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Jubilees and the Greek Septuagint translation of Genesis 33 describe Jacob arriving at Shalem, a city near Shechem, without linking it to Jerusalem. This contrasts with traditions that identify Salem with Jerusalem, seen in Psalms and other Hebrew texts.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Genesis 33:18
Septuagint
16 And Esau returned on that day on his journey to Seir. 17 And Jacob departs to his tents; and he made for himself there habitations, and for his cattle he made booths; therefore he called the name of that place, Booths. 18 And Jacob came to Salem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he departed out of Mesopotamia of Syria, and took up a position in front of the city. 19 And he bought the portion of the field, where he pitched his tent, of Hamor the father of Shechem, for one hundred lambs. 20 And he set up there an altar, and called on the God of Israel.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 30:1
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
1 And in the first year of the sixth week [2143] he went up to Salem, to the east of Shechem, in peace, in the fourth month. 2 And there they carried off Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, into the house of Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, and he lay with her and defiled her, and she was a little girl, a child of twelve years. 3 And he implored his father and her brothers that she might be given to him as a wife. And Jacob and his sons were angry because of the men of Shechem; for they had defiled Dinah, their sister, and they spoke to them with evil intent and dealt deceitfully with them and tricked them.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... when Jacob fulfills his vow and builds an altar there and subsequently tithes (Jubilees 31:3; 32:4–9), he then actually plans to build the (cultic) place there (Jubilees 32:16). He is, however, prevented from doing this by the angel of God (Jubilees 32:22). The pillar itself did not function as a cult object, only as a pillar to mark the place, which is also emphasized with the addition in Jubilees 27:27 that Jacob set up the stone “as a pillar for a marker in this place.” In all other respects, the vow is not itself altered and Jubilees closely follows Genesis. If God fulfills his promises, God will become Jacob’s God, and Jacob will in turn tithe from everything God has given him, and the place shall become a house of the Lord. Thus, the author has been more concerned with Jacob’s actions than with the Abrahamic Promise itself ... God’s promise to Jacob still includes the promises God gave to Abraham. That Jacob will return “in peace” is highlighted by harmonizing God’s promise with Jacob’s vow, and this is an important promise in Jubilees since Isaac refers to it many times when he comforts Rebekah after Jacob has been sent away. Later on, that Jacob returns “in peace” is retained in the double interpretation of Genesis 33:18 in Jubilees 30:1 ..."
Topias K. E. Tanskanen, “Jacob, the Torah, and the Abrahamic Promise: Studies on the Use and Interpretation of the Jacob Story in the Book of Jubilees” (diss., Åbo Akademi University, 2023), 196–197.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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