Texts in Conversation
Jubilees retells Genesis 3 by changing the order of events, showing the woman drawn by the fruit’s appearance before seeing it as food. It also has her cover herself before speaking to the man to make the story flow more naturally and avoid any dishonorable behavior.
Share:
Genesis 3:6
Hebrew Bible
5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Jubilees 3:20
Pseudepigrapha
19 Then the serpent said to the woman: 'You will not really die because the Lord knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, you will become like gods, and you will know good and evil.' 20 The woman saw that the tree was delightful and pleasing to the eye and that its fruit was good to eat. So she took some of it and ate it. 21 She first covered her shame with fig leaves and then gave it to Adam. He ate it, his eyes were opened, and he saw that he was naked.
Date: 150-100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Search:
Notes and References
"... In Genesis 3:6 Eve saw that the tree 'was good for eating and a delight to the eyes.' The order seemed illogical to the author of Jubilees - first the fruit ought to have appealed to her eye, and only after that should she have guessed that it tasted good as well. So the author of Jubilees changed the order. He also had Eve cover herself with a fig-leaf before approaching Adam (contra Genesis 3:6-7), apparently to avoid any implication of immodesty ..."
Kugel, James L.
A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation
(pp. 40-41) Brill, 2012
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.