1541555 Vestiges of Hebrew Jubilees

Abstract

The book of Jubilees is a "Rewritten" or History Bible which covers the period from creation to the entry of the Israelites into Canaan.1The work presents itself as a revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai.The narrator is an angel who dictates the records of the heavenly tablets.All of history is divided into "jubilees" (forty-nine years), which are further subdivided into "weeks" (periods of seven years) and "days" (single years).The book covers the first fifty jubilees until the year 2450 anno mundi.The narrative largely follows Genesis, its primary source.Most "extrabiblical" episodes are concentrated in the period up to the time of Abraham.There is also a substantial amount of additional material on Jacob and his sons Levi and Judah.In Late Antiquity, Jubilees was viewed as a supplement to Genesis.It supplied information that was missing from the canonical book, such as the names of the wives of the patriarchs.For this reason, Greek authors called it the Little Genesis (ἡ Λεπτή Γένεσις) or the Details of Genesis (τὰ λεπτὰ Γενέσεως).2Jubilees was written in Hebrew sometime in the second century BCE.All known Hebrew manuscripts of Jubilees come from Qumran.3The Damascus Document (1st c.BCE) contains the earliest reference to the work under its presumed original title (CD A xvi 3-4), "The Book of the Divisions of the Times according to their Jubilees and their Weeks" ‫ובשבועותיהם(‬ ‫ליובליהם‬ ‫העתים‬ ‫מחלקות‬ ‫4.)ספר‬This early citation suggests the importance of this work for the sectarian movement.The eventual translation of Jubilees into Greek indicates the popularity of the work beyond the confines of Jewish sectarians.Among Christians, Jubilees enjoyed a status comparable to the Antiquities of Josephus, with which it was often confused.5Christian writers, 1 For a catalogue of Jubilees' literary features, see Alexander Samely, Profiling Jewish Literature in Antiquity: An Inventory, from Second Temple Texts to the Talmuds (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 357-72. 2 For a list of examples, see R. H. Charles, The Book of Jubilees, or The Little Genesis (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1902), xv-xvi.