Worship in Jubilees and Enochtiality; there will be no receiving from him of fruit, sacrifices, offerings, fat, or
the aroma of pleasing fragrance so that he should accept it. (So) is any man or
woman in Israel to be who defiles his sanctuary" (Jub 30:15-16). Clearly, for
the author of Jubilees the entire sacrificial system is threatened by intermar
riage. Second, the angel announces that Levi and his descendants are destined
for the priesthood because of his desire to see justice done (Jub 30:18).
The prediction made is fulfilled in Jub 32, though for a different reason.
Rachel is pregnant with Benjamin and Jacob is giving his tithe of all he had to
the Lord, including people. Counting his sons in order from Benjamin up, the
tenth was Levi and so Levi becomes priest (32:3). Jacob gives the tithe to him,
and he acts as priest in the presence of his father (32:8-9). All this happens
during the seventh month, the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, at Bethel. Ja
cob has it in mind to build a permanent sanctuary in Bethel, but is told by
God in a dream not to do it. As readers, we know why: it is not one of the four
places on earth that belong to the Lord, according to Jub 4:26.
While Jacob keeps the Feast of Tabernacles just as Abraham did, there
is a new observance attributed to him as well. And it too occurs in the sev
enth month. On the tenth of this month, Jacob's sons falsely tell him of the
death of Joseph, when they had really sold him into slavery. The guilt they
incurred by causing their father such grief would be removed by an act of
sacrificial atonement, being remembered by their descendants in an annual
Day of Atonement. In the words of the angel: "This day has been ordained so
that they may be saddened on it for their sins, all their transgressions, and all
their errors; so that they may purify themselves on this day once a year" (Jub
34:19; cf. also 5:17-18).
Still, Joseph was not dead, and a joyful reunion with his father eventually
results. Gen 46:30 reports the words of Jacob upon their meeting as follows,
"Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive." But Jubilees ex
pands this greatly: "Israel said to Joseph, 'Now let me die after I have seen you.
Now may the Lord, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac — who has not withheld his kindness and his mercy from his servant Ja
cob — be blessed.... May the Lord my God be blessed forever and ever and
may his name be blessed.'... He blessed the creator of all who had preserved
him and preserved his twelve sons for him" (Jub 45:3-5). As with Abraham, the
portrait of Jacob in Jubilees is richer than what we find in Genesis with regard
to his worship of God through speech (cf. also 29:4; 31:31; 32:7).^19
- It is interesting in Jub 29:1-4 that while overall the text shortens the account found
in Genesis, the statement about Jacob's blessing God is added.