Lutz Doering
II. "Moral" Purity and Impurity in Jubilees
Despite the evidence for "ritual" purity, it is fair to say that Jubilees is much
more concerned with "moral" purity. All three classic "moral" impurities are
dealt with: bloodshed, sexual sins, and idolatry. Like more severe forms of
"ritual" impurity, they defile the sanctuary from afar (cf. Lev 20:3), as in Jub
30:15 and probably also in 23:21. While the root NOD is used with such
"moral" impurities, there are other terms like n2371fi, "abomination."^31 In
fact, the Ethiopic text may not represent the semantic field accurately, since
it occasionally translates rl3S7in with forms deriving from rekws, "impurity,"
a tendency in the Ethiopic version of Leviticus as well.^32 Prior to the classic
"moral" impurities, we shall discuss a remarkable conceptual shift.
Ladder of Jacob: Ancient Interpretations of the Biblical Story of Jacob and His Children (Prince
ton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 251. For an explanation of Jacob's side trip to Hebron
after he erected an altar at Bethel and before Levi's investiture, cf. 138-41.
- Cf. Drawnel, Aramaic Wisdom Text, 254.
- Cf. the discussion in Klawans, Impurity and Sin, 31-32. On consumption of blood,
see below. - Ravid, "Purity and Impurity," 65, 80, erroneously claims that Jubilees does not
mention impure animals. - M. Kister, "Some Aspects of Qumranic Halakhah," in The Madrid Qumran Con
gress: Proceedings of the International Congress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid, 18-21 March,
1991, ed. J. Trebolle Barrera and L. Vegas Montaner, 2 vols., STDJ 11 (Leiden: Brill, 1992),
2:571-88, 586-87, because of the tension with Jub 32:15. - Cf. Lev 18:22, 26, 27, 29, 30; 20:13. Cf. also ^pn hifil, Num 35:33 (otherwise only
Prophets and Writings). - Proof is Jub 21:23 (rekwsomu), for which 4Q22115-6 gives DT13S7in, 4Q219 ii 28 the
plural nQrP mnyin. Similarly, the Latin (ed. Ronsch) has at times abominatio where Ge'ez
"Bethel," requiring bathing and clothing "when you arise to enter the temple
of God T\^)r^27
- Pure and impure animals. The dietary laws form a distinct rubric,
whose relation to "ritual" and "moral" impurity is variously interpreted.^28
Despite its rather casual comment, Jubilees is unambiguous about the dis
tinction between pure and impure animals (cf. Lev 11; Deut i4:3-2i):^29 when
Jacob gave his tithe at Bethel, "he tithed all the clean animals and made an
offering of them. He gave his son Levi the unclean animals" (Jub 32:8). It has
been suggested that the author is dependent on a particular source here,^30
but the aspect in question does not stand in tension to the rest of the book.