Loren T. Stuckenbruck
not only by analogies drawn between human misdeeds and those attributed
to the watchers' offspring (7:20-21), as we have seen, but also by the degree to
which the notion of the giants as primarily responsible for the antediluvian
violence at the expense of humanity is diminished.^26
D. Noah's Nakedness and the Cursing of Canaan
(7:7-15; cf. 8:8-9:15)We mention this story because it is the first episode following the deluge in
which something goes wrong: Ham shows Noah disrespect by looking upon
his nakedness, an act that brings Noah to curse Ham's youngest son, Canaan,
while blessing Japheth and Shem who, by contrast, cover his nakedness with
out looking. The version in Jub 7:7-15 adheres closely to its counterpart in
Gen 9:21-28, though in Jubilees the consequences of the cursing and blessing
are elaborated at much greater length (Gen 9:26-27 is reiterated in Jub 7:11-
12, but the elaboration occurs in 8:8-9:15). In telling this story, the writer is
not concerned with an "origin of evil," but rather uses it to foreshadow the
superiority of Israel, among Shem's descendants, over the descendants of
Ham.
E. The Tower of Babel (10:18-11:6)
As in Gen 11:1-9, the episode involves a tower in the land of Shinar the build
ing of which is brought to a halt by God. The text of Jubilees provides more
details than Genesis about why the tower was not only not constructed fur
ther but also even destroyed (cf. Pseudo-Eupolemos in Eusebius, Praeparatio
evangelica 9.18.2). Whereas Genesis attributes the curtailment of the build
ing activity to God's concern that humans do not apprehend the limitations
of what they can do (Gen 11:6), Jubilees prefaces the story with a pronounce
ment about the condition of humankind put into the mouth of Ragew, the
- In 7:22 there is an element of oppression by the giants (the Elyo killed human
kind), though what follows are statements that people killed one another and, in 7:23, that
"When everyone sold himself to commit injustice and to shed innocent blood, the earth was
filled with injustice." Whereas the Book of the Watchers holds the giants responsible for de
stroying humanity and spilling their innocent blood (1 En 7:3; 9:1, 9), the writer of Jubilees
comes close to calumniating humans for this activity (cf. 7:23-25) and has Noah warn his
children against both the shedding and the consumption of blood (7:27-33).