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About this book

Jubilees

About this book

Jacob and Joseph Are Reunited

Chapter 45

1 And Israel went into the country of Egypt, into the land of Goshen, on the new moon of the fourth [2172] month, in the second year of the third week of the forty-fifth jubilee. 2 And Joseph went to meet his father Jacob, to the land of Goshen, and he fell on his father's neck and wept. 3 And Israel said to Joseph: 'Now let me die since I have seen you, and now may the Lord God of Israel be blessed the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac who has not withheld His mercy and His grace from His servant Jacob. 4 It is enough for me that I have seen your face while I am still alive; yes, the vision which I saw at Bethel is true. Blessed be the Lord my God forever and ever, and blessed be His name.' 5 And Joseph and his brothers ate bread before their father and drank wine, and Jacob rejoiced with very great joy because he saw Joseph eating with his brothers and drinking before him, and he blessed the Creator of all things who had preserved him, and had preserved for him his twelve sons. 6 And Joseph had given to his father and to his brothers as a gift the right to live in the land of Goshen and in Rameses and all the region around, which he ruled over before Pharaoh. And Israel and his sons lived in the land of Goshen, the best part of the land of Egypt and Israel was one hundred and thirty years old when he came into Egypt. 7 And Joseph fed his father and his brothers and also their possessions with bread as much as they needed for the seven years of the famine. 8 And the land of Egypt suffered because of the famine, and Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh in return for food, and he got possession of the people and their cattle and everything for Pharaoh. 9 And the years of the famine came to an end, and Joseph gave to the people in the land seed and food so that they might sow (the land) in the eighth year, for the river had overflowed all the land of Egypt. 10 For in the seven years of the famine it had (not) overflowed and had irrigated only a few places on the banks of the river, but now it overflowed and the Egyptians sowed the land, and it bore much grain that year. 11 And this was the first year of the fourth week of the forty-fifth jubilee [2178]. 12 And Joseph took of the grain of the harvest the fifth part for the king and left four parts for them for food and for seed, and Joseph made it an ordinance for the land of Egypt to this day.

Jacob’s Final Instructions and Death

13 And Israel lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and all the days which he lived were three jubilees, one hundred and forty-seven years, and he died in the fourth [2188] year of the fifth week of the forty-fifth jubilee. 14 And Israel blessed his sons before he died and told them everything that would happen to them in the land of Egypt; and he made known to them what would come upon them in the last days,⁠ and blessed them and gave to Joseph two portions in the land. 15 And he died and joined his ancestors, and he was buried in the double cave in the land of Canaan, near Abraham his father in the grave which he dug for himself in the double cave in the land of Hebron. 16 And he gave all his books and the books of his ancestors to Levi his son⁠ so that he might preserve them and renew them for his children to this day.

Texts in conversation

Compare Jubilees 45:16 and Testament of Levi 13:2

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Pseudepigrapha, Testaments

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Summary

In Jubilees, Jacob gives Levi the family’s books to preserve, emphasizing learning through the written word. The Testament of Levi continues this tradition, having Levi command his own sons to teach their children to read and study.

Passages

Jubilees 45:16

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
14 And Israel blessed his sons before he died and told them everything that would happen to them in the land of Egypt; and he made known to them what would come upon them in the last days, and blessed them and gave to Joseph two portions in the land. 15 And he died and joined his ancestors, and he was buried in the double cave in the land of Canaan, near Abraham his father in the grave which he dug for himself in the double cave in the land of Hebron. 16 And he gave all his books and the books of his ancestors to Levi his son so that he might preserve them and renew them for his children to this day.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

Testament of Levi 13:2

Pseudepigrapha, Testaments · Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
1 And now, my children, I command you: Fear the Lord your God with all your heart, and walk in simplicity according to all His law. 2 And you also, teach your children letters, so that they may have understanding all their lives, reading continually the law of God. 3 For everyone who knows the law of the Lord will be honored, and will not be a stranger wherever he goes. 4 Yes, he will gain many friends—more even than his parents—and many will desire to serve him and to hear the law from his mouth.
100 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Testament of Levi

References

... On the other hand, like Jubilees, the Testament of Levi also emphasizes the importance of the written transmission of the ancestral halakhah. Later in his instruction to Levi, Isaac explains laws of draining blood from slaughtered animals by referring to Abraham: 'For thus my father Abraham commanded me, for thus he found in the writing of the book of Noah concerning blood.' As we have seen above, Jubilees recognizes two ways of transmission of ancestral laws. One is the oral deathbed instruction of a patriarch to his children. The other takes place by means of ancestral books passed down from generation to generation within the family. Indeed, in his instruction about details of the sacrificial cult in Jubilees 21, Abraham also refers to ancestral books of Enoch and Noah as the source of his knowledge. Isaac does the same in the Testament of Levi. Abraham's knowledge comes from what he has read in the books of his forefathers. It is only logical, then, that in his own farewell testimony, Levi instructs his children to 'teach reading, and writing, and instruction, and wisdom to your children.' ...
Alexei M. Sivertsev, Households, Sects, and the Origins of Rabbinic Judaism, JSJSup 102 (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 83–84.

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 45:16 and Testament of Levi 13:2

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