The Book of Jubilees (Hebrew: ספר היובלים Sepher hayYobhelim), sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work, considered one of the Pseudepigrapha by most Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Churches. However, Jubilees is considered to be canonical by the Ethiopian Jews and Ethiopian Orthodox Church, where it is known as the Book of Division (Ge'ez: Mets'hafe Kufale).

It was well known to Early Christians, as evidenced by the writings of Epiphanius, Justin Martyr, Origen, Diodorus of Tarsus, Isidore of Alexandria, Isidore of Seville, Eutychius of Alexandria, John Malalas, George Syncellus, and George Kedrenos. However, it was so thoroughly suppressed in the 4th century that no complete Hebrew, Greek or Latin version has survived. There is conjecture among western biblical scholars that Jubilees may be a rework of material found in the canonical books of Genesis and Exodus.

The Book of Jubilees claims to present "the history of the division of the days of the Law, of the events of the years, the year-weeks, and the jubilees of the world" as revealed to Moses (in addition to the Torah or "Instruction") by an Angels while he was on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights. The chronology given in Jubilees is based on multiples of seven; the jubilees are periods of 49 years, seven 'year-weeks', into which all of time has been divided. According to the author of Jubilees, all proper customs that mankind should follow are determined by God's decree .

Manuscripts of Jubilees

Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), the only surviving manuscripts of Jubilees were four complete Ge'ez texts dating to the 15th and 16th centuries, and several quotations by the Church fathers such as Epiphanius, Justin Martyr, Origen, Diodorus of Tarsus, Isidore of Alexandria, Isidore of Seville, Eutychius of Alexandria, John Malalas, George Syncellus, and George Kedrenos. There is also a preserved fragment of a Latin translation of the Greek that contains about a quarter of the whole work. The Ethiopic 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; consequently, the lost Hebrew original is thought to have used an otherwise unrecorded text for Genesis and the early chapters of Exodus, one that was independent of either the Masoretic text or the Hebrew text that was the basis for the Septuagint. As the variation among parallel manuscript traditions that are exhibited by the Septuagint compared with the Masoretic text and which are embodied in the further variants among the Dead Sea Scrolls have demonstrated, even canonical Hebrew texts did not possess any single 'authorized' manuscript tradition, in the first centuries BC.

A further fragment in Syriac in the British Museum, titled Names of the wives of the patriarchs according to the Hebrew books called Jubilees suggests that there once existed a Syriac translation. How much is missing can be guessed from the Stichometry of Nicephorus, where 4300 stichoi or lines are attributed to The Book of Jubilees.

Between 1947 and 1956, approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Hebrew. The large quantity 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 Ethiopic version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Ethiopic was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation.

Origins

The first biblical scholar to propose an origin for Jubilees was Robert Henry Charles (1855–1931). Charles proposed the author of Jubilees may have been a Pharisee and that Jubilees was the product of the midrash which had already been at work in the Old Testament Chronicles. However, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) at Qumran in 1947, Charles' Pharisaic hypothesis of the origin of Jubilees has been almost completely abandoned.

The dating of Jubilees has been somewhat problematic for biblical scholars. While the oldest extant copies of Jubilees can be assigned on the basis of the handwriting to about 100 BC, there is much evidence to suggest Jubilees was written prior to this date. For example, the author of Jubilees seems to be aware of 1 Enoch's "Book of Dreams"; of which, the oldest extant copy (DSS-13 4Q208) has been carbon dated to ca. 200 BC.

And yet, many scholars continue to ascribe to Robert Henry Charles's view that Jubilees could not have been written before the events of 1 Maccabees, due to perceived cryptic references within the text. As a result, general reference works such as the Oxford Annotated Bible and the Mercer Bible Dictionary conclude the work can be dated to 160–150 BC.

Subsequent use

Jubilees was immediately adopted by the Hasmoneans, and became a source for the Aramaic Levi Document. Jubilees remained a point of reference for priestly circles (although they disputed its calendric proposal), and the Temple Scroll and "Epistle of Enoch" (1 Enoch 91:1–10, 92:3–93:10, 91:11–92:2, 93:11–105:3) are based on Jubilees. It is the source for certain of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, for instance that of Reuben.

There is no official record of it in Pharisaic or Rabbinic sources, and it was among several books that were left out of the canon established by the Sanhedrin (possibly at Yavne, c 80 AD, though this theory has been largely discredited, see Development of the Jewish Bible canon for details). Sub rosa, many of the traditions which Jubilees includes for the first time are echoed in later Jewish sources, including some 12th-century midrashim which may have had access to a Hebrew copy. The sole exception within Judaism are the Beta Israel Jews formerly of Ethiopia, who regard the Ge'ez text as canonical.

The book of Jubilees was evidently held in high regard, and sometimes quoted, by the Early Church Fathers. In the 4th century, after Bishops had been appointed by the Roman Emperor Constantine, they rejected many of the books, including Jubilees, that later were also absent the Masoretic version. The Oriental Orthodox Churches have continued to consider Jubilees an important book of the Bible and older than Genesis. It is only because of its canonical status in the Oriental Orthodox Churches that the book in its entirety has managed to survive at all.

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. 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. This is also the view held by most of the earliest commentators. Their hybrid children, the Nephilim in existence during the time of Noah, were wiped out by the great flood.

Biblical references to "giants" found in Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua have confused some who regard these "giants" to be the same as the antediluvian Nephilim; the Hebrew words for "giants" in most of these verses are "Anakim" or "Rephaim". (One such verse, Num. 13:33, does refer to the sons of Anak as 'Nephilim'.) These references do not necessarily contradict the account of the original Nephilim being completely destroyed in the Deluge. However, Jubilees does state that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to try to lead mankind astray after the flood.

Jubilees also make an incestuous reference regarding 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. Also, it mentions that Seth (son of Adam and Eve) married his sister Azura.

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. Some time following the Deluge, the earth is 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. RH Charles in 1913 wrote: "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."

Jubilees 7:20–29 is possibly an early reference to the Noahide laws.

Sources

Jubilees bases its take on Enoch on the "Book of Watchers", 1 Enoch 1–36.

Its sequence of events leading to the Flood match those of the "Dream Visions", 1 Enoch 83–90. However the direction of dependence is controversial.

See also

Wives aboard the Ark''

Notes

References

James C. VanderKam. The Book of Jubilees (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha) Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. ISBN 1850757674. ISBN 9781850757672.]

Martin Jr. Abegg. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1999. ISBN 0-06-060063-2.

James C. VanderKam. The Book of Jubilees. Leuven: Peeters, 1989. ISBN 978-90-429-0552-8.

James C. VanderKam. The Book of Jubilees. A Critical Text. Leuven: Peeters, 1989. ISBN 978-90-429-0551-1.

John C. Endres. Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees (Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 18) Washington: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1987. ISBN 0915170175.

Orval S. Wintermute, "Jubilees", in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1985) 2:35–142

James C. VanderKam. Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees (Harvard Semitic monographs, no. 14) Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977.

Albert-Marie Denis. ( 4; Louvain: CETEDOC, 1973)

Gene L. Davenport. The Eschatology of the Book of Jubilees (SPB 20) Leiden: Brill, 1971.

Michel Testuz. Geneva: Droz, 1960. Chanoch Albeck. Berlin: Scholem, 1930.

Robert Henry Charles. The Book of Jubilees or the Little Genesis, Translated from the Editor's Ethiopic Text, and Edited with Introduction, Notes, and Indices (London: 1902).

Robert Henry Charles. The Ethiopic Version of the Hebrew Book of Jubilees. Oxford: Clarendon, 1895.

August Dillmann, and Hermann Rönsch. Das Buch der Jubiläen; oder, Die kleine Genesis. Leipzig: 1874.

August Dillmann. "Mashafa kufale sive Liber Jubilaeorum... aethiopice". Kiel, and London: Van Maack, Williams &Norgate;, 1859.

RADIOCARBON, VOL. 37, NO. 1, 1995, P.11-19.

External links

The text translated by R.H. Charles, 1913, preceded by an account of the manuscript tradition.

Jewish Encyclopedia entry

The Catholic Encyclopedia view

Development of the Canon

Jubilees at earlyjewishwritings.com

Ge'ez text of Jubilees (first page)

Category:Old Testament Apocrypha Category:Texts which have been attributed to Moses

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