Kelley Coblentz Bautch
Halpern-Amaru and C. Werman ("Jubilees 30: Building a Paradigm for the Ban on Inter
marriage," HTR 90 [1997]: 1-22, here 3) have argued that Jubilees tolerates marriages of the
patriarchs to lower-status wives of other backgrounds, so long as they are not Canaanite. For
example, Hagar poses no difficulty for Jubilees — and her presentation is not altered (Jub
14:22-23) — since the descendants of Ham, including Egyptians, are not cursed even while
Canaan is (Jub 7:10 and 10:29-33). Where the backgrounds of wives are not provided in the
biblical text, Jubilees supplies the genealogical data that will render a woman fit or inappro
priate for marriage to a patriarch. Halpern-Amaru, Empowerment oj Women, 104. Thus, Ju
bilees portrays Keturah, the third wife of Abraham, and Bilhah, concubine or wife to Jacob,
as women from the households in order to remove speculation that they are women of the
land (Jub 19:11; 28:6). Halpern-Amaru, Empowerment of Women, 103-6. See, however, Loader,
Enoch, Levi, and Jubilees, 192-93, who argues that Jubilees is more tolerant of marriage to
Egyptians than to other Gentiles in general (cf. Jub 11:9).
- See Chesnutt, "Revelatory Experiences Attributed to Biblical Women in Early
Jewish Literature." - See Segal, The Book of Jubilees, and also "The Composition of Jubilees," in this
volume.
While more can be (and has been) said about the depiction of women
in Jubilees, we have observed through such portraits much about the values
and concerns of this second-century work. Women are highly visible in the
book of Jubilees, and seemingly more crucial to the events of Genesis and
Exodus in some respects than are their biblical counterparts. Even so, Jubi
lees' recasting of women characters is along ideological lines and at times
exegetically driven. The women, from their depiction to their names, tend to
be very stylized constructs; in this respect, they serve well the author's con
cerns, as they can be ciphers especially in addressing the matter of
endogamous and exogamous unions. In the context of the second temple
period, the expanded or amplified roles given to women in Jubilees are com
parable to what one encounters in Joseph and Aseneth and The Testament of
Job.^38 Given the shared traditions we find in Enochic literature and Jubilees,
it is striking then that Enochic depictions of women are so little developed.
As we will see with Enochic literature, women are certainly not as visible and
not nearly as utilized to underscore fundamental concerns.
II. The Depiction of Women in Enochic Traditions
There is a challenge that would accompany any comparison of Enochic lit
erature and the book of Jubilees. First, while Jubilees may reflect the use of
different sources or redaction,^39 Enochic literature would be distinguished