Purity and Impurity in the Book of Jubileesnai) on the material this discourse rewrites (i.e., Genesis to mid-Exodus).
Thus, VanderKam has aptly pointed out that Jubilees models Isaac's contact
with his father's corpse on Joseph's demeanor in Gen 50:1, and that the patri
archs in Jubilees obey only such laws "that would have been fitting for their
times."^24 Moreover, we need to bear in mind that the reference point of the
ritual purity laws is the temple, which is yet to come in Jubilees' setting.
Conversely, when we do find "ritual" purity addressed in Jubilees, it
normally entails a reference to a sanctuary, be it past, future, or temporal: the
Garden of Eden (above, §1, 2); the future temple (§4, 5), which is the place
where priests will observe purity in handling sacrifices (§3); and perhaps the
Sabbath as a "sanctuary in time" (§2). Interestingly, Jubilees retains and re
works a reference to a purification ritual in the context of Jacob's second
visit to Bethel. In Jub 31:1, after the Dinah narrative, he commands his men,
"Purify yourselves and change your clothes" (neshu wa-walletu 'elbasikemu).
Whereas in Gen 35:2 this follows the request to renounce the idols, in Jubi
lees it precedes it and is thus not presented as a response to the renunciation.
Whatever impurity it should purge, the purification here is more closely
linked with setting out and going up to Bethel than in Genesis. Now, the way
Bethel is presented — "the house of the Lord" (Jub 27:25) where Jacob erects
a stone "to become the house of the Lord" (v. 27) and later an altar (31:3) —
clearly rings of temple terminology for readers in second temple times, and
Jub 32:3-9 narrates the investiture of Levi to the priesthood, his first sacri
fices, and Jacob's giving tithe precisely at Bethel. Not only this: Jacob even
decides to build a temple (32:16), only stopped by an angel (v. 22).^25 The im
portance of Levi's ordination at Bethel is also stressed in ALD 9-10 (5:1-5);
TLevi 7:4; 8; 9:3, and the link with the later temple is reflected in the refer
ence to the "covenant I made with Jacob at Bethel" in nQTa 29:9-10 (cf. 5Q13
2 6). In short, it seems that Bethel, in order to allow for Levi's investiture,
takes on traits of a "temple in nuce," and the approach to it aptly entails a pu
rification ritual — the only one mentioned (albeit in direct speech) within
the story line of Jubilees.^25 It is interesting that ALD 19 (7:1) has a pun on
- VanderKam, "Viewed from Another Angle," 211-13 (quotation: 213, emphasis in
original). - On Bethel in Jub 32, cf. E. Eshel, "Jubilees 32 and the Bethel Cult Traditions in Sec
ond Temple Literature," in Things Revealed: Studies in Early Jewish and Christian Literature
in Honor of M. E. Stone, ed. E. G. Chazon, D. Satran, and R. A. Clements, JSJSup 89 (Leiden:
Brill, 2004), 21-36, with further literature. - I.e., apart from the ablutions above, $3. This qualifies James Kugel's remark that
"Neither Jacob nor anyone else in Jubilees is ever said to undergo ritual purification": The