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Deuteronomy 32 describes how humanity was divided among patron deities, with God as Israel's patron deity. Jubilees reshapes this tradition, describing those deities as spirits who lead the nations away from God.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 32:8
Hebrew Bible
7 Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly. 9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession. 10 The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.
Jubilees 15:31
Pseudepigrapha
30 For the Lord did not draw near to himself either Ishmael, his sons, his brothers, or Esau. He did not choose them simply because they were among Abraham’s children, for he knew them. But he chose Israel to be his people. 31 He sanctified them and gathered them from all mankind. For there are many nations and many peoples and all belong to him. He made spirits rule over all in order to lead them astray from following him. 32 But over Israel he made no angel or spirit rule because he alone is their ruler. He will guard them and require them for himself from his angels, his spirits, and everyone, and all his powers so that he may guard them and bless them and so that they may be his and he theirs from now and forever. 33 I am now telling you that the Israelites will prove false to this ordinance. They will not circumcise their sons in accord with this entire law because they will leave some of the flesh of their circumcision when they circumcise their sons. All the people of Belial will leave their sons uncircumcised just as they were born.
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Notes and References
... This passage merges Jubilees' doctrine of evil spirits with the teaching of Deuteronomy 32:8–9, which explains that God has divided the nations among the ‘sons of God,’ but that the Lord governs Israel directly. In Jubilees, the domination and deception of the nations by evil spirits contrasts starkly with Israel's freedom from domination by such malevolent powers and their enlightenment as the people of the one true God ...
Stokes, Ryan E.
"Mosaic Torah and Defense against Demons in the Book of Jubilees" in De Troyer, Kristin (ed.) The Early Reception of the Torah
(p. 186) De Gruyter, 2020
* 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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