Jubilees 30: Building a Paradigm for the Ban on Intermarriage

Research notes: 
reader checked 01/08/2012 AL
Reference type: 
Journal Article
Author(s): 
Werman, Cana
year: 
1997
Full title: 

Jubilees 30: Building a Paradigm for the Ban on Intermarriage

Translated title: 
Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Harvard Theological Review
Volume: 
90
Issue / Series Volume: 
1
Number of volumes: 
0
Series Title: 
Abbreviated Series Name: 
Collaborating Author: 
Place of Publication: 
Publisher: 
Pages: 
1-22
Chapter: 
Work type: 
Abstract: 

The question of whether it is permissible for Gentiles to marry Jews appears in scripture itself, which advances divergent views on the subject. Whereas both preexilic literature and the author of Chronicles permitted intermarriage, Ezra and his followers repudiated the practice. This article investigates the status of the question during the Second Temple period, when the impact of a new factor—conversion—further complicated the issue. Given the diversity present even in the Bible, it seems clear that several solutions to the problem would have been viable in the Second Temple period: (a) a total ban on intermarriage; (b) opposition to marriage with Gentiles unless they had abandoned idolatry or converted to Judaism; and (c) retention of the ancient tolerance of intermarriage, even in the absence of conversion.

Notes: 
Language: 
Alternative title: 
HTR
Date: 
Hebrew bible: 
Book: 
Genesis
Chapter(s): 
34
Verse(s): 
Book: 
Leviticus
Chapter(s): 
18
Verse(s): 
Book: 
Leviticus
Chapter(s): 
20
Verse(s): 
Primary Texts: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha: 
Composition / Author: 
Jubilees
Passage: 
30
Edition: 
Original Publication: 
Reprint edition: 
URL: 
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1509957
DOI: 
ISBN: 
Accession number: 
Call num: 
Label: 
25/10/1998
Record number: 
14 714