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.

        Similarly Targum Neofiti I and the Fragmentary Targum¹⁷, and also Genesis Rabbah 56,8. This Qumran addition to the biblical account thus becomes important for the developing Jewish tradition, because it reveals an aspect of Isaac’s cooperation with his own sacrificial death that figures often in Jewish writings of a later date.

        (4) In 2 ii 5, it is recorded that ‘holy angels were standing, weeping over the [altar] — or possibly ‘over [Isaac’s coming death]’. This Qumran addition thus introduces other heavenly figures beyond hm+#m r#. They are #dq yk)lm, ‘holy angels’, and being plural, they are not merely a substitute for ‘the angel of the Lord’ of Genesis. Their standing and weeping are again unexplained because of the fragmentary state of the text¹⁸.

        (5) In 2 ii 6, ‘the angels of Mastemah’, who are probably the attendants of hmx#m r#, are depicted ‘rejoicing and saying, ‘Now he will perish’, i.e. gloating over the coming death of Isaac. These angels thus stand in contrast to the ‘holy angels’ of line 5. Their rejoicing becomes part of the testing of Abraham to see whether he would be found feeble or strong and faithful.

        (6) Finally, in 2 ii 13 the prince Mastemah is said to be ‘bound on ac[count of them]’¹⁹. Because of the fragmentary state of the text, it is hard to explain the detail, but it could refer to the binding of Mastemah mentioned later in Jub 48,15.