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In Genesis 42, Jacob blames his sons for his losses while Reuben rashly offers his own two sons as a pledge. Jubilees keeps the lament but removes Reuben’s offer, smoothing over a detail that made an ancestor of Israel look foolish.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 42:36
Hebrew Bible
35 When they were emptying their sacks, there was each man’s bag of money in his sack! When they and their father saw the bags of money, they were afraid. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone. And now you want to take Benjamin! Everything is against me.” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair in sorrow to the grave.”
Jubilees 42:10
Pseudepigrapha
9 They went up from the land of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan. They told their father everything that had happened to them and how the ruler of the area had spoken harshly with them and was holding Simeon until they brought Benjamin. 10 Jacob said: ‘You have deprived me of children. Joseph is no more, nor is Simeon, and now you are going to take Benjamin. Your wickedness has come upon me.’ 11 He said: ‘My son will not go with you. Perhaps he would become ill. For their mother gave birth to two; one has died and now you would take this one from me. Perhaps he would catch a fever on the way, and you would bring down my old age in sorrow to death.’
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Notes and References
... 10-12 The author of Jubilees changes his procedure when dealing with Jacob's response to the disturbing account his nine sons gave. Here he adheres much more closely to the text of Genesis (42:35-38) than he did in describing the journey, although he makes some significant alterations in it. In Genesis 42:35 all the brothers, upon opening their sacks, find their money refunded. “When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed.” In the rewriting, Jubilees moves this item to the end of the section—verse 12—and merely notes here that Jacob saw their money had been returned. ...
VanderKam, James C.
Jubilees 2: A Commentary on the Book of Jubilees Chapters 22-50
(p. 1064) Fortress Press, 2018
* 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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