Texts in Conversation
Genesis 26 says God renewed the promise to Isaac because Abraham followed the requirements of the commandments. Jubilees 24 repeats this almost word for word and adds "and covenant," presenting Abraham as faithfully obeying the entire Torah.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 26:5
Hebrew Bible
4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. 5 All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 24:11
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
10 For to you and to your seed I will give all this land, and I will establish My oath which I swore to Abraham your father, and I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all this land. 11 And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because your father obeyed My voice, and kept My charge and My commandments, and My instructions, and My ordinances, and My covenant; and now obey My voice and dwell in this land.' 12 And he dwelt in Gerar three weeks of years.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... The strongest connection with Abraham comes in verse 11 parallel to Genesis 26:5: the blessings, including the derivative one the nations will experience through the chosen line, now belong to Isaac because Abraham was unfailingly obedient... The texts agree word for word (not always obvious in the translations) apart from two differences: where the Masoretic Text uses the name Abraham the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, and the Old Latin have “Abraham your father,” Jubilees reads “your father”; and at the end of the verse its words “and covenant” are unique to it (they may come from Genesis 17:9-10 parallel to Jubilees 15:11). Nouns such as “commands, statutes, and laws” are surprising in connection with Genesis, where Abraham received very few orders that were legal in nature. ...
James C. VanderKam, Jubilees 2: A Commentary on the Book of Jubilees Chapters 22-50 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2018), 717.
* 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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