This volume examines the unusual interest in women characters displayed in the Book of Jubilees, an interpretive reworking of the biblical narratives of Genesis through Exodus 12, written in the second century BCE. Demonstrating a pattern in the characterizations, the study shows how a matrilineal standard of ethnic purity and elevation of the biblical matriarchs function as key aspects in a polemic against the acceptance of foreigners into the community.
The latter part of the book explores the exegetical techniques used to develop the portraits and places the polemic in the historical context of Second Temple Judaism.
The work is important for those interested in the history of biblical interpretation, in post biblical Jewish literature and the historical development of Judaism, and the portrayals of women in Hebrew Scriptures.