Oath Breakers
[Summary]
Major Characters
Minor Characters
Insignificant Characters
JUBILEES
100%
Exposition
The sons of Esau question why Jacob received the portion of the elder
Jubilees 37:1-8
Rising Action
The sons of Esau disobey their father and gather a great army
Jubilees 37:9-10
Esau decides to lead the army
Jubilees 37:11-13
Jacob is told Esau is coming to attack but doesn’t believe it
Jubilees 37:14-16
Jacob speaks with Esau
Jubilees 37:17-23
Climax
Jacob prepares to attack Esau
Jubilees 37:24-25
Jacob kills Esau and Adoran
Jubilees 38:1-3
The sons of Jacob attack the armies and Jacob buries Esau
Jubilees 38:4-8
Falling Action
Jacob buries Esau
Jubilees 38:9
Resolution
The sons of Jacob took captives and made them servants
Jubilees 38:10-14
The sons of Esau question why Jacob received the portion of the elderi
Jubilees 37:1-8
1 And on the day that Isaac the father of Jacob and Esau died, [2162 A.M.] the sons of Esau heard that Isaac had given the portion of the elder to his younger son Jacob and they were very angry.
2 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?’
3 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.
4 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.’
5 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.
6 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.’
7 And their father said unto them, ‘Do not go and do not make war with him lest ye fall before him.’
8 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.
The sons of Esau disobey their father and gather a great army
Jubilees 37:9-10
9 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.
10 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.
Esau decides to lead the army
Jubilees 37:11-13
11 And they said unto their father: Go forth with them and lead them, else we shall slay thee.’
12 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.
13 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.
Jacob is told Esau is coming to attack but doesn’t believe it
Jubilees 37:14-16
14 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.
15 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.
16 But Jacob would not believe until they came very near to the tower.
Jacob speaks with Esau
Jubilees 37:17-23
17 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.’
18 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.
19 And thou dost hate me and my children for ever. And there is no observing the tie of brotherhood with thee.
20 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.
21 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
22 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.
23 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’
Jacob prepares to attack Esau
Jubilees 37:24-25
24 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;
25 Then he spake to his own and to his servants that they should attack him and all his companions.
Jacob kills Esau and Adoran
Jubilees 38:1-3
1 And after that Judah spake to Jacob, his father, and said unto him: ‘Bend thy bow, father, and send forth thy arrows and cast down the adversary and slay the enemy; and mayst thou have the power, for we shall not slay thy brother, for he is such as thou, and he is like thee let us give him (this) honour.’
2 Then Jacob bent his bow and sent forth the arrow and struck Esau, his brother (on his right breast) and slew him.
3 And again he sent forth an arrow and struck ‘Adoran the Aramaean, on the left breast, and drove him backward and slew him.
The sons of Jacob attack the armies
Jubilees 38:4-8
4 And then went forth the sons of Jacob, they and their servants, dividing themselves into companies on the four sides of the tower.
5 And Judah went forth in front, and Naphtali and Gad with him and fifty servants with him on the south side of the tower, and they slew all they found before them, and not one individual of them escaped.
6 And Levi and Dan and Asher went forth on the east side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and they slew the fighting men of Moab and Ammon.
7 And Reuben and Issachar and Zebulon went forth on the north side of the tower, and fifty men with them, and they slew the fighting men of the Philistines.
8 And Simeon and Benjamin and Enoch, Reuben’s son, went forth on the west side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and they slew of Edom and of the Horites four hundred men, stout warriors; and six hundred fled, and four of the sons of Esau fled with them, and left their father lying slain, as he had fallen on the hill which is in ‘Aduram.
Jacob buries Esau
Jubilees 38:9
9 And the sons of Jacob pursued after them to the mountains of Seir. And Jacob buried his brother on the hill which is in ‘Aduram, and he returned to his house.
The sons of Jacob took captives and made them servants
Jubilees 38:10-14
10 And the sons of Jacob pressed hard upon the sons of Esau in the mountains of Seir, and bowed their necks so that they became servants of the sons of Jacob.
11 And they sent to their father (to inquire) whether they should make peace with them or slay them.
12 And Jacob sent word to his sons that they should make peace, and they made peace with them, and placed the yoke of servitude upon them, so that they paid tribute to Jacob and to his sons always.
13 And they continued to pay tribute to Jacob until the day that he went down into Egypt.
14 And the sons of Edom have not got quit of the yoke of servitude which the twelve sons of Jacob had imposed on them until this day.
i. Did this story actually happen? If Jubilees 38:2 is correct, then Esau died when he was 120 years old and all the following events involving him didn’t happen. However, if Jasher 56:63-64 is correct, Esau would have died during the same year as Jacob at the age of 150.
Exposition
The sons of Esau question why Jacob received the portion of the elder
Jubilees 37:1-8
Rising Action
The sons of Esau disobey their father and gather a great army
Jubilees 37:9-10
Esau decides to lead the army
Jubilees 37:11-13
Jacob is told Esau is coming to attack but doesn’t believe it
Jubilees 37:14-16
Jacob speaks with Esau
Jubilees 37:17-23
Climax
Jacob prepares to attack Esau
Jubilees 37:24-25
Jacob kills Esau and Adoran
Jubilees 38:1-3
The sons of Jacob attack the armies and Jacob buries Esau
Jubilees 38:4-8
Falling Action
Jacob buries Esau
Jubilees 38:9
Resolution
The sons of Jacob took captives and made them servants
Jubilees 38:10-14
This chart shows who was alive in years 2228-2231.
Years with question marks are estimates.