William K. GildersIII. The Establishment of the Covenant
Following the flood, a crucial moment is reached in Jubilees. For the first
time the divine plan breaks into human reality with the establishment of a
covenant between God and a human being. Jubilees here follows its biblical
source text very closely, for this is the first point in Genesis where a covenant
is made between God and humankind. However, Jubilees significantly alters
the nature of this covenant by making it the foundational iteration of the ex
clusive covenant with Israel.^10 God makes a covenant with Noah as the pro
genitor of Israel, not as the progenitor of all humankind. Again, God's fore
knowledge and the primordial decision are crucial. God knows already that
he will have a relationship only with Israel, and the reader of Jubilees knows
this from having read the beginning of the book.
The fact that the covenant with Noah is simply the first this-worldly it
eration of the covenant with Israel is emphasized by the explicit linkage
made between Noah's covenant and Moses' covenant at Sinai. The angel of
the presence explains to Moses that it is precisely because Noah and his sons
made the covenant with an oath in the third month that Moses has done the
same (Jub 6:11a). Furthermore, the blood rite of the Sinai covenant cere
mony and the ongoing Israelite cultic manipulations of sacrificial blood are
linked to the fundamental provision of Noah's covenant: the ban on con
suming animal blood and shedding human blood (6:nb-i4). Legitimate use
of blood stands over against its prohibited mistreatment.^11
In Jubilees' construction of the Noachic covenant and its connection
to the Sinai covenant, the relationship between the biblical accounts of the
Noachic and Sinai covenants is dialectical. It is not simply the case that the
author of Jubilees interprets the Sinai covenant in the light of Noah's cove
nant. Rather, the Sinai covenant plays a crucial role in shaping Jubilees' con
ception of the covenant made immediately after the flood. Of particular sig
nificance is the representation of Noah's sacrifices as precursors to God's
announcement of the covenant (Jub 6:1-4). This interpretation of the se
quence of events presented in Genesis, giving them meaning, reflects the ex
plicit juxtaposition of sacrifice and covenant-making in Exod 24:3-8. Fur
thermore, the assertion that Noah made his covenant with an oath depends
- For Jubilees, there is really only one covenant, which reaches its complete form at
Sinai. See Halpern-Amaru, "Metahistorical Covenant," 28; van Ruiten, "Covenant of Noah,"
- Gilders, "Blood and Covenant," 95-96.