The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the

Ethiopian Orthodox Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chri ...

as well as

Beta Israel The Beta Israel ( he, בֵּיתֶא יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Bēteʾ Yīsrāʾēl''; gez, ቤተ እስራኤል, , modern ''Bēte 'Isrā'ēl'', EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "House of Israel" or "Community of Israel"), also known as Ethiopian Jews ...

(Ethiopian Jews), where it is known as the ''Book of Division'' ( Ge'ez: መጽሐፈ ኩፋሌ ''Mets'hafe Kufale''). ''Jubilees'' is considered one of the

pseudepigrapha Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") 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.Bauckham, Richard; "Pseu ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...

, and

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Churches. Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. It is also not considered canonical within

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

outside of Beta Israel. It was well known to Early Christians, as evidenced by the writings of Epiphanius,

Justin Martyr Justin Martyr ( el, Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, Ioustinos ho martys; c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and ...

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

, Diodorus of Tarsus, Isidore of Alexandria, Isidore of Seville, Eutychius of Alexandria,

John Malalas John Malalas ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Malálas''; – 578) was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey). Life Malalas was of Syrian descent, and he was a native speaker of Syriac who learned how to write in Greek later ...

, George Syncellus, and

George Kedrenos George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos ( el, Γεώργιος Κεδρηνός, fl. 11th century) was a Byzantine Greek historian. In the 1050s he compiled ''Synopsis historion'' (also known as ''A concise history of the world''), which spanned the ...

. The text was also utilized by the community that originally collected the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

. No complete Greek or Latin version is known to have survived, but the Ge'ez version has been shown to be an accurate translation of the versions found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 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 The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

or "Instruction") by

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inc ...

s while he was on

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

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.

Manuscripts

Until the discovery of extensive fragments among the

, the earliest 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,

as well as Diodorus of Tarsus, Isidore of Alexandria, Isidore of Seville, Eutychius of Alexandria,

, George Syncellus, and

. 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, 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 The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

or of the Hebrew text that was the basis for the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

. According to one historian, 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

, demonstrates that even canonical Hebrew texts did not possess any single "authorized" manuscript tradition in the first centuries BC. Others write about the existence of three main textual manuscript traditions (namely the Babylonian, Samarian and Pre-Masoretic "proto" textual traditions). Although the Pre-Masoretic text may have indeed been authoritative back then, arguments can be made for and against this concept. Between 1947 and 1956, approximately 15 ''Jubilees'' scrolls were found in five caves at

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israe ...

, all written in 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 Ethiopic version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Ethiopic was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation.

Origins

Robert Henry 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 ''

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

'' which had already been worked on in the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...

''. With the discovery of the

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 on the basis of the handwriting to about 100 BC, there is much evidence to suggest ''Jubilees'' was written prior to this date. ''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 Enochian "Animal Apocalypse" ( 1 Enoch chapters 83-90), such as Enoch's wife being Edna. The Animal Apocalypse claims to predict the

Maccabean Revolt The Maccabean Revolt ( he, מרד החשמונאים) was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167–160 BCE and ended ...

(which occurred 167-160 BC) and is commonly dated to that time. The direction of dependence has been controversial, but the consensus since 2008 has been that the Animal Apocalypse came first and Jubilees after. As a result, general reference works such as the

Oxford Annotated Bible The Oxford Annotated Bible (OAB), published also as the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NOAB), is a study Bible published by the Oxford University Press. The notes and the study material feature in-depth academic research from nondenominational per ...

and the Mercer Bible Dictionary conclude the work can be dated to 160–150 BC.

Subsequent use

The Hasmoneans adopted ''Jubilees'' immediately, and it 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 The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a Pseudepigrapha, pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Osk ...

'', for instance that of Reuben. There is no official record of it in Pharisaic or Rabbinic sources. It was among several books that the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , '' synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence 'assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as "rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temple), ...

left out when the Bible was canonized. '' Sub rosa'', many of the traditions which Jubilees had novelly included are echoed in later Jewish sources, in particular in the 12th century Midrash Tadshe which contains multiple similarities to Jubilees. The sole exception within Judaism, the

Jews formerly of Ethiopia, regard the Ge'ez text as canonical. 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 writing. 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. Jan van Reeth argues that the Book of Jubilees had great influence on the formation of Islam. Etsuko Katsumata, comparing the Book of Jubilees and the Quran, notices significant differences, especially in 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."

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

s on the first day of Creation and the story of how a group of

fallen angel In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said ...

s 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 Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. ...

(''Deqiqa Set''), while the "mortal females" were daughters of Cain. This is also the view held by Clementine literature, Sextus Julius Africanus,

Ephrem the Syrian Ephrem the Syrian ( syc, ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, ; grc-koi, Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, Efrém o Sýros; la, Ephraem Syrus; am, ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; ), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint ...

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...

, and

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of a ...

among many early Christian authorities. Their hybrid children, the Nephilim in existence during the time of

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...

, 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. 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 The Generations of Noah, also called the Table of Nations or Origines Gentium, is a genealogy of the sons of Noah, according to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis ), and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood, focusing on the major known societ ...

, 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: ''Jubilees'' insists (in Chapter 6) on a 364 day yearly calendar, made up of four quarters of 13 weeks each, rather than a year of 12 lunar months, which it says is off by 10 days per year (the actual number being about 11¼ days). 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.

Sources

* Jubilees bases its take on Enoch on the "Book of Watchers", 1 Enoch 1–36.Gabriele Boccacini, ''Beyond the Essene Hypothesis'' (Eerdmans: 1998) * Its sequence of events leading to the Flood match those of the "Dream Visions", 1 Enoch 83–90.

Notes

References

* Martin Jr. Abegg. ''The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible''. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1999. . * Matthias Albani, Jörg Frey, Armin Lange.
Studies in the Book of Jubilees
'. Leuven: Peeters, 1997. . * Chanoch Albeck. ' Berlin: Scholem, 1930. * Robert Henry Charles. ''The Ethiopic Version of the Hebrew Book of Jubilees''. Oxford: Clarendon, 1895. * 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). * Gene L. Davenport. ''The Eschatology of the Book of Jubilees'' (SPB 20) Leiden: Brill, 1971. * Albert-Marie Denis. ' ( 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. . * *

James L. Kugel James L. Kugel (Hebrew: Yaakov Kaduri, יעקב כדורי; born August 22, 1945) is Professor Emeritus in the Bible Department at Bar Ilan University in Israel and the Harry M. Starr Professor Emeritus of Classical and Modern Hebrew Literature at ...

, ''A walk through Jubilees : studies in the Book of Jubilees and the world of its creation'', ( Brill Academic Publishers, 2012); * * Michael Segal.
The Book of Jubilees: Rewritten Bible, Redaction, Ideology and Theology
'. Leiden-Boston, 2007. . * Michel Testuz. ' Geneva: Droz, 1960. * James C. VanderKam. ''Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees'' (Harvard Semitic monographs, no. 14) Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977. * James C. VanderKam. ''The Book of Jubilees. A Critical Text''. Leuven: Peeters, 1989. . * James C. VanderKam. ''The Book of Jubilees. Translation''. Leuven: Peeters, 1989. . * James C. VanderKam.
The Book of Jubilees
' (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. . . * Orval S. Wintermute, "Jubilees", in ''Old Testament Pseudepigrapha'', ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1985) 2:35–142

External links

The text translated by R.H. Charles, 1902, with introduction and notes.

''Jewish Encyclopedia'' entry

Development of the Canon

Ethiopic Jubilees Reading Guide: 11:1-10

Ethiopic Jubilees Reading Guide: 17:15-18:16
* {{Authority control 2nd-century BC books Ancient Hebrew texts Jewish apocrypha Old Testament pseudepigrapha Texts attributed to Moses