4Q225 2i 1-2: A Possible Reconstruction and Explanation

Author(s): Robert Kugler

Source: Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 126, No. 1 (Spring, 2007), pp. 172-181
Published by: The Society of Biblical Literature
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4Q225

2 i 1-2: A Possible

Reconstruction

and Explanation

of the Dead
Sea Scrolls
entering a new phase of study with the publication
scholars have before them fresh challenges,
not the least of
complete, Qumran
is integrating the results of their specialized
research with more general areas of
of
the
Hebrew
Bible,
NT,
Judaism, and
scholarship,
including
study
early and rabbinic
Now

nearly
which

Yet for those who

remain devoted
to scrolls-specific
research there are
that of restoring lost text at the
edges of fragments where
to permit reasonable
The following attempt to
speculation.
2 i 1-2 and to explain
it in its broader
context is both a hopeful and a
4Q225
to that task.
tale of attending

early Christianity.

errands,
remaining
including
does survive
enough evidence
reconstruct
cautionary

4Q225: An Overview

with

in the late first century

of text.1 Fragment

4Q225,

inscribed

evidence

of five columns

b.c.e.,

in only three
fragments
so little of the bottom left and

survives

3 preserves
that it is impossible

corners of two
columns
to determine
what
the two
right
adjacent
columns
contained.
the majority
of two full columns
of text,
By contrast, frg. 2 provides
and frg. 1 reveals
the middle
of nearly a full column.
portion
Additionally,
frg. 1 has
2 i, ii; 1 give substantial
evi
recently been shown to follow frg. 2, so that together, 4Q225

dence

of three consecutive

of text.2 They record, with

varying degrees of detail
from Genesis
and Exodus:
the reaffirmation of God's
episodes
in Gen
15:1-6
Isaac's birth in Gen 21:1-7
the
(2 i 3-8a);
(2 i 8b-9a);
near sacrifice of Isaac in Gen 22:1-18
a
from Isaac to Levi
(2 i 9b-14; 2 ii l-10a);
genealogy
and a sum of the years of Abraham,
and a telescoped
Isaac, Jacob, and Levi (2 ii 10-12);
and

interpretation,
to Abram
promise

columns

selected

account

of the Passover

1.1-11).

As

and escape from Egypt in Exod

13:17-14:31
12:1-13;
(2 ii 13-14;
for the text's origin and purpose,
it is plausibly
the record of one of the Qum

1
For the editio princeps, see J.T. Milik and James VanderKam,
in
"225. 4QPseudo-Jubileesa,"
Cave 4.VIII: Parabiblical Texts, Part I (ed. H.
Attridge et al.; DJD 13; Oxford: Clarendon,
1994), 141-55; henceforth DJD 13.
2
For the placement of frg. 1 after frg. 2, see Robert
"A Note on
Kugler and JamesVanderKam,

Qumran

4Q225 (4QPseudo-Jubileesa),"
ii 8-14, but the rest of 4Q226
DJD

RevQ 11 (2001):
presents material

133-39; also note that 4Q226 7 overlaps with 225 2

to the remains of 4Q225 (for 4Q226, see

unrelated

13, 157-70).

172

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Critical Notes
ran covenanters'
audience

on Scripture
(1QS
nightly colloquies
even when
the reliability of God's
promises,

173
6:7) meant

to demonstrate

to its

by Prince Mastemah

threatened

himself.3

Reconstructing

4Q225

2 i 1-2: The

Problem

For all that we

a
commentators.
do know about 4Q225,
still confounds
key passage
of only sixteen character spaces on line 1 and twenty-seven
spaces on line 2 sur
of the two lines is their lack of apparent
vives, but even more vexing than the meagerness
with the rest of the manuscript.
connection
Evidence

*rnn [wajjn rron n [

nh[v] oft-rawpro n[ur?

]1 ]?[
]rr?[pmpo]

?
1. [
]
[ ]t thatper [son]will be cut off
he sta]yed inHaran twenty[ye]ars.
2. [fromamong] his [peo]ple. [
of line 2 prescribe
first two words
The last half of line 1 and the reconstructed
o?k?r?t for a sin that must have been the subject of the rest of line 1, and
punishment
someone
for twenty years. Establishing
end of line 2 mentions
having dwelt in Haran
near sacrifice,
stories
of Isaac's
the
and
k?r?t
between
punishment
relationship

the
the
a
the

3For this
the Reli
view, see Robert Kugler, "Hearing 4Q225: A Case Study inReconstructing
10 (2003): 81-103, esp. 100-103. My earlier
gious Imagination of the Qumran Community," DSD
in 1994.
work should be read in the context of the wider discussion of 4Q225 since its publication
to the discussion
include: Moshe Bernstein, "Pentateuchal
Contributions
Interpretation at Qum
ran," in The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (ed. Peter W Flint and
JamesC. VanderKam; 2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1998), 1:137-38; Moshe Bernstein, "Angels at theAqedah:
of a Midrashic Motif," DSD 7 (2000): 263-91, esp. 278-83; Joseph A.
A Study in the Development
in a Qumran
Faith and Righteousness
15:6: Abraham's
Fitzmyer, "The Interpretation of Genesis
Text," in Emanuel: Studies inHebrew Bible, Septuagint, and Dead Sea Scrolls inHonor of Emanuel
Tov (ed. Shalom Paul et al.; VTSup 94; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 256-68; Joseph A. Fitzmyer, "The Sacri
fice of Isaac inQumran Literature," Bib 83 (2002): 211-29; Florentino Garc?a Mart?nez, "The Sacri

fice of Isaac in 4Q225," in The Sacrifice of Isaac: The Aqedah (Genesis 22)
Ed Noort and Eibert Tigchelaar; Themes in Biblical Narrative 4; Leiden:
"ANote on Isaac as First-Born in Jubilees and Only Son
Halpern-Amaru,
127-33; Menahem Kister, "Observations on Aspects of Exegesis, Tradition,

and Its Interpretations (ed.

Brill, 2002), 44-57; Betsy
in 4Q225," DSD
13 (2006):

and Theology inMidrash,

in theVitality of Jewish
in
Threads:
the
Studies
Jewish
Tracing
Writings,"
Pseudepigrapha,
(ed. John Reeves; SBLEJL 6; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994), 7-15, 20; James Kugel,
Pseudepigrapha
13 (2006): 73-98; Lukas Kundert, Die Opfer
on 4Q225
'Pseudo-Jubilees'," DSD
"Exegetical Notes
imAlten Testament, imFr?hjudentum und imNeuen Testa
ung/Bindung Isaaks, Bd. 1,Gen 22:1-19
Neukirchener Verlag, 1998), 95-107; James C. VanderKam,
ment (WMANT
78; Neukirchen-Vluyn;
in The Quest for Meaning:
Studies inBiblical Intertex
"The Aqedah, Jubilees, and Pseudo-Jubilees,"
Leiden: Brill, 1997),
tuality inHonor of James A. Sanders (ed. Craig Evans and Shemaryahu Talmon;
241-61; Geza Vermes, "New Light on the Sacrifice of Isaac From 4Q225," JJS47 (1996): 140-46.
and Other

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Journal ofBiblical Literature 126, no. 1 (2007)

174

has defied scholarly attentions, and only Jacob?not

Abraham,
concerns most?is
said to have dwelt
the manuscript
people whom
Some general propositions
about 4Q225, how
in Haran
for two decades
(Gen 31:38,41).
in sorting out the puzzle of the manuscript's
first two lines.
assistance
ever, provide
and

Passover,
Isaac,

the exodus

or the Hebrew

Reconstructing

2 i 1-2: Framing

4Q225

Propositions

accounts
of Abra
influential in shaping 4Q225's
agree that Jubilees was
the exodus, though itwas hardly intended as a "new Jubilees" or a copy of
shared
the book
itself.4 Rather, close examination
4Q225
suggests that the relationship
that nonetheless
that of an independent
with Jubilees was farmore nuanced,
composition
awareness
in 4Q225
three key instances
of Jubilees. Indeed,
traded on its audience's
contention.
this
strongly support
First, most

ham,

Isaac,

The

and

rationale

for God's

request

that Abraham

sacrifice

Isaac

is articulated

only by

"W \X\T\"Then Prince

thewords pnwa DmiK na D"?OUmDTH^N bx] I T\nb[W]hr\
Ma[s]temah

came

[to Go]d

recipient understands
in Jub. 17:15-18
vided

and he accused

the sentence

only

A
Isaac"
(2 i 9b-10a).
regarding
awareness
of the fuller statement pro
for God's
request.5

Abraham

through

of the Joban explanation

in the first year during the first month?on

the
15During the seventh week,
twelfth of thismonth?in
this jubilee [2003], there were voices in heaven regard
that he was faithful in everything that he told him, (that) the Lord
ing Abraham,
loved him, and (that) in every difficulty he was faithful. 16Then Prince Mastema

came

and

said before God:

"Abraham

does

indeed

love his son Isaac

and finds

him more

than anyone else. Tell him to offer him as a sacrifice on an

pleasing
altar. Then you will see ifhe performs
this order and will know whether he is
faithful in everything through which you test him." 17Now the Lord was aware
that Abraham was faithful in every difficulty which he had told him. For he had

tested him through his land and the famine; he had tested him through the wealth
of kings; he had tested him again through his wife when she was taken forcibly,
and through circumcision;
and he tested him through Ishmael and his servant
girl Hagar when he sent them away. 18In everything through which he tested him
he was found faithful. He himself did not grow impatient, nor was he slow to act;
for he was

A
ii 9b-10a

related

faithful and one who

instance

is a seemingly

of 4Q225
inexplicable

loved

the Lord.

awareness
its recipients'
in 2
o? Jubilees
assuming
outburst by God
the binding
of Isaac:
following

4
the title assigned to 4Q225, "Pseudo-Jubilees,"
is often thought to be an
Understandably,
overstatement of its relationship to Jubilees. It is, in thewords of one of its editors, "not... pretend
ing to be the work of this [Jubilees'] author, nor is there any indication anyone thought itwas"
(VanderKam, "Aqedah',' 261). For further views on the closeness or distance between 4Q225 and

"Sacrifice of Isaac," 45.

Jubilees, see Bernstein, "Angels at the Aqedah," 269 n. 15; Garc?a Martinez,
5
Translations of passages come from The Book of Jubilees (trans. James C. VanderKam; CSCO
511, Scriptores Aethiopici 88; Louvain: Peeters, 1989), ad loc; for other instances of this explanation
forGod's command, see b. Sanh. 89b; Gen. Rab. 56:4.

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Critical Notes
IHN ?T?Tfc?/ [

O Tljrp nn]y, "N[ow I know that

not

175
] /he will not be loving."6The

or Jubilees, but
in Genesis
would
Jub. 17:16-18
appear
knowing
a
for
who
the
of
the
verb is and the meaning
of the phrase: Prince
explain
recipient
subject
Mastemah
accused Abraham
of loving Isaac more
than anything else, God
included
(Jub.
declamation

does

was
to God
in all his afflictions, and "was
17:16), but God knew that Abraham
faithful
the one who
In 4Q225's
loved the Lord"
condensed
(Jub. 17:17-18).
characteristically
of Jubilees, 2 ii 9b-10a
confirms God's
form, which relies on its recipients' prior knowledge
not let love of Isaac trump faithfulness
confidence
that Abraham
would
to God.

on its
A third indication
awareness
that 4Q225
of traditions
in
depends
recipients'
the surviving snatch phrases on frg.
Jubilees is the content of frg. 1. It is easiest to construe
1 as the remnants of a highly condensed
Jubilees-style account of the exodus and the accom
feast.7 The binding of Prince Mastemah
in 2 ii 13 (vacat nO?WDH
~W\
panying Passover
at
echoes
to
his
the
18. The appearance
exodus
of
TION)
Jub. 48:15,
bondage
according

Belial listeningtowhat someone has to say in 2 ii 14 ("lttW]<^>byhl PQUn) may have

to the exodus
of demons
In a related
story in Jub. 48:16.8
7P [^l
frOI) employs the verb used of God
striking action in 1:3 (?mil
on the transfer of the blame for
in Exod
12:29 (TT2?) and perhaps
expands
striking down
all of Egypt's firstborn in Jub. 49:2 to the "forces ofMastemah."
in 1:4a, T[nnnD
The phrase
DmiN
DP nrrDJ, "according
to] his [covenant] made with Abraham,"
repeats Jub. 48:8,
developed
instance,

from the addition

Belial's

which

the people
to honor
from Pharaoh
reports that God afflicted Egypt and delivered
the covenant with the ancestor. And 4Q225
1:4b?with
*faNr!, "and they ate," and 1:10,
with D*]n T\*W b[y, "o]n the shore of the [sea"?recalls
and Jubilees' rec
Jub. 49:1-2,6,23
as the firstborn of
were attacked
meal
and was
began
Egypt
after
the
of
sea.9
the
completed
crossing
only
A second general proposition
useful for our purposes
is that where 4Q225
departs
in
from Jubilees and Scripture
Genesis
22), it does so as elliptically
(especially
expanding
as it does in
on the mountain
where he was to
using Jubilees. Abraham's
sighting of fire
as an abbreviated
sacrifice Isaac (W& [TMTV\[2 ii 1]) is perhaps best understood
form of the

ollection

motif

that the Passover

elaborated

in Pirqe R. El. 31 that Abraham

saw a divine

self-manifestation

marking

6
see also the contrasting suggestion
For a defense of this reconstruction, see DJD 13,151,153;
inVermes, "New Light," 142 n. 19; and see Kugler, "Hearing 4Q225," 95 n. 42, formy explanation
of why the editors' reading is to be preferred, and of the lacuna at the end of line 9 that the editors'
reconstruction requires.
7
For these and other possible connections between 4Q225
1 and Jubilees' account of the

and exodus, see Kugler, "Hearing 4Q225," 95-96. Note that there is possibly another
instance where 4Q225 follows Jubilees, but inwhat it omits, not what it includes. While Jub. 18:2-3
and 4Q225 2 i 10b-13a reproduce almost precisely God's command to Abraham
inGen 22:2, they
both omit the destination, "to the land ofMoriah."
8
See VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 314, for the argument that the plural pronominal suffix and
Passover

following plural verb in the Ethiopie text of Jub. 48:16 should stand as a reference to demons and not
be emended (as itgenerally is) to the singular tomake the verse refer to Prince Mastemah
alone.
9 In
"Hearing 4Q225," 96,1 also suggest that the possible reference to a time (or place?) free
"from the guilt of immorality" (nUTH PPD)
echoes the sacred future envisioned at the end of the
jubilees in Jub. 50:5 (cf. 20:3-6).

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Journal ofBiblical Literature 126, no. 1 (2007)

176

the place of sacrifice in the form of a pillar of fire (cf. Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 22:4).10 And
Isaac's
n?* THN mfl]D,
to Abraham,
in 2 ii 4 evokes with only a few
exhortation
"T[ie me well,"
words
the complete
tradition offered up in Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 22:10
(cf. Gen. Rab. 56:l).11
we know the full forms of these
later Jew
Notably,
exegetical motifs from two oft-related,
Given the affiliation between
Eliezer and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan.12
seems
as it has
surprising,
though, this hardly
long been recognized
in Jubilees.13
that especially Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer repeats many of the motifs we encounter
near sacri
in
account
motif
evident
of
the
Indeed, the only unique
4Q225's
expansionist
of weeping
and jeering angels of Mastemah
fice, the presence
(2 ii 5
angels of holiness
ish texts, Pirqe Rabbi
and Jubilees,

4Q225

at the Aqedah
ismost closely related to the weeping
known also from Pirqe R.
angels
31 and Gen. Rab. 56:5.14 Significantly,
of motifs
4Q225's
presentation
apocopated
known until now in full form only in much
later texts suggests that they are of greater
antiquity than previously
imagined.
7a),

El.

by virtue of the close relationship

as a
theme in the Qumran
unifying

Third,
Passover

to see
of 4Q225 with Jubilees, it is possible
text. VanderKam
two clear
has observed

10
Pirqe R. El 31 (ed. Luria 70a): ?V2Wb Tp p?n
fire from the earth to the heavens." On the connection

]12WX bv TIDP HN!, "He saw a column of

between this passage and the reference in
of
4Q225 2 ii 1, see Marc Bregman, "The Aqedah at Qumran: Fire on theMountain: A Comparison
4Q225 Pseudo-Jubileesaand
Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 31" (abstract of lecture presented at the
Orion Center, May 21, 1998, http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/orion/programs/Bregman.shtml).
Van
derKam
NTIIU
Michael

inDJD 13,151, also cite Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 22:4, where Abraham sees Tup N*ip^ pp
of Glory enveloping the mountain"
(translations of the targum are from
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis: Translated, with Introduction and Notes [Aramaic

and Milik

by, "the Cloud

Maher,

IB; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992]). The editors also observe that "there is insuffi
cient space for the full expression U?N TlOP NT! on the fragment" (VanderKam and Milik, DJD 13,
151), further supporting the notion that 4Q225 apocopates the exegetical motifs it incorporates.
11
*ro nan ^it?
??nm arm*? tith wsn
t?i row
*nps p omaj
prw now, "And Isaac

Bible

said to his father, 'Bind me well that Imay not struggle in the agony ofmy soul and be pitched into
the pit of destruction....'"
12
see
On the close relationship between Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan,
Gerald Friedlander, Pirke De Rabbi Eliezer (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Tr?bner, 1916), xix. Pirqe
Rabbi Eliezer
Introduction

is generally dated to the eighth or ninth century c.e. (H. L. Strack and G. Stemberger,
to the Talmud and Midrash
Fortress, 1992],
[trans.Markus Bockmuehl; Minneapolis:

is dated no earlier than the seventh century c.e. (Maher, Targum

356), and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
Pseudo-Jonathan,
11-12).
13
Friedlander, Pirke De Rabbi Eliezer, xxi-xxvii. Anna Urowitz-Freudenstein
("Pseudepi
Sources: The Case of Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer" in Tracing the
graphic Support of Pseudepigraphic
Threads, ed. Reeves, 35-53) challenges the direct connection between Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer and early
that Friedlander suggested. She does nothing, though, to undercut the sound
Jewish pseudepigrapha
ness of the view that Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer drew from a pool of traditions shared
by Jubilees.
14
On this, see Bernstein, "Angels at theAqedah," 278-81. A further instance of elliptic refer
encing might be evident in the designation of Abraham's dwelling place as rVTlNin, "the wells,"

commanded him to sacrifice Isaac. This may depend on the tradition of reading "1N2
PIU; inGen 21:33 as "seven wells"; see Theodor N?ldeke, "Sieben Brunnen," AR 1 (1904): 340-44,
cited by Fitzmyer, "Sacrifice of Isaac," 217 n. 10. However, the evidence N?ldeke cites for this tradi
tion is late, and ofMandaean,
Christian, and Muslim origin, making itof doubtful value.

when God

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177

Critical Notes
in Jubilees. According
and the exodus with the Aqedah
linking Passover
to Passover,
and
of Isaac occurs on the date assigned
the binding

indicators
18:3,

18-19,

Jubilees'

accounts

featured

role

14).15 And

of the binding

of Isaac

18:9, 12; 48:2,

(17:16;
even
though the absence

and

the Passover

does

9, 12, 15), as he does in 4Q225

of an explicit Passover-related

to Jub.
only

in

a
play
2 ii 6-8, 13,

Prince Mastemah
(2 i 9-10;
date

for the Aqedah

in

4Q225 leadsVanderKam to downplay thepossibility that itjoins Jubileesinmaking this

the argument
above that 4Q225
Jubilees suggests that explicit
presupposes
the audience
already familiar with Jubilees
hardly have been necessary;
linkage would
of the date formula.16
the connection
without
the assistance
could have made

connection,

Reconstructing

4Q225

2 i 1-2: A Proposal

a possible
reconstruc
to 2 i 1-2 mindful
of the foregoing propositions,
Returning
the list
close affiliation with Jubilees to narrow
tion emerges. First, ifwe rely on 4Q225's
we come
as a punishment,
crimes for which
of possible
k?r?t might have been assigned

use of k?ret in the

to the topic of Passover.
By contrast with the frequent
Lev 17:4, 9; 20:3, 5-6; 22:3; etc.), only twice
Gen
Exod
17:14;
38;
30:33,
(e.g.,
and in 49:9 it is in reference to the failure
k?r?t as a punishment,
does Jubilees prescribe
if one is pure and not away traveling at the time of the feast.17 The
to observe Passover
back

quickly
Hebrew

Bible

judgment
Passover,"

depends
mandates

on Num

9:13, which,

observance

in the course

of the feast by the pure

of establishing
the "second
those "not traveling" at the

and

*? -p-rmni?o am nu>Kwarn
appointed timeof the feast:nniDJi noan nwyh Vrni 7VT\

is clean and is not on a journey, and yet refrains from

?TOPO Ninn WSJH, "But anyone who
be
cut
off
the people."
shall
from
the
Passover,
Jubilees 49:9, with help from 49:21,
keeping
in Num
seems intent on clearing up a potential
9:13, namely, whether
"p*Tl
ambiguity
one would make
to the temple, where
the Passover
riTl xb means
sacrifice
close
being
(Deut

16:1-7),

(Exod

12:1-28).

or close

to one's

family home, where

home

observance

would

be possible

it [Passover] on
is pure but does not come to celebrate
Jub. 49:9. The man who
a sacrifice that is
its prescribed
before the Lord and to eat
day?to
pleasing
bring

15
VanderKam,
"Aqedah"
16
Ibid., 260. VanderKam

245-48.

cites another difference between Jubilees and 4Q225 thatmotivates

his effort to open up some space between them. Jubilees 1:27 indicates that the book is dictated to
Moses by the Angel of the Presence, but 4Q225 is the speech of an unknown third-person narrator
one of the Qumran
(pp. 260-61). However, the view that 4Q225 perhaps originated as a record of
covenanters' evening colloquies on Scripture (1QS 6:7) could draw the two works closer together,

inasmuch as it imagines that the "speaker" of 4Q225 was indeed commenting on Scripture for the
assembled community, Scripture that included Jubilees.
17
in Jub. 15:14 as punishment for a man's failure to
Following Gen 17:14, k?r?t also appears
be circumcised. That the penalty in 4Q225 has to do with circumcision and echoes Gen 17:14, as sug

is unlikely, since the only other possible reference

gested by Bernstein ("Contours of Genesis," 64)
to circumcision in 4Q225 was eliminated by Kugler and VanderKam
135), when
("Note on 4Q225,"
what was once bw\, "and he circumcised," was corrected to read I^DNI, "and they ate" (4Q225 1.4).

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178

Journal ofBiblical Literature 126, no. 1 (2007)

man who is pure and
and drink before the Lord on the day of the festival?that
to be uprooted because he did not
nearby is
bring the Lord's sacrifice at its time.
That man will bear responsibility
for his own sin.
in their cities or in any
They will not be able to celebrate the Passover
or
before
the
Lord's
tabernacle
otherwise
before
the house inwhich
except

Jub. 49:21.
places
his name

has

resided. Then

they will

Clearly Jubilees 49 leaves little doubt

to proximity
to the temple.
Returning
and Num

49:9

addressing

to line 1 (and
9:13

occupied
the relative location

]ron[ympa]
The

virtues

before

/wnn

about

not go astray from the Lord.

the meaning

of ron

&b

"["112: it can only refer

the first portion of line 2), it is possible

that an echo of Jub.
the lost portion.
Like Jubilees 49, the chief interest is in
of the potential

festal celebrant.

[vz]in rron ?[wyb bm noan nao ro]n[ ta jm]

of this reconstruction

the first letter trace (28-29);

ter (taw); it respects
the dominant

are that it occupies

the number
of spaces one expects
a clear
itprovides
of
the first surviving let
explanation
influence of Jubilees on 4Q225;
and it ties into the

Passover

theme that characterizes

much
of the remaining manuscript.
The downside
of
the reading
is that it requires additional material
at
prior to this first surviving column:
least Win 1U?N WH7\ would
in the
have to appear
line
of
the
column;
closing
preceding
and with that comes a further column
of text, about the contents of which we have no

real

idea.18

As for the textpreserved at the end of line 2, ni[tt>]D[*]nwppnn i[W, the only

or Jubilean antecedent
for someone
in Haran
for a period of twenty
scriptural
dwelling
in service to Laban
cf. Jub. 27:19; 29:5).
(Gen 31:38,41;
years is Jacob's sojourn there while
At first glance
to do with 4Q225's
this has nothing
narrative
and thematic preoccupa
tions?the

But in view of the sharing of

binding of Isaac, the exodus, and the Passover.
in 4Q225 with those repeated
motifs
in Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer and Tar
especially
here too we are drawn back to Passover.
In Pirqe R. El. 32 we learn
gum Pseudo-Jonathan,
a deceiver's
that Gen 27:9 mentions
two lambs in
Jacob having brought
feeding his father
exegetical

one was the Passover

lamb and the other was for his father to consume;
the
repast because
as it turns out, was the
on which Passover would be observed. This
night of betrayal,
night
same motif is
in Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 27:9.19
repeated

18
The end of the preceding column may also have been "linu NIH ~IU>NWNH, tomatch Num
9:13 completely; but that would necessitate a conjunction before TH3
at the beginning of line 1,
where there is little room to spare. As for the possibility of fitting a complete, sensible clause on line
1 prior to the preserved text, there seems to be too little space to allow it.
-rrmn \bn *?n prur bwfoan
rvr\onp ""n w
>di onp "ta w
warn
19pns no*uu;
"mm noan tajd "thin *?n iw?j yiwb biw, "He [Jacob] went and
i1?
o*oyoa
row*?
T^n Vd??
brought two kids of the goats. Were two kids of the goats the food for Isaac? Was not one sufficient
for him? As it is said, 'The righteous one eats to the satisfaction of his soul.' But one corresponded
to the Paschal offering, and one [was] tomake forhim [Isaac] savory meat to eat"
(Pirqe R. El. 32 [ed.
Luria 73b-74a]).
In Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 27:9, Rebekah says to her son Jacob, *6101 NJ^Jp TVlb fTO bVK
noDTi into
xxn^p
nwb im nnva
nwb in prow ptp ""u *"?riform
pnn^ tipki
rWnn

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Critical Notes

179

on the strength of 4Q225's

shared motifs with Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer and Targum
and its habit of presenting
apparently well-known
exegetical motifs ellip
reconstruction
of line 2 (with line 1 provided
for complete
tically, I offer the following
Thus,

Pseudo-Jonathan
ness).

wn?

[u;a]jnroon n[wyb bm nosn nwi ro]n[ xb jra]

nj[w] o^nwp pnn n[w *oVm np*m ]ro?[pmpn]

l
2

the reconstruction
of line 1, this one also fills the lacuna comfortably; more
signifi
to Jacob, using 9:13's bin
cantly, it integrates the language of Num 9:13 into the reference
an
for the reference to Jacob's sojourn
in
with an infinitive,20 and it provides
explanation
the Passover,
he was nonetheless
line 2: having once observed
excused
for the following
two decades
he was TTT1, on the road in Haran.
because
Like

then, 4Q225
Altogether,
observe
the Passover
traveling"

is "not
that one who
Jubilees' insistence
feast at the Jerusalem temple on its appointed
day (Num
line reinforced that assertion by observing
that Jacob was

2 i 1 confirmed

The second
9:13; Jub. 49:9,21).
to blT\, "cease," after having once observed
he was "p"T2,
the feast only because
permitted
the rest of the surviving
text
Then
"on the road," during his twenty-year stay in Haran.
in Israel's
and
goes on to recall two significant moments
history associated with Passover
a way as to prove that,
in both instances
the promises
of
replay them in such
although
God

were

endangered

4Q225

by the actions

of Prince Mastemah,

in Its Compositional

and/or

God

Receptive

prevailed.

Context

to
covenanters
that there was some reason to urge the Qumran
Apart from evidence
at the temple, the foregoing
2 i 1-2 remains
Passover
reconstruction
observe
of 4Q225
there are hints in the scrolls at least licensing
difficult to embrace.
suspicion
Fortunately,
that such urging was necessary

?l?pT "ipJblXV [bx], "Let [not] a young boy

4Q265 3:3 reads, noun ?[nn] ntfJWl

or woman

eat the Passover

[sacrifice."

The

passage's

concern

is for the meal's

purity,

OTTI H, "Go now to the sheep shed and bring me from there two fat kids, one for the Passover and
one for the festival offerings, and Iwill make of them dishes for your father, such as he loves." Here
the explanation of the second lamb is actually different, relying as itdoes on the rabbinic prescrip

tion of a second lamb as "supplementary meat for the Passover meal"

(m. Pesah. 6.3; see Per ?.
Bengston, Passover in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis: The Connection ofEarly Biblical Events with
in a Synagogue Setting [Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2001],
Passover inTargum Pseudo-Jonathan
72 n. 344). Note also that Jacob's trickery is linked to the binding of Isaac inPirqe R. El. 32 (ed. Luria

Isaac
73b) as a way of explaining Isaac's poor eyesight, which aided the success of the deceit. When
was bound, he looked to the heavens and saw the Shekinah, and, rather than allow Isaac to die out
right upon seeing God (cf. Exod 33:20), God spared him and afflicted him instead only with dimin
ished eyesight in old age.
20
For other uses of the verb in theDead Sea Scrolls, see 1QS5T7;
1QM4:3;
lQHa3.T5;4Q431
1:2; and 11Q19 53:12.

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180 Journal ofBiblical Literature 126, no. 1 (2007)

a pertinent
were the normative
issue only if temple, not home, observance
prac
likely
tice.21 One may conclude
from this that the covenanters
to
considered
themselves bound
observe
the Passover
sacrifice at the temple. Surely complicating
that experience,
though,
were the variant mandates
of 1 lQT* 17:6-9 requiring them tomake
the sacrifice before the
in the sacrificial meal
to men over twenty years
evening offering, to restrict participants
of age, and to consume
the meal
that night within
the sanctuary courtyards
(cf. Jub. 49:1,
not be surprising
set them so
such conditions, which
12, 17). Itwould
if, under
vividly
Passover
had grown difficult for
apart from their nonsectarian
co-religionists,
observing
that, given such difficulties, some were sim
community members. We may even speculate

at Passover
to exercise
the "Jacob exception"
ply retreating to Qumran
provided
by the
a practice
of Jacob's cessation
in Haran,
of observance
while
"on the road"
2 i 1-2.
in 4Q225
acknowledged

memory

in this

an exhortation
to keep
become
light, the first two lines of 4Q225
to sectarian
not
to
use
the
exile,
according
policy?at
temple?and
self-imposed
to Qumran
to escape one's Passover
obli
itself, as a legal loophole
perhaps
through which
focuses attention,
from Israel's
then, on two episodes
gation.22 The following narrative
intertwined with Passover?the
and the exodus?
past that are inextricably
Aqedah
Read

Passover

a way as to
retelling them in such
heighten
when
in Prince Mastemah,
evil, embodied
God

the sense
threatened

were both moments

they
to overthrow God's
promises,
yet
out of weariness
in waiting
for God
in which

the covenanters
should never,
Thus,
prevailed.
to vindicate
them or unease
in exhibiting
their difference
before
never fail to observe
Passover
the central
obligations;
they should
feast of the Passover,
the faith of Abraham

lest they incur the penalty pronounced

the memory
of those who escaped

and

their
others, neglect
rite of liberation,
the

9:13 and dishonor

by Num
from Egypt to celebrate
the

first Passover.

21
Preceding the prohibition of lads and women eating the Passover sacrifice is a quotation of
2:10 (4Q265 3:1-2). The manuscript's
editor, Joseph Baumgarten, suggests that the quotation
indicates that the author witnessed lax practices among some men wherein they shared theirmeal

Mai

portions with wives and children, whose purity could not be guaranteed, resulting in the contami
nation of the communal meal for all men
through the act of one or several (see Joseph Baumgarten,
"265. 4QMiscellaneous
Rules," inQumran Cave 4.XXV: Halakhic Texts [ed. Joseph Baumgarten et al.;
DJD

35; Oxford: Clarendon,

1999], 63-64).
22
That the site enjoyed by the Qumran

wandering of the people

see, e.g., lQS8:12b-14.

^wiura
anwn

Dm na

in thewilderness

community qualified as a place akin to the biblical

iswidely recognized by even casual readers of the scrolls;

iro*? n^N nrnm

dw nua1?

-imo*? roV?

irm^

n^DQ

12
nuno "jinn trm n^n
nriiDnn
biyn win
""
dihd -iwnd
nDnyn nur?
*rm us nman

13
14

This passage is the denouement of a section of the Community Rule commonly viewed as the
group's
(earliest?) manifesto; ifthat is correct, the community constituted itself from the beginning as a gath
ering removed from themainstream.

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Critical Notes

181

Conclusion
as is the
2 i 1-2 is certainly plausible,
the foregoing reconstruction
of 4Q225
While
there ismuch here
of it in the context of the remains we have dubbed
4Q225,
explanation
as well that serves as a caution to the scrolls
seek to fill out the mar
specialist who would
gins of fragments.

The

reconstruction

certifies the loss of a pre

reality that scrolls scholars
evidence.
Even a cursory
fragmentary
one that the reconstruction
and expla

of line 1 provided

if correct, it is a sober reminder

ceding column;
are forever doomed
to work with uncommonly

here

of the harsh

at the preceding
reminds
paragraphs
here, like so many others that emerge from the studies of scrolls schol
proposed
to join
from multiple
ars, are woven
fragile threads that at times barely reach far enough
a full piece of cloth?invalidate
one
alone
of
the
and
let
threads,
any
produce
together,
For these reasons
this note should be taken not only as
the whole
fabric might dissolve.

glance
nation

an
a

back

example

cautionary
of Qumran
with

of what we might make

scroll with a little effort, but also as
of a fragmentary
tale for the scrolls specialist: those who still seek clarity in and from the scrolls
should

in achieving

never

forget that they have

only

the fragments

of Qumran

to work

that goal.
Robert Kugler
edu
kugler @lclark.

Lewis & Clark College, Portland,OR 97219

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