Book of Jubilees

Book of Jubilees 32

XXXII. And he abode that night at Bethel, and Levi dreamed l that they had ordained and made him the priest of the Most High God,2 him and his sons for ever ; and he awoke from his sleep and blessed the Lord. 2. And Jacob rose early in the morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe of all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every vessel and garment, yea, he gave tithes of all. 3. And in those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Jacob counted his sons from him 3 upwards and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord,4 and his father clothed him in the garments of the priesthood and filled his hands.5 4. And on the fifteenth of this month, he brought to the altar fourteen oxen from amongst the cattle, and twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one kids of the goats as a burnt- offering on the altar of sacrifice, well pleasing for a sweet savour before God.8 5. This was his offering, 1 Cf. Test. Levi viii. (which describes Levi's dream-vision of seven men in white as having taken place at Bethel) ; also v. of the same work (in ix. 3 Jacob has this dream also). 2 Cf. Gen. xiv. 18-20 (Mclchizedek). The title, " Priest of the Most High God," was appropriated by the Maccabean priest-kings. Apparently it was expected in certain quarters that the Messiah would spring from this priestly ruling house; cf. Ps. ex., especially ver. 4. 8 i.e. from Benjamin. 4 Levi, as the tenth son (counting backwards from Benja- min), fell, under the law of tithe, to the Lord, and was con- secrated to the priesthood; cf. also Pirke de If. liliezcr xxxvii., where Levi is counted (by a different method) as tenth " and was reckoned as the tithe, holy to God " (cf. Lev. xxvii. 32). 6 A technical expression meaning appointment to the priesthood; cf. Exod. xxviii. 41 (K.V. marg.) ; xxix. 9. • The number of victims does not agree with the pre- scriptions of the Mosaic Law regarding the Feast of Taber- nacles; cf. Num. xxix. 12-40; Lev. xxiii. 34-36, 39-44. chap, xxxn] THE BOOK OF JUBILEES 163 in consequence of the vow which he had vowed that he would give a tenth,1 with their fruit-offerings and their drink-offerings. 6. And when the fire had con- sumed it, he burnt incense on the fire over the fire, and for a thank-offering two oxen and four rams and four sheep, four he-goats, and two sheep of a year old, and two kids of the goats ; and thus he did daily for seven days. 7. And he and all his sons and his men were eating (this) with joy there during seven days and blessing and thanking the Lord, who had delivered him out of all his tribulation and had given him his vow. 8. And he tithed all t lie clean animals, and made a burnt sacrifice, but 1 1 ic unclean animals he gave (not) to Levi his son, and he gave him all the souls of the men.2 9. And Levi discharged the priestly office at Bethel before Jacob his father in preference to his ten brothers, and he was a priest there, and Jacob gave his vow : thus he tithed again the tithe 3 to the Lord and sanctified it, and it became holy unto Him. 10. And for this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tables as a law for the tithing again the tithe to eat before the Lord from year to year,4 in the place where it is chosen that His name should dwell, and to this law there is no limit of days for ever. 11. This ordinance is written that it may be fulfilled from year to year in eating the second tithe before the Lord in the place where it hath been chosen, and nothing shall remain over from it from this year to the year following. 12. For in its year shall the seed be eaten till the days of the gathering of the seed of the year, and the wine till the days of the wine, and the oil till the days of its season. 13. And all that is left thereof and become! h old, let it be regarded as polluted : let it be burnt with fire, for it is unclean. 14. And thus let them eat it together in the 1 Cf. Gen. xxviii. 22. 2 Cf. Test. Levi ix. 3 (" And he [Jacob] paid tithes of all to the Lord through mc "). 3 i. e. the second tithe; cf. Num. xviii. 26. 4 Cf. Deut. xiv. 23 (Tobit i. 7). 164. THE BOOK OF JUBILEES [chap, xxxn sanctuary, and let them not suffer it to become old. 15. And all the tithes of the oxen and sheep shall be holy unto the Lord,1 and shall belong to His priests, which they will eat before Him from year to year ; for thus is it ordained and engraven regarding the tithe on the heavenly tables. Jacob's Visions. He celebrates the eighth day of Tabernacles. The Birth of Benjamin and Death of Rachel (xxxii. 16-34; cf. Gen. XXXV.). 16. And on the following night, on the twenty- second day of this month, Jacob resolved to build that place, and to surround the court with a wall, and to sanctify, it and make it holy for ever, for him- self and his children after him. 17. And the Lord appeared to him by night and blessed him and said unto him : ' " Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall they name thy name." 18. And He said unto him again : "I am the Lord who created the heaven and the earth, and I shall increase thee and multiply thee exceedingly, and kings will come forth from thee, and they will judge everywhere wherever the foot of the sons of men hath trodden. 19. And I shall give to thy seed all the earth 2 which is under heaven, and they will judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they will get possession of the whole earth and inherit it for ever." 20. And He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him, and Jacob looked till He had ascended into heaven.3 21. And he saw in a vision of the night, and behold an angel descended from heaven with seven tablets 4 in his hands, and he gave them to Jacob, and he read them and knew all that was written therein which would befall him and his sons through- 1 Cf. Lev. xxvii. 32 ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 6. These tithes are not otherwise attested in the O.T. a For 17-18 cf. Gen. xxxv. 10-12. Notice that the whole inhabited earth (not merely Palestine, as in Gen. xxxv. 12) is here promised to Israel. • Cf. Gen. xxxv. 13. 4 Cf. 4 Ezra xiv. 24. chap, xxxn] THE BOOK OF JUBILEES 165 out all the ages.1 22. And he showed him all that was written on the tablets, and said unto him : " Do not build this place, and do not make it an eternal sanc- tuary,2 and do not dwell here; for this is not the place. Go to the house of Abraham thy father and dwell with Isaac thy father until the day of the death of thy father, z]. For in Eygpt thou wilt die in peace, and in this land thou wilt be buried with honour in the sepulchre of thy fathers, with Abraham and Isaac. 24. hear not, lor as thou hast seen and road it, 'thus will it all be; and do thou write down every- thing as thou hast seen and read." 25. And Jacob said : " Lord, how can I remember all that I have read and seen? " And he said unto him : " I will bring all things to thy remembrance." 3 26. And he went up from him, and he awoke from his sleep, and he remembered everything which he had read and seen, and he wrote down all the words which he had read and seen. 27. And he celebrated there yet another day,4 and he sacrificed thereon according to all that he sacrificed on the former days, and called its name f" Addition, "f 5 for f this day was added, f 5 and the former days he called " The Feast." 6 28. And thus it was manifested that it should be, and it is written on the heavenly tables : wherefore it was revealed to him that he should celebrate it, and add it to the seven days of the feast. 2().7 And its name 1 Cf. xlv. 4. a The sanctuary at Bethel was not to be the one central shrine, where alone acceptable worship was to be offered. 3 In 4 Ezra xiv. 40, Ezra's memory is said to have been miraculously strengthened after he had received the cup of inspiration; cf. also John xiv 26. 4 i. c. the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles. 5 The Hebrew name is asereth {'asarta), from a root mean- ing " detain " ['fisar). Hence, perhaps, we may emend here " keeping back," for on that clay he was kept back (Charles). 6 So in Rabbinic the least of Tabernacles was called. par excellence, " the Feast." 7 29 is very corrupt. Charles suggests that it should be read : " And its name was called ' a keeping back ' («. e a$ereth) when it was recorded amongst the days of the feast days in the number of the days of the year." 166 THE BOOK OF JUBILEES [chap, xxxn was called j" Addition, ""[ "["because thatf it was recorded amongst the days of the feast days, "[accord- ing to| the number of the days of the year. 30. And in the night, on the twenty-third of this month, Deborah Rebecca's nurse died, and they buried her beneath the city under the oak of the river, and he called the name of this place, " The river of Deborah," and the oak, " The oak of the mourning of Deborah."1 31. And Rebecca went and returned to her house to his father Isaac, and Jacob sent by her hand rams and sheep and he-goats that she should prepare a meal for his father such as he desired. 32. And he went after his mother till he came to the land of Kabratan,2 and he dwelt there. 33. And Rachel bare a son in the night, and called his name " Son of my sorrow " ; for she suffered in giving him birth : but his father called his name Benjamin, on the eleventh of the eighth month in the first of the sixth week of this 2143 A.M. jubilee. 34. And Rachel died there and she was buried in the land 3 of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem, and Jacob built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road a^bove her grave. Reuben's Sin -with Bilhah. Laws regarding Incest. Jacob's Children (xxxiii. 1-23; cf. Gen. xxxv. 21-27).