Jacques van Ruiten
takes the tables of the division of the years and starts to dictate to Moses the
content of history (1:29-2:1).
3.3. Abram's Prayer and Abraham's Blessing for JacobFinally, I would like to refer to Abraham's blessing for Jacob (19:26-29).
There are several similarities with Abram's prayer. Abraham begs God to
protect Jacob against the evil spirits (19:28a: "May the spirits of Mastema not
rule over you and your descendants to remove you from following the Lord
who is your God from now and forever"). The terminology that is used re
sembles that of Abram's prayer (i2:2o).^21 Immediately after this Abraham
prays that God may be Jacob's father and Jacob his firstborn son (19:29:
"May the Lord God become your father and you his first-born son and peo
ple for all time"). From the point of view of Jubilees, this means that God has
chosen Jacob (Israel) from the beginning of time to be his unique people
and his firstborn son (cf. 2:20). The consequence of this election is God's di
rect dominion over Israel. In contrast to this, spirits are appointed to control
the other nations (cf. Deut 32:8-9; 4:19-20; Sir 17:17; Jub 15:30-32). The spirits
mislead the nations on purpose and let them sin.^22 Although a father-son re
lationship between God and Israel is not at stake in Abram's prayer, one
could say the confirmation of "I will become God for you, your son, your
grandson, and all your seed" (12:24) implies that the spirits cannot take on
that role. The spirits rule only over the other nations. The confirmation in
12:24 can therefore be taken as an answer to Abram's supplication to save
him from the dominion of the evil spirits.
4. Enochic Traditions
Although the text of Jubilees is guided to a large extent by the biblical books
of Genesis and Exodus as far as content and sequence are concerned, one
should acknowledge that other sources and traditions are also incorporated
into the book. The third pericope (Jub 12:22^24) can be considered a re
writing of Gen 12:1-3. The other pericopes are additions with regard to the
biblical text. Abram's prayer is closely connected with the other prayers in
- Compare also 1:20; 10:8; 11:5.
- Cf. Segal, The Book of Jubilees, 257-59.