CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ABRAHAM’S BLESSING AND PRAYER

Abraham’s Blessing to Jacob (19:26–29)

Following the births of Jacob and Esau, Abraham noticed that Isaac
preferred Esau over his brother, while Abraham himself and Rebecca
loved Jacob more (19:15–16, 19, 21, 31). After observing Esau’s behavior,
Abraham decided that only Jacob would continue the covenant 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 God 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 blessings with which he blessed Adam, Enoch,
Noah, and Shem. 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 Mastema 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 Israel ( 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 Bible
(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 Moses’ 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 Sabbath 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,” “Torah and
te{udah,” 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 circumcision (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-bo[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 Jewish literature 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 Midrash
Tadshe. In his opinion, the original text also mentioned the twenty-two letters of the
alphabet and the twenty-two books of the Bible. 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.