Betsy Halpern-Amaru

This volume examines the unusual interest in women characters displayed in the Book of Jubilees, an interpretive reworking of the biblical narratives of Genesis through Exodus 12, written in the second century BCE. Demonstrating a pattern in the characterizations, the study shows how a matrilineal standard of ethnic purity and elevation of the biblical matriarchs function as key aspects in a polemic against the acceptance of foreigners into the community. The latter part of the book explores the exegetical techniques used to develop the portraits and places the polemic in the historical context of Second Temple Judaism. The work is important for those interested in the history of biblical interpretation, in post biblical Jewish literature and the historical development of Judaism, and the portrayals of women in Hebrew Scriptures.

The Empowerment of Women in the Book of Jubilees

Although termed “the little Genesis”, the Book of Jubilees is significantly engaged with Exodus. It reworks key Exodus narratives, develops modules of Exodus law, and highlights Exodus motifs. The most fundamental connection to Exodus is the grounding of the two narrational structures of Jubilees in the scenario of Moses receiving a revelation on Mt. Sinai. In the frame an anonymous narrator develops the Mt. Sinai setting of the work. In the body an angel employs that setting as the present-time pivot for a retrospect that moves backward and forward in time.Focusing on the intersection of structure and content, the study explores the relationship between the retrospective design of the angel narration and the exegesis. The approach is a literary one that treats Jubilees as a unitary text that may reflect the work of a single author or of a final editor. The analysis draws particular attention to manipulations of temporal and textual perspective that transform Exodus narratives, facilitate the hermeneutical elaborations of Exodus law, and effect cohesion in the revelation that is the Book of Jubilees.Halpern-Amaru’s study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of biblical interpretation in Second Temple Judaism. For example, the reading of the Jubilees narrative of the exodus as a revelation of how God uses His heavenly forces, i.e., Mastema and his demons as well as the angels of the presence, on behalf of Israel, has implications for the understanding of strategies that temper dualism in Second Temple Judaism.

The Perspective from Mt. Sinai: The Book of Jubilees and Exodus

Esther G. Chazon

Ruth Clements

This volume presents new perspectives on the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls. New methodologies and topics include identity, memory, ritual theory, sectarian sociology, philosophy of education, liturgical anthropology, Jewish law, history of religion, and mysticism.

Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 9–11 January, 2005

Betsy Halpern-Amaru

Books

Your next favorite book is out there