Texts in Conversation
In an Aramaic Targum of Genesis 32, Jacob fulfills his vow to give a tenth of all he has by including Levi as his tenth son, offering him as a human tithe to God. This parallels the book of Jubilees, suggesting that the Targum is based on that tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 32:3
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
2 And Jacob rose early in the morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe of all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every container and item of clothing, indeed, he gave tithes of all. 3 And in those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Jacob counted his sons from him upwards and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord, and his father clothed him in the priestly robes and filled his hands. 4 And on the fifteenth of this month, he brought to the altar fourteen oxen from among the cattle, and twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one young goats as a burnt-offering on the altar of sacrifice, well pleasing for a pleasing aroma before God.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 32:25
Targum
24 He took them and sent them across the stream, and he sent what belonged to him across 25 Jacob was left alone beyond the Jabbok And an angel in the form of a man wrestled with him And he said, “Did you not promise to tithe all that would be yours? Now behold, you have twelve sons and one daughter, and you have not tithed them” Immediately he set aside the four first-born of the four mothers, and there remained eight And he began to count from Simeon, and Levi happened to be the tenth Michael spoke up and said, “Master of the world, this one is your lot” It was on account of these things that he tarried beyond the stream until the column of the dawn rose 26 When he saw that he had no power to harm him, he touched the socket of his hip, and he dislocated the socket of Jacob’s hip when he wrestled with him
Date: 300–1200 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... This mention of Jacob’s tithe serves as an introduction to another, quite separate tradition about how Levi came to be the priestly tribe. At that time Rachel became pregnant her son Benjamin, and Jacob counted his sons for the purpose of giving God a tithe of his sons as well. Counting backwards from his twelfth son, Benjamin (then in utero), he arrived at Levi who, as number ten, therefore ought to be given to God as part of Jacob’s vow to return to God a tenth of all he had acquired; in other words, Levi was a human tithe (compare Pirqei de R. Eliezer 37, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis 32:25), a further confirmation of his selection. Jacob therefore put priestly clothes on him (no doubt given to him by Isaac) and ordained him for the priesthood (literally “filled his hands,” the biblical idiom for “ordain”) ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 152.
* 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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