Covenantal Election in 4Q252 and Jubilees ' Heavenly Tablets

This study builds upon earlier attempts in scholarship to (1) identify the common element(s) among the thirty or so passages attributed to the Heavenly Tablets in Jubilees, and (2) to determine the unifying factor(s) underlying 4Q252 (4QCommentary on Genesis A). I demonstrate that the close affinity between the list of passages from the book of Genesis that are featured in 4Q252 and those represented in Jubilees' Heavenly Tablets points to a shared exegetical tradition pertaining to Elect and accursed figures in Genesis. I further argue that the differences between these lists, and between their respective treatments of some of the accursed figures, indicate distinctive recastings of this shared tradition.