Texts in Conversation
Genesis 25 describes Jacob living in tents, and the plural led interpreters to think he lived in more than one. Jubilees and the Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos interpret this to mean Jacob was well educated, with one of the tents used for study.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 25:27
Hebrew Bible
25 The first came out reddish all over, like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau. 26 When his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 19:14
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
13 And in the sixth week, in the second year of it [2046], Rebekah bore to Isaac two sons, Jacob and Esau, and Jacob was a smooth and upright man, and Esau was fierce, a man of the field, and hairy, and Jacob lived in tents. 14 And the youths grew, and Jacob learned to write; but Esau did not learn, for he was a man of the field and a hunter, and he learned war, and all his deeds were fierce. 15 And Abraham loved Jacob, but Isaac loved Esau.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Onkelos Genesis 25:27
Targum
25 And the first came out red, covered all over with hair like a garment; and they named him Esau. 26 And afterwards came out his brother, and his hand grasped the heel of Esau, and they named him Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when he fathered them. 27 And the youths grew; and Esau was a skilled hunter, a man going out into the field; and Jacob was a man of peace, one who served in the study house. 28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he ate what he hunted, and Rebekah loved Jacob.
Date: 50–500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... what did the Bible mean by describing Jacob as 'dwelling in tents'? Interpreters were struck by the plural tents here—does a person need more than one tent to dwell in? If the word appears in the plural, it must have been intended as a subtle hint that, in addition to staying in his own tent, Jacob also regularly spent time, 'dwelt,' in another tent. And what sort of tent might that be, if not that of a schoolteacher who could instruct the boy in reading and writing? Perhaps, indeed, the other tent was a full-blown schoolhouse of Jewish learning. (Such apparent anachronisms were, curiously, not a problem for ancient interpreters.) ..."
James L. Kugel, The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 201.
* 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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