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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.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 45:16
Pseudepigrapha
14 Israel blessed his sons before he died. He told them everything that would happen to them in the land of Egypt; and he informed them about what would happen to them at the end of time. He blessed them and gave Joseph two shares in the land. 15 He slept with his fathers and was buried near his father Abraham in the double cave in the land of Canaan — in the grave which he had dug for himself in the double cave in the land of Hebron. 16 He gave all his books and the books of his fathers to his son Levi so that he could preserve them and renew them for his sons until today.
Testament of Levi 13:2
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
Pseudepigrapha
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.
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Notes and 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.' ...
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