The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene
College.

Chapter 37

Esau’s sons reproach him for his subordination to Jacob, and constrain him
to war with the assistance of 4,000 mercenaries against Jacob, 1-15. Jacob reproves
Esau, 16-17. Esau’s reply, 18-25)

And on the day that Isaac the father of Jacob and Esau died, (2162 AM)
the sons of Esau heard that Isaac had given the portion of the elder to his
younger son Jacob and they were very angry.

And they strove with their father, saying ‘Why has thy father given Jacob
the portion of the elder and passed over thee, although thou art the elder and
Jacob the younger?’

And he said unto them ‘Because I sold my birthright to Jacob for a small
mess of lentils, and on the day my father sent me to hunt and catch and bring
him something that he should eat and bless me, he came with guile and brought
my father food and drink, and my father blessed him and put me under his hand.

And now our father has caused us to swear, me and him, that we shall not
mutually devise evil, either against his brother, and that we shall continue
in love and in peace each with his brother and not make our ways corrupt.’

And they said unto him, ‘We shall not hearken unto thee to make peace with
him; for our strength is greater than his strength, and we are more powerful
than he; we shall go against him and slay him, and destroy him and his sons.
And if thou wilt not go with us, we shall do hurt to thee also.

And now hearken unto us: Let us send to Aram and Philistia and Moab and
Ammon, and let us choose for ourselves chosen men who are ardent for battle,
and let us go against him and do battle with him, and let us exterminate him
from the earth before he grows strong.’

And their father said unto them, ‘Do not go and do not make war with him
lest ye fall before him.’

And they said unto him, ‘This too, is exactly thy mode of action from thy
youth until this day, and thou art putting thy neck under his yoke.

We shall not hearken to these words.’ And they sent to Aram, and to ‘Aduram
to the friend of their father, and they hired along with them one thousand fighting
men, chosen men of war.

And there came to them from Moab and from the children of Ammon, those who
were hired, one thousand chosen men, and from Philistia, one thousand chosen
men of war, and from Edom and from the Horites one thousand chosen fighting
men, and from the Kittim mighty men of war.

And they said unto their father: Go forth with them and lead them, else
we shall slay thee.’

And he was filled with wrath and indignation on seeing that his sons were
forcing him to go before (them) to lead them against Jacob his brother.

But afterward he remembered all the evil which lay hidden in his heart against
Jacob his brother; and he remembered not the oath which he had sworn to his
father and to his mother that he would devise no evil all his days against Jacob
his brother.

And notwithstanding all this, Jacob knew not that they were coming against
him to battle, and he was mourning for Leah, his wife, until they approached
very near to the tower with four thousand warriors and chosen men of war.

And the men of Hebron sent to him saying, ‘Behold thy brother has come against
thee, to fight thee, with four thousand girt with the sword, and they carry
shields and weapons’; for they loved Jacob more than Esau. So they told him;
for Jacob was a more liberal and merciful man than Esau.

But Jacob would not believe until they came very near to the tower.

And he closed the gates of the tower; and he stood on the battlements and
spake to his brother Esau and said, ‘Noble is the comfort wherewith thou hast
come to comfort me for my wife who has died. Is this the oath that thou didst
swear to thy father and again to thy mother before they died? Thou hast broken
the oath, and on the moment that thou didst swear to thy father wast thou condemned.’

And then Esau answered and said unto him, ‘Neither the children of men nor
the beasts of the earth have any oath of righteousness which in swearing they
have sworn (an oath valid) for ever; but every day they devise evil one against
another, and how each may slay his adversary and foe.

And thou dost hate me and my children for ever. And there is no observing
the tie of brotherhood with thee.

Hear these words which I declare unto thee,

If the boar can change its
skin and make its bristles as soft as wool,
Or if it can cause horns to sprout forth on its head like the horns of a stag
or of a sheep,
Then will I observe the tie of brotherhood with thee
And if the breasts separated themselves from their mother, for thou hast not
been a brother to me.

And if the wolves make peace with the lambs so as not to devour or do them
violence,
And if their hearts are towards them for good,
Then there shall be peace in my heart towards thee

And if the lion becomes the friend of the ox and makes peace with him

And if he is bound under one yoke with him and ploughs with him,
Then will I make peace with thee.

And when the raven becomes white as the raza,
Then know that I have loved thee
And shall make peace with thee
Thou shalt be rooted out,
And thy sons shall be rooted out,
And there shall be no peace for thee’

And when Jacob saw that he was (so) evilly disposed towards him with his
heart, and with all his soul as to slay him, and that he had come springing
like the wild boar which comes upon the spear that pierces and kills it, and
recoils not from it;

then he spake to his own and to his servants that they should attack him
and all his companions.