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Jubilees

About this book

The Departure of Hagar and Ishmael

Chapter 17

1 And in the first year of the fifth week Isaac was weaned in this jubilee, [1989] and Abraham made a great banquet in the third month, on the day his son Isaac was weaned. 2 And Ishmael, the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, was in the presence of Abraham, his father, in his place, and Abraham rejoiced and blessed God because he had seen his sons and had not died childless. 3 And he remembered the words which He had spoken to him on the day on which Lot had separated from him, and he rejoiced because the Lord had given him descendants upon the earth to inherit the earth, and he wholeheartedly blessed the Creator of all things. 4 And Sarah saw Ishmael playing and dancing,⁠ and Abraham rejoicing with great joy, and she became jealous of Ishmael and said to Abraham, 'Send away this enslaved woman and her son; for the son of this enslaved woman will not be heir with my son, Isaac.' 5 And this deeply distressed Abraham, because of his female servant and because of his son, that he should drive them from him. 6 And God said to Abraham 'Do not be distressed, because of the child and because of the enslaved woman; in all that Sarah has said to you, listen to her words and do (them); for in Isaac your name and line of descendants shall continue. 7 But as for the son of this enslaved woman I will make him a great nation, because he is of your descendants.' 8 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a waterskin of water, and placed them on the shoulders of Hagar and the child, and sent her away. 9 And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, and the water in the waterskin ran out, and the child became thirsty, and was not able to go on, and fell down. 10 And his mother took him and placed him under an olive tree, and went and sat down opposite him, at the distance of a bowshot; for she said, 'May I not see the death of my child,' and as she sat she wept. 11 And an angel of God, one of the holy ones, said to her, 'Why do you weep, Hagar? Get up, take the child, and hold him in your hand; for God has heard your voice, and has seen the child.' 12 And she opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled her waterskin with water, and she gave her child water to drink, and she got up and went toward the wilderness of Paran. 13 And the child grew and became an archer, and God was with him, and his mother found him a wife from among the daughters of Egypt. 14 And she bore him a son, and he named him Nebaioth; for she said, 'The Lord was near to me when I called upon him.'

Mastema Challenges Abraham’s Faithfulness

15 And in the seventh week, in the first year of it, [2003] in the first month in this jubilee, on the twelfth of this month, there were voices in heaven regarding Abraham, that he was faithful in all that He told him,⁠ and that he loved the Lord, and that in every affliction he was faithful. 16 And the prince Mastema came and said before God,⁠ 'Look, Abraham loves Isaac his son, and he delights in him above all things else; tell him to offer him as a burnt-offering on the altar, and You will see if he will do this command, and You will know if he is faithful in everything in which You test him.⁠ 17 And the Lord knew that Abraham was faithful in all his afflictions;⁠ for He had tested him through his country and with famine,⁠ and had tested him with the wealth of kings, and had tested him again through his wife, when she was torn (from him), and with circumcision; and had tested him through Ishmael and Hagar, his female servant, when he sent them away. 18 And in everything in which He had tested him, he was found faithful, and his soul was not impatient, and he was not slow to act; for he was faithful and a lover of the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Jubilees 17:16 and Sanhedrin 89b

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Rabbinic

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Summary

Jubilees and Rabbinic tradition in tractate Sanhedrin reshape Abraham’s test in Genesis to be like Job. Instead of God arbitrarily testing Abraham, it begins with an accusation from a hostile figure, Satan or Mastema, who questions Abraham’s loyalty.

Passages

Jubilees 17:16

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
15 And in the seventh week, in the first year of it, [2003] in the first month in this jubilee, on the twelfth of this month, there were voices in heaven regarding Abraham, that he was faithful in all that He told him, and that he loved the Lord, and that in every affliction he was faithful. 16 And the prince Mastema came and said before God, 'Look, Abraham loves Isaac his son, and he delights in him above all things else; tell him to offer him as a burnt-offering on the altar, and You will see if he will do this command, and You will know if he is faithful in everything in which You test him. 17 And the Lord knew that Abraham was faithful in all his afflictions; for He had tested him through his country and with famine, and had tested him with the wealth of kings, and had tested him again through his wife, when she was torn (from him), and with circumcision; and had tested him through Ishmael and Hagar, his female servant, when he sent them away.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

Sanhedrin 89b

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
§ Apropos the binding of Isaac, the Gemara elaborates: It is written: “And it came to pass after these matters [hadevarim] that God tried Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). The Gemara asks: After what matters? How does the binding of Isaac relate to the preceding events? Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Zimra: This means after the statement [devarav] of Satan, as it is written: “And the child grew, and was weaned, and Abraham prepared a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned” (Genesis 21:8). Satan said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, this old man, you favored him with a product of the womb, i.e., a child, at one hundred years of age. From the entire feast that he prepared, did he not have even one dove or one pigeon to sacrifice before You as a thanks-offering? God said to Satan: Did Abraham prepare the feast for any reason but for his son? If I say to him: Sacrifice your son before Me, he would immediately slaughter him. Immediately, after these matters, the verse states: “And God tried Abraham.”
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sanhedrin

References

"... But even this inspiring narrative raised questions for early interpreters. Why, to begin with, should God want to test Abraham? Certainly not in order to find out whether Abraham was worthy. For, as we have just seen, Abraham had already proven himself worthy many times in the past ... In seeking the answer to these questions, interpreters looked to other parts of the Bible, in particular, to the book of Job, another biblical figure whom God had tested. In his case, however, the test was initiated not by God but by Satan, who in effect challenged God's high opinion of Job: 'Do some harm to him, indeed, afflict all that he has, and then see if he does not curse You to Your face' (Job 1:11). To ancient interpreters it seemed plausible that, with regard to Abraham as well, God may have received a challenge from Satan or some other angel(s) ..."
James L. Kugel, The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 170–171.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Jubilees 17:16 and Sanhedrin 89b

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