Texts in Conversation
Leviticus commands the Israelites to love their neighbor as themselves and not hate a brother. Jubilees turns that command into Rebecca’s dying condition, making love between Jacob and Esau the requirement for inheriting Abraham’s blessing.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Leviticus 19:18
Hebrew Bible
17 You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. 18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. 19 You must keep my statutes. You must not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed together, you must not sow your field with two different kinds of seed, and you must not wear a garment made of two different kinds of material.
Jubilees 35:20
Pseudepigrapha
19 He said: ‘I will do anything you tell me; I will not refuse your request.’ 20 She said to him: ‘I ask of you that on the day I die you bring me and bury me near your father’s mother Sarah; and that you and Jacob love one another, and that the one not aim at what is bad for his brother but only at loving one another. Then you will be prosperous, my sons, and be honored on the earth. Your enemy will not be happy over you. You will become a blessing and an object of kindness in the view of all who love you.’ 21 He said: ‘I will do everything that you say to me. I will bury you on the day of your death near my father’s mother Sarah as you have desired that her bones may be near your bones.’
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Notes and References
... She asks that you and Jacob love one another, and that one not seek what is bad for his brother: This is Leviticus 19:18, 'And you shall love your fellow like yourself,' followed by the 'negative Golden Rule,' a common interpretation of this same verse; see also below on 36:7-11. One would expect that Esau would be presented here and henceforth in an entirely negative light, but the opposite seems to be true. He pledges his undying love for Jacob. ...
Kugel, James L.
A Walk Through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation
(p. 170) Brill, 2012
* 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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