Texts in Conversation
Jubilees interprets Genesis to say that the woman was first contained in the man and also removes the language in Genesis that humans were made in God’s image, likely avoiding language that sounded too human when speaking about God.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 1:27
Hebrew Bible
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 2:14
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
13 And on the sixth day He created all the animals of the earth, and all cattle, and everything that moves on the earth. 14 And after all this He created man, a man and a woman He created them, and gave him authority over all that is on the earth, and in the seas, and over everything that flies, and over wild animals and over cattle, and over everything that moves on the earth, and over the whole earth, and over all this He gave him authority. And these four kinds He created on the sixth day. 15 And there were altogether twenty-two kinds.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... As Jubilees will go on to explain, the phrase “male and female” (Genesis 1:27) actually means “a female inside a male,” that is, a little female homunculus contained in Adam’s body. Note that Jubilees makes no mention of humanity being made “in His image”—this was apparently too anthropomorphic for Jubilees’ author ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 32.
* 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.
User Comments
,