Worship in Jubilees and Enoch
Of all the Gentiles mentioned in connection with Abraham, the most
interesting and important is Melchizedek. Genesis clearly acknowledges him
as a true priest of God and records that he blessed God (Gen 14:20). If
Melchizedek's role is lessened and his blessing of God passed over in silence,
one could argue that there was an intentional effort to minimize mention of
Gentiles offering acceptable worship to God. Unfortunately, there is a lacuna
in all known manuscripts of Jubilees here that keeps us from knowing
whether Melchizedek was described as a true priest of God and whether the
words of his blessing were recounted. The only thing we know for sure is that
Abraham gave Melchizedek the tithe from his spoils. Still, there is no men
tion of Melchizedek elsewhere in Jubilees,^16 as there is of Enoch and Noah.
And unlike Enoch and Noah, Melchizedek is not said to have passed down
writings, or regulations about sacrificial procedure and worship, or predic
tions about future events. These facts justify the conclusion that the figure of
Melchizedek was not of special significance for the author of Jubilees in es
tablishing true religion, either among the Gentiles or among the children of
Abraham.
So the question remains whether with the advent of Abraham and the
concept of the chosen people, there is any role left for the Gentiles in the
worship of the true and living God. The answer is difficult to discern. At the
end of his life, Abraham keeps the Feast of Weeks one last time with his sons
Isaac and Ishmael. After he ate of the feast prepared by Isaac, "he blessed the
most high God who created the heavens and the earth, who made all the fat
things of the earth, and gave them to mankind to eat, drink, and bless their
Creator" (Jub 22:6). We might think from this that the principle of blessing
God holds for all mankind, but this is countered by the fact that Abraham's
blessing is connected to a feast that would later serve to mark Israel as God's
covenant people. This point is strengthened when we note that eating,
drinking, and blessing the Creator are activities connected with the Sabbath
in Jub 2:21, which is given only to Israel. Moreover, just a little later Abraham
on his deathbed addresses Jacob and warns him to separate from the na
tions, "for all their actions are something that is impure, and all their ways
are defiled and something abominable and detestable" (22:16). Then follows
a denunciation of their sacrifices made to the dead and their worship offered
16. There is no indication that the author of Jubilees equated Melchizedek with Shem,
as later the rabbis would do, in order to explain that his priesthood passed to Levi. Cf. F. L.
Horton, The Melchizedek Tradition, SNTSMS 30 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1976), 114-24.