DSD 13,2_f3_Halpern_127-133 5/30/06 9:28 AM Page 127

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) each develop a

connection between the Aqedah and the exodus. Jubilees creates that
nexus through an intertextual design that depicts the Aqedah as a fore-
shadowing of the exodus. 4Q225, on the other hand, adopts a linear
structure that employs Genesis 15 as a mediating text between the two
deliverance narratives. Scholars have given considerable attention to
the motifs that advance the relationship between the Aqedah and the
exodus in each text.1 The intent of this note is to examine a feature
that has not been explored in that scholarship, specifically, the desig-
nation of Isaac as a first-born son in Jubilees and as an only son in
4Q225.2

1
On the intertextual design in Jubilees, see G. Vermes, “Redemption and Genesis
XXII—The Binding of Isaac and the Sacrifice of Jesus,” Scripture and Tradition: Haggadic
Studies (SPB 4; Leiden: Brill, 1961) 215–16; A. Jaubert, “Le calèndrier des Jubilés et
les jours liturgiques de le semaine,” VT 7 (1952) 152–53; R. Le Déut, 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; J.C. VanderKam, “The Aqedah, Jubilees,
and Pseudo-Jubilees,” 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: Brill,
1997) 241–51; J. Huizenga, “The Battle for Isaac: Exploring the Composition and Function
of the Aqedah in the Book of Jubilees,” JSP 13 (2002) 37–46; and 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,” The Sacrifice of Isaac: The Aqedah (Genesis
22) and Its Interpretations (eds E. Noort and E. Tigchelaar; Leiden, Brill, 2002) 71–83.
On 4Q225, see J.T. Milik and J.C. VanderKam, “225. 4QPseudo-Jubileesa” Qumran
Cave 4 XIII: Parabiblical Texts, Part I (DJD 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 4Q225: A Case Study in Reconstructing the Religious Imagination of the Qumran
Community,” DSD 10 (2003) 80-103.
2
VanderKam comments on the bakwraka in his textual notes (The Book of Jubilees:
A Critical Text [Louvain: Peeters, 1989] 2.106–07 notes on 18:11, 15), but neither there
nor elsewhere does he address its significance. Van Ruiten includes the reading “your

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128 BETSY HALPERN-AMARU

The biblical Aqedah narrative identifies Isaac by his relationship to

Abraham on 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” (˚dyjy) 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 ˚dydy).4 All
three passages appear in the Jubilees account, 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);5
the restraining angel calls Isaac bakwraka (the Geæez equivalent of
˚rwkb) (Jub. 18:11);6 and God repeats the first-born designation, bakwraka,
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 in 4Q225 and there (2 i 11), Isaac is referred to as
“your only one” (˚dyjy).9 The terms that the authors of Jubilees and
of 4Q225 employ in their designations of Isaac are terms of conse-
quence. They provide insight into the internal workings of each inter-

first born son” in an enumeration of where Jub. 18:1–17 deviates from MT Gen
22:1–19 (“Abraham,” 81). Kugler cites Jub. 18:14–16, but focusing solely on the addi-
tions to Gen. 22:15–18, he does not comment on the issue of “first-born” and “only
son” (“Hearing,” 95, n. 42).
3
The Samaritan and Syriac readings are equivalent to those in the MT.
4
Many English translations render the Hebrew ˚dyjy as “your beloved one.” That
translation may assume that the reading in LXX (the Greek equivalent of ˚dydy) 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 “your only 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).
5
A form of fequraka is attested in all the Ethiopic manuscripts (VanderKam, The
Book of Jubilees, 1.102, note to Jub. 18:2).
6
All of the Ethiopic manuscripts used in VanderKam’s critical edition attest
bakwraka or some form thereof for Jub. 18:11.
7
Duplicating a phrase that appears in the initial command (Gen 22:2; Jub. 18:2),
God refers to Isaac as “your first-born son whom you love” (Jub. 18:15).
8
The Hebrew text of the passages is no longer extant. All but three of the Ethiopic
manuscripts attest bakwraka for Jub. 18:15. One of the variants omits 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 textual value of the Ethiopic manuscripts, see
The Book of Jubilees, 2.xxiv–xxxi. The Latin version reads primogenito (˚rwkb) in Jub.
18:11 and unigenito (˚dyjy) in 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” (The Book of Jubilees, 2.108).
9
Only the first four letters (dyjy) are visible.