Purity and Impurity in the Book of Jubileesthis punishment with the other instance in which H prescribes burning: a man
having sex with his mother-in-law (Lev 20:14); the reciprocal presentation of
the involved parties in Jub 41:25-26 resembles the reasoning of CD 5:9-io.^38
However, the main focus in matters of sexual impurity is arguably on
the issue of intermarriage, where Jubilees combines the stance of Ezra 9-10;
Neh 13:23-31 with H's provisions for zenut, a view similarly underlying ALD
16-17 (6:3-4), 4QMMT B 75-82,^39 and probably 4QTQahat, 4Q225
(= 4QpsJuba), and 4Q513.^40 Judah and Tamar's transgression has its deeper
cause in this problem (cf. Jub 34:20; 41:1-2, 20). Warning against intermar
riage begins with Abraham. In the context of a command to separate from
the nations and keep away "from their impurity and from all their error"
(Jub 22:19), he exhorts Jacob not to marry one of the Canaanites because
they are destined "for being uprooted from the earth" (22:20); the holiness of
Jacob's seed (cf. Ezra 9:2) features abundantly in the context (Jub 22:11,13,15,
24). Rebecca renews this warning, accusing the Canaanites of "impurity,"
"fornication," "lewdness," and "evil" (25:1). Jacob, at the age of sixty-three,
assures her he never considered marrying a Canaanite but would wed one of
Uncle Laban's daughters in Mesopotamia (25:4-10), whereupon Rebecca
praises him as "a pure son and holy offspring" (25:12; cf. Isaac, Jub 27:9-12,
and his negative verdict on Esau, 35:14, who "has gone after his wives, after
impurity [refc^s], and after their errors").
The most paradigmatic chapter, however, is Jub 30, the story of Dinah.
By sleeping with her, Shechem — and by extension the Shechemites, who
had abducted her — "defiled her" (Jub 30:2-3, 5-6), a notion already present
in Gen 34:5, 13, 27 (cf. lQapGen 20:15, on Sarai). In Jubilees, however, the is
sue is deeper than treating Dinah like a whore (thus Gen 34:21): it is ulti
mately about defilement of Israel (Jub 30:8-9),^41 creating an impurity from
which "Israel will not become clean" (30:14) unless they eradicate the perpe-
- Cf. A. Shemesh, Punishments and Sins: From Scripture to the Rabbis (in Hebrew)
(Jerusalem: Magnes, 2003), 16-17; further literature in Loader, Enoch, 183 n. 467. - With C. E. Hayes, Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Con
version from the Bible to the Talmud (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 82-91 (assum
ing marriage with converted Gentiles); different is E. Qimron and J. Strugnell, Qumran Cave
4.V: Miqsat Ma'ase ha-Torah, DJD 10 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), 55,171 n. 178a (marriage be
tween priests and Israelites). Note that, contrary to Jubilees, MMT applies the prohibition of
- 'SVD (Lev 19:19; Deut 22:9).
- Cf. esp. 4QTQahat 1 i 8-9; 4Q225 11; 4Q513 1-2 ii 1-6; 10 ii 3-8.
- With forms of 'arkwasa, "defile," with Israel as implied referent; Latin in 30:8:
polluerit cum.