Joseph A. Fitzmyer, «The sacrifice of Isaac in Qumran literature», Vol. 83 (2002) 211-229

Gen 22,1-19 the account of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, is discussed first in its Hebrew and Old Greek form; then as it was developed in the Book of Jubilees 17,15–18,16, and especially in the form of Pseudo-Jubilees, as it is preserved in 4Q225 2 i and ii (4QPs-Jub^a 2 i 7-14, 2 ii 1-14), in order to ascertain how much of the development of the account can be traced to pre-Christian Palestinian Jewish tradition prior to the New Testament. Finally, building on such evidence, the article traces the development in other texts of the first Christian century and in the later targumic and rabbinic tradition about the Aqedah.

        Third, after the six tests, Jubilees recounts the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, the great test in Abraham’s life (18,1-16). The story repeats the details of the account in Gen 22 rather closely, but it again introduces the prince Mastemah at two points. (a) As Abraham is about to use the knife to slay Isaac, it records: ‘I was standing in the Lord’s presence, and the prince Mastemah was there too. And the Lord said, "Tell him not to lay his hand on the child..."’ (Jub 18,9). (b) Later on it records, after God has found Abraham faithful: ‘The prince Mastemah was put to shame’ (18,11). Thereupon Abraham spies the ram. In this way, what the ‘the angel of the Lord’ does in the Genesis account becomes one of the tasks of Mastemah.

        Fourth, Jubilees may connect the sacrifice of Isaac with Passover, but only indirectly. It dates the approach of Mastemah to God on the twelfth day of the first month (17,15), and the reader is left to add the three days that the text mentions, when it notes that Abraham and Isaac approach the mountain of their destination ‘on the third day’ (18,3). That would have been the fifteenth day, when Passover was being celebrated⁶.

        Finally, Jubilees identifies ‘the mount’ called in Hebrew Yahweh-Yir’eh as Mount Zion (18,13), i.e. Jerusalem.

III. The Qumran Text That Interprets the Account

        Among the many fragmentary texts retrieved from Qumran Cave 4, which rewrite the Hebrew Scriptures, one in particular is noteworthy, 4Q225 or 4QPseudo-Jubilees^a7. It is noteworthy, because it reveals that the sacrifice of Isaac was not passed over in silence among the Essene Jews at Qumran, as has been thought at times⁸. The text is extant in only three fragments, and its account