Eucharistic Adoration/Worship in the Libri Carolini (c. 790s)

  

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This verse of the psalmist reflects the error that has taken root in the hearts of some, so much so that they establish synods and attempt to use testimonies from the Holy Scriptures to support the worship of images, believing they can defend themselves when they hear that the footstool of the Lord is to be worshipped. They think they possess a helmet to protect the head of the body, lest the flashing sword inflict wounds; they believe they have a breastplate to guard their bodies against the blows of the arrows of their stability; they think they have gained protection through a shield, by which they do not fear the flight of wounding missiles. But in doing so, they either succumb to the truth or flee, stripped of these defenses, as they have misused them in vain and useless ways, and they will feel the sharpness of the spiritual sword wielded by holy men, so much so that they will not even believe they possess any strength. Is it because the footstool of the Lord is commanded to be worshipped by the prophet that the worship of images should be established? What, then, is the similarity between the footstool of the Lord and material images? Or what communion is there between the ineffable works of God and images made by any craftsman? Or what association exists between such an excellent and glorious mystery and the figures crafted by human ingenuity? Or where is it instituted that images should be worshipped, just as it is instituted that the footstool of the Lord should be worshipped? For David does not say: "Worship the images of certain saints," as he says: "Worship the footstool of the Lord"; nor does the Lord say: "The works of human hands are my throne, but images are the footstool of my feet"; rather, He says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isaiah 66:1). Therefore, listen, most foolish error, or rather, insane delusion; listen, incomparable madness; listen, ridiculous sloth; listen to blessed Ambrose teaching what the footstool of the Lord is and how it is to be worshipped: "The apostles worshipped the Lord, because they bore witness to the faith and received the teaching of faith. The angels worship Him, of whom it is written: 'And let all His angels worship Him.'" They worship not only His divinity but also His footstool, for it is holy. And shortly afterward: "But lest anyone think that the example seems to pertain to the mystery of the Lord's incarnation, let us consider what the prophet says: 'And worship the footstool of His feet.' For we should not assess the footstool according to human usage. For God is neither corporeal nor limited, so that we should think of the footstool as a support for His feet; nor do we read that anything other than God is to be worshipped, for it is written: 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve' (Matthew 4:10). How, then, could the prophet command worship under the law, being nourished and educated in the law? It is therefore not a trivial question, and we should therefore consider more carefully what the footstool is. For we read elsewhere: 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.' But the earth is not to be worshipped by us, for it is a creation of God. Let us see, however, whether the prophet says that the earth is to be worshipped, which the Lord Jesus took upon Himself in the assumption of flesh. Thus, the footstool is understood as the earth, and through the earth, the flesh of Christ, which we today worship in the mysteries and which the apostles worshipped in the Lord Jesus, as we have said above. For Christ is not divided, but is one; nor was He denied as the Son of God, born of the Virgin, when He was worshipped. Therefore, since the sacrament of the incarnation is to be worshipped, and the incarnation is the work of the Holy Spirit, as it is written: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God' (Luke 1:35). This footstool of the Lord is also referred to by the most diligent seeker, Saint Augustine, as the body of the Lord. (source; number in square brackets refers to the page number of the original language source)

 

 

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XXVII. That it is a great temerity and an immense absurdity to equate the aforementioned images with the body and blood of the Lord, as is written in the same vanity that was composed for their adoration.

 

When the Lord says in the Gospel: "True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth," we marvel at the madness of those who have become so negligent in the adoration of images that, although it is clear that they possess neither spirit nor truth, they presume not only to worship them but also to equate them with the body and blood of the Lord, saying: "Just as the body and blood of the Lord pass from the fruits of the earth to the significant mystery, so too may the images crafted by the art of artisans pass into the veneration of those whose likenesses they are made." This is because the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord is granted to us by the same Mediator of God and men through the hand of the priest and the invocation of the divine name, while the images, needing no imposition of hands or mystery of consecration, are formed and assembled only by those who are experienced in the art of painting and skilled in the crafting of colors, or by those who, through the knowledge of the material's properties, can compose faces through some craft or skill. Certainly, for the consecration of these images, the priest, adorned with the sacred vestments, mixing the prayers of the surrounding people with his own, makes remembrance of the Lord's passion and resurrection from the dead, as well as of His glorious ascension into heaven, and these are presented by the hands of angels at the sublime altar of God and in the sight of His majesty. The painter, seeking suitable places for his work, should only pursue the beauty of colors and the enhancement of his craft. Therefore, it is exceedingly distant from the path of truth, reason, and discretion for anyone to attempt to equate images with the body and blood of the Lord. For Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, is said to have offered not an image but bread and wine as a type of the body and blood of the Lord. In the Mosaic account, in the prefiguration of our Redeemer, whose flesh we take for the remission of sins, and by the blood of the striking angel we escape the onslaught, the lamb is commanded to be eaten by families, and the use of images to be venerated or adored is entirely repudiated. The psalmist also sang of the bread of angels, namely Christ, to be eaten by men, and he likened the creators of images to those that are created, saying with sweet melody. For the Author of the human race, who did not disdain to take on flesh for our salvation, established the saving beginning on the day of His most sacred passion, connecting the two opposing walls in Himself as the cornerstone, thus making the two one. Taking the bread, blessing it, and breaking it, He gave this command to His disciples: "Take," He said, "and eat: This is my body." Similarly, after supper, He took the cup and gave it to His disciples, saying: "Take and drink. For this is the cup of my blood, of the new and eternal testament, which will be poured out for you and for many for the remission of sins. Whenever you do this, do it in remembrance of me." (source; number in square brackets refers to the page number of the original language source)

 

 

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Since, therefore, the Church holds clearly and more brightly the document of this most evident and most sacred mystery through the mystical figures of the Old Testament and through the institution of the New Testament, there is no longer any excuse for this most insolent use of the adoration of images, which is not only not commanded but is also prohibited by the page of the Old Testament and is not only not permitted in the series of the New Testament but is also condemned. For He who said: "My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink," and "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him," did not say: "My image is truly life, and the picture inscribed with my name is truly salvation," nor did He say: "Whoever paints my likeness and worships my manufactured image abides in me, and I in him." And He who said: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you," did not say: "Unless you paint my image and worship my likeness constructed by art, you will not have life in you." He who said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh," and "Whoever believes in me will never hunger or thirst," has said nothing similar about an image, since, as we have previously mentioned, He established the commemoration of His most sacred passion not in the works of artisans or worldly arts, but in the consecration of His body and blood, nor did He decree that His faith and confession should be made in pictures, but in the mouth and heart, as Scripture says: "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." For when He says: "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you," He clearly shows that we should not remain in images and images in us, but that we should remain in Him through faith and His words in us through the study of reading and the fulfillment of works. The Apostle Paul, indeed, a chosen vessel, sees that the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord should not be equated with every sacrament but should be preferred above nearly all, saying: "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself." Since he shows such diligence in examining those who approach to partake of these, and he strikes with such severity those who come to receive them carelessly and unworthily, nothing similar is mentioned about those who flee the adoration of images, but on the contrary, he speaks of those who misuse images, saying: "And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man." Thus, there is a great distance, beyond what the eye of the mind can grasp, between the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord and the images depicted by the art of painters, since the former is made by the invisible operation of the Spirit of God, while the latter is visibly made by the hand of an artist. The former is consecrated by a priest through the invocation of the divine name, while the latter is painted by a painter through the knowledge of human art. The former is carried to the sublime altar of God by angelic hands, while the latter is placed by human hands, constructed for the gaze of the onlookers. Through the former, sins are forgiven; through the latter, if misused, they are added to. The former has no need of growth, nor is it diminished in any way; the latter grows according to the artist's skill in beauty and is, in a way, diminished; the former confirms the newness of antiquity and the antiquity of newness. (source; number in square brackets refers to the page number of the original language source)

 

The Libri Carolini (c. 790s) Interpreting Malachi 1:11 as a Prophecy of Both the Eucharist and Prayers of New Covenant Believers

  

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They think they are insisting on good works, but this scandal will harm us to the same extent that the display of such insolent obedience benefits them, because it is clear that the order demands that they be compelled to render to the aforementioned images a response of obedience similar to the sense of honor they are known to receive, even though they are utterly insensate. But perhaps those wishing to frustrate our assertion will say: 'Why do you mock those who arrange lights and burn incense before senseless images, when we also arrange lights and burn incense in basilicas, which are equally devoid of sense?' To this, a simple objection can arise, for it is one thing to illuminate places dedicated to divine worship and to offer the smoke of prayers and incense to God in those same places, and another to offer light to an image that has eyes but sees nothing, and to burn incense to something that has nostrils but does not smell; it is one thing to venerate places dedicated to divine worship, and another to offer lights and incense to any painted images adorned with colors; it is one thing to venerate the house of the Lord's majesty, built by all the faithful and solemnly dedicated by the pontiff, and another to irrationally kiss images composed by various painters while offering gifts. For the Lord says, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer' (Isaiah 56:7); likewise elsewhere: 'Acceptable gifts shall be offered upon my altar, and my house of prayer shall be honored' (Malachi 1:11)." Indeed, that place is to be honored with many honors, where faithful people gather from all sides, and their supplications are heard by God, and the mysteries of our salvation are celebrated, and a sacrifice of praise is offered to God, where, with the faithful people bringing sacrifices to God through the hands of the priests, there is an angelic gathering, where the harmonious sound of those singing often resounds, where the waves of divine readings irrigate the hearts of the listeners. Moreover, in many of those places that boast of offering lights and incense to images, from which we, who disdain to do so, are thought to suffer scandal, such places dedicated to divine worship are so despicable that, as we have learned from our legates or from those who, during the time of the revered memory of the most illustrious man, my father, or those who have been sent by us to those parts, many basilicas in their lands are found to lack not only lights and incense but even the coverings themselves. For in the kingdom granted to us by God, basilicas, with His assistance, which He deems worthy to preserve, overflow abundantly with gold, silver, gems, and the most beautiful adornments, while we, who refuse to arrange lights and burn incense before images, adorn places dedicated to divine worship with the most precious things. (source; number in square brackets refers to the page number of the original language source)

 

Jesus's Baptism Cleansing the Waters "from the contagion of idols" Libri Carolini (c. 790s)

  

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Should we then adore the rivers because they were washed clean from the contagion of idols by the baptism of Christ? Should we then adore the rivers? Should we then adore the fact that the arrival of the Holy Spirit was delayed for the holy man Elisha, so that the psalmist might be applied, and when the psalmist was applied, the Holy Spirit poured forth from his heart, through whom the Jewish people are signified? This people does not now receive the arrival of the Holy Spirit because they do not accept the incarnation of the Redeemer in their belief. When soon he has completed his mission at the end of the world, he will be adorned with the breath of the Holy Spirit and with all the gifts of charisms; should the psalmist then be adored? Should we then adore the hem of the Lord's garment, by whose touch a woman received healing, which signifies the belief in the Lord's incarnation, through which gentility was healed? Should we then adore the hems? Or because the shadow of Peter healed the sick, should the shadows then be adored? Therefore, as we have previously stated, not all things through which or in which certain miracles have been shown by God's ordination are considered worthy of adoration. If these things in which miracles appeared are not to be adored, then much less should images be considered worthy of adoration, in which or through which no miracles are shown by any authentic writings. Therefore, as we have previously stated, not all things through which or in which certain miracles have been shown by God's ordination are considered worthy of adoration. If these things in which miracles appeared are not to be adored, then much less should images be considered worthy of adoration, in which or through which no miracles are shown by any authentic writings. (source; number in square brackets refers to the page number of the original language source)

 

Baptismal Regeneration in the Libri Carolini (c. 790s)

  

In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here begins the work of the most illustrious and excellent or notable man Charles, by the will of God, King of the Franks, of Gaul, Germany, and Italy, or the neighboring provinces, ruling with the help of the Lord, against the synod, which in the regions of Greece was foolishly or arrogantly conducted for the worship of images.

 

PREFACE

 

Our mother church, redeemed by the most precious blood of Christ the bridegroom and washed in the saving bath of regeneration, and nourished by the life-giving food of the body and drink of the blood, anointed with the ointment of nectar-like liquid, and spread throughout the whole world in peace, sometimes endures external, sometimes internal wars, sometimes is shaken by the attacks of outsiders, sometimes is troubled by the tumults of its citizens. At times, indeed, it is assailed by the attacks of unbelievers or heretics, and at other times it is disturbed by the dissensions of schismatics or the arrogant.

 

For it is indeed an ark containing souls to be saved, of which the ark of that ancient father was a type, which passes through the most savage storms of this world without the danger of shipwreck, and does not yield to the deadly floods of the present age nor succumb to the siege of hostile powers. Instead, with Him fighting for it and especially in it, who is set as a wall for it, as the prophet says: 'Our strong city, the Savior, will set a wall and a rampart in it,' and who has appointed watchmen on its walls, who will never be silent day or night, resisting adversaries and enduring tumultuous disturbances, and receiving into its bosom those who flock to the true confession of faith, while rejecting those who obstinately resist the same confession. (source; number in square brackets refers to the page number of the original language source)

 

 

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We suffer with Christ when, in His love, who endured the passion of the cross for us, we crucify our flesh, that is, the world, with its vices and desires, and we die to the world and are buried with Christ, and thus we crucify the flesh, that is, the body, to trample its desires. For we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life, and thus being baptized, we are buried with Him, so that from now on we follow this life in which Christ was raised. Baptism is the pledge and image of the resurrection, so that, remaining in the commandments of Christ, we do not return again to past things. We are made alive and rise with Him if we are planted together in the likeness of His death, that is, if in baptism, putting away all vices, we are transferred to a new life and henceforth do not sin. For the likeness of His death has provided a similar resurrection. We are co-heirs and co-participants with Him, not because any possession is divided among us, but because He Himself is our Lord, our inheritance, and our possession. For the Lord says, 'The Lord is your inheritance'; and elsewhere: 'The Lord is my portion and my inheritance.' For although those who have believed in Christ have different graces, they are nevertheless united in one body of the Church. Therefore, He has made the saints sit together with Christ in the heavenly places, not so that the saints sit with Him while they are in this world and are pilgrims away from Him, but in accordance with the aforementioned teacher's sentiment, this is the way of the Scriptures, so that sometimes future things are expressed in the past tense—by a scheme called prolepsis—for example, regarding the cross of the Lord: 'They pierced my hands and my feet'; and elsewhere about His passion: 'Like a sheep he was led to slaughter'—or certainly according to the spiritual sense—how they are not in the flesh holy, although they live in the flesh and have their conversation in heaven, while walking on earth, ceasing to be flesh, they are entirely turned into spirit, thus sitting with Christ in the heavenly places. For the kingdom of God is within us, and where our treasure is, there will our heart be also; we sit firm and stable with Christ in wisdom, word, justice, and truth. The apostles preached, with the Lord cooperating, that is, providing them assistance in performing good works, and for this reason, their operation had such power that, at their preaching, thousands of people believed, and the broken nature of men received life, and the blind received sight, and the deaf received hearing. For the Lord cooperates with all the saints according to the Apostle, who says: 'I became a minister according to the gift of grace that was given to me according to the working of His power.' However, concerning sinners, inasmuch as they sin, it is not to be believed that He cooperates or reigns with them in any way. (source; number in square brackets refers to the page number of the original language source)

 

 

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He taught that the posterity of the Israelites should be instructed, but he also warned them to remember the astonishing miracle of the dried-up river, which should convey to future generations this silent message: "We, whom you see, were once inhabitants of a liquid element, now exiles in a dry land, and we, who for so many centuries were natives of the Jordan, are now strangers, having been removed from its swirling waters to this land, where we have been brought on the shoulders of the Israelites and placed here to remain." For when the ark of the Lord was before them, indeed before the face of the God of Jacob, the priests stood in throngs, and the people, with great joy, marveled at the new division that he would allow, causing the lower part to be swallowed by the watery waves and raising the upper part into the air, lifting the waters to the heights of the mountains, and providing an unusual passage for the Israelites through the dry riverbed. Thus, we have been brought forth from ancient seats and placed here to remain among the Israelites.

 

If, however, one inquires typologically what these stones prefigure, it is revealed through the new Joshua, namely our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has secured for us the habitation of the eternal homeland. He established the sacrament of baptism, through which we reach the eternal homeland, and chose the twelve apostles, to whom He said: "Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," which bear witness to the perpetual sanctity of the holy Church as they call it to the heavenly kingdoms through the most sacred sacrament of baptism.

 

If we consider the historical context, the twelve stones that were placed in the Jordan signify the patriarchs and prophets. Although they did not openly proclaim the sacrament of baptism under the shadow of the law, they indicated it through certain mystical and shadowy figures, as if they were overwhelmed by flowing waters; for although they do not appear to have instituted baptism openly, they are not believed to have been devoid of its mystery. For these fathers, the children of the holy Church were born, that is, the apostles, whom He appointed as leaders over all the earth, who remember the name of the Lord in every generation, so that through them, as well as through these sacred charisms and teachings, they may not cease to seek the Lord through faith and works, not through the deceit of images or any superstitious matters. (source; number in square brackets refers to the page number of the original language source)

 

Cyril of Alexandria on Isaiah 29:11-12

  

All the words will be for you like the words of a book that is sealed. If they give it to someone with knowledge of writing, saying to him, Read this, he will say, I cannot read: it is sealed. This book will be given into the hands of someone with no knowledge of writing and they will say to him, Read it, and he will say, I cannot read it: I have no knowledge of writing (vv. 11-12). Our Lord Jesus Christ said somewhere to the Jews, “Search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” So the people of Israel went to trouble hither and yon in vain discussing constantly the commandment from Moses, pretending that they had imbibed into mind and heart an uncommon understanding of the legal writings, but without searching for Christ, despite the Law’s speaking of the mystery concerning him. They were told further, in fact, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.” So since they set little store by the Law—or rather, they killed the one proclaimed in it and paid no regard for Moses—the inspired Scripture was in a sense sealed, as it were, in one book; it is all one, and is spoken through one Holy Spirit. Now, in what way was it sealed? Those able to read and familiar with writing could not understand what was in it, and anyone familiar with writing will know nothing of what is hidden in it. Instead, the Law will be sealed for everyone just as if the force of the text were completely incomprehensible, even for those familiar with the text. This is surely what was the object of praise to God by David, “Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their back forever bent.” (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Isaiah, 3 vols. [trans. Robert Charles Hill; Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2008], 2:197-98)

 

George W. E. Nickelsburg on 1 Enoch 22:5-7

  

5–7 Although these verses are cast in the literary form typical of these chapters (vision|question|angelic interpretation), they differ from all other instances of the form in two respects. The vision here is of an individual rather than a cosmological phenomenon. The angel here described is the object of the verb “to ask” rather than the subject of the verb “to answer” at the beginning of a new sentence.

 

In this exegetical elaboration of Gen 4:10, Abel’s blood—in Genesis, inanimate but personified—is understood as the seat of נפשׁ (“life” or “soul”; cf. Gen 9:4), which in this author’s anthropology is identified with רוח (“spirit”). This spirit is in turn an active being, portrayed in terms familiar to the Hellenistic world. It is like the restless spirit of the murdered Clytemnestra (Aeschylus Eumenides 98), who cries out for revenge on the murderer.

 

The terminology in vv 5–6 is especially close to 1 Enoch 9:2, 10, where the narrative of Genesis 6–9 has been interpolated with the extraneous motif of the dead pleading for vengeance. Both here and in 1 Enoch 6–11, the cry of the dead (and of the earth that has soaked up the blood of the dead, 7:6; 9:2, 9; cf. Gen 4:11) continues to bring accusation until divine judgment is executed against the murderer(s). Although 1 Enoch 22 was composed after chaps. 6–11, both may contain primitive elements of a common, earlier exegetical tradition on Gen 4:10. Here “the spirit” of Abel brings suit against his murderer and his seed. In chaps. 6–11, where the souls (pl.) of men make accusation (9:2, 9), the anthropological term ψυχή (= נפשׁ) more closely approximates the Genesis idea that נפשׁ resides in the blood. The principal difference between 1 Enoch 9:2, 10 and 22:5–7 is in the plurality of souls and the single figure of Abel. As the translators of G and E recognized, however, the author of the present passage understood Abel as a type of those violently put to death. This is suggested in v 7, with its reference to the descendants of Cain, and is evident in v 12.

 

It is widely assumed that vv 5–7 depict Abel as the prototype of the martyred righteous. Later tradition clearly regarded him as such, and the contrast between Cain’s and Abel’s sacrifices in Gen 4:4–5 suggests such an interpretation.³¹ Nonetheless, pre-Christian texts, including 1 Enoch, do not specifically attest such an interpretation. The present passage, as well as 22:12 and chaps. 6–11, emphasize not the righteousness of those who have been murdered, but the violence of their murderers and the certain judgment that will befall them (see comm. on chaps. 6–11 and 22:8–13).

 

The place of vv 5–7 in the literary history of this chapter is less than certain. Wacker believes that v 12 is hardly understandable apart from vv 5–7 and suggests, therefore, that they were probably added at the same time as vv 8–14. That vv 5–7 were added to provide a context for v 12 is certain; however, the allusions to Gen 4:10 in 1 Enoch 9 already provide such a context, and 22:5–7 could have been added after vv 8–14 to clarify further the meaning of v 12. (George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 1-36, 81-108 [Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2001), 305-6)

 

James C. VanderKam on Jubilees 4:3-4, 31-32

  

3–4 Jubilees, which with Genesis locates the crime “in a field,” reproduces the motif of Abel’s blood crying from the ground (Gen 4:10b). but presents it differently than in Genesis, where it is part of a statement by the Lord. The book entirely eliminates the quoted conversations between the Lord and Cain and settles for a third-person summary. Where the deity says “your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground,” Jubilees interprets “to me” to mean “to heaven.” It also adds a reason why Abel’s blood was crying out—“because he had been killed.” Jubilees explains further that God blamed Cain for the act (perhaps summarizing Gen 4:10–12) and imposed a curse on him (Gen 4:11). Yet the writer also introduces a divine concession: where Gen 4:12 quotes the Lord’s verdict that Cain would be a “fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” (Cain echoes these words in v. 14), Jubilees reads, “While he allowed him a length (of time) on the earth.…” In Genesis being “a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” is a punishment—one that Cain laments and fears; Jubilees replaces it with a different notion. The term used in the Ethiopic text of v. 4 is unexpected—nuḫ, “length, height, tallness, extent.” Dillmann considered the meaning doubtful in the context, but Charles and Littmann thought it was a transcription of נע, one of the terms designating Cain as a wanderer (so also Wintermute). Their suggestion is unlikely to be right; the word nuḫ probably refers to the delay in punishing Cain the murderer with death (as he should have been), since he lived for many years after killing his brother, according to Jub 4:31–32. There is a widespread tradition that the sevenfold vengeance mentioned in Gen 4:15 (“Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance”) and 24 (“If Cain is avenged sevenfold”) pointed to a delay in carrying out the punishment of death that Cain merited. The basis for the claim may have been an interpretation of the expression “my punishment is greater than I can bear” in the sense of “my sin is beyond forgiveness”—that is, as a confession by Cain. Josephus paraphrases the scene: “God, however, exempted him from the penalty merited by the murderer, Cain having offered a sacrifice and therewith supplicated Him not to visit him too severely in his wrath; but He made him accursed and threatened to punish his posterity in the seventh generation [the generation of Lamech; see Gen 4:24], and expelled him from that land with his wife” (Ant. 1.58 [Thackeray, LCL]). Or in Gen. Rab. 23:4 (on Gen 4:23–25), Lamech is quoted as saying, “Cain slew, yet judgment was suspended for him seven generations; for me, who did not slay, surely judgment will wait seventy-seven generations!” (see also Tg. Ps.-J. Gen 4:24; Tg. Onq. Gen 4:24). In Jubilees, with LXX OL Eth Gen 4:11, he is cursed upon the earth, whereas in MT SP Syr he is cursed from the earth/ground. Perhaps the different preposition (upon) conveys the sense that his entire life on earth fell under a curse, not merely his work as a farmer. (James C. VanderKam, Jubilees: A Commentary on the Book of Jubilees, Chapters 1–50, 2 vols. [Hermeneia—A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2018], 1:242-43)

 

 

31 Jubilees dates the death of Cain, but it is not entirely clear which year is intended—the year of his father’s death or the next year (931). In his characteristic way of formulating dates, the writer says of Adam’s last year (see 4:29) that it was in jubilee 19, week 7, year 6 = the year 930 of the world. Regarding the year of Cain’s death it says, “At the conclusion of this jubilee Cain was killed after him in the same year [lit., ‘after him in one year’].” The conclusion of a jubilee should be year 7 of week 7—in this case the year after Adam’s death—but the expression “in one year” gives pause. The Ethiopic number ’aḥadu can mean both “one” and “same.” As a result, one could render as above, “after him in the same year.” This was the translation adopted by Dillmann, Schodde, and Charles, whereas Littmann, Wintermute, Berger, and VanderKam (1989) preferred “one year after him.” The only other version of the passage is from Syncellus: “In that same [τω αυτω] 930th year, Cain also died when his house fell in on him, for he himself had also killed Abel with stones. Thus, when a year had been completed after the death of Adam, Cain died” (11.4–6). Syncellus seems to support both understandings. A decision about the date intended does not affect the overall chronology, and Genesis supplies no information about the number of years Cain lived. The meaning may be that Adam died at the beginning of the 930th year and Cain at its end.

 

Far more important than the year of his death is the nature of Cain’s end. In Jubilees it is the first instance of measure-for-measure retribution and thus the reason for a law of retaliation that is inscribed on the celestial tablets. The text reports that he died when his house collapsed on him, perhaps recalling Jub 4:9: where “houses were built on the earth. Then Cain built a city” (cf. Gen 4:17). The house is not the key factor; that it was built of stones is. A stone from his house killed Cain just as he had killed Abel with a stone. Genesis 4:8 discloses only that “when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.” To no one’s surprise, speculation arose about how he killed him—bloodshed was involved (vv. 10–11), but no instrument is named. Several Jewish sources attest the idea that a stone was the weapon, a likely inference from their being in a field. Genesis Rabbah 22:8 mentions R. Simeon’s view that he killed him with a staff, while the “Rabbis said: He killed him with a stone: For I have slain a man for wounding me [Gen 4:23] indicates a weapon which inflicts bruises.”

 

32 The law etched on the heavenly tablets is cited in v. 32. The first clause—“By the instrument with which a man kills his fellow he is to be killed”—is not a citation of a passage from the HB. It recalls something of the Lord’s declaration to Cain in Gen 4:15: “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” The unit Num 35:16–21 covers acts of murder that take several forms (with an iron object, with a stone, a weapon made of wood, pushing, and hitting); for all of them it decrees the death penalty. Verse 19 stipulates that the avenger of blood is the one to carry out the penalty. By matching the instrument of punishment with the instrument of the crime, the law in Jubilees is more specific than the one in Numbers and seems to be an inference from the general law of retaliation: “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exod 21:23–25). The formulation in Jubilees reflects more particularly what is said in Lev 24:19–20: “Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered.” The method of punishment in Jubilees’ ruling is contrary to the one attested in rabbinic sources—a point noticed very early in the study of Jubilees. “And these are they that are to be beheaded: the murderer and the people of an Apostate City. If a murderer had struck his fellow with a stone or with [an instrument of] iron, … he is culpable” (m. Sanh. 9:1; cf. 7:3).

 

That the author had Lev 24:20 in mind is likely because the second clause in v. 32 contains a near citation of Lev 24:19—one that brings the law into connection with the biblical penalties for injuring someone: “As he wounded him so are they to do to him.” Where the MT/LXX phrase the first clause in Lev 24:19 as literally “gives a blemish,” Eth. Lev 24:19 uses a form of the very verb Jubilees employs here (’aqwsalo). The writer has taken the verb from the first clause of Lev 24:19 and has inserted it into the second clause. The MT/LXX word the end of the second clause as “so it will be done to him,” but Ethiopic Leviticus phrases it as Jubilees does: so they are to do to him (Eth. Lev.: “against him”). Jubilees, therefore, draws an inference from the lex talionis and applies it to cases of murder. “By having Cain killed by a stone the author of Jubilees has solved the theological problem. Not only are the missing details of Cain’s death included, but the type of death he suffered fulfills the requirements found in Gen 9:6 and Exod 21:12–14, 24. Cain receives the kind of death he deserves in response to his killing of Abel.” In Jubilees Cain had earlier experienced a delay in punishment (4:4), but now the appropriate penalty of death fell to the first murderer. (James C. VanderKam, Jubilees: A Commentary on the Book of Jubilees, Chapters 1–50, 2 vols. [Hermeneia—A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2018], 1:266-68)