David W. Suter
stroy all creatures. Jubilees, however, adds material suggestive of passages
like Exod 29:40 and Lev 2:2-5to specify the animals included in the offering
and the flour, oil, frankincense, and wine that accompany it. Martha
Himmelfarb notes that interest in the sweet savor created by the inclusion of
incense in the offering of a sacrifice is a significant aspect of the priesdy sac
rificial cultus and that Jubilees is systematic in mentioning the inclusion of
frankincense in the sacrifices of the patriarchs.^7 The short account of Noah's
planting a vineyard in Gen 9:20 becomes in Jub 7:1-6 the occasion for the ini
tiation of the rules regarding the treatment of the firstfruits of a vineyard
(compare Lev 19:23 and Jub 7:34-39). The observance also becomes the occa
sion for a sacrifice with details of the sacrifice suggestive of Num 29:2-3,* and
including frankincense and a sweet odor pleasing to God.
In Jubilees the practice of building altars and offering sacrifices is most
characteristic of the story of Abraham, to the extent that we might suggest
that Jubilees represents an Abrahamic more so than an Enochic or Mosaic
form of Judaism. At times in Jubilees' telling of the story of Abraham, all we
find is a passing reference to an altar and a burnt offering. More extensive,
however, is the narrative of Abraham's dream, sacrifice, and covenant in Jub
14:1-20, which, aside from mentioning the building of an altar, seems to fol
low the Yahwist's seemingly primitive details of the sacrifice as described in
Gen 15:7-11 without updating them in light of the details of sacrificial prac
tice taken from Leviticus. This narrative is also notable in that it is a fairly
extensive account of sacrifice that omits a mention of frankincense and a
sweet odor pleasing to God. Jub 21:1-20 represents an extensive adaptation of
a biblical narrative about Abraham involving the account of his last will and
testament to Isaac. In Gen 25:5-7 the narrative is a straightforward will in
which the patriarch leaves all his property to Isaac and makes gifts to other
sons by other wives. In Jubilees the testament includes lengthy instruction to
Isaac on peace offerings suggestive of Lev 3:7-10, with the authority for the
instructions attributed to Enoch and Noah.
In addition to the extensive detailing of the patriarchal sacrificial prac
tice, Jubilees traces to the patriarchal period the institution of various festi-
7. M. Himmelfarb, "Earthly Sacrifice and Heavenly Incense: The Law of the Priest
hood in Aramaic Levi and Jubilees" in Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique
Religions, ed. R. S. Boustan and A. Yoshiko Reed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2004), 103-22.
8. In this paper, suggestions for the sources in the Torah used in Jubilees to amplify
the narratives of the patriarchs are derived from the marginal notes supplied in Wintermute,
OTP, 2:35-142.