Amplified Roles, Idealized Depictions: Women in the Book of Jubileesbook of Jubilees demonstrates a keen interest in the wives and mothers of
the antediluvian and patriarchal periods since women, through their role in
childbearing, are critical to the maintenance of the proper lineage. Jubilees
communicates this concern at numerous points in its retelling of the biblical
narrative.
Where the biblical texts take up genealogy but omit reference to wives
or mothers, Jubilees fills in the gap and even supplies the names of such fig
ures to complete the genealogical record, especially that of the pure family
line that is traced.^22 What's in a name? The book of Jubilees conveys a great
deal of information about the women it inserts into the narrative and/or
about the consequence or outcome of the unions made with the women
through the names given to these characters. Wives of patriarchs in the pre
ferred family line are given names that convey positive sentiments, and not
coincidentally their marriages and offspring are sanctioned within the nar
rative. Thus, the name of Seth and Azurah's daughter, Noam, is related to
DIM, a root that connotes "to be lovely." Noam is married to her brother
Enosh (4:13), the first to call upon the Lord's name (Jub 4:12); this is an ex
ample of an auspicious union. Their son Kenan marries Mualelit, whose
name suggests a form of V^1 ?!"!, "to praise" (maybe "she who praises God").^23
Wives of ignoble characters have names that communicate negative
traits or set the reader up for an unfavorable outcome or generation; it is no
surprise that the wife of Cain is named Awan (Jub 4:9), a name that is proba
bly related to the Hebrew word for "iniquity" and "guilt" (J157) or for "wick
edness" and "trouble" (JIN).^24 As John Rook observes, immediately after not
ing her birth (Jub 4:1), Jubilees makes reference to the murder of Abel (4:2-
4).^25 Such telltale names are also given to offspring of questionable unions
(see below). It is debated whether Jubilees was dependent upon sources for
these names. There is some overlap between names given to wives in Jubilees
and other texts of the second temple period.^26 I think Rook is correct to state
- Van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 369.
23. See J. Rook, "The Names of the Wives from Adam to Abraham in the Book of Ju
bilees," JSP 7 (1990): 105-17 (here 108-9), who follows W. L. Lipscomb, "A Tradition from the
Book of Jubilees in Armenian," JJS 29 (1978): 149-63 (here 153), and R. H. Charles, The Book
of Jubilees or the Little Genesis (London: A. & C. Black, 1902), 33 n. 4. - Rook ("Names of the Wives," 107) favors the former translation.
- Rook, "Names of the Wives," 108.
- For example, the Genesis Apocryphon includes the names of Bitenos and Am-
zara, wives respectively of Lamech and Noah, which Jubilees supplies as Betanosh ("daugh
ter of humankind") and Emzara (possibly "mother of offspring"; see Rook, "Names of the