, Israel

The Book of Jubilees and 4Q225

(4QPseudo-Jubilees) ach develop a

connectionbetween the

Aqedah

and the exodus. Jubilees creates that

nexus through

an intertextual esign

that

depicts

the

Aqedah

as a fore-

shadowing

of the exodus.

4Q225,

on the other

hand, adopts

a linear

structure

hat

employs

Genesis 15 as a mediating ext between the two

deliverance narratives.Scholars have given considerableattentionto

the motifs that advance the relationshipbetween the Aqedah and the

exodus in each text.' The intent of this note is to examine a feature

that has not been exploredin that scholarship, pecifically,the desig-

nation of Isaac as a first-born

on in

Jubilees and as an only son

in

4Q225.2

I

On the intertextual esign in Jubilees, see G.

Vermes, Redemption nd Genesis

XXII-The

Binding

of Isaacand he Sacrifice f

Jesus, cripture

ndTradition:

Haggadic

Studies (SPB 4; Leiden: Brill, 1961) 215-16; A.

Jaubert,

Le

calendrierdes

Jubil6set

les

jours liturgiques

e le

semaine,

VT 7

(1952) 152-53;

R. Le

D6ut,

La nuit

pascale:

Essai sur la significationde la Pdque uive a partir du

Targum

d'ExodeXII 42

(AnBib

22;

Rome:

Biblical

nstitute

ress,1963) 179-84;J.C.VanderKam,

The

Aqedah, ubilees,

andPseudo-Jubilees, heQuestforContext nd

Meaning: tudies

n

Biblical ntertextuality

in

Honor of James

A.

Sanders (eds

C. Evans

and S. Talmon; BIS 28;

Leiden:

Brill,

1997)241-5 1;

J.

Huizenga,

TheBattle or

Isaac:Exploring

he

Composition ndFunction

of

the Aqedah

n the

Book of Jubilees, JSP

13 (2002) 37-46;

and

Jacques

van

Ruiten,

Abraham,

oband heBook

of

Jubilees:The Intertextual

elationship

f

Genesis22:1-19,

Job 1:1-2:13 and

Jubilees 17:15-18:19,

The

Sacrificeof

Isaac:

The Aqedah(Genesis

22)

and

Its Interpretationseds

E. Noort and E.

Tigchelaar;Leiden,Brill, 2002) 71-83.

On

4Q225,

see J.T. Milik

and J.C.

VanderKam,

225.

4QPseudo-Jubileesa umran

Cave

4 XIII: Parabiblical

Texts,

Part I

(DID 13;

Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1994)

141-55; VanderKam,

The

Aqedah, 251-55; R.A. Kugler and J.C. VanderKam, A

Note on 4Q225 (4QPseudo-Jubilees),

RevQ 20 (2001) 110-115; and R. Kugler,

Hearing Q225:

A

Case

Study

n

Reconstructing

he

Religious magination

f the

Qumran

Community, DSD

10

(2003) 80-103.

2

VanderKam ommentson the bakwrakan his textualnotes

(The

Book

of Jubilees:

A CriticalText[Louvain:Peeters,198912.106-07 notes on 18:11, 15), but neither here

nor elsewheredoes

he

address

ts

significance.

Van Ruiten

includesthe reading your

?

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2006 Dead Sea Discoveries 13, 2

Also available online

-

www.brill.nl

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/8

128 BETSY

HALPERN-AMARU

The biblicalAqedahnarrative

dentifiesIsaac by his relationship o

Abrahamon three occasions

when God issues the

initial directive

(Gen.

22:2),

when the

angel restrains Abraham

(Gen. 22:12), and,

again

at the end of

the

account,when God renews the

covenant Gen.

22:16).

MT Genesis 22

reads

your only one (l-lr'r)

in

each pas-

sage;3

the

LXX, OL,

EthGen

reading

in Gen.

22:2,

12, 16

is

consis-

tently your

beloved one

(the

equivalent

of

the

Hebrew 1'yT').4

All

three

passages appear n the Jubileesaccount,but in none

of them is

Isaac

described as your only son. God refers to

Isaac as your

beloved

one (fequraka)

in

His command to Abraham Jub. 18:2);'

the

restrainingangel

calls

Isaac

bakwraka the Ge'ez

equivalent of

11::) (Jub. 18:

1

);6

andGodrepeats he first-born

esignation, akwraka,

in the renewal of covenant

promises

(Jub. 18:15)7

at the close of

the

narrative.8

Only

the first of the three

passages (God's

command to

Abraham)appears

n

4Q225

and there (2

i

11), Isaac is referred o as

your only

one

(p1T'1).9

The terms that the authors of Jubilees and

of

4Q225 employ

in their

designations

of Isaac are terms of conse-

quence.

They provide nsight

into the internal

workings

of each inter-

first born son in an enumerationof where Jub. 18:1-17 deviates from MT Gen

22:1-19 ( Abraham, 1). Kuglercites Jub. 18:14-16, but focusing solely on the addi-

tions to Gen. 22:15-18, he does not commenton the issue

of first-born nd only

son ( Hearing, 5, n. 42).

3 The Samaritan nd Syriac readingsare equivalent o

those in the MT.

4

Many English translations ender he Hebrew

TlrT

as yourbeloved one. That

translation

may

assume that the

reading

n LXX

(the

Greekequivalent

Of

71'7)

is the

correct

one

(e.g.,

E.A.

Speiser, Genesis [AB 1;

Garden

City,

New York:

Doubleday,

1964], 163, note on Gen 22:2) or understand youronly

one in the Aqedah context

as construed as a term of value (N. Sarna, The JPS Torah

Commentary: Genesis

[JPS: Philadelphia,1989], 151, note on Gen 22:2).

s A formof fequrakais attested n all the Ethiopicmanuscripts VanderKam,The

Book of Jubilees, 1.102, note to Jub. 18:2).

6

All of the Ethiopic manuscripts used in VanderKam'scritical edition attest

bakwraka r some form thereof for Jub. 18:11.

I

Duplicatinga phrase that appears n the initial command Gen 22:2; Jub. 18:2),

God refers to Isaac as yourfirst-born on whom you love (Jub. 18:15).

8

The Hebrew ext of the passages

s

no longer extant.

All but threeof the Ethiopic

manuscripts ttestbakwraka

or

Jub.

18:15. One of the variantsomits the word

(ms 9);

the other

two

(mss

12 and

38)

read

a form of

fequraka(The

Book

of Jubilees, 1.104,

notes to Jub. 18:11, 15). On the relative

textualvalue of

the Ethiopicmanuscripts,

ee

The Bookof Jubilees,2.xxiv-xxxi. TheLatinversionreadsprimogenito 1lZfl) in Jub.

18:11 and unigenito

(1-l'rT)

n Jub. 18:15. Commentingon bakwraka

n

Jub. 18:15,

VanderKam otes that since the Ethiopic s unique, it is perhaps

more

likely

to

be

original The

Book

of Jubilees, 2.108).

9

Only

the

first four letters

(nf')

are visible.



4/8

A

NOTE ON

ISAAC AS

FIRST-BORN

IN

JUBILEES

AND

ONLY SON IN

4Q225

129

pretationand at the same time highlightthe differentapproachesof

the two interpretive

exts.

The first of the two

designations

or Isaac in the

Jubilees rework-

ing

of the

Aqedah

narrative, your

beloved one

(Jub.

18:11),

may

reflect use

of a version of the biblical text in

agreement

with the

LXX

rendering

of Gen. 22:2. That Isaac is identified as

your first-born

son (Jub.

18:11, 15) from the momentthe rescue

begins,however,is

unique

to

Jubilees.

The

uniqueness

of the first-born

sage

and

the

selective

way

in which

that

designation

s

applied

to Isaac

only

when

he is no longer at risk suggest that the authorof Jubilees is creating

a deliberate

association between the rescued Isaac and

the first-born

sons of the Israeliteswho are

saved from the tenth

plague.Indeed,

at

one

point

in

the Jubilees

reworking

of

the exodus

story,

that tenth

plague is

ascribed, ike the

binding

of

Isaac,

to the

machinationsof

Mastema

(Jub.

49:2).'0

There is no

biblical referencepoint

for

transforming he

rescued

Isaac into a

first-born on.

Clearly

that

transformations a

metaphoric

one,

for the

precedingnarrativesof Ishmael's

conception,birth,and

subsequentbanishment n Jubilees (Jub. 14:21-24; 17:1-14), like the

narrativesof

Genesis 16 and

21,

straightforwardlyresentIshmael as

the first child and first son

born to Abraham. The

metaphormay

reflect the influenceof the

description

of

the

Israelitesas

God's first-

born in

Exod. 4:22. That

description

s not

included in the

Jubilees

exodus

narrative;

t

does

appear

as an

aspect of the fore-election of

Israel in the creation

story (Jub.

2:20).

However,

nowhere does

Jubilees make an

explicit connection between Isaac and

the election

of

Israel;

it is

Jacob who is

overtly

associated

with the election of

Israel (Jub.2:20; 16:17). It may be that the attribution f nlI: status

to Isaac has its roots

simply

in

the associationbetween

first-born ons

and

redemption

n

the exodus

story.

In either

case,

the

introduction f

the r1nz

motif at the moment of

Isaac's rescue

suggests

that the

author s

creating

a

parallel

between him and the

first-born ons of the

Israeliteswho

are saved

in

the exodus

story.

That

parallel

provides

an

important,

but hitherto

unexplored,clue

to the

timing

of

events

in

the Jubilees

account of the

Aqedah. The

calendar

tracking

of

Abraham's ourneyfrom

Beersheba o

the scene

'0

In another

passage

the

killing

of the

Egyptian

first-born s

attributed o

the

Lord's forces

that did

everything

hat the

Lord ordered

Jub.

49:4).



5/8

130

BETSY

HALPERN-AMARU

of the Aqedah places the challenge and subsequent

command

to

Abraham

on the

twelfth

day

of the first

month(Jub.

17:15;

18:1-2),

has him

departing

earlyin

the morning,

and coming

to the

place

on the third

day

(Jub. 18:3).

Applying

the principle

that

the

day

begins

at sunset,

a

principle

that

is firmly

asserted

in the

Jubilees

description

of the Israelitesconsuming

he

paschal

offeringon

the

eve

of the exodus

as well as

in

the

legislation

for

its futurereenactment

(Jub.

49:1,

10-12), the

time scheme

suggests

that God's

command

comes

after sunset

on the

12th

and the travelbegins

in the morning

of the

same day.

Given a journey

of

three

days duration,

he

scheme

places

Abrahamand Isaac

on

the mountain

before

the close (at

sun-

set) of

the fourteenthday

of the first

month.'2

No schedule

s provided

or the events

that

unfold

on the

mountain.

At this

point

the transformation

f Isaac

into

a first-born

on becomes

the key

to

the

timing

of

events,

for

it

directs the

reader

o the

precise

dating

of the rescue

of the Israelitefirst-born

n the eve of

the

exo-

dus in Jubilees

49. The prelude

to

the

rescue,

the

slaughter

of

the

paschal

offering,

occurs

on the

fourteenth

of the

first month...

before

evening;

he rescue

of the first-born

ons

comes at night

on

the evening

of

the fifteenth rom

the

time

of

sunset

at

whichtime

the

Israelites

eat the pesah

and

rejoice

at

being

saved

from

the tenth

plague

(Jub.

49:1-6).

Applying

that dating

to the

events

on

the

moun-

tain,

the

prelude

to the

rescue-the

arrival

on the mountain

and

per-

haps

even

the

binding 3-would

occur,

as

VanderKam

as calculated,

at

the end of

1/14.

But the actual

rescue,the

release

that transforms

Isaac

into a

first-born on, takes

place,

like

the rescue of the

Israelite

first-born

ons, only

afterthe

sun has

set,

i.e., at

nighton

the even-

ing

of the fifteenth

from

the time

of

sunset

(Jub.

49:1).14

Although

not

stated

in

the Jubilees narrative,

the

three-day journey

back

to

I

On the

day beginning

at sunset

in the

calendar

of Jubilees,

see J.M.

Baumgarten,

TheBeginning

of the

Day in

the Calendar f Jubilees,

JBL

77

(1958) 355-360,

and

idem, Studies

n Qumran

Law (SJLA

24;

E.J.

Brill:

Leiden, 1977)

124-31.

12

Up

to

this

point,

the

dating

of

Abraham's

ravel accords

with that

suggested

by

VanderKam

n The

Aqedah,

247.

13

Whereas

R. Ishmael

likens the

bound

Isaac to

the

paschal

lamb(Mek.

7.78-79;

11.92-94),

the

primary

correspondence

reated

in Jubilees

is

between

the

redeemed

Isaac andthe redeemed irst-bornons of the Israelites n Egypt.

14

VanderKam

ombines

the

binding

and

release into

a single

event

on the

four-

teenth,

which he identifies

as

the

very

time of the Passover

meal

( The

Aqedah,

247).

However,

n Jubilees

the Passover

meal

is consumed

not

on the

fourteenth,

ut

at night

on the evening

of

the

fifteenth

rom

the time of sunset Jub.

49:1-2).



6/8

A NOTE ON ISAAC AS FIRST-BORN IN JUBILEES AND ONLY

SON

IN

4Q225

131

Beersheba, ike thatto the mountain,would most likely begin the fol-

lowing morning.That

Abraham ubsequentlynstitutesand

celebrates

a festival to

commemorate

the seven'5

days during

which he

went

and

returned

safely (Jub.

18:18)

indicates that

his

arrival

back

in

Beershebacomes aftersunset, that is, on the eighteenth

day of the

first

month.

6

The

transformation

f

Isaac

into

a

first-born

on

is

subtlypresented,

but

it is a

pivotal aspect

of the intertextual

design by

which

Jubilees

develops the

Aqedah

as a

foreshadowingof the

exodus.

As a

first-

born,Isaac presagesthe first-born ons of the Israelites; he timingof

his

deliverance

from

Mastema

prefigures

he

timing

of

their deliver-

ance; and

the

unnamed estival that his father establishes

to celebrate

the

occasion,

like the

exodus

Passover

festival, commemorates

oth a

rescue of

the

first-born Jub.49:7)

and

a

journey (Jub.49:23).17

The identification f Isaac

as

Abraham's

only

son

(-rTrr)

s

no less

significant

to

the structure

and thematic

developmentof 4Q225. Set

within a citationof Gen.

22:2, the descriptionappearsonly once (2 i

11),

but

it is a vital element in the contextual

relationship he author

establishesbetweenthe Aqedah and the promisesto Abrahamat the

CovenantBetween the Pieces

(DrnMIMl': nnnl)

(Genesis 15).

That

covenant-making nforms

the structureof 4Q225

and unites its pre-

sentation of

the

Aqedah

and

exodus

as

victories

over

threats to

the

fulfillment

of

God's

promises. 8

In

Genesis

15

Abraham

s

assured hat

he will have

a

son and

mul-

tiple

descendants

(Gen

15:4-5),

and

that,

after

being oppressed

and

enslaved in

a land

not their

own,

his

descendants

will

be

avenged

andredeemed Gen

15:13-14).

No

creativity

s

required

o linkthe Exodus

15

Emphasismine.

16

VanderKam

rgues hat the authorwould

have Abraham ack in

Beershebabefore

the

Sabbath,which

according

to

the Jubilean

calendar

would

fall

on the

eighteenth

(Aqedah,

246-57). According o

Baumgarten,

owever,

the

datingof Abraham's

our-

neys has nothingto

do

with the

Sabbath Studies, 104).

17

The dualcommemorationsre

fused

into

one

festival in

both narratives.

The

seam

line of

that fusion is visible in

the

legislationof the statute

of the

pesah

.. and the

festival

of unleavenedbread Jub.

49:22). It is

not apparentn Abraham's

estival, for

the redemption of Isaac

falls

within

the

seven

days during

which

he

went

and

returned afely (Jub. 18:18).

18

In

the editio princeps of

4Q225 published n DJD, the

account of the exodus

(frg. 1) precedes

hat

of

the

Aqedah(frg. 2).

However, subsequent

tudies of the

frag-

ments indicate

hat

their

positionsshould

be

reversed.

See

Kuglerand

VanderKam,

A

Note,

109-110.



7/8

132 BETSY HALPERN-AMARU

narrative o those promises,for a connection s alreadyestablished n

the prediction

of enslavement and promise

of

redemption

in Gen

15:14. The author

of 4Q225 accesses that connection

n his accountof

the

exodus

simply by alluding

to

[. ..

his

covenalnt,

which he

made

with Abraham (1

4).19

Establishment f an association

between the Genesis

15 promiseof

a

son and

the Aqedah requires

more ingenuity.

There is

no

compara-

ble

allusion

o

the

Aqedah

n

thebiblical

account f

the

CovenantBetween

the

Pieces.

Moreover,among

other stories

that

separate

he two nar-

ratives (Genesis 15 and Genesis 22) are the accounts of Ishmael's

conceptionand birth(Genesis

16).

To

bring

the

Aqedahdirectlyunder

the contextualumbrella

of

the promise

of

progeny

n the

covenant

of

Genesis

15,

the

authorof

4Q225

develops

a structure hat creates

a

new backdrop or the narrative

of the Aqedah.Prefacing he account

of

the Aqedah

s

a

summarypresentation

f the

promises

of a son

and

multiple progeny n Gen 15:2-6

(2 i 3-7). Isaac's birth is announced

immediately

hereafter 2 1 8-9a) and thereby

s

explicitly portrayed

as

the fulfillment

of the preceding

divine promise

of

a son.

The

Ishmaelnarrativeshatintervenebetweenthe promisesof the covenant

making

in

Genesis

15 and

the

birth of

Isaac

are

omitted.20

ndeed,

n

4Q225 Ishmael

is

never

born.

Consequently,

when

God

commands

Abraham o sacrifice his only

son (2

i

11), Isaac

is

quite literally

a

71m9, he only son the patriarch

as.

There

is

no overt

change

to the

designation

of

Isaac

in

4Q225.

In

the

citation of God's command to Abraham

he

remains,

as

in

Gen

22:2,

1rm,

youronly son (2

i

11). However,

in the

Qumran

ext a

new

understanding

as been assigned

to

the

word rrnn

and

it now

denotes somethingquite different rom that which it signifies in the

biblical context. Indeed,

one

might say

that

Isaac

is also

transformed

in

4Q225.

However, this transformation

s

not an

internal

one

involv-

ing

a

change

in

designation

as

in

Jubilees

18.

Rather,

he

transforma-

tion here

is a

cross-textual

one

involving

a

change

in

signification.

Altering

the

sequence

of

events

in

the

biblical narrative,

he author

of

19

A comparable llusion to

Gen 15:14 appears

n Jub. 48:8.

20

Cana Wermanhas argued hat the exclusionof Ishmaelhas a polemicalbasisthat

is also evident in the

reworkingof the Aqedah narrative. ee The

Attitude

Towards

Gentiles

in

the Book

of Jubilees

and QumranLiterature

Comparedwith the

Early

Tanaaic

Halakhaand Contemporary

seudepigrapha

Unpublished

Ph.D. dissertation,

HebrewUniversity,

1995) (Hebrew)

142-46.



8/8

A NOTE ON ISAAC

AS FIRST-BORN

IN

JUBILEES

AND ONLY SON IN

4Q225

133

4Q225 groundsthe Aqedah in a context that shifts the referenceto

Isaac

in

Gen

22:2 from an allusion to the place he holds in

his

father'saffections

to a

description

of his

status

within the

family.

In

other words,

the move

from the biblical narrativeo

4Q225

transforms

Isaac

into an

only

child.

From the standpointof family structure,

t might appearthat there

is little differencebetween

the

first-born

and only son designations

assigned to the Isaacs

of Jubilees and 4Q225. From an exegetical per-

spective, however,

there

is

a

marked

differencebetween

the

two

des-

ignations.In the Jubilees narrative saac is not presentedas the first

son born

to Abraham;his status as

a

first-born

s

a metaphoricone

that

the author-exegete

ssigns

in

order

to

create

an

intertextual ela-

tionshipbetween the saving

of

Isaac

at the time of the Aqedahand

the

saving

of

the

Israelite first-born sons at the time

of the

tenth

plague.

In

contrast,

n

4Q225 Isaac

is

literallyan only son,

a

desig-

nation

necessitated

by

the

author-exegete's

desire

to

treat

the Aqedah

within the context

of the promises

to

Abraham n Genesis 15.

The differencesbetween

them notwithstanding,he first-born on

of

Jubilees and the only son of 4Q225 each promotethe interfacingof

Aqedah

and exodus

in

their

respective

texts.

In

Jubilees the relation-

ship

is an intertextual ne

in

which Isaac-the-first-bornoins

the

first-

born

sons

of

the

Israelites in

parallel

accounts

of

redemption.

In

4Q225 the relationship is

a

linear one in

which Isaac-the-only-son

joins

the

Aqedah

to

the

exodus as sequentialprooftexts

of

the surety

of

God's promises

to

Abrahamat the

Covenant

Between the Pieces.

This content downloaded from 184.168.27.152 on Wed, 7 Jan 2015 14:55:30 PM
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

A Note on Isaac as First-Born in ' Jubilees' and Only Son in 4Q225.pdf

Documents

Transcript of A Note on Isaac as First-Born in ' Jubilees' and Only Son in 4Q225.pdf