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Jubilees changes the list of nations from Genesis 15 by removing the Hittites and adding the Pharokites and Hivites. Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah comments on their absence, also aware of these differences in their traditions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 15:19
Hebrew Bible
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts. 18 That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 14:18
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
17 And he awoke from his sleep, and he arose, and the sun had set; and there was a flame, and behold! a furnace was smoking, and a flame of fire passed between the pieces. 18 And on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To your seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, the Phakorites, and the Hivites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. 19 And the day passed, and Abram offered the pieces, and the birds, and their fruit offerings, and their drink offerings, and the fire devoured them.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis Rabbah 44:23
Aggadah
Rabbinic
“The Kenites, the Kenizites, and the Kadmonites” (Genesis 15:19). “The Ḥitites, the Perizites, and the Refa’im” (Genesis 15:20). “The Emorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Yevusites” (Genesis 15:21). Rabbi Dostai said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman: Because it does not mention the Ḥivites here, that is why it cites the Refa’im in their place. Rabbi Ḥelbo in the name of Rabbi Abba in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: It entered the mind of the Holy One blessed be He to bequeath to Israel the land of ten peoples, [including] “the Kenites, the Kenizites, and the Kadmonites,” but He gave them only seven. “The Ḥitites, the Perizites, and the Refa’im,
Date: 500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The last difference can be found in the list of nations (Genesis 15:19–21; Jubilees 14:18). The mention of Hittites in the list of nations (Genesis 15:20) is not taken over by Jubilees, whereas the Pharokites and the Hivites are added to the list. One can possibly see the Hivites as a variation of the Hittites. However, the Hivites do occur in the Septuagint and the Samaritan pentateuch of Genesis 15:19–21. (See Genesis Rabbah 44:23, where it is explained by the Hevites are not in the list of Genesis 15) It is possible, therefore, that the Hivites were mentioned in the text of Genesis that the author of Jubilees had in front of him. It is not completely clear why he omitted the Hittites, since both groups (the Hittites and the Hivites) appear together in comparable lists of nations (compare Exodus 3:8; Deuteronomy 7:3; Joshua 3:10; Judges 3:5; 1 Kings 9:20; 2 Chronicles 8:7) ..."
Jacques T. A. G. M. van Ruiten, Abraham in the Book of Jubilees: The Rewriting of Genesis 11:26–25:10 in the Book of Jubilees 11:14–23:8, JSJSup 161 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 130.
* 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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