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Jubilees 23 echoes Exodus 20 by repeating the expression that divine mercy extends to thousands who love God and obey his commandments. This connects Jubilees’ vision of future restoration with the covenantal promises in the Torah.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 20:6
Hebrew Bible
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 23:31
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
30 And at that time the Lord will heal His servants, And they shall rise up and see great peace, And drive out their adversaries. And the righteous shall see and be thankful, And rejoice with joy forever and ever, And shall see all their judgments and all their curses on their enemies. 31 And their bones shall rest in the earth, And their spirits shall have much joy, And they shall know that it is the Lord who executes judgment, And shows mercy to hundreds and thousands and to all that love Him 32 And you, Moses, write down these words; for thus they are written, and they record (them) on the heavenly tablets for a testimony for the generations forever.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Implicit intertextuality between this chapter in Jubilees and the biblical text is found in several cases. The long life indicated in Jubilees 23:9 and 27 reflects the genealogy of Genesis 5. Traditional condemnation formulas used in Jubilees 23:22-23 agrees with formulas found in the Bible. The idea of nations who have no mercy or grace in Jubilees 23:23 repeat Jeremiah 6:23. The call to be saved from the hand of the sinners in Jubilees 23:24-25 agrees with the language and motifs used in Trito Isaiah. The description of seniors and young people in Jubilees 23:28 agrees with the ideas in Isaiah 65:20. The idea in Jubilees 23:31 that their bones will rest in the earth and their spirits will increase joy, is also found in Isaiah 66:14. The expression that God will show mercy to hundreds and thousands, to all who love him (Jubilees 23:31) is the same expression used in the Decalogue in Exodus 20:6 and Deuteronomy 5:10 ..."
Pieter M Venter, “Intertextuality in the Book of Jubilees,” HvTSt 63.2 (2007): 463–480.
* 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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