The Book of Jubilees presents a "history of the division of the days of the law and of the testimony, of the events of the years, of their (year) weeks, of their jubilees throughout all the years of the world, as the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai when he went up to receive the tables of the law and of the commandment"[2] as revealed to Moses (in addition to the Torah or "Instruction") by angels while he was on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights.[3] The chronology given in Jubilees is based on multiples of seven. The jubilee year is the year that follows the passage of seven “weeks of years” (seven cycles of sabbatical years, or 49 total years), into which all of time has been divided.
The Geʽez Biblical texts, now numbering twenty-seven, are the primary basis for translations into English. Passages in the texts of Jubilees that are directly parallel to verses in Genesis do not directly reproduce either of the two surviving manuscript traditions.[5] Consequently, even before the Qumran discoveries, R. H. Charles had deduced that the Hebrew original had used an otherwise unrecorded text for Genesis and for the early chapters of Exodus, one independent either of the Masoretic Text (𝕸) or of the Hebrew text that was the basis for the Septuagint. According to one historian, the variation among parallel manuscript traditions that are exhibited by the Septuagint compared with the 𝕸, and which are embodied in the further variants among the Dead Sea Scrolls, demonstrates that even canonical Hebrew texts did not possess any single "authorized" manuscript tradition before the Common Era.[6] Others[who?] write about the existence of three main textual manuscript traditions (namely the Babylonian, Palestinian and pre-𝕸 "proto" textual traditions). Although the pre-𝕸 text may have indeed been authoritative back then, arguments can be made for and against this concept.[7]
Between 1947 and 1956, approximately fifteen scrolls of Jubilees were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Biblical Hebrew. The large number of manuscripts (more than for any Biblical books except for Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, in descending order) indicates that Jubilees was widely used at Qumran. A comparison of the Qumran texts with the Geʽez version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Geʽez was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation.[8]
Origins and date
R. H. Charles (1855–1931) became the first Biblical scholar to propose an origin for Jubilees. Charles suggested that the author of Jubilees may have been a Pharisee and that Jubilees was the product of the midrashim that had already been worked on in the Books of Chronicles.[4] With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in 1947, Charles' Pharisaic hypothesis of the origin of Jubilees has been almost completely abandoned.
The dating of Jubilees has been problematic for Biblical scholars. While the oldest extant copies of Jubilees can be assigned based on the handwriting to about 100 BCE, there is much evidence to suggest Jubilees was written before this date.[9][10]
Jubilees could not have been written very long prior. Jubilees at 4:17-25 records that Enoch "saw in a vision what has happened and what will occur", and the book contains many points of information otherwise found earliest in the Animal Apocalypse in 1 Enoch), such as Enoch's wife being Edna.[11] The Animal Apocalypse claims to predict the Maccabean Revolt (which occurred 167-160 BCE) and is commonly dated to that time.[12][13] The direction of dependence has been controversial,[14][15] but the consensus since 2008 has been that the Animal Apocalypse came first and Jubilees after.[16] As a result, general reference works such as the Oxford Annotated Bible and the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible conclude the work can be dated to 160–150 BCE.[17]
J. Amanda Guire argues that Jubilees was written in c.170-150 BCE by a Palestinian Jew of "priestly background and Hassidic or Essene persuasion", based on his knowledge of Canaanite geography, biblical festivals and laws.[18]
Content
Jubilees covers much of the same ground as Genesis, but often with additional detail, and addressing Moses in the second person as the entire history of creation, and of Israel up to that point, is recounted in divisions of 49 years each, or "Jubilees". The elapsed time from the creation, up to Moses receiving the scriptures upon Sinai during the Exodus, is calculated as fifty Jubilees, less the 40 years still to be spent wandering in the desert before entering Canaan – or 2,410 years.
Four classes of angels are mentioned: angels of the presence, angels of sanctifications, guardian angels over individuals, and angels presiding over the phenomena of nature. Enoch was the first man initiated by the angels in the art of writing, and wrote down, accordingly, all the secrets of astronomy, of chronology, and of the world's epochs. As regards demonology, the writer's position is largely that of the deuterocanonical writings from both New and Old Testament times.
The Book of Jubilees narrates the genesis of angels on the first day of Creation and the story of how a group of fallen angels mated with mortal females, giving rise to a race of giants known as the Nephilim, and then to their descendants, the Elioud. The Ethiopian version states that the "angels" were in fact the disobedient offspring of Seth (Deqiqa Set), while the "mortal females" were daughters of Cain.[19] This is also the view held by Clementine literature, Sextus Julius Africanus, Ephrem the Syrian, Augustine of Hippo, and John Chrysostom among many early Christian authorities. Their hybrid children, the Nephilim in existence during the time of Noah, were wiped out by the great flood. Jubilees also states that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to try to lead mankind astray after the flood.
Jubilees makes an incestuous reference regarding the son of Adam and Eve, Cain, and his wife. In chapter iv (1–12) (Cain and Abel), it mentions that Cain took his sister Awan to be his wife and Enoch was their child. It also mentions that Seth (the third son of Adam and Eve) married his sister Azura.[20]
According to this book, Hebrew is the language of Heaven, and was originally spoken by all creatures in the Garden, animals and man; however, the animals lost their power of speech when Adam and Eve were expelled. Following the Deluge, the earth was apportioned into three divisions for the three sons of Noah, and his sixteen grandsons. After the destruction of the Tower of Babel, their families were scattered to their respective allotments, and Hebrew was forgotten, until Abraham was taught it by the angels.
Jubilees also contains a few scattered allusions to the Messianic kingdom. Robert Henry Charles wrote in 1913:
This kingdom was to be ruled over by a Messiah sprung, not from Levi—that is, from the Maccabean family—as some of his contemporaries expected—but from Judah. This kingdom would be gradually realized on earth, and the transformation of physical nature would go hand in hand with the ethical transformation of man until there was a new heaven and a new earth. Thus, finally, all sin and pain would disappear and men would live to the age of 1,000 years in happiness and peace, and after death enjoy a blessed immortality in the spirit world.[4]
Jubilees insists (in Chapter6) on a 364day yearly calendar, made up of four quarters of 13 weeks each, rather than a year of 12lunar months, which it says is off by 10days per year (the actual number being about 11¼days). It also insists on a "Double Sabbath" each year being counted as only one day to arrive at this computation.
Jubilees 7:20–29 is possibly an early reference to the Noahide laws.[21]
Reception
The Hasmoneans adopted Jubilees immediately, and it became a source for the Aramaic Levi Document.[22]Jubilees remained a point of reference for priestly circles (although they disputed its calendric proposal), and the Temple Scroll and "Epistle of Enoch" are based on Jubilees.[23] It is the source for certain of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, for instance that of Reuben.[24]
It was not canonized into the Jewish canon and there is no official record of it in Pharisaic or Rabbinical sources. Some Jubilees traditions are echoed in the 12th-century Midrash Tadshe, the sole exception within Judaism.[25] The earliest clear evidence of it in Jewish tradition is in the Bereshit Rabba (5th century) and Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (9th century).[26]
It appears that early Christian writers held the Book of Jubilees in high regard, as many of them cited and alluded to Jubilees in their writings.[27] In relationship to the New Testament, the Book of Jubilees contains one of the earliest references to the idea that God gave the Law to Moses through an angelic mediator. This idea is likewise reflected in the Epistle to the Galatians.[28]
Ethiopic-speaking Christians translated Jubilees into Geʽez before the 6th century where it became part of the Ethiopic Bible.[29]
In the Christian tradition of the Syriac language, Jubilees is first received in extant sources from the mid-6th to early-7th century Cave of Treasures, and then in Letter 13 to John of Litarba, and Scholion 10, both authored by Jacob of Edessa (d. 708). Later still is the Catena Severi (compiled 861), the Syriac reception of an Arabic chronicle of Agapius of Mabbug, and the writings of Michael the Syrian (d. 1199), Barhebraeus (d. 1286), and the Anonymous Chronicle by 1234.[26]
Jan van Reeth argues that the Book of Jubilees had great influence on the formation of early Islam.[30] Etsuko Katsumata, comparing the Book of Jubilees and the Quran, notices significant differences, especially regarding Abraham's role in the Quranic narrative. He says that "The Quran has many passages in which Abraham expounds the errors in idolatry. In these passages, Abraham always addresses his words to local people, and he does not leave their land. This probably reflects Islam’s position that aims at converting idol worshippers to monotheistic religion and settling in their place of residence."[31]
Sources
Jubilees bases its take on Enoch on the "Book of Watchers", 1 Enoch 1–36.[32]
Its sequence of events leading to the Flood match those of the "Dream Visions", 1 Enoch 83–90.
↑ "A minute study of the text shows that it attests an independent form of the Hebrew text of Genesis and the early chapters of Exodus. Thus it agrees with individual authorities such as the Samaritan or the LXX, or the Syriac, or the Vulgate, or the Targum of Onkelos against all the rest. Or again it agrees with two or more of these authorities in opposition to the rest, as for instance with the Massoretic and Samaritan against the LXX, Syriac and Vulgate, or with the Massoretic and Onkelos against the Samaritan, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate, or with the Massoretic, Samaritan and Syriac against the LXX or Vulgate." R.H. Charles, "7. Textual Affinities"[4]
↑ Robin Lane Fox, a classicist and historian, discusses these multifarious sources of Old and New Testaments in layman's terms in Unauthorized Version (1992).
↑ Hershel Shanks, an historian and archaeological scholar, provides various articles that explore this issue in great depth, from various experts in the field of Dead Sea Scrolls research, in his book Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Reader from the Biblical Archaeology Review, June 29, 1993"
↑ Daniel C Olson (2013). A New Reading of the Animal Apocalypse of 1 Enoch: All Nations Shall Be Blessed" / With a New Translation and Commentary". Brill. pp.108–109 n. 63.
The Septuagint, sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy, and often abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew. The full Greek title derives from the story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates that "the laws of the Jews" were translated into the Greek language at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus by seventy-two Hebrew translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
Enoch is a biblical figure and patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible.
The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to the patriarch Enoch who was the father of Methuselah and the great-grandfather of Noah. The Book of Enoch contains unique material on the origins of demons and Nephilim, why some angels fell from heaven, an explanation of why the Genesis flood was morally necessary, and a prophetic exposition of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah. Three books are traditionally attributed to Enoch, including the distinct works 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch. None of the three are considered to be canonical scripture by most Jewish or Christian church bodies.
The Nephilim are mysterious beings or people in the Bible traditionally imagined as being of great size and strength, or alternatively beings of great power and authority. The origins of the Nephilim are disputed. Some, including the author of the Book of Enoch, view them as the offspring of rebellious angels and humans. Others view them as descendants of Seth and Cain.
Pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past. The name of the author to whom the work is falsely attributed is often prefixed with the particle "pseudo-", such as for example "pseudo-Aristotle" or "pseudo-Dionysius": these terms refer to the anonymous authors of works falsely attributed to Aristotle and Dionysius the Areopagite, respectively.
The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan is a 6th-century Christian extracanonical work found in Ge'ez, translated from an Arabic original which is translated from Syriac source, namely Cave of Treasures.
The Book of Moses, dictated by Joseph Smith, is part of the scriptural canon for some denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement. The book begins with the "Visions of Moses", a prologue to the story of the creation and the fall of man, and continues with material corresponding to the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible's (JST) first six chapters of the Book of Genesis, interrupted by two chapters of "extracts from the prophecy of Enoch".
The Book of Giants is an apocryphal book which expands upon the Genesis narrative of the Hebrew Bible, in a similar manner to the Book of Enoch. Together with this latter work, The Book of Giants "stands as an attempt to explain how it was that wickedness had become so widespread and muscular before the flood; in so doing, it also supplies the reason why God was more than justified in sending that flood." The text's composition has been dated to before the 2nd century BC.
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Oskan Armenian Orthodox Bible of 1666. Fragments of similar writings were found at Qumran, but opinions are divided as to whether these are the same texts. It is generally considered apocalyptic literature.
Emanuel Tov is a Dutch–Israeli biblical scholar and linguist, emeritus J. L. Magnes Professor of Bible Studies in the Department of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has been intimately involved with the Dead Sea Scrolls for many decades, and from 1991, he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project.
The Book of Noah is thought to be a non-extant Old Testament pseudepigraphal work, attributed to Noah. It is quoted in several places in another pseudepigraphal work, 1 Enoch, and is mentioned in another, the Book of Jubilees. There have also been fragments attributed to a Book of Noah in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Robert Henry Charles, was an Irish Anglican theologian, biblical scholar, professor, and translator from Northern Ireland. He is known particularly for his English translations of numerous apocryphal and pseudepigraphal Ancient Hebrew writings, including the Book of Jubilees (1895), the Apocalypse of Baruch (1896), the Ascension of Isaiah (1900), the Book of Enoch (1906), and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (1908), which have been widely used. He wrote the articles in the eleventh edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) attributed to the initials "R. H. C."
The Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20), also called the Tales of the Patriarchs or the Apocalypse of Lamech and labeled 1QapGen, is one of the original seven Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1946 by Bedouin shepherds in Cave 1 near Qumran, a small settlement in the northwest corner of the Dead Sea. Composed in Aramaic, it consists of four sheets of leather. Furthermore, it is the least well-preserved document of the original seven. The document records a conversation between the biblical figure Lamech, son of Methuselah, and his son, Noah, as well as first and third person narratives associated with Abraham. It is one of the nonbiblical texts found at Qumran. A range of compositional dates for the work have been suggested from the 3rd century BC to 1st century AD. Palaeography and Carbon-14 dating were used to identify the age of the documents. It is 13 inches in length and 2.75 inches in width at its widest point in the middle.
Loren T. Stuckenbruck is a historian of early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism, currently professor of New Testament at the University of Munich, in Germany. His work has exerted a significant impact on the field.
The Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon is a version of the Christian Bible used in the two Oriental Orthodox Churches of the Ethiopian and Eritrean traditions: the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. At 81 books, it is the largest and most diverse biblical canon in traditional Christendom.
In the Book of Enoch and Book of Jubilees, copies of which were kept by groups including the religious community of Qumran that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Elioud are the antediluvian children of the Nephilim, and are considered a part-angel hybrid race of their own. Like the Nephilim, the Elioud are exceptional in both ability and wickedness.
The manuscript 4Q120 is a Septuagint manuscript (LXX) of the biblical Book of Leviticus written on papyrus, found at Qumran. The Rahlfs-No. is 802. Paleographically it dates from the first century BCE. Currently the manuscript is housed in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.
Carol Ann Newsom is an American biblical scholar, historian of ancient Judaism, and literary critic. She is the Charles Howard Candler Professor Emerita of Old Testament at the Candler School of Theology and a former senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. She is a leading expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Wisdom literature, and the Book of Daniel.
The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Ezra, also called the Falasha Apocalypse of Ezra, is an apocalypse written in Geʿez (Ethiopic) that circulated among the Beta Israel (Falasha) and foretold the divine destruction of Islam.
References
Martin Jr. Abegg. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1999. ISBN0-06-060063-2.
Gene L. Davenport. The Eschatology of the Book of Jubilees (SPB 20) Leiden: Brill, 1971.
Albert-Marie Denis. Concordance latine du Liber Jubilaeorum sive parva Genesis (Informatique et étude de textes 4; Louvain: CETEDOC, 1973)
August Dillmann. "Mashafa kufale sive Liber Jubilaeorum... aethiopice". Kiel, and London: Van Maack, Williams &Norgate, 1859.
August Dillmann, and Hermann Rönsch. Das Buch der Jubiläen; oder, Die kleine Genesis. Leipzig: 1874.
John C. Endres. Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees (Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 18) Washington: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1987. ISBN0-915170-17-5.
Hanneken, Todd Russell (2008). The Book of Jubilees Among the Apocalypses.
Katsumata, Etsuko (2012). "Abraham the Iconoclast: Different Interpretations in the Literature of the Second Temple Period, the Texts of Rabbinic Judaism, and the Quran". Journal of the Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions. 8: 37–58.
Jan M.F. van Reeth (1992). "Le Prophète musulman en tant que Nâsir Allâh et ses antécédents: le "Nazôraios" évangélique et le livre des jubilés". Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica. 23: 251–274. doi:10.2143/OLP.23.1.519174.
Michel Testuz. Les idées religieuses du livre des Jubilés Geneva: Droz, 1960.
VanderKam, James C. (1977). Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees. Harvard Semitic monographs. Vol.14. Missoula: Scholars Press.
VanderKam, James C. (1989a). The Book of Jubilees. A Critical Text. Vol.I. Leuven: Peeters. ISBN978-90-429-0551-1.
VanderKam, James C. (1989b). The Book of Jubilees. Translation. Leuven: Peeters. ISBN978-90-429-0552-8.
VanderKam, James C. (2000). "The Book of Jubilees". In L. H. Schiffman; J. C. VanderKam (eds.). Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Vol.I. Oxford University Press.
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