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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 1 Enoch 108:9 and Jubilees 17:17

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Jubilees and 1 Enoch present Abraham’s tests as part of a larger interpretive tradition of suffering found in Jewish wisdom and apocalyptic texts. Both emphasize that endurance through difficulty serves as a test of faithfulness.

Passages

1 Enoch 108:9

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
8 They loved God and loved neither gold nor silver nor any of the good things in the world, but gave over their bodies to torture. 9 Since they came into being, they did not long after earthly food, but regarded everything as a passing breath, and lived accordingly, and the Lord tested them greatly, and their spirits were found pure, so that they should bless His name. 10 All the blessings destined for them I have recounted in the books. And He has assigned them their reward, because they were found to be such as loved heaven more than their life in the world, and though they were trampled underfoot by wicked men, and experienced abuse and reviling from them and were put to shame, yet they blessed Me.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Jubilees 17:17

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
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.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

"... The third view [of suffering] considers suffering as God-sent to his innocent, righteous servant in atonement for the sins of individuals and/or the nation. The Book of Wisdom says that the Lord tests the upright through suffering in order that they might be found worthy. Jubilees (17:17) recalls the testing of Abraham in Genesis 22 and the Psalms of Solomon state that, “in the process of God’s testing, the righteous are required to endure so that they may be shown mercy (Psalms of Solomon 16:14-15). 2 and 4 Maccabees provide detailed accounts of the martyrdom of Eleazer, the mother and her seven sons, and others. The example par excellence of an innocent sufferer for others in the Old Testament is, of course, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 52:13–53:12 ..."
Philip B. Mortell, A Socio-rhetorical Interpretation of Paul’s Theology of Christian Suffering in 1 Corinthians (University of Limerick, 2020), 25–26.

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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1 Enoch 108:9 and Jubilees 17:17

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