Texts in Conversation
Exodus calls Jacob God’s firstborn son even though he was not the firstborn in his family. Jubilees resolves this by reshaping the story and saying God planned from the beginning of creation for Jacob’s descendants to keep the sabbath.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 4:22
Hebrew Bible
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. 22 You must say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord has said, “Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, I will surely kill your son, your firstborn!”’”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 2:20
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
19 And He said to us: 'Look, I will separate to Myself a people from among all the peoples, and these shall keep the Sabbath day, and I will sanctify them to Myself as My people, and will bless them; as I have sanctified the Sabbath day and do sanctify (it) to Myself, in the same way I will bless them, and they shall be My people and I will be their God. 20 And I have chosen the descendants of Jacob from among all that I have seen, and have written him down as My firstborn son, and have sanctified him to Myself forever and ever; and I will teach them the Sabbath day, so that they may keep Sabbath on it from all work.'
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... In Exodus 4:22, God is quoted as saying, “Israel is my firstborn son.” This assertion puzzled interpreters: in what sense could Israel, descended from Jacob, the second son of Isaac and Rebecca, and before them from Abraham, Terah, Shem, Noah, and so forth, be called God’s “firstborn”? Jubilees’ answer is unique—and surprising. God thought about the seed of Jacob in connection with the very first sabbath, long before Jacob, Israel’s progenitor, even existed; in fact, it was then that He resolved to grant Jacob’s descendants the privilege of keeping the sabbath along with God and His top angels. In this sense, then, Israel’s “creation” goes back to the first week in history—so of course they deserve to be called God’s “firstborn”! God conceived of this people long before actually bringing it into existence ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 33.
* 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
,