The Book of Jubilees

In the Book of Jubilees , events from the creation to the Exodus are dated in jubilee and sabbatical cycles of 49 and 7 years, respectively. Scholars differ as to the date and origin of this book. The era of the creation therein is unlikely to have been…. Elements of this same calendar reappear among the Mishawites, a sect founded in the 9th century. Though their calculations differ, the two books show a common interest in the calendar. Because the scroll also contains material related to that found in First Book of Enoch, the Genesis Apocryphon was….

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The Book of Jubilees

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Francis, the bishop of Rome and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church —. He was the first pope…. The beginnings of the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth months are to be observed as feasts, as they had already been observed by Noah.

In the case of the feast of Tabernacles, no mention is made of the custom of drawing water from the pool of Siloam, and pouring it out solemnly at the altar, to which our Lord is supposed to allude in John vii. The omission may possibly be intended to befriend the Sadducees, who made the practice a subject of contention with the Pharisees, urging that it was never formally ordained by Moses, and therefore ought not to be observed. Other omissions are the injunction of fasting on the Day of Atonement, the exclusion of the uncircumcised from the Passover, and the appointment of Pentecost about the middle of the third month without specially naming the day.

The time for the observance of the Passover is thus ordained: This is that which the Lord hath commanded, that thou shouldst do it between evenings.

Book of Jubilees - Biblical Studies - Oxford Bibliographies

And it shall not be done sacrificed in the morning, at any hour of the light, but in the confines of the evening. And ye shall eat it in the evening unto the third part of the night, and what remains after the third part of the night shall be burned with fire. The whole ceremony connected with the lamb must take place within the limits of the "evening" thus defined; it must be killed in the last third of the day, and eaten within the first two parts of the night, or, as he puts it, "unto the third part of the night," i. Explanations of the meaning of names are sometimes given. Sala son of Cainan is dismissal; modern authorities make it to signify extension.

Phalek is division, "for in his days the sons of Noah began to divide the earth. Seruch refers to his turning away in order to commit wickedness chap. Ur Kasdim takes its appellation from its founder Ur, and his father Kesed chap. Tharah Terah , son of Nakhor Nahor , was so called by his father "because the birds stole and devoured the seeds sown in the fields. Some of these intercalations have been given above. The following are a few further examples. On the day that Adam fell, the mouths of all animals were closed, and they spoke no more as heretofore; our first parents were clothed in order to show their superiority to the beasts of the earth, and the directions concerning apparel were given to the Israelites to differentiate them from the heathen; the gradual deterioration of men was induced by the efforts of evil demons, who, until checked by God's interference, exercised terrible power upon earth; Noah's sons were saved, not for their own, but for their father's sake; the blessing of Shem Gen.

In the chronology of our book many points are noteworthy. We have the formal announcement: This date is composed exactly of fifty jubilees of forty-nine years each, and allows a new jubilee period to commence with the entrance into the promised land. Then his year consists of fifty-two weeks, i. The sun,' he says, was made for a great sign upon the earth to regulate days, and sabbaths, and years, and jubilees, and all seasons' chap.

Taking for granted that a new jubilee began at the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan, he had to arrange his chronology accordingly, and he therefore reckons, as we have said, fifty jubilees of forty-nine years each to the close of the wanderings in the desert. In very many particulars he agrees entirely with the Masoretic texts of Genesis and Exodus, but he takes liberties or follows a different reading in other passages.

To give a few examples: These details are supported partly by the Septuagint, partly by the Samaritan Pentateuch. But in enumerating the post-diluvian patriarchs, the author is greatly at variance with existing authorities. Arphaxad begets Cainan seventy-four years after the Flood; [] Cainan begets Salah in his fifty-seventh year; Salah begets Eber in his sixty-seventh; Eber, Peleg in his sixty-eighth; Peleg, Reu in his sixty-first; Serug, Nahor in the th year after the birth of Reu; Nahor, Terah in his sixty-second year.

All these numbers differ from those in the Hebrew and the Septuagint. On the question of the "four hundred and thirty years," in Ex. The arrangement of the years of Moses' life is not altogether in accordance with Scripture. He is born A. Joseph's birth is set A. This would make him only years old at his death.

There are very many other passages where the dates given do not harmonise with preceding or succeeding statements. Some of these miscalculations are doubtless ascribable to clerical errors in MSS. Abraham is born A. And if, as Dillmann proposes, we read "the forty-third jubilee," we shall set his decease in A. Such manifest mistakes we should be inclined to attribute to the scribe or the translator, rather than to the author himself. His plan, indeed, required great skill and precision. Starting from the principle that the period from the creation to the entrance into Canaan consisted of fifty jubilees of forty-nine years each, and being dominated by the idea of the sacredness and preponderance of the number seven, he had to fit events into their proper place in this septenary system.

And certainly, if we consider the use of numbers in Holy Scripture and the mystery which attaches to them, we cannot but allow the importance of the number seven.

Book of Jubilees

In his zeal, however, for the use of this number, our author sometimes introduces it where Scripture is silent, sometimes for this purpose even alters the wording of his text. Thus he affirms that God opened seven sluices in heaven to produce the Flood, and that Benjamin's mess was seven times as great as his brethren's.

But other considerations lead us to think that there is a significance in the scriptural employment of this number which is not to be disregarded. Its continual recurrence in the Revelation of St. John confirms this view. It is the number of forgiveness, of covenant, of holiness, perfection, and rest.

The idea of rest, of course, meets us at the close of the work of creation; but there are many other instances of a similar use. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, never tasted death, but was translated and entered into his rest; six times seven stations brought the Israelites to the promised land; on the seventh day the walls of Jericho fell down, and the people took possession of the city, after they had marched round it seven times with seven priests blowing seven trumpets.

I need here hardly mention the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee, by the former of which the soil obtained a period of rest after being cropped for six successive years, and by the latter the state, the body politic, had its rest and sanctification, for then estates returned to their original possessors, and slaves were manumitted. All the feasts were more or less connected with the sabbatical system.

The Passover and the feast of Tabernacles lasted each of them seven days; seven weeks after the Passover came Pentecost; the great Day of Atonement occurred in the seventh month of the year, itself a sacred month; the days of holy convocation were seven. Further, the blood of propitiation was sprinkled seven times before the mercy-seat; seven were the pieces of furniture pertaining to the tabernacle; seven were the branches of the sacred candlestick.

Where the chief dates, the epochs assigned to leading events, are not divisible by seven, we may reasonably conclude that there is some error in our versions which did not exist in the original, or that some passages have perished which would have introduced consistency in statements now incomplete or contradictory. The intended precision in the text, which to some events assigns not only the year, but even the month and the day, is attained by a comparison of the various dates afforded by the Hebrew, by arbitrary alterations, by rabbinical glosses, and by the introduction of later holy days and seasons into these earlier times.

Many of the dates thus obtained are interesting. The sons of Noah were born thus: Abram leaves Egypt in , when Tanis was built, and receives the covenant of circumcision on the feast of First-fruits in ; Isaac is born on the same festival in the following year; he marries Rebecca in the same year that his father married Keturah; Abraham before he dies A.

Jacob is sixty-eight years old when he is sent away to Mesopotamia, A. The birth of Pharez and Zarah coincides with the end of the seven years of plenty in Egypt. In the above chronological arrangements there are many inconsistencies and inaccuracies which are easy to point out; but the labour is hardly profitable, as the dates have been quoted merely to give a notion of the treatment employed which satisfied the author's requirements, and not with any idea of effecting an improvement in the received chronology, faulty and deceptive as it undoubtedly is.

Gesellschaft, , who has examined most of the chronological statements in the book, showing their various inconsistencies and correcting errors where possible. There are passages relating to events then future, sometimes not told in prophetic character. Thus it is said chap.

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There was a king in Edom, Balak son of Beor, the name of whose city was Dinaba. Thus the Sabbath was observed by the angels in heaven [] before it was appointed for men at the end of the creation. The law about the purification of women after childbirth Lev. This law is still observed in the Abyssinian Church. At sunrise on the day that Adam was banished from the garden, he offers incense composed of the four ingredients specified in Ex. The law of tithes is established from the time of Abraham, who also celebrated the feast of First-fruits and of Tabernacles, and made it an ordinance for ever according to Lev.

Abraham anticipates the special instructions concerning laying salt on the sacrifice, using certain wood for the fires, [] purifications, and washings. The prohibition against intermarrying with the Canaanites was originally uttered by the same patriarch; and the rule concerning the betrothing of the elder daughter before the younger was transcribed in the heavenly tables, which also enacted the punishment of death for Israelites guilty of mixed marriages or harlotry. The Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month Lev.

Joseph resisted the temptation of Potiphar's wife because he knew of the eternal law against adultery which had been delivered to Abraham and transmitted by him to his children; and Judah's sin with his daughter-in-law Tamar led to the statute against such incestuous unions, and the punishment of them by fire. It was at the feast of Tabernacles that Levi was consecrated to be priest by his father in Bethel, when "he clothed him in sacerdotal robes, and filled his hands," offering very ample sacrifices, and assigning to him from that day forward not only the first-fruits, but also the second tithe which was now introduced.

We may add that, according to our book, there was much esoteric teaching which was not openly divulged to the people, but was communicated to the patriarchs in secret writings and by them transmitted to posterity. Having given the above sketch of the contents of our book, we may now briefly examine the author's teaching upon certain points of doctrine, and then we shall be better able to come to some conclusion concerning the aim and tendency of the document. The teaching concerning angels and demons is in many respects such as is found elsewhere. The former are often called Watchers, as in other apocalyptic works.

The Angel of the Presence and his companions convey God's will to men, instruct them in all useful knowledge of things in heaven and in earth, and execute God's wrath against sinners. The serpent is not identified with Satan in the account of the Fall. The great flow of iniquity overspreading the earth is traced to the intercourse of angels with the daughters of men, which introduced a race of beings gigantic in stature as in wickedness.

And when God determined to destroy men with the Flood, he punished the sinning angels by confining them in the depths of the earth till the great day of judgment. But a race of evil demons sprang from them, [] who vexed and deceived and tortured the sons of Noah so grievously that they came to their father and asked his intercession to free them from their malice. And Noah prayed to God to check their power and withhold them from having dominion over the righteous seed.

And the Lord commanded His angels to take and bind them and cast them into the place of torment. But Mastema, [] the chief of the demons, requested that some might be left to execute his will in the earth; and God permitted one-tenth of them to remain, reserving the rest for the place of judgment.

And to counteract the diseases which the demons had introduced among mankind, one of the good angels taught Noah the use of medicines and the virtues of herbs, all which lore he wrote in a book and imparted to his son Shem before his death. There is some appearance of a classification of angels in Lepto-Genesis. The highest is the Angel of the Presence, who leads the Israelites in the pillar of fire and cloud; the second are the archangels, or the angels of blessing; the third are the angels of the elements, who direct the powers of nature.

These were all created on the first day with the heaven and earth chap. Nothing happens or is done without their co-operation. They bring men's sins before God. Adam was indebted to them for learning his work in Eden, Enoch for his knowledge of all things in heaven and earth.

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It was they who bound the fallen angels, taught Noah the use of feast days, presided at the division of the earth among his sons, came to inspect the Tower of Babel. Abram was called by an angel to the Land of Promise, and instructed in the Hebrew tongue; by an angel was his hand arrested at the sacrifice of Isaac. Angels unfold the future to Abram and to Jacob, save Moses at the inn from the demon who thought to slay him, bring to naught the devices of the Egyptian magicians.

Concerning the immortality of the soul, though it is an article of the author's creed, very little is said, nothing concerning the resurrection of the body. Speaking of the prosperity of Israel in the latter days, the writer observes chap. The idea of a personal Messiah is nowhere recognised.

Moses is told to write the account of his revelation for the use of posterity, "till the Lord should descend and dwell with them for ever and ever, and His sanctuary should be raised in their midst, and He Himself should be seen by them, that all might know that He is the God of Israel" chap. So in the Assumption of Moses the seer looks forward to no earthly monarch or heaven-sent delegate who should fill the throne of David and lead the people to victory, but he expects the manifestation of Jehovah Himself, as in the wilderness of old, guiding and ruling with some evident token of His presence.

In Lepto-Genesis, Zion is to be the seat of this Epiphany; for "in the new creation Zion shall be sanctified, and through it shall all the world be purified from guilt and uncleanness for ever and ever" chap. And as for Israel, it is written and firmly established, that if they turn to the Lord in righteousness, He will remove their guilt and forgive their sin," and compassion shall be shown to all who turn from all their misdeeds once a year" chap. In another place chap.

Other nations have their appointed guardian angels, and depend less directly upon God for government, but Israel is guided and protected by the immediate interference of the Lord. In his family is the race of priests who intercede with God for all flesh and do Him acceptable service. The writer is copious in enunciating the preeminence of his people, and looks forward to a time when, as a reward for their repentance and renewed adherence to God, they should triumph over their enemies and reign supreme in the earth.

What is to become of the rest of the world is nowhere definitely expressed, as in pursuance of his plan the seer was not bound to extend his gaze beyond the occupation of the Promised Land and the results consequent thereon; and if he looks forward to a time when Israel shall revolt from God and disobey His law, he is really recalling the warnings given in Deuteronomy with only faint allusion to the events of later times or the prospects of a dim futurity.

At the same time the narrow insularity of the writer and his contempt for, and hatred of other nations are continually appearing in his pages, so that what Tacitus Hist. The feud with the Canaanites dates from very early times. They were to be exterminated, not merely for their enormous wickedness which cried aloud for chastisement, but chiefly because Canaan the son of Ham seized on the region from Lebanon to the brook of Egypt which appertained to the inheritance of Shem, thus dispossessing the righteous seed. While Israel was under God's immediate rule and guidance, other nations were governed not merely by guardian angels, but by demons who alienated them from the Lord.

And the reward of Israel's repentance is to be found in the utter subjection of enemies and the heavy punishment inflicted on subject peoples. Inflated with the notion of the superiority of Israel, the author can ill admit errors in the conduct of the chief fathers of the race, and takes pains to palliate the faults which are attributed to them in the canonical accounts, or to pass them over in silence. They are in his view paragons of virtue and piety, scrupulous observers of the ritual and ceremonial law before it was publicly enacted.

Such excellent personages could not greatly err. Thus Abram's deceit in the matter of Sarai at the court of Pharaoh is left unrecorded, while various particulars of his early piety, learning, and devotion, not mentioned in Genesis, are painted in glowing colours. In Isaac's question to Jacob the omission of the name Esau -- Art thou my very son? His piety is exhibited in every circumstance of his life; when he flees from Laban, he prays and worships the God of his fathers before he sets forth; he affords a pattern of filial devotion by his obedience to his parents, and the care he takes in ministering regularly to their wants.

Not to weary the reader with particulars, one can say shortly that the book is filled with the glorification of the patriarchs, who were represented as adorned with every virtue, and as genuine Israelites, observers of the Mosaic Law, moral and ceremonial. A few words may now be added concerning the object and intention of this treatise. The aim of the writer is not difficult to define. In the first place, he evidently desired to explain difficulties which had met him in reflecting on the statements of Scripture.

Some things had been misunderstood; he would interpret them aright. Some things were obscure; he would make them clear. Some omissions occurred; he would supply the missing links. Some points were only hinted at or too briefly stated; he would develop these intimations into complete and well-rounded statements.

Especially seemed the glosser's hand to be needed in arranging the chronology of the patriarchal times. In this matter, however, as we have shown above, he has not been uniformly successful, his arithmetic being sometimes faulty and landing him in impossible results. As he claims credit for his statements on the ground of a heavenly revelation, we should be inclined to attribute these errors to copyists; but unfortunately they are of such frequent occurrence, and many of them are so interwoven with the narrative, that they must be assigned to the author's carelessness or his inability to keep in hand all the links of his long history.

Another object was in the writer's mind. Around the sacred record of Genesis and Exodus had arisen a rank growth of legends, additions, and traditionary statements; some features of Biblical characters were exaggerated, the merest hints were expanded into detailed narratives, and sagas took the place of the simple authentic accounts.

In the Alexandrian school persons and events were idealised into abstractions, and became merely metaphors and pictures of vices and virtues. The Book of Jubilees recalls men from these speculations to plain historical, or quasi-historical, facts. It makes the heroes of the Bible living characters. Discarding much legendary matter, it claims for the narrative, with its many additions to the sacred text, a supreme importance, and tells the tale of the patriarchs in an authoritative style which enforces acceptance, and with such amplification as requires no further increment.

It recounts early history in the spirit of the writer's own day. We here are shown what a pious Jew felt and believed at the commencement of the Christian era. His opinions on momentous topics, such as Satan, the immortality of the soul, future judgment, are intimated or distinctly set forth. The writing aims to be a popular work, such an one as would seize upon the mind of the less instructed, whether Jews or proselytes, and hold them to their faith by fear as well as reverence.

Hence come the exaggerated penalties for certain common offences, and the claim of primitive revelation for many peculiarly Jewish observances. Compared with the heavenly origin and hoar antiquity of Jewish customs, morals, and ritual, all other religions were inferior and of no account; and the Hebrew must be known among all nations by his strict adherence to the precepts of his forefathers.

Having this object in view, the writer takes special pains to enforce certain portions of the Mosaic Law, both by glorifying its origin and by denouncing vengeance on its infringement. Notably is this the case with the law of sacrifice and offering. He is most particular in showing the customs of the earliest patriarchs in this matter, how that they never failed to make offerings on every suitable occasion, how that Abraham delivered to Isaac most stringent commands concerning sacrifice, and how highly honoured was Levi as the father of the priestly family.

In other cases the inculcation of a command goes far beyond Scripture in strictness. The man who eats blood shall be utterly destroyed, he and his seed for ever, as long as the earth exists chap. The father who gives his daughter, or he who gives his sister, in marriage to a heathen shall be stoned to death, and the wife shall be burned with fire chap. The Sabbath is broken even by speaking of taking a journey, or of buying and selling, by lighting a fire, by drawing water, etc. A second tithe is due to the Lord, and must be paid for ever by all true Israelites. Only certain named chap.

The feast of Tabernacles is to be celebrated with garlands on the head, and with a procession round the altar seven times on every day of the festival. There is a multitude of other strict and irksome enactments, which, as they were in force in the time of our Lord, justified His saying of the scribes and Pharisees Matt.

Close observance of the law, minutiae of ceremony, strictness of ritual, were enjoined by our author with the view of differentiating his own people from all other nations, and raising them to the highest eminence as specially favoured by God, and bound to uphold their just prerogatives. They were subject to many perilous attractions at this time. Greece with its science and culture, Rome with its might and supremacy, alike drew away adherents from Hebraism. Many had become ashamed of their religion and their very nationality.

Herod's party was Jewish only in name.