Jacob in Jubilees: Jacob, the Torah and the Abrahamic Promise

The patriarch Jacob functions as the main character in Jubilees, one of the most important early Jewish texts outside the Bible. This study investigates two important connections made by the author of Jubilees, Jacob and the Torah, and Jacob and the Abrahamic Promise (Gen 12:1–3 and parallels), both of which play an important role in Jubilees. Jacob functions as the perfect Israelite who follows the Deuteronomic commandments (addressed to Israel in the second person singular) to the utmost, and thus exemplifies the "holy seed" or "rest" of Israel, who will also inherit the Abrahamic Promise when they fulfil the Torah as Jacob did. Esau functions as an archetype of the apostate Israelite who will be left outside of the Promise. The study illuminates the early reception history of the Abrahamic Promise and its close connection with Deuteronomy. It gives background for scholars of early Judaism and Christianity dealing with the reception of the Law and the Promise as well as of the parting of Judaism and Christianity, where different readings of the patriarchal stories were influential (e.g., Sifre Deuteronomy).