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ASSHUR IN JUBILEES 13.1? Rochus Zuurmond

Kanaalweg 11, 2628EC Delft, The
Netherlands

13.1 describes Abrahams departure from Haran: And Abraham went away from Haran. And he took Sara his wife and Lot the son of his brother Haran, to the land of Canaan. And he came to Asur and he walked on towards Shechem and settled near the Lofty Cak. According to this text Abraham, coming from Haran, enters the land of Canaan at a place called Asur.l This location seems strange. Charles2 comments, I have obelised this as corrupt. We should 3 expect &dquo;Canaan&dquo;. Other translators simply transcribe the Geez3 4 or-following Charles-adapt the spelling to biblical Asshur.4 However, there is no logical explanation why Abraham, leaving Haran on his way to Shechem, should pass through Asshur!5 The problem is easily solved once we look at the system of transcription, both from Hebrew to Greek and from Greek to Geez. The u-sound in Geez usually represents Greek OY, but occasionally also fl.6 Therefore Geez Asur is transcribed from either Acyoup or

Jubilees

7 Aawp.7

Trying to retrieve the Hebrew is more complex. A guttural may have been lost in initial position.8 Greek X may stand for Samekh, $ade, Sin, or Shin.9 Yet by far the most likely Vorlage was Ha~or. This ancient city is indeed situated at the Northern entrance of Canaan. It appears in Greek transcription as Acwp in Joshua 11 and in 1 Macc 11.67 (Codex Sin.). The reference in 1 Maccabees is interesting, because like in Jubilees, it describes the itinerary from Damascus southward into Palestine. Josephus (Ant 5, 199) addingas more often-a Greek case-ending, writes Acrffipo. The best textual witnesses of the Testament of Judah (3.1)10 have Aao6p, but some manuscripts read Xoup, and one has Aaoupiwv; the same

88 mistakes as in Jub 13.1. The Old Latin text of Joshua 11 (Lyon Codex) reads Asor or Assor. Manuscripts of the Vulgate provide more examples of the same confusion: Asor, Assor, Hasor, Sor, Asur, and Assur. There is no reason to assume an unknown place by the name of Asshur somewhere in Palestine.11 Ethiopic Asur may perfectly well represent Hebrew Hasor. The geographical position of this city makes it all the more likely.

NOTES
1. Asur is the reading attested by practically all early manuscripts. Ms. 12 and the Asmara edition read Sur, most likely a writing error ), aphaeresis ( because Syria is commonly transcribed ry ō Ms. 38 has the land of Asur, S . ā which is doubtless secondary. Ms. 23 (belonging to a family which represents a 15th century recension) reads Ur weSur (Ur and Sur); a rather unsuccessful effort to emend the text of ms. 12. All other variants are purely orthographic. The numbers refer to the list of extant Ethiopic manuscripts which I published in Amsterdamse Cahiers voor Exegese en Bijbelse Theologie

(1982), p. 115.
2. R.H. Charles, 1970), p. 97. The Book

of Jubilees (1902;

repr.

Jerusalem: Maqor,

3. Cf. E. Littmann, Das Buch der Jubiläen, Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments, ed. E. Kautzsch (Tübingen: Mohr, 1900), pp. 31-119; P. Riessler, Altjüdisches Schrifttum ausserhalb der Bibel (repr. Heidelberg, 1966), pp. 539-666; B. Noack, Qumran and the Book of Jubilees, SEÅ 22-23 (1957-58), pp. 191-207; and K. Berger, Das Buch der JSHRZ 2.3 (1981), pp. 275-575. Jubiläen, 4. Cf. M. Goldmann, The Book of Jubilees, The Apocryphal Books, ed. A. Kahana, 2 vols. (repr. Jerusalem: Maqor, 1970) [in Hebrew]; O. Wintermute, Jubilees, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. J.H. Charlesworth, 2 vols. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983-85), vol. II, pp. 35-142. 5. The Syriac Chronicon, from which fragments containing Jubilees were published by E. Tisserant (RB 30 [1921]), shortens the text to and he (Abraham) went to the land of Canaan. The biblical text (Gen. 12.4f.)

makes no mention whatsoever of a detour via Asshur. 6. E.g. in Jub 8.6 where Geez Muak transcribes Greek Mωαχα. The confusion may already exist in the Greek text. Cf. J.H. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek (Part II, Edinburgh: Clark, 1920), p.75. An interchange of the vowels o and u is not impossible in the Ethiopic textual tradition either, particularly in proper names. E.g. Poυ&phis;o&sfgr; (Mk 15.21) is spelled in early manuscripts with Ru as well as with Ro. 7. We need not bother about the breathing marks. The rough and the

89
smooth breathings in Greek manuscripts of the first centuries C.E. are either marked at all or written very capriciously. 8. Cf. the name of Abrahams brother Haran, which in Geez is in fact spelled Aran, reflecting Greek Aρραν (Gen. 11.31 LXX). 9. Cf. Paul E. Kahle, The Cairo Geniza 2nd edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 1959), pp. 163ff. 10. M. de Jonge, ed., The Testament of the Twelve Pa triarchs (Leiden: Brill, ι

not

1978), p. 53.

hypothesis.
30,1.

11. Gen. 25.3 and 2 Sam. 2.9 are the only clues with regard to such a One might also consider Eupolemus apud Eusebius, P.E. IX,