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In Jubilees, Noah binds his sons by oath to keep their lands, a broken oath bringing judgment by sword and fire. The Sibylline Oracles mixes that tradition with Greek myth, with Cronos, Titan, and Iapetus as the sons whose oath holds until they break it.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 9:14
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
13 And for Tiras there came forth the seventh portion, four great islands in the midst of the sea, which reach to the portion of Ham [and the islands of Kamaturi came out by lot for the sons of Arpachshad as his inheritance]. 14 And thus the sons of Noah divided to their sons in the presence of Noah their father, and he bound them all by an oath, imprecating a curse on every one that sought to seize the portion which had not fallen (to him) by his lot. 15 And they all said, 'So be it; so be it ' for themselves and their sons for ever throughout their generations till the day of judgment, on which the Lord God shall judge them with a sword and with fire for all the unclean wickedness of their errors, with which they have filled the earth with transgression and uncleanness and fornication and sin.
Sibylline Oracles 3:113
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
112 giving to them names both of earth and heaven, since they were the very first of mortal men. 113 So there were three divisions of the earth 114 according to the allotment of each man, 115 and each one having his own portion reigned and did not fight; for a father’s oaths were there 116 and their portions were equal. But the time 117 of full old age came on the father, 118 and he died; and the sons breaking oaths 119 stirred up against each other bitter strife, 120 which one should have the royal rank and rule over all mortals; and against each other 121 Cronos and Titan fought. But Rhea and Gaia,
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Notes and References
... It is evident, of course, that the author of Jubilees has changed a genealogy (with geographical aspects) into an explicit geographical description. I am not sure whether the author of Jubilees had a clear exegetical strategy (for example he wanted to illustrate what is implicit), or whether he adapted the story of Genesis to a contemporary version of the story of the division of the earth among the sons of Noah. The similarities between Jubilees 8:10-9:15 and the Third Book of the Sibylline Oracles and the Genesis Apocryphon are noticeable. In the following table I sum up the similarities between Jubilees 8:10-9:15 and Sibylline Oracles. ...
van Ruiten, Jacques T. A. G. M.
Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1–11 in the Book of Jubilees
(pp. 332-333) Brill, 2000
* 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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