Book of Jubilees

Book of Jubilees 12

XII. And it came to pass in the sixth week, in the seventh year thereof, that Abram said to Terah his father, saying, " Father 1 " And he said, " Behold, here am I, my son." 2. And he said, 1 An improved method of sowing by means of a sced- scatterer attached to the plough (Arab, biik) is here described. This marked an advance on the primitive method of scatter- ing the seed by hand, and its invention is ascribed to Abraham. In Rabbinical tradition Noah is the inventor of the plough and kindred instruments. Cf. Krauss, Talmudische Atchjo- ogxe, ii. 553 (note 151). 88 THE BOOK OF JUBILEES [chap, xn "What help and profit have we from those idols which thou dost worship, And before which thou dost bow thyself ? * 3. For there is rio spirit in them,2 For they aire dumb forms, and a misleading of the he. art. Worship them not : 4. Worship the God of heaven, Who causeth the rain and the dew to descend on the earth,8 And doeth everything upon the earth, And hath created everything by His word,4 • And all life is from before His face. 5. Why do ye worship things that have no spirit in them? For they are the work of (men's) hands,6 And on your shoulders do ye bear them,* And ye have no help from them, But they are a great cause of shame to those who make them, And a misleading of the heart to those who worship them : Worship them not." 6. And his father said unto him, " I also know it, my son, but what shall I do with a people who have made me to serve before them ? 7. And if I tell them the truth, they will slay me ; for their soul cleaveth 1 In 1-14 we have an early form of the legend of Abram's protest against idolatry. This section has remarkable parallels, both in thought and expression, with chaps, i.-viii. of the Apocalypse of Abraham. In the later (Rabbinic) forms of the legend Abram's birth excites the alarm of Nimrod, who endeavours to destroy him in a furnace of fire. a. Cf. Ps. exxxv. 17. • Cf. xx. 9; Jer. xiv. 22. 4 Cf. Ps. xxxiii. 6; Heb. xi. 3 ; 2 Pet. iii. 5; 4 Ezra vi. 38. • Cf. Jer. x. 3, 9. • Cf- Jsa. xlvi. 7; Jer. x. 5; Assumpt. Moses, viii. 4. chap, xii] THE BOOK OF JUBILEES 89 to them to worship them and honour them. Keep silent,1 my son, lest they slay thee." 8. And these words he spake to his two brothers, and they were angry with him and he kept silent. 9. And in the fortieth jubilee, in the second week, in the seventh 1925 year thereof, Abram took to himself a wife, and her name was Sarai, the daughter of his father, and she became his wife.1 10. And Haran, his brother, took to himself a wife in the third year of the third week, and she bare him a son in the seventh year of this 1932 week and he called his name Lot. 11. And Nahor, his brother, took to himself a wife.8 12. And in the sixtieth year of the life of Abram, that is, in the J936 fourth week, in the fourth year thereof, Abram arose by night, and burned the house of the idols, and he burned all that was in the house, and no man knew it. 13. And they arose in the night and sought to save their gods from the midst of the fire. 14. And Haran hasted to save them, but the fire flamed over him, and he was burnt in the fire, and he died in Ur of the Chaldees before Terah his father, and they buried him in Ur of the Chaldees.4 The Family of Terah in Haran ; Abram 's Experiences there ; his Journey to Canaan (xii. 15-31 ; cf. Gen. xi, 31-xii. 3). * 15. And Terah went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, he and his sons, to go into the land of Lebanon and into the land of Canaan, and he dwelt in the land of Haran, and Abram, dwelt with Terah his father in 1 In Ap. Abraham Terah is indignant with Abraham for deriding the idols. * Cf. Gen. xx. 12, according to which Sarah was Abraham's half-sister. According to Rabbinic tradition marriage with half-sisters on the father's side was permitted to the descen- dants of Noah. In Lev. xviii. 9, II, xx. 17, marriage with a sister or half-sister is strictly forbidden. * According to Gen. xi. 29, Milcah. * In Ap. Abraham, viii. the fire descends from heaven and burns the house and all in it (including Terah). Only Abraham escapes. 90 THE BOOK OF JUBILEES [chap, xii Haran two weeks of years.1 16. And in the sixth 1951 a.m. week, in the fifth year thereof, Abram sat up through- out the night on the new moon of the seventh month to observe the stars from the evening to the morning, in order to see what would be the character of the year with regard to the rains, and he was alone as he sat and observed. 17. And a word came into his heart and he said : " All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord. Why do I search (them) out ? 18. If He desireth, He causeth it to rain, morning and evening ; And if He desireth, He withholdeth it, And all things are. in His hand.'"' 19. And he prayed that night and said " My God, 6od Most High, Thou alone art my God, And Thee and Thy dominion have I chosen. And Thou hast created all things, And all things that are are the work of Thy hands. 20. Deliver me from the hands of evil spirits who have sway over the thoughts of men's hearts, And let them not lead me astray from Thee, my God. And stablish Thou me and my seed for ever That we go not astray from henceforth and for evermore." 21. And he said, " Shall I return unto Ur of the Chal- dees who seek my face that I may return to them, or am I to remain here in this place? The right path before Thee prosper it in the hands of Thy servant that he may fulfil (it) and that I may not walk in the deceitfulness of my heart, O my God." 22. And he made an end of speaking and praying, and behold the word of the Lord was sent to him through me, saying : 11 Get thee up from thy country, and from thy kindred and from the house of thy father unto a land which I shall show thee, and I shall make thee a great and numerous nation. 1 Cf. Gen. xi. 31. chap, xii] THE BOOK OF JUBILEES 91 23. And I shall bless thee And I shall make thy name great, And thou wilt be blessed in the earth, And in thee will all families of the earth be blessed, And I shall bless them that bless thee, And curse them that curse thee.1 24. And I shall be a God to thee and thy son, and to thy son's son, and to all thy seed : fear not, from henceforth and unto all generations of the earth I am thy God." 25. And the Lord God said : " Open his mouth and his ears, that he may hear and speak with his mouth, with the language which hath been revealed " ; a for it had ceased from the mouths of all the children of men from the day of the overthrow (of Babel). 26. And 1 8 opened his mouth, and his ears and his lips, and I began to speak with him in Hebrew in the tongue of the creation. 27. And he jtook the booksof his fathers, and these were written irHkebrew, and he transcribed them, and he began from henceforth to study them, and I mad<T"known to him that which he could not (understand), and he studied them during the six rainy months.4 28. And it came to pass in the seventh year of the sixth week that he spoke to his father, and informed him that he would leave Haran to go into the land of Canaan to see it and return to him. 29. And Terah his father said unto him ; " Go in peace : May the eternal God make thy path straight, And the Lord [(be) with thee, and] protect thee from all evil, And grant unto thee grace, mercy and favour before those who see thee, And may none of the children of men have power over thee to harm thee ; Go in peace. 1 Cf. Gen. xii. 1-3 (cf. Acts vii. 3). * t. e. the sacred language, Hebrew, knowledge of which had been lost since the overthrow of Babel. According to another tradition Heber alone retained knowledge of Hebrew because he had taken no part in the building of the Tower. ■ The angel is the speaker. 4 i. e. the winter. 92 THE BOOK OF JUBILEES [chap, xif 30. And if thou seest a land pleasant to thy eyes to dwell in, then arise and take me to thee and take Lot with thee, the son of Haran thy brother, as thine own son : the Lord be with thee. 31. And Nahor thy brother leave with me till thou returnest in peace, and we go with thee all together." Abram with Lot in Canaan and Egypt (cf. Gen. xii. 4-20). Abram separates from Lot (cf. Gen. xiii. n-18) (xiii. 1-21).