On Earth As In Heaven: The Restoration Of Sacred Time And Sacred Space In The Book Of Jubilees (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism)

ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN

SUPPLEMENTS TO THE

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF JUDAISM Editor

JOHN J. COLLINS The Divinity School, Yale University

Associate Editor FLORENTINO GARCÍA MARTÍNEZ Qumran Institute, University of Groningen Advisory Board j. duhaime – a. hilhorst– p.w. van der horst a. klostergaard petersen – m.a. knibb – j.t.a.g.m. van ruiten j. sievers – g. stemberger – e.j.c. tigchelaar – j. tromp

VOLUME 91

ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN The Restoration of Sacred Time and Sacred Space in the Book of Jubilees BY

JAMES M. SCOTT

BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2005

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication data Scott, James M. On earth as in heaven : the restoration of sacred time and sacred space in the Book of Jubilees / by James M. Scott. p. cm. — (Supplements to the Journal for the study of Judaism, ISSN 1384-2161 ; v. 91) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 90-04-13796-3 (alk. paper) 1. Book of Jubilees—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Calendar, Jewish. 3. Chronology, Jewish. 4. Time—Religious aspects—Judaism. 5. Sacred space. 6. Palestine in Judaism. I. Title. II. Series. BS1830.J8S455 2004 229’.911—dc22 2004049683

ISSN 1384-2161 ISBN 90 04 13796 3 © Copyright 2005 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands

For Gail, on the occasion of our silver jubilee

CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ix xi

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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part i. sacred time 1. Cultic Cycles in the Book of Jubilees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. The Chronological System of the Book of Jubilees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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part ii. sacred space 3. The Land of Israel in the Book of Jubilees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Appendix: Major Events of World History Plotted Against the Cultic Cycles in the Book of Jubilees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Index of Ancient Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Index of Modern Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

PREFACE

The present volume originated as a chapter on the Book of Jubilees in a study of early Christian chiliasm. As my investigation of the early Christian material progressed, I continued to tinker with the chapter on Jubilees, until gradually it became clear that the work on Jubilees had grown well beyond the bounds of a single chapter and had indeed become a study in its own right. Therefore, although the original project was already in advanced stages, I decided to publish the Jubilees material first, especially since, in my growing estimation, it provided an important platform for understanding early Christian chiliasm. At the same time, I hoped that my approach to the issues of sacred space and sacred time in the Book of Jubilees might prove useful for other studies of Jewish literature of the Second Temple period. In offering this volume for publication, I would like to acknowledge my enormous debt of gratitude for the publications and help of other scholars, including my colleagues at Trinity Western University. I would be remiss, however, if I did not single out for special mention Professors James C. VanderKam and Chaim Milikowsky, who kindly read and commented an early draft of my argument when it was still in a very rudimentary form. Moreover, it goes without saying that the present volume could not have been written without constant reference to Prof. VanderKam’s prodigious publications on Jubilees, especially his annotated, two-volume edition of the text and translation of the book. I would also like to express my thanks to both the series editor and the two anonymous referees for their insightful comments. John Bergsma, a doctoral candidate at the University of Notre Dame, graciously allowed me to see his dissertation, ‘The Jubilee from Leviticus to Qumran: A History of the Interpretation of the Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25) in the Hebrew Scriptures and Second Temple Jewish Literature,’ during the final stages of its completion. My thanks go to Paul Pasquesi and Ryan Korstange, M.A. students at Trinity Western University, for assistance in preparing the manuscript, including the indices. Christian Fay, an undergraduate student of geography at TWU, redrew maps 1, 4 and 5 in chapter 3. I am grateful to my daughter, Kathryn E. Scott, for

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her help in making the appended chart to illustrate the cultic cycles in Jubilees. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my profound gratitude to my wife Gail for her numerous suggestions for improving the manuscript. This volume is dedicated to her on the occasion of our silver jubilee.

ABBREVIATIONS

AB ABD AGJU ANRW ArBib BBR BETL BTB BZAW CBQ CBQMS CRINT CSCO DJD DSD EncJud ETL FB GCS GTA HeyJ HSM HTR HUCA ICC JAOS JBL JJS JNES JQR JSHRZ

The Anchor Bible D.N. Freedman, ed., Anchor Bible Dictionary Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt The Aramaic Bible Bulletin for Biblical Research Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium Biblical Theology Bulletin Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Catholic Biblical Quarterly Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Discoveries in the Judaean Desert Dead Sea Discoveries Encyclopaedia Judaica Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Forschung zur Bibel Griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller Göttinger theologische Arbeiten Heythrop Journal Harvard Semitic Monographs Harvard Theological Review Hebrew Union College Annual International Critical Commentary Journal of the American Oriental Society Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of Jewish Studies Journal of Near Eastern Studies Jewish Quarterly Review Jüdische Schriften aus hellenistisch-römischer Zeit

xii JSJ JSJSup JSNT JSOT JSP JSPSup JTS NovTSup NTS OTP PAAJR PEQ RB REJ RevQ RHPR SBLEJL SBLMS SPB SNTSMS STDJ SVTP TAVO TSAJ VT VTSup WBC WMANT WUNT ZAW ZDPV ZNW

abbreviations Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplements Journal for the Study of the New Testament Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplements Journal of Theological Studies Novum Testamentum Supplements New Testament Studies J.H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research Palestine Exploration Quarterly Revue Biblique Revue des etudes juives, Paris Revue de Qumran Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses Society of Biblical Literature Early Jewish Literature Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series Studia Postbiblica Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum Vetus Testamentum Vetus Testamentum Supplements Word Biblical Commentary Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Zeitschrift für die altestamentliche Wissenschaft Zeitschrift des deutschen Palästina-Vereins Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

INTRODUCTION

In accordance with his biblical Vorlage, the author of Jubilees writes that after the Flood, God gave Noah and his sons a sign of his eternal covenant with them that there would never again be a flood to destroy the earth (Jub. 6:15; cf. Gen 9:11–17). Then, the author adds an astonishing comment that is not part of the biblical base text (vv. 17–18):1 For this reason it has been ordained and written on the heavenly tablets that they should celebrate the festival of weeks during this month [i.e., the third; cf. 6:1]—once a year—to renew the covenant each and every year. (18) This entire festival had been celebrated in heaven from the time of creation until the lifetime of Noah—for 26 jubilees and five weeks of years [= 1309 years].

This comment immediately confronts us with some of the complexities of this fascinating book: (1) the awkward system of dating according to jubilees and weeks (and often years as well); (2) the apparent association of úÇò%áÖ (Festival of ‘Weeks’) with úÇò%á"Ö (‘oaths of covenant’); (3) the idiosyncratic antedating of the Festival of Weeks not merely to the days of Noah but to the time of creation itself; and (4) the correlation between cultic practice in heaven and on earth. The latter two points are particularly important for our discussion because they apply not only to Jub. 6:17–18 but to the book as a whole. First, the antedating of the Festival of Weeks to the time of creation aptly illustrates the book’s perspective on the origins of sacred time. For Jubilees, the creation of the sun on the fourth day set in motion an eternal rhythm that determines the immutable cycles of all cultic practice in heaven and on earth. Second, and closely related to this fact, there is a divinely intended correlation between cultic practice in heaven and on earth. Again, this applies not merely to the Festival of Weeks, which had been celebrated in heaven from the time of creation until the lifetime

1 Throughout the present study, English translations of Jubilees are from James C. VanderKam (ed. and trans.), The Book of Jubilees (2 vols.; CSCO 510–511, Scriptores Aethiopici 87–88; Leuven: Peeters, 1989) vol. 2.

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of Noah,2 but to all cultic practice in heaven and on earth. Indeed, the original divine ideal was that there would be a synchronization of cultic practice on earth as in heaven. As an example of this ‘on earth as in heaven’ theme, we may take the crucially important matter of sabbath observance, which both begins and ends the book (cf. Jub. 1:14; 2:17–33; 50:6–13).3 According to Jub. 2:1, God himself ‘kept sabbath on the seventh day. He sanctified it for all ages and set it as a sign for all his works.’ Hence, all practice of keeping the sabbath is ultimately an imitatio dei. Next, we learn that God instructed all the angels of the presence and all the angels of holiness ‘to keep sabbath with him in heaven and on earth’ (Jub. 2:18). Here we see the theme of ‘on earth as in heaven’ for the first time.4 We also see that all practice of keeping Sabbath on earth is not only an imitatio dei but 2 Since the Festival of Weeks had been celebrated in heaven from the time of creation, it is almost anticlimactic in Jubilees that Noah’s celebration of the festival occurs on III/1 (cf. Jub. 6:1, 17) and that therefore the covenant with Israel on Sinai took place at the same time of year (cf. Exod 19:1). On the calendrical relationship between the two events, see further James C. VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measuring Time (The Literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls; London/New York: Routledge, 1998) 30–31. 3 Cf. L. Doering, ‘Jub 50:6–13 als Schlussabschnitt des Jubiläenbuchs—Nachtrag aus Qumran oder ursprünglicher Bestandteil des Werks?’ RevQ 20 (2002) 359–387. 4 The synchrony between heavenly and earthly liturgies is also found in later Hekhalot literature. As Beate Ego discusses in her book, Im Himmel wie auf Erden. Studien zum Verhältnis von himmlischer und irdischer Welt im rabbinischen Judentum ([WUNT 2.34; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1989] 62–72 [69]), the concept is found in Hekhalot Rabbati 3.3 and 8.4: ‘Israel spricht das Trishagion zur selben Zeit wie die Engel; die temporale Parallelität fungiert so als Medium der Partizipation der Gemeinde am Gesang der Engel: Die Grenzen zwischen Himmel und Erde lösen sich auf, die beiden Bereiche durchdringen einander, die Immanenz öffnet sich hin zur Transzendenz.’ This recalls the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (4Q400–407, 11Q17, Mas1k), although the characteristic feature of the Hekhalot texts in question—the Trishagion based on Isa 6:3—does not occur there. Instead, the comparison between both sets of texts is the similar way in which distance between heaven and earth is transcended according to a regular liturgical cycle. Cf. Carol Newsom (ed.), ‘4QShirot #Olat HaShabbata-h,’ in Esther Eshel, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4: VI: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, Part 1 (DJD 11; Oxford: Clarendon, 1998) 173–401. James R. Davila (‘The Macrocosmic Temple, Scriptural Exegesis, and the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,’ DSD 9 [2002] 1–19) shows that there is a broad tradition on the cosmic Temple as the archetype for the earthly Temple, and that the writers of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice drew on an earlier body of such tradition, using it for their own purpose: ‘to compose (or deduce) an angelic liturgy of the Sabbath Sacrifice for human imitation in the earthly cult’ (19). See further Rachel Elior, ‘The Priestly Nature of the Mystical Heritage in Heykalôt Literature,’ in Paul B. Fenton and Roland Goetschel (eds.), Expérience et éscriture mystiques dans les religions du livre (Études sur le Judaïsme Médiéval 22; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 41–54 (esp. 44, with n. 10).

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also an imitatio angelorum, for the angels have the responsibility to keep sabbath with God ‘in heaven and on earth.’5 Then, in Jub. 2:19–21, God informs the angels that he ‘will now separate a people for myself from among the nations,’ a people who will have the exclusive prerogative of keeping the sabbath. Thus, we read in Jub. 2:21, God ‘made a sign on it [sc. the sabbath] by which they [sc. Israel], too, would keep sabbath with us [sc. angels] on the seventh day to eat, drink, and bless the creator of all as he had blessed them and sanctified them for himself as a noteworthy people out of all the nations; and to keep sabbath together with us.’ Verse 30 goes on to state: ‘… we [sc. angels] kept sabbath in heaven before it was made known to all humanity that on it they should keep sabbath on earth.’ We see, therefore, that the synchronization of cultic practice ‘on earth as in heaven’ begins with keeping the sabbath, first in heaven and then on earth, just as the Festival of Weeks was first celebrated in heaven before it was revealed to Noah after the Flood. Another example of the ‘on earth as in heaven’ theme concerns circumcision. Just as keeping the sabbath begins with the angels in heaven at the time of creation and then applies to Israel on earth as a sign of their election from all the nations of the world, circumcision is initiated in the same sequence (first the angels, then Israel) and with the same significance (as a sign of Israel’s election). Thus, according to Jub. 15:26–27: Anyone who is born, the flesh of whose private parts has not been circumcised by the eighth day does not belong to the people of the pact which the Lord made with Abraham but to the people (meant for) destruction. Moreover, there is no sign on him that he belongs to the Lord, but (he is meant) for destruction, for being destroyed from the earth, and for being uprooted from the earth because he has violated the covenant of the Lord our God. (27) For this is what the nature of all the angels of the presence and all the angels of holiness was like from the day

5 Cf. Beate Ego, ‘Heilige Zeit—heiliger Raum—heiliger Mensch. Beobachtungen zur Struktur der Gesetzbegründung in der Schöpfungs- und Paradiesgeschichte des Jubiläenbuches,’ in Mattias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 207–219 (216), referring to Sabbath observance and the law concerning the one who gives birth: ‘Gesetzesobservanz bedeutet zunächst nicht imitatio partum, sondern imitatio dei bzw. imitatio angelorum. Die erste Weissagungen Gottes an sein Volk werden nicht aus einem irdischen, sondern aus einem himmlischen Geschehen abgeleitet.’ See also J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1–11 in the Book of Jubilees (JSJSup 66; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 149.

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introduction of their creation. In front of the angels of the presence and the angels of holiness he sanctified Israel to be with him and his holy angels.

There is no reason to consider that the circumcised ‘nature’ of these angels is merely a metaphor for separation, much less a reflection of the Platonic distinction between nature and form. The fact that angels have male sexual organs is strongly implied in the story of the Watchers, in which originally good angels went bad by having intercourse with the daughters of men, thus mingling the heavenly and earthly spheres and defiling holy seed (see further below, pp. 6–7). For Israel, therefore, imitatio angelorum involves sanctification not only by observing the cosmic order of the cultic cycles (e.g., the sabbath and the Festival of Weeks), but also by identifying themselves as God’s holy people in the flesh, for just as the heavenly angels belong to a different order of being from the earthly creation, Israel belongs to a different order of being from the rest of humankind.6 A further example of the ‘on earth as in heaven’ theme comes in the context of Isaac’s deathbed blessing of Levi and Judah in Jub. 31:13– 20. Isaac turns first to Levi (vv. 13–17) and blesses him in part with these significant words: ‘May the Lord give you and your descendants extremely great honor; may he make you and your descendants (alone) out of all humanity approach him to serve in his temple like the angels of the presence and like the holy ones’ (v. 14). If, as we have seen, Israel was elected out of all nations to keep sabbath with the angels, here we learn that Levi and his descendants were elected out of all humanity, including the rest of Israel, to serve as priests in the earthly Temple and to do so in correspondence to the heavenly priests, the angels, who serve before the very presence of God in heaven.

6 Cf. Christine E. Hayes, Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion from the Bible to the Talmud (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) 75. See also Robert G. Hall, ‘Circumcision,’ ABD, 1.1025–1031 (1028): ‘Circumcision removes Israelites from the dominion of evil, places them under God’s reign, and sanctifies them to experience God’s presence with the holy angels who were created circumcised (Jub. 15:25–34). Circumcision determines the sphere in which one lives: the uncircumcised are dominated by evil; the circumcised, being ruled by God, experience his blessing. A paraphrase of the Shechem story demands that Israelite daughters not be given to the uncircumcised (Jubilees 30). To do so would place them outside the sphere of God’s activity. Since not everyone physically circumcised fits in God’s sphere, circumcision of the heart is necessary as well. When people repent God will circumcise their hearts and include them in his sphere as his children (Jub. 1:23–25).’

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In Jubilees, the relationship between the earthly and the heavenly cultus is also at the heart of the book’s eschatological expectation. The hope is that God’s original ideal of a synchronization of cultic practice ‘on earth as in heaven’ will be accomplished in the eschaton, at the time of the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion. A central figure in this eschatological hope is the antediluvian patriarch, Enoch. The priestly writer of the Book of Jubilees looks to Enoch as a model of the eschatological priesthood, a figure who successfully straddles heaven and earth.7 During his extended sojourn with the angels, Enoch was shown ‘everything on earth and in the heavens—the dominion of the sun— and he wrote down everything’ (Jub. 4:21). Enoch’s authoritative writing was transmitted from patriarch to patriarch right down to Jacob and Levi and is incorporated in the Book of Jubilees itself. Therefore, all the interpretations of the biblical text that Jubilees espouses receive the stamp of divine authority, since they are derived from Enoch who was taught by the angels. After Enoch’s sojourn with the angels, he entered into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden, thereby setting up a trajectory to the eschatological priesthood that will enter priestly service in the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion in the new creation (Jub. 4:23–26).8 By that time at the latest, the originally intended synchronization between the heavenly and the earthly cultus will be accomplished along the same lines as Enoch has already established through his own ideal priestly service in ‘the holy of holies,’ which is how Jub. 8:19 refers to the Garden of Eden. The antithesis of the ‘on earth as in heaven’ theme comes in the story of the Watchers, the angels of the Lord who wreaked havoc when they came down to earth. Originally, the Watchers ‘descended to earth to teach mankind and to do what is just and upright upon the earth’ (Jub. 4:15). This is completely in accordance with the angels’ God-given responsibilities, discussed above, to provide a model for humankind to follow. Indeed, Jub. 5:6 explicitly states that the Lord sent the Watchers to earth. In other words, the Watchers were originally sent to proSee further in chapter 1 (pp. 56–59). Because Jubilees wants to keep the primary focus on this trajectory from Enoch to the eschatological Temple, the book skips over the plan for the Tabernacle that was revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 25–30), even though Jubilees purports to contain the revelation that Moses received there. Nevertheless, part of the impetus for the theme of ‘on earth as in heaven’ in Jubilees probably came from Exodus 25, where YHWH shows Moses the heavenly ‘pattern’ (úéðáú) of the earthly Tabernacle (vv. 9, 40; cf. 26:30; 27:8). 7 8

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vide humankind with the same kind of wholesome ‘scientific’ knowledge that the angels had revealed to Enoch. However, after their arrival on earth, the Watchers did not instruct humankind in righteousness; instead, they became corrupted by human beings, when they had illicit sexual relations with the daughters of men (Jub. 5:1; cf. Gen 6:1–4).9 Thus, Enoch ‘testified to the Watchers who had sinned with the daughters of men because these had begun to mix with earthly women so that they became defiled’ (Jub. 4:22). Instead of promoting cultic practice ‘on earth as in heaven’ as originally intended, the Watchers mingled the two spheres, producing essentially the opposite effect—‘in heaven as on earth.’10 (We may compare Jub. 10:19 [‘Let us ascend through it 9 P.S. Alexander (‘Enoch and the Beginnings of Jewish Interest in Natural Science,’ in C. Hempel, et al. [eds.], The Wisdom Texts from Qumran and the Development of Sapiential Thought [BETL 159; Leuven: Leuven University Press/Peeters, 2002] 223–243 [236]) suggests that the difference in presentation of the Watchers—at first good, later bad— corresponds to a historical development in the use of the Watchers: ‘It is probable that originally they were good—heavenly messengers who descended to earth to bring mankind divine knowledge and to promote the advancement of human culture. When those cultural advances, again for reasons that are no longer apparent, came to be regarded as negative the Watchers were transformed into fallen angels, who had brought forbidden knowledge to mankind and corrupted them, and they were linked with the Sons of God in Genesis 6 who entered into illicit union with the daughters of men.’ The nature of this forbidden knowledge in the Enochic literature is intriguing. As Alexander (ibid., 234) argues, ‘There are two great bodies of knowledge referred to in this literature. On the one hand there is the knowledge of nature conveyed by Enoch: this is good. On the other hand there is the body of knowledge conveyed by the Watchers: this is bad. It led directly to the corruption of human society, and to the catastrophe of the Flood. There is no suggestion that the knowledge brought by the Watchers was false knowledge. It was heavenly in origin and mediated by angels, just like Enoch’s knowledge. The Watchers were as much culture-bringers as was Enoch. But the knowledge they brought, like the knowledge of Prometheus, was knowledge which Heaven did not want to be disclosed to humankind.’ According to 1Enoch 7:1; 8:1, the knowledge brought by the Watchers is strongly technological in nature, including the making of beauty aids (cosmetics and jewelry) and instruments of war (swords and shields). See further Pieter W. van der Horst, ‘Antediluvian Knowledge: Graeco-Roman and Jewish Speculations About Wisdom From Before the Flood,’ in idem, Japheth in the Tents of Shem: Studies on Jewish Hellenism in Antiquity (Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 32; Leuven: Peeters, 2002) 139–158 (147, 149). For a different understanding of the two kinds of knowledge presented in 1Enoch, see Mark Elliott, ‘Covenant and Cosmology in the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book,’ Henoch 24 (2002) 23–38. 10 It is appropriate, therefore, that the Watchers were stripped of their positions of authority and tied up in the depths of the earth until the great day of judgment (cf. Jub. 5:6, 10). A similar antithesis between heaven and earth is found in the Book of Watchers (1Enoch 1–36), where God tells Enoch to tell the Watchers, who had asked Enoch to intercede on their behalf, that they should intercede for humans, rather than the reverse (15:2). The text goes on to state (15:3–7): ‘For what reasons have you [sc.

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to heaven’], referring to the people’s presumptuous and possibly subversive aim in building the Tower of Babel.)11 This unholy union between the Watchers and women not only resulted in bastard children (the giants) but also disturbed the created world order, with catastrophic consequences for world history, including the Flood. Hence, it becomes clear that after the Flood, there was need for a renewed effort to promote the proper synchronization between the earthly and the heavenly cultus, and the aforementioned institution of the Festival of Weeks in the time of Noah is a case in point. Yet, the Watchers’ infamous legacy would live on even after the Flood, guaranteeing that cultic practice ‘on earth as in heaven’ would proceed only by fits and starts during much of the rest of human history. According to Jub. 8:3, for example, the postdiluvian patriarch Kainan son of Arpachshad found an inscription containing the Watchers’ teaching and used it ‘to observe the omens of the sun, moon, and stars and every heavenly sign.’ Although Kainan knew that it was wrong to delve into these arcane matters (which presumably contradicted Enoch’s teaching about the ‘dominion of the sun’ [Jub. 4:21]), he did so anyway (Jub. 8:4). As it turns out, the use of the moon in the cultic calendar was one of the main cultic practices that Jubilees inveighs against (cf. Jub. 6:36–37). The Watchers’ legacy also expressed itself in the form of the demonic spirits of their bastard children who had killed each other off (cf. Jub. 5:7, 9; 10:5), for those spirits continued to promote evil in the world through the ages (10:1–11). But God’s purposes are not thwarted. Throughout history, God renews his covenant of oath during the Festival of Weeks, not only with Noah, but also, for example, with Abram (the ‘covenant between the Watchers] abandoned the high, holy, and eternal heaven; and slept with women and defiled yourselves with the daughters of the people, taking wives, acting like the children of the earth, and begetting giant sons? (4) Surely you, you [used to be] holy, spiritual, the living ones, [possessing] eternal life; but (now) you have defiled yourselves with women, and with the blood of the flesh begotten children, you have lusted with the blood of the people, like them producing blood and flesh, (which) die and perish. (5) On that account, I have given you wives in order that (seeds) might be sown upon them and children born by them, so that the deeds that are done upon the earth will not be withheld from you. (6) Indeed you, formerly you were spiritual, (having) eternal life, and immortal in all the generations of the world. (7) That is why (formerly) I did not make wives for you, for the dwelling of the spiritual beings of heaven is heaven.’ 11 For the possibly subversive aim of the people’s ascent to heaven, cf. Isa 14:13–14 and the Jewish tradition based on that text (see David J. Halperin, The Faces of the Chariot: Early Jewish Responses to Ezekiel’s Vision [TSAJ 16; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1988] 279– 280, 319–322, 444).

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parts’ and covenant of the command of circumcision that made ‘Abram’ into ‘Abraham’) and with Israel (the covenant at Sinai), so that this festival that had ‘been celebrated in heaven from the time of creation until the lifetime of Noah’ (Jub. 6:18) would be celebrated in perpetuity on earth as well. The ultimate goal of history for Jubilees is the complete restoration of sacred time and sacred space, so that what is done in the earthly cultus in the Land of Israel exactly corresponds to the way that things are already done in the heavenly cultus, that is, in accordance with the will of God from creation as inscribed on the heavenly tablets.12 There is, therefore, a strong sense in Jubilees not only that earth should perfectly mirror heaven, but that Endzeit should completely recapitulate Urzeit, that is, restore the world to its original, pristine condition before the fall of Adam. This rigorous symmetry between the temporal and spatial axes in the space-time continuum is an important hallmark of the book, which will give us a substantial means by which to grasp the more recondite matters relating to sacred space and sacred time in the book.

Fig. 1. The Rigorous Symmetry between the Temporal and Spatial Axes in the Book of Jubilees.

12 The ‘on earth as in heaven’ ideal is implicit in numerous Jewish writings of the Second Temple period that describe the heavenly bodies as having faithfully obeyed God’s ordinances from the beginning of creation, whereas human beings have been disobedient and are in need of repentance. Cf. George W.E. Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of 1Enoch Chapters 1–36, 81–108 (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2001) 152–155, with texts illuminating 1Enoch 2:1–4.

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Salient Features of Jubilees Having observed the temporal and spatial symmetry in the Book of Jubilees, we may now examine some of the other salient features of the book. Jubilees is a pseudepigraphon that apparently dates from the middle of the second century bce.13 Although the complete text of the book is extant only in Ethiopic (Ge#ez), as many as 16 fragmentary copies of Jubilees in Hebrew were found in Qumran (caves 1, 2, 3, 4, and 11), ranging in date on the basis of paleography from c. 125– 100 bce (4QJubileesa [4Q216]) to c. 50 ce (11QJubilees [11Q12]), which are remarkably consistent with the later Ethiopic text.14 This number of copies makes Jubilees one of the most popular of all books found among the Qumran scrolls, exceeded only by Genesis (20 manuscripts), Isaiah (21), Deuteronomy (30), and Psalms (36).15 Very probably, Jubilees was understood as ‘scripture’ by the Qumran community and was therefore cited authoritatively by its Hebrew title (see further in chapter 2 on CD 16.3–4 [pp. 83, 88, 97]). For purposes of the present study, the book as we now have it is treated as a unity, although arguments have been adduced to suggest that the eschatological predictions in Jubilees 1 and 23 may have been

13 Although the dating of the book is a matter of great importance to the overall interpretation of Jubilees, our discussion of the chronological and geographical framework of the book has a potential bearing on the dating issue; therefore, we shall need to leave the issue open. For if, as we shall see, Jubilees regards the ideal boundaries of the Land to include Syria, then the book most likely dates to around the time of the Maccabean revolt (166–160 bce), when Jews in Judea threw off Seleucid domination. In any case, the book almost certainly dates to the period before the Hasmonean period (142– 63 bce), when, even at the height of Hasmonean expansion, considering the possible inclusion of Syria in the Land of Israel was far from the geopolitical reality (see further in chapter 3 [pp. 182 n. 53, 184 (Map1); also 219–220]). On the various approaches to the dating of Jubilees, see James C. VanderKam, Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees (HSM 14; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1977) 207–285. 14 There are no less than thirteen and perhaps as many as sixteen copies of Jubilees among the Dead Sea scrolls. The following may be regarded as certain identifications: (a) 1Q17–18, perhaps one manuscript, edited by J.T. Milik in DJD 1, 82–84; (b) 2Q19– 20 and 3Q5, edited by M. Baillet in DJD 3, 77–79 and 96–98; (c) 4Q216–224, edited by James C. VanderKam and J.T. Milik in Qumran Cave 4, VIII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 1 (DJD 13; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) 1–140; (d) 11Q12, edited by F. García Martínez and E.J.C. Tigchelaar in Qumran Cave 11, II: 11Q2–18, 11Q20–31 (DJD 23; Oxford: Clarendon, 1998) 207–220. Cf. James C. VanderKam and Peter Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 2002) 196–199. 15 Cf. VanderKam and Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 147–150.

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added secondarily.16 More likely, however, these chapters are inseparable from the chronological framework of the book as a whole.17 We shall come back to this issue in chapter 2. The Historical Scope of the Book of Jubilees Jubilees presents itself as divine revelation that Moses received on Mt. Sinai. In the first chapter, God converses with Moses directly, whereas in chapters 2–50, the revelation comes through the mediation of the angel of the presence, who dictated to Moses from heavenly tablets.18 Moses remained on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights while the Lord showed him what (had happened) beforehand as well as what was to come. He related to him the divisions of all the times—both of the law and of the testimony. (Jub. 1:4)19 ‘Now you write all these words which I will tell you on this mountain: what is first and what is last and what is to come during all the divisions of time which are in the law and which are in the testimony and in the weeks of their jubilees until eternity—until the time when I descend and live with them throughout all the ages of eternity.’ Then he said to an Cf. Gene L. Davenport, The Eschatology of the Book of Jubilees (SPB 20; Leiden: Brill, 1971) 10–18; Michel Testuz, Les ideés religieuses du Livre des Jubilés (Geneva: Droz; Paris: Minard, 1960) 39–42. 17 See esp. James C. VanderKam, ‘Studies on the Prologue and Jubilees 1,’ in Randal A. Argall, et al. (eds.), For A Later Generation: The Transformation of Tradition in Israel, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000) 266– 279, who argues that Jubilees 1 is of great importance for grasping the rest of the book. VanderKam (ibid., 267 n. 2) dismisses Davenport’s view that Jub. 1:4b–26 belongs to a different redaction of the book from the verses that surround it. See further James C. VanderKam, ‘The Origins and Purpose of the Book of Jubilees,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 3– 24 (12–13). See also John T. Rook, ‘Studies in the Book of Jubilees: The Themes of Calendar, Genealogy and Chronology’ (D. Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 1983) 6: ‘Perhaps he [sc. Davenport] is right that the eschatological sections do have a prehistory but what is more important is how the author of Jubilees has bonded these ideas into the narrative structure in such a way that these eschatological sections now shape the narrative. This important redactional question was ignored by Davenport.’ 18 Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘The Putative Author of the Book of Jubilees,’ JSS 26 (1981) 209–217, which eliminates one of the main arguments for positing two editions of the Book of Jubilees by showing that the alleged contradiction regarding the putative author of the book can actually be attributed to the Greek translator of the original Hebrew text. 19 For the highly fragmentary Hebrew text, see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 1.9–12 (DJD 13, 5). 16

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angel of the presence: ‘Dictate to Moses (starting) from the beginning of creation until the time when my temple is built among them throughout the ages of eternity.’ (Jub. 1:26–27)20

Although this divine revelation to Moses reportedly consisted of the whole history of humankind from beginning to end (e.g., Jub. 1:4, 26– 27, 29; 23:32),21 the surface narrative of the book focuses on only part of it, that is, from the creation of the world to the arrival of Israel at Sinai.22 In essence, therefore, Jubilees covers the same ground as Genesis 1 to Exodus 24, and appears to be ‘a rewriting of earlier pentateuchal material, which it places in a new setting (Sinai), and it quotes extensively from a more ancient text of Genesis and Exodus’ (cf., e.g., Jub. 6:22, which refers to what is written ‘in the book of the first law’; 30:24, which recalls what ‘I have written for you in the words of the law’ and then quotes from Gen 34:14).23 For the Hebrew text, see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 4.3–10 (DJD 13, 11–12). On the contents of the heavenly tablets which Moses is commanded to write down as encompassing the whole history of humankind, see Florentino García Martínez, ‘The Heavenly Tablets in the Book of Jubilees,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 243–260 (esp. 247– 250); Hindy Najman, ‘Interpretation As Primordial Writing: Jubilees and Its Authority Conferring Strategies,’ JSJ 30 (1999) 379–410; Martha Himmelfarb, ‘Torah, Testimony, and Heavenly Tablets: The Claim to Authority of the Book of Jubilees,’ in Benjamin G. Wright (ed.), A Multiform Heritage: Studies on Early Judaism and Christianity in Honor of Robert A. Kraft (Scholars Press Homage Series 24; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1999) 19–29 (esp. 21, 23, 26); cf. also VanderKam, Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees, 260–264. In addition to references specifically to the universal history in the heavenly tablets, Jubilees also includes other indications of a concern for the whole history of humankind. Cf., e.g., Jub. 4:19: ‘While he [sc. Enoch] slept he saw in a vision what has happened and what will occur—how things will happen for mankind during their history until the day of judgment. He saw everything and understood. He wrote a testimony for himself and placed it upon the earth against all mankind and for their history.’ On Jubilees as a revelatory text, see further George W.E. Nickelsburg, ‘The Nature and Function of Revelation in 1Enoch, Jubilees, and Some Qumranic Documents,’ in Esther G. Chazon and Michael Stone (eds.), Pseudepigraphic Perspectives: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 31; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 91–119 (esp. 104–107). 22 Cf. VanderKam, ‘Studies on the Prologue and Jubilees 1,’ 272, referring to the eschatological thrust in the Prologue and in Jub. 1:4, 26, 29: ‘These statements about the time covered by the revelation, as commentators have long noted, do not fit well with the Pentateuch nor even with most of Jubilees. They may, however, refer to passages such as Jub. 23:8–31, which predicts what will happen at the end.’ 23 Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Questions of Canon Viewed through the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ in Lee Martin McDonald and James A. Sanders (eds.), The Canon Debate (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002) 91–109 (105). See further idem, ‘Jubilees and the Hebrew Texts of Genesis-Exodus,’ in From Revelation to Canon: Studies in the Hebrew Bible 20 21

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However, Jubilees is interested not only in pentateuchal history, but also in the future of Israel in the Land. In this regard, Jubilees is similar to Deuteronomy, and indeed the Prologue not only commences with wording similar to that of the book of Deuteronomy (‘These are the words …’; cf. Deut 1:1), but Jubilees incorporates Deuteronomic perspectives at several points in its narrative (see further pp. 59, 76– 79, 115–117).24 This interest in the future of Israel in the Land extends to the very chronological framework in which the narrative of Jubilees is embedded—a scheme of 50 jubilees consisting of 49 years each that culminates in the grand jubilee of jubilees in the year 2450 from creation, when Israel eventually (from the narrative perspective of the text) is freed from slavery in Egypt and enters into the Promised Land.25 VanderKam rightly emphasizes the biblical basis of Jubilees’ chronological conception:26 By calling a major unit of his chronology a jubilee, the writer naturally invokes the biblical associations of that term. The Bible contains many laws for the jubilee, which it understands to be the fiftieth year, the year after the completion of seven sabbatical cycles. According to Leviticus 25 …, during the jubilee year property reverted to its original owner and Israelite slaves were released. Jubilees transposes these terms onto a national level. In its chronology in the fiftieth jubilee period (the fiftieth unit of forty nine years) the Israelites regained the land that originally belonged to their ancestors, and they were released from slavery in Egypt. These events, which are separated by forty years, both fell within its fiftieth jubilee (see 50:1–5). Hence the author of Jubilees uses a biblically-tinged chronological unity and applies it to Israel’s pre-Canaan history in order to make a telling point about the momentous events of the fiftieth jubilee period. and Second Temple Literature (JSJSup 62; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 448–461. With respect to this new setting, it is interesting to note that chronologically, Leviticus 25–26, which is so fundamental to the overall conception of time in Jubilees, belongs together with the Decalogue and Book of the Covenant revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20–24). Cf. Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27 (AB 3B; New York: Doubleday, 2001) 2151, 2154– 2156, 2241. Recognizing this point, Jubilees simply adjusts the pentateuchal narrative accordingly, incorporating the Mosaic revelation about the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee (Leviticus 25) with the rest of the revelation to Moses on Sinai (Exodus 20–24). 24 Cf. Klaus Berger, Das Buch der Jubiläen (JSHRZ 2.3; Gütersloh: Mohn, 1981) 279, who calls Jubilees ‘eine Art Gegenstück zum Dtn.’ 25 Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Das chronologische Konzept des Jubiläenbuches,’ ZAW 107 (1995) 80–100; an English version of this article is reprinted as ‘Studies in the Chronology of the Book of Jubilees,’ in J.C. VanderKam, From Revelation to Canon: Studies in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature (JSJSup 62; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 522– 544. Citations are from the original German article. 26 VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 102.

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Upon closer examination of the underlying theology of the law of jubilee in Leviticus 25, we gain further insight into the scriptural basis of Jubilees’ whole chronological system, including the notion of the jubilee of jubilees. For, as Jacob Milgrom demonstrates for Leviticus 25, the biblical law of jubilee on an individual level is predicated on YHWH’s act of deliverance on a national scale. In other words, the imitatio dei should be Israel’s motivating principle: Because YHWH redeemed the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt, individual Israelites are obligated to redeem their kinsmen from slavery to resident aliens in the Land.27 On this model, the course of Israel’s enslavement in and subsequent redemption from Egypt becomes clear. At first, during the worldwide famine that caused Jacob and his family to seek relief in Egypt, Israel slowly slipped into the same debt-slavery that impoverished the Egyptians with whom they were living as resident aliens. As Milgrom comments, ‘The worsening stages of indebtedness [in Lev 25:25–55] may be compared with a similar account told in the Joseph story (Gen 47:13– 26). The Egyptians sold all they owned to Pharaoh in order to buy food: first their mobile possessions, then their land, and finally their persons; and thus they were reduced to serfdom. Who was the author of this policy—Joseph. And who became its main victims—Joseph’s descendants ….’28 Jubilees 45:8 reflects the same story: ‘As the land of Egypt suffered from the famine, Joseph gained the whole land of Egypt for the pharaoh in exchange for food. He acquired the people, their cattle, and everything for the pharaoh.’ Presumably, then, Israel also became debt-slaves in the process, although their harsh treatment and suffering in slavery did not begin until later (Jub. 46:11–16; cf. Exod 1:13–14, where the Egyptians are said to have imposed hard labor ‘with harshness’ [êøôá] on the Israelites, treatment which was expressly prohibited for fellow Israelites in the law of jubilee [Lev 25:43]). According to the law of jubilee in Leviticus 25, if an Israelite becomes a debtslave held by a non-Israelite, the debtor’s family is obligated to redeem him (vv. 47–54).29 Since this condition prevails when Israel as a nation becomes enslaved to the Egyptians, the law of jubilee comes into force 27 Note that imitatio dei is also otherwise a prominent theme in Leviticus. Cf. Lev. 11:44–45; 19:2; 20:26; 21:7–8. See further Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16 (AB 3; New York: Doubleday, 1991) 730–731; idem, Leviticus 17–22 (AB 3A; New York: Doubleday, 2000) 1604–1606. 28 Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2192 (also 2228). 29 Cf. Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2235: ‘The debtor who falls into the hands of a nonIsraelite creditor is considered a captive. Hence redemption is required. The obligation

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on a national scale (rather than on the individual level) in an international setting (rather than in the Land). There are differences, however. Unlike the normal situation envisioned by Leviticus 25, the debtor in this case (Israel) was redeemed without money being paid to the foreign creditor (cf. Isa 52:3); instead, the debtor himself received recompense for his enslavement from the creditor nation (cf. Jub. 48:18–19, where the plunder of the Egyptians at the time of the exodus is explained as compensation for Israel’s enslavement in Egypt). As in the normal situation, however, the redeemer (in this case, God) makes the former debtor his own ‘slave’ (cf. Lev 25:42, 55, where the Israelites are God’s slaves whom he redeemed from the land of Egypt).30 Usually, this secondary ‘enslavement’ after redemption would amount to the debtor working for his redeemer until the time of the jubilee, when his debts were canceled, and he returned to his patrimony (Lev 25:50–54). Israel, however, remains God’s permanent slave, presumably again because of the grander scale of the transaction.31 In any case, the point is clear:32 YHWH redeems on both a national and an individual scale. YHWH is the redeemer of the people of Israel whenever it is subjected to (i.e., enslaved by) a foreign nation. This was the case in the Egyptian bondage (Exod 6:6; 15:13; cf. Isa 63:9; Ps 106:10). And according to Second Isaiah, such will be the case in the Babylonian Exile (Isa 35:4, 9; 43:1; 44:22, 23; 48:20; 51:10; 52:3; 63:9; cf. Mic 4:10). Thus the example of divine intervention whenever any part of his land is lost (i.e., the jubilee) is to be duplicated whenever any of his people is lost (i.e., enslaved).

There is also another aspect to the imitatio dei in Leviticus 25 which should not be overlooked: Israel is to follow God’s example by allowing the land to rest in the sabbatical and jubilee years, for just as God rested to redeem captive Israelites is traceable back to Abraham and Lot (Gen 14), and it persists in biblical and rabbinic tradition (cf. Neh 5:5–12 …).’ 30 See further Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2226–2227. 31 Perhaps there are other reasons that Israel remains permanent slaves of God. If, for example, the redemption price is normally calculated according to the time remaining until the jubilee (Lev 25:50–53), and if, in Jubilees’ conception, God redeemed Israel in the year of jubilee itself but without a redemption price (indeed, Israel received compensation from the creditor!), that might be seen as grounds for making Israel God’s permanent slaves. Or are we dealing here with a kind of sacral manumission, such as that found in the Greek paramon¯e (from παραμνω ‘to remain’) contracts, in which the ‘freed’ slave remains in the service of his former master for a specified length of time, normally for the life of the former owner? Cf., e.g., E. Leigh Gibson, The Jewish Manumission Inscriptions of the Bosporus Kingdom (TSAJ 75; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1999) 40–49. 32 Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2234.

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from work on the seventh day of creation in order to make the day holy, Israel must preserve the sanctity of the sabbatical and jubilee years.33 As we have seen, Jubilees appropriates the concept of the imitatio dei with respect to keeping the sabbath. Milgrom’s interpretation of the underlying theology of the year of jubilee in Leviticus 25 provides a fitting explanation for Jubilees’ emphasis on the jubilee of jubilees, that is, Israel’s redemption from slavery in Egypt and the nation’s return to the patrimony—the Land. Yet, there are many indications within the Book of Jubilees that the interest in Israel’s future in the Land goes well beyond the initial entrance into Canaan. As we shall see (pp. 75–82, 113–141), Jubilees adumbrates the whole history of Israel and looks forward particularly to the future restoration in the Land after the exile.

A Program for Further Study In view of the foregoing observations, the path of our subsequent study is clear: We must further investigate the integral interrelationship between (1) sacred space and (2) sacred time in the Book of Jubilees. Already we are starting to see how the book constructs a space-time continuum that aims at a coherent and comprehensive whole by the time of the culmination of human history. Yet there are still many questions: What, for example, can we know about the cultic cycles that determine the order of the universe from the time of creation onward? What role do they play in the chronological system of the book? If Jubilees uses the jubilee of jubilees as a major historical division, are there any other similar divisions? How does Jubilees’ chronological system compare to the newly published ‘calendrical texts’ from Qumran? How does the history of Israel relate to world history according to Jubilees? What significance, if any, does the Land of Israel itself occupy in the book? All these questions—and more—will occupy our attention in the subsequent pages. In chapter 1, we survey the four cultic cycles that form the mainstay of Jubilees’ chronological system. In chapter 2, the chronological system itself is examined. Finally, in chapter 3, we consider the role of the Land of Israel in the book.

33

Cf. Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2153, 2156, 2158, 2170.

PART I SACRED TIME

chapter one CULTIC CYCLES IN THE BOOK OF JUBILEES

Introduction Recurrence and interval belong inextricably together in the cultus presented in the Book of Jubilees. By ‘recurrence’ we mean the repeated pattern of cultic rituals that are oriented on the precise cycles of the sun during the year. By ‘interval’ we refer to the temporal duration between a specified sequence of events measured in terms of one or more cultic cycles, which, in turn, are oriented on the precise cycles of the sun. Recurrence and interval—or calendar and chronology—are thus so integrally intertwined in the book that it is really impossible to analyze them separately.1 Nevertheless, our purpose in the present chapter is not to examine the whole issue of sacred time in the Book of Jubilees. The Jubilean calendar, for example, has already been adequately discussed by others.2 Rather, insofar as possible, we shall restrict our attention here to a matter of central importance: the four cultic cycles that constitute the chronological system of the book. As we shall see, two of these cycles are expressed in the text and well known to scholarship, although their significance has not been fully appreciated. The other two cycles are only implied in the text. Yet, careful examination will show that they 1 Similarly, Moshe Idel (‘Some Concepts of Time and History in Kabbalah,’ in Elisheva Carlebach, et al. [eds.], Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi [The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series 29; Hanover/London: Brandeis University Press, 1998] 153–188) points out that the conception of time in Judaism in general and in Kabbalah in particular is neither linear nor cyclical but rather a complex combination of both. We shall have more to say about comparisons between Jubilees and medieval Kabbalah in the Conclusion to the present study (see p. 217 n. 4). 2 See, e.g., James C. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001) 96–100; idem, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measuring Time (The Literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls; London: Routledge, 1998) 27–33; Sacha Stern, Calendar and Community: A History of the Jewish Calendar, 2nd Century bce–10th Century ce (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) 10–11.

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are paramount to understanding the book as a whole and its chronological system in particular.

Expressed Cultic Cycles: the Week and the Jubilee The first two cultic cycles that will occupy our attention here—the ‘week’ and the ‘jubilee’—are explicitly mentioned in Jubilees. Their ubiquity makes them one of the most striking features of the book. Throughout Jubilees, major events are dated in terms of the number of ‘jubilees,’ ‘weeks,’ and years that they occur from creation.3 The Latin term anno mundi (‘in the year of the world,’ abbreviated am) is used to designate the equivalent number of total years, which, for the sake of convenience, is included in brackets within citations of the text. Thus, according to Jub. 4:29, Adam died ‘at the end of the nineteenth jubilee, during the seventh week—in its sixth year [= 930 am].’ This sum is based on the assumption, which is never explicitly stated in the text but which can be readily demonstrated, that a ‘jubilee’ constitutes 49 years or seven ‘weeks’ of years. According to Gen 5:5, for example, ‘Thus all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years; and he died.’ Using this biblical number for Adam’s life span, we can now solve for x: 18 jubilees (18x)+6 weeks (= 42 years)+6 years = 930 years. Hence, x = (930–48)÷18 = 49 years. Jubilees 45:13 provides an even more direct way to ascertain the length of a jubilee, for there the text states concerning Jacob/Israel: ‘All of the time that he lived was three jubilees—147 years [Gen 47:28]. He died during the fourth year of the fifth week of the forty-fifth jubilee [= 2188 am].’4 This text demonstrates quite simply that a jubilee consists of 49 years (147÷3 = 49). It should be noted, however, that in Jub. 4:20–21, a 50-year jubilee might seem to be required. Enoch is said to have been ‘with God’s 3 For a list of events in Jubilees that are dated in terms of jubilees, ‘weeks,’ and years, see the Appendix. Sometimes, however, a period of time is expressed absolutely, without locating it in a chronological sequence dating from creation. For example, Jubilees normally omits mention of the death date, expressed in terms of the number of jubilees from creation, giving instead only the length of a patriarch’s life. Thus, Isaac is said to have ‘died at the age of 180 years [Gen 35:28]. He had completed 25 weeks and five years’ (Jub. 36:18; cf. 4QpapJubileesh [4Q223–224] 2 iii 11 [J. VanderKam and J.T. Milik (eds.), ‘223–224. 4QpapJubileesh,’ in Harold Attridge, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, VII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 1 (DJD 13; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) 95–140 (113)]). 4 Jubilees may have taken special interest in the fact that the biblical figure for Jacob’s life span (147 years) works out to a whole number when expressed in jubilees

cultic cycles in the book of jubilees

21

angels for six jubilees of years’ after the birth of Methuselah (Jub. 4:20–21). Working with a 49-year jubilee would mean that Enoch was with the angels for 294 years (6 ×49). However, Gen 5:22 states that ‘Enoch walked with íéäìàä after the birth of Methuselah three hundred years ….’5 On the basis of this text, a jubilee could be calculated as 50 years (300 ÷6 = 50).6 However, since the rest of the evidence in Jubilees supports a 49-year jubilee, we must assume that this is an exceptional case where Jubilees has chosen to modify the biblical number to suit its chronological system (see further below [pp. 42–50]). Therefore, the book does not presuppose two different values for the length of a jubilee. More enigmatic, however, is how Jubilees can deal with the explicit statement in Lev 25:10–11, ‘And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year (íz"ÖcNå äðÖ íé!g!î#çä úð"Ö úà) and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. (11) That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you ….’ As we have seen (pp. 13– 15), Lev 25:8–55 provides the basis for Jubilees’ major conception of the grand jubilee of jubilees. Israel is to redeem their kinsmen from slavery to resident aliens and to return them to their patrimony because God redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt and returned them to the land that was rightfully theirs. Jubilees uses the same biblical text as the basis for its concept of the ‘week’ and the ‘jubilee.’ Thus, Lev 25:8 provides the warrant for Jubilees’ use of ‘week’ as a seven-year period of time:7 ^"ì eéäå íéðgä ú&ú"aÖ òáÖ éîé äðÖ íé!òaYàå òÖz

A´ B´ C´

A You shall count off for you B seven weeks of years C seven years seven times

^"ì zYôñå íéðÖ ú&ú"aÖ òáÖ íé!îò"t òáÖ íéðÖ òáÖ

A B C

A´ and it shall be for you B´ the period of seven weeks of years C´ nine and forty years

(three jubilees). This is all the more likely when we consider that the total life span of the patriarchs is only rarely given in Jubilees, and that three jubilees is half of an ‘otot’ cycle (on which see further below). 5 The fact that ‘Enoch walked with íéäìàä’ is repeated in v. 24, thereby emphasizing the uniqueness of his piety. In Mal 2:6, the ideal priest is described as having walked with God (‘with me’). 6 See below on Lev 25:10, which specifies that the 50th year is the year of jubilee. 7 Cf. Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27 (AB 3B; New York: Doubleday, 2001) 2162.

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But the specific reference in Lev 25:10 to the sanctification of the 50th year does pose a problem for the concept of a 49-year jubilee. The biblical text speaks here only about the year of jubilee, whereas Jubilees refers to the whole period between years of jubilee as a ‘jubilee.’ This is an innovation over the base text that is accomplished on analogy to the ‘week.’ Just as in Leviticus 25, a ‘week’ is the interval between sabbatical years, so also in Jubilees a ‘jubilee’ is the interval between years of jubilee. On the basis of Lev 25:10, we might expect a ‘jubilee’ in this sense to constitute a 50-year period of time. Obviously, however, Jubilees has taken its cue from Lev 25:8, defining a ‘jubilee’ as the 7×7-year period (i.e., the square of the sacred number seven) marked off since the last year of jubilee. Therefore, contrary to the apparent intention of the underlying biblical text,8 Jubilees has interpreted the 50th year (Lev 25:10) as coinciding with the 49th.9 Jubilees thereby creates a perfect system of sabbatical cycles of various frequencies, consisting of the weekly sabbath, the sabbatical year, and the jubilee year. All three are sacred times that are to be kept holy for YHWH. The latter two cycles, which require the periodic rest from work and rest for the land, are manifestly modeled on the Sabbath of creation. As we discussed in the Introduction, Milgrom has plausibly argued that all three cycles are based on the imitatio dei. Israel is instructed to rest themselves and to let the land rest because God rested on the seventh day at the conclusion of the first week of creation. Jubilees has simply taken this biblical principle and made it into a coher-

8

On the question of whether the sabbatical and the jubilee years are consecutive or coincide, see Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2181–2183, 2248–2251, esp. 2250: ‘Many moderns follow North … in postulating that the jubilee (the fiftieth year) coincided with the forty-ninth year—the first to suggest this, according to Kalisch (1867–1872), was Bishop Isidorus Hispalensis—a procedure that would correspond to the inclusive chronology of North Israel (the year of ascension is the king’s first year and the last year of the preceding king). This system may have been followed by the sectaries of Qumran, whose seven-week cycle of firstfruit festivals always ended on a Sunday (11QT 18–23; see also Jub 4:29; 10:16; passim).’ 9 John Bergsma (‘The Jubilee from Leviticus to Qumran: A History of the Interpretation of the Jubilee Year [Leviticus 25] in the Hebrew Scriptures and Second Temple Jewish Literature’ [Ph.D. diss., University of Notre Dame, 2004]) suggests another possibility: the jubilee year is simultaneously the fiftieth year of the old jubilee cycle and the first year of the new (cf. b. Ned. 61a). For the Book of Jubilees not only regards the jubilee period as 49 years, it also associates the number 50 with the jubilee year (e.g., the book is composed of 50 chapters and the climactic events of the exodus and entrance to the land take place in the fiftieth, not forty-ninth, jubilee period). See further idem, ‘Once Again, the Jubilee, Every 49 or 50 Years?’ VT, forthcoming.

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ent system of cultic cycles that form the foundation of the book’s whole chronological scheme extending from creation to the new creation. When all three cycles are in conjunction every 49 years, then this is the ‘holy of holies’ on a temporal scale of sacred time, comparable to the holy of holies on a geographical scale of sacred space. Thus, when in Jubilees events happen at the culmination of a jubilee period, that signals an especially auspicious moment in human history. A fortiori, when the 50th jubilee—i.e., the jubilee of jubilees—occurs in 2401– 2450 am, this is an extraordinarily and profoundly sacred time in the history of the world.10 It is no coincidence that the jubilee of jubilees is precisely the high holy time that God chose to redeem Israel from slavery in Egypt, to reveal the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and to return Israel to the Land that rightfully belongs to them. This jubilee of jubilees had the potential of becoming the enormously propitious time for the restoration of sacred time and sacred space in accordance with the foreordained divine will inscribed on the heavenly tablets, a time such as had not been known on earth since the first ‘week’ of the world, when Adam and Eve lived blissfully in the Garden of Eden, which is the first ‘holy of holies’ and ‘residence of the Lord’ (Jub. 8:19). But, as we shall discuss further in chapter 2, Israel, it was predicted, would not live up to this potential, and therefore a window of extraordinary opportunity for holy living in the Holy Land in synchrony with holy time would be missed on a colossal scale.

Implied Cultic Cycles: the Mishmarot and the ‘Otot’ Whereas the ‘jubilee’ and the ‘week’ are clearly foundational to the Book of Jubilees and are explicitly mentioned in the text, two other cultic cycles—both relating to priestly rotation in the Temple—appear to be no less foundational, although they are not explicitly mentioned in the book. Just as the length of the ‘jubilee’ itself must be inferred from the text, so also here the very presence of two further cultic cycles— 10 Nevertheless, Jub. 2:30 states that the sabbath ‘is more holy and more blessed than any of the jubilee of jubilees.’ Although, strictly speaking, the sabbatical year and the jubilee began their respective cycles on Wednesday with the creation of the sun rather than on the last day of the week (the sabbath), there is nevertheless, as we have seen, already in Leviticus an intimate conceptual link between the weekly sabbath, the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee. Therefore, it is proper to speak of the periodic conjunction of these cycles.

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the mishmarot (every six years) and the ‘otot’ (every 294 years)—must be inferred. This is not completely surprising. Despite their central importance for the cultus, the cycles of priestly rotation are seldom mentioned outside the calendrical texts of the Qumran scrolls. An exception is the War Scroll, in which the priestly courses are featured in the description of the role played by the priests in the eschatological war of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (1QM 2.1–6). Otherwise, however, the mishmarot are not mentioned at all in most of the sectarian writings of the Qumran community (e.g., 1QS, 1QHa, and CD). Even the Temple Scroll, with its obvious concern for the Temple and its cultus, has no reference to the priestly mishmarot. Therefore, Jubilees’ lack of explicit mention of these cycles is more the rule than the exception for texts in this priestly milieu. Moreover, just as the week and the jubilee are related to each other as synchronized multiples of seven, where the jubilee cycle is completed at the end of seven weeks (1 jubilee = 7 ‘weeks’), so also these implicit cultic cycles of priestly rotation are related to one another as synchronized multiples of six, where the ‘otot’ cycle is completed at the end of 49 mishmarot cycles (1 ‘otot’ = 294 years = 49 mishmarot). The number 49 will not fail to attract attention here, since it is the same as the number of years in a jubilee. Indeed, there is a further interrelationship between the ‘otot’ and the jubilee cycles: one ‘otot’ comprises six jubilees. Thus, each ‘otot’ is composed of six 49-year (jubilee) cycles or 49 six-year (mishmarot) cycles.11 By calling the greater cycle an ‘otot,’ we are suggesting a connection between Jubilees and the 294-year cycle in 4Q319 (4QOtot), the longest unit of time that is found among the Qumran calendrical texts. It is difficult to know what to call this cycle, for the Qumran text itself does not give it a particular name. Since this 294-year cycle comprises six jubilees, we might be tempted to call it a ‘hexajubilaeum,’12 although this fails to reflect that, as we have seen, the 294-year cycle also consists of 49 mishmarot cycles (a ‘jubilee of mishmarot’?). There is no completely satisfactory name for this unit of time. At the risk of confusing what 4QOtot actually means by the term, we have arbitrarily chosen to call it an ‘otot’ cycle, since the 294-year cycle is found in 4QOtot, and this 11 We may also note that in the Book of Jubilees, the jubilee of jubilees occurs after 49 (= 7×7) jubilees. 12 Cf. Johann Maier, Die Qumran-Essener: Die Texte vom Toten Meer, Band III: Einführung, Zeitrechnung, Register und Bibliographie (Munich: Reinhardt, 1996) 113–114.

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plural noun corresponds euphoniously with the other major cycle of priestly rotation, the mishmarot. It must be emphasized, however, that by using the term ‘otot’ for the 294-year cycle, we are not entering into the controversial issue of how the term úåúåà (‘signs’) is actually used within the context of 4QOtot.13 Before proceeding with a closer examination of these implicit cultic cycles of priestly rotation in the Book of Jubilees, we need to set the priestly context for understanding them within the book. First, we shall gain an overview of the two cultic cycles themselves. Second, we shall look at the priestly orientation of Jubilees. Finally, we shall adduce evidence that the mishmarot and ‘otot’ cycles are indeed reflected in the book. Overview of the Mishmarot and ‘Otot’ Cycles According to 1 Chr 24:1–19, David organized the priests into 24 divisions or courses (úåøîùî, cf. 2 Chr 8:14) according to 24 families that were chosen by lot from the descendants of the sons of Aaron, Ithamar and Eleazar.14 Since Zadok’s lineage (Eleazar) contained more heads of families, sixteen of the families chosen came from Zadok’s side and only eight from Abiathar’s. The 24 priestly families took turns serving in the Temple in the order of their election as enumerated in the biblical text (‘The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jediah, the third to Harim, etc.’). This rotation rested on a divine command given already to Aaron (v. 19). Each priestly course served in the Temple for one week, with the changing of the guard taking place at the completion of the sabbath service, that is, on the afternoon of the Saturday preceding the first day of service on Sunday. Since a roster consisting of 24 divisions does not divide evenly into the 52 weeks of the sacred 364-day solar calendar, 13 Cf., e.g., Jonathan Ben-Dov (ed.), ‘319. 4QOtot,’ in Shemaryahu Talmon, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XVI: Calendrical Texts (DJD 21; Oxford: Clarendon, 2001) 195– 244 (208–210); VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 80–84; Uwe Glessmer, ‘Calendars in the Qumran Scrolls,’ in Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 2.213–278 (262–268). 14 Neither 1Chronicles 24 nor the Qumran calendrical documents uses the term úåøîùî of the 24 priestly divisions. Instead, 1 Chr 24:1 uses the term úå÷ìçî. See further Shemaryahu Talmon (ed.), ‘320–330, 337, 394 1–2: Introduction,’ in S. Talmon, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XVI: Calendrical Texts (DJD 21; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001) 1–36 (9).

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the Qumran community resorted to a longer unit of time in order to measure the completion of the mishmarot service cycle.15 It takes six years before the first division is again serving at the beginning of the year.16 However, unlike the list of priestly divisions recorded in 1 Chr 24:7– 19, which begins with Jehoiarib, the Qumran roster commences with Gamul. Moreover, the whole rotation, with Gamul at the head, is reckoned as beginning not just in the time of David or Solomon, nor even in the time of Aaron (cf. 1 Chr 24:19), but rather already at the time of creation.17 Specifically, the first mishmarot cycle commences on the fourth day of creation, which coincides with the all-important creation of the sun.18 Thus, we read in 4Q320 1 i 3–5: ‘on the fourth (day) in the week (of service) [of Ga]mul, at (the beginning of) the first month in [the fir]st (solar) year’ (cf. 4Q319 IV 11).19 By antedating the mishmarot cycle to the beginning of time itself, that is, to the creation of the sun, the priestly rotation becomes part of the creative world order, just as the other two cultic cycles that we surveyed above, the week and the 15 At least this is a seemingly plausible initial hypothesis. See, however, the discussion below. Note that the War Rule solves the problem in a unique way by referring to 26 priestly courses (1QM 2.2). See, however, VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 48–50, who argues that the 26 leaders of the priestly divisions mentioned in the text do not necessarily represent 26 priestly courses. 16 For a table of the complete six-year mishmarot service cycle, see Talmon (ed.), ‘Introduction,’ 16–28; Martin G. Abegg, Jr., ‘The Calendar at Qumran,’ in Alan J. Avery-Peck, et al. (eds.), Judaism in Late Antiquity, Part 5: The Judaism of Qumran: A Systematic Reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vol. 1: Theory of Israel (Handbook of Oriental Studies 1.56; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 145–171 (165–171). 17 Cf. 4Q319 iv 10–11; 4Q320 1 i 3–5; 3 i 10–12; 4 ii 10–14. 18 Although another ‘great light’ was also created on the fourth day, viz. the moon (cf. Gen 1:14–19), which is significant for the discussion of the mishmarot cycle in Qumran calendrical texts (see Talmon, ‘Introduction,’ passim), our attention here can be restricted to the sun, since the sun marks the beginning of the cultic cycles on which Jubilees’ chronological system is based, and Jubilees explicitly denies the moon any calendrical function (cf. Jub. 6:36–37; also 1:14). For further evidence that Jubilees rejected any calendrical function for the moon, see, e.g., VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 28, 32. Cf. also Jacob Milgrom, ‘The Concept of Impurity in Jubilees and the Temple Scroll,’ RevQ 16 (1993) 277–284 (279): ‘According to Jubilees, the one who violates the Sabbath pollutes it (2, 25–27). That the Sabbath is a sanctum is biblical dictum (e.g., Gen 2, 3; Exod 20, 8; 31, 14–15; 35, 12). Since Scripture also maintains that the festivals are sacred (Lev 23, 2), Jubilees can, therefore, claim that those who hold to a lunar calendar pollute them (6, 36–37).’ See further Uwe Glessmer, ‘Explizite Aussagen über kalendarische Konflikte im Jubiläenbuch: Jub 6,22–32.33–38,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 127–164. 19 Cf. Shemarjahu Talmon, ‘320. 4QCalendrical Document/Mishmarot A,’ in S. Talmon, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XVI: Calendrical Texts (DJD 21; Oxford: Clarendon, 2001) 37–63 (46–47).

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jubilee, are part of the world order established at creation.20 As Shemaryahu Talmon observes, ‘The service registers of the priestly courses preserved in 4Q320–330 are aimed at supplying the Covenanters, principally the priesthood, with practical guidelines for determining the immutable dates of the annual festivals or of other important events over the course of the year. They are designed to display the entire sixyear cycle, whose recurrent, unvarying implementation was considered essential for the maintenance of the sacred time-scheme from Urzeit to Endzeit.’21 If the mishmarot service cycle is reckoned as beginning at the time of creation and as continuing in six-year intervals until the end of time, this cycle becomes, in effect, a kind of periodization of history, on par with the ‘week’ and the jubilee. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that, quite apart from their strictly calendrical application for scheduling the priestly rotation, mishmarot were also used as a means of dating events in ‘historical texts’ such as 4Q331–333, which mention names of rulers in the Hasmonean dynasty associated with events in ancient Judea.22 Talmon compares this application of the mishmarot to t. Ta#an. 3:9: ‘When the Temple was destroyed the first time it was Saturday night, and it was the end of the seventh year (of release), and it was (in) Cf. Ben-Dov (ed.), ‘4QOtot,’ 201. Similarly, the election of Israel as a whole was established from the first week of creation (Jub. 2:19–24). Cf J.A.T.G.M. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1–11 in the Book of Jubilees (JSJSup 66; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 57–65 (here 59): ‘In Jubilees the separation from the nations is combined with the creation of the world. The special status of Israel is anchored in the order of creation.’ 21 Talmon, ‘Introduction,’ 9. For Jubilees, these cycles that commence with creation are presumably included in ‘the (appointed) epochs of years’ for which God appointed the sun as a ‘great sign’ on the fourth day (Jub. 2:9; cf. 1:4, 26, 29). 22 For the texts and discussion, see Joseph Fitzmyer (ed.), ‘331. 4QpapHistorical Text C,’ in S.J. Pfann, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XXVI: Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, Part 1 (DJD 36; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000) 274–280; idem, ‘332. 4QHistorical Text D,’ in ibid., 281–286; idem, ‘333. 4QHistorical Text E,’ in ibid., 287–289. For an example of the use of a priestly course as a means of dating a historical event, see 4Q332 3.2– 3: ‘[… the leader of the Kitt]im killed S[…] (3) [… on the] fifth in (the course of) Jedaiah, this (is) […].’ According to 1 Chr 24:7, one of the priestly divisions was named after Jedaiah. Cf. also 4Q333 1.3–8: ‘[… in Je]hezkel, which is (4) […]Aemilius killed (5) [… in] the seventh [mon]th (6) [… the en]tr[ance of] Gamul (7) [… which] is (8) […]Aemilius killed.’ According to 1 Chr 24:16, 17, Jehezkel and Gamul were the names of priestly courses. The text refers to some sort of killing perpetrated by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, which unfortunately other historical sources do not mention. See further Daniel R. Schwartz, ‘Aemilius Scaurus, Marcus,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 1.9–10. 20

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the tour of duty of Jehoiarib, and it was (on) the ninth of Ab. And the same the second time.’23 The rabbinic text dates this cataclysmic event as having happened at an auspicious moment in history: at the end of two cultic cycles—the Sabbath and the sabbatical year—and at the beginning of a new cycle of priestly rotation (Jehoiarib being the first of the 24 priestly divisions in the rotation according to 1 Chr 24:7). This use of mishmarot for the purpose of dating historical events, particularly those relating to the Temple and its cultus, is crucial to our subsequent discussion of Jubilees. The second cultic cycle that we need to survey here is the ‘otot,’ the longest unit of time found in the Qumran calendrical documents. The ‘otot’ cycle is integrally connected with the mishmarot cycle. In fact, as we have seen above, the ‘otot’ cycle is completed at the end of precisely 49 mishmarot cycles (1 ‘otot’ = 294 years = 49 mishmarot). The ‘otot’ provides a convenient way to conceptualize the conjunction between the mishmarot and the jubilee cycles. For an ‘otot’ cycle is defined by the number of jubilees (i.e., 49-year periods) that need to pass until the first priestly division (Gamul) is once again serving in the Temple in the first week of a new jubilee.24 It takes six jubilees (6 ×49 years) before the mishmarot and jubilee cycles come into conjunction in this way. Since, as we have seen, both jubilee and mishmarot cycles commence with the fourth day of creation, the grand ‘otot’ cycle, which subsumes these lesser cycles, logically does as well. Anomalously, however, 4QOtot, the only Qumran text that incorporates the 294-year cycle,25 reckons the year of creation as the beginning of the second jubilee, rather than as the beginning of the first jubilee as might be expected.26 Thus, 23 Talmon, ‘Introduction,’ 12–13. The same passage is found in Seder #Olam 30, which is given here according to the translation of Chaim Milikowsky (‘Seder Olam: A Rabbinic Chronography,’ [2 vols.; Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1981] 2.547): ‘Rabbi Yose used to say: Propitiousness is assigned to a propitious day and calamity to a calamitous day. As it is found said: When the Temple was destroyed, the first time, that day was immediately after the Sabbath, it was immediately after the Sabbatical year, it was (during the service of) the priestly division of Jehoiarib, and it was the ninth day of Ab; and so the second time (the Temple was destroyed).’ 24 Cf., e.g., Abegg, ‘The Calendar at Qumran,’ 157; idem, ‘Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is? A Reexamination of 4Q503 in Light of 4Q317,’ in Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrich (eds.), The Provo International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformulated Issues (STDJ 30; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 396–406 (398). 25 For the official edition of the text, see J. Ben-Dov (ed.), ‘4QOtot,’ 195–244. 26 Cf. 4Q319 IV 10–11, 16–17: ‘[…]its light (came forth) on the fourth day of the wee[k …] (11) [the] Creation in the fourth (day) in Ga[mul; …] (16) [Shekaniah in the

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starting from creation, the very first ‘otot’ cycle comprises jubilees two through seven, rather than one through six.27 This anomaly has so far defied explanation.28 It may reflect a point of controversy either within the Qumran community itself or between the Qumran community and the wider priestly group from which it arose. For, as we shall see below, Jubilees seems to presuppose the ‘otot’ cycle and does so, as we might expect, by reckoning the first ‘otot’ cycle as beginning with the first jubilee from creation. The sectarian nature of 4QOtot is shown by the fact that the document is incorporated into one of the copies of Serekh ha-Yah. ad or Rule of the Community (4QSe [4Q259]).29 One of the most important of the sectarian texts, the Rule of the Community served as a kind of constitution for the Qumran community, framing the laws, regulations, and theological foundations that defined the group. The fact that a text like 4QOtot was included in the Rule of the Community shows how central these calendrical issues were to the community. It is curious, however, that 4QSe, quite possibly the oldest form of the Community Rule,30 is the only manuscript of the Rule containing 4QOtot. Does this mean that 4QOtot fell out of favor with the community at later stages in its history? Did the aforementioned anomaly in the text contribute to a controversy that eventually caused the text to be abandoned? The thematic connection between 4QOtot and its context in 4QSe (i.e., after 1QS 9.24) is not immediately obvious. Since the immediately preceding context of 1QS deals with eschatological ‘time’ (úòä),31 we

fo]urth; Sign of Gamul in the release (which is the) con[cluding] sign of [the jubilee. Signs of the second] (17) [ju]bilee (are) 17 signs, of these [3] signs (fall) in the (years of the) release […].’ For the translation, see Ben-Dov (ed.), ‘4QOtot,’ 215–216. Although the word ‘second’ (éðùä) that describes the jubilee is reconstructed in line 17, the explicit enumeration of the ordinal numbers in subsequent columns makes the reading certain. Cf. Abegg, ‘The Calendar at Qumran,’ 157 n. 18. On 4QOtot, see further VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 80–84. 27 Cf. Ben-Dov, ‘4QOtot,’ 202–203 (including a table enumerating mishmarot, otot [sensu stricto], and jubilees), 205–206, 208. 28 This anomaly is merely one of a number of unexplained idiosyncrasies in 4QOtot. For a discussion of the idiosyncrasies in the text, see Ben-Dov, ‘4QOtot,’ 204–206. Perhaps the text presupposes that time preexisted creation (cf. Gen. Rab. 3.7 to Gen 1:5), although this is difficult to conceive if the sun, which was created on the fourth day, is the basis for reckoning time. 29 Cf. Ben-Dov, ‘4QOtot,’ 199–201. 30 Cf. Sarianna Metso, The Textual Development of the Qumran Community Rule (STDJ 21; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 48–54, 69–74. 31 Cf. 1QS 9.10–24 (esp. lines 14, 18).

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may suspect that the calendrical section that follows in 4QSe contributes in some way to that theme. If so, this might strengthen our interpretation of the connection between the Otot material and the chronological scheme of Jubilees. If, as we have seen, the mishmarot cycle provides a periodization of history into six-year increments and also a ready means to date historical events, we may ask whether the ‘otot’ cycle, which comprises 49 mishmarot, is used similarly in Qumran. Jonathan Ben-Dov, the official editor of 4QOtot, tends to answer this question in the negative. On the basis of the apparent lack of evidence in Jubilees (and in the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks) for the use of priestly courses as a timereckoning device, Ben-Dov goes on to offer the following explanation for the development of the 294-year cycle:32 It should therefore be assumed that the correlation which serves as a basis for the otot schedule was engendered in order to harmonize the sixyear priestly cycle with the typical septad scheme, prominent in Enochic calendrical thought. It is well known that the standard year of 364 days represented in Astronomical Enoch and accepted at Qumran seeks a perfect extrapolation of the basic septad unit by positioning an ever-repeating structure with exact subdivisions: 364 days = four quarters of thirteen weeks, i.e. ninety-one days, respectively, with every appointed season and festival falling constantly on the same day of the week. The objective behind the intricate edifice of 4QOtot is to solve the problem caused by the six-year priestly cycle, that does not comply with the septimal pattern, by integrating it into a large-scale multiplication of six, seven, and forty-nine. The grand cycle of 294 years is therefore a chronological super-structure, whose intrinsic numerical relations may yield significant affinities of mishmarot and dates ….

While the need to integrate the various cultic cycles within an allencompassing superstructure may suffice as a partial explanation for the historical development of the grand 294-year cycle (perhaps in a later stage of its development),33 the use of the same cycle in Jubilees Ben-Dov, ‘4QOtot,’ 202; cf. also ibid., 210–211. Cf. Ben-Dov, ‘4QOtot,’ 210: ‘Thus the otot list is, technically speaking, a manual for the maintenance of the lunar calendar …. The need for synchronization remains the best explanation for the otot records. After establishing a count of signs appearing every three years, a need arose to integrate this count into the existing systems of mishmarot and jubilees. The 294-year cycle is significant precisely for this reason, being an apparatus that enables the accurate allotment of signs within the jubilees. The need to harmonize discrete time-reckoning devices was the main motivation for the various calendrical documents from Qumran; it was this motivation that prompted the development of the highly intricate otot roster with its technicalities and peculiarities.’ 32 33

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seems to point in a different direction. As we shall discuss in detail below, Jubilees appears to use the six-jubilee cycle—the grand cycle of priestly rotation in the Temple—as a fundamental unit of measure for reckoning world chronology. It seems probable that the priestly perspective on world history reflected in Jubilees might actually have given rise to the development of the ‘otot’ cycle. As we shall see, the Genesis account of Enoch could have provided the initial impetus for the development of this chronological concept, although implications of this fundamental conception were quickly grasped and extended. The Priestly Orientation of Jubilees Although it is nowhere directly stated that Jubilees has a priestly orientation, inferences from the book make it clear that this is a basic orientation. The prominence that Jubilees gives to the priesthood, and particularly to Levi and his descendants as priests, makes it virtually certain that the book is written from a fundamentally priestly perspective. For Jubilees, the priestly line begins with Adam himself, who offered incense outside the Garden of Eden (Jub. 3:27), and continues on through Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Isaac, all of whom offer sacrifices and perform other sacerdotal duties.34 As we shall see, Jubilees especially highlights Enoch as the prototypical model of the subsequent priesthood and the harbinger of the restored priesthood on Mt. Zion. Interestingly, Jubilees’ emphasis on matrilineal descent throughout the book shows a concern for the purity of the priestly line, including, of course, the sanctity of Israel’s line as a whole, since Israel is a kingdom of priests (Exod 19:6; cf. Jub. 16:17–18; 33:20).35 Levi, the most important of Jacob’s sons, becomes the first priest among the Israelites, and indeed the first one of Abraham’s line to be called a priest. Levi is entrusted with the sacred writings that have been passed down generation to generation from time immemorial by the patriarchs (Jub. 45:16), starting with Enoch who was the first person on Cf. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees, 141. Cf. Betsy Halpern-Amaru, ‘The First Woman, Wives, and Mothers in Jubilees,’ JBL 113 (1994) 609–626 (with helpful genealogical charts on 623–626); see also idem, The Empowerment of Women in the Book of Jubilees (JSJSup 60; Leiden: Brill, 1999) esp. 147–159. On Exod 19:6 in Jewish tradition, see further James L. Kugel, Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998) 671–674. 34 35

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earth to learn to write (Jub. 4:17).36 Thus, all of the priestly craft and lore from generations past is distilled and concentrated in Levi and his descendants. As the eponymous ancestor of the tribe of Levi and of the priests and Levites, it is surprising that Levi’s role in Genesis is quite meager, and he never acts as a priest there. His main claim to fame is that he, along with Simeon, killed Hamor and Shechem in retaliation for the rape of their sister Dinah (Genesis 34), although in the biblical text, that act provoked Jacob’s wrath (v. 30) and later his deathbed curse of Simeon and Levi (Gen 49:5–7). In contrast, Jubilees gives Levi great prominence and considerable scope, especially in Jubilees 30– 32, where the eternal priesthood of Levi and his descendants is seen as a reward for Levi’s zeal in annihilating all the Shechemites and thereby carrying out ‘justice, punishment, and revenge on all who rise against Israel’ (Jub. 30:18). For Jubilees, Levi’s fierce reaction against the Shechemites is based on the fact that Israel’s sanctity as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation was threatened with defilement through unholy union with foreigners (cf. Gen 34:5; Jub. 30:2, 5, 6).37 Levi’s execution of the Shechemites can be compared with the drastic measure that Phinehas took against the Israelites’ intermarriage with Moabite women, for which he was similarly rewarded with an eternal priesthood for himself and his descendants (Num 25:1–18, esp. v. 13).38 Thus, we find here another of the many instances in which Jubilees antedates cultically significant events or practices found at a later point in the 36

Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Jubilees’ Exegetical Creation of Levi the Priest,’ RevQ 17 (1996) 359–373 (360, 371–372); idem, ‘The Origins and Purposes of the Book of Jubilees,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 3–24 (19): ‘… the author indicates that priestly instruction is passed along, first in oral and later in written form, from father to favorite son (7:38–39 [oral teaching from Enoch to Methuselah to Lamech to Noah]; 10:14 [Noah gives all he had written to Shem]; 45:16 [Jacob gave all his books and those of his ancestors to Levi “so that he could preserve them and renew them for his sons until today”]; cf. 12:27; 21:10; 39:6–7).’ On inscriptions from before the flood that allegedly survived the catastrophe and began to circulate in the Hellenistic period, see Pieter W. van der Horst, ‘Antediluvian Knowledge: Graeco-Roman and Jewish Speculations about Wisdom from before the Flood,’ in Japheth in the Tents of Shem: Studies on Jewish Hellenism in Antiquity (Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology 32; Leuven: Peeters, 2002) 139– 158. As van der Horst explains, stories about the preservation of antediluvian knowledge came into vogue during a widespread controversy over the priority of Egyptian and Babylonian cultures. 37 Cf. Christine E. Hayes, Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion from the Bible to the Talmud (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) 73–81. 38 Likewise in Exod 32:25–29, the Levites ‘ordain themselves’ to the service of YHWH as a result of their execution of 3000 unfaithful Israelites.

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biblical text.39 In keeping with a well-established pattern of the Genesis narrative in which a son follows in the footsteps of the father, Phinehas in effect emulates Levi’s earlier actions. Instead of concentrating on Israel’s sin in the wilderness (which is largely avoided by setting the book in the context of the revelation to Moses at Mt. Sinai), Jubilees is able to communicate much the same message as that in Numbers 25 by attaching it to Levi (a more prominent figure than Phinehas) in an earlier episode in Israel’s history in which the foreign aggressors more obviously deserved death. This antedating also has the advantage of avoiding the appearance that the eternal priesthood was a divine afterthought and of making it instead available by right of descent to the subsequent line of Phinehas, the distinguished priest who was the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the brother of Moses (cf. Exod 6:25; 1 Chr 5:30; 6:35 [ET 6:4, 50]). Later, after employing a peculiar method of selection in which he ‘went up (the list [of his sons]) and it came down on Levi in the Lord’s share,’ Jacob is said to have ‘put priestly clothes on him and ordained him’ (Jub. 32:3). Levi then ‘served as priest in Bethel [= “house/temple of God”],’ even accepting tithes from his father Jacob (Jub. 32:9).40 Jacob wanted to build a temple at Bethel,41 although he was prevented from carrying out this ambition.42 There is no clearer indication of Levi’s prominence and sacerdotal function than the blessing given to him by his grandfather Isaac in Jub. 31:13–17: ‘May the Lord give you and your descendants extremely Cf. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees, 69: ‘The Aramaic Levi had already made the move, apparently combining biblical stories about violent but praiseworthy zeal on the part of levites/priests (Exod. 32.25–29; Num. 25.1–15) with the glowing picture of Levi in Mal. 2.4–7.’ 40 These are the tithes that Jacob promised to make in the context of his encounter at Bethel (cf. Gen 28:20–22). Cf. also T. Levi 9:3–4: ‘When we came to Bethel my father, Jacob, saw in a vision concerning me that I should be in the priesthood. (4) He arose early and paid tithes for all to the Lord, through me.’ 41 Cf. Gen 28:17: ‘How awesome is this place [i.e., Bethel]! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ Here, Bethel is evidently understood to be a connection between heaven and earth. 42 Cf. Jub. 32:16, 22: ‘During the next night, on the twenty-second day of this month, Jacob decided to build up that place [sc. Bethel = “House of God”] and to surround the courtyard with a wall, to sanctify it, and make it eternally holy for himself and for his children after him forever. […] (22) After he [sc. an angel who came down from heaven with seven tablets in his hands] had shown him everything that was written on the tablets, he said to him: “Do not build up this place, and do not make it an eternal temple. Do not live here because this is not the place.”’ 39

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great honor; may he make you and your descendants (alone) out of all humanity approach him to serve in his temple like the angels of the presence and like the holy ones’ (v. 14; cf. 30:18).43 The idea that Levi and his descendants serve on earth in a way that mirrors the priestly function of the highest orders of angels in heaven44 goes along with the theme in Jubilees as a whole that the cultus should be ‘on earth as in heaven.’45 As discussed in the Introduction, the divine ideal from the foundation of the earth is that there would be a synchronization of cultic cycles on earth as in heaven. Thus, for example, the Festival of Weeks instituted after the flood was merely an earthly manifestation of a festival that had already been celebrated annually since the time of creation (Jub. 6:18). Now it becomes apparent that, like Enoch, their well-connected forebear who successfully straddled heaven and earth, Levi and his descendants are the means by which the synchronization between the heavenly and earthly cultus is to be effected both by their 43 It is hardly coincidental that ‘the angels of the presence’ and ‘the angels of holiness’ were created on Sunday, the first day of the creation week (Jub. 2:2), just as the earthly priests begin their weekly rotation on Sunday (see further above). Similarly, the Sabbath of creation provides the model for the weekly observance of the holy day of rest from all work. 44 On the angelic priesthood in the Qumran scrolls (especially the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice), see Maxwell J. Davidson, Angels at Qumran: A Comparative Study of 1Enoch 1–36, 72–108 and Sectarian Writings from Qumran (JSPSup 11; Sheffield: JSOT, 1992) 238–243, 248. See also T. Levi 3:5–6; 1QSb 4.24–26. 45 The correspondence between the angels and Israel is extensive. According to Jubilees, the highest angels share with Israel the celebration of the sabbath (2:21, 30; cf. v. 18) and the Feast of Weeks (6:18), as well as the sign of circumcision (15:27). There is extensive OT and Jewish tradition regarding the correspondence between heaven and earth. Cf. Martha Himmelfarb, ‘The Temple and the Garden of Eden in Ezekiel, the Book of the Watchers, and the Wisdom of ben Sira,’ in Jamie Scott and Paul Simpson-Housley (eds.), Sacred Places and Profane Spaces: Essays in the Geographics of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Contributions to the Study of Religion 30; New York: Greenwood, 1991) 63–78 (68): ‘The assumption that temples on earth have counterparts in heaven, or to put it more accurately from an ancient point of view, that temples on earth correspond to heavenly archetypes, is widespread in the ancient Near East and appears in a number of biblical texts.’ See also, e.g., Philip S. Alexander, The Targum of Canticles (The Aramaic Bible 17A; Collegeville, MI: The Liturgical Press, 2003) 23: ‘The Sanhedrin is the one institution to which he [sc. the Targumist] gives the supreme validation of an imitatio dei: the Holy One himself studies Torah and Talmud “day and night” in the Celestial Yeshibah (5:10). The Terrestrial Yeshibah and above all its Head are his representatives par excellence on earth: just as God’s face in heaven “shines like fire on account of the greatness of the wisdom and reasoning with which He discloses new meanings all day long” (5:10), so the Head of the College on earth “shines with [a knowledge of] the Torah like the disc of the moon, when he comes to pronounce pure and impure, innocent or guilty” (7:3).’ Cf. idem, ‘3Baruch,’ OTP, 1.223–315 (244–245).

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actual performance of the ritual and liturgy and by their teaching Israel to conform to the foreordained divine will.46 As John C. Endres aptly comments about the priestly emphasis in Jubilees:47 … the continual extension of the priestly purity regulations to the entire community of Israel in Jubilees is this author’s way of calling the entire Jewish community to repentance, to a way of life first modeled by the patriarchs and matriarchs, to a life-style prescribed for priests and their families. But the author’s exhortation focuses first on priests and their circles, and then by extension on all Israel, for priests have primary responsibility for most of the obligations expressed in Jubilees. Finally, the focus on Levi clearly points to the ministry expected of priests in the contemporary situation: preservation and renewal, including authentic interpretation and teaching.

Given Jubilees’ extraordinary emphasis on Levi and the priesthood, often by means of major modifications to the base text and extrabiblical details, the fundamental orientation of the book is obviously priestly.48 Like the Qumran covenanters, who fervently awaited the rebuilding of a new Temple in which their own priesthood would conduct the holy service in accordance with their solar calendar and their ritual rulings,49 the priestly author or group behind the Book of Jubilees yearned for the establishment of the eschatological Temple and the restoration of sacred space and sacred time in accordance with their 364-day sabbatical calendar.

46 Jacob is portrayed as having already begun this process: ‘He worshiped the Lord wholeheartedly and in line with the visible commandments according to the division of the times of his generation’ (Jub. 36:20). 47 John C. Endres, Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees (CBQMS 18; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1987) 248. 48 For arguments that the orientation in Jubilees is priestly rather than levitical, see VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees, 142: ‘First, Levi is ordained as a priest, not a levite, and the priestly title is given to him several times (32.1, 3, 9 [twice]). Second, it is difficult to believe that a levitical author would make the addition to the Melchizedek story that Jubilees does: “The Lord make it an eternal ordinance that they should give it [the tithe] to the priests who serve before him for them to possess it forever” (13.25) … the eternal ordinance in Jubilees does not agree with biblical prescriptions which require that the tithe be given to the levites [Neh 13:5, 12]. If Jubilees’ author was a levite, he undercut his own and his colleagues’ source of income. The passage is, however, perfectly understandable if the writer was a priest and would fit in well with the history of the tithe which the priests later arrogated for themselves.’ 49 Cf. Shemaryahu Talmon, ‘Calendars and Mishmarot,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 1.108–117 (110).

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Evidence for the Use of the Mishmarot and ‘Otot’ Cycles in Jubilees In view of the fundamentally priestly orientation in the book, we find, as we might expect, that both the calendar and the chronological system of Jubilees are imbued with a thoroughly priestly character as well. The quarterly cycle provides a case in point with respect to the calendar. According to Jub. 6:23 (cf. vv. 24–31), the first day of the four quarters of the solar year are special:50 On the first of the first month [I/1], the first of the fourth month [IV/1], the first of the seventh month [VII/1], and the first of the tenth month [X/1] are memorial days and days of the seasons. They are written down and ordained at the four divisions of the year as an eternal testimony.

In the Qumran scrolls, 4Q328 2–6 and 4Q329 2.1–3 (cf. 4Q319 VII 2– 7) underscore the importance of the quarters of the year by listing the priestly course serving on the first day of each annual quarter for the six years of the priestly rotation.51 Similarly in Jubilees, the patriarchs perform priestly acts on the first day of the quarter.52 As we shall 50 As VanderKam (Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 29–30, 32–33) notes, these four memorial days are not the same as the four days that are added at the end of each three-month period in the 364-day calendar of the Astronomical Book of Enoch. See, however, Gabrielle Boccaccini, ‘The Solar Calendars of Daniel and Enoch,’ in John J. Collins and Peter W. Flint (eds.), The Book of Daniel: Composition and Reception (2 vols.; VTSup 83; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 2.311–328 (318). On the four days, see further VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees, 97–98. 51 For the official edition of these texts, see Shemaryahu Talmon (ed.), ‘328. 4QMishmarot F,’ in S. Talmon, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XVI: Calendrical Texts (DJD 21; Oxford: Clarendon, 2001) 139–141; idem, ‘329. 4QMishmarot G,’ in ibid., 143–146. Although the texts are fragmentary, the immutable structure of the priestly rotation, and the remains of practically identical mishmarot registers, make it possible to fully restore the master text of four discrete tables which presumably were contained in the documents. For the reconstructed master schedule, see Talmon, ‘Introduction,’ 29 (‘Appendix 3’). This master schedule included the names of the priestly courses that served at the beginnings of the annual quarters. Compare the content of the revelation given to Enoch by Uriel according to 1Enoch 82:10–20 (here v. 13): ‘And these are the names of the leaders which divide the four seasons of the years which are fixed: Malki"¯el, H¯ela"emmem¯elek, Mil¯ay"ul, and N¯ar¯el.’ 52 The evidence for priestly activity on the first day of the four quarters of the solar year is as follows: I/1 (Jub. 7:3: Noah ‘makes a burnt offering for the Lord to make atonement through it for himself and for his his sons’; 24:22–23: Isaac ‘built the altar which his father Abraham had first built. He called on the Lord’s name and offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Abraham’); IV/1 (Jub. 3:27: ‘On that day [i.e., on the first day of the fourth month; cf. v. 32], as he [sc. Adam] was leaving the Garden of Eden [= “the holy of holies” and “the residence of the Lord”; cf. 8:19], he burned incense as a pleasing fragrance … in the early morning when the sun rose ….’); VII/1

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see, the quarterly cycle is not the only cycle with a decisively priestly character. Even more importantly for our purposes, Jubilees presupposes the cycles of priestly rotation, the mishmarot and the ‘otot.’ Moreover, as we shall also discuss, these cycles of priestly rotation sometimes coincide with momentous events in human history, especially those associated with the Temple and its cultus. The most compelling evidence that Jubilees presupposes the ‘otot’ cycle depends on one intriguing detail from the life of Enoch: After the birth of Methuselah (Jub. 4:20), Enoch is said to have been ‘with God’s angels for six jubilees of years,’ during which time he learned ‘the dominion of the sun’ (4:21). Scholars have recognized that this sixjubilee period is the same as the length of the 294-year cycle in 4QOtot, and that the same expression is used in both cases.53 Nevertheless, BenDov denies that the ‘six jubilees of years’ in Jub. 4:21 has anything to do with what we are calling an ‘otot’ cycle:54 ‘six jubilees of years’ are mentioned in Jub. 4:21 (4Q227 2.2) as the time-period of Enoch’s sojourn in Heaven. However, since neither 1Enoch nor Jubilees knows the calendrical significance of the number six, it is not likely to bear the same meaning as in 4QOtot.

íéðù éìáé äùù,

Hence, although he recognizes that the expression ‘six jubilees of years’ is the same both in 4QOtot and in Jub. 4:21, Ben-Dov dismisses a material connection between these texts for lack of evidence of the number six in the Jubilean calendar. It might be more fruitful, however, to first examine the ‘six jubilees of years’ in its own context before making a final judgment on its relationship to the 294-year cycle in 4QOtot. In order to ascertain how the expression is actually being used in Jub. 4:21, we shall have to be in constant conversation with the biblical text on which it is based. Everything about the seventh patriarch is extraordinary both in the Genesis text and in Jubilees.55 Already in Genesis 5, the information (Jub. 31:3: Jacob ‘built an altar at the place where he had slept and set up a pillar. He sent word to his father Isaac and to his mother Rebecca as well to come to him to his sacrifice’); X/1 (none; cf., however, Jub. 6:27). 53 Cf., e.g., VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 82, with n. 18. 54 Ben-Dov, ‘4QOtot,’ 202 n. 9. It should be noted that 4Q227 2.1–2 (‘E]noch after we taught him … six jubilees of years’) has been classed not as a fragment of Jub. 4:21 per se, but as 4Qpseudo-Jubileesc, although admittedly the context of this fragment is the same as Jubilees’ section on Enoch (Jub. 4:17–24). Cf. J. VanderKam and J.T. Milik (eds.), ‘227. 4Qpseudo-Jubileesc,’ in Harold Attridge, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, VII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 1 (DJD 13; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) 171–175 (173–174). 55 Cf. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 163–166, 177.

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about Enoch differs markedly from the formulaic pattern of the genealogies in the rest of the chapter. The normal pattern consists of six elements: (1) the report that a man became the father of a son, usually his firstborn; (2) the age of the father at the time of the birth; (3) the number of years that the father lived after the son’s birth; (4) the fact that the father had other sons and daughters; (5) the total number of years that the father lived; and (6) a concluding statement that the father died. In Gen 5:21–24, however, the normal pattern is interrupted: The text states that ‘Enoch walked with God’ after the birth of Methuselah (v. 22). His life span is given as 365 years— by far the shortest lifetime of all the antediluvian patriarchs. Enoch’s death is not mentioned. Instead, the fact that Enoch ‘walked with God’ is repeated, and then his end is described: ‘then he was no more, because God took him’ (v. 24). ‘The deviations from the regular pattern reinforce the fact that there was something highly unusual about Enoch. His life was unusual and his end was unusual.’56 Enoch’s uniqueness and importance stand out even more sharply in the Book of Jubilees. Indeed, the lengthy expansion on Enoch in Jub. 4:17–26 forms the focal point in the middle of a carefully constructed passage (Jub. 3:32–4:33).57 For purposes of the present study, we shall concentrate on the structure of Jub. 4:17–26 itself. As the following structural diagram makes clear, this text deals largely with various aspects of Enoch’s activity as a scribe-priest.58 The Van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 163. For a structural analysis of Jub. 3:32–4:33, see van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 117–118. 58 In characterizing Enoch as a scribe-priest, Jubilees is apparently following the Book of the Watchers (1Enoch 1–36), which dates from before the Maccabean revolt (see the following note). On the Book of the Watchers as a source for Jubilees (including Jub. 4:21!), see James C. VanderKam, ‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other SecondCentury Sources,’ SBL Seminar Papers 1 (1978) 231–245. First, the Book of the Watchers portrays Enoch as a priest. In 1Enoch 14:8–23, for example, Enoch is like the high priest who enters the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement, for he ascends to heaven, penetrates the inner sanctum of the heavenly Temple, and goes into the very presence of the Great Glory enthroned in the holy of holies. See further Martha Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) 23–25, 30. Second, the Book of the Watchers explicitly refers to Enoch as a ‘scribe’ ( γραμματε ς τς δικαιοσνης [12:3–4] and γραμματε ς τς ληεας [15:1]) who is sent as a messenger to the Watchers. Similarly, at the beginning of the Epistle of Enoch (92:1), which dates from the latter part of the second century or earlier, Enoch appears as the scribe who has written this part of the book: ‘Written by Enoch the scribe (this complete sign of wisdom) (who is) praised by all men and a leader of the whole earth ….’ See further Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1, 65–67. Note, however, that these references to Enoch’s 56 57

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repetition of words and phrases in the text suggests that only a few aspects of Enoch’s scribal activity are emphasized and reiterated. The structural diagram attempts to align those parts of the text that seem to be repeated in essence. enoch’s scribal activity: Calendar (17) He was the FIRST of mankind who were born on the earth who learned (the art of) writing, instruction, and wisdom and who wrote down in a book the signs of the sky in accord with the fixed pattern of their months so that mankind would know the seasons of the years according to the fixed patterns of each of their months. enoch’s scribal activity: Testimony (Periodization) (18) He was the FIRST to write a testimony. He testified to mankind in the generations of the earth: The weeks of the jubilees he related, and made known the days of the years; the months he arranged, and related the sabbaths of the years, as WE HAD TOLD HIM. enoch’s scribal activity: Testimony (Past and Future History) (19) While he slept he saw in a vision what has happened and what will occur—how things will happen for mankind during their history until the day of judgment. He saw everything and understood. He wrote a testimony for himself and placed it upon the earth against all mankind and for their history. enoch’s reproductive activity: Methuselah’s Birth (20) During the twelfth jubilee, in its seventh week [582–588] he took a wife for himself. Her name was Edni, the daughter of Daniel, the daughter of his father’s brother. In the sixth year of this week [587] she gave birth to a son for him, and he named him Methuselah. enoch’s scribal activity: Testimony (Periodization) (21) He was, moreover, with God’s angels for six jubilees of years. THEY SHOWED HIM everything on earth and in the heavens—the dominion of the sun—and he wrote down everything.

role as a scribe do not explain Jubilees’ assertion that Enoch was the first to learn the art of writing (see above on the cultural controversy in which Jubilees may be immersed). On the influence of Deuteronomy on the development of the scribe-priest, see Martha Himmelfarb, ‘The Wisdom of the Scribe, the Wisdom of the Priest, and the Wisdom of the King according to Ben Sira,’ in Randal A. Argall, et al. (eds.), For a Later Generation: The Transformation of Tradition in Israel, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000) 89–99 (esp. 92–94).

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chapter one enoch’s scribal activity: Testimony (Past History) (22) He testified to the Watchers who had sinned with the daughters of men because these had begun to mix with earthly women so that they became defiled. Enoch testified against all of them. enoch’s scribal activity: Testimony (Present and Future History) (23) He was taken from human society, and WE LED HIM into the Garden of Eden for (his) greatness and honor. Now he is there writing down the judgment and condemnation of the world and all the wickedness of mankind. (24) Because of him the flood water did not come on any of the land of Eden because he was placed there as a sign and to testify against all people in order to tell all the deeds of history until the day of judgment. enoch’s priestly activity: Incense Offering (25) He burned incense of the sanctuary which is acceptable before the Lord on the mountain of incense. (26) For there are four places on earth that belong to the Lord: the Garden of Eden, the mountain of the east, this mountain on which you are today—Mt. Sinai—and Mt. Zion (which) will be sanctified in the new creation for the sanctification of the earth. For this reason the earth will be sanctified from all its sins and from its uncleanness into the history of eternity.

Jubilees credits Enoch with several ‘firsts’: ‘He was the first of mankind who were born on the earth who learned (the art of) writing, instruction and wisdom and who wrote down in a book the signs of the sky in accord with the fixed pattern of their months so that mankind would know the seasons of the years according to the fixed patterns of each of their months’ (Jub. 4:17).59 Enoch was also ‘the first to write a testimony. He testified to mankind in the generations of the earth: The weeks of the jubilees he related, and made known the days of the years; the months he arranged, and related the sabbaths of the years, as

59 Cf. VanderKam, ‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 233: ‘Jub 4:17b is a delightfully clear reference to the AB [Astronomical Book]. There one finds the requisite discussions of the heavenly signs (sun, moon, stars) and of correct calculation of months (cf. especially 82:4–9).’ At the first Enoch Symposium, which was convened in Florence, Italy, in June 2001, a consensus was reached that beginning with the Astronomical Book of Enoch and the Book of the Watchers, the Enochic literature was first composed in ancient Palestine by a group of learned Jews sometime between 300 and 200 bce. Cf. James H. Charlesworth, ‘A Rare Consensus Among Enoch Specialists: The Date of the Earliest Enoch Books,’ Henoch 24 (2002) 225–234.

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we [sc. the angels of the presence] had told him’ (Jub. 4:18).60 In other words, Enoch is regarded as nothing less than the human source of the calendar and chronology that are foundational to the cultus. Enoch also filled in the basic chronological framework with actual events of human history both past and future—everything until the day of judgment (v. 19). This material might be based in part on the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks (1Enoch 93:1–10; 91:11–17).61 None of this material is found in Genesis 5. The first convergence with the biblical text comes in Jub. 4:20, where the birth of Methuselah is described. Even here, however, the Genesis text is completely reworked. Whereas Gen 5:21 states simply that ‘When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah,’ Jub. 4:20 informs us that Enoch took a wife for himself, when he did so, what her name was, which family she came from, and that she gave birth to a son for Enoch. We also learn precisely when Methuselah was born according to the absolute chronology of the book, that is, in the sixth year of the seventh week of the twelfth jubilee—or 587 am. Unlike Gen 5:21, however, Jubilees does not state how old Enoch was when his son was born. Nevertheless, as we shall discuss further below, 587 am corresponds to the date when Enoch was 65 years old according to the chronology of the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP). The next block of material is also based on Genesis 5. Jubilees 4:21 can be considered an interpretation of the phrase ‘Enoch walked with íéäìàä (God)’ in Gen 5:22. According to Gen 5:22, ‘Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah three hundred years ….’ However, the 60 Cf. VanderKam, ‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 234: ‘Milik is probably correct in saying that 18b points to “… various astronomical and calendrical texts, calculated on the cycles of three, six, seven, and forty-nine years, copies of which exist among the manuscripts of Cave 4 ….”’ It is interesting to note that in 1Enoch 8:3, which is part of the Book of the Watchers (1Enoch 1–36), the Watchers (i.e., the fallen angels of Genesis 6) are said to have taught humankind astrology, knowledge of the signs, the observation of the stars, and the course of the moon, which led to mankind’s going astray (cf. Jub. 8:1–4). These are some of the very things that according to Jub. 4:18, the ‘good’ angels taught Enoch. See further van der Horst, ‘Antediluvian Knowledge,’ 151, 153. 61 Cf. VanderKam, ‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 234: ‘… the early parts of the Epistle [of Enoch], including the Apocalypse of Weeks. 92:1 refers to Enoch’s writing, the contents of which are also for future generations; 91:1 mentions that he showed to his children “… everything that shall befall you forever”; and 93:2 states that the Apocalypse came to him in “the heavenly vision.” Furthermore, the ten-weeks of the Apocalypse cover the past (93:3) and the future until the judgment (91:15) with only a vague allusion to subsequent events (91:17).’

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author of Jubilees has changed walking ‘with God’ to being ‘with God’s angels,’ evidently interpreting the articular noun íéäìàä of the Hebrew text as a reference to angels.62 Clearly, then, Jubilees presents Enoch as having embarked on a (heavenly?) sojourn with the angels at some point after the birth of Methuselah. The other major change that Jub. 4:21 makes to the Genesis text is to substitute ‘six jubilees of years’ for ‘three hundred years’ as the length of Enoch’s sojourn with the angels. At first glance, one might suppose that this substitution is merely an approximation due to Jubilees’ clumsy system of dating events according to jubilees, weeks, and years. After all, ‘300 years’ is roughly ‘six jubilees of years’ (= 294 years), rounded off to the nearest jubilee.63 Several facts should be kept in mind when assessing the possibility of an approximation here: (1) However awkwardly, Jubilees’ system of dating is fully capable of specifying the exact number of years of a date or event. Thus, ‘300 years’ could have been expressed as precisely ‘six jubilees and six years,’ which has a certain ring to it. Jubilees does not hesitate to include dates and times that fall just short of or extend just beyond a nice, round number of jubilees (cf. e.g., Jub. 4:29, where, although the length of Adam’s life is shy of 19 jubilees by just one year, the author of Jubilees accurately writes out the full number of jubilees, weeks and years that he actually lived according to the biblical text). Therefore, we must conclude that if the author of Jubilees had wanted to do so, he could have given an exact equivalent to the ‘300 years’ in the Hebrew text. (2) Jubilees 4:21 presents us with a major exception to the normal way that the book appropriates dates and times from the biblical text. Consider the following examples drawn from Genesis:

62 Cf. James C. VanderKam, Enoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic Tradition (CBQMS 16; Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1984) 31–32, 130–131. 63 Cf. VanderKam, ‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 235: ‘Jub 4:21 refers to Enoch’s stay of ca. 300 years (six jubilees) with God’s angels ….’ It is certainly incorrect to state with van Ruiten (Primaeval History Interpreted, 129) that in Jub. 4:21, the duration of the stay of Enoch with the angels is the same as that in the SP. For in Gen 5:22 SP, the time that Enoch walked with God was 300 years, just as in the MT.

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Jubilees

6:3

‘… their days shall be one hundred twenty years.’

5:8

‘… their lifespan is to be 120 years.’

15:13

‘… and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years.’

14:13

‘They will enslave them and oppress them for 400 years.’

17:17

‘Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’

15:17

‘Will a son be born to one who is 100 years of age? Will Sarah who is 90 years of age give birth (to a child)?’

29:20–21 (cf. v. 27)

‘So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. (21) Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”’

28:2 (cf. v. 8)

‘Give me my wife for whom I have served you seven years.’

37:2

‘Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers ….’

39:2 (cf. 46:3)

‘When Joseph was 17 years of age, they brought him down to Egypt.’

41:29–30

There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. (30) After them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; the famine will consume the land.’

40:3

‘Seven years are coming (in which there will be) abundance in the entire land of Egypt, but afterwards there will be a seven-year famine, the like of which famine has never been in the entire land.’

47:28

‘Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years ….’

45:13

‘Israel lived for 17 years in the land of Egypt ….’

50:22

‘… and Joseph lived one hundred ten years.’

46:3

‘Joseph died when he was 110 years of age. He had lived for 17 years in the land of Canaan; for 10 years he remained enslaved; he was in prison for three years; and for 80 years he was ruling the entire land of Egypt under the pharaoh.’

In all of these examples, Jubilees simply appropriates the date or time of the Genesis text verbatim, without converting the number into the jubilees system. The same can also be said for the use of Ps 90:10

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in Jub. 23:15, where the upper range for a person’s life is given as ‘seventy years or if he is strong (for) eighty years.’ Here again, we are dealing with a verbatim appropriation of the figures from the biblical text. Now consider the following examples, likewise drawn from Genesis, in which Jubilees does convert the date or time into the book’s awkward chronological system: Genesis

Jubilees

5:5

‘Thus all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years; and he died.’

4:29–30

‘And at the end of the nineteenth jubilee, during the seventh week—in its sixth year [930]—Adam died. […] (30) He lacked 70 years from 1000 years ….’

9:29

‘All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years; and he died.’

10:16

‘He completed 950 years in his lifetime—19 jubilees, two weeks, and five years ….’

23:1

‘Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years; this was the length of Sarah’s life.’

19:7

‘All the time of Sarah’s life was 127—that is, two jubilees, four weeks, and one year. This was the time in years of Sarah’s life.’

25:7

‘This is the length of Abraham’s life, one hundred seventyfive years.’

23:8 (cf. 21:2; 22:7)

‘He [sc. Abraham] had lived for three jubilees and four weeks of years—175 years—when he completed his lifetime.’

35:28

‘Now the days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years.’

36:18

‘He [sc. Isaac] fell asleep forever and died at the age of 180 years. He had completed 25 weeks and five years.’

47:28

‘… so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.’

45:13

‘All of the time he [sc. Israel] lived was three jubilees—147 years.’

In these examples, the author of Jubilees converts the life span of the matriarch or patriarch into the jubilees system and does so with precision. There are no approximations here. In most cases, the conversion into jubilees is given right alongside of the biblical figure expressed in years. Jubilees 4:29 is only an apparent exception to the norm. Instead of stating with Gen 5:5 that Adam died at 930 years of age, Jubilees chooses to express the same fact in an alternative way in order to

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make a major theological point: Adam died 70 years shy of the divine ideal of 1000 years.64 In sum, Jubilees normally appropriates dates and times of Genesis verbatim and often also supplies a precise equivalent expressed in terms of the jubilee system. Therefore, when Jub. 4:21 states that Enoch was with the angels for ‘six jubilees of years,’ the text takes liberties with the Genesis text that are seen nowhere else in the book with respect to the dates and times of Genesis. Not only does Jubilees fail to cite the ‘300 years’ of Gen 5:22, but also it substitutes a different number altogether for the ‘300 years.’ The ‘six jubilees of years’ should not be seen as an approximation for ‘300 years,’ since there is otherwise no evidence in Jubilees for similar approximations. Instead, we must consider this substitution a deliberate alteration of the Hebrew base text. It remains, then, to consider what may have motivated Jubilees to introduce this highly unusual change into the text at this point. Hence, we turn next to the context in which the ‘six jubilees of years’ occurs. Since this figure is expressed in terms of ‘jubilees of years,’ we may suspect that it is motivated by chronological considerations, especially if it was during that span of time with the angels that Enoch learned ‘the dominion of the sun’ (v. 21), which is the chronological basis of the Book of Jubilees.65 It should also be recalled that Jub. 4:17–26 as a whole is oriented on calendar, chronology, and the entire history of humankind from the remote past and until the end of time.66 For some reason, then, ‘six jubilees of years’ probably contributes to the author’s chronological argument. 64 On 1000 years as the original, divine ideal for human longevity, see further in chapter 2 (pp. 110, 111, 119–121). 65 On the reference in Jub. 4:21 to the fact that the angels showed Enoch ‘everything on earth and in heaven’ and that Enoch ‘wrote down everything,’ see VanderKam, ‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 235: ‘Milik is correct in perceiving in this verse a reference primarily to the cosmological section of the BW [Book of the Watchers] (17–36), where Enoch in angelic company (12:1–2; 17:1; 19:1; 20:2, 3, etc.) views celestial and terrestrial things as he journeys to the extremities of the earth and beyond (cf. 23:1; 28:1; 30:1; 31:2; 32:1, 2; 33:1; 34:1; 35; 36:2). Reference is also made to his writing about heavenly phenomena (33:3) ….’ 66 It is interesting to note that in the treatise on the sun (1 Enoch 72) at the beginning of the Astronomical Book (1Enoch 72–82), the holy angel Uriel showed Enoch ‘the nature of the years of the world unto eternity, till the new creation which abides forever is created’ (72:1). Cf. VanderKam, ‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 235: ‘The single item in Jub 4:21 that cannot be gleaned from 1Enoch 12 and 17–36 is the phrase sˇel.t¯ano la-d. ah. ay (the rule of the sun) which, if it is original, refers to chapter 72.’

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The only chronological datum with which the ‘six jubilees of years’ is associated in the immediate context is Methuselah’s birth in the sixth year of the seventh week of the twelfth jubilee, for the text states that Enoch was with the angels for the ‘six jubilees of years’ after Methuselah’s birth.67 Now, Jubilees does not state how long it was after Methuselah’s birth that Enoch embarked on his (heavenly) sojourn, but it must have been fairly soon thereafter. The reason for this deduction is simple and straightforward: In the chronology of the antediluvian patriarchs, the Genesis text always provides the age of the patriarch at the birth of his firstborn, followed by the number of years remaining in the patriarch’s life.68 In Enoch’s case, there are ‘300 years’ remaining according to Genesis, although, as we have seen, Jubilees intentionally changes this figure to ‘six jubilees of years.’ Hence, Enoch’s 294-year sojourn with the angels must have begun almost immediately after the birth of Methuselah, for that was the whole time Enoch had left before his translation.69 The chronological point that Jubilees is making seems to hinge on the date of Methuselah’s birth. As was mentioned above, Methuselah’s birth takes place in the next to the last year before the end of the twelfth jubilee (587 am). We notice immediately that the MT and the LXX have very different dates for Methuselah’s birth—687 am and 1287 am, respectively. In other words, Jubilees’ date for Methuselah’s birth is 100 years lower than that in the MT and 700 years lower than that in the LXX. On the other hand, Jubilees’ date for Methuselah’s birth corresponds exactly to that in the Samaritan Pentateuch (587 am). This is not surprising because Jubilees shows many affinities with the SP.70 67 Gen 5:22 is even clearer than Jubilees that walking with God or the sojourn with the angels took place after (éøçà) the birth of Methuselah. 68 As we have seen, most of the genealogical entries in Gen 5:3–32 follow a regular pattern: (1) When Patriarch A had lived x years, (2) he became the father of B [i.e., A’s firstborn son]. (3) A lived after the birth of B y years (4) and had other sons and daughters. (5) Thus all the days of A were z years [= x +y]; (6) and he died. In the case of Enoch, however, there are two irregularities: the third component (A lived after the birth of B y years) becomes ‘and Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah …’ (v. 22), and the sixth component (and he died) is radically altered into ‘Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him’ (v. 24). 69 According to Gen 5:22, Enoch had other sons and daughters, evidently assuming that his walking with God did not preclude reproduction. For Jubilees, however, there was no room for producing more children if Enoch was with the angels during the whole rest of the time after the birth of Methuselah until his translation. Therefore, Jubilees conveniently drops any reference to Enoch’s other sons and daughters. 70 On Jubilees’ relationship to the SP, see James C. VanderKam, ‘Jubilees and the

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The reason for this divergence and convergence between the textual traditions is not easy to sort out, although it is clearly a matter relating not only to the birth date of Methuselah, but also to the chronology of the other antediluvian patriarchs.71 From Adam to Mahalalel and also for Enoch, the MT and SP agree exactly on the dates of the firstborn in the life of the patriarchs, on the figures for the remaining lifetime of the patriarchs after the birth of their firstborns, and on the total life span of the patriarchs. Thus, the unexplained variants cluster around Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech.72 In the SP, all three of these patriarchs died in 1307 am, the very year in which the flood occurred according to the SP tradition. This, of course, raises the question of whether Jared, Methuselah and Lamech were killed in the flood. In any case, all patriarchs but Noah and his immediate family are neatly off the scene by the time of the flood at the latest, unlike the LXX, which tacitly allows Methuselah to survive the flood by virtue of his death date in 2256 am (the flood took place according to the LXX in 2242 am). The dates in the SP accomplish another important function: they smooth out the numbers, so that both the patriarchs’ age at the birth of their firstborn and the patriarchs’ total life spans decline more evenly over time. The MT, on the other hand, is much more erratic in both respects.

Hebrew Texts of Genesis-Exodus,’ in From Revelation to Canon: Studies in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature (JSJSup 62; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 448–461; idem, The Book of Jubilees, 94–95; idem, Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees (HSMMS 14; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1977) 123–127 (here esp. 124–125, on the agreement between Jubilees and the SP on the ages of the antediluvian patriarchs at the birth of their first child), 136–138, 142–145. See further below. 71 For a chronological table listing the textual variations between the MT, the LXX, the SP, and Jubilees, see van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 124–130. 72 There are various ways to account for these variants, depending on which textual tradition is thought to be ‘original’ in each case. Cf. Ralph W. Klein, ‘Archaic Chronologies and the Textual History of the Old Testament,’ HTR 67 (1974) 255–263, who argues for an eclectic solution. On the other hand, van Ruiten (Primaeval History Interpreted, 126, 127) suggests that with regard to Jared, Methuselah and Lamech, the ages of the patriarchs when their first child was born seems to have been changed in the MT. Klein (‘Archaic Chronologies,’ 262) and van Ruiten (Primaeval History Interpreted, 128) provide different reconstructions of the ‘original’ chronology of Gen 5:1–32.

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Fig. 2. The Life Spans of the Antediluvian Patriarchs according to MT.

Fig. 3. The Life Spans of the Antediluvian Patriarchs according to SP.

As other studies have shown, the SP is known for its harmonizing tendencies, that is, for its proclivity to remove any tensions either within a passage or between parallel passages.73 Indeed, as Esther Eshel and Hanan Eshel discuss in their recent study, most of the non-sectarian 73 Cf. Emanuel Tov, ‘The Nature and Background of Harmonizations in Biblical Manuscripts,’ JSOT 31 (1985) 3–29 (13): ‘The Samaritan Pentateuch is usually described as the harmonizing source par excellence …. All types of harmonizations are found abundantly in the Sam. Pent.’

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exegetical changes in the SP are harmonizations.74 This textual phenomenon includes additions, deletions, or changes in word sequence in order to resolve contradictions, discrepancies, and unevenness in the biblical text.75 Hence, striving after symmetry is a factor in the harmonizing tendency of the SP. From what we have just seen, the SP also tries to smooth out chronological irregularities, thus producing a relatively consistent sequence through systematic editing. In sum, we have learned two important things about Enoch’s ‘six jubilees of years’ with the angels: (1) Jubilees’ reference to ‘six jubilees of years’ instead of ‘300 years’ is an unusually intrusive alteration of a time span in the base text, which probably holds some significance for Jubilees’ chronological scheme; and (2) Jubilees’ reference to the ‘six jubilees of years’ comes within a context that appropriates the chronology of the antediluvian patriarchs characteristic of the SP (especially 587 am as the date of Methuselah’s birth),76 along with the latter’s har74 Esther Eshel and Hanan Eshel, ‘Dating the Samaritan Pentateuch’s Compilation in Light of the Qumran Biblical Scrolls,’ in Shalom M. Paul, et al. (eds.), Emanuel: Studies in Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of Emanuel Tov (VTSup 94; Leiden: Brill, 2003) 215–240 (217–218). 75 See further Tov, ‘Harmonizations in Biblical Manuscripts,’ 3–29; idem, Texual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (2nd rev. ed.; Minneapolis: Fortress; Assen: Royal Van Gorcum, 2001) 80–100 (esp. 85–89, 97–99). 76 Cf. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 129–130: ‘As far as the dates anno mundi of the births of the first child of the patriarchs are concerned, the figures in Jubilees are very close to the SamP, which possibly reflects the original Priestly chronology of the antediluvian period. The dates of the births of the eldest child of Adam, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalael, and Jared are the same as shown in SamP. The total life-span of Adam, and the duration of the stay of Enoch with the angels are the same as in SamP [sic!]. Data with respect to the birth of the first child of Methuselah, which gets no date, but which should be between 652 am and 701 am, does not contradict the date in SamP (707 am) either. Compared to SamP, Jubilees has different figures with regard to the birth of the first child of Seth (228 am instead of 235 am), and of Jared (461 am instead of 460 am). The consequence of the different dates of the birth of the eldest children of Seth and Jared is that the age of the patriarchs Seth, Enosh, Mahalalel and Jared differs from SamP. As far as the birth of Enosh (Jub 4:11) is concerned, the variation in Jubilees (228 am instead of 235 am) can be due to some sort of mistake in the text of Jubilees. In Jub 4:11, one reads that “in its fourth (year) she gave birth to Enosh for him”. One would expect that “its fourth (year)” would refer to the date mentioned in the beginning of Jub 4:11: “In the fifth week of the fifth jubilee”. The fourth year of the fifth week of the fifth jubilee is 228 am. However, it is striking that for all the other birth reports in Jubilees 4, not only the year is mentioned, but also the year-week, and sometimes even the jubilee. Rönsch and Charles restore the lacuna with “fourth (year of the sixth week)”, which gives a date of 235 am, and which coincides with SamP. The lacuna is supplied from Syncellus, who dates the marriage of Seth to 425, and the birth of Enosh to 435. As has been observed, there is a difference between 100 and 600 years between the dates

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monizing tendencies.77 It could be, then, that the ‘six jubilees of years’ represents yet another example of harmonization, this time a kind of secondary harmonization not found in the SP itself, but meant to augment it.78 To assess this possibility, we must consider one further point. As Eshel and Eshel also discuss in their article, there are 15 texts from the Second Temple period that exhibit harmonistic editing similar to that in the SP. All but one of these texts (Nash Papyrus) were discovered at Qumran (4QPaleoExodm, 4QNumb, 4QDeutn, 4QDeutj, 4QDeutkl, 4Q158, 4QTest, 4Q364, 4QMez A, 4QPhyl G, 4QPhyl J, 8QMez, 8QPhyl, XQPhyl 3). According to the Eshels’ study, the comparison between the SP and harmonistic texts from the Second Temple period reveals that nine of the 15 texts (i.e., 4QDeutn, 4QDeutj, 4QDeutkl, 4Q158, the Nash Papyrus, 8QPhyl, 4QMez A, 4QPhyl G, and 8QMez) underwent a more comprehensive harmonistic editing than the SP— or what we have called above a secondary harmonization beyond that found in the SP itself.79 The authors conclude, ‘Those scrolls with more comprehensive editing than the SP appear to reflect a version the editing of which was concluded after the Samaritan adoption of the

assigned by Jubilees and those by Syncellus. Both books agree in the tens and units, but differ in the hundreds. If the proposal of Rönsch and Charles is right, then there is no difference between Jubilees and SamP with regard to the date of the birth of Enosh, nor with regard to the age of Seth and Enosh when their first child was born. As far as the birth of Jared is concerned, the date in Jubilees (Jub 4:15) is one year later than in SamP (Gen 5:15): 461 am instead of 460 am. It is difficult to find a rationale for this difference. It is not the intention of Jubilees to make a higher chronology, since the birth of the next patriarch Enoch (4:16) coincides with SamP (Gen 4:18): 522 am.’ The fact that in Jubilees Adam’s death in 930 am (Jub. 4:29) occurs after the birth of Noah in 701–707 am (Jub. 4:28) correlates with SP (birth of Noah in 707 am), but not with either MT (birth of Noah in 1056 am) or LXX (birth of Noah in 1642 am). 77 Here it is interesting to note that the Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen) also displays evidence of harmonization which can be compared to that in the SP. Cf. Moshe J. Bernstein, ‘Re-Arrangement, Anticipation and Harmonization as Exegetical Features in the Genesis Apocryphon,’ DSD 3 (1996) 37–57 (47–55). Although Berstein (ibid., 54) is reluctant to deduce the textual affiliations of the Genesis Apocryphon from the harmonization in its rewriting of the biblical text, nevertheless there is evidence that book’s chronology coheres with that of the SP (see further below). 78 In that case, we cannot assume that Jubilees is simply following the SP at this point. Cf. VanderKam, Enoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic Tradition, 131 n. 78: ‘… in the Samaritan Pentateuch and in Jubilees he [sc. Enoch] lives from 522–887 [i.e., 365 years] ….’ This ignores that for part of Enoch’s life, Jubilees has ‘six jubilees of years’ (294 years) instead of the ‘300 years’ of the SP. 79 Eshel and Eshel, ‘Dating,’ 232.

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scrolls which formed the basis for the SP.’80 These observations help to establish that the primary version of the SP was created during the second century bce.81 For the scrolls reflecting a more comprehensive harmonistic editing were written in either late Hasmonean or Herodian script, whereas the scrolls featuring harmonistic editing, with the same additions and scope as the SP, were dated to the end of the second century bce or the beginning of the first century bce. Hence, Eshel and Eshel conclude that the Samaritans chose the harmonistic Jewish version of the Pentateuch prevalent prior to the Hasmonean period. There are difficulties with Eshel and Eshel’s study that we may briefly mention here. For example, in the case of the writings exhibiting more comprehensive harmonistic editing than the SP, the date of their origin need not be the same as the paleographic dating of their manuscripts. Conceivably, they could have arisen even earlier than the late Hasmonean or Herodian period.We simply do not know.Another drawback to the Eshels’ study is that it did not consider the Book of Jubilees. Perhaps the often hard-and-fast distinction between ‘biblical’ and ‘nonbiblical’ texts (or ‘Scripture’ and ‘Reworked Scripture’) for the Qumran texts has obscured the potential value of Jubilees for this discussion.82 Nevertheless, if 4Q158 (4QReworked Pentateucha) is included in the study as one of the texts that has undergone the secondary harmonistic editing of the SP tradition, then Jubilees should probably be included as well, for these texts have features in common (e.g., both add new material not drawn from elsewhere in the Pentateuch).83 It is possible, then, Ibid., 238–239. Ibid., 239. 82 Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Questions of Canon Viewed through the Dead Sea Scrolls.’ BBR 11 (2001) 269–292; reprinted in Lee Martin McDonald and James A. Sanders (eds.), The Canon Debate (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002) 91–109. 83 Cf. VanderKam, ‘Questions of Canon,’ 278. For a thorough discussion of Reworked Pentateuch and whether it should be classed as ‘Scripture’ or ‘Rewritten Scripture,’ see ibid., 276–281. See also Sidnie White Crawford, ‘Reworked Pentateuch,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 2.775–777 (777): ‘… the text to which the Reworked Pentateuch is most closely related is the “Proto-Samaritan” version of the Pentateuch, found in other Torah manuscripts at Qumran (e.g., Paleo-Exodusm 4Q22). The Reworked Pentateuch contains many of the same pluses and harmonizing passages as the Proto-Samaritan text, although it goes farther than the Proto-Samaritan text in introducing additional material and harmonizing changes. The unresolved question is when a text ceases to be simply a full or harmonizing text of the Torah and instead becomes rewritten.’ For the text of Reworked Pentateuch, see John M. Allegro, ‘Biblical Paraphrase: Genesis, Exodus,’ in J.M. Allegro (ed.), Qumran Cave 4 (4Q158–4Q186) (DJD 5; Oxford: Clarendon, 1968) 1–6; E. Tov and S. White (eds.), ‘364–367. 4QReworked 80 81

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that Jub. 4:20–21 provides us with an early example of a Second Temple text that exhibits the more comprehensive harmonistic editing characteristic of the aforementioned Second Temple texts.84 If so, does the ‘six jubilees of years’ in Jub. 4:21 represent an example of such secondary editing within the textual tradition on which the SP was based? The answer to this question hinges in part on the date of Methuselah’s birth. If Methuselah was born in 587 am, then, as we have seen, Enoch’s sojourn with the angels must have begun very soon thereafter, for the ‘six jubilees of years’ with the angels fills out the rest of his lifetime. If Enoch’s sojourn with the angels begins, say, in the year following Methuselah’s birth, that is, in 588 am, then this yields a surprising result: a chronology between creation and 882 am consisting of three equal periods of six jubilees each: (a) 0–294, (b) 294–588, and, of course, (c) 588–882, during which Enoch was with the angels. Can this be coincidence in a text whose chronology has already been shown to be so harmonizing in other respects and so much oriented on periodization? Harmonization is a regular feature of Jub. 3:32–4:33, the passage in which the statement about Enoch’s sojourn with the angels (Jub. 4:21) occurs.85 For instance, Jub. 3:32–4:33 harmonizes the three genealogies of Genesis 4–5, eliminating the repetition of the base text (e.g., the Priestly genealogy from Adam to Enosh in Gen 5:1–8) and incorporating elements from all three genealogies (i.e., Gen 4:1–2, 25–26; 5:9–32) into one streamlined genealogy. Thus, for example, the Lamech of Gen 4:23, who killed a man, is evidently considered the same person as the Lamech of Gen 5:28–29, who became Noah’s father.86 In Jub. 4:2, we find another example of harmonization. Whereas in Gen 3:23, God sent forth Adam from the Garden ‘to work the ground,’ the first person mentioned in the biblical text as working the ground is Cain (Gen 4:2). Therefore, in order to alleviate this tension in the biblical narrative, Pentateuchb-e,’ in Harold Attridge, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, VIII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 1 (DJD 13; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) 187–351, which includes a discussion of the relationship between 4Q158 and 4Q364–7 (189–191). 84 Depending on when Jubilees itself is to be dated, the arguments of Eshel and Eshel for the dating of the SP may need to be adjusted. Since the closely related Genesis Apocryphon seems to display a patriarchal chronology that is similarly based on the SP (I am grateful to Daniel K. Falk for this observation), we may suspect that the dating of the SP should be regarded as earlier rather than later. Cf. James C. VanderKam, “The Textual Affinities of the Biblical Citations in the Genesis Apocryphon,” JBL 97 (1978) 45–55. 85 Cf. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 119–121, 135, 138, 145, 156, 157, 168, 170, 174, 175, 177, 179. 86 Cf. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 121, 157.

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Jubilees omits the mention of Cain as a worker of the ground in Gen 4:2, emphasizing instead that Adam ‘himself was working the land as he had been taught in the Garden of Eden’ (Jub. 3:35). Another instance of harmonization is found in Jub. 4:4. Since Cain’s punishment in Gen 4:11–16 seems to contradict the biblical halakha for murder, which requires the death penalty if someone kills a person by striking him (cf. Exod 21:12; Num 35:21), Jub. 4:4 harmonizes the biblical passages by describing the curse of Cain and his subsequent protection, not as a pardon of his death sentence but as merely a temporary reprieve.87 Since Jubilees puts the death of Cain in the generation of Lamech, which is the seventh generation after Cain, the delay in carrying out the death penalty on Cain might reflect the targumic tradition in which Cain’s punishment was suspended for seven generations.88 If this is correct, then we have in Jubilees not only a harmonization with biblical halakha, but also a secondary harmonization with a traditional chronological scheme. A subtle harmonization is found in Jub. 4:7. Whereas in Gen 4:25, Eve gave Seth his name (‘she named him’ [àø÷úå]), in Gen 5:3 it is Adam who named Seth (‘he named him’ [àø÷éå]). In order to alleviate this perceived tension, Jub. 4:7 reads with the SP of Gen 4:25 (àø÷éå), substituting ‘he’ instead of ‘she.’ In this way, Seth’s birth report correlates with other birth reports in Genesis, where the father does the naming of the son (cf. Gen 4:26; 5:3, 29). For our purposes, the most significant harmonization is found in Jub. 4:29–30, which deals with a major chronological problem in the biblical text that is also important to the overall chronology in Jubilees.89 In Genesis, there is tension between several statements relating to Adam’s death: (1) God warns Adam in Gen 2:17 that ‘on the day’ (íåéá) that he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die; (2) God told Adam in Gen 3:17–19 that on account of his sin, the ground was cursed, and that in toil he would eat of the ground ‘all the days of his life’ (êééç éîé ìë) until he would return to the dust; and (3) it is reported in 87 Cf. Jub. 4:31–32: ‘His house fell on him, and he died inside his house. He was killed by its stones for with a stone he had killed Abel and, by a just punishment, he was killed with a stone. (32) For this reason it has been ordained on the heavenly tablets: “By the instrument with which a man kills his fellow he is to be killed. As he wounded him so are they to do to him.”’ 88 Van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 145 n. 66, 157, 173. 89 See further in chapter 2 (pp. 109–113). The very fact that Jubilees describes Adam’s death is significant, for the book normally omits information about the deaths of the antediluvian patriarchs. The only exception, besides Adam, is Cain, the date of whose death is pegged to that of Adam (cf. Jub. 4:31: ‘At the conclusion of this jubilee [i.e., the 19th jubilee] Cain was killed one year after him [sc. Adam]’). Hence, from a chronological perspective, only Adam’s death really ‘counts’ among the antediluvian patriarchs.

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chapter one Gen 5:5 that Adam died at the age of ‘930 years.’ Obviously, then, Adam did not die ‘on the day’ that he ate of the tree. In order to eliminate this seeming contradiction, Jub. 4:30 harmonizes the texts by means of an allusion to Ps 90:4 (‘Because a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday’). Jubilees interprets this psalm as meaning that ‘1000 years are one day in the testimony of heaven.’ Therefore, when Adam died at 930 years of age, Jubilees is able to argue that he did indeed die ‘on the day’ that he ate of the tree: ‘Therefore he did not complete the years of this day because he died during it.’ The problem is resolved by looking at the chronology from the heavenly perspective. Perhaps this should be taken as another aspect of the ‘on earth as in heaven’ theme in Jubilees.

These examples demonstrate that harmonization is a key feature of Jub. 3:32–4:33. If the date of Methuselah’s birth in 587 am can be seen within the harmonizing tradition of the SP, then Enoch’s sojourn with the angels for ‘six jubilees of years’ after the birth of Methuselah should be viewed as a secondary harmonization within this larger tendency to harmonize the biblical text. For some reason, Jubilees seems preoccupied with exactly when Enoch spent time with the angels— how long he was with them and where his sojourn fits into the overall chronology of the book. As Jubilees construes them, the dates and times of Enoch’s life relative to the overall chronology of the book turn out to interlock perfectly, like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle. As our structural analysis shows (pp. 39–40), Jub. 4:21 corresponds to v. 18, relating to the periodization that the angels revealed to Enoch. Thus, when Jubilees states in v. 21 that Enoch was ‘with God’s angels for six jubilees of years,’ and that ‘they showed him everything on earth and in the heavens—the dominion of the sun—and he wrote down everything,’ this corresponds to v. 18, which relates that Enoch was ‘the first to write a testimony,’ that he ‘testified to mankind in the generations of the earth,’ and that he related ‘the weeks of the jubilees,’ ‘made known the days of the years,’ ‘arranged the months,’ and ‘related the sabbaths of years’—all as the angels had told him. Significantly, these are the only two verses in Jub. 4:17–26 that explicitly state that the angels revealed something to Enoch. In view of the periodization scheme that we have observed above, the length of time Enoch stayed with the angels—‘six jubilees of years’ itself—was probably part of the lesson on periodization that Enoch learned during his sojourn. All of the cycles mentioned in v. 18—jubilees, weeks, years, and even months—are predicated on ‘the dominion of the sun,’ for they all are based on the cycles of the sun. The reference to ‘the weeks of the jubilees’ may even hint at a higher order of solar cycle like the ‘six

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jubilees of years’ itself (see further below on Jub. 1:29). In any case, it seems clear that vv. 18 and 21 are mutually interpretive. Both relate to periodization. Continuing with our structural analysis, we come next to two sections that describe Enoch’s scribal activity as a witness of human history (Jub. 4:22, 23–24). Just as in vv. 18–19, the periodization revealed to Enoch by the angels (v. 18) is followed by a historical review, ‘what has happened and what will occur—how things will happen for mankind during their history until the day of judgment’ (v. 19), so also in vv. 21–24, the periodization revealed to Enoch by the angels (v. 21) is followed by a historical review (vv. 22–24). The difference is that the latter historical review proceeds in two stages: (1) past history, recorded apparently during Enoch’s 294-year sojourn with the angels (v. 22), and (2) present and future history, recorded after Enoch was taken away into the Garden of Eden (vv. 23–24). Together, the two sections give the same sweep of history as that recorded in v. 19, that is, ‘all the deeds of history until the day of judgment’ (v. 24; cf. 10:17). First, while he was with the angels, Enoch learned about heaven and earth and their interrelationship (vv. 21–22). On the one hand, he learned positively ‘the dominion of the sun’ (v. 21).90 This is the whole basis for the cultic cycles that are to be observed both in heaven and on earth. Hence, Enoch is credited with an extremely important insight for the earthly cultus, one that he wrote down and transmitted to his progeny.91 Enoch is the model for the proper way for the transference of the heavenly to the earthly to occur through angelic and human intermediaries. On the other hand, Enoch also learns negatively the improper relationship between heavenly and earthly spheres as exemplified by the Watchers, who mixed the two and thereby caused defilement.92 The point is that the two spheres should not be mixed, but that earth should 90 Jubilees gives no indication that Enoch lived a total of 365 (65+300) years (cf. Gen 5:21–23), corresponding to the (approximately) 365 days of the true solar year. Indeed, that detail seems to have been omitted from Jubilees at least in part in order to mask that aspect of the underlying Hebrew text. As we have seen, Jubilees’ main reason for changing the 300 years of Gen 5:23 to ‘six jubilees of years’ (294 years) was to harmonize the harmonizing SP text with the book’s chronological scheme. 91 Cf. Hindy Najman, ‘Interpretation As Primordial Writing: Jubilees and Its Authority Conferring Strategies,’ JSJ 30 (1999) 379–410 (384–385). 92 Cf. David W. Suter, ‘Revisiting “Fallen Angel, Fallen Priest,”’ Henoch 24 (2002) 137–142 (esp. 138), who argues that the Watchers are guilty of defiling themselves with women and crossing the forbidden threshold between heaven and earth, ‘making the issue one of both purity and endogamy—or the angelic equivalent thereof.’

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conform to the way things are done in heaven, which was the original ideal. Therefore, Enoch testifies against the Watchers for making the heavenly like the earthly.93 Second, the text describes the aftermath of Enoch’s 294-year sojourn with the angels (vv. 23–26). Enoch was taken from human society (v. 23). This is Jubilees’ version of Gen 5:24: ‘Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.’94 Once again, however, Jubilees interprets íéäìà (this time the anarthrous noun) as referring to the angels, for immediately the text states, ‘And we [sc. the angels] led him into the Garden of Eden …’95 What Enoch does in the Garden is of paramount importance. Among other things, he assumes sacerdotal duties: ‘He [sc. Enoch] burned the evening incense of the sanctuary, which is acceptable before the Lord on the mountain of incense’ (Jub. 4:25). In other words, as soon as he had learned the dominion of the sun, i.e., the fundamental basis of the proper observance of the cultus both in heaven and on earth, Enoch started actually performing the duties of a priest in accordance with the cycles of the sun. In Jubilees, the Garden of Eden is described as the ‘holy of holies’ and ‘residence of the Lord’ (Jub. 8:19), where Adam burned incense on the day that he departed from that place (Jub. 3:27). Therefore, when Adam and Enoch offer incense in the Garden of Eden,96 they are doing so in the primeval 93 Cf. 4Qpseudo-Jubileesc (4Q227) 2.1–6 (DJD 13, 173–175): ‘[… E]noch after we taught him (2) […] six jubilees of years (3) [… the ea]rth among the sons of mankind. And he testified against all of them. (4) […] and also against the Watchers. And he wrote all the (5) […] sky and the paths of their host and the [mon]ths (6) [… s]o that the ri[ghteous] should not err’. Note, however, that J.T. Milik (The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrân Cave 4 [Oxford: Clarendon, 1976] 24–25) fills in the lacunae as follows: ‘… Enoch, after we had instructed him [in all that concerns the ear]th [and the sky], during six jubilees of years, [came back to the] earth in the midst of the sons of men, and he witnessed against them all [because of their sins?] and also against the Watchers.’ On this reconstruction, Enoch witnessed against the Watchers after his sojourn with the angels rather than during it, as apparently in Jub. 4:22. On Enoch’s testifying to or against the Watchers, see the angelogical part (1Enoch 6–16) of the Book of Watchers (1Enoch 1–36). Cf. VanderKam, ‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 235. 94 This is the second occurrence of the statement, ‘Enoch walked with God’ (cf. Gen 5:22). 95 According to 1Enoch 106:7–8, Methuselah goes to ‘the ends of the earth,’ where Enoch’s ‘dwelling place is among the angels.’ The Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen 2.23–25) refers apparently to the same encounter. Cf. also 1Enoch 60:8: ‘… the Garden of Eden, wherein the elect and the righteous ones dwell, wherein my grandfather was taken, the seventh from Adam ….’ On the location of the Garden of Eden as a place for the righteous dead, see further in chapter 3 (p. 180 n. 49). 96 There is some question of exactly where Enoch burned the evening incense.

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sanctuary, which is analogous to and a precursor of the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion. Just as Aaron and his descendants later burned incense in front of the holy of holies (cf. Exod 30:7–8, 34–38; Num 16:39–40; 2 Chr 26:16–20), so also in Jubilees Adam and Enoch burn incense, the one in the morning and the other in the evening. This is part of the book’s overall strategy to retroject cultic practices back to the time of the antediluvian patriarchs. If, as we have seen, Enoch was with the angels for ‘six jubilees of years,’ that is, 588–882 am, then Enoch enters the Garden of Eden and begins his sacerdotal duties in 882 am.97 By adopting 587 am as Since Enoch was led into the Garden of Eden (Jub. 4:23), it stands to reason that ‘the mountain of incense’ where he offered incense (v. 25) would be located in the Garden. If the Garden of Eden was located on a mountain, that would also explain why the flood waters ‘did not come on any of the land of Eden’ (v. 24). Cf. also J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten, ‘Eden and the Temple: The Rewriting of Genesis 2:4–3:24 in the Book of Jubilees,’ in Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (ed.), Paradise Interpreted: Representations of Biblical Paradise in Judaism and Christianity (Themes in Biblical Narrative: Jewish and Christian Traditions 2; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 63–94 (78–79). On the other hand, VanderKam (‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 236) suggests the possibility that the mountain sanctuary where Enoch served as a priest might have been ‘the mountain of the east,’ which is mentioned in v. 26, along with the Garden of Eden, Mt. Sinai, and Mt. Zion. On the various interpretations of ‘the mountain of the east,’ see Jörg Frey, ‘Zum Weltbild im Jubiläenbuch,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 261–292 (273–276). VanderKam (‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 250 n. 59) goes on to state: ‘… in [Jub.] 8:19 only three places are mentioned, the mountain of the East being omitted. Grelot thinks (“La géographie mythique d’Hénoch,” 45–47) that the geographical notes in Jub 4:23–26 and 8:16–19 are derived from data in 1Enoch, where two Edens are distinguished: one in the northwest where God dwells and one in the East which is an earthly replica of the other (43–44). Jubilees has attempted to reduce the two to one on the basis of Gen 2:8–14.’ See further Kelly Coblentz Bautch, A Study of the Geography of 1Enoch 17–19: ‘No One Has Seen What I Have Seen’ (JSJSup 81; Leiden: Brill, 2003) 217–218. 97 The Astronomical Book (1Enoch 72–82) has a totally different conception of Enoch’s sojourn with the angels, if indeed that is what is reported here. Cf. 1Enoch 81:5–6: ‘Then the seven holy ones brought me and placed me on the ground in front of the gate of my house, and said to me, “Make everything known to your son, Methuselah, and show to all your children that no one of the flesh can be just before the Lord; for they are merely his own creation. (6) We shall let you stay with your son for one year, so that you may teach your children another law and write it down for them and give all of them a warning; and in the second year, you shall be taken away from (among) all of them.”’ According to this text, Enoch not only had time to procreate other children besides Methuselah before his sojourn, but also had a year after the sojourn to instruct his firstborn son before he was taken away again. Therefore, the apparently assumed sojourn with the angels occurred during only part of the 300/294 years that remained of Enoch’s life after the birth of Methuselah. Note, however, that VanderKam (‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ 235) argues, contrary to

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the date of Methuselah’s birth and by changing the length of Enoch’s sojourn with the angels from ‘300 years’ to ‘six jubilees of years,’ the Book of Jubilees could be harmonizing the book’s overall chronology, so that Enoch’s sojourn with the angels coincides with the third ‘otot’ cycle (which begins in 588 am, i.e., the seventh year of the seventh week of the twelfth jubilee),98 and Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the Garden of Eden occurs at the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle (882– 1176 am).99 This suggests that Jubilees’ chronology is based on the cycles of priestly rotation that form ‘otot’ cycles encompassing all of human history from the creation to the new creation. The subsequent context substantiates this extrapolation of the evidence. Jubilees 4:23–26 twice emphasizes that Enoch’s activities in the Garden of Eden span the ages to the end of human history (cf. vv. 24, 26). First, the text states that Enoch was placed in the Garden ‘to testify against all people in order to tell all the deeds of history until the day of judgment’ (v. 24). As we have seen, the same emphasis on ‘history until the day of judgment’ is found in v. 19. The ‘day of judgment’ clearly lies beyond the flood, for the latter is spoken of in the text in the past tense (‘Because of him the floodwater did not come on any of the land of Eden’ [v. 24a]).100 Then comes the statement regarding Enoch’s testimony function until the day of judgment. Therefore, v. 24 is referring to the eschatological day of judgment, and ‘all the deeds of history’ encompasses all of human history until the end of time. Second, and closely related to the first point, the text implies that Enoch’s priestly function of offering incense in the Garden of Eden establishes a typological trajectory from Urzeit to Endzeit. For immediGrelot, that the Astronomical Book ‘has no stay of Enoch with the angels (though he [sc. Grelot] hypothesizes that there may have been one in the longer original) and in it only one angel, Uriel, shows things to Enoch.’ 98 Note that Enoch is the seventh patriarch in the line of Adam (Gen 5:1–21). 99 On this reading of the evidence, Jubilees presupposes that the ‘otot’ cycle begins not with the second jubilee, as it anomalously does in 4QOtot, but with the first week of creation, as might be expected, since the sun—the basis for all cultic cycles in the book—was not created until then. 100 Interestingly enough, God promises in 2Enoch (A) 71:27–29 that the Garden of Eden is the place where Melchizedek would be put by the archangel Gabriel, so that the child might escape death in the flood, and that ‘Melchizedek will be my priest to all priests ….’ We shall have more to say about this text in chapter 3 (p. 175 n. 38). In an apparent polemic against the Enochic tradition that the flood did not reach the Garden of Eden, 3Bar. 4:10–11 states that both the Garden was indeed inundated. Cf. Andrei A. Orlov, ‘The Flooded Arboretums: The Garden Traditions in the Slavonic Version of 3Baruch and the Book of Giants,’ CBQ 65 (2003) 184–201 (esp. 195–197).

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ately upon mentioning that Enoch burned the evening incense in the Garden of Eden, v. 26 goes on to state: ‘For there are four places on earth that belong to the Lord: the Garden of Eden, the mountain of the East, this mountain on which you [sc. Moses] are today—Mt. Sinai—and Mt. Zion (which) will be sanctified in the new creation for the sanctification of the earth. For this reason the earth will be sanctified from its uncleanness into the history of eternity.’ Here, Jubilees establishes yet another connection between the Garden of Eden as Temple and the Temple on Mt. Zion. The priestly function that Enoch carries out on the mountain of incense in the Garden of Eden is analogous to that which will be performed on Mt. Zion at the time of the new creation. Enoch is the prototype of the priesthood of the restoration, when God reestablishes his Temple on Zion. This assumes, of course, the whole history of Israel in between, which is sketched in Jubilees 1 in terms of the Deuteronomic sin-exile-restoration (SER) pattern.101 In fact, Jub. 1:26–29 provides a fitting parallel to our passage, for much the same revelation that the angels communicated to Enoch from the heavenly tablets was later transmitted to Moses on Mt. Sinai through angelic mediation from the same tablets, this time in the form of the Book of Jubilees itself: ‘Now you write all these words which I will tell you on this mountain: what is first and what is last and what is to come during all the divisions of time which are in the law and which are in the testimony and in the weeks of their jubilees until eternity—until the time when I will descend and live with them throughout all the ages of eternity.’ (27) Then he [sc. God] said to the angel of the presence: ‘Dictate to Moses (starting) from the beginning of the creation until the time when my temple is built among them throughout the ages of eternity. (28) The Lord will appear in the sight of all, and all will know that I am the God of Israel, the father of all Jacob’s children, and the king on Mt. Zion for the ages of eternity. Then Zion and Jerusalem will become holy.’ (29) The angel of the presence, who was going along in front of the Israelite camp, took the tablets (which told) of the divisions of the years from the time the law and the testimony were created for the weeks of their jubilees, year by year in their full number, and their jubilees from [the time of creation until] the time of the new creation when the heavens, the earth, and all their creatures will be renewed like the powers of the sky and like all the creatures of the earth, until the time when the temple of the Lord will be created in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion. All 101

See further in chapter 2 (pp. 75–80).

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chapter one the luminaries will be renewed for (the purposes of) healing, health, and blessing for all the elect ones of Israel and so that it may remain this way from that time throughout all the days of the earth.

Here again, we see the same interest in the span of human history from creation to new creation. Here again, we find the same focus on Mt. Zion and the restoration of its holiness, when God will dwell there in the rebuilt Temple (cf. Jub. 1:17). This assumes, of course, that the first Temple had already been destroyed, although its destruction is nowhere explicitly mentioned (cf. v. 10). Finally, here again, we observe the same interest in the periodization of history. As we have seen, Jub. 4:18 and 21 are mutually interpretive statements about the periodization of history that was revealed to Enoch through angelic mediation. Hence, just as Enoch testified to mankind in the generations of their earth according to ‘the weeks of the jubilees,’ ‘the days of the years,’ and the ‘sabbaths of the years’ (Jub. 4:18), so also when he was with the angels for six jubilees of years, he learned the dominion of the sun. Now we see that the periodization of history was also revealed to Moses and in much the same way: ‘the tablets (which told) of the divisions of the years from the time the law and the testimony were created—for the weeks of their jubilees, year by year in their full number, and their jubilees from [the time of the creation until] the time of the new creation …’ (Jub. 1:29; cf. v. 26). If, as we have suggested, ‘the weeks of the jubilees’ in Jub. 4:18 includes higher-order cycles like the ‘six jubilees of years’ in v. 21, we may consider whether ‘the weeks of their jubilees’ in Jub. 1:26, 29 is similar. The parallel nature of the two passages makes this prospect quite possible. In any case, Enoch’s ‘six jubilees of years’ with the angels and his entrance into priestly service in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle form an integral part of the divinely revealed chronology and history that Moses received on Mt. Sinai and incorporated into the Book of Jubilees, since Jub. 4:17–26 constitutes part of the revelation to Moses at that time. Hence, the ‘six jubilees of years’ that Enoch spent with the angels should be understood as an integral and exemplary component of the book’s fundamental chronology extending from the creation to the new creation. Jubilees 4:23–26 sets up a trajectory from Enoch’s entrance into the Temple of the Garden of Eden to the establishment of the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion.102 Hence, 102 On the connection between the Temple and the Garden of Eden, see further van Ruiten, ‘Eden and the Temple,’ 63–94; idem, ‘Visions of the Temple in the Book of

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the macro-chronology that Enoch crystallizes through his entrance into priestly service in that place and at that time continues throughout the rest of history until the priestly rotation begins anew in the eschatological Temple on Zion. Our deduction about the significance of the ‘six jubilees of years’ is confirmed by the fact that Enoch’s sojourn with the angels has a distinctively priestly character that befits the magnitude of an ‘otot’ cycle. For it was during this 294-year ‘otot’ period that the angels showed Enoch ‘the dominion of the sun’ (v. 21). Since all cultic cycles, including the cycles of priestly rotation (mishmarot and ‘otot’), are based on the cycles of the sun from creation onward, learning the dominion of the sun is the foundation of proper cultic practice ‘on earth as in heaven.’103 Moreover, the instruction that Enoch received on the dominion of the sun during the third ‘otot’ undoubtedly prepared him for his later priestly duties in the Garden of Eden (elsewhere called ‘the holy of holies’ and ‘the residence of the Lord’ [Jub. 8:19]), where he ‘burned the evening incense of the sanctuary which is acceptable before the Lord on the mountain of incense’ (Jub. 4:25). All of this makes sense when we realize that Jubilees 4:17–19 regards Enoch as the human source of its solar calendar and of its system of periodization. As was discussed above, Jubilees ‘depicts the patriarchs as performing priestly functions (Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc. offer sacrifices; in 4:25 Enoch burns incense in the sanctuary of Eden) and transmitting sacerdotal law to their favorite successors.’104 Now, we begin to see that these priestly functions take place in accordance with the cycles of priestly rotation as well. Here, as in so many other matters, Enoch is portrayed as the ideal priest who, successfully straddling heaven and earth (without improperly mixing the two domains), models the anticipated restoration of the cultus ‘on earth as in heaven.’ The fact that Enoch’s priestly activity takes place in conjunction with a whole ‘otot’ period is

Jubilees,’ in Beate Ego, et al. (eds.), Gemeinde ohne Tempel/Community without Temple: Zur Substituierung und Transformation des Jerusalemer Tempels und seines Kults im Alten Testament, antiken Judentum und frühen Christentum (WUNT 118; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1999) 215– 227; Himmelfarb, ‘The Temple and the Garden of Eden in Ezekiel, the Book of the Watchers, and the Wisdom of ben Sira,’ 63–78. In ‘Visions of the Temple in the Book of Jubilees,’ van Ruiten argues that when Jubilees speaks about Eden, it is aimed at a future, eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion in a new creation. 103 Cf. VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 73–74, 79. 104 VanderKam, ‘The Origins and Purposes of the Book of Jubilees,’ 19.

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probably meant to underscore the magnitude of his contribution and the massiveness of his influence.105 In view of these findings, it seems likely that, as the human source of Jubilees’ solar calendar and of its system of periodization, Enoch enshrines the ‘otot’ cycle—the grand cycle of priestly rotation whose frequency is commensurate with antediluvian longevity—as a fundamental unit of chronological measure.106 If this is correct, then it may have consequences for our reconstruction of the historical development of the 294-year ‘otot’ cycle, for Jubilees is older than the Qumran community and hence older than the 4QOtot document that was included in the possibly earliest copy of the Community Rule. In that case, our study of Jubilees suggests that the ‘otot’ cycle was not developed simply because the roster of 24 priestly divisions was indivisible into the 52 weeks of the sacred 364-day solar calendar, making it necessary to resort to a longer unit of time in order to measure the completion of a mishmarot service cycle. Nor was the ‘otot’ cycle merely a convenient way to conceptualize the conjunction between the mishmarot and the jubilee cycles, that is, the number of jubilees that needed to pass until the first priestly division (Gamul) is once again serving in the Temple in the first week of a new jubilee. Rather, insofar as the evidence of the Book of Jubilees allows us to ascertain, the ‘otot’ cycle was originally conceived as a grand unit of chronological measure intended to connect the rotation of priestly service in the Temple to the time when the antediluvian patriarch Enoch began his priestly service in the primeval sanctuary. Obviously, this move is consistent with the whole tenor of the book, whose penchant for backdating is well documented. Hence, the ‘otot’ cycle becomes in effect an implicit, secondary means of dating significant events in the history of humankind, especially 105 It is interesting to note that Enoch occupies a function for humankind that is similar to that of Hesiod. According to Heraclitus (H. Diels and W. Kranz [eds.], Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Griechisch und Deutsch, Vol. 1 [6th ed.; Berlin: Weidmann, 1951] frg. 57), Hesiod was ‘the teacher of most,’ but he himself was taught by the muses: ‘They breathed into me a divine voice in order to celebrate what will be and what was before’ (Theogony 31–32). See further Jenny Strauss Clay, Hesiod’s Cosmos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) esp. 49–72, 175–182. 106 VanderKam (Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 29) seems to underestimate Jubilees’ high regard for Enoch in the establishment of the basic chronological structure of history: ‘While for the author of Jubilees Enoch was the first human to know about the calendrical and chronological subjects mentioned above, he saved a more complete statement of the detail in his calendar for the flood story which functioned as the basis for establishing the structure of the calendar and for communicating its details.’

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cultic events. Just as the cave 4 ‘historical texts,’ such as 4Q331, 4Q332 and 4Q333, use the mishmarot schedule as a means of dating historical events (see further above [pp. 27–28]), so also Jubilees uses ‘otot’ (and, as we shall see, perhaps also mishmarot) as a means of dating. The overt means of dating remains, of course, the book’s awkward system of jubilees, ‘weeks,’ and years. Once it is understood that the 294-year cycle forms part of the fundamental chronological structure of the Book of Jubilees, that the ‘otot’ cycle is used as a marker for important historical events, we may ask whether the ‘otot’ cycle (or perhaps its constituent mishmarot cycles) coincides with other major cultic events in the book besides the sojourn of Enoch with the angels and his entrance into priestly service in the sanctuary of the Garden of Eden. This is a difficult question to answer, since we are dealing with implied cultic cycles, however striking they might be. But the present line of inquiry would be incomplete without at least a preliminary investigation of this question. An interesting test case for our investigation involves the birth dates of Enosh and Enoch. According to Jub. 4:11, Enosh was born in 228 am. This seemingly inauspicious date corresponds to the end of the 38th mishmarot cycle. We might attribute this to happenstance if it were not for the fact that Enoch was born in 522 am, which also corresponds to the end of a mishmarot cycle (i.e., the 87th mishmarot cycle). In fact, Enoch was born exactly 49 mishmarot cycles after Enosh. In other words, their births are precisely 294 years or one ‘otot’ of years apart. How should we interpret this curious concomitance? Is it mere chance, since Jubilees does not explicitly use the term mishmarot in this way? Or is the text tacitly signaling an important underlying interrelationship between these two towering antediluvian patriarchs, an interrelationship that only a priestly insider could perceive and understand if he were keeping track of the implied cultic cycles of priestly rotation in the book? The latter possibility deserves serious consideration not only because of our previous discussion of the role of the ‘otot’ cycle in periodizing the chronology of the book but also because of the contextual clues. For even at the level of the surface narrative, the text signals a major connection between Enosh and Enoch. Although the names themselves are not as similar in Hebrew (ùåðà and êåðç) as they are in English (Enosh and Enoch), having only their two medial letters (-åð-) in common, nevertheless the consonantal alliteration in these disyllabic names is striking. More importantly, both patriarchs are described as ‘the first’ on

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earth to perform certain priestly acts in their respective days. According to Jub. 4:12, Enosh was ‘the first one to call on the Lord’s name on the earth.’107 If, as van Ruiten argues, the Vorlage of Jub. 4:12 was probably the same as Gen 4:26 MT (= SP),108 then Jubilees has significantly altered the base text: the passive hoph#al form (ìçåä) of ììç has been changed to an active hiph#îl form (ìçä), and the phrase ‘on the earth’ has been added. This rewriting of the Genesis text serves not only to specify Enosh as the active agent of calling on the name of the Lord, but also to emphasize the magnitude of Enosh’s initiative: he was the first on earth. In Jubilees, ‘calling on the name of the Lord’ is seen as a priestly act because it goes along with building an altar and sacrificing (Jub. 13:8, 16; 24:24; cf. Gen 12:8; 13:4; 26:25).109 Thus, Enosh is credited with directly approaching God, without the intermediacy of priests, as Abraham later did at Bethel (Gen 12:8; 13:4).110 This is once again part 107 Cf. Gen 4:26, which states less definitely and more awkwardly, ‘At that time [i.e., when Enosh was born] it was begun to call upon the name of the Lord.’ 108 Cf. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 157–159. 109 For the possible content of Enosh’s prayer when he called upon the name of the Lord, see 4QPrayer of Enosh (4Q369) 1 i 1–7. Cf. H. Attridge and J. Strugnell (eds.), ‘369. 4QPrayer of Enosh,’ in Harold Attridge, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, VIII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 1 (DJD 13; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) 353–362 (354–356): ‘The text as a whole may have been a list of, or narrative about, the patriarchs, arranged in genealogical order but interrupted by prayers or prophecies attributed to specific figures. On this hypothesis, the prayer recorded in frg. 1 i 1–7 would have been uttered by Enosh, the father of Kenan (Gen 5:10). The form postulated for the material in this fragment finds a parallel in Jubilees 4. At least a century older than the fragment under study, Jubilees elaborates the genealogy of Genesis 5 with brief remarks on each of Adam’s descendants. Of Enosh it is said that he began to call on the name of the Lord. Thus Jubilees attributes to Enosh what Gen 4:26 had predicated of all of his generation. The text in 4Q369 apparently elaborated the brief scriptural notice that prayer was offered by supplying the prayer itself. The subject matter of the prayer is not entirely clear. It refers to some third parties who are to acknowledge their guilt (line 3). It may be that another legend is at work, for it is often recounted in later midrash that idolatry began with the generation of Enosh. Hence this prayer of the “first to call upon God” dealt, in some way, with the idolatry of his generation.’ Cf. 3Bar. 5:5–6: ‘… Enosh, who was the chief of all idolaters in the world.’ 110 Cf. Harold Brodsky, ‘Bethel (Place),’ ABD, 1.710–712 (710): ‘Bethel became established in the Bible as a sanctuary by association with events in the lives of Abraham and Jacob. When Abram wandered S from Shechem, he pitched his tent and built an altar between Bethel and Ai (Gen 12:8), and on his return from Egypt he revisited this sacred place (Gen 13:3, 4). Jacob in his flight from Beersheba to Haran stayed there and had the famous nocturnal vision of angels ascending and descending. In the morning when he awoke, Jacob erected a pillar to mark this sacred place. Jacob called the place Bethel although the city was called Luz (Gen 28:10–22). Many years later Jacob returned to this place on his way home from Haran; he set up another altar and called the place El-Bethel (Gen 35:7). He also set up a pillar and again named the place Bethel (Gen

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of Jubilees’ general tendency to retroject significant cultic events and halakha from a later period in Israel’s history to the primeval period of patriarchal history. Likewise, according to Jub. 4:17–19, Enoch was ‘the first of mankind who were born on the earth’ to establish other precedents, including, as we have seen, the priestly calendar and chronology. Whereas Enosh’s ‘first’ (calling on the name of the Lord) introduced monotheism, the foundation of all true worship of YHWH,111 Enoch’s ‘first’ expanded that foundation by introducing especially the calendar, the basis for the synchronization between heaven and earth through orientation on the cycles of the sun (‘the dominion of the sun’). Hence, there seems to be a stepwise progression in Jubilees’ account of the earthly formation of the cultus, a progression that is associated with the most venerable patriarchs of the primeval period who make foundational contributions to various aspects of unfolding nature of the true worship of God. The date of Enoch’s birth given in Jubilees is the same as that given in the SP (522 am). In the MT and the LXX, on the other hand, Enoch was born in 622 am and 1122 am, respectively. Therefore, Jubilees is definitely following the SP tradition at this point. However, the date of Enosh’s birth given in Jubilees (228 am) is different from that given in the SP (235 am). What accounts for this seven-year difference in the dates? Van Ruiten considers it a mistake in the text of Jubilees:112 As far as the birth of Enosh (Jub 4:11) is concerned, the variation in Jubilees (228 am instead of 235 am) can be due to some sort of mistake in the text of Jubilees. In Jub 4:11, one reads that ‘in its fourth (year) she gave birth to Enosh for him’. One would expect that ‘its fourth (year)’ would refer to the date mentioned in the beginning of Jub 4:11: ‘In the fifth week of the fifth jubilee’. The fourth year of the fifth week of the fifth jubilee is 228 am. However, it is striking that for all the other birth reports in Jubilees 4, not only the year is mentioned, but also the year-week, and sometimes even the jubilee. Rönsch and Charles restore the lacuna with ‘fourth (year of the sixth week)’, which gives a date of 235 am, and which 35:15).’ The emphasis in Genesis on Bethel as a sanctuary prepares for the story of Levi’s priestly investiture and priestly service at Bethel in Jubilees 32 (esp. vv. 3, 9). See further above. 111 Whether this positive statement of Enosh’s activity presupposes that others were practicing polytheism or idolatry is unclear from the text. In rabbinic literature, however, idolatry is regarded as having started in the time of Enosh. Cf. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 159 n. 114; S.D. Fraad, Enosh and His Generation: Pre-Israelite Hero and History in Postbiblical Interpretation (SBLMS 30; Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1984) 109–178. 112 Van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 129–130.

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chapter one coincides with SamP. The lacuna is supplied from Syncellus, who dates the marriage of Seth to 425, and the birth of Enosh to 435. As has been observed, there is a difference between 100 and 600 years between the dates assigned by Jubilees and those by Syncellus. Both books agree in the tens and units, but differ in the hundreds. If the proposal of Rönsch and Charles is right, then there is no difference between Jubilees and SamP with regard to the date of the birth of Enosh, nor with regard to the age of Seth and Enosh when their first child was born.

While the possibility of a mistake cannot be completely ruled out, there is perhaps a more likely explanation. As we have seen, Jubilees is fully capable of introducing a change to the chronology of the underlying Hebrew text when it suits the book’s purpose. Thus, after accepting the harmonizing date for the birth of Methuselah in Gen 5:21 SP (587 am), Jub. 4:21 goes on to deduct six years from the ‘300 years’ of Gen 5:22, so that Enoch’s sojourn with the angels became ‘six jubilees of years’ (= 294 years) that coincide with the entire third ‘otot’ cycle, and so that his subsequent entrance into priestly service in the Garden of Eden corresponds to the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle. We described the change from ‘300 years’ to ‘six jubilees of years’ as a secondary harmonization of the SP tradition of Genesis. It seems likely that Jub. 4:11 presents us with yet another example of secondary harmonization. Having accepted the date for Enoch’s birth in Gen 5:18 SP (522 am), Jubilees saw an opportunity to emphasize the cultic relationship between Enosh and Enoch by subtracting seven years from Enosh’s date of birth in Gen 5:6 SP (i.e., 228 am instead of 235 am). In this way, the patriarchs’ birth dates are set at precisely one ‘otot’ of years apart,113 and both occur at the culmination of a mishmarot cycle (the 38th and 87th, respectively).114 These concomitances are hardly coincidental when we 113 Whether the ‘firsts’ themselves are set at one ‘otot’ of years apart cannot be known, for these events are not dated in the text. It is nevertheless interesting to speculate whether the ‘firsts’ may have occurred at the end of the sixth and twelfth jubilees, respectively. Analogously, in 4Q319 (4QOtot), the two priestly courses Gamul and Shecaniah are repeatedly mentioned as having or being a ‘sign’ in certain years of a seven-year sabbatical cycle. Since, according to 1Chronicles 24, Gamul is the 22nd priestly course (v. 17) and Shecaniah the 10th (v. 11), the two courses are 12 positions or half of the 24-member list apart from each other. Moreover, Gamul and Shecaniah are the priestly courses that serve at the beginning of years 1 and 4 in the six-year mishmarot rotation, that is, three years or half of the six-year cycle apart from each other. The Qumran community tracked such symmetries. 114 On the other hand, the difference between the birth dates of Enosh and Enoch is an insignificant number in the other textual traditions: 622 am – 235 am = 387 years (MT); 522–235 = 287 years (SP); 1122–435 = 687 years (LXX).

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consider how the biblical text has been deliberately shaped in order to maximize the juxtaposition of these founding fathers. Moreover, Jub. 4:17 explicitly states that Enoch was ‘the first of mankind who were born …,’ thus emphasizing his birth as an important element in the timing of his ‘first’ and strengthening the correlation between the birth dates of Enosh and Enoch. Admittedly, however, these arithmetic relationships are extremely subtle and would be lost on all but the priestly insiders who were apparently keeping track of the implied cultic cycles of priestly rotation in the book. If we continue looking through Jubilees for additional examples of major (cultic) events that coincide with the cycles of priestly rotation, we may be disappointed by the relative dearth of material.115 The Appendix contains an inventory of the events in the Book of Jubilees that coincide with one or more of the four cultic cycles under consideration here. We do find, for example, that in 2057 am, immediately before the auspicious seventh ‘otot’ cycle that begins in 2058 am, Abraham instructs Isaac in proper sacrificial procedures (Jub. 21:7–16; cf. v. 1), which is the foundation of the actual practice of the cultus. But we might have expected to find an ‘otot’ cycle coinciding with an event in the life of Levi, who is, after all, a major figure in the book. Yet he is not even born at the conclusion of a mishmarot cycle, whereas Naphtali is!116 This relative dearth of material can be explained in several ways. First, Jubilees is largely bound by the biblical text. Whereas, as we have seen, the biblical chronology can be shaped by minor changes wherever necessary in order to enhance the relationship between the cycles of priestly rotation and significant cultic events, Jubilees normally avoids major upheavals to the chronology.117 Second, Jubilees wants to 115 Can it be happenstance, however, that in Jub. 4:29, just after the aforementioned passage on Enoch (vv. 17–26), Adam’s death is dated to ‘the end of the nineteenth jubilee, during the seventh week—in its sixth year,’ that is, 18 jubilees (= 3×6 jubilees = 3 ‘otot’ cycles), 6 weeks (= 7 mishmarot cycles), and 6 years (= 1 mishmarot cycle)? 116 Levi is born in 2127 am (Jub. 28:14), which corresponds to neither an ‘otot’ nor a mishmarot cycle. Naphtali, on the other hand, is born in 2130 am (Jub. 28:19), which corresponds to the end of the 355th mishmarot cycle. 117 Even a minor change can have unintended consequences for the rest of the book’s chronology. For example, some of the dates in the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob do not harmonize with others in Jubilees. According to Jub. 11:15, Abraham was born in 1876 am, and, according to Jub. 16:15, Isaac was born in 1987 am, making Abraham 111 years old when Isaac was born. But Gen 21:5 states, as does Jub. 15:17, that Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born. At least the date of Isaac’s birth seems secure, for if, according to Jub. 19:13, Jacob and Esau were born in 2046 am (cf. Jub. 25:4, where Jacob is 63 years old in 2109 am), and if Isaac was born in 1987 am, then this conforms

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emphasize the importance of Enoch’s signal contribution to the cultus. His insight into calendar and chronology is foundational to the whole approach in the Book of Jubilees. Therefore, it is only appropriate that the length of Enoch’s sojourn with the angels, during which he learned ‘the dominion of the sun,’ should turn out to be not only the gold standard for the periodization of history on a grand scale but also its main example. The fact remains that Enoch’s 294-year sojourn with the angels is also the only explicit occurrence in the book of the expression ‘six jubilees of years.’ Finally, since Jubilees wants to emphasize Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle as a prototype of the eschatological future, when the Temple will be rebuilt on Mt. Zion, the ‘otot’ cycle—this grand cycle of priestly rotation—has everything to do with Temple service. Therefore, we should not expect the 294year ‘otot’ cycle in particular to coincide with many events beyond those connected with the life of Enoch and the Temple.

Conclusion Jubilees has a fundamentally priestly orientation, although the nature of this orientation is never explicitly elaborated; it is purely an inference from the text itself. By the same token, the author of Jubilees develops his priestly chronological system, although he never defines the structure of the system he is presenting. Fundamental to the whole discussion are four cultic cycles—weeks, jubilees, mishmarot, and ‘otot’—and to Gen 25:26, which states that Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob and Esau were born. Cf. Chaim Milikowsky, ‘Seder #Olam and Jewish Chronography in the Hellenistic and Romans Periods,’ Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 52 (1985) 115– 139 (136–137). Note, however, that according to Jub. 45:13, Jacob died at the age of 147 in 2188 am, which would place his birth in 2041 am. Without noticing the internal consistency between the birthdates of Isaac and Jacob based on 2046 as the birth date of the latter, John T. Rook (‘Studies in the Book of Jubilees: The Themes of Calendar, Genealogy and Chronology,’ [D. Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 1983] 151) suggests that the number 2046 is an error that crept into the text on the basis of the MT date for the birth of Isaac, which is 2046 am in that tradition. The whole problem is exacerbated by the fact that Jubilees gives conflicting evidence for the birth date of Abraham (i.e., 1876 am [Jub. 11:15] and 1882 am [calculated from Jub. 21:1; 23:8: 2057 am – 175 = 1882 am]). Cf. Rook, ‘Studies in the Book of Jubilees,’ 151–156. On the issue of the textual transmission of the numbers in these passages, see James C. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees (2 vols.; CSCO 510–511, Scriptores Aethiopici 87–88; Leuven: Peeters, 1989) 2.87, note on Jub. 15:1.

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their conjunctions with significant events in the history of the world. The first two cycles are, of course, obvious throughout the text, since they are explicitly used in the book’s elaborate system of dating events. The latter two cycles, however, are never mentioned in the text. The recognition of their presence requires a thorough knowledge of the cycles of priestly rotation and their conjunctions with the other major cultic cycles. Then, this esoteric knowledge must be applied to the text, in order to deduce the significance of the individual dated events themselves and their implied interrelationship with other events within the narrative structure and the larger chronological framework of the book. Hence, Jubilees can be read at the surface level of the main narrative or at a deeper level that, like a cryptogram, requires specialized, insider knowledge and decoding.118 Jubilees exults in the secret knowledge written on the heavenly tablets—the authoritative primordial tradition transmitted through Enoch and other venerable patriarchs— which gives the initiated hierophant the indisputable inside track on the interpretation of pentateuchal texts.119 118

On the widespread Greek conviction that the Egyptians did not want their ideas about the gods and divine matters to be divulged, but rather tried to conceal them by means of a mysterious, symbolic script that only the wise priests were able to write and were allowed to read, see Pieter W. van der Horst, ‘The Secret Hieroglyphs in Ancient Literature,’ in idem, Hellenism—Judaism—Christianity: Essays on Their Interaction (2nd ed.; Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 8; Leuven: Peeters, 1998) 317–325. 119 Cf. Najman, ‘Interpretation As Primordial Writing: Jubilees and Its Authority Conferring Strategies,’ 395–400. The fact that Jubilees’ milieu values secret knowledge is amply illustrated not only by the immediate context of the Community Rule itself in which the Otot material is embedded (cf. 1QS 9.15–19, which puts a premium on secrecy concerning the ‘mysteries’), but also by the large number of manuscript fragments from Qumran cave 4, written in an esoteric script (so-called ‘Cryptic A’), with dates ranging from the early second century bce to the end of the second century bce (i.e., the very period which most comes into question for the dating of Jubilees). Since Leviticus is the only book of the Hebrew Bible represented by extensive quotes in the Cryptic A script (cf. 4Q249, 4Q249j; 4Q249k-l), the priestly character of the material written in this esoteric script is confirmed. Many of the other manuscripts written in this script (especially the copies of Serekh ha-#Edah) also relate to priestly matters (e.g., 4Q249c [= 1QSa 1.13–17], 4Q249e 1 ii [= 1QSa 1.24–26]; 4Q249f 1–3 [= 1QSa 2.3–18]). For a full discussion, see Stephen J. Pfann (ed.), ‘Cryptic Texts,’ in S.J. Pfann et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XXVI: Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, Part 1 (DJD 36; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000) 515[701]; also Matthias Albani, ‘Horoscopes in the Qumran Scrolls,’ in Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 2.279–330 (318–321). We may also note that within Jubilees itself, an arcane interplay between textual traditions appears to be presupposed. Rook (‘Studies in the Book of Jubilees,’ 150–156) argues on the basis of a comparison between birth years of the patriarchs from Adam to Joseph in the SP and in Jubilees that the latter has used the chronology of the SP and has adapted it to fit the book’s narrative

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However, even at the surface level, where the explicit cultic cycles dominate, the full significance of the main narrative can be appreciated only when the reader makes the necessary connections from the clues in the text. Thus, for example, the date and significance of the grand jubilee of jubilees in 2450 am—surely one of the most important events in the book (see the Introduction [pp. 12–15])—can be ascertained only by an elaborate series of summations and deductions: first, by adding ‘40 years’ (Jub. 50:4b) to the explicit date for the revelation to Moses on Mt. Sinai, that is, ‘49 jubilees from the time of Adam until today, and one week and two years’ (v. 4a); second, by recognizing that this arithmetic sum ([49 ×49]+7+2 +40 = 2450) places several important events (i.e., the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai in 2410 am and the entrance into the Land in 2450 am) within the 50th jubilee from creation (2401–2450 am); and, finally, by deducing the significance of this conjunction for the overall chronological conception of the book based on Leviticus 25 as interpreted on a national scale. Here, as throughout the rest of the book, Jubilees provides the essential clues, but the reader is expected to supply the insight to make the necessary connections within the presupposed interpretive framework.120 The same principle applies a fortiori to Jubilees’ use of the implied cultic cycles. It is no wonder, then, that the chronological system of the book has been difficult to understand. At the heart of Jubilees’ whole chronological system stands Enoch, the seventh antediluvian patriarch whose life and translation left an indeli-

purpose. Thus, for example, the numerical difference between the birth dates for Nahor in the two texts (2098–1744) is 354, the number of days in a lunar year, which corresponds to the fact that Nahor is illegitimately taught ‘to practice divination and to augur by the signs of the sky’ (Jub. 11:8). Finally, we may note that according to Josephus (Ant. 15.371), the Essenes ‘practiced the way of life taught among the Greeks by Pythagoras.’ If there is any substance to this analogy (and that remains problematic in its specific details), does the Essenes’ ‘way of life’ (δαιτα) include adherence to the kind of number mysticism for which Aristotle ridicules the Pythagoreans in his Metaphysics (1.5.1–5)? See further Adela Yarbro Collins, ‘Numerical Symbolism in Jewish and Early Christian Apocalyptic Literature,’ in ANRW II.21.2 (1984) 1221–1287 (esp. 1250–1257); Michael Chyutin, ‘Number Mysticism and Architecture,’ in The New Jerusalem Scroll from Qumran: A Comprehensive Reconstruction (JSPSup 25; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) 131–143; John T. Fitzgerald, ‘Pythagoreans,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 2.728–729; Corinna Rossi, Architecture and Mathematics in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). 120 According to CD 3.14–15, God revealed to the faithful ‘hidden matters (úåøúñð [cf. Deut 29:28]) in which all Israel had gone astray ….’

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ble mark on the cultus. Enoch is credited with fundamental insights into calendar and chronology that were revealed to him through angelic mediation. His 294-year sojourn with the angels after the birth of Methuselah coincides with the ‘otot’ cycle, the grand cycle of priestly rotation that has been continuing in 294-year increments from the time of creation. Moreover, by a careful shaping of the biblical text, Enoch enters into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle. Thus, in a trajectory that spans all the way to the new creation,121 Enoch is seen as the prototypical priest whose priestly service is a harbinger of the priesthood expected when the Temple is rebuilt on Mt. Zion. This presupposes, of course, that the Temple had been destroyed. When, according to Jubilees, was it destroyed? Does Jubilees have a conception similar to that in t. Ta#an. 3:9, which dates the destruction of the Temple to the beginning of a new cycle of priestly rotation? When, according to Jubilees, will the Temple be rebuilt? Do these dates have a connection with the trajectory that Enoch set up when he entered his priestly service in the primeval sanctuary? These questions—and more—will be considered in the next chapter, where we attempt to move beyond a description of the cultic cycles that are foundational to the chronological system of Jubilees to a comprehensive reconstruction of the chronological system itself.

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Cf. Jub. 4:26b: ‘… and Mt. Zion (which) will be sanctified in the new creation ….’

chapter two THE CHRONOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF THE BOOK OF JUBILEES

Introduction In chapter 1, we considered Jubilees’ use of expressed and implied cultic cycles—the week, the jubilee, the mishmarot, and the ‘otot’—that are foundational to the whole chronological system of the book. The present chapter examines the chronological system itself. As was discussed in the previous chapter, Jubilees seems to track the cycles of priestly rotation and their conjunction with major events in human history, especially those relating to the Temple and its cultus. We noticed in this regard that Enoch was singled out for special attention. His unusual life and translation became the anchor point for all that Jubilees holds most dear with respect to calendar and chronology within its presupposed interpretive framework. We have already laid some of the groundwork for understanding this interpretive framework; now it is necessary to build on that foundation in several directions. Our main goal in this chapter is to understand how Jubilees conceptualizes the history of the world from Urzeit to Endzeit, how it periodizes that history, and how the history of Israel fits into that broader scheme. It is not enough to notice that Jubilees presents us with essentially a rewriting of Genesis 1 to Exodus 24, for the historical scope of the book is much broader than that. Jubilees 1, for example, rewrites Genesis by prefacing the biblical creation account with a short preview of the whole history of Israel in the Land and beyond. This shows not only that particularism is a special focus of the book, but also that the surface narrative provides merely a convenient starting point for the book’s wider interests relating to Israel. On the other hand, Jubilees 1 also indicates the true breadth of the book’s scope—from creation to new creation (v. 29), which subsumes within it the whole history of humankind. Just as Jubilees presents us with a mental ‘map’ of the whole world, along with the inviolable boundaries of the nations within the world (chaps. 8–9), Jubilees also adumbrates the whole history of the

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world from beginning to end. This shows that universalism is another special focus of the book. We have already encountered this universalistic strain in our previous discussion of Enoch, the pivotal figure in the book who testifies ‘against all people in order to tell all the deeds of history until the day of judgment’ (Jub. 4:24; cf. v. 19; 10:17). As we shall see, between these twin foci of particularism and universalism, Jubilees constructs a chronological system that weaves together the other elements of the book—the surface narrative, the aforementioned cultic cycles, the conjunctions of those cycles with significant historical events, and the adumbration of corresponding eschatological expectations—all within a distinctly priestly worldview. At the outset, it should be emphasized that the following discussion is by necessity somewhat speculative at points. There are several reasons for this. First, the surface narrative constrains where and how the chronological system comes to expression within the text; therefore, we must reconstruct the chronological system from evidence scattered rather unsystematically throughout the book. Needless to say, the process of gathering, distilling and synthesizing this disparate information into a presumably coherent system may reflect more about the ingenuity of the modern scholar than it does about the Book of Jubilees. This is at least an ever-present danger for our study. Second, Jubilees does not supply all the pieces that would be necessary to assemble the whole puzzle completely; therefore, we must supply the missing pieces based both on comparative materials from outside the text and on the trajectories, symmetries and periodicity within the text. We must acknowledge that there is simply insufficient evidence to allow anyone to write a definitive treatment of the complete chronological system presupposed in Jubilees. At best, there is a series of hints in the text that permit the broad contours of the whole to be sketched, albeit only with dotted lines at several crucial places. Despite the inherent risks of embarking on such a venture, the potential gains seem sufficient to justify the endeavor, for we are dealing here with a matter of central importance to the overall interpretation the book. By the same token, the failure adequately to comprehend Jubilees’ chronological system will impede our understanding of this signally important writing of the Second Temple period.

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The History of Israel in Jubilees The particularism of the book—the emphasis on Israel—requires careful attention. If, as was discussed in the Introduction, the whole history of humankind is inscribed on the heavenly tablets that were dictated to Moses (as to Enoch before him),1 then the history of Israel was, of course, included there as well. This is made explicit in Jub. 32:21:2 In a night vision he [sc. Jacob] saw an angel coming down from heaven with seven tablets in his hands. He gave (them) to Jacob, and he read them. He read everything that was written in them—what would happen to him and his sons throughout all ages.

Based on this heavenly foreknowledge, Jacob was able to inform his sons about the future, according to Jub. 45:14: Israel blessed his sons before he died. He told them everything that would happen to them in the land of Egypt; and he informed them (about) what would happen to them at the end of time (cf. Gen 49:1).

We should not be surprised, therefore, that Jubilees gives us at least glimpses of the history of Israel after the entrance into the Land.3 1

Cf. Hindy Najman, ‘Interpretation As Primordial Writing: Jubilees and Its Authority Conferring Strategies,’ JSJ 30 (1999) 379–410 (385): ‘Long before Moses ascended Mount Sinai, the calendrical and historical tradition inscribed upon the heavenly tablets was transmitted, in the form of a written tradition, to Enoch and then Noah and the patriarchs.’ As was discussed in the previous chapter (pp. 59–60), Jub. 1:27–29 provides a fitting parallel to Jub. 4:17–26, for much the same revelation that the angels communicated to Enoch from the heavenly tablets was later transmitted to Moses on Mt. Sinai through angelic mediation from the same tablets, this time in the form of the Book of Jubilees itself. 2 For arguments that these ‘seven tablets’ refer to the heavenly tablets, see Florentino García Martínez, ‘The Heavenly Tablets in the Book of Jubilees,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 243–260 (250); Martha Himmelfarb, ‘Torah, Testimony, and Heavenly Tablets: The Claim to Authority of the Book of Jubilees,’ in Benjamin G. Wright (ed.), A Multiform Heritage: Studies on Early Judaism and Christianity in Honor of Robert A. Kraft (Scholars Press Homage Series 24; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1999) 19–29 (26 n. 21). As Himmelfarb points out (ibid., 24), ‘This revelation provides an explanation for Jacob’s ability on his death bed to tell his sons what would befall them “at the end of days” íéîéä úéøçàá (Gen 49:1).’ 3 Cf., e.g., Jub. 49:18–19: ‘When the Israelites enter the land which they will possess—the land of Canaan—and set up the Lord’s tabernacle in the middle of the land in one of their tribal groups (until the time when the Lord’s temple will be built in the land), they are to come and celebrate the passover in the Lord’s tabernacle and sacrifice it before the Lord from year to year. (19) At the time when the house is built in the Lord’s name in the land which they will possess, they are to go there and sacrifice the passover ….’

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The very first chapter of Jubilees demonstrates this point. The focus of the divine revelation on Mt. Sinai is immediately explained as a special lesson for Israel in the future:4 He [sc. God] said to him [sc. Moses]: ‘Pay attention to all the words which I tell you on this mountain. Write (them) in a book so that their offspring may see that I have not abandoned them because of all the evil they have done in straying from the covenant between me and you which I am making today on Mt. Sinai for their offspring. So it will be that when all of these things befall them they will recognize that I have been more faithful than they in all their judgments and in all their actions. They will recognize that I have indeed been with them.’ (Jub. 1:5–6)

Thus, just as Enoch performs the function of a scribal witness against humankind in general (Jub. 4:24: ‘… to testify against all people in order to tell all the deeds of history until the day of judgment’; cf. v. 19), Moses performs the function of a scribal witness against Israel in particular. In other words, the purpose of revealing the subsequent history of Israel to Moses on Sinai is to prove to the Israelites in later time that God was right about them all along. Here, we begin to sense the Deuteronomic emphasis of Jubilees 1, for Deuteronomy also predicts what will happen to the people in the future when they go astray from the covenant.5 Indeed, in accordance with Deut 31:19, this record would be a ‘witness’ against the people in the future (Jub. 1:8). Moreover, penitential prayers in the Second Temple period that are influenced by Deuteronomic theology frequently confess that Israel was in the wrong and that YHWH was faithful and just (e.g., Dan 9:4–19; Neh 9:33).6

4 For the Hebrew text, see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 1.12–17. Cf. James C. VanderKam and J.T. Milik (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, VIII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 1 (DJD 13; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) 1–140 (5). 5 Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Studies on the Prologue and Jubilees 1,’ in Randal A. Argall, et al. (eds.), For A Later Generation: The Transformation of Tradition in Israel, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000) 266– 279 (267), who argues that Jub. 1:5–18 contains ‘a heavy Deuteronomic flavor, with Deuteronomy 31 especially influential.’ See also ibid., 269–270, 272, 273, 278 n. 40. 6 Cf., e.g., Rodney Alan Werline, Penitential Prayer in Second Temple Judaism: The Development of a Religious Institution (SBLEJL 13; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1998); Mark J. Boda, Praying the Tradition: The Origin and Use of Tradition in Nehemiah 9 (BZAW 277; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1999); Daniel K. Falk, Daily, Sabbath, and Festival Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 27; Leiden: Brill, 1998); Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, A Biblical Theology of Exile (Overtures to Biblical Theology; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002) 111–123.

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Jubilees 1 goes on to give a preview of the history of Israel in the familar Deuteronomic scheme of sin-exile-restoration (SER).7 First of all, Jub. 1:7–12 details the expected sin of the people once they come into the Land:8 Now you write this entire message which I am telling you today, because I know their defiance and their stubbornness (even) before I bring them into the land which I promised by oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: ‘To your posterity I will give the land which flows with milk and honey’ [Deut 31:20]. When they eat and are full, (8) they will turn to foreign gods—to ones which will not save them from any of their afflictions. Then this testimony will serve as evidence [Deut 31:19]. (9) For they will forget all my commandments—everything that I command them—and will follow the nations, their impurities, and their shame. They will serve their gods, and (this) will prove an obstacle for them—an affliction, a pain, and a trap. (10) Many will be destroyed. They will be captured and will fall into the enemy’s control because they abandoned my statutes, my commandments, my covenantal festivals, my sabbaths, my holy things which I have hallowed for myself among them, my tabernacle, and my temple which I sanctified for myself in the middle of the land so that I could set my name upon it and that it could live (there). (11) They made for themselves high places, (sacred) groves, and carved images; each of them prostrated himself before his own in order to go astray. They will sacrifice their children to demons and to every product (conceived by) their erring minds. (12) I will send witnesses to them so that I may testify to them, but they will not listen and will kill the witnesses. They will persecute those too who study the law diligently. They will abrogate everything and will begin to do evil in my presence.

Like Deuteronomy, on which this description of Israel’s future sin is modeled, Jubilees is concerned here with how the people—all Israel— will go astray after entering the Land. The violent fate of the prophets (here called ‘witnesses’ [íéãò] to accord with ‘witness, testimony’ [äãåòúä] in v. 8, an allusion to Deut 31:19) who are sent to admonish Israel is a regular theme of the Deuteronomic view of Israel’s history.9

7 8

7–8).

Cf., similarly, Himmelfarb, ‘Torah, Testimony, and Heavenly Tablets,’ 23–24. For the Hebrew text, see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 1.17 (DJD 13, 5) and 2.1–12 (DJD 13,

9 Cf. Odil Hannes Steck, ‘Die getöteten “Zeugen” und die verfolgten “ToraSucher” in Jub 1,12. Ein Beitrag zur Zeugnis-Terminologie des Jubiläenbuches (I–II),’ ZAW 107 (1995) 445–465; 108 (1996) 70–86. For the Hebrew text of Jub. 1:8, 12, see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 2.4–5, 12 (DJD 13, 8).

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Second, Jub. 1:13–14 describes the expected exile that results from Israel’s sin:10 (13) Then I will hide my face from them. I will deliver them into the control of the nations for captivity, for booty, and for being devoured. I will remove them from the land and disperse them among the nations. (14) They will forget all my law, all my commandments, and all my verdicts. They will err regarding the beginning of the month, the sabbath, the festival, the jubilee, and the decree.

The phrase ‘Then I will hide my face from them’ is Deuteronomic (cf. Deut 31:17, 18; 32:20). During this period of divine wrath, the exiled nation is expected to continue to go astray. Here, however, the text emphasizes not so much the idolatry that, according to Deuteronomy, led to the exile in the first place,11 but rather Israel’s sin of erring with regard to the calendar.12 The specific mention of erring with regard to ‘the jubilee’ in a book whose chronological system is based on reckoning time by jubilees is highly significant. As we shall see, transgression of the calendar (not least of the jubilee) turns out to be a major theme in the Book of Jubilees. Finally, Jub. 1:15–18 predicts the restoration of Israel after the period of exile:13 After this they will return to me from amongst the nations with all their minds, all their souls, and all their strength. Then I will gather them from among all the nations, and they will search for me so that I may be found by them when they have searched for me with all their minds and with all their souls. I will rightly disclose to them abundant peace. (16) I will transform them into a righteous plant with all my mind and with all my soul. They will become a blessing, not a curse; they will become the head, not the tail. (17) I will build my temple among them and will live with them; I will become their God and they will become my true and 10 The Hebrew text is preserved only for the first part of Jub. 1:15; see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 2.17 (DJD 13, 8). 11 See merely Jub. 1:11; cf. Deut 4:25–28; 11:16–17; 29:24–28; 30:17–18. On the other hand, it should be noted that in Ezekiel, there is a close association between Sabbath violation and idolatry, for although Sabbath observance commemorates the creation of the world by YHWH (Gen 2:2–3; Exod 20:11), profaning the Sabbath offends God’s creative act, just as worshipping idols offends the creator. Cf. John F. Kutsko, Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the Book of Ezekiel (Biblical and Judaic Studies from the University of California, San Diego 7; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2000) 143–144. 12 According to Lev 26:34–35, the Land will lie desolate and the people will go into exile for failing to keep the sabbatical years. See further below (pp. 87–88). 13 For the Hebrew text, see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 2.17 (DJD 13, 8).

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righteous people. (18) I will neither abandon them nor become alienated from them, for I am the Lord their God.

The Deuteronomic language continues in this description of Israel’s restoration. Now, the text goes far beyond Israel’s initial entrance into the Land and even beyond the history of the people in the Land to the time when, in accordance with Deut 30:1–10 (cf. 4:25–31), God would regather Israel from all nations to which they had been scattered during the exile. Now, in accordance with the covenantal blessings for obedience in Deut 28:1–14, Israel will become ‘the head, not the tail’ (Jub. 1:16; cf. Deut 28:13), thus enjoying ascendancy over the nations (cf. also Deut 28:9–10).14 When Moses hears this preview of Israel’s history, he recoils in horror and pleads with God to deliver the people from their error so that they may not ‘be trapped in their sins from now to eternity’ (Jub. 1:19–21). Thereupon, God consoles Moses by reiterating Israel’s certain failure, but especially the people’s expected return and restoration (Jub. 1:22–25). The remainder of Jubilees 1 (vv. 26–29) contains a panorama of the revelation that Moses received on Mt. Sinai. We have already cited Jub. 1:26, where God instructs Moses to write what he tells him on the mountain: ‘what is first and what is last and what is to come during all the divisions of time which are in the law and which are in the testimony and in the weeks of their jubilees until eternity—until the time when I descend and live with them throughout all the ages of eternity.’15 Once again, we see that the divine revelation encompasses the whole history of humankind. In light of the errors Israel is expected to commit with respect to ‘the jubilees’ (v. 14), the division of world history into ‘weeks of jubilees’ (v. 26) takes on added significance. The creation of the world set in motion a sabbatical chronology for the history of humankind that spans all of time until eternity. By the end of this sabbatical chronology, the world reverts back to Eden-like conditions of the fresh creation, when God freely communed with people (cf. Gen 3:8; Isa 65:24).16 14 On Israel’s universal sovereignty, see further in chapter 3 of the present study (pp. 166–177). 15 For the Hebrew text, see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 4.3–6 (DJD 13, 11). 16 Although as J.A.T.G.M. van Ruiten (‘Visions of the Temple in the Book of Jubilees,’ in Beate Ego, et al. [eds.], Gemeinde ohne Tempel/Community without Temple: Zur Substituierung und Transformation des Jerusalemer Tempels und seines Kults im Alten Testament, antiken Judentum und frühen Christentum [WUNT 118; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1999] 215–227 [221])

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Jubilees 1 concludes with an emphasis on the correspondence between the Urzeit and the Endzeit, the creation and the new creation (Jub. 1:27–29):17 Then he said to an angel of the presence: ‘Dictate to Moses (starting) from the beginning of the creation until the time when my temple is built among them throughout the ages of eternity. (28) The Lord will appear in the sight of all, and all will know that I am the God of Israel, the father of all Jacob’s children, and the king on Mt. Zion for the ages of eternity. Then Zion and Jerusalem will become holy.’ (29) The angel of the presence, who was going along in front of the Israelite camp, took the tablets (which told) of the divisions of the years from the time the law and the testimony were created—for the weeks of their jubilees, year by year in their full number, and their jubilees from [the time of the creation until] the time of the new creation when the heavens, the earth, and all their creatures will be renewed like the powers of the sky and like all the creatures of the earth, until the time when the temple of the Lord will be created on Mt. Zion. All the luminaries will be renewed for (the purposes of) healing, health, and blessing for all the elect ones of Israel and so that it may remain this way from that time throughout all the days of the earth.

Some of the same themes that we have noticed earlier in Jubilees 1 are reiterated here. (1) Once again, world history is marked off in terms of jubilees (cf. v. 26). (2) Once again, the focus of world history, which spans from creation to the new creation, is on Israel, and particularly on the restoration of Israel, as symbolized here by the repristinization of Zion. The connection between universal history and the restoration of Israel is obvious. For already in the OT, the restoration of Israel is expected to inaugurate a new creation and a period of bliss and prosperity for Jerusalem. Thus, Isa 65:17–24 reads: For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. (18) But be glad and rejoice points out, Gen 3:8–13 is omitted altogether by the author of Jubilees. See also idem, Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1–11 in the Book of Jubilees (JSJSup 66; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 97–98. 17 For the Hebrew text of the extant portions of vv. 27–28, see 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 4.6–10 (DJD 13, 11–12). Unfortunately, the fragmentary text does not preserve v. 29, with its crucial phrase ‘… from [the time of the creation until] the time of the new creation ….’ A closely related text, 4QpapJubileesb? (4Q217) 2.1–2 (DJD 13, 25), seems to give the Hebrew title of Jubilees (line 1) and then reads, ‘[ ] for all the ye[ars of] eternity, from the creatio[n ]’ (line 2). For further discussion, see the textual note on line 2 in DJD 13, 27. Similarly, 4QPseudo-Jubileesa (4Q225) 1.7 (DJD 13, 143) contains the phrase, ‘the creation until the day of the [new] creation’ (äùãçä üäàéøáä íåé ãò äàéøáä).

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forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. (19) I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. (20) No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. (21) They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (22) They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. (23) They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD—and their descendants as well. (24) Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. (25) The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

(3) Once again, Eden-like conditions are expected to prevail in the new creation.18 After a long period of decline, the whole world will be renewed so that it conforms to God’s intention from the beginning. Yet, this universal recapitulation is inseparable from the restoration of Israel—‘the time when the temple of the Lord will be created in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion’ (Jub. 1:29).19 From what we have seen in Jubilees 1, the book contains far more than a narrative from creation to Sinai. Indeed, we may safely say that a central concern of Jubilees is Israel in the Land both before and after the exile.20 Ultimately, Jubilees looks forward to the new creation and to 18

It should be noted in passing that a new creation, with a new nature for all God’s creatures, was given in the immediate postdiluvian age (cf. Jub. 5:12; James C. VanderKam, ‘The Angel Story in the Book of Jubilees,’ in Esther G. Chazon and M.E. Stone [eds.], Pseudepigraphic Perspectives: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Proceedings of the International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature [STJD 31; Leiden: Brill, 1999] 151–170 [161–163]). 19 Compare 4QRenewed Earth (4Q475), which ‘deals with God’s eschatological renewal of His people and all the earth’ and includes a reference to ‘Zion’ (T. Elgvin, [ed.], ‘4QRenewed Earth,’ in Stephen J. Pfann, et al. [eds.], Qumran Cave 4, XXVI: Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, Part 1 [DJD 36; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000] 464–473 [467]). Elgvin (ibid., 464) further describes the text as ‘a small fragment describing God’s relationship to His people and the land, the end-time judgement on all the earth, and the subsequent peace which will reign in the land. The text has an apocalyptic flavour and is influenced by various biblical passages. It looks forward to a national restoration of Israel and shows no signs of originating within the Yah. ad.’ There is even a possibility that line 7 of this text (‘[Israel will be unto Him(?) ]a beloved son’) is literarily dependent on Jub. 1:24–25 (ibid., 471–472). 20 Cf. Himmelfarb, ‘Torah, Testimony, and Heavenly Tablets,’ 23: ‘Thus if Jubilees

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the period of Israel’s restoration leading up to it. In order to appreciate the role of the history of Israel in Jubilees, we need to turn now to an examination of the chronological system that provides a framework for the book.

The Sabbatical Chronology of Jubilees When God created the world, he rested on the seventh day.21 Hence, Jubilees grounds its sabbatical chronology in the very order of the created world (cf. Gen 2:1–3; Exod 20:11). From the time of creation onward, the seventh day became holy, and therefore the multiples of seven units of time also necessarily became holy—the ‘week’ (a sevenyear period or heptad), the ‘jubilee’ (a 49-year period [7×7 ‘weeks’]), and the jubilee of jubilees (after 49 jubilees).22 For the Book of Jubilees, presents itself as testimony, it is claiming to be not a book of law, but a book about time, the course of history and the deeds of humanity that make up history as well as the cyclical passage of time, the calendar. This is clearly the point of view of the Damascus Document, which provides our earliest evidence of how Jubilees was read. For the Damascus Covenant, the Torah of Moses contains commandments, while Jubilees contains the history of Israel’s failure to fulfill those commandments. “Therefore a man should take it upon himself to return to the Torah of Moses because all (ìëä) is spelled out in it. And the explanation of the periods of the blindness of Israel to all these (äìà ìëî) is spelled out in the Book of the Divisions of Times into their Jubilees and Their Weeks.” ([CD] 16:1–4) Jubilees, then, regards itself as a record of the past and a prediction of the future.’ See also ibid., 28. 21 Cf. Jub. 2:1: ‘On the Lord’s orders, the angel of the presence said to Moses: “Write all the words about creation—how in six days the Lord God completed all his works, everything he had created, and kept sabbath on the seventh day. He sanctified it for all ages and set it as a sign for all his works.”’ See further James C. VanderKam, ‘Genesis 1 in Jubilees 2,’ DSD 1 (1994) 300–321. The creation account as rewritten in Jubilees 2 puts particular emphasis on the sabbath day by referring to it both at the beginning (v. 1), before the works of creation begin, and at the end (vv. 15–33), after the works have been completed. Cf. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 13, 17. 22 The relationship between these periods is even deeper than the fact that they are multiples of seven. As Jacob Milgrom (Leviticus 23–27 [AB 3B; New York: Doubleday, 2001] 2156, 2157–2158) points out, the phrase ‘six years you may sow’ (Lev 25:3 = Exod 23:10) corresponds structurally with the sabbath commandment ‘six days you may work’ (Exod 20:9), and also the sabbatical year is modeled on the weekly sabbath (compare Lev 25:4 with 23:3). Moreover, there is also a theological correspondence between the sabbatical year and the weekly sabbath, in that both place the Land under the lordship of God. We may suggest, therefore, that Jubilees has interpreted the description of the sabbatical year in Lev 25:4 (ïåúáù úáù) as ‘sabbath of sabbaths,’ that is, an intensification of the multiples of seven, although the underlying theological reasons run deeper. Likewise, as Milgrom (ibid., 2166, 2170) also indicates, the jubilee corresponds with the

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these periods—and especially the jubilee—demarcate all of human history.23 Thus, the Prologue to the book states, ‘These are the words regarding the divisions of the times of the law and of the testimony, of the events of the years, of the weeks of their jubilees throughout all the years of eternity ….’24 As we have seen, Jubilees 1 goes on to describe itself as containing ‘the divisions of all the times’ (v. 4; cf. v. 29). Similarly, the assumed original Hebrew title of Jubilees in the Damascus Covenant is given as ‘The Book of the Divisions of the Times according to their Jubilees and their Weeks’ (CD 16.3–4).25 In Jub. 4:18–19, Enoch is credited as the first to have written a comprehensive history of humankind that is periodized in this way:26 (18) He testified to mankind in the generations of the earth: The weeks of the jubilees he related, and made known the days of the years; the sabbath, for the purpose of emphasizing the sanctity of the jubilee is to associate it with the sabbath (cf. Exod 35:2), particularly the work prohibition of the sabbatical year (cf. vv. 4b–5a with v. 11b). Moreover, the jubilee year is in effect a ‘sacred occasion’ (cf. Lev 25:10, 12), no different in this respect from the sabbath (cf. Lev 23:3). Cf. Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2176. See also ibid., 2166 (on Lev 25:10): ‘The implication is clear: just as Israel sanctifies the sabbath by abstaining from all work, so the call to sanctify the jubilee year means that Israel should abstain from all working the land (vv. 11–12). However, the jubilee is not called a sabbath, as is the seventh year (vv. 2, 4, 5, 6) ….’ 23 See further Klaus Koch, ‘Sabbat, Sabbatjahr und Weltenjahr. Die apokalyptische Konstruktion der Zeit,’ Kodikas/Code: Ars Semeiotica 20 (1997) 69–86; Lutz Doering, ‘Sabbat und Sabbathalacha im Jubiläenbuch,’ in his Schabbat. Sabbathalacha und –praxis im antiken Judentum und Urchristentum (TSAJ 78; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1999) 43–118; idem, ‘The Concept of the Sabbath in the Book of Jubilees,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 179–205. 24 Very little of the Prologue has been preserved in Hebrew. Cf. 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 1.3–4 (DJD 13, 5). 25 Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Apocalyptic Tradition in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Religion of Qumran,’ in John J. Collins and Robert A. Kugler (eds.), Religion in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000) 113–134 (126–128); idem, ‘Studies on the Prologue and Jubilees 1,’ 268– 269; idem, Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees (HSM 14; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1977) 255–258. See further below on the possible use of Jubilees in CD 10.7–10 (p. 111 n. 82). For the Hebrew title of the Book of Jubilees, see also 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 1.11–12 (DJD 13, 5); 4QpapJubileesb? (4Q217) 1.1 (DJD 13, 25); 4QText with a Citation of Jubilees (4Q228) 1 i 1, 9 (DJD 13, 177–185 [esp. 181]). Cf., however, Devorah Dimant (ed.), Qumran Cave 4, XXI: Parabiblical Texts, Part 4: Pseudo-Prophetic Texts (DJD 30; Oxford: Clarendon, 2001) 91–260 (114 n. 39), who argues that the occurrences of the term ‘divisions of times’ in recently published texts (4Q217 2.1; 4Q228 1 i 2, 4, 7, 9; 4Q384 2) suggests that this is a technical term and thus the use of the term in CD cannot be taken as a reference to Jubilees. Nevertheless, there are good reasons to suppose that the Damascus Document does indeed use Jubilees as a source (see further below). 26 See the discussion in chapter 1.

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chapter two months he arranged and related the sabbaths of the years, as we had told him. (19) While he slept he saw in a vision what has happened and what will occur—how things will happen for mankind during their history until the day of judgment. He saw everything and understood. He wrote a testimony for himself and placed it upon the earth against all mankind and for their history.

In accordance with this expressed interest in the periodization of human history, the Book of Jubilees tends to date events, as we have seen, in terms of an elaborate system of the number of jubilees, weeks, and years that events occur from the creation of the world. As we have also seen, the concept of the ‘jubilee’ in the Book of Jubilees is based on the biblical law of the jubilee year, that is, the fiftieth year, which is the year after the completion of seven sabbatical cycles (7×7 ‘weeks’ = 49 years). According to Leviticus 25, in the year of jubilee property reverted back to its original Israelite owners (vv. 13–34), and Israelite slaves were set free (vv. 39–55).27 In accordance with this fundamental conception on an individual level, Jubilees’ chronological system emphasizes the grand jubilee of jubilees on a national scale, when Israel is set free from slavery in Egypt and regains its ancestral Land.28 This jubilee of jubilees occurs For a recent studies, see, e.g., Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2145–2271; Francesco Bianchi, ‘Das Jobeljahr in der hebräischen Bibel und in den nachkanonischen jüdischen Texten,’ in Georg Scheuermann (ed.), Das Jobeljahr im Wandel. Untersuchungen zu Erlaßjahrund Jobeljahrtexten aus vier Jahrtausenden (Forschung zur Bibel; Würzburg: Echter, 2000) 55–104; Jean-François Lefebvre, Le jubilé biblique. Lv 25—exégèse et théologie (OBO 194; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003). I am grateful to John Bergsma, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Notre Dame, for allowing me to see his dissertation, ‘The Jubilee from Leviticus to Qumran: A History of the Interpretation of the Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25) in the Hebrew Scriptures and Second Temple Jewish Literature,’ during the final stages of its completion. 28 On the implications of Leviticus 25 for the nation as a whole, see Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2150–2151, who discusses the interpretation of Leviticus 25 in light of 2 Chr 36:21 and Lev 26:34a in Midr. Tanh. . B.2. Leviticus 25 itself gives a decisive impulse for Jubilees’ interpretation of the year of jubilee on a national scale, for there God forbids individual Israelites to be sold into permanent slavery because they are his servants whom he brought out of the land of Egypt (Lev 25:41–42, 54–55). In other words, the reason that the year of jubilee must apply on the individual level is precisely because God delivered the nation as a whole from Egyptian slavery in the first place. In order to reinforce this conception of the year of jubilee on a national level, Jubilees seeks to establish that Canaan was Israel’s ancestral property to which the people are now returning. This could have been done simply by emphasizing the Abrahamic promise of Land as given in Genesis. Yet, in keeping with its tendency to fix even earlier dates for all of Israel’s rights and practices, Jubilees does one better here as well, by establishing Israel’s claim to the Promised Land already at the time of the 27

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in the 50th jubilee, during which both the exodus from Egypt and the entrance into the Promised Land take place (the former in the ninth year of the 50th jubilee and the latter in the forty-ninth year of the same jubilee [2450 am]).29 Thus, we read in Jub. 50:1–4: After this law I informed you about the sabbath days in the wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. (2) On Mt. Sinai I told you about the sabbaths of the land and the years of jubilee in the sabbaths of years, but its year we have not told you until the time when you enter the land which you will possess. (3) The land will observe its sabbaths when they live on it, and they are to know the year of the jubilee. (4) For this reason I have arranged for you the weeks of years and the jubilees—49 jubilees from the time of Adam until today, and one week and two years. It is still 40 years off (for learning the Lord’s commandments) until the time when he leads (them) across to the land of Canaan, after they have crossed the Jordan to the west of it.

Forming an inclusio with the emphasis on the periodization of history set forth in the Prologue and in the first chapter, Jub. 50:1–4 tells us not only that the clock of world chronology ticks until the entrance into the Land, but also that the clock continues to run after the entrance into Canaan. Indeed, from the perspective of Jubilees, a new era in world chronology opens up when Israel enters the Land, because at that time ‘the land will observe its sabbaths when they live on it, and they are to know the year of jubilee’ (Jub. 50:3).30 Levitidivision of the earth after the flood, when all land was originally parceled out by lot to Noah’s sons and grandsons (Jub. 8:11–9:15). Cf. J.C. VanderKam, ‘Putting Them in Their Place: Geography as an Evaluative Tool,’ in John C. Reeves and J. Kampen (eds.), Pursuing the Text: Studies in Honor of Ben Zion Wacholder on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday (JSOTSup 184; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994) 46–69. Of course, the borders of Canaan are already given in the Genesis Table of Nations (Gen 10:19 [see further in chapter 3, pp. 188–195]). Therefore, Jubilees has to work hard against the biblical tradition in order to assert Israel’s prior claim to the Land. 29 The fact that for Jubilees, both the exodus from Egypt and the entrance into the Land take place in the grand jubilee of jubilees (i.e., the 50th jubilee from creation) may be signaled by the Sinai tradition itself: The Torah was revealed to Israel 50 days after the exodus from Egypt (assuming that the Festival of Weeks [= Pentecost] coincided with the date of the Sinaitic revelation [Jub. 6:17–19; cf. James C. VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measuring Time (The Literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls; London/New York: Routledge, 1998) 30–32; Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 1990]); the divine revelation was accompanied by shofar blasts (Exod 19:16, 19; cf. Lev 25:9), it required the sanctification of Mt. Sinai (Exod 19:23), and it make use of a ìáåé (v. 13). Cf. Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2169. 30 Cf. 4Q379 (4QApocryphon of Joshuab) 12.3–6: ‘They [cr]ossed over on dry ground in the [fir]st month (4) of the forty-f[irst] year of their exodus from the lan[d] (5) of Egypt. That was the year of the jubilees when they began to enter the land of (6)

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cus 25, which is the basis for this conception of the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee, also specifies that the entrance into the Land would be the beginning of Israel’s observance of these laws (cf. Lev 25:2: ‘When you enter the Land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a sabbath for the Lord’). Since Jubilees contains the additional insight that world history is periodized into years, sabbatical years, and jubilees starting from the time of creation onward, it is absolutely crucial that the exact timing of the entrance into the Land is known, in order to remain synchronized with the sabbatical structure of the creative order (see further in chapter 3 [pp. 182–183]). Just how much this issue concerns the author is shown by Jub. 6:32–38, which admonishes strict adherence to the 364-day solar year, so that Israel will not ‘err regarding the months, the sabbaths, the festivals, and the jubilee.’31 ‘It is the only calendar that agrees with the law of God, because it alone allows one to date the festivals at their proper times.’32 Canaan. The Jordan was full of wa[ter] over all its banks ….’ See further Carol Newsom, ‘379. 4QApocryphon of Joshuab,’ in George Brooke, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XVII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 3 (DJD 22; Oxford: Clarendon, 1996) 263–288 (271): ‘Unlike the biblical text, 4Q379 also provides a calculation of the date of entry according to the jubilee years. The date fits the calculations of the book of Jubilees. In Jub. 50:4, the date of the giving of the law on Sinai is “forty-nine jubilees from the days of Adam until this day and one week and two years”. The text continues, “And they are still forty further years to learn the commands of the Lord until they cross over the shore of the land of Canaan, crossing over the Jordan to its western side” (translation of Wintermute). Thus the giving of the law on Sinai occurred nine years into the fiftieth jubilee period. Adding forty years for the period of the wilderness wanderings, the book of Jubilees implies that the entry into Canaan occurred in a jubilee year, a date explicitly claimed by the calculation of 4Q379. This coincidence implies at least a common adherence to the same chronology, and may indicate that the author of 4Q379 knew and depended on the book of Jubilees. I have no explanation, however, for the author’s preference for the plural, “year of the jubilees”, rather than the singular.’ 31 Cf. Matthias Albani, ‘Zur Rekonstruktion eines verdrängten Konzepts: Der 364Tage-Kalendar in der gegenwärtigen Forschung,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 79–125; Shemaryahu Talmon, ‘Calendars and Mishmarot,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 1.108–117; VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls; Uwe Glessmer, ‘Calendars in the Qumran Scrolls,’ in Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 2.213–278 (on Jubilees, 235–238); Martin G. Abegg, Jr., ‘The Calendar at Qumran,’ in Alan J. Avery-Peck, et al. (eds.), Judaism in Late Antiquity, Part 5: The Judaism of Qumran: A Systemic Reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vol. 1: Theory of Israel (Handbook of Oriental Studies 56; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 145–171. 32 Van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 70 (commenting on Jub. 2:9–10). The author goes on to state: ‘Jubilees takes a more radical position than the older practice

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Jubilees 6:36–37 specifically inveighs against observance of the lunar calendar.33 Yet, as Jubilees makes abundantly clear, Israel would go astray with regard to the calendar once they had entered the Promised Land. Already in Jubilees 1, we find that failure to observe sabbaths and jubilees contributes to Israel’s downfall and eventual exile. Thus, according to Jub. 1:10, ‘They will be captured and will fall into the enemy’s control because they abandoned my statutes, my commandments, my covenantal festivals, my sabbaths ….’34 Likewise, Jub. 1:14 predicts that the people will err regarding the sabbath and the jubilee. In Jub. 6:34–37, the angel predicts: (34) All the Israelites will forget and will not find the way of the years. They will forget the first of the month, the season, and the sabbath; they will err with respect to the entire prescribed pattern of the years. (35) For I know and from now on will inform you—not from my own found in 1Enoch 72–82 and the Qumran calendrical texts, which give calendar functions both to the moon and the sun. The author of Jubilees opposes any moon influence on the calendar.’ Interestingly enough, in Josephus’ description of the Essenes (JW 2.119– 161), the group is said not only to have a particular reverence for the sun in offering prayers to it (§128), but also to be stricter than all Jews in abstaining from work on the seventh day (§ 147). See further Wolfgang Fauth, ‘Salutatio Solis orientis. Zu einer Form der Heliolatrie bei Pythagoreern, Manichäern, Therapeuten und Essenern,’ in Hubert Cancik, et al. (eds.), Geschichte—Tradition—Reflexion. Festschrift für Martin Hengel zum 70. Geburtstag (3 vols.; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1996) 2.41–54. 33 See further in chapter 1 (p. 26 n. 18). CD 3.12–16 has been interpreted to mean that the 364-day solar calendar, the only basis for proper cultic observance, was revealed to the Babylonian exiles, whereas before that revelation ‘all Israel’ (ìàøùé ìë) had gone astray by following the lunar calendar. Cf. Albani, ‘Der 364-Tage-Kalendar,’ 115–122. See also Klaus Koch, ‘Die mysteriösen Zahlen der judäischen Könige und die apokalyptischen Jahrwochen,’ VT 28 (1978) 433–441 (440). If this interpretation of CD 3.12–16 is correct, then we have further evidence that the Damascus Document used Jubilees as a source, and that the two writings are mutually interpretive with respect to several aspects of their chronological frameworks. First of all, as we have seen, CD 16.2–4 probably cites the Hebrew title of the Book of Jubilees, summarizing the disastrous history of the second era of that book as ‘the exact statement of the epochs of Israel’s blindness to all these [sc. the Law of Moses].’ Second, if the community’s foundational narrative in CD 1.3–11 does indeed presuppose the death of the Teacher as the end of the 490-year period of exile, then his death stands at the end of an era, just as Moses’ death stands at the end of an era in the Book of Jubilees. Finally, as will be discussed below (p. 111 n. 82), CD 10.7–10 probably alludes to Jub. 23:9 (cf. v. 11). 34 Cf. van Ruiten, ‘Visions of the Temple in the Book of Jubilees,’ 216–217: ‘It is difficult to determine whether these texts [i.e., Jub. 1:10; 23:21] refer to a specific historical reality, or not. The text of 1:10 is part of a deuteronomistic passage and the passage could be related to the time of the First Temple. However, the passage can hardly be intended for any generation other than that of the author of Jubilees.’

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chapter two mind because this is the way the book is written in front of me, and the division of times are ordained on the heavenly tablets, lest they forget the covenantal festivals and walk in the festivals of the nations, after their error and after their ignorance. (36) There will be people who carefully observe the moon with lunar observations because it is corrupt (with respect to) the seasons and is early from year to year by ten days. (37) Therefore years will come about for them when they will disturb (the year) and make a day of testimony something worthless and a profane day a festival. Everyone will join together both holy days with the profane and the profane with the holy day, for they will err regarding the months, the sabbaths, the festivals, and the jubilee.

Describing the same lapses, Jub. 23:19 foretells that one group will struggle against another regarding the law and the covenant: ‘For they have forgotten commandment, covenant, festival, month, sabbath, jubilee, and every verdict.’ Interestingly enough, according to CD 16.2–4, the Book of Jubilees contains ‘the exact statement of the epochs of Israel’s blindness to all these [sc. the laws of Moses]’ (ìà]ùé ïåøåòì íäéö÷ ùåøôå äìà ìëî). This shows not only that the author of Damascus Document considered the history of Israel in the Book of Jubilees to be periodized, but also that he regarded this history of the errant nation to be a central focus of the book.35 As important as Israel’s post-conquest period may be for the theme of the book, Jubilees fails to elaborate the chronology of this history. VanderKam argues that since the jubilean structure of the book stops at the conquest of the Land at the culmination of the jubilee of jubilees, ‘Whether the author meant to imply more about the chronology of the post-conquest period cannot be inferred from the text.’36 However, as we have seen, the chronological scope of the book encompasses all of human history, and this entire history is explicitly periodized ‘in the weeks of their jubilees’ from creation to new creation (Jub. 1:26– 29; 4:18–19, 24). Moreover, we have also seen that the clock of world chronology continues to tick once Israel comes into the Land: ‘The land will observe its sabbaths when they live on it, and they are to know the year of the jubilee’ (Jub. 50:3; cf. v. 5: ‘The jubilees will pass by’ [i.e., in the Land]).37 Hence, even if Jubilees does not elaborate a detailed chronology of Israel’s history after the entrance into the 35 According to Deut 28:28, ‘blindness’ (ïåøåò) would come upon the people for covenant violation in the Land. 36 James C. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001) 96. 37 On Jub. 50:5, see further below (pp. 122–124).

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Land, there can be no doubt that a sabbatical chronology of some kind is presupposed to continue. Very likely, this post-conquest era of Israel’s history was too well known to require detailed elaboration. The author of Jubilees probably regarded the time from the entrance into the Land to the exile, and again the period from the exile to the expected return to the Land, as fully comprehensible—and even self-evident— both within his sabbatical framework and in light of OT and Jewish tradition.38 Perhaps the reason that Jubilees stopped short of a full elaboration of its chronological scheme was that the timing of the initial entrance into the Land itself represented a controversial issue that needed to be resolved, with the rest of the chronology being more or less a given. As we shall discuss below, there is evidence that within the Enochic apocalyptic milieu of which Jubilees is a part, the dating of Israel’s initial entrance into the Land was indeed controversial. Another factor may have been Jubilees’ tendency to avoid narratives that cast aspersions on the key patriarchs and the people of Israel. As we shall see, for example, the negative side of the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is toned down as much as possible in the text, albeit without whitewashing it entirely. Likewise, Jubilees omits any reference to Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness on the way to Mt. Sinai, which is the setting for the writing of the book itself. There is nothing about the golden calf incident at Sinai, either. Although the book does not hesitate to list Israel’s failures and the bad things that happen to the people as a result, fleshing out those negatives in the form of uncomplimentary narratives (which would also implicate the

38 Like the theosophical-theurgical Kabbalah of the Middle Ages, the perspective in Jubilees stems from knowledge of the inner workings of the divine and their deterministic effects on the plane of history, including especially the future. Cf. Moshe Idel, ‘Some Concepts of Time and History in Kabbalah,’ in Elisheva Carlebach, et al. (eds.), Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series 29; Hanover/London: Brandeis University Press, 1998) 153–188 (165): ‘The kabbalist believes he knows the thought even prior to the event. Unlike the Platonic thinker, whose thought ascends from the material world to the spiritual, thus advancing from dim perceptions to a much clearer cognition, the kabbalist … may start with the divine structure, not as a terra incognita to be discovered but as an explanatory conceit that constitutes the “thought within the event”—to use Collingwood’s phrase— or the “meaning of history.” For the kabbalist, the “history of God” … is a major factor in profane history; in fact, it is the thought within the event.’ For further comparisons between Jubilees and medieval Kabbalah, see the Conclusion to the present study (p. 217 n. 4).

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priesthood and even Moses himself) seems to be out of the question. Since, from a Deuteronomic perspective, the history of Israel after the entrance into the Land is largely negative and ends in disaster, Jubilees spares us the details. Whatever the reason(s) for Jubilees’ lack of an explicit chronology of Israel’s post-conquest history, we should not let this deter us from investigating a chronology that is based on the book’s clearly sabbatical structure. We know, for instance, that Israel’s occupation of the Land began at the culmination of the jubilee of jubilees in 2450 am. This is a fixed point for our investigation. We also know from our discussion of Jub. 4:17–26 that Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle (882 am) set up a trajectory that spans the ages until the rebuilding of the Temple on Mt. Zion. This presupposes the destruction of the Temple at some point in Israel’s history. When would Jubilees have dated this cataclysmic event, which so impacted the cultus and its priesthood? We know from Jub. 1:10, 13 that at some point Israel went into exile. Again, when would Jubilees have dated this catastrophic event? Finally, we know from Jub. 1:15–18 that at some point Israel will return to the Land. When does Jubilees expect that joyous day to occur? None of these questions is explicitly answered in the text. Perhaps, however, we may glean some clues from the OT and related literature of the Second Temple period about Jubilees’ working assumptions. In this way, we may be able to deduce the length of the post-conquest history of Israel, that is, the time from the initial entrance into the Land to the reentry into the Land after the exile. We shall call this the ‘second era,’ since, as we have seen, the entrance into the Land at the jubilee of jubilees marks a major turning point in the book. Although our deductive approach is fraught with difficulties and admittedly falls short of direct and incontrovertible evidence from the text itself, nevertheless we are greatly helped in this endeavor by two prominent features in the Book of Jubilees: the periodicity of the cultic cycles and the rigorous, bilateral symmetry along the temporal axis. When we combine these features with the clues that can be adduced from our external sources, we may be able to piece together a tenable hypothesis about the overall length of the second era and its periodization. The first clue as to the overall length of the second era is the fact that, as we have seen, Jubilees attributes the exile largely to Israel’s failure to properly observe the calendar, especially the law of the sab-

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bath rest for the Land.39 This suggests perhaps that Leviticus 26, which forms a continuous unit with chap. 25,40 influenced Jubilees. We have already discussed Jubilees’ dependence on Leviticus 25 for two of its fundamental cultic cycles (the ‘week’ and the jubilee) and its application of the law of jubilee on a national scale. Although there is no explicit reference to Leviticus 25 in the text, its influence in Jubilees is, as we have argued, nevertheless palpable. Likewise, although there is no explicit reference to Leviticus 26 in the text, its influence in Jubilees should not be doubted. For Leviticus 26 gives the negative consequences of Israel’s failure to observe the Sabbath rest for the Land in accordance with the law described in chap. 25. In Milgrom’s words, ‘Together they [Leviticus 25–26] have a single theme: Israel’s violation of YHWH’s commandments, especially of the sabbatical, leads inexorably to its exile.’41 Therefore, if Jubilees affirms that the violation of the law of the sabbath rest for the Land led (or will lead) to exile, then it is probable that Leviticus 26 is at the root of the conception. According to Lev 26:33–35, 43, Israel’s exile from the Land is designed as compensation for the sabbatical years that had been neglected: (33) And you I will scatter among the nations …. (34) Then the land shall enjoy its sabbath years as long as it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its sabbath years. (35) As long as it lies desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your sabbaths when you were living on it. (43) For the land shall be deserted by them, and enjoy its sabbath years by lying desolate without them, while they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they dared to spurn my ordinances, and they abhorred my statues.

In other words, there is to be a compensatory symmetry—tit for tat— between the number of years that Israel did not observe the sabbath rest for the Land and the number of years that the Land will rest while Israel is in exile.42 In accordance with its legal form, Leviticus 26 does not state how many sabbatical years Israel had missed (or was expected 39 Cf., e.g., Jub. 1:10 (‘they abandoned … my sabbaths’); 6:38 (‘they will err regarding … the sabbath’). 40 Cf. Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2150–2151, 2274–2275. 41 Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2274. 42 Somewhat similarly, the desecration of the sabbath was seen as the principle reason for the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile (cf. Ezek 20:12–13, 16, 20–21, 23–24; Neh 13:15–18); therefore, the reconsecration of the sabbath was regarded as the key to return and restoration (cf. Isa 58:13–14).

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to miss). For that kind of information, we must turn to other texts, such as 2 Chr 36:20–21 and Dan 9:24 (cf. Lev 26:18). 2 Chronicles 36:20–21 not only contains the same notion of compensatory symmetry as found in Leviticus 26, but also includes an indication of how many sabbatical years Israel had neglected. The text reads as follows: He [sc. the king of the Chaldeans] took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, (21) to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah [Jer 25:11–12; 29:10], until the land had made up for its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

Here, Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile would last 70 years is interpreted in light of Leviticus 26 as compensating for the sabbatical years that Israel had failed to keep during the preexilic period. Now if we take this number literally rather than symbolically, then 70 years of missed sabbatical years presupposes that for a total of 490 years in the preexilic period the land had not kept sabbath, since a sabbatical year comes every seventh year (70 years×7 sabbatical cycles = 490 years = 10 jubilees).43 A similar conception is found in Dan 9:24, where, once again, the influence of Leviticus 25–26 and Jeremiah’s prophecy is evident. As Michael Fishbane explains:44

Cf. H.G.M. Williamson, 1 and 2Chronicles (New Century Bible Commentary; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982) 418: ‘… the Chronicler has a period of 490 years in mind.’ Williamson reckons the period as beginning with the monarchy, which is the period covered by the Chronicler’s narrative. On the historical question of whether the sabbatical year and the jubilee year were observed in preexilic Judah, see Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2245–2248, 2257–2270. 44 Michael Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (Oxford: Clarendon, 1985) 482–483. Fishbane (ibid., 488–489) also shows that Daniel’s prayer (Dan 9:4–19) contains a cluster of elements which is drawn from Leviticus 26, in the context of its prediction of a period of divine wrath measured in sabbatical cycles—a prediction of which Daniel was perfectly aware (Dan 9:24–27)—and its requirement of confession of sin in order to initiate the process of restoration. Hence, as Fishbane goes on to state (ibid., 489), ‘the inherent contradiction between the fact that Jeremiah’s oracle had a clearly determined end, and the fact that the termination of the cycle of sabbaticals of wrath in Lev. 26 was conditional upon human confession and divine grace, was resolved in the process: Daniel’s confession led to a revelation of the timetable of divine historical activity, consoling the repentant one by declaring that the culmination of doom and the onset of restoration were equally nigh.’ 43

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It is clear from Dan. 9:24–27 that the oracle [i.e., Jer 25:11–12; 29:10] was interpreted to embrace a much longer historical period, seventy sabbatical cycles, or ten jubilees. This interpretation was presumably stimulated by 2Chron. 36:21 which, owing to its reuse of Lev. 26:34–35, seems to have understood the seventy years of Jeremiah’s oracle as ten sabbatical cycles. Another influence on Dan. 9:24–27 was undoubtedly the jubilee computation of Lev. 25:1–55 as a whole, wherein it is taught that a jubilee cycle of forty-nine years marked both the maximal period of indentured servitude and the maximal period wherein land may be alienated—due to economic distraints—from its ancestral heirs. It is quite striking that Dan. 9:25 apportions one entire jubilee cycle to the end of the exile and Cyrus’ decree (the years 587–538). This period thus marks the first of ten jubilees, and so the first state of release from foreign hegemony. In short, the initial period of Jerusalem’s servitude was interpreted to be of forty-nine years’ duration, so that its subsequent restoration to Israelite ownership would constitute øåøã, or the return of ancestral patrimony to its rightful heir (cf. Lev. 25:10).

Whereas in 2 Chr 36:21 the length of the exile is given as 70 years to compensate for the 70 sabbatical years that were missed during 490 years of the preexilic period, in Dan 9:24 the length of the exile itself is set at 70 years×7 ‘weeks’ or 490 years (= 10 jubilees). This takes the notion of compensatory symmetry to a new level: Now the length of the exilic period is equal to the length of the errant preexilic period. Instead of suffering one year in exile for every year that a sabbatical year was neglected (tit for tat), Israel was now suffering in exile for the entire length of the errant preexilic period (i.e., sevenfold).45 Now there is compensatory symmetry between the two periods rather than between the years of violation and the years of punishment. The similarities between Daniel and Jubilees are striking. Daniel employs a sabbatical solar calendar that is effectively the same as the one used in Jubilees and other early Second Temple literature.46 Moreover, 45 An even severer principle of compensatory symmetry relating to the Land is found in Num 14:34, where YHWH condemns the rebellious Israelites to 40 years of wilderness wandering corresponding to the number of days that the spies who brought back the negative report had reconnoitered Canaan: ‘According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days [cf. Num 13:25], for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ In other words, Israel’s failure to do God’s will in the Land during a certain period of time (x days) results in the punishment of the people outside the Land for a period of time that is a multiple of the first period (x years) as compensation for the failure in the Land. 46 This is true even if, as Gabriele Boccaccini (‘The Solar Calendars of Daniel and Enoch,’ in John J. Collins and Peter W. Flint (eds.), The Book of Daniel: Composition and Reception [2 vols.; VTSup 83; Leiden: Brill, 2001] 2.311–328 [325–326]) argues, ‘Daniel

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Dan 9:24–27 is based on the same system of ‘weeks’ and jubilees from Leviticus 25 that also forms the structure of Jubilees’ chronological system. We may ask, therefore, whether Jubilees has a similar concept of compensatory symmetry as that found in Dan 9:24. As we shall discuss below, three arguments speak in favor of this possibility. (1) Jubilees otherwise demonstrates rigorous, bilateral symmetry between the first and third eras in its chronological system, which makes it highly likely that the second era has a similarly symmetrical structure. (2) Jubilees regards 70 years as the normal human life span during the whole second era, suggesting perhaps that it is familiar with the notion of 70 ×7 years as the length of both the errant preexilic period and the exilic period. (3) Since the use of sabbatical and jubilee language for chronologies, such as that found in the Book of Jubilees, seems largely confined to the tradition that produced and was continued by the writers at Qumran, and since this tradition frequently employs 70 ‘weeks’ as the length of the preexilic and/or exilic periods, there may be good reason to suppose that Jubilees divides the history of Israel into periods of 70 ‘weeks.’ Calculating the length of the protracted exile— and especially its end—seems to have been one of the main impulses for the development of sabbatical chronologies expressed in terms of sabbatical and jubilee language.47 Let us begin our discussion with the last point. When considering the possible length of the preexilic and exilic periods in the Book of Jubilees, we must expand our investigation beyond the two OT texts already discussed above. For Jubilees belongs to a more-or-less tightly defined tradition of the Second Temple period that can give us additional clues about its working assumptions with respect to the ‘second era.’ Like Jubilees, the writings represented in this tradition use sabbatical and jubilee language for their chronologies. Moreover, as a brief survey of

knew a 360+4-day sabbatical calendar made up of 12 months of 30 days each, plus four intercalary times (i.e. the equinoxes and solstices) that were added between seasons but not counted in the reckoning of the days of the year.’ According to Boccaccini (ibid., 326–327), unlike this 360+4-day Zadokite calendar, the Enochic calendar, which the Astronomical Book, Jubilees and the Qumran texts have in common, ‘reckoned the equinoxes and solstices merely as days of the month and of the year, and not as intercalary times between seasons on which the entire structure of the year was built. Since both calendars were sabbatical, the practical impact of these early calendrical discussions was limited.’ 47 Cf. VanderKam, ‘Sabbatical Chronologies,’ 161–164.

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the writings in question quickly establishes, this is the tradition that produced and was continued by the writers at Qumran.48 A passage paralleling Daniel’s 70 ‘weeks’ of years is the Animal Apocalypse (1Enoch 85–90), in which the ‘sheep’ (Israel) are subjected to 70 ‘shepherds’ (angels) in the period after the exile, each ruling for seven years for a total of 490 years.49 The 70 periods of rule by the shepherds are subdivided into four parts, corresponding roughly to Jewish rule under the Babylonians, the Persians, the Ptolemies, and the Seleucids: the first, 12 periods (1Enoch 89:72); the second, 23 (1Enoch 90:1); the third, 23 (1Enoch 90:5); and the last, 12 (1Enoch 90:17). Like Jubilees, the Animal Apocalypse presents a comprehensive history from its beginnings to the eschaton, although unlike Jubilees, only part of that history in the Apocalypse contains the sabbatical chronology. In T. Levi 16:1, Levi tells his sons what he has come to know from the writings of Enoch (cf. 14:1), i.e., that they will go astray for ‘70 weeks.’ T. Levi 17:1–2 goes on to explain these ‘70 weeks’ in terms of ‘jubilees,’ although only seven of the presumably ten original jubilees are described in the text. If, as Knibb suggests, the 70 weeks of sin refer to the preexilic period,50 this can be compared to another period of sin— the 70 sabbatical cycles that according to 2 Chr 36:21, were missed in the preexilic period and that must be made up during the exile.51 48 For a helpful survey of this literature, see VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 99–109; idem, ‘Sabbatical Chronologies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature,’ in Timothy H. Lim (ed.), The Dead Sea Scrolls in Their Historical Context (Edinburgh: Clark, 2000) 159–178. As VanderKam points out, the use of sabbatical and jubilee language for chronologies ‘seems largely confined to the tradition that produced and was continued by the writers at Qumran’ (ibid., 178). See further William Adler, ‘The Apocalyptic Survey of History Adapted by Christians: Daniel’s Prophecy of 70 Weeks,’ in J.C. VanderKam and W. Adler, The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity (CRINT 3.4; Assen: Van Gorcum; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996) 201–238; Osvalda Andrei, ‘La chronographia dei 70 anni dell’esilio Babilonese nell’esegesi Giudaica e Christiana,’ Henoch 21 (1999) 3–71 (a detailed study of the interpretation of the 70 years of Jer 25:8–12 and Zech 1:12–17 in Josephus, Seder #Olam Rabba, Clement of Alexandria, Theophilus of Antioch, Hippolytus [the author of the Commentary on Daniel], and Eusebius); Lester L. Grabbe, ‘The Seventy-Weeks Prophecy (Daniel 9:24–27) in Early Jewish Interpretation,’ in Craig A. Evans and Shemaryahu Talmon (eds.), The Quest for Context and Meaning: Studies in Biblical Intertextuality in Honor of James A. Sanders (Biblical Interpretation Series 28; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 595–611; Ben Zion Wacholder, ‘Chronomessianism: The Timing of Messianic Movements and the Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles,’ HUCA 46 (1975) 201–218. 49 On the chronology of this period, see George W.E. Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of Enoch, Chapters 1–36; 81–108 (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001) 391–393; VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 100–101. 50 Cf. Michael A. Knibb, ‘The Exile in the Literature of the Intertestamental Period,’ HeyJ 17 (1976) 253–272 (265 n. 52). 51 We must note, however, that the description of the seventh jubilee in T. Levi 17:8–

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chapter two In 11QMelchizedek (11Q13), the 10 jubilees referred to in col. ii 6–8 may be based on the 70 ‘weeks’ of Daniel 9, for Dan 9:25 (or 9:26) is explicitly cited in line 18 (‘And the messenger i[s] the anointed of the spir[it], as Dan[iel] said …’).52 11Q13 ii 7 expects an eschatological Day of Atonement after the tenth jubilee (490 years), which is identified with the ‘year of favor’53 and the release of ‘the captives’ in Isa 61:1–3 (cf. lines 4, 6, 9, 18). According to Lev 25:8–9, a shofar was to be sounded on the tenth day of the seventh month—on the Day of Atonement—after a 49year period to announce the year of jubilee. Leviticus 25:9 is quoted in 11Q13 ii 25, as are other parts of Leviticus 25 on the year of jubilee (cf. lines 2, 6). Therefore, 11QMelchizedek represents an eschatological text that interprets the restoration of Israel in Isa 61:1–3 within the framework of a sabbatical chronology that understands the 70 weeks of years in Daniel 9 in terms of jubilee years in Leviticus 25. In CD 1.3–11, the length of the period from Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem to its assumed terminus ad quem in the Maccabean period could be a total of 490 years: 390 years from Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem to the ‘root of planting’ (i.e., the founding of the community?)+20 years of groping until the Teacher of Righteousness is raised up for them (+ 40 years for the activity of the Teacher [?]54 +40 years from the death of the Teacher to the end of the era [cf. CD 20.13– 15]).55 If the Damascus Document does indeed presuppose a 40-year career

11 unfolds according to the normal SER scheme, followed by a new period of priestly sin after the return to the Land and the renewal of the Temple. Cf. H.W. Hollander and M. de Jonge, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Commentary (SVTP 8; Leiden: Brill, 1985) 174–175. Therefore, the 70 weeks of sin apparently extends beyond the preexilic period. 52 If the tenth and last jubilee is the time when the judgment takes place, it is interesting to speculate whether 11QMelchizedek divides all of history into ten jubilees. Cf. VanderKam, ‘Sabbatical Chronologies,’ 176; idem, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 102–104. However, ten jubilees (490 years) would be a very short period for all history, and it is more likely that they cover only the period of the exile, from which ‘the captives’ need release. For the text of 11QMelchizedek, see Florentino García Martínez, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 11, Vol. II: 11Q2–18, 11Q20–31 (DJD 23; Oxford: Clarendon, 1998) 221–241. 53 Here interpreted as ‘the year of Melchiz[edek]’s favor’ (11Q13 ii 9) instead of ‘the year of the Lord’s favor’ as in Isa 61:2. 54 Plato (Meno 91e 3–7), for example, regards 40 years as the maximum duration of a teacher’s activity. For further discussion, see Alois Dreizehnter, Die rhetorische Zahl. Quellenkritische Untersuchungen anhand der Zahlen 70 und 700 (Zetemata 73; Munich: Beck, 1978) 80–81. A similar conception seems to lie behind CD 10.7–9: ‘No one over sixty years should hold the office of judging the congregation, for because of Adam’s infidelity his days were shortened ….’ On the latter text, see further below (p. 111 n. 82). 55 Cf. Grabbe, ‘The 70-Weeks Prophecy,’ 601–602; VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 98–99. We should not discount, however, that the 390 years of CD 1.3 also could allude to Ezek 4:4–6, for Seder #Olam 26 interprets Ezek 4:4–6 (390+40 days) as the 430-year period that Israel and Judah provoked the Lord.

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for the Teacher, then his career was as long as Moses’. Moreover, if the Teacher’s death stands at the end of an era lasting 490 years, then it is important to notice that Moses’ death stands at the end of an era in the Book of Jubilees. This is an intriguing possibility, especially if, as was previously mentioned, CD 16.2–4 cites Jubilees as an authoritative writing. In that case, the community’s foundational narrative in CD 1.3–11 is designed to be read in light of Jubilees’ chronological structure and salvation-historical narrative, and the two writings are mutually interpretive.56 In Seder #Olam, a rabbinic chronography attributed to R. Yose b. Halafta . (second century ce) which sought to establish a chronological continuum from Adam to the end of the biblical period, the interval between the destructions of the First and the Second Temples is reckoned, based on Dan 9:23–24, as ‘seventy weeks of years’: 70 years in its destroyed state+420 years in its built state (Seder #Olam 28; see also chap. 30, where the 420 years of the Second Temple period is subdivided into 34 years of Persian rule, 180 years of Greek rule, 103 of Hasmonean, and 103 of Herodian).57 Somewhat similarly, 2Bar. 28:2 (‘But everyone who will understand will be wise at that time; for the measure and the calculation of that time will be two parts: weeks of seven weeks’) may be understood as referring to the period between the destruction of the Solomonic Temple (the alleged setting of the apocalypse) and the consummation of the age. Hence, 56 For evidence that the Damascus Document and Jubilees are mutually interpretive, see further above (pp. 81 n. 20, 83 n. 25, 87 n. 33, 88, 96–97; also 111 n. 82). 57 Cf. Wacholder ‘Chronomessianism,’ 211; Isaiah Gafni, ‘Concepts of Periodization and Causality in Talmudic Literature,’ Jewish History 10 (1996) 21–38 (28). See also Oded Irshai, ‘Dating the Eschaton: Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic Calculations in Late Antiquity,’ in Albert I. Baumgarten (ed.), Apocalyptic Time (Numen Book Series: Studies in the History of Religions 86; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 113–153 (121 n. 20): ‘Though the Seder Olam does occasionally refer to the Sabbatical cycles (ed. Ratner, 11, 15, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27), this cycle does not seem to serve as a governing principle of its chronological framework, save in the concluding chapters 29–30, where the Danielic messianic chronology of 490 years (9, 24–27) is used to demonstrate the span of time between the establishment of the Second Temple and its destruction (compare Babylonian Talmud, Nazir 32b, Yalkut Shimoni sec. 1062).’ On the chronography of Seder #Olam, see further Chaim Milikowsky, ‘Seder #Olam and Jewish Chronography in the Hellenistic and Romans Periods,’ Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 52 (1985) 115–139, who, however, does not deal with the sabbatical chronology in Seder #Olam. Nevertheless, Milikowski does consider the fascinating question of possible Second Temple sources for this unique rabbinic writing (cf. ibid., 125ff.), and he also compares the Book of Jubilees when considering factors which may have played a role in the rise of chronological activity in the Second Temple period (ibid., 136–137). Note that the fourfold subdivision of the 420-year Second Temple period in Seder #Olam bears a certain resemblance to the fourfold subdivision of the 490-year period under the 70 shepherds in the Animal Apocalypse (see further above [p. 95]).

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chapter two assuming 587 bce as the date for the destruction of the Solomonic Temple, the consummation of the age is expected 2(7 ×[7 ×7]) = 686 years (or 14 jubilees) later, that is, c. 99 ce.58 An extremely important text for our purposes is 4QApocryphon of Jeremiah (4Q383, 385a, 387, 388a, 389, 390, 387a).59 According to Devorah Dimant’s reconstruction of the fragments, the Apocryphon of Jeremiah contains a comprehensive summary of Israel’s history:60 – from the biblical period (the revelation at Sinai, the wilderness wanderings, the entrance into Canaan, the request of the people of Israel to install a king, the era of David and Solomon, the sins of the First Temple period and the devastation of the Land), – through the Second Temple period (the loss of Israel’s kingdom and its replacement by evil Gentile rulers, the deliverance of Israel into the hands of the angels of Mastemot, the repeated and increasing transgressions of Israel, the cessation of punished Israel to be a people and the devastation of the Land of Israel by war and enemy attack, the increasing sin and harsher punishment which take effect because of the installation of the angels of Mastemot to rule over the Land of Israel, the disastrous results of these events—the priesthood goes astray, festivals and laws are forgotten, and an inner rift tears Israel apart), – to the eschatological era (a military victory, the demise of Greece and Egypt, and the blissful future of the righteous under the Tree of Life). In this historical review, both the preexilic and the exilic periods (comprising the ‘second era’ in Jubilees’ chronological scheme) are apparently reckoned as lasting 10 jubilees each.61 Thus, in discussing the preexilic period, the Apocryphon refers to the sins of the people and the resultant desolation of the Land (4Q385a 3; 4Q387 1; 4Q388a 3, 4–6; 4Q389 6– 7). The purpose for this divine judgment is so that ‘the land ]paid off its sa[bba]th[s] by being desolate’ (4Q387 1.7–8 = 4Q389 6.1–2), quoting Lev 26:34, 43. The number of sabbath years that were missed and that therefore need to be paid off is not explicitly stated, but it can be

58 Cf. Nicolae Roddy, ‘“Two Parts: Weeks of Seven Weeks”: The End of the Age as Terminus ad Quem for 2Baruch,’ JSP 14 (1996) 3–14. For a response to this proposal, see Antti Laato, ‘The Apocalypse of the Syriac Baruch and the Date of the End,’ JSP 18 (1998) 39–46, who argues (1) that Roddy has overlooked the fact that the chronological systems of ancient texts do not correspond precisely to modern chronological systems, and (2) that the text does not clearly state the terminus a quo from which 686 years should be calculated. See further now Mark F. Whitters, Epistle of Second Baruch: A Study of Form and Message (JSPSup 42; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003) 149–155. 59 Cf. Devorah Dimant (ed.), ‘4QApocryphon of Jeremiah,’ Qumran Cave 4, XXI: Parabiblical Texts, Part 4: Pseudo-Prophetic Texts (DJD 30; Oxford: Clarendon, 2001) 91–260. See further VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 105–106. 60 Dimant (ed.), ‘4QApcryphon of Jeremiah: Introduction,’ in ibid., 91–116 (99–100). 61 On the sabbatical chronology of the Apocryphon of Jeremiah, see ibid., 113–115.

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deduced from the length of the period of desolation. The first clue comes in discussion of the Second Temple period, where the Apocryphon refers to a turning for the worse in ‘the seventh jubilee of the devastation of the Land’ (4Q390 1.7–8). The period of devastation appears to be calculated from the major misfortunes that came upon Israel between 596 and 586 bce, particularly the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of the people from the Land. In that case, the ‘seventh jubilee’ would fall sometime in the third century bce. The total length of the period of desolation seems to be given by 4Q387 2 ii 3–4, which refers to ‘the completion of ten jubilees of years,’ that is, a longer period of 70 sabbatical cycles or 490 years through which the Israelites are condemned to act in confusion and blindness as punishment for their iniquity. Clearly, then, we are dealing here with yet another text that contains a sabbatical chronology, and Dimant has pointed to the many affinities of the Apocryphon with Jubilees.62 What is of particular interest to us is the cause-and-effect relationship between the sin of the preexilic period and the consequent punishment of Israel in the exilic period, expressed in terms of sabbatical years that were missed and jubilees to be completed. It seems likely that the Apocryphon of Jeremiah regards the length of the two periods as the same.

In view of the Second Temple tradition in which the Book of Jubilees stands (including the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks, which will be discussed below), we have grounds for suspecting that the book’s sabbatical chronology regards the length of the preexilic and exilic era consisting of two equal eras of 70 ‘weeks’ each for a total of 980 years. On other grounds, it is also possible to arrive at 980 years as the cumulative length of the preexilic and exilic periods.63 Already in the OT, the period from the exodus to the building of Solomon’s Temple was reckoned as 480 years (1Kgs 6:1 MT; LXX: 440 years),64 the period 62 Ibid., 108–111. Unlike Jubilees, however, the Apocryphon of Jeremiah gives considerable scope and detail to the Second Temple period. 63 For other ways to tally the biblical numbers of the preexilic and exilic periods, see VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 92; Koch, ‘Die mysteriösen Zahlen,’ 435. 64 Note, however, that 480 years between the exodus and the building of the Temple seems improbably short, since the period of the Judges alone, which falls within this span of time, adds up to 410 years. Cf. Acts 13:20, which seems to assign 450 years to the period of the Judges (see C.K. Barrett, The Acts of the Apostles [2 vols.; ICC; Edinburgh: Clark, 1994–1998] 1.633–634). In an excerpt from Africanus’ chronicle (apud Eusebius, P.E. 10.10.12), 490 years is assigned to the period of the Judges. Josephus gives two different figures for the interval between the exodus and the building of the Temple, but both of them are longer than 480 years, i.e., 592 years (Ant. 8.61; cf. 7.68; 10.147) and 612 years (Ant. 20.230; Ap. 2.19). See further Chaim Milikowsky, ‘Josephus between Rabbinic Culture and Hellenistic Historiography,’ in James L. Kugel (ed.), Shem in the Tents of Japhet: Essays on the Encounter of Judaism and Hellenism (JSJSup 74; Leiden: Brill, 2002) 159–200 (esp. 191–197).

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from Solomon’s Temple to the Babylonian exile was considered to be 430 years,65 and the exile was to last 70 years (Jer 25:11–12), for a total of 980 years. In the words of Klaus Koch:66 Die spätisraelitische Apokalyptik findet bei ihrer Suche nach Regeln des geschichtlichen Ablaufs und seiner zeitlichen Struktur sowohl die Angaben des Königsbuches über 480 Jahre Exodus-Tempelbaubeginn und 430 Jahre von da bis zum Exil vor wie auch die Angabe bei Jer. und Chron. über 70 Jahre Exilszeit. Liest man diese Bücher nebeneinander, so ergänzen sie sich und ergeben vom Auszug bis zum zweiten Tempel 980 oder 2 mal 490 Jahre. 490 aber gilt als die Summe eines ‘potenzierten’ Jobeljahres (wie 70 als diejenige eines ‘potenzierten’ Sabbatjahres). Die Entdeckung dieser Zahl muß die Leser geradezu elektrisiert haben. Sollte diese, von der Sieben geprägte Einheit, nur für die Vergangenheit prägend gewesen sein?

Once it was observed that the history of Israel could be divided into two equal halves of 490 years whose dividing point was the exile, and that the length of both halves was consistent with a sabbatical chronology, the total of 980 years was kept, although the underlying rationale for the figure underwent revision. If Jubilees adopts this approach as part of its assumption about the length of the second era, then an interesting point emerges: Contrary to the Apocalypse of Weeks tradition (see further below [pp. 125–132]), Jubilees disregards the exodus as the terminus a quo of the 980-year era 65 In the Books of Kings, a total of 430 regnal years are recorded for the Davidic kings from the beginning of the construction of the Temple under Solomon until its destruction during the reign of Zedekiah. Cf. Koch, ‘Die mysteriösen Zahlen,’ 435. In Seder #Olam 26, Ezek 4:4–6 (390+40 days) is interpreted as the 430-year period that Israel and Judah provoked the Lord from the entrance into the Land until the exile of Judah: ‘This [sc. Ezek 4:4–5] teaches that the House of Israel was provoking God—(out of the period) from when they entered the Land until they were exiled from it—three hundred and ninety years. […] This [sc. Ezek 4:6] teaches that the House of Judah was provoking the Holy One, blessed be He—(out of the period) from when the Ten Tribes were exiled until the destruction of Jerusalem—forty years. It turns out that altogether there were four hundred and thirty years.’ According to Africanus (apud Eusebius, P.E. 10.10.10), the period of the kings was 490 years. 66 Koch, ‘Die mysteriösen Zahlen,’ 439 (author’s emphasis); cf. ibid., 441: ‘In der Apokalyptik führt es dazu, die chronologischen Daten der Volksgeschichte neu zu überprüfen. Ohne Künstelei ergibt sich, daß die geschichtlichen Bücher seit dem Abrahamsbund (Exodus) bis hin zum Exil von drei (zwei) Epochen von je 490 Jahren berichten. Damit aber wird eine höhere Potenz von 7 erreicht, und diese muß dem Willen Gottes bei der Erschaffung der Weltzeit entsprechen. Mit dem Sabbat in Genesis ii ist nicht nur der Wochenlauf, sondern die Struktur der Weltzeit überhaupt gesetzt. Wie anders sollte sich eine derartige, von jedermann verifizierbare Regelmäßigkeit von 490-Jahr-Epochen in der Volksgeschichte erklären?’

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and hence implicitly rejects 1Kgs 6:1 as the basis for its chronological calculations,67 favoring instead the entrance into the Land 40 years later as the beginning of the 980-year preexilic and exilic era.68 Such a procedure would be consistent with Jubilees’ tendency to harmonize the underlying Hebrew text with the book’s chronological structure. As we discussed in chapter 1, Jubilees 4 adopts the harmonizing SP tradition for the dates of the antediluvian patriarchs and then further adjusts the biblical text in order to harmonize it with the book’s implied cycles of priestly rotation. Thus, for example, Enoch’s 294-year sojourn with the angels (rather than the 300-year walk with God [Gen 5:22 MT/SP]) is made to coincide with the third 294-year (or ‘otot’) cycle from creation (588–882 am), so that Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden is made to commence with the fourth ‘otot’ cycle (882–1176 am), thus setting up a trajectory to the establishment of the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion in the new creation (Jub. 4:20–26). Once we see how Jubilees manipulates the biblical text to its own chronological ends, we can appreciate how it could have done something similar in reckoning the length of the second era. Since Jubilees apparently ignores empirical evidence for the true solar year in favor of a schematized 364-day sabbatical calendar,69 we may expect 67

By the same token, Jubilees seems to take little account of the biblical timing for the date of the exodus. In Jubilees, no mention at all is made of Exod 12:40, which refers the time that the Israelites had lived in Egypt as 430 years. Moreover, although Jub. 14:13 cites Gen 15:13, which refers to the 400 years that Abram’s descendants would be enslaved and oppressed as aliens in a foreign land, the number does not seem to be an integral part of the book’s chronology. For if the exodus from Egypt took place in 2410 am (i.e., 40 years before the jubilee of jubilees in 2450 am [Jub. 50:4]), then the 400year countdown to the exodus began when Abraham lived opposite Hebron in 2010 am (Jub. 19:1)—not exactly a situation of foreign oppression in a ‘foreign’ country (although technically Abraham was still a resident alien in the land that had been promised to him and his descendants). On the 430 years of Exod 12:40, see further Osvalda Andrei, ‘The 430 Years of Ex. 12:40, from Demetrius to Julius Africanus. A Study in Jewish and Christian Chronography,’ Henoch 18 (1996) 9–67. 68 In Jubilees’ conception, although both the exodus from Egypt and the entrance into the Land belong to the 50th jubilee (the jubilee of jubilees), the entrance into the Land is the event that culminates that jubilee and therefore defines the new era. 69 There is no evidence of intercalation in Jubilees, whereby the sacred 364-day solar year was kept synchronized with the true solar year of 365.24 days. Indeed, the very fact that Jubilees’ calendar is grounded in the order of the created world would seem to militate against the possibility of such a practice. To ‘correct’ the sacred 364-day solar year would fundamentally disrupt the divinely established rhythms of the universe. In that case, how did Jubilees explain why the inevitable lack of synchronism between the seasons of the year and its ideal calendar? Most likely, the problem would be seen as one of human sin which would be resolved in the eschaton, when the universe will

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that the book’s sabbatical chronology similarly schematizes Israel’s history. In sum, there are two different ways to arrive at 980 years/20 jubilees as the total length of the combined preexilic and exilic era: (1) the tradition of the 70 sabbatical cycles that were missed during the whole preexilic period and that had to be made up during the protracted exilic period (compensatory symmetry), and (2) the simple addition of several time spans recorded in the OT. Since, as we have stated, the use of sabbatical and jubilee language for chronologies, such as that found in the Book of Jubilees, seems largely confined to the tradition that produced and was continued by the writers at Qumran, and since this tradition frequently employs 70 ‘weeks’ as the length of the preexilic and/or exilic periods, there is good reason to suppose that Jubilees divides the history of Israel into periods of 70 ‘weeks’ (490 years), with the preexilic and exilic periods spanning a total of 980 years. The second reason to entertain the possibility that Jubilees has a similar concept of compensatory symmetry as that found in Dan 9:24 is that the book otherwise demonstrates rigorous, bilateral symmetry in its chronological system. Many scholars have considered the possibility that Jubilees presupposes two eras in world history: a 50-jubilee period from creation to the entrance into Canaan and another, corresponding 50-jubilee period from the entrance into Canaan until the end, thus making a total world era of 100 jubilees or 4900 years. As VanderKam argues:70 Vielleicht hat er die Zahl von 50 Jubiläen gewählt, um eine längere Geschichte für Gott und sein Volk anzudeuten. Die biblische Gesetzgebung nimmt an, daß die Sabbatzyklen—von denen die Jubiläen Erweiterungen sind—anfangen würden, wenn Israel in das Land einzöge (Lev once again conform to the Creator’s foreordained will. See further Philip S. Alexander, ‘Enoch and the Beginnings of Jewish Interest in Natural Science,’ in C. Hempel, et al. (eds.), The Wisdom Texts from Qumran and the Development of Sapiential Thought (BETL 159; Leuven: Leuven University Press/Peeters, 2002) 223–243 (239–240). 70 VanderKam, ‘Das chronologische Konzept des Jubiläenbuches,’ ZAW 107 (1995) 80–100 (100). See also Koch, ‘Sabbatstruktur,’ 422; Jörg Frey, ‘Zum Weltbild im Jubiläenbuch,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 261–292 (269, with n. 34); Himmelfarb, ‘Torah, Testimony, and Heavenly Tablets,’ 25; Ben Zion Wacholder, ‘The Date of the Eschaton in the Book of Jubilees: A Commentary on Jub. 49:22–50:5, CD 1:1–10, and 16:2–3,’ HUCA 56 (1985) 87–101 (96); Roger T. Beckwith, ‘The Year of the Messiah: Jewish and Early Christian Chronographies and Their Eschatological Consequences,’ in Calendar and Chronology, Jewish and Christian: Biblical, Intertestamental and Patristic Studies (AGJU 33; Leiden: Brill, 1996) 217–275 (241).

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25,2). Für das Buch der Jubiläen fängt dann ein neues Zeitalter an— eine neue Periode, die auch durch Jubiläeneinheiten gemessen werden wird. Die Jahre, die der Verfasser ausführlich beschreibt, sind 2450 order die Halfte von 4900—ein anderes Jubiläum, das auch eine Art Vollstandigkeit ausdrückt. Der Autor offenbart nie, ob er einen anderen 50-Jubiläenzyklus erwartet, aber die Zehnwochenapokalypse setzt die Gesetzgebung in die Mitte seines Geschichtsentwurfts—in der vierten von sieben Wochen. Vielleicht nimmt das Jubiläenbuch eine ähnliche Zukunft an. Es ist aber sicher, daß durch ausführliche Beschreibung der Sabbat- und Jubiläenstruktur der Vergangenheit der Verfasser seine Leser vorbereitet hat, darauf zu vertrauen, daß auch die Zukunft durch denselben Gott, der den Sabbattag, die Jahrwoche, und das Jubiläum geschaffen hat, eingeteilt werden würde.

More likely, however, the Book of Jubilees contains a threefold structure of world history: the patriarchal era (Adam to Moses), the preexilic and exilic era (our ‘second era’), and the restoration era (from the return to the Land to the new creation). The clearest evidence for this threefold structure comes from Jubilees 23, to which we now turn. As we shall see, the first and third eras of this tripartite scheme correspond to one another in a rigorous, bilateral symmetry. This will open the possibility that the second era should also be seen as bilaterally symmetrical. The Threefold Structure of World History in Jubilees 23 To facilitate the following discussion, we begin with the text of Jubilees 23, which has been divided into paragraphs and supplied with appropriate section headings. the death and burial of abraham (1) He put two of Jacob’s fingers on his eyes and blessed the God of gods. He covered his face, stretched out his feet, fell asleep forever, and was gathered to his ancestors. (2) During all this Jacob was lying on his bosom and was unaware that his grandfather Abraham had died. (3) When Jacob awakened from his sleep, there was Abraham cold as ice. He said: ‘Father, father!’ But he said nothing to him. Then he knew he was dead. (4) He got up from his bosom and ran and told his mother Rebecca. Rebecca went to Isaac and told him. They went together—and Jacob with them (carrying) a lamp in his hands. When they came they found Abraham’s corpse lying (there). (5) Isaac fell on his father’s face, cried, and kissed him. (6) After the report was heard in the household of Abraham, his son Ishmael set out and came to his father Abraham. He mourned for his father Abraham—and he and all

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chapter two Abraham’s household. They mourned very much. (7) They—both of his sons Isaac and Ishmael—buried him in the double cave near his wife Sarah. All the people of his household as well as Isaac, Ishmael, and all their sons and Keturah’s sons in their places mourned for him for 40 days. Then the tearful mourning for Abraham was completed. abraham’s life span and the decreasing life span of humankind from the flood to the great day of judgment because of wickedness Abraham’s Life Span (8) He had lived for three jubilees and four weeks of years—175 years— when he completed his lifetime [Gen 25:7]. He had grown old and (his) time was completed. The Life Span of Humankind before the Flood (9) For the times of the ancients were 19 jubilees [931 years] for their lifetimes. The Decreasing Life Span of Humankind after the Flood and Until the Great Day of Judgment Because of Wickedness After the flood they started to decrease from 19 jubilees [931 years], to be fewer with respect to jubilees, to age quickly, and to have their times completed in view of the numerous difficulties and through the wickedness of their ways—with exception of Abraham. (10) For Abraham was perfect with the Lord in everything that he did—being properly pleasing throughout all his lifetime. And yet (even) he had not completed four jubilees [196 years] during his lifetime when he became old— in view of wickedness—and reached the end of his time. (11) All the generations that will come into being from now until the great day of judgment will grow old quickly—before they complete two jubilees. It will be their knowledge that will leave them because of their old age; all of their knowledge will depart. (12) At that time, if a man lives a jubilee and one-half of years [73.5 years], it will be said about him: ‘He lived for a long time.’ But the greater part of his time [Ps 90:10] will be (characterized by) difficulties, toil, and distress without peace, (13) because (there will be) blow upon blow, wound upon wound, distress upon distress, bad news upon bad news, disease upon disease, and every (kind of) bad punishment like this, one with the other: disease and stomach pains; snow, hail, and frost; fever, cold, and numbness; famine, death, sword, captivity, and every (sort of) blow and difficulty. (14) All of this will happen to the evil generation which makes the earth commit sin through sexual impurity, contamination, and their detestable actions. (15) Then it will be said: ‘The days of the ancients were numerous— as many as 1000 years—and good. But now the days of our lives, if a man has lived for a long time, are 70 years, and, if he is strong, 80 years’ [Ps 90:10]. All are evil and there is no peace during the days of that evil generation. (16) During that generation the children will find fault with their fathers and elders because of sin and injustice, because of

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what they say and the great evils that they commit, and because of their abandoning the covenant which the Lord had made between them and himself so that they should observe and perform all his commandments, ordinances, and all his laws without deviating to the left or right [Deut 28:14]. (17) For all have acted wickedly; every mouth speaks what is sinful. Everything that they do is impure and something detestable; all their ways are (characterized by) contamination and corruption. (18) The earth will indeed be destroyed because of all that they do. There will be no produce from the vine and no oil because what they do (constitutes) complete disobedience. All will be destroyed together—animals, cattle, birds, and all fish of the sea—because of mankind. (19) One group will struggle with another—the young with the old, the old with the young; the poor with the rich, the lowly with the great; and the needy with the ruler—regarding the law and the covenant. For they have forgotten commandment, covenant, festival, month, sabbath, jubilee, and every verdict. (20) They will stand up with swords and warfare in order to bring them back to the way; but they will not be brought back until much blood is shed on the earth by each group. (21) Those who escape will not turn from their wickedness to the right way because all of them will elevate themselves for (the purpose of) cheating and through wealth so that one takes everything that belongs to another. They will mention the great name but neither truly nor rightly. They will defile the holy of holies with the impure corruption of their contamination. (22) There will be a great punishment from the Lord for the actions of that generation. He will deliver them to the sword, judgment, captivity, plundering, and devouring [Jer 10:25]. (23) He will arouse against them the sinful nations who will have no mercy or kindness for them and who will show partiality to no one, whether old, young, or anyone at all [Deut 28:50], because they are evil and strong so that they are more evil than all mankind. They will cause chaos in Israel and sin against Jacob. Much blood will be shed on the earth, and there will be no one who gathers up (corpses) or who buries (them). (24) At that time they will cry out and call and pray to be rescued from the power of the sinful nations, but there will be no one who rescues (them) [Jer 11:11; 14:12]. The Nadir of Human Longevity in the Future (25) The children’s heads will turn white with gray hair. A child who is three weeks of age will look old like one whose years are 100, and their condition will be destroyed through distress and pain. the increasing life span of humankind after repentance Repentance and Increasing Longevity (26) In those days the children will begin to study the laws, to seek out the commands, and to return to the right way. (27) The days will begin to become numerous and increase, and mankind as well—generation by

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chapter two generation and day by day until their lifetimes approach 1000 years and to more years than the number of days (had been) [Ps 90:15]. (28) There will be no old man, nor anyone who has lived out his lifetime, because all of them will be infants and children. (29) They will complete and live their entire lifetimes peacefully and joyfully. There will be neither a satan nor any evil one who will destroy. For their entire lifetimes will be times of blessing and healing. Restoration (30) Then the Lord will heal his servants. They will rise and see great peace. He will expel his enemies. The righteous will see (this), offer praise, and be very happy forever and ever. They will see all their punishments and curses on their enemies [Deut 30:7]. (31) Their bones will rest in the earth and their spirits will be very happy. They will know that the Lord is one who executes judgment but knows kindness to hundreds and thousands and to all who love him. instructions to moses to write (32) Now you, Moses, write down these words because this is how it is written and entered in the testimony of the heavenly tablets for the history of eternity.

As the structure of the passage shows, the mention of Abraham’s death at 175 years (Jub. 23:8) provides the occasion for discussing human longevity.71 First, Jub. 23:9–25 examines the phenomenon of decreasing human longevity from the 19 jubilees (= 931 years) enjoyed by the ancients in the remote past to the 70–80 years imposed on humankind ‘from now [i.e., the time of Moses] until the great day of judgment’ (v. 11). Second, Jub. 23:26–31 looks forward to the time when human longevity would be restored, approaching 1000 years. We now turn to a more detailed analysis of these two sections. In the first section (Jub. 23:9–25), the discussion of decreasing human longevity actually consists of two parts: (1) the human life span from Adam to Moses (vv. 9–10), and (2) that from Israel’s initial entrance into the Land to the restoration (vv. 11–25). This is an important point because Jubilees 23 uses the differences in human longevity as a key indicator of the division between the first and second eras, Moses himself being the turning point. We already know from Jub. 50:1–5 that 71 In Jub. 22:1, Abraham is said to have died ‘in the first week in the forty-fourth jubilee, during the second year,’ that is, 2109 am. However, 4QJubileesd (4Q219) 2.35 (DJD 13, 47) gives the jubilee number as the ‘forty-third’ (íéòáüøàå äùåìùì). Therefore, as VanderKam and Milik point out (DJD 13, 44–45, 53), in Hebrew Jubilees the year of Abraham’s death was 2060 am, rather than 2109 am.

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the division between the first two eras comes at the culmination of the first 50 jubilees (2450 am), when Israel enters the Promised Land. But according to Deut 34:1–8, Moses died at 120 years old, just as Israel was poised to enter the Land. Therefore, it is clear that Moses stands at the end of a long era of decline in human longevity, before it is further reduced to the 70–80 years in the second era, where it bottoms out until the beginning of the third era—‘the great day of judgment’ and the restoration of Israel in the Land.72 All three eras are reflected in Jubilees 23. Once this structural feature is recognized, the implied world chronology of Jubilees as a whole becomes apparent. The Decline in Human Longevity from Adam to Moses The era of decline in human longevity from Adam to Moses is well known from a cursory reading of the Pentateuch. Fig. 4 summarizes the data in the MT.73 Although there are, of course, significant differences between the MT and Jubilees regarding the exact number of generations and the dates of each patriarch (see Fig. 5), the broad outline is virtually the same: human longevity declined from Adam to Moses (note the trend line in Fig. 4).74 As we discussed in chap. 1 (p. 48), for the antediluvian patriarchs from Adam to Lamech, Jubilees actually does not follow the more erratic MT, in which, e.g., Jared and Methuselah had longer life spans than Adam’s 930 years (962 and 969, respectively), but rather the harmonizing SP tradition, in which the decline of human longevity through the successive patriarchs is much more even over time. For Noah through Moses, the lifetime totals are the same in the

72 Jubilees’ notion of humankind’s decline from Adam to Moses before a further drop during the preexilic and exilic periods bears some resemblance to the rabbinic concept that Adam’s sin caused humanity to fall, and that although this fall was briefly remedied through Israel’s acceptance of the Torah at Sinai, the sin of the golden calf caused a new fall that would not be completely remedied until the messianic era. Cf. Joel S. Kaminsky, ‘Paradise Regained: Rabbinic Reflections on Israel at Sinai,’ in Alice Ogden Bellis and J.S. Kaminsky (eds.), Jews, Christians, and the Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures (SBL Symposium Series 8; Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000) 15–43. 73 Adapted from Eliezer Shulman, The Sequence of Events in the Old Testament ([Jerusalem]: Investment Co. of Bank Hapoalim and Ministry of Defense Publishing House, 1987) 60. 74 On human longevity in ‘biblical times,’ see Gershon Brin, The Concept of Time in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 39; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 202–216 (here esp. 202–204).

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chapter two Adam Seth Enoch Kainan Mahalalel Jared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Shem Arpachshad Shelah Eber Peleg Reu Serug Nahor Terah Abraham Isaac Jacob Levi Kohath Amran Moses

Gen 5:5 Gen 5:8 Gen 5:11 Gen 5:14 Gen 5:17 Gen 5:20 Gen 5:23 Gen 5:27 Gen 5:31 Gen 9:29 Gen 11:10–11 Gen 11:12–13 Gen 11:14–15 Gen 11:16–17 Gen 11:18–19 Gen 11:20–21 Gen 11:22–23 Gen 11:24–25 Gen 11:32 Gen 25:7 Gen 35:28 Gen 47:28 Exod 6:16 Exod 6:18 Exod 6:20 Deut 34:7

Fig. 4. The Decline in Human Longevity from Adam to Moses (MT)

two textual traditions, except for Eber (464 MT vs. 404 SP) and Amram (137 MT vs. 136 SP). By changing the lifetime totals for Eber and Amram, the SP is again endeavoring to smooth out the progressive decline in the life spans by either eliminating or reducing the anomalies in the MT. Noah is presented as a grand exception to the general rule: ‘He completed 950 years in his lifetime—19 jubilees, two weeks, and five years—(he) had lived longer on the earth than (other) people except Enoch because of his righteousness in which he was perfect …’ (Jub. 10:16–17). Evidently, then, Jubilees wanted to be able to argue that human longevity generally decreased after Adam’s (and Noah’s) high-water mark of about 19 jubilees. Hence, Jub. 23:9 (‘After the flood they started to decrease from 19 jubilees …’) should be seen not as the beginning of an altogether new era, but as a resumption of the steady decline that had already been in progress from Adam to Lamech. The generations from Adam to Moses should be viewed as an era of fairly continuous decline in human longevity.

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Fig. 5. Comparison of Patriarchal Chronologies in Genesis (MT) and Jubilees

The first reduction in human longevity comes with Adam himself. Thus, we read already in Jub. 4:29–30:75 At the end of the nineteenth jubilee, during the seventh week—at its sixth year [930 am]—Adam died. All his children buried him in the land where he had been created. He was the first to be buried in the ground. (30) He lacked 70 years from 1000 years because 1000 years are one day [Ps 90:4] in the testimony of heaven. For this reason it was written 75 The following is once again from VanderKam’s translation of the Ethiopic text of Jubilees. A highly fragmentary Hebrew manuscript of Jub. 4:29–30 is available in 11QJubilees (11Q12) 5.1–4: ‘[the first that was bu]ried in [the ground. (30) And he was seventy years short of one thousand] (2) [years, for] a thousand [y]ears[ are one day in the testimony of heaven. Therefore] (3) [it is written about the tr]ee of knowledge: “For on [the day which you eat it, you shall die”. Therefore] (4) [he did not complete] the years of [that] day [because he died during it. At the conclusion of this jubilee].’ Cf. Florentino García Martínez, et al. (eds.), ‘11QJubilees,’ in Qumran Cave 11, Vol. II: 11Q2–18, 11Q20–31 (DJD 23; Oxford: Clarendon, 1998) 207–220 (213–214).

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chapter two regarding the tree knowledge: ‘On the day that you eat from it you will die’ [Gen 2:17]. Therefore he did not complete the years of this day because he died during it.

Clearly, this is an explanation for the fact that when Adam ate from the tree, he did not immediately die, but rather at the ripe, old age of 930 years (Gen 5:5).76 As we discussed chap. 1, along with other examples of harmonization in Jubilees 4, the text’s solution is to view the matter from the divine perspective, according to which one ‘day’ equals 1000 years of human existence.77 This conception is based on Ps 90:4 (‘A thousand years in your [sc. God’s] sight are like yesterday’).78 In other words, Adam did die ‘on the day that he ate the fruit,’ but it was on a ‘day’ of God rather than on a normal human day. Thus, Jubilees holds that Adam’s life was cut short because of sin.79 Are we to infer from the text that the divine ideal would have been for Adam to complete the 1000 years or one ‘day’ of God? Was this the originally intended human life span in the conception of Jubilees?80 We shall return to this question below. 76

The significance of this point should not be underestimated. Except for the special cases of Adam (vv. 29–30) and Cain (vv. 31–32), Jubilees 4 omits both the total life span of the antediluvian patriarchs and the report of their deaths. 77 Cf. James Kugel, Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998) 94–95, who gives further examples of this exegesis in Jewish and Christian literatures. 78 As van Ruiten (Primaeval History Interpreted, 170) comments, ‘The reference to Ps 90:4 is unmistakable, although the verbal agreements are few’ (see his discussion of those agreements on 170–171). This allusive quality is characteristic of Jubilees’ use of scriptures, as we have seen. 79 Hence, Jub. 23:9–11 is not the first passage in the book to have understood the decrease in longevity as a punishment for sin (pace James Kugel, ‘The Jubilees Apocalypse,’ DSD 1 [1994] 322–337 [326 with n. 5]). For the causal relationship between sin and reduced human longevity, we may also point to Jub. 29:11: ‘The Amorites—evil and sinful—lived in their [sc. the Rafaim’s] place. Today there is no nation that has matched all their sins. They no longer have length of life on the earth.’ The exact mechanism by which the human life span decreases because of sin is not expressed either in Genesis or in Jubilees (see, however, Jub. 30:22: ‘They will be erased from the book of the living and will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed and with those who will be uprooted from the earth’; cf. also 36:10). Contrast Hesiod’s description of the Golden Age (Op. 112–120), which states that early humans lived like gods without sorrow, free from toil and grief, and that they therefore avoided old age (cf. Op. 90–93). 80 Cf. Sir 17:1–2: ‘The Lord created man out of earth, and makes him return to it again. He gave them a fixed number of days (μρας ριμο κα καιρν) ….’ Similarly, it seems possible that Jubilees regards the human being (íãà) as inexorably linked with äîãà (cf. Gen 2:7) and as limited; because of this limitation, the human being is not immortal and returns to the äîãà (cf. Gen 3:19). Only if the human had eaten from the

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Jubilees 23 resumes the theme of reduction of human longevity due to sin. Having mentioned the length of Abraham’s life (Jub. 23:8), the text goes on to state: ‘For the times of the ancients were 19 jubilees [931 years] for their lifetimes’ (v. 9a). Although the text refers here to ‘the ancients,’ it is very doubtful that the text means to say that ‘19 jubilees’ (931 years) is somehow characteristic of antediluvian longevity in general, for in the SP tradition that Jubilees follows for the dates of the antediluvian patriarchs, no one before Noah, except Adam himself, lived as long as 931 years: Seth (912), Enoch (905), Kainan (910), Mahalalel (895), Jared (847), Enoch (365), Methuselah (720), Lamech (653). Therefore, the reference to ‘19 jubilees’ is a fairly obvious allusion to Adam’s life span rounded up to the next full jubilee, for Jub. 4:29 states that Adam died in the nineteenth jubilee, during the sixth year of the seventh ‘week’ (i.e., one year less than the full 19 jubilees or 930 years; cf. Gen 5:5: ‘Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years; and he died’). The author evidently felt it unnecessary to reiterate (or perhaps he wanted to suppress) that as a result of sin, Adam’s life span had been cut short of the divine ideal of 1000 years, but this fact is certainly presupposed here.81 For Jubilees 23 goes on to state that the longevity of the postdiluvian generations steadily decreased from 19 jubilees ‘through the wickedness of their ways’ (v. 9b).82 If Adam’s life span was reduced because of sin, and if the life span of the postdiluvian tree of life would he have lived forever; therefore, he was expelled from the garden (Gen 3:22–24). Only in the eschaton will the tree of life be accessible for human consumption (see further below [pp. 119-120 n. 105]). 81 On human longevity in Jubilees 23, see also Brin, The Concept of Time in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, 350–354, who rather anomalously holds that ‘humankind shall in the End of Days once more live as they did in the early generations, that is, one thousand years’ (ibid., 352). But nowhere does it state in Jubilees that any of the patriarchs actually lived that long. Moreover, as we shall discuss below, the difference between the divine ideal for human longevity and the actual life span of humans seems essential to the point of the passage. 82 Additional support for this interpretation can be seen from the possible use of Jubilees 23 in CD 10.7–10. If, as previously mentioned, CD 16.2–4 explicitly cites the Hebrew title of the Book of Jubilees, it would not be surprising to find further evidence of Jubilees’ influence in the rest of the Damascus Covenant (see further above [e.g., pp. 83, 87 n. 33]). Thus, CD 10.7–9 states: ‘No one over sixty years should hold the office of judging the congregation, for because of Adam’s infidelity (íãàä ìòîá) his days were shortened ….’ This passage may be dependent on Jub. 23:9, for it goes on to state in lines 9–10 that God in his wrath caused the inhabitants of the earth to lose their knowledge before they completed their days, which is directly comparable to Jub. 23:11 (cited above). In that case, the Damascus Covenant reinforces our interpretation that the 19 jubilees of Jub. 23:9 refers specifically to Adam’s life span. Note, however, that Van-

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generations was likewise reduced because of sin, then its seems reasonable to infer that the decline in antediluvian longevity between Adam and Noah was likewise due to sin. Astonishingly, even Abraham—the outstanding exception to the general wickedness in the postdiluvian generations—did not complete four jubilees (196 years) before his death (Jub. 23:9c–10).83 Hence, in this first era of human history from Adam to Moses, we see a steady decline in human longevity from 19 jubilees (931 years) to less than three jubilees (120 years),84 a net loss of more than 16 jubilees (811 years). Does Adam therefore set in motion an ineluctable process of degradation that even the righteous could not escape—a process that has sometimes been identified with ‘original sin’? Although Davenport may be correct that the text is ‘not interested in arguing for or against a doctrine of original sin,’85 it is nevertheless necessary to explain the text’s emphasis on the decline of human longevity from 19 jubilees, that is, the approximate length of Adam’s life.86 Rather than a notion of ‘original sin’ (i.e., an inherited human disorder [German Erbsünde]),87 Jubilees seems to con-

derKam and Milik (DJD 13, 72 [note on 4QJubileesf (4Q221) 3.4]) refer only to ‘some parallel expressions’ between the two texts. 83 Cf. Jub. 23:10: ‘For Abraham was perfect with the Lord in everything that he did—being properly pleasing throughout all his lifetime. And yet (even) he had not completed four jubilees during his lifetime when he became old—in view of wickedness—and reached the end of his time.’ 84 It will be recalled that the length of Jacob’s life was precisely ‘three jubilees’ or 147 years (Jub. 45:13). 85 Gene L. Davenport, The Eschatology of the Book of Jubilees (SPB 20; Leiden: Brill, 1971) 35. Note, however, that according to Jub. 22:20–21, all of Canaan’s descendants are meant for being uprooted from the earth, ‘For through Ham’s sin Canaan erred. All of his descendants and all of his (people) who remain will be destroyed from the earth; on the day of judgment there will be no one (descended) from him who will be saved.’ A similar statement is made about Esau and his descendants (Jub. 35:14). These texts seem to show that the sin of one individual can affect all subsequent generations of that line. 86 Cf. 2Bar. 17:1–4: ‘With the Most High no account is taken of much time and few years. (2) For what did it profit Adam that he lived nine hundred and thirty years and transgressed that which he was commanded? (3) Therefore, the multitude of time that he lived did not profit him, but it brought death and cut off the years of those who were born from him. (4) Or what did it harm Moses that he lived only one hundred and twenty years and, because he subjected himself to him who created him, he brought the Law to the descendants of Jacob and he lighted a lamp to the generation of Israel?’ 87 See further, e.g., Henri Blocher, Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle (New Studies in Biblical Theology; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997); Gary A. Anderson, The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001) 197–210.

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ceive of the incremental reduction in human longevity as increasing divine judgment that is directly proportional to the prevailing human wickedness that accelerates under the influence of demonic powers.88 Thus, Adam’s disobedience initiates a process of spiritual and physical degeneration due to sin that continues until the time of Israel’s repentance, which introduces the third and final era of world history.89 We shall return below to the issue of the fall. The Further Decline in Human Longevity from Israel in the Land to the Restoration Now we come to a much longer section and hence an obvious focus of the text. Jubilees 23:11–25 describes the further decline of human longevity from Israel’s initial entrance into the Land until the end of the exile and the beginning of the restoration. From the perspective of the Book of Jubilees, the history of Israel was part of a long course of human history that generally could be classified as a period of decline both spiritually and physically.90 Interestingly enough, Moses and his generation are seen as the transition point to a new era of further-reduced human longevity. Thus, according to Jub. 23:11, ‘All the generations that will come into being from now [i.e., the time of Moses] Cf. Jub. 1:11, 20; 3:17–20; 5:1; 7:21–25, 27; 8:3; 10:1–14; 11:4–5, 11; 12:20; 15:31, 33; 17:16; 18:9, 12; 19:28; 22:17; 48:2–4, 9, 12–13, 15–18; 49:2–3; 50:5. Note, however, that Jubilees does not view the demonic forces as the original cause of wickedness. See further below (p. 136 n. 152). 89 Cf. Wis 2:23–24: ‘For God created the man (τν νρωπον) for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity; (24) but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it’; 2Bar. 54:15, 19: ‘For, although Adam sinned first and has brought death upon all who were not in his own time, yet of them who has been born from him has prepared for himself the coming torment. […] (19) Adam is, therefore, not the cause, except only for himself, but each of us has become our own Adam.’ See further 4Ezra 3:21: ‘The first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome, as were also all who were descended from him’; 7:118: ‘O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours also who are your descendants.’ 90 As R. Doran (‘The Non-Dating of Jubilees: Jub 34–38; 23:14–32 in Narrative Context,’ JSJ 20 [1989] 1–11 [7–10]) correctly points out, the description of the future evil generation in Jub. 23:16–21 should not be mined as a quarry for clues to the Maccabean crisis; rather, it should be seen as a description of a society that is turned upside down because no one follows the law. For the view that Jub. 23:16–21 contains historical allusions to events before or during the Maccabean period, see John C. Endres, Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees (CBQMS 18; Washington, DC: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1987) 55–56; George W.E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah: A Historical and Literary Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981) 77. 88

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until the great day of judgment will grow old quickly—before they complete two jubilees [98 years].’91 If, as we have seen, Moses died at 120 years of age (less than three jubilees),92 then the death of Moses on the verge of entering the Land marks the end of an era,93 since human longevity thereafter drops to below two jubilees. This corresponds to the fact that outside of the patriarchal narrative in Genesis, only four individuals in the OT are said to have lived beyond 100 years of age: Moses (120 years [Deut 34:7]), Joshua (110 years [Josh 24:29]), Job (140 years [Job 42:16]), and the high priest Jehoiada (130 years [2 Chr 24:15]). Whereas the death of Moses marks the end of the first era and the beginning of the second, ‘the great day of judgment’ (Jub. 23:11) comes at the end of the second era and the beginning of the third, when Israel returns to the Land. As we have seen, it is very important to Jubilees’ theology to establish that the Land originally belonged to Israel, so that Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and entrance into the Land constitute an application of the law of jubilee in Leviticus 25, that is, a release from slavery and a return of the patrimony to its rightful owner. Therefore, in accordance with its tendency to backdate the origin of its institutions to the earlier patriarchal times, Jubilees dates Israel’s claim to the Promised Land already from the time of the division of the earth by lot among the sons of Noah after the flood (Jub. 8:11–9:15). In conjunction with this allocation, which resembles the division of the Land among the tribes of Israel by lot,94 Noah ‘made (them) swear by oath to curse each and every one who wanted to See above on the possible use of Jub. 23:9, 11b in CD 10.9–10 (p. 111 n. 82). Of course, Jubilees does not mention the death of Moses or the length of his life, since the book presents itself as the revelation that Moses received on Mt. Sinai, some 40 years before his death (cf. Jub. 50:4). Nevertheless, if Moses died at the age of 120 years (Deut 34:7), then this is clearly the figure with which Jubilees assumes for Moses’ life span, for Moses was born in 2330 am (Jub. 47:1) and died shortly before Israel entered Canaan in 2450 am, a difference of 120 years. Moreover, this is the very age that, according to Gen 6:3, was divinely ordained as the result of the sons of God taking the daughter of men as wives (v. 2; cf. Jub. 5:8). Although Gen 6:3 applied first and foremost to the horrible divine-human hybrids which came from this union in the generation of the flood, the 120 years eventually came to be applied as an overall limit for the life of humans, even though postdiluvians are reported to have lived longer than 120 (cf. Gen 9:29; 11:10–23, 32). See Kugel, Traditions of the Bible, 183–185, 212–216, 764. 93 Similarly, 2Bar. 17:1–4 (cited above) refers to the life spans of Adam and Moses in the context of divine judgment, albeit without explicitly pointing out that they demarcate a specific period of decline in human history. One of the closest parallel to the perspective that we find here in Jubilees may well be Rom 5:12–21 (esp. v. 14: λλ !βασλευσεν  $νατος π %Αδ μ μχρι Μωϋσως). 94 Cf., e.g., Num 26:55–56; 33:54; 34:13; 36:2; Josh 14:2; 19:51. 91 92

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occupy the share which did not emerge by his lot. (15) All of them said: “So be it!” So be it for them and their children until eternity during their generations until the day of judgment on which the Lord God will punish them with the sword and fire because of all the evil impurity of their errors by which they have filled the earth with wickedness, impurity, fornication, and sin’ (Jub. 9:14–15). Since foreign occupation of Israel’s land is particularly in view in the subsequent context (see the story of Canaan in Jub. 10:29–34), the eschatological day of judgment which is meant to remedy this foreign (Seleucid?) occupation and to punish the offenders must be connected with Israel’s return to the Land.95 In other words, the text has in view another conquest of the Land to oust the usurpers, such as that which marked the original conquest of the Land from the Canaanites.96 According to Jub. 23:30, it is during the restoration era that the Lord will ‘expel his enemies’ (presumably from the Land), and Israel ‘will see all their punishments and curses on their enemies’ (cf. Deut 30:7).97 When Israel returns to the Land, this time in obedience, the Deuteronomic blessings will be theirs, and they will become ‘the head, not the tail’ (Jub. 1:16; cf. Deut 28:13). Jubilees 23 gives two reasons for the radical decline in human longevity in the second era, both of which are attributed to Moses. First, the passage implicitly appeals to Deuteronomy in order to validate its perspective on the decline of human life span. Like Jubilees 1, Jubilees 23 contains many Deuteronomic elements, including the aforementioned SER pattern.98 In Jub. 23:16, it is predicted, using language drawn from 95 On the possibility of a polemic in Jubilees against Seleucid occupation of the northern reaches of the Land of Israel, see the discussion on the ideal boundaries of the Land in chap. 3 (pp. 193, 197; also 219–220). 96 Also otherwise, the enemies of Israel in the Land will be the particular object of divine wrath on ‘the day of judgment.’ Cf. Jub. 22:20–21; 24:28–33. For the expression ‘the day of judgment,’ see also Jub. 4:19, 24; 5:10; 10:17, 22. 97 The Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks (1Enoch 93:1–10; 91:11–17) envisions judgments taking place throughout the restoration era (cf. 1Enoch 91:12–15, covering ‘weeks’ 8–10). This is significant for our discussion here because, as we shall see (pp. 125–132), Jubilees’ chronological system should be understood as both an appropriation of and a reaction against the Apocalypse of Weeks. 98 For the Deuteronomic elements in Jubilees 23, see Endres, Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees, 53–61. For the Deuteronomic elements in Jubilees 1 and 23, see Michael A. Knibb, ‘Jubilees and the Origins of the Qumran Community’ (Inaugural Lecture; London: King’s College, 1989). For the Deuteronomic SER pattern generally, see Knibb, ‘The Exile in the Literature of the Intertestamental Period,’ 264–268. On the Deuteronomizing traditions transmitted by priestly circles which emerged from the

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Deut 28:14,99 that Israel will abandon ‘the covenant which the Lord had made between them and himself so that they should observe and perform all his commandments, ordinances, and all his laws without deviating to the left or right.’ Likewise in Jub. 23:23, the prediction that God ‘will arouse against them the sinful nations who will have no mercy or kindness for them and who will show partiality to no one, whether old, young, or anyone at all’ is a clear allusion to Deut 28:50. Therefore, the decline in human longevity that begins after Israel’s entrance into the Land can best be understood as a consequence of violating the Deuteronomic covenant that God gave to Israel through Moses. According to Deut 30:15–20, two ways were set before the people as they were about to enter the Land: See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. (16) If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. (17) But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, (18) I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. (19) I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, (20) loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Similar language is also used elsewhere in Deuteronomy: the people should obey the Deuteronomic covenant, ‘so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you’ (Deut 5:16; cf. 5:33; 6:2; 11:9, 21; 25:15; 32:47).100 same pre-Qumran, Zadokite milieu, see J. Strugnell, ‘376. 4QApocryphon of Mosesb?’ in Magen Broshi, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XIV: Parabiblical Texts, Part 2 (DJD 19; Oxford: Clarendon, 1995) 121–136 (esp. 131–136); cf. also VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 32. 99 Anomalously, Himmelfarb (‘Torah, Testimony, and Heavenly Tablets,’ 24) denies that the language of Jubilees 23 is Deuteronomic, although she acknowledges that the Deuteronomic schema is present there. 100 On the Deuteronomic concept of longevity in the Land which is contingent upon obedience to Torah, see further Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972; reprint ed., Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992) 315–316, 345.

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Therefore, Jubilees 23 evidently assumes that the human life span had been severely reduced because Israel had fundamentally violated the covenant after entering the Land. Second, Jubilees 23 appeals to Psalm 90 in order to validate its perspective on the decline of human longevity. We have already seen that Jub. 4:29–30 alludes to Ps 90:4 to explain how Adam died 70 years shy of the full 1000 years that compose one divine ‘day.’ Now we learn in Jub. 23:15 (cf. also v. 12)101 that in the days of calamity and punishment that lie ahead for Israel, Then it will be said: ‘The days of the ancients were numerous—as many as 1000 years—and good. But now the days of our lives, if a man has lived for a long time, are 70 years, and, if he is strong, 80 years.’

This citation of Ps 90:10 is used in a peculiar way in this context. At the end of Jubilees 23, Moses is instructed to write down the words that are being revealed to him (v. 32). As James Kugel has shown, this is because Jubilees seeks to suggest that Psalm 90 is a prophecy by the prophet Moses.102 Indeed, the superscription to Psalm 90 directly states that this is ‘a prayer of Moses, the man of God.’ Thus, Jubilees 23 constitutes the primary divine revelation from which Moses wrote the psalm as both a warning to future generations about the punishment they are currently suffering and a prayer for the ultimate reversal of that punishment and the restoration of their lost state. For Jubilees, then, the normal human life span during the second era (from the entrance into the Land to the end of the exile) represents both a drastic reduction from already sharply curtailed human longevity in the first era and a further evidence of divine judgment for sin. Now the human life span is limited to a paltry 70–80 years (down approximately 90 percent from Adam’s 930 years). If, as we have suggested, the preexilic and exilic periods of this second era are understood as containing 70 ‘weeks’ of years each, in accordance with the sabbatical chronology of Jubilees, then there may be a correlation between the length of the two halves of the second era and the human life span which is characteris101 Cf. James C. VanderKam (ed. and trans.), The Book of Jubilees (2 vols.; CSCO 510– 511, Scriptores Aethiopici 87–88; Leuven: Peeters, 1989) 2.140 (note on Jub. 23:12 ‘the greater part’): ‘The writer is drawing from Ps 90:10 (one and one-half jubilees translate to 73.5 years, a figure which falls between the “threescore and ten” and “fourscore” of this psalm). Where MT offers ía"äTå (= and their pride), LXX (Ps 89:10) has κα τ πλε*ον α+τ,ν (= ía\å [plene íaeøå]) which lies behind the text of Jubilees ….’ 102 Kugel, ‘The Jubilees Apocalypse,’ 322–337; see also idem, Traditions of the Bible, 213–216.

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tic of that era. In other words, Jubilees may view the 70-year human life span as just retribution for Israel’s cumulative, 70-year failure to observe the sabbaths of the Land. This is the very kind of compensatory symmetry that, as we have already suggested, possibly characterizes the second era as a whole: a cumulative, 70-year failure to observe sabbath rest for the Land over a 490-year period is compensated by a 70- or 490year exile of the people from the Land, depending on whether only the specific years of non-compliance themselves must be made up or rather the whole period during which the non-compliance took place. Given the book’s penchant for rigorous symmetry (see further below), the author of Jubilees would have received great satisfaction from these chronological correlations based on the number 70.103 It is unclear whether Jub. 23:25 implies that before the time of repentance and restoration, human longevity will continue to drop below 70 years: ‘The children’s heads will turn white with gray hair. A child who is three weeks of age will look old like one whose years are 100, and their condition will be destroyed through distress and pain.’ If this premature aging is limited simply to geriatric appearance, then the aforementioned 70 (or 80 years) remains the characteristic maximum life span of the second era, although Jub. 23:25 acknowledges that by the end of the era, the degradation of the human condition, especially in children, will reach a crescendo. If, on the other hand, this premature aging implies another general reduction of the human life span, then the second era may not be as rigorously symmetrical as we at first suggested. However, in using 70 years as the life span that is somehow characteristic of the second era, the text is not necessarily suggesting that every individual attains to the maximum, nor even that most people do so. As in Greco-Roman literature, 70 is here a rhetorical 103 These are precisely the kind of correlations that chronographers relish. Cf., e.g., William Adler and Paul Tuffin (trans.), The Chronography of George Synkellos: A Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) xxxi: ‘Fascination with mathematical symmetry and numerical symbolism permeates Africanus’ chronicle. By Africanus’ calculations, the date of Christ’s Incarnation occurred in the year 5500, precisely halfway through the sixth millennium. Methuselah, the eighth biblical patriarch, symbolized the “transmundane (-περκσμιον)” number that is to follow the world-week of seven millennia. The 31-year difference between the 969 years of Methuselah’s life and the year 1000, “the primary and complete period of time”, foreshadowed the 31 years of Jesus’ life [Syncellus 21.1–8]. And the death of the patriarch Phalek, reflecting the meaning of his Hebrew name (Peleg = “division”), occurred in the year 3000, the exact midpoint in the 6000 years of human history [Syncellus 97.11].’

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number that resonates with other factors in the text and tradition to make a point (e.g., the correlation between the 70-year reduction of Adam’s life span due to sin and the reduction of human longevity to 70 years due to sin).104 The premature death of the children at the end of the era would not affect this point, although it would add to the general sense of the hopelessness of the human condition by the end of the second era. The Increasing Life Span of Humankind after Repentance At the nadir of the second era, when the human condition declines so drastically that young children will appear elderly and frail (Jub. 23:25), Israel will repent, and a process of restoration will begin (vv. 26–31). At that time, the Deuteronomic curse will be reversed in several ways: (1) Instead of decreasing longevity, the people will enjoy steadily increasing life spans, in accordance with Jubilees’ aforementioned understanding of the Deuteronomic promise of long life in the Land for obedience (Jub. 23:27–29); (2) the Deuteronomic curses will be put instead on Israel’s enemies, in accordance with Deut 30:7 (Jub. 23:30). Deuteronomy 30:1– 10 is a passage on the restoration of Israel and ties in with other texts on the restoration in Jubilees (esp. Jub. 1:15–18, 23–25, 28–29). The crucial point for our discussion is that restoration will be a gradual process. Just as the first era had seen an incremental process of decline in human longevity from Adam’s 930 years to Moses’ 120 years over the course of 26 or 27 generations (cf. Jub. 23:9–10), so also the third era, which begins with Israel’s repentance and extends to the new creation, is seen as a gradual increase ‘generation by generation and day by day until their lifetimes approach 1000 years and to more years than the number of days (had been)’ (Jub. 23:27).105 As we have 104 On the rhetorical use of 70 years as the normal human life span, see Dreizehnter, Die rhetorische Zahl, 70–81. In Hdt. 1.32, for example, Solon takes 70 years as the span of a man’s life (!ς γ ρ .βδομ/κοντα 0τεα ο1ρον τς ζης νρ3π4ω προτημι) and then calculates the exact number of days in a lifetime (70 years×360 days/year = 25,200 days+1050 additional days [i.e., one intercalary month of 30 days every two years, for 35 intercalary months total] = 26,250 days in all), in order to make the rhetorical point that not a single one of those days is like the next in what it brings. Under the probable influence of the concept of 70 years as the normal human life span, 70 years can also describe the maximum duration of a historical era. See ibid., 81–90. 105 Cf. 1Enoch 25:6: ‘Then [when the chosen eat of the tree of life that has been transplanted to the eschatological Temple] they will rejoice greatly and be glad, and they will enter into the sanctuary. Its fragrances will be in their bones, and they

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mentioned, Adam’s life span fell 70 years short of 1000 years, which is a ‘day’ of God according to Ps 90:4 (cf. Jub. 4:29–30). Now, the human life span is implicitly expected not only to meet Adam’s former benchmark, but actually to exceed it, until it approaches 1000 years. Apparently, then, 1000 years is both a ‘day’ of God and the originally intended divine ideal for human longevity.106 The text certainly expects that people will die in the era of restoration (Jub. 23:31), but ‘They will complete and live their entire lifetimes …’ (v. 29). Jubilees 23 alludes here once again to Psalm 90. Whereas earlier the text had cited Ps 90:10, which contrasts the 1000 years of the ancients to the contemporary life span of 70–80 years (cf. Jub. 23:15), here we find an allusion to Ps 90:15 (cf. Jub. 23:27), which adjures God to make us joyful by giving us ‘more years than the number of days,’ that is, the days that God took away from us (åðúéðò úåîéë, ‘as the days you afflicted us’).107 Since the characteristic human life span in the second will live a long life upon the earth, such as your fathers lived also in their days ….’ Commenting on this passage, Nickelsburg (1Enoch 1, 315) suggests that the imagery has been drawn from the new creation context of Isa 65:17–25 and that the comparison to the life span of Enoch’s forebears refers to ‘more than nine hundred years.’ On 1Enoch 25:5–6 and related texts in the late third-century bce Book of the Watchers (1Enoch 1–36), see further David E. Aune, ‘From the Idealized Past to the Imaginary Future: Eschatological Restoration in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature,’ in J.M. Scott (ed.), Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish and Christian Conceptions (JSJSup 72; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 147–177 (170): ‘Thus while access to the Tree of Life was denied to Adam and Eve by driving them from the garden (Gen 3:22–24), in the future, access to the Tree of Life will reverse the sentence of death that Adam received by eating of the Tree of Knowledge. Further, it will be planted “by the house of the Lord, the Eternal King,” i.e., on Mount Zion where the Temple of Solomon was located.’ Note that the connection between the Garden of Eden and the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion that we have been tracing throughout the present study extends here to the expected reversal of the decline in human longevity that Adam’s sin precipitated. 106 Cf. Josephus, Ant. 1.108, where, in the context of a discussion of the longevity of the antediluvian patriarchs (Ant. 1.105–108; cf. 1.82–87), the Jewish historian adduces Greek writers to bolster the credibility of the biblical record: ‘And Hesiod and Hecataios and Hellanicos and Acusilaos and, in addition to these, Ephoros and Nikolaos record that the ancients lived for a thousand years.’ On this text, see further Louis H. Feldman, Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Vol. 3: Judean Antiquities 1–4 (Leiden: Brill, 2000) 37–39. 107 Kugel, ‘The Jubilees Apocalypse,’ 333–334: ‘After all, what could the psalmist have meant by “Make us joyful as the days you afflicted us”? How can one be made joyful “as” the days of affliction?! Jubilees’ answer is: Make us joyful by giving us back the same number of days that you took from us in afflicting us. Therefore, the angel says in the above passage that humanity will indeed regain its lost longevity “until their lifetimes approach 1000 years and to more than the number of days.”’ Here it is interesting to note that in 4Ezra 7:28, the length of the messianic kingdom (400 years) may have been

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era is 70 years, Jubilees 23 apparently looks forward to the restoration of the approximately 90 percent of human longevity that was lost since Adam’s death at 930 years, plus an additional 70 years beyond that in order to complete the divine ideal of a full 1000 years. In this way, the current human life span would be restored to more than the days that God had taken away from humankind. Again, the author of Jubilees would have taken great pleasure in the symmetry of these numerical relationships based on 70. This correlation between the decline of the human life span and its restoration ‘generation by generation’ shows that Jubilees maintains a rigorous symmetry of Endzeit ≈ Urzeit. The generations of decline will be matched by an equal number of generations of increase. Thus, the 50-jubilee period from Adam to Moses, during which human longevity gradually declined from 930 years to 70 years, will be mirrored by an equally long period from the repentance of Israel to the new creation, during which human longevity will be incrementally restored— ‘generation by generation’—from its low point (70 years) to its originally intended, divine ideal (1000 years). The symmetry here is rigorous but not absolutely perfect. For as we have seen, the Endzeit will outstrip the Urzeit insofar as human longevity in the restoration era will exceed the highpoint from which human longevity in the patriarchal period had descended. Jubilees 23 also alludes to another important biblical text with respect to increasing human longevity: Isa 65:17–25, a central passage on the restoration of Israel and the new creation which we have had occasion to cite above.108 Already in the section on declining human longevity in the second era, Jubilees 23 seems to present a deliberate contrast with Isa 65:20, which reads: ‘No more shall there be in it [sc. Jerusalem] an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered ac-

arrived at by a combination of Ps 90:15 (‘Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil’) and Gen 15:13 (‘an they will be oppressed for four hundred years’). Cf. Michael E. Stone, Fourth Ezra: A Commentary on the Book of Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990) 215. 108 Cf. also Isa 66:22–23: ‘For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD; so shall your descendants and your name remain. (23) From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.’

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cursed.’109 In contrast to this, Jub. 23:12 states: ‘At that time, if a man lives a jubilee and one-half of years [73.5 years], it will be said about him: “He lived for a long time.”’110 Later, however, in the section on increasing human longevity in the era of restoration, Jub. 23:28 makes a positive allusion to Isa 65:20: ‘There will be no old man, nor anyone who has lived out his lifetime, because all of them will be infants and children.’ While none of the texts in Jubilees 23 explicitly cites Isa 65:17–25, the influence of the latter passage is nevertheless tangible.111 For example, the peace and joy to which Jub. 23:29 refers (‘They will complete and live their entire lifetimes peacefully and joyfully’) aptly describes the era of bliss described in the Isaianic text.112 The important thing to note is that both Jubilees 23 and Isa 65:17–25 expect people to die during the restoration period, albeit at a ripe old age.113 A few more comments on Jub. 23:29 are in order here. The text reads in full: ‘They will complete and live their entire lifetimes peacefully and joyfully. There will be neither a satan nor any evil one who will destroy. For their entire lifetimes will be times of blessing and healing.’ This text shares several points in common with the restoration expectations in Jubilees 1 and 50:5. First, as in Jub. 23:29 the people are expected to ‘live their entire lifetimes peacefully,’ in Jub. 1:15 God promises to ‘disclose to them abundant peace.’ As in Jub. 23:29 ‘their entire lifetimes will be times of blessing,’ in Jub. 1:16 ‘they will become a blessing, not a curse ….’ Second, Jub. 23:29 also has clear links with Jub. 50:5. The immediately preceding verses of this passage specify that the entrance Cf. also Isa 65:22: ‘… for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be ….’ For another deliberate contrast, see Jub. 23:18: ‘There will be no produce from the vine and no oil because what they do (constitutes) complete disobedience. All will be destroyed together—animals, cattle, birds, and all fish of the sea—because of mankind.’ This contrasts with the positive statements about agricultural productivity (Isa 65:21–22) and the prosperity of the animals (v. 25) in the period of restoration. 110 Cf., similarly, Jub. 23:25: ‘The children’s heads will turn white with gray hair. A child who is three weeks of age will look old like one whose years are 100.’ 111 Cf. Endres, Biblical Interpretation, 59–60; Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature, 77–78. 112 Cf. Stone, Fourth Ezra, 216 (on 4Ezra 7:28): ‘The language of “joy” is widespread for eschatological reward (see 7:60; 7:95; 7:96; 7:98; 7:131; 2 Apoc Bar 55:8; 73:1; Apoc Abr 29:19; Midr. Mishle 16:11; et al.’ See also Isa 66:14. Note that 2Bar. 73:1–7 contains several motifs that stem from Isa 65:17–25, including joy, restored human longevity (‘nobody will again die untimely’), and the submission of the animal world to humankind. Kugel (Traditions of the Bible, 135) interprets 2Bar. 73:6–74:3 as the reversal of the divine curses in Gen 3:14–19. 113 Cf. 1Enoch 10:17: ‘And then all the righteous ones will escape; and become the living ones until they multiply and become tens of hundreds; and all the days of their youth and the days of their retirement will be completed in peace.’ Cf. also 1Enoch 5:9, on which see Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1, 163–164. 109

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into the Land will take place in the 50th jubilee from creation (Jub. 50:1–4). Then the text goes on to state in v. 5 what would happen once Israel was in the Land: ‘The jubilees will pass by until Israel is pure of every sexual evil, impurity, contamination, sin, and error. Then they will live confidently in the entire land. They will no longer have any satan or any evil person. The land will be pure from that time until eternity’ (Jub. 50:5). The statement that ‘The jubilees will pass by until …’ encompasses both the preexilic and the exilic periods down to the time of the expected restoration. Thus, our earlier argument is confirmed that even for the time after the entrance into the Land, Jubilees continues to chronicle history in terms of jubilees.114 Having passed lightly over the second era of world history, which focuses on the history of Israel,115 the text proceeds to describe the third era,116 when Israel will be purified and live confidently in the Land. As we have already read in Jubilees 1, this purification of the people takes place after the exile, when Israel is restored. At that time, according to Jub. 1:15–18, 22–25, several important events take place: – Israel in exile will return to God with all their minds, all their souls, and all their strength – God will gather Israel from all the nations – God will transform Israel into a ‘righteous plant’ – God will build his Temple among them and will live with them – God will become their God, and they will become his true and righteous people Jubilees 1 also refers explicitly to the purification of the people: ‘I will cut away the foreskins of their minds and the foreskins of their descendants’ minds. I will create a holy spirit for them and will purify them in order 114 Cf., similarly, VanderKam, ‘Sabbatical Chronologies,’ 169, who comments on Jub. 50:5: ‘So there will continue to be jubilee periods, but the author does not arrange them or give any further details about them.’ We may respond, however, that the whole point of specifying that the entrance into the Land occurs exactly 50 jubilees from the creation of the world must be to allow the Israelites to synchronize their watches, so that once in the Land, they would be able to consistently observe the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee at their foreordained times. It appears, therefore, that through understatement, the author of Jubilees actually throws a rather large spotlight on the preexilic period (and the expected failure to observe the times and seasons during that period). 115 The reason for the relatively brief treatment of the whole history of Israel at this point is presumably that it has already been dealt with more thoroughly in other parts of the book (e.g., Jub. 23:11–25). 116 Wacholder (‘The Date of the Eschaton,’ 94) argues that Jub. 50:5 refers to ‘the future eschatological state.’ Wacholder seems to go too far, however, in hypothesizing that all of Jub. 50:2–5 ‘actually reveals the date of the Sabbath of Sabbaths or the year of the eschaton’ (ibid.). As we have seen, Jub. 50:1–4 refers to the period from creation to the entrance into the Land, and 50:5 gives a compressed history from the conquest to the final restoration of Israel.

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chapter two that they may not turn away from me from that time forever’ (v. 23; cf. v. 21). Here, we have the same temporal indicator as in Jub. 50:5 (‘The land will be pure from that time until eternity’). Clearly, therefore, both passages refer to the future restoration of Israel. Taken as a whole, Jub. 50:1–5 outlines the entire threefold history of humankind from the creation of the world to the new creation. In sum, Jubilees 1 and 50:5 help us to see how well 23:29 correlates with other restoration expectations in the book.

Like Jubilees 23, Isa 65:17–25 also describes a gradual process that culminates in the future: ‘For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth …. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy…’ (Isa 65:17–18). Ultimately, Eden-like conditions will be restored when Jerusalem is renewed: ‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord’ (v. 25; cf. Isa 11:6–9).117 As we have seen, the revelation of the heavenly tablets to Moses on Mt. Sinai encompassed the whole of human history from the creation to the new creation, ‘when the temple of the Lord will be created in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion’ (Jub. 1:29).118 Jubilees 4:26 states that Mt. Zion ‘will be 117 According to Jub. 37:21–22, when Esau is about to attack Jacob, the rogue ironically declares to Jacob, using language reminiscent of Isa 65:17–25, that there will be peace between them only if nature changes fundamentally: ‘If wolves make peace with lambs so that they do not eat them or injure them; and they have resolved to treat them well, then there will be peace in my mind for you. (22) If the lion becomes the friend of a bull, and if it is harnessed together with it in a yoke and plows with it and makes peace with it, then I will make peace with you.’ For a formal parallel, see Herodotus 3.151. 118 Cf. Jub. 1:17, where in the context of the future restoration of Israel, God promises to ‘build my temple among them ….’ See also v. 27: ‘Dictate to Moses (starting) from the beginning of creation until the time when my temple is built among them throughout the ages of eternity.’ See further van Ruiten, ‘Visions of the Temple in the Book of Jubilees,’ 215–227. See esp. ibid., 222: ‘As far as Isa 51:3 is concerned [the only OT text which relates Eden to “Zion”], I would like to point to the very strong relationship of Isa 51:1–6 with Isa 65:17–25, a passage that speaks about the new creation of heaven and earth. The importance of these verses does not originate from interest in a new cosmos, though the creation of a new heaven and earth is given concrete form in the restoration of Jerusalem. In this passage elements from Genesis 1, but also from Genesis 2–3 are used. I point to the serpent of Gen 3:14 in Isa 65:25, to the tree of long life (Isa 65:22; according to the versions: “the tree of life”) and to the blessings in Isa 65:21– 23, which form an alteration of the curse of Gen 3:18–19. It is clear that Isa 65:17 has exerted influence on Jub. 1:29, whereas other elements (e.g. Isa 65:20) play an important role in Jubilees 23. Therefore, it is possible that these chapters have influenced as well the conception of Eden as a sanctuary in the Book of Jubilees.’ Van Ruiten argues in this article that when Jubilees speaks about Eden, it is aimed at a future, eschatological

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sanctified in the new creation for the sanctification of the earth. For this reason the earth will be sanctified from all its sins and from all its uncleanness into the history of eternity.’ Thus, Jubilees interprets the creation of new heavens and a new earth in Isa 65:17–25 as referring to a creative act of God that will be completed by the end of Israel’s protracted restoration.119 During the third era, a process is underway that will not be consummated until the ‘eternal state’ is fully and finally ushered in. By that time, Jubilees expects the full and final recapitulation of the original creation in accordance with the divine will ‘on earth as in heaven.’120 An important confirmation of our interpretation may be found by comparing the third era described in Jubilees 23 with corresponding period in the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks (1Enoch 93:1–10; 91:11– 17),121 that is, the period from the end of the seventh ‘week’ (the election of the righteous [93:10]) to the end of the tenth ‘week’ (the eternal judgment and the appearance of the new heaven [91:17]).122 Here, the Temple on Mt. Zion in a new creation. See also idem, ‘Eden and the Temple: The Rewriting of Genesis 2:4–3:24 in the Book of Jubilees,’ in Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (ed.), Paradise Interpreted: Representations of Biblical Paradise in Judaism and Christianity (Themes in Biblical Narrative: Jewish and Christian Traditions 2; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 63–94 (esp. 75–79). 119 Cf. Betsy Halpern-Amaru, ‘Exile and Return in Jubilees,’ in J.M. Scott (ed.), Exile: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Conceptions (JSJSup 56; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 127–144 (142). Many passages in rabbinic literature distinguish between three eras: ‘this world’ (äæä íìåòä), then ‘the days of the Messiah’ (çéùîä úåîé), and then ‘the world to come’ (àáì íìåòä) or the ‘future to come’ (àáì ãéúò). Cf. Chaim Milikowsky, ‘Trajectories of Return, Restoration and Redemption in Rabbinic Judaism: Elijah, the Messiah, the War of Gog and the World to Come,’ in J.M. Scott (ed.), Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives (JSJSup 72; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 265–280. 120 On the recapitulation of creation in Jewish apocalyptic literature, see further Aune, ‘From the Idealized Past to the Imaginary Future: Eschatological Restoration in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature,’ 173–175. 121 The periods in the Apocalypse of Weeks are divided into ‘weeks’: (1) Enoch’s birth; (2) primeval history until the flood; (3) Abraham’s election as the righteous plant; (4) Mosaic law; (5) building of the Temple and establishment the Davidic dynasty; (6) Elijah’s ascent to heaven, destruction of the Temple and the exile; (7) election of the righteous; (8) judgment on oppressors, building of the eternal Temple; (9) removal of wickedness through judgment; (10) judgment by angels, new heaven. Cf. VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 99–100. 122 Among the Second Temple texts that divide history into ‘weeks’ and/or ‘jubilees,’ the Apocalypse of Weeks is the only other document that encompasses the whole of human history from beginning to end. VanderKam (‘Sabbatical Chronologies,’ 176; idem, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 102–104) raises the question of whether 11QMelchezedek may have divided all history into ten jubilees, but this is nowhere explicitly stated in the text itself. See further above (p. 96 n. 52).

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point is not that the two systems can be completely synchronized in some way,123 but rather that in both cases the new creation stands at the end of a gradual process of restoration which spans an extended period of time (1470 years in the Apocalypse of Weeks and ostensibly 2450 years in Jubilees), expressed in terms of a sabbatical chronology (the 490-year ‘week’ and the 49-year ‘jubilee,’ respectively)124 whose periods are engraved on heavenly tablets (cf. 1Enoch 93:2; Jub. 23:32).125 In other words, from a modern Western perspective, both the Apoc123 Cf., e.g., Himmelfarb, ‘Torah, Testimony, and Heavenly Tablets,’ 25; Beckwith, ‘The Year of the Messiah,’ 241. According to the synchronization suggested by Dimant (‘The Seventy Weeks Chronology,’ 70–72), jubilees 91–100 (= 4411–4900 am) in Jubilees’ conception correspond to the ninth ‘week’ in the Apocalypse of Weeks. Frey (‘Weltbild,’ 268) suggests on the basis of the work of Koch and Dimant that each 490-year ‘week’ in the Apocalypse of Weeks corresponds to 10 jubilees (490 years) in Jubilees, although the first (and possibly the last) ‘week’ in the Apocalypse of Weeks must be taken as twice as long as the other ‘weeks’ in the series. See further below (p. 129 n. 134). 124 On the ‘week’ in the Apocalypse of Weeks as a 490-year period of time, see Klaus Koch, ‘Sabbatstruktur der Geshichte: Die sogenannte Zehn-Wochen-Apokalypse (1 Hen 93.1–10; 91.11–17) und das Ringen um die alttestamentichen Chronologien im späten Israelitentum,’ ZAW 95 (1983) 403–430 (414–420); cf. also Devorah Dimant, ‘The Seventy Weeks Chronology (Dan 9,24–27) in the Light of New Qumranic Texts,’ in A.S. van der Woude (ed.), The Book of Daniel in the Light of New Findings (BETL 106; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1993) 57–76 (66–67). For another perspective, see VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 99: ‘It appears that the author does not assign a uniform length of actual time to each of his weeks, since they seem to cover differing numbers of years in the biblical story. The periods covered are recognizable because an event or person (no names are used) is mentioned in connection with each of the weeks.’ Yet, as VanderKam (ibid., 100) goes on to state, the Apocalypse of Weeks does appear to think in terms of ‘weeks’ of years and jubilee periods: ‘If it is true that the author was living in the seventh week, near its end, then he was writing in what could be called the end of a jubilee period or at the conclusion of seven weeks of years. His entire chronological scheme encompasses ten week-units or seventy “days,” a number reminiscent of Jeremiah’s seventy years. Both were plainly understood to be symbolic representations of extended stretches of time, although the writer of the Apocalypse of Weeks incorporates a far longer period in his scheme.’ See also Adela Yarbro Collins, ‘Numerical Symbolism in Jewish and Early Christiann Apocalyptic Literature,’ in Wolfgang Haase (ed.), ANRW II.21.2 (Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1984) 1221–1287 (1242): ‘… there is no interest [in the Apocalypse of Weeks] in absolute chronology, precise dates, or in calculating periods of time accurately. The periods are of unequal length, so the term “week” does not refer to any consistent unit of time.’ 125 Cf., similarly, Frey, ‘Weltbild,’ 268. Although J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten (Een Begin zonder Einde. De doorwerking van Jesaja 65:17 in de intertestamentaire literatuur en het Nieuwe Testament [Sliedrecht: Merweboek, 1990] 122–140) recognizes that Isa 65:17 has influenced 1Enoch 91:16, he does not consider the correlation of both texts with Jub. 1:29; 23:27–29. Indeed, van Ruiten (ibid., 95–96) includes Jub. 1:29, even with its explicit reference to the ‘new creation,’ among the passages that might have been influenced by Isa 65:17 but probably were not (i.e., 1Enoch 45:4–5; 72:1; 1QH 13.11; 1QS 4.25; 2Bar. 32:6; 4Ezra 7:75; Apoc. Abr. 9:9; 17:4; 2Cor 5:17; Gal 6:16; Eph 2:15; 4:24). As we have seen above

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alypse of Weeks and Jubilees expect the restoration to last from the (pre-)Maccabean period to the ‘medieval’ or ‘modern’ periods, respectively.126 The main difference is that Jubilees does a far better job of expressing complete recapitulation, whereas the Apocalypse of Weeks has merely a partial and asymmetrical complementarity between weeks 1–7 and 8–10.127 Hence, Koch is incorrect in stating that the Apocalypse of Weeks is unique in its expectation of a long-term process of restoration: ‘Eine derartige, mit langen Fristen rechnende Eschatologie is bisher für die vorchristliche Zeit noch nicht nachgewiesen worden. Sie läßt das vielverhandelte Problem der Parusieverzögerung für das Urchristentum nicht mehr so einmalig erschienen, wie bisher vorausgesetzt wurde, und bietet eine spätisraelitische Entsprechung. Denn hier meldet sich eine Fernerwartung, die mit weiteren 1500 Jahren rechnet, ehe die Königsherrschaft Gottes sich auf Erden wie im Himmel durchsetzt.’128 We would argue that Jubilees should now be considered an example of the same basic perspective. (p. 124 n. 118), however, van Ruiten seems to have changed his mind on Jub. 1:29 in a more recent publication. 126 Nickelsburg (1Enoch 1, 440) agrees with Koch’s view that the first seven ‘weeks’ of the Apocalypse of Weeks are divided into periods of 490 years each which culminate in the Maccabean period (specifically, 164 bce). Then, he handles the problem that this view inevitably raises, since there are ostensibly three ‘weeks’ of 490 years (= 1470 years) still left from the beginning of the eighth week until the end of the tenth: ‘Did the author really envision the great judgment taking place in what we call the Middle Ages? Perhaps. One needs to remember that the Apocalypse speaks of three judgments. It is the first of these, which will take place at the end of the seventh week and, arguably, the beginning of the eighth week, that is most relevant for the author’s audience. With deceit and violence overthrown and the wicked judged by the righteous, the immediate problem of the author’s time has been solved. If the author is really dependent on theoretical numerical speculation, a date for the final judgment in the distant future seems to be an inevitable conclusion of his method.’ 127 Cf. Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1, 438: ‘… the seventh week is crucial to the structure of the Apocalypse. Weeks 2, 6, 7 create a paradigm according to which the wicked are judged and the righteous saved (weeks 1, 3, 4, 5 require no such judgment). Although weeks 8–10 stress (final) judgment and assert the ultimate triumph of righteousness, differently from weeks 2, 6, and 7, they presume rather than stress the wickedness that is judged. Logically this makes weeks 8–10 dependent on weeks 1–7. Specifically, week 8 is dependent on week 7, and the judgment of the wicked of week 7 is fully executed in week 8. This complementarity of the two sets of weeks [i.e., 1–7 and 8–10] is also evident in the progressive obliteration of wickedness and the progression toward a state of complete righteousness that parallels week 1. At the end, the newly created cosmos returns to God’s original intention.’ In another respect, however, the Apocalypse is quite symmetrical, as we shall see below. Cf. Jacob Licht, ‘Time and Eschatology in Apocalyptic Literature and in Qumran,’ JJS 16 (1965) 177–182 (178–180). 128 Cf. Koch, ‘Sabbatstruktur,’ 420–421.

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The similarity between Jubilees and the Apocalypse of Weeks is hardly coincidental, especially if, as Nickelsburg suggests, Jub. 4:18 (cited above) actually alludes to the Apocalypse.129 In that case, although Jubilees preserves some of the same features as its precursor, the sabbatical chronology in Jubilees would appear in other respects to be a radical revision of that in the Apocalypse of Weeks. For example, Jubilees has noticed, based on the biblical data for the generations from Adam to Moses, that the Apocalypse’s chronology is far too short.130 If we assume with Klaus Koch that each ‘week’ (or Zeitsiebent, as Koch prefers to call it) in the Apocalypse of Weeks consists of 490 years,131 then in 1Enoch 93:7, the building of the Temple takes place at the end of the fifth ‘week’ (2450 am),132 which is the exact midpoint of the 10-‘week’ 129 Cf. Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1, 73–74, 440–441. Similarly, VanderKam (‘Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources,’ SBL Seminar Papers 1 [1978] 231– 245) suggests that Jub. 4:19 is based on the Apocalypse of Weeks, since both passages span all of world history from the remote past to the distant future. See, however, van Ruiten’s cautionary note (Primaeval History Interpreted, 165): ‘The author of Jubilees was aware of many of the early traditions which surrounded Enoch. According to some writers, the author of Jubilees betrays the influence of several parts of 1Enoch especially in Jub 4:17–26. VanderKam has convincingly shown that it is often difficult to identify the source Jubilees is referring to. One can hardly speak about quotations from 1Enoch in Jubilees, only about allusion to certain parts of this book.’ In the same context, van Ruiten (ibid., 165) goes on to consider various possible backgrounds for Jub. 4:18, including the Epistles of Enoch (esp. 1Enoch 93:1–2) and the Apocalypse of Weeks: ‘In the introduction to the Apocalypse of Weeks, Enoch recounts passages from his book to his children. He received his information “in a vision of heaven, and from the world of the Watchers and holy ones …” (cf. 4Q212, III:18–22), just as he received his information in Jubilees from the angels (cf. Jub 4:18g: “as we told him”), and in a vision (cf. Jub 4:19ab). It is interesting that the heptadic structure of history is also the structural pattern of the Apocalypse of Weeks as it is in Jubilees. However, the exact wording in Jubilees differs from 1Enoch. The other astronomical information in Jub 4:18 might also refer to several Enochic sources. It is difficult, however, to point to an exact parallel.’ 130 In fact, the Apocalypse represents a much shorter chronology that is not found elsewhere. If the ‘twenty-five hundred years after the creation of the world’ in Assumption of Moses 1:2 refers to the date that Moses delivered his farewell speech (the first lines of the text are missing), and if the ‘250 times’ which will come to pass between Moses’ death and the coming of God in judgment (As. Mos. 10:12) refers to 250 weeks of years (i.e., 1750 years), then the final judgment is expected to occur 4250 years or 85 jubilees (reckoning with jubilees of 50 years) after the creation of the world (so R.H. Charles, Apocyrpha and Pseudepigrapha, 2.423, comparing b. Sanh. 97b). Another (equally uncertain) possibility is that the ‘250 times’ should be taken as equivalent to 2500 years, so that Moses’ death would take place in the exact middle of the world’s history. Cf. Johannes Tromp, The Assumption of Moses: A Critical Edition with Commentary (SVTP 10; Leiden: Brill, 1993) 133, 238–239. 131 See above, 126 n. 124. 132 1Kgs 8:38 notes that the construction of the Temple took seven years, which

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Apocalypse.133 Jubilees, on the other hand, takes 2450 am as the date for Israel’s entrance into the Land, and, according to our working hypothesis, the midpoint of Jubilees’ chronology would be 490 years later, at the time of the exile (2940 am).134 Although, as we have seen, a 490-year preexilic period can be rationalized in several ways on the basis of the OT and Jewish tradition, nevertheless it can also be argued on other grounds that 490 years is far too short to cover all the events between the entrance into the Land and the exile.135 Indeed, in the Apocalypse of Weeks, the length perhaps gives the Apocalypse of Weeks part of its warrant for placing the building of the Temple at the middle of its sabbatical chronology. On this seven-year period of Temple construction and its possible connection with a more general Near Eastern mythos, as well as the origins and meaning of the Israelite sabbath, see Jon D. Levenson, Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988) 78–80. It is difficult to see how Johann Maier (‘Temple,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam [eds.], Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls [2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000] 2.921–927 [923]) can maintain that ‘[i]n the scheme of Zadokite chronography presupposed in Jubilees and 1Enoch (Apocalyse of Weeks), it [sc. the First Temple] would have been dedicated … in the year 2940 after Creation, a sabbatical year concluding six dekajubilees (of 490 years each) ….’ 1Enoch 93:7 explicitly states that the building of the Temple (presumably including its dedication) would take place in the fifth ‘week’ (5×490 = 2450 am). Jubilees, on the other hand, mentions neither the building nor the dedication of the First Temple. 133 VanderKam (‘Konzept,’ 100) argues that the Apocalypse of Weeks places the giving of the Law at Sinai in the middle of its chronological scheme. However, since the giving of the Law occurs in the fourth week of the Apocalypse, it can be regarded as the midpoint only of the first seven weeks, but not the full ten weeks. 134 Is this in keeping with the fact that explanations for the length of the exile (i.e., Jer 25:11–12; 29:10; 2 Chr 36:21) apparently gave rise to the various sabbatical chronologies in the first place? Dimant (‘Seventy Weeks Chronology,’ 66–67) attempts to ameliorate the problem of an apparently short chronology in the Apocalypse of Weeks by assuming that the first and the tenth ‘weeks’ are twice as long as the other ‘weeks’ (i.e., 20 jubilees/980 years rather than 10 jubilees/490 years). As we shall argue, however, the first era in Jubilees’ chronological scheme might be a deliberate correction to the much shorter chronology in the Apocalypse of Weeks. The inclusion of the second Kainan in Jub. 8:1 could be an example of this effort, although Richard Bauckham (‘More on Kainam the Son of Arpachshad in Luke’s Genealogy,’ ETL 67 [1991] 95–103) argues that the Apocalypse of Weeks also presupposes the inclusion of the second Kainam. For a discussion of Bauckham’s suggestion, see J.M. Scott, Geography in Early Judaism and Christianity: The Book of Jubilees (SNTSMS 113; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) 44–56 (esp. 45–47). As we shall discuss in chapter 3 (p. 168 n. 21), Jubilees did not necessarily add the second Kainan but may have been found this generation included in the text that it was using. 135 See above, pp. 92–102. As we have already noted, for example, the 480 years that, according to 1Kgs 6:1, took place between the exodus and the building of the Temple seems improbably short, since the period of the Judges alone, which falls within this span of time, adds up to 410 years.

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of the period encompassed by ‘weeks’ 5 and 6—that is, from the exodus/Sinai(?) until the exile—totals exactly twice that amount or 980 years (1Enoch 93:7–8).136 Could it be, then, that Jubilees increased by 490 years the period from Adam to Moses that it found in the Apocalypse of Weeks, only to shorten the preexilic period by the same amount, so that the time of the exile (2940 am)137 and of restoration (3430 am)138 would remain the same in both writings? Since it is uncanny that the date 2450 am plays a major role in both Jubilees and the Apocalypse of Weeks, and that the difference between the two writings in the use of this date is precisely the 490 to the time of the exile in the Apocalypse, our reconstruction of how Jubilees has reused the Apocalypse’s chronology seems highly likely. In that case, we have additional evidence that Jubilees regards the preexilic and exilic periods as consisting of 490 years each. In effect, then, Jubilees has simply shifted the 980 years of ‘weeks’ 5 and 6 in the Apocalypse of Weeks back by 490 years to a new terminus a quo (i.e., the entrance into the Land in 2450 am).139 In the process, both writings can claim a biblical warrant for their divinely revealed positions. This difference in the terminus a quo for the 980 years would seem to be a major point of contention between Jubilees and the Apocalypse of Weeks. In Jubilees’ chronological system, the jubilee of jubilees must be 2450 am, because, in accordance with Lev 25:10 applied on a national scale, the book’s whole jubilean theology requires this date to coincide with the return of the patrimony (i.e., Israel’s entrance into the Land). Therefore, contrary to the Apocalypse of Weeks tradition, Jubilees disregards the exodus as the terminus a quo of the 980-year era and hence implicitly rejects 1Kgs 6:1 as the direct basis for its chronological calculations, favoring instead the entrance into the Land 40 years later 136 Similarly, Julius Africanus (apud Eusebius, P.E. 10.10.10, 12) assigns 490 years to the period of the Judges and another 490 years to the period of the monarchy, for a total of 980 years. 137 Cf. 1Enoch 93:8, ‘And, at its [sc. the sixth week’s] completion [= 2940 am], the house of the kingdom shall be burnt with fire; and therein the whole clan of the chosen root shall be dispersed.’ 138 The restoration occurs at the end of the seventh week and the beginning of the eighth (490×7 = 3430 am). Note that 3430 am is a highly auspicious date in a sabbatical chronology, for the period from creation to that date consists of 70 jubilees or 490 ‘weeks’ (in Jubilees’ sense of the term). 139 Compare the modern debate over the date of the exodus—whether early (1446 bce) or late (mid-13th century bce)—in which 1Kgs 6:1 again figures prominently. On Jubilees’ apparent lack of interest in the date of the exodus, see further above (p. 101 n. 67).

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as the beginning of the 980-year era that comprises the preexilic and exilic periods. The Apocalypse of Weeks tradition, which evidently takes 1Kgs 6:1 at face value (despite the fact that the 480 years in the OT text do not quite fit the Apocalypse’s sabbatical chronology), sees the building of the First Temple as a crucial date in its chronology. Thus, 4QPesher on the Apocalypse of Weeks (4Q247) 1–4 reads: ‘A period en]graved [in the heavenly tablets …] (2) [And after it shall co]me the fif[th] week [and its end …] (3) [Years eighty and] four hundred Solo[mon shall build the Temple …] (4) [Zede]kiah king of Judah [shall go into exile …].’140 According to this reconstruction of the very fragmentary text, the Pesher comments on the fifth week in the Apocalypse of Weeks, which culminates in the building of the First Temple (1Enoch 93:7). As Broshi observes, ‘Four hundred and eighty years, the period preceding the building of the Temple (1Kgs 6:1), is a vital date for apocalyptic computations. The construction of the Temple is not only the most important event in this period, it is also the middle point of the whole system and its axis.’141 In a conscious revision of the Apocalypse of Weeks, which takes the building of the Temple at the end of the fifth ‘week’ as the exact midpoint of its 10‘week’ chronological scheme (1Enoch 93:7), Jubilees apparently places the destruction of the Temple and the exile at the midpoint of its 140 The translation is from M. Broshi (ed.), ‘247. 4QPesher on the Apocalypse of Weeks,’ in Stephan J. Pfann, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XXVI: Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, Part 1 (DJD 36; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000) 187–191 (189). 141 M. Broshi, ‘4QPesher on the Apocalypse of Weeks,’ 190. For another Qumran text that apparently deals with chronological problems of the biblical text, see M.O. Wise, ‘To Know the Times and the Seasons: A Study of the Aramaic Chronograph 4Q559,’ JSP 15 (1997) 3–51; idem, ‘4Q559,’ in Michael Wise, et al. (trans.), The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996) 441–442: ‘The problems with which our author wrestled were notorious difficulties for ancient scholars, Jewish and Christian. These problems are: (1) the length of the Israelites’ sojourn in Egypt; (2) the chronology of the wilderness wanderings; and (3) the chronology of the period of the judges. In the case of the first problem, the difficulty was to resolve the apparent conflict between the time given for the sojourn by Genesis 15:13–14 (400 years) and that stated in Exodus 12:40 (430 years). For the wilderness wanderings, the difficulty was to derive any sort of chronology at all. What happened when? The biblical text almost completely lacks time statements for that series of episodes in Exodus and Numbers. In the case of the judges, the main difficulty was to rationalize the implications of a straightforward adding of the time periods given in the book of Judges (410 years). This number presents problems when compared with 1Kings 6:1, which encompasses all the judges and many other events in a period spanning just 480 years.’ As VanderKam (Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 97–98) cautions, however, ‘Too little of the text survives to be sure about the subject or the person referred to in all places and most of the numbers of years must be restored wholly or in part ….’

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chronological system, thus depriving the building of the First Temple of any particular chronological significance.142 Instead, Jubilees puts special emphasis on the rebuilding of the Temple in the time of the restoration, which, of course, presupposes the destruction of the First Temple (note that neither the Apocalypse of Weeks nor the Book of Jubilees mentions the building of the Second Temple). Hence, the Jubilean stream of Enochic apocalyptic tradition seems to have very different ideas about how history is constructed and where to put the focus.143 Whether the Pesher is responding specifically to Jubilees’ critique of the Apocalypse of Weeks tradition cannot be known with certainty. In any case, the comparison between Jubilees and the Apocalypse of Weeks tends to substantiate our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system. The rigorous symmetry between Urzeit and Endzeit in the Book of Jubilees leads us to some further considerations about the exile and the restoration within the book’s overall scheme, as well as another major difference between Jubilees and the Enochic apocalyptic tradition in which it stands. Jubilees contains a striking similarity between Israel’s While the building of the First Temple is ‘predicted’ in Jubilees (cf. 49:18–19), it does not occupy a central place in the Jubilean chronological system because the First Temple is expected to be defiled (cf. 1:10; 23:21; 30:15–16); more important for Jubilees is the establishment of the eschatological Temple (see further in chapter 3 [pp. 162, 165–166]). Interestingly, Koch (‘Die mysteriösen Zahlen,’ 438–439) argues that for Chronicles, the turn of the era occurs not, as in Kings, at the commencement of the building of the Solomonic Temple (1Kgs 6:1), but rather twenty years later at its dedication (cf. 1Kgs 6:38; 7:1; 8:1). 143 Jubilees is also engaged in other controversies with Enochic apocalyptic tradition, especially that found in the Astronomical Book (1Enoch 72–82). First, Jubilees is involved in a calendrical controversy. Whereas the Astronomical Book accepts both a 364day solar calendar and a 354-day lunar calendar as having been revealed to Enoch through angelic mediation, Jubilees acknowledges only that ‘the dominion of the sun’ was revealed to Enoch (cf. Jub. 4:21) and explicitly rejects a lunar calendar (see above on Jub. 6:32–38 [pp. 86–87]). Part of this calendrical controversy is that the Astronomical Book lacks any mention of the sabbath, weeks, and jubilees. Cf. VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 26–27, 29, 33: ‘Jubilees differs from the Astronomical Book by laying heavy emphasis upon weeks and by tying the calendar directly to festivals. In other words, it appears to be an attempt to bring the Enochic solar calendar into direct contact with the biblical tradition of sabbaths and holidays.’ Second, Jubilees disagrees with the connection drawn in the Astronomical Book of Enoch between the moral perversity on earth and the lunar and stellar perversity in heaven (1Enoch 80:2–8). For Jubilees, as we have seen, the cycles of the sun conforms perfectly to the divinely intended pattern for the cultus both in heaven and on earth. Finally, Jubilees is engaged in a controversy with its Enochic tradition over the significance of Adam’s fall (see further below). On the emergence of Enochic circles in Jerusalem and their connection with the Qumran community, see the stimulating considerations in P.S. Alexander, ‘Enoch and the Beginnings of Jewish Interest in Natural Science,’ 223–243. 142

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exile from the Land and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.144 In order to appreciate this similarity, we need to see that the Garden of Eden and the Land of Israel are presented in Jubilees as among the holiest places on earth. Thus, Jub. 8:19–20 describes the choice territory allotted to Shem as having all the holy sites: ‘He [sc. Noah] knew that the Garden of Eden is the holy of holies and is the residence of the Lord; (that) Mt. Sinai is the middle of the desert; and (that) Mt. Zion is in the middle of the earth. The three of them—the one facing the other—were created as holy (places).’ The Garden of Eden is portrayed as a sanctuary (‘the holy of holies’ [8:19]),145 just as Zion itself contains the Temple (having a ‘holy of holies’ [23:21]), which 144 The comparison between the expulsion of Adam from the Garden of Eden and the exile of Israel from the Land is also made in other Jewish literature. Cf. Jacob Neusner, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Exile and Return in the History of Judaism (Boston: Beacon, 1987) 222–224; Paul Morris, ‘Exiled from Eden: Jewish Interpretations of Genesis,’ in Paul Morris and Deborah Sawyer (eds.), A Walk in the Garden: Biblical, Iconographical and Literary Images of Eden (JSOTSup 136; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992) 117–166 (esp. 121– 127); David J. Halperin, The Faces of the Chariot: Early Jewish Responses to Ezekiel’s Vision (TSAJ 16; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1988) 328. Presumably, 4QpHosb (4Q167) frags. 7–8 draws a similar parallel: ‘[“But they, like Adam (íãàë),] broke the covenant” (Hos 6:7). vacat [Its] interpretation: […] they abandoned God and followed the laws of [ …].’ In any case, later rabbinic literature definitely uses Hos 6:7 to make this point. Cf. Pesiqta deRab Kahana, Lamentation 1 (ed. B. Mandelbaum, 249): ‘R. Abbahu in the name of R. Yose bar Hanina said: “But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant” (úéøá åøáò íãàë äîäå; Hos. 6.7)—This is Adam; God said: Adam, I brought him into the Garden of Eden and commanded him, and he transgressed my commandments, and I sentenced him to banishment … and his sons, too, I brought them into the Land of Israel and commanded them, and they transgressed my commandments and I sentenced them to banishment.’ Cited in Isaiah M. Gafni, Land, Center and Diaspora: Jewish Constructs in Late Antiquity (JSPSup 21; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) 25. Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis (All the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls [STDJ 42; Leiden: Brill, 2002] 94) suggests that the fragmentary prayer for the first day of the week in the Words of the Heavenly Lights (4Q504 frag. 8) may have originally contained a statement of Adam’s sin and exile from the garden which foreshadows Israel’s own story (expressed in terms of the Deuteronomic SER pattern) in what follows in the text, for ‘The liturgy calls for the remembrance of Adam’s original state as the basis for future restoration of the true Adam-in-Israel.’ 145 Cf. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees, 2.28, note on Jub. 4:25, who points out that in Jub. 3:10, 12–13, Eve remains outside the Garden for the number of days that according to Lev 12:2–8, a woman was prohibited from entering the sanctuary after giving birth (cf. 4QMiscellaneous Rules [4Q265] 7 ii 11–17). See further Esther Eshel, ‘Hermeneutical Approaches to Genesis in the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ in Judith Frishman and Lucas Van Rompay (eds.), The Book of Genesis in Jewish and Oriental Christian Interpretation (Traditio Exegetica Graeca 5; Leuven: Peeters, 1997) 1–12 (9–11); Joseph M. Baumgarten, ‘4QMiscellaneous Rules,’ in J. Baumgarten, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XXV: Halakhic Texts (DJD 35; Oxford: Clarendon, 1999) 57–78 (60–61, 69–72); idem, ‘Purification after Childbirth and the Sacred Garden in 4Q265 and Jubilees,’ in

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was to be built (1:10, 17) and then rebuilt in the end time (1:28, 29). As was discussed in chapter 1, when Jubilees speaks about Eden, it is aimed at a future, eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion in a new creation.146 This comes out especially clearly in the passage about Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden, which expressly sets up a trajectory to the establishment of the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion in the new creation (Jub. 4:23–26). Based on the trajectory between the two holy sites, we are ready to appreciate the specific emphases on the Garden of Eden that are found in Jubilees. By comparing the biblical account of the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:23–4:1) to the corresponding material in Jubilees (3:26c–35), we can see that the latter omits some material and adds some other.147 The only thing that the Genesis account states about the expulsion comes in vv. 23–24: ‘… and the Lord God dismissed him from the Garden of Eden, to work the ground, from where he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.’ Here, the expulsion seems irreversible and applies only to Adam. Jubilees, on the other hand, states that God ‘dismissed them from the Garden of Eden.’ Hence, the dismissal applies to both the man and the woman. Moreover, in a significant expansion of the Hebrew text, Jubilees repeatedly emphasizes the fact of the expulsion: ‘On that day, as he was leaving the Garden of Eden …’ (v. 27); ‘And he dismissed from the Garden of Eden all the animate beings that were in the Garden of Eden. All animate beings were dispersed …’ (v. 29); ‘At the beginning of the fourth month Adam and his wife departed from the Garden of Eden’ (v. 32).148 George J. Brooke (ed.), New Qumran Texts and Studies: Proceedings of the First Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies, Paris 1992 (Leiden: Brill, 1994) 3–10. 146 The correspondence between the Temple and the Garden of Eden is widespread. Lawrence E. Stager (‘Jerusalem and the Garden of Eden,’ Eretz Israel 26 [1999] 183*– 194*) argues that original Solomonic Temple was designed as a realization of the Garden of Eden, replete with lush, fruit-bearing trees. For Qumran texts, see 1QHa 16.4–24; 4Q500 frag. 1; 11QTa 29.8–9 (the eschatological Temple made by God himself will appear on ‘the day of creation’ [äéøáä íåé]). See further George J. Brooke, ‘Miqdash Adam, Eden and the Qumran Community,’ in Beate Ego, et al. (eds.), Gemeinde ohne Tempel. Zur Substitutierung und Transformation des Jerusalemer Tempels und seines Kultes im Alten Testament, antiken Judentum und frühen Christentum (WUNT 118; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1999) 285–301 (esp. 287, 291, 296). 147 For a convenient synoptic table of Gen 2:4–4:1a and Jub. 3:1–35, see van Ruiten, ‘Eden and the Temple,’ 82–94 (esp. 91–94). 148 Adam departs from the Garden of Eden at ‘the beginning of the fourth month,’

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This emphasis on the expulsion from the Garden is meant to parallel the exile of Israel from the Land.149 For in the process of mentioning the dispersal of all animate beings from the Garden and how only Adam of all the animals was permitted to cover his shame, the text records a halakhic ruling based on this fact: ‘For this reason it has been commanded in the tablets regarding all those who know the judgment of the law that they cover their shame and not uncover themselves as the nations uncover themselves’ (v. 31). In a similar way, the text is concerned that Israel in exile will act like the nations (cf. Jub. 1:13, 19).150 For exile is the place where Israel is delivered into the control of the nations and led astray. If we combine these ideas, an interesting point emerges: The linkage between both exiles—that of the protoplasts and that of Israel—and the trajectory between the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden and the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion suggest that the final resolution to both exiles converges in the future restoration of Israel. In that case, as we have already suggested on other grounds, the fall has a much more important role in the Book of Jubilees than scholars have often allowed.151 Furthermore, the fall becomes another point that is, at the beginning of the second quarter of the solar year. The possible significance of this dating becomes apparent when we compare v. 27: ‘On that day, as he [sc. Adam] was leaving the Garden of Eden, he burned incense as a pleasing fragrance ….’ Just as the sons of Aaron burned incense in front of the holy of holies (cf. Exod 30:7–8, 34–38; Num 16:39–40; 2 Chr 26:16–20), so also here Adam takes on the function of the prototypical priest by burning incense in front of the Garden of Eden (cf. also Jub. 4:25), which is seen as a temple or sanctuary (cf. Jub. 4:25–26; 8:19; van Ruiten, ‘Eden and the Temple,’ 77–78). Hence, Michael E. Stone’s attempt to trace the origin of the sacrificial cult back to Noah in the postdiluvian period would not seem to go far enough (‘The Axis of History at Qumran,’ in Esther G. Chazon and M.E. Stone [eds.], Pseudepigraphic Perspectives: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Proceedings of the International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature [STJD 31; Leiden: Brill, 1999] 133–149 [148]). As Stone himself points out, there are other texts, including 2Enoch 69–72, which trace the high priesthood back ultimately to Adam. In chapter 1 (p. 38, with n. 58), we discussed evidence that Enoch, the seventh patriarch in the line of Adam, was also seen as a prototypical scribe-priest. 149 Jubilees makes similar comparisons about other matters. For example, just as the angels intermarried with the daughters of men at the 25th jubilee (cf. Jub. 5:1), so also Jubilees insists that the Israelites not intermarry with the peoples of Canaan after they enter the Land in the 50th jubilee (50:4; cf. 20:4; 22:20; 25:1, 5–6, 9; 27:9–10; 41:2). Cf. VanderKam, ‘The Angel Story,’ 158. 150 As van Ruiten (Primaeval History Interpreted, 49) has shown in discussing Jub. 2:17– 24, ‘The setting apart of Israel from the other nations is a component of the creation events.’ 151 On the fall, see further above. Cf. also Van Ruiten, ‘Eden and the Temple,’ 63–94;

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of major difference between Jubilees and some of the rest of Enochic apocalyptic tradition in which it stands. According to 1Enoch, the origin of evil in the world is attributed to the Watchers.152 Van Ruiten argues that although the author of Jubilees does not attribute the origin of Esther Glickler Chazon, ‘The Creation and Fall of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ in Judith Frishman and Lucas Van Rompay (eds.), The Book of Genesis in Jewish and Oriental Christian Interpretation (Traditio Exegetica Graeca 5; Leuven: Peeters, 1997) 13–24. 152 Cf. Stone, ‘The Axis of History at Qumran,’ 133–149, who argues that there are two separate explanations for the origin of evil based on Genesis and thus two readings of Genesis: (1) the Adamic explanation (i.e., that evil came into the world through human sin in the Garden of Eden [Genesis 3]) and (2) the Enochic explanation (i.e., that evil came into the world through the angelic and demonic intervention [Gen 6:1–4]). Cf. also Gary A. Anderson, ‘Adam,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 1.7–9. According to Stone (‘The Axis of History at Qumran,’ 143–148), both Jubilees and 1Enoch unequivocally appropriate the second approach. In response, we would point out that while Jubilees does contain the story of the Watchers and their illegitimate offspring (e.g., 4:15, 22; 5:1–10; 7:20–25; 8:3; 10:1–14), Jubilees does not intend that story to explain the ultimate causes of the human condition as having happened apart from the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden (so also VanderKam, ‘The Angel Story,’ 151–170 [esp. 154]). Certainly it goes beyond the evidence to argue, as Stone does (‘The Axis of History at Qumran,’ 146), ‘There is little literature at Qumran dealing with Adam and Eve and, in particular, with the issue of their sin and its consequences that were to become so central. Paul, even if we do not follow Augustine’s reading of him, knew and developed views in which Adam’s sin had dire consequences for the history of humanity—death, illness and all the curses of Gen. 3:16–19 at the very least. Yet this aspect of the Adam traditions is not at all prominent in the Qumran texts. Jub. 3:23–29 deals with the curses of the protoplasts in terms close to those of Genesis, not even seeing death as a result of their sin, cf. also Ben Sira 17:1– 10.’ And somewhat later, Stone (ibid., 147) continues, ‘The [Qumran] sect preserved, cultivated and cherished the Enochic texts, Jubilees, Book of the Giants, Aramaic Levi, Qahat and Amram. This shows that it favored one particular explanation of the situation of the world. It … refers to the origins of evil and degeneration of the world in another set of terms, drawn from the re-mythologized world of the Pseudepigrapha. In this perspective, the axis from Enoch to the Flood and Noah, from the fall of the Watchers to the re-seeding of the earth by Noah, is the crucial axis for the creation of the present world state. The actions preceding, indeed precipitating, the Flood and the subsequent re-creation are mythical and play the role that Adam and Eve’s actions did in other contexts.’ In attempting to downplay the significance of the fall in Jubilees, Stone misses the crucial role of the protoplasts in precipitating the decline in human longevity, a theme that is taken up later in the same book and reversed. Moreover, the sectarian documents of the Qumran community do refer to the return of ‘all the glory of Adam’ (íãà ãåáë ìë) in the context of ‘the new creation’ (1QS 4.23, 25), a return which is associated with long life (1QHa 4.15: íéîé áåøþåü ‘abundance of days’; CD 3.20: ‘Those who hold to it [sc. the “sure house in Israel” (2Sam 7:16)] will possess eternal life [çöð ééçì] and all the glory of Adam’). See further Brooke, ‘Miqdash Adam, Eden and the Qumran Community,’ 289–290; Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of Adam, 95–97. On the relationship between Adam’s faithlessness and his consequent reduced longevity, see also CD 10.7–9: ‘No one over sixty years should hold the office of judging

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sin to the fall of Adam and his wife in the Garden, he seems to feel bound to the biblical text. Therefore, although he tries to mitigate the negative side of Eden as much as possible,153 the author of Jubilees cannot minimize the importance of the transgression in the Garden as much as in Enoch.154 But the very fact that eating of the tree caused Adam to die in that ‘day,’ resulting in the decline of human longevity from the high-water mark of Adam’s 930 years, shows that Jubilees regards the first sin to have had an all-important and harrowing effect on the whole subsequent human history. Moreover, Jubilees envisions a corresponding increase in human longevity which results from direct divine intervention as a consequence of Israel’s repentance of sin, an acknowledgement of ‘their sins and the sins of their ancestors’ (Jub. 1:22).155 For Jubilees, the confession of sin for ‘their ancestors’ may go beyond the traditional Deuteronomic confession of the guilt of Israel’s more immediate ancestors and may go all the way back to Adam in the beginning, since the priestly line itself (including Israel and Levi within Israel) is traced that far back. This would further tighten the connection between the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and the exile of Israel from the Land. Finally, if we are correct that the first and third eras in Jubilees’ conception correspond to one another, both lasting 50 jubilees/2450 years, then the third era probably culminates in a jubilee of jubilees just as the first one did, the intervening 20 jubilees/980 years of the the congregation, for because of Adam’s infidelity (íãàä ìòîá) his days were shortened ….’ As we have suggested, this passage may be dependent on Jub. 23:9, 11. 153 Van Ruiten, ‘Eden and the Temple,’ 71, 72, 75; idem, Primaeval History Interpreted, 170, 171. 154 Van Ruiten, ‘Eden and the Temple,’ 74–75; idem, Primaeval History Interpreted, 105; cf. James C. VanderKam, Enoch: A Man for All Generations (Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament; Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1995) 120: Jubilees ‘could not downplay the importance of the Fall in Gen 3.’ Note also that Jubilees does provide reminders of the curse on Adam. In Jub. 3:32, for example, the phrase ‘in the land where they were created’ recalls the curse that had been laid upon Adam in Jub. 3:25 (‘until you return to the earth from which you were taken’). 155 In 4QpPsa (4Q171) 3.1–2, which interprets Ps 37:18–19a, the returnees from exile (‘those who return from the wilderness’ [øáãîä éáù; cf. Ezek 20:35–36 (1QM 1.3); note the allusion to Ezek 20:40 ‘the high mountain of Israel’ in line 11]) ‘will live for a thousand generations (øåã óìà) in salvation; and to them will belong all the inheritance of Adam, and to their seed forever.’ Here, we have clear evidence that the restoration of human longevity to the ideal originally intended for Adam commences with the return from exile, and that the community sees itself as those returnees who have therefore already begun to experience this restoration. Cf. Brooke, ‘Miqdash Adam, Eden and the Qumran Community,’ 290.

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preexilic and exilic periods being treated as a disastrous hiatus that is not counted for this purpose.156 Moreover, if, as we have seen, the first jubilees of jubilees marks a øåøã—the deliverance from slavery in Egypt and the return of the inheritance (the Land) to its rightful owners— then the final jubilee of jubilees most likely has a similar significance. In that case, we may suspect that Jubilees has in view Isa 61:1–3: The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty (øåøã) to the captives, and release to the prisoners; (2) to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; (3) to provide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.

Since, as we have seen, the conception of Israel’s restoration in Jubilees 23 clearly alludes to the latter chapters of Isaiah (i.e., the passage on the new creation in Isa 65:17–25 [cf. pp. 121–125]), it is plausible to suggest that Jubilees also relies on another famous passage about Israel’s restoration, especially if that passage employs the key term øåøã (‘liberty’), which, as has been shown, is central to the conception of the year of jubilee (cf. Lev 25:10).157 Although Isaiah 61:1–3 does 156 See now also Bruce Chilton, Redeeming Time: The Wisdom of Ancient Jewish and Christian Festal Calendars (Peabody, MA: Hendricksons, 2002) 48: ‘The solar calendar was committed to the interval in which Israel lived. The book of Jubilees pictured a precise unrolling of years corresponding to the requirements of sabbath day, sabbath year, and sabbath of the sabbath year (the Jubilee), until the jubilee of the jubilees would bring time itself to the end. The interval involved was enormous, involving the starting point and ending point of creation, but the only time that finally mattered was the time that counted out the interval before the end, the full redemption of Israel.’ 157 Even if Isa 61:1–3 itself does not presuppose the legislation of Leviticus 25 (see, however, Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2265; VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 94), the Book of Jubilees, with its application of the jubilee of jubilees to the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt, could easily understand the liberation of captives in Isaiah 61 (i.e., the return of the exiles from Babylon and the restoration of the community in Judah) in the same light. Just as the law of jubilee provided for ‘liberation’ (øåøã) of slaves and recovery of land, so also Isa 61:1–3 looked forward to the people’s ‘liberation’ (øåøã) from Babylonian exile and the recovery of Israel’s ancestral patrimony, the Land. Another text which might have reinforced the interpretation of Isa 61:1–3 in light of the law of jubilee in Leviticus 25 is Isa 27:13. Just as in Lev 25:8–9 a loud shofar announces the beginning of the jubilee year, so also in Isa 27:13 a great shofar proclaims the return of the exiles to the Land. Of course, as we have seen, YHWH’s redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt on a national scale is the model for the law of jubilee on the individual level in Leviticus 25. Whenever Israel finds itself in bondage

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not explicitly state when the deliverance would take place, it clearly presupposes a definite time limit. This could have provided an impetus for Jubilees to follow the exegetical threads and to piece together the expectation that is implicit in the scriptures. There are several parallels between the restoration expectation in Jub. 23:29–31 and Isa 61:1– 3, which further underscores the relevance of the Isaianic passage to the Jubilees context.158 It is significant that 11QMelchizedek, which expects an eschatological Day of Atonement after the tenth jubilee (11Q13 ii 6–8), actually cites Isa 61:1–3 (cf. 11Q13 ii 4, 9, 20). Like Jubilees, 11QMelchizedek reads Isaiah 61 in light of the law of jubilee in Leviticus 25 (see further above).159 In sum, Jub. 23:26–31 describes the increasing life span of humankind that begins after Israel returns to the Lord in repentance. The allusions to the biblical text in this passage help us to see that the author has not only woven together several traditional restoration themes (i.e., the new creation and the restoration of human longevity [Isa 65:17–21], the restoration of human longevity [Ps 90:15], and the national release from captivity and return of the patrimony [Isa 61:1–3; cf. Lev 25:10]), but has used these themes to integrate the book’s whole chronological system.160 Now, the particular (Israel’s history) and the universal (world to foreign powers, he is obligated to buy them out of slavery, and that applies to the Babylonian exile. 158 Examples of the parallels between Jub. 23:29–31 and Isa 61:1–3 include divine healing of Israel, divine vengeance on enemies, and Israel’s joy. 159 Cf. John J. Collins, ‘A Herald of Good Tidings: Isaiah 61:1–3 and Its Actualization in the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ in Craig A. Evans and Shemaryahu Talmon (eds.), The Quest for Context and Meaning: Studies in Biblical Intertextuality in Honor of James A. Sanders (Biblical Interpretation Series 28; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 225–240 (esp. 229–232). 160 Indeed, Jubilees 23 is so thoroughly integrated into the surface narrative and chronological system of the book as a whole that this chapter cannot be so easily isolated as a separate form that scholars have struggled to define as an ‘apocalypse.’ On Jubilees as a borderline case, see John J. Collins, ‘The Jewish Apocalypses,’ Semeia 14 (1979) 21–59 (32–33); VanderKam, ‘Apocalyptic Tradition in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Religion of Qumran,’ 125, 133–134. If we compare the definition of apocalypse outlined by J.J. Collins (‘Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre,’ Semeia 14 [1979] 1–20), we quickly realize that Jubilees has both the temporal and spatial axes of an apocalypse and an emphasis on angelic mediation, although it lacks the visionary material and heavenly geography that are sometimes found in an apocalypse. Nevertheless, this difference is merely superficial, for, like the apocalypses which give glimpses of the heavenly world and even describe heavenly ascents in order to hold out hope for participation in the heavenly world in the future, Jubilees looks forward to the time when conditions will be ‘on earth as in heaven.’ Hence, although Jubilees is keenly interested in the heavenly realm as a paradigmatic structure for the earthly realm (i.e., as an imitatio dei which can be effected through cultic acts on earth), access to knowledge

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history) are integrally intertwined with the twin trajectories of restoring what Adam lost (long life in the Garden of Eden) and what Israel lost (long life in the Land/Zion) which culminate in the third era of world history. Corresponding to the first jubilee of jubilees, when Israel was delivered from slavery in Egypt and the Promised Land was recovered 2450 years after the creation of the world, the consummation of the ages at the end of the third era is implicitly seen as a second jubilee of jubilees, which takes place 2450 years after Israel’s initial repentance and return to the Land in the jubilee year of 3430 am (the 70th jubilee [= the 490th week] from creation).161 By the end of human history, the new creation will have been incrementally accomplished through divine judgment, the regeneration of human hearts to conform with God’s of the heavenly realm comes primarily through the heavenly bodies (especially the sun) which faithfully reveal the inner workings of the divine. Cf. Idel, ‘Some Concepts of Time and History in Kabbalah,’ 162–163: ‘By knowing the supernal order out of the lower, astral one, which faithfully reflects the theosophical structure and changes, the kabbalist is able to behave mimetically and cleave to the higher sefirot. Thus, supernal time is … an invitation to imitate the supernal moves and integrate into the divine world. Divine “times” were perceived as proper moments for an ideal way of life—as cairological moments, the performance of the Commandments, and as an integration of the mystic into the divine ….’ Finally, we may note that if ‘[t]he evidence now suggests strongly that the most ancient Jewish apocalypses were texts that centered on the antediluvian seer Enoch’ (James C. VanderKam, ‘Messianism and Apocalypticism,’ in John J. Collins [ed.], The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, Vol. I: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity [New York/London: Continuum, 2000] 193–228 [197]), then we have another reason to see Jubilees as an apocalypse. For, as we have argued, Jubilees centers in a special way on Enoch as the prototypical high priest and as the human mediator of all the divine revelation that it holds most dear. Indeed, it seems likely that Jubilees’ overall chronological scheme is basically an adaptation of the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks. 161 As we have seen, the entrance into the Land takes place in a year of jubilee (cf. Jub. 29:4–5 [Jacob himself]; 50:4 [Israel as a nation]). In that case, repentance, which is the required precondition for restoration in Jubilees, would likely take place during the traditional, ten-day penitential period leading up to the day of atonement and the jubilee (cf. b. Roˇs. Haˇs. 18a, cited in Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2165; 4QFestival Prayersb [4Q508] 2.2). Since the jubilee is a sacred year (cf. Lev 25:10, 12), it cannot begin until the purgation of the people is complete. Cf. Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2164. The idea of Israel’s final and definitive release from slavery at a second jubilee of jubilees, which is parallel to the exodus from Egypt, would also go along with the exodus typology that permeates Isaiah 40–55. Just as YHWH graciously redeemed Israel from Egyptian bondage (Exod 6:6; 15:13), so also he would redeem Israel from exile (Isa 43:1; 44:22, 23; 48:20; 51:10; 52:3, 9; 62:12). Cf. John J. Collins, ‘The Exodus and Biblical Theology,’ BTB 25 (1995) 152–160; Bernard W. Anderson, ‘Exodus Typology in Second Isaiah,’ in B.W. Anderson and W. Harrelson (eds.), Israel’s Prophetic Heritage (New York: Harper, 1962) 177–195; Carol Stuhlmueller, Creative Redemption in Deutero-Isaiah (AnBib 43; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1970).

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law, and the repristinization of the physical world. By that point at the latest, human beings finally will have attained the originally intended, divine ideal of 1000 years (a ‘day’ of God) as the length of their lives. Our interpretation of the chronological system in Jubilees has a direct bearing on the recent work of Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls.162 The author argues essentially that the Qumran community believed that by participating in their ‘temple’ worship, they could transcend ordinary space and time and therefore human ontology, thereby regaining for themselves the divine Glory that Adam had before the fall in the Garden of Eden (the prototypical temple). Since the Qumran community lived without a physical temple, and the eschatological Temple would not be built until the time of the new creation (11QTa 29.9), the community believed that in its own worship experience, it could recreate the priestly cosmology which sees the Jerusalem Temple as a microcosm of the universe. Thus, ‘those who enter the worship of the community experience a transfer from earth to heaven, from humanity to divinity and from mortality to immortality.’163 Fletcher-Louis finds this ‘liturgical anthropology’ expressed in a broad range of liturgical texts: the Hodayot, 4Q380–81, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, the Words of the Heavenly Lights, 1QSb, the Songs of the Sage, the War Scroll, 4Q392, 4Q393, and 4Q408. Since, as Fletcher-Louis plausibly suggests, the Qumran community presents itself as a íãà ùã÷î (a ‘temple of men’ or ‘temple of Adam’), that is, as an interim temple before the establishment of the future, eschatological Temple built by God himself (4QFlorilegium [4Q174] 3.6),164 we might have expected the author to argue that the Qumran community’s ‘liturgical anthropology’ coheres with an ‘inaugurated’ eschatology, whereby they already experience in their ‘community-as-temple’ worship a foretaste of the eschatological renewal that will be fully and finally realized 162 Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis, All of the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 42; Leiden: Brill, 2002). 163 Ibid., 476 (italicized in the original). 164 Ibid., 89: ‘The Essenes at Qumran saw themselves as the replacement for the Jerusalem temple in their human, flesh and blood community offering an alternative to the traditional physical structures of Israel’s sacred space: they had become a miqdash Adam, a temple of men or of Adam. Place and physical structure are here replaced by persons within a particular rhythm and social structure as the present locus of divine presence, at least until the true Temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt. They also held to a distinctively realised, or inaugurated, eschatology in which they had rediscovered the life of Eden (see 1QHa 8:16 [6:16]; 16:4–27 [8:4–27]), thereby regaining the pre-lapsarian state.’ Cf. already Brooke, ‘Miqdash Adam, Eden and the Qumran Community,’ 288– 291, who interprets the íãà ùã÷î (‘sanctuary of Adam’) in 4QFlorilegium (4Q174) 3.6 as an interim sanctuary composed of men (the community) which anticipates the divinely constructed eschatological sanctuary, where the intention of God in creating Eden will be restored.

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chapter two at the consummation of the age. However, Fletcher-Louis denies this possibility: ‘Time and again we have found cause to question the common interpretative assumption that a high anthropology is a purely future, eschatological, expectation or that, when it is a present experience, it represents a form of “realized” or “inaugurated” eschatology, in which what had been purely a future hope is enthusiastically claimed for current circumstances. Instead, under virtually every stone we have turned we have found an anthropology grounded in a particular theological understanding of the place of humanity in creation—a particular cosmology— nurtured by a confident conceptual rationale for and experience of the community’s worship life. Before his fall Adam was ontologically coterminous with God’s own Glory. His originally divine humanity is recovered when (the true) Israel worships her god in a pure cult—a restored cosmos in miniature. And so, by the same token she, especially her priesthood, recovers the previously lost Glory of God in the same context. In worship the boundary between heaven and earth is dissolved and the Qumran community are taken up into the life of that which they worship.’165 This thesis is difficult to maintain when Jubilees is brought into the discussion.166 Although Jubilees is not a sectarian writing of the Qumran community, it is obviously a formative text for the community, as evidenced by both the relatively large number of manuscripts of Jubilees that were found at Qumran and the authoritative citations of Jubilees in the sectarian writings themselves. Fletcher-Louis denies that Jubilees contains the kind of exalted anthropology that is found in Qumran.167 Based on the findings of the present study, however, a different conclusion emerges: Jubilees contains the same basic concept of regaining paradise lost in

165 Fletcher-Louis, All of the Glory of Adam, 476. Cf. similarly, ibid., 112: ‘Precisely what relationship the theology and anthropology of the Hodayot has with the cultic life of the community could bear further fruitful critical reflection. The possibility must be considered, for example, that the tension between the exalted and a transformed identity on the one hand and the earthly, fleshly creature of clay on the other, is not so much, or even primarily, a matter of an eschatological tension between a now and a not yet, as between different modes, times and places within the liturgical and cultic world.’ Cf. also John J. Collins, Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (The Literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls; London/New York: Routledge, 1997) 149; idem, ‘Apocalypticism and Literary Genre in the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ in Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 2.403–430 (426–427). 166 By the same token, although the relationship between priesthood and the Qumran community has been strongly questioned in recent years (cf. Robert A. Kugler, ‘Priesthood at Qumran,’ in Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam [eds.], The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment [2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1999] 2.93– 116), the influence of Jubilees and the Enochic literature at Qumran would seem to support a strong priestly orientation for the group from its inception. 167 Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of Adam, 477.

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the form of the eschatological Temple, renewing the earth in a new creation, and—most importantly for our purposes here—obtaining the divine ideal that was originally intended for Adam in the Garden of Eden. Jubilees regards this earthly eschatological expectation as having already begun to dawn (or just about to dawn) in the era of incremental restoration for both all Israel and all humankind, an era that will last for a considerably long period of time before its full and final consummation. For Jubilees, this process of renewal and restoration is expected to continue until God establishes his eschatological Temple in Zion in conjunction with the new creation. Significantly, however, Jubilees connects this expectation and high anthropology neither to a ‘communityas-temple’ cosmology nor to a ‘liturgical anthropology,’ but rather to the general resynchronization of the cultic practice of all Israel in the Land to the rhythms of the divinely instituted creative order, whereby the whole Land is considered Temple land and the whole world comes under Israel’s rule (see further below [pp. 166–177, 185–186]). Facilitated by Israel’s priesthood, which is analogous to the highest angels in heaven, the ultimate goal of this restoration program is the realignment of sacred time and sacred space, so that God’s foreordained will from the beginning of creation would be accomplished ‘on earth as in heaven.’ Jubilees’ perspective is quite similar to that found, for example, in the War Scroll, one of the central texts for Fletcher-Louis’ case: ‘The War Scroll envisages no eschatological collapse of history and the space-time universe, but rather sees the victory of the elect as the affirmation of creation (see, esp., 10:11–15 and 12:7–16 …), the perfection of history and the extension of Israel’s own social, political and religious institutions throughout the world (1:8, 2:1–14). There is no obvious expectation of physical post-mortem resurrection, but rather the older belief in a long life for the righteous, the Sons of Light (1QM 1:9).’168 In the War Scroll (10.10–16; cf. 14.12–14), Israel ‘has a festival calendar which orders the life in accordance with the drama of creation—God’s great works. Every part of her cultic life is ingrained with the rhythm of creation ….’169 Moreover, ‘Israel as a people have received the position within creation otherwise intended for Adam and … it is in such a capacity that she is to rule’ (1QM 12.7–16).170

The ‘Otot’ Cycle Revisited Having shown the threefold structure of world history in Jubilees 23 and the distinctively priestly character of the book as a whole, we now 168 169 170

Ibid., 397–398. Ibid., 407. Ibid., 435–437, 441–442, 447.

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return to the issue of cycles of priestly rotation that was discussed in chapter 1. It will be recalled that Jub. 4:20–21 modifies the harmonizing text of the SP tradition, so that after the birth of Methuselah in 587 am, the ‘six jubilees of years’ (= 294 years or one ‘otot’ cycle) that Enoch was with the angels coincided with the third ‘otot’ cycle from creation (588– 882 am), and his entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden corresponded to the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle (882 am). Enoch’s priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden also sets up a trajectory to the eschatological priesthood that will serve in the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion in the new creation (Jub. 4:25–26). Therefore, the ‘otot’ cycle—the grand cycle of priestly rotation that brings the (49) mishmarot and the (6) jubilee cycles into conjunction every 294 years—forms an implicit part of Jubilees’ chronological system from the creation (when all four cultic cycles began) to the new creation. By its very nature and by its apparent usage in the Book of Jubilees, then, the ‘otot’ cycle is oriented on the Temple and its cultus. We may ask, therefore, whether the trajectory of the ‘otot’ cycle in the Jubilees corroborates our suggestion that, following the Apocalypse of Weeks (1Enoch 93:8), Jubilees dates the destruction of the Temple to 2940 am. As it turns out, 2940 am coincides precisely with the end of the 10th ‘otot’ cycle from creation (and with the seventh ‘otot’ cycle from Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden). In other words, the date on which the people were sent into exile and the Temple was destroyed was, according to the divine plan embedded in the creative order and inscribed on the heavenly tablets, the time when the first priestly course (Gamul) was once again to have begun service in the Temple in the first week of a new jubilee, thereby inaugurating a new period of release from bondage (øåøã). We may compare the conception in t. Ta#an. 3:9:171 When the Temple was destroyed the first time it was Saturday night, and it was the end of the seventh year (of release), and it was (in) the tour of duty of Jehoiarib, and it was (on) the ninth of Ab. And the same the second time.

As we noted in chapter 1, this rabbinic text dates the destruction of the Temple at the end of two cultic cycles—the Sabbath and the sabbatical 171 Cited in Shemaryahu Talmon (ed.), ‘320–330, 337, 394 1–2: Introduction,’ in S. Talmon, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XVI: Calendrical Texts (DJD 21; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001) 1–36 (12–13).

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year—and at the beginning of a new priestly rotation (Jehoiarib being the first of the 24 priestly divisions [1 Chr 24:7]). Hence, although according to our reconstruction, the chronological system of Jubilees would differ in several important ways at this point (e.g., Gamul, rather than Jehoiarib, would be the beginning of the new cycle of priestly rotation and the date would be the culmination of both a sabbatical year and a year of jubilee, rather than only a sabbatical year), the two methods of dating the event are nevertheless remarkably similar. For Jubilees, a writing with a distinctly priestly orientation, there could be no greater irony than that this nodal point in the history of humankind and in the life of Israel’s cultus should also coincide with the destruction of the Temple172 and the re-enslavement of the nation! This astounding concomitance, the force of which is scarcely comprehensible to modern Westerners, confirms our hypothesis in an unexpected but compelling manner, especially when we consider how the biblical text and the Apocalypse of Weeks tradition had to be shaped so that the numbers could work out so exactly. Jubilees’ conception for the timing of the exile and the destruction of the Temple is undoubtedly influenced in part by Jer 34:8–22, where the øåøã (‘liberty’) of the jubilee year is reinterpreted in an ironic way in v. 17: The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty (øåøã) to them, (9) that all should set free their Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should hold another Judean in slavery. (10) And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that all would set free their slaves, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again; they obeyed and set them free. (11) But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves they had set free, and brought them again into subjection as slaves. (12) The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD: (13) Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, (14) ‘Every seventh year each of you must set free any Hebrews who have been sold to you and have served you six years; you must set them free from your service.’ But your ancestors did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. (15) You yourselves recently repented and did what was right in my sight by proclaim172 We must recall here that the angel interprets Jeremiah’s prophecy of a 70-year desolation for Jerusalem (Dan 9:1; cf. Jer 25:11–12; 29:10) as meaning 70 ‘weeks’ of years (Dan 9:24).

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chapter two ing liberty (øåøã) to one another, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name; (16) but then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back your male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them again into subjection to be your slaves. (17) Therefore, thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed me by granting a release (øåøã) to your neighbors and friends; I am going to grant a release (øåøã) to you, says the LORD—a release to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. (18) And those who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make [like] the calf when they cut it in two and passed between its parts: (19) the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf (20) shall be handed over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives. Their corpses shall become food for the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth. (21) And as for King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials, I will hand them over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you. (22) I am going to command, says the LORD, and will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire. The towns of Judah I will make a desolation without inhabitant.

The pejorative use of øåøã in v. 17 is highly ironic. ‘The play on the word d˘erôr evokes the language of Lev 25:10 and links the release of slaves commanded there with YHWH’s action in releasing Israel from himself, the sole legitimate owner of the Israelite people, to all the kingdoms of the earth.’173 Zedekiah had made a covenant with the people to release all Israelite slaves in what appears to be a lastditch effort to observe the longstanding but otherwise neglected law of jubilee, the only occasion demanding universal manumission (cf. øåøã in Lev 25:10).174 Although the people at first complied with Zedekiah’s initiative, they later reneged on their commitment by taking back their 173 Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2258 (in a section of the commentary authored by Lisbeth S. Fried and David N. Freedman, ‘F. Was the Jubilee Year Observed in Preexilic Judah?’ 2257–2270). 174 Note that Jer 34:8–22 has been considered as a possible background for the reference to a ‘covenant’ in 4QText Mentioning Zedekiah (4Q470) 1.3. Cf. E. Larson, et al. (eds.), ‘470. Text Mentioning Zedekiah,’ in Magen Broshi, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XIV: Parabiblical Texts, Part 2 (DJD 19; Oxford: Clarendon, 1995) 235–244 (esp. 243– 244); Erik Larson, ‘4Q470 and the Angelic Rehabilitation of King Zedekiah,’ DSD 1 (1994) 210–228 (esp. 219–223). On Jeremiah in parabiblical texts of Qumran, see George J. Brooke, ‘Parabiblical Prophetic Narratives,’ in Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1998–1999) 1.271–301 (278–285).

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slaves. As Lisbeth S. Fried and David N. Freedman show, the Judeans’ treachery probably took place in the year of jubilee that can be dated to 588/587 bce,175 the very year of Jerusalem’s desolation.176 Thus, rather than celebrating a joyous event and observing a time sacred to the Lord, Judah herself becomes a ‘horror to all the kingdoms of the earth’ (Jer 34:17; cf. 15:4). In sum, while both Jubilees and the Apocalypse of Weeks evidently presuppose the same date for the exile and the destruction of the Temple (2940 am), only in Jubilees does this date have a doubly negative significance within the book’s chronological system. (1) On the level of the cultus, 2940 am marks an ominous juncture of the ‘otot’ cycle along the trajectory from Enoch in the Garden to the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion. (2) On the level of the nation as a whole, 2940 am marks 175 Since Fried and Freedman base their case of the destruction of Jerusalem as a year of jubilee, in part, on several dated oracles in Ezekiel (in Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2259–2260), it is important to consider the argument of J. van Goudoever (‘Ezekiel Sees in Exile a New Temple-City at the Beginning of a Jobel Year,’ in J. Lust [ed.], Ezekiel and His Book: Textual and Literary Criticism and their Interrelation [BETL 74; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1986] 344–349) that the prophet received his vision of the new Temple at the beginning of a year of jubilee (cf. Ezek 40:1: ‘In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me there’). This assumes not only that the beginning of Ezekiel’s exile (598 bce) was the exact middle of a 50-year jubilee period, but also that the unspecified month in the text must have been the seventh (cf. Lev 25:9). In any case, if Ezekiel’s vision took place at the beginning of a year of jubilee, the desolation of Jerusalem fourteen years earlier could not have occurred during a year of jubilee. 176 In Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2257–2264 (here 2264): ‘Because both the mass manumission of the slaves—proclaimed in the language of the jubilee—and Jeremiah’s redemption of his land [Jeremiah 32] occurred during the same year, the tenth year of Zedekiah, it seems plausible that this liturgical year, the year 588/587, was a jubilee year in Judah.’ Fried and Freedman (ibid., 2264) discuss the significance of this year of jubilee: ‘It should be recalled … that Jeremiah’s prayer upon purchase of the land (Jer 32:16–25) is a statement of faith that the Israelites who are about to go into exile will, like the land, also be redeemed by their Redeemer. The jubilee year, with its mandated redemption of the land, provides an analogy and gives rise to a faith that the people, too, will be redeemed in their turn. Redemption of land in the context of a jubilee year, a mandated year of release, is a far more powerful statement than simply redemption of land to provide a cousin with 17 shekels of silver. YHWH had said that because of the sins of the people they, too, would be released to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine in a perversion of the usual meaning of the term (Jer 24:17). YHWH has sold his people to a non-rightful owner. The regular cycle of jubilee years, and the regular cycle of being sold and redeemed as played out again and again in the book of Judges, yields a faith that the time will come when YHWH will redeem his people again. In his prayer, Jeremiah may be interpreting YHWH’s law of jubilee year virtually as a promise that it will be so.’

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a highly ironic reversal of the book’s theology of the jubilee in which— 490 years/70 weeks/10 jubilees after the jubilee of jubilees—the patrimony is lost and the people themselves are re-enslaved. We may add these remarkable correlations to the many other ways in which Jubilees improves the Apocalypse of Weeks, including the rigorous symmetry of Jubilees’ overall chronological system, the longer (and thus more biblically defensible) length of its patriarchal era from Adam to Moses, the greater prominence it gives to Enoch within the chronological system, and the integrated and scripturally motivated use of the øåøã concept within its jubilean theology for special dates (i.e., the entrance into the Land at the 50th jubilee, the exile at the 60th jubilee, the return to the Land at the 70th jubilee, and the culmination of the restoration process at the 120th jubilee). If, as we have argued, Enoch entered priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle in 882 am, then, given the rigorous symmetry of the book’s chronological system, the eschatological Temple is perhaps expected to be rebuilt and ready for priestly service at the beginning of the 18th ‘otot’ in 4998 am,177 which, according to our reconstruction, would be three full ‘otot’ cycles from the end of human history in 5880 am (= 20 ‘otot’ cycles/120 jubilees [12 ×490 years]). On these assumptions, there would be exactly seven ‘otot’ cycles (42 jubilees/2058 years) between Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the Garden and the destruction of the Temple in 2940 am, and another seven ‘otot’ cycles from the destruction of the Temple to the entrance into priestly service in the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion, with three ‘otot’ cycles flanking both ends of world history (i.e., three full ‘otot’ cycles transpire before Enoch’s entrance into the primeval sanctuary, and three more ‘otot’ cycles take 177 The year 4998 am corresponds to 1470/1471 ce. This date is based on our argument, discussed above, that the destruction of the Temple and the exile took place, according to Jubilees’ scheme, in 2940 am, which coincides with the year of jubilee in 588/587 bce. On the basis of this ‘fixed point’ in the external absolute chronology, we are able to calculate the following values for Jubilees’ chronological system according to our reconstruction: (1) the creation of the world occurred in 3528/3527 bce (2940+588/587); (2) the entrance into the Land of Israel took place in 1078/1077 bce (588/587+490); (3) the third era was expected to begin in 98/97 bce (588/587–490); and (4) the end of the world era was expected to take place in 2353/2352 ce (2940– 588/587). Hence, 4998 am (i.e., three ‘otot’ cycles [882 years] from the end of the world era) is 2353/2352 ce – 882 = 1470/1471 ce. It is beyond the scope of the present study to investigate whether any Jewish or Christian group actually expected the eschatological Temple to be established in 1470/1471 ce.

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place between the priests’ entrance into the eschatological Temple and the end of world history/culmination of the new creation). Thus, the major movements of the Book of Jubilees would be oriented on the cycles of priestly rotation, which, like the other cultic cycles (the ‘week’ and the jubilee), commence with creation and continue to the new creation. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know whether these suppositions are correct, for the book provides insufficient, direct evidence to substantiate them definitively.

Conclusion In the foregoing, we have attempted, insofar as possible, to reconstruct the chronological system of the Book of Jubilees from the scattered clues that can be scavenged both from the book itself and from the Enochic apocalyptic tradition in which the book stands. Fundamental to this reconstruction are two overarching trajectories nestled one within the other: on the one hand, the trajectory set up by the all-inclusive revelation to Moses of the divisions of the years in their jubilees ‘from the time of creation until the time of the new creation when the heavens, the earth, and all their creatures will be renewed like the powers of the sky and like the creatures of the earth, until the time when the temple of the Lord will be created in Jerusalem on Mt. Sinai’ (Jub. 1:29); on the other hand, the trajectory set up by the juxtaposition of Enoch’s entrance into the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden and the expected entrance of the eschatological priesthood in the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion, ‘which will be sanctified in the new creation’ (Jub. 4:23–26). The first trajectory provides the basic jubilean structure for the whole course of history as outlined in the book from creation to new creation. The second trajectory, which likewise extends to the new creation, focuses more particularly on the Temple and its cultus, using the prototypical priest Enoch and his movements as the anchor point and terminus a quo that purposely coincides with the implied ‘otot’ cycle, the grand cycle of priestly rotation which, like the jubilee, has been generated from the time of creation. Our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system can be briefly summarized as follows: – The scope of human history in Jubilees extends from creation to the culmination of the new creation (Jub. 1:29).

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– The Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks, which also encompasses all of human history from creation to the new creation, is a major source for Jubilees’ chronological system. – As shown in chapter 1, Jubilees’ chronological system is based on expressed and implied cultic cycles (especially the jubilee and the ‘otot’). – Rigorous symmetry is a fundamental feature of the book’s whole chronological system, as can be seen in the decline and recovery of human longevity in Jub. 23:8–31.178 – Jubilees 1 and 23 show that the book’s jubilean chronological scheme contains a tripartite division of world history: (1) from Adam to the death of Moses; (2) from the initial entrance into the Land—through the destruction of the Temple and the exile— to the end of the exile; and (3) from the return to the Land to the culmination of the new creation, which includes the establishment of the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion in the new creation. – Embedded in this overarching tripartite jubilean framework is another scheme, which is based on the implied ‘otot’ cycle, focusing specifically on the prototypical priest Enoch and the history of the Temple. – Within this ‘otot’ scheme, Enoch’s entrance into the primeval Temple of the Garden of Eden takes place at the beginning of the 4th ‘otot’ cycle (882 am) and sets up a trajectory to the establishment of the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion in the new creation (Jub. 4:23–26). – This trajectory presupposes the destruction of the First Temple in 2940 am, which is the same dating of the event as in the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks (6 ‘weeks’ × 490 years/‘week’ = 2940 years [1Enoch 93:8]). – Hence, the interval from Enoch’s entrance into the primeval Temple (882 am) to the destruction of the First Temple (2940 am) is 2058 years (2940–882 = 2058) or an auspicious 7 ‘otot’ cycles (2058 ÷294 = 7). – In accordance with the book’s rigorous symmetry, the interval from the destruction of the First Temple to the culmination of the new creation is more or less a mirror image of the period from creation to the destruction of the Temple. 178 As we have seen, rigorous symmetry is also evident in the relationship between the heavenly cultus and the earthly cultus.

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– Hence, the interval from Enoch’s entrance into the primeval Temple to the destruction of the First Temple (i.e., 7 ‘otot’ cycles) is the same as the time from the destruction of the First Temple to the establishment of the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion (i.e., another 7 ‘otot’ cycles), thus putting the establishment of the eschatological Temple at 4998 am (2940 +2058 years = 4998). – Furthermore, by the principle of rigorous symmetry, the interval from creation to Enoch’s entrance into the primeval Temple (i.e., 3 full ‘otot’ cycles) is the same as the time from the establishment of the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion to the culmination of the new creation (i.e., another 3 ‘otot’ cycles). – Therefore, on the basis of the ‘otot’ scheme, the total world era may be calculated as 3 +7+7+3 = 20 ‘otot’ cycles/120 jubilees/ 5880 years, in which the destruction of the First Temple takes place at the exact midpoint of history (3 +7 = 10 ‘otot’ cycles/60 jubilees = 2940 am). – Having calculated the total world era on the basis of the ‘otot’ scheme, we turn now to the all-encompassing tripartite jubilean scheme in which the ‘otot’ scheme is embedded. – In the jubilean scheme, the interval from creation to the initial entrance into the Land of Israel is 50 jubilees/2450 years (Jub. 50:4). – If the initial entrance into the Land takes place in 2450 am, and the destruction of the First Temple and the exile occur in 2940 am, then the preexilic period consists of exactly 490 years (i.e., the fundamental unit of periodization in the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks). – Therefore, by the principle of rigorous symmetry, we may expect that the reentry into the Land takes place 490 years after the destruction of the First Temple, that is, in 3430 am (2940 + 490 = 3430) = 70 jubilees/490 weeks from the creation of the world. The same date marks the beginning of the restoration in the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks (7 ‘weeks’ × 490 years/‘week’ = 3430 am [1Enoch 93:9–10]). – This calculation coheres with the supposition of a total world era of 120 jubilees/5880 years, for if the interval from creation to the initial entrance into the Land is 50 jubilees/2450 years, then by the principle of rigorous symmetry, the time from the reentry into the Land to the culmination of the new creation (5880 am) is also 50 jubilees/2450 years, thus putting the reentry at 3430 am (5880– 2450 = 3430).

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– Obviously, then, Jubilees’ highly schematic chronology appropriates essential elements from the equally schematic Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks (e.g., the all-important date for the destruction of the First Temple and the periodization in units of 490 years), while adapting the Apocalypse’s overall chronology to conform to a fundamentally different conception of history (e.g., one that is more pointedly ‘Enochic’ and priestly in orientation, more bilaterally symmetrical, and 980 [490 ×2] years longer [5880–4900 = 980]). – In essence, Jubilees constructs a ‘perfect’ chronological system to complement its ‘perfect’ 364-day solar calendar.179

Fig. 6. Reconstruction of Chronological System of Jubilees

According to our reconstruction (see Fig. 6), Jubilees sets out the whole course of world history—from creation to the new creation—in terms of three eras, two of which are much longer (50 jubilees each) than the 179 Jubilees’ 364-day solar calendar is ‘perfect’ in the sense that (1) every date always falls on the same day of the week, because 364 is exactly divisible by seven, yielding 52 weeks, and (2) each quarter has 13 weeks composed of 30+30 +31 = 91 days. We may also note that the sum of the lengths of Eras 1 and 2 (4900 yrs./100 jub./700 wks.) equals the length of each of the two parts of Era 2 (490 yrs./10 jub./70 wks.) times a factor of 10.

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intervening one (20 jubilees).180 This makes a total of 120 jubilees/5880 years or an auspicious 12 periods of 490 years each (contrast the 10 ‘weeks’ of 490 years each in the Apocalypse of Weeks).181

180 A somewhat comparable, tripartite conception of world history is found in Persian apocalypticism: ‘the cosmogonic myth sets the course of world history at nine thousand years and divides it in three large periods of three thousand years, which may be termed world ages, each having its own characteristics. History thus begins with the prototypical material creation, which remains in light and purity for three thousand years, and continues with a period of three thousand years in the mixed state, the beginning of which also signifies the fulfillment of the last state in creation. At the completion of the last period of three thousand years, history ends when evil is eliminated, the dead are resurrected, and the world is restored to its original purity and perfection’ (Anders Hultgård, ‘Persian Apocalypticism,’ in John J. Collins [ed.], The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, Vol. I: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity [New York/London: Continuum, 2000] 39–83 [47]). The Pahlavi texts further subdivide the third and last period into three millennia: ‘The period begins with the appearance of Zoroaster, and the first millennium is consequently named after him. As to the two remaining millennia, each one starts with the manifestation of a savior figure: the first is called in Pahlavi Uˇse¯ dar and the second Uˇse¯ darm¯ah. Together with the last savior, S¯oˇsa¯ ns, they are considered Zoroaster’s descendants …. When the third millennium of the last world age comes to an end, the final messianic figure appears, the S¯oˇsa¯ ns (Av. saoˇsyant). He is really a world savior because he ushers in the restoration (fraˇsgird) and the state of eternal bliss, which lies outside of history’ (ibid., 47–48). Each successive savior-figure brings steadily increasing amelioration of human conditions, of moral standards, and of nature itself, which continues through the last millennium and culminates in the restoration of the world (ibid., 48; cf. 77–78). Theopompos of Chios (4th century bce) is quoted at the end of Plutarch’s description of Zoroastrian cosmogony and eschatology (Iside et Osiride 46–47) as saying that world history consists of 9000 years which is subdivided into three periods of 3000 years, each with its own characteristics (Hultgård,’ Persian Apocalypticism,’ 72–73). Hultgård (ibid., 80) argues that the remarkable similarity between Jewish and Iranian apocalypticism can be accounted for in part by the religious and social affinities between the priestly classes of Jews and Persians in the Hellenistic period: ‘The Zadokites among the Jews fulfilled the same religious functions and occupied the same position in society as the Magi among the Persians. These common interests would have facilitated contacts on both personal and official levels, and it is in fact possible to distinguish a particular strand of Iranian influenced ideas in the pre-Essene Zadokite writings ….’ 181 For other examples of a twelvefold division of world history, see 2Bar. 53–74 (twelve dark and bright waters complete the history of the wicked and the righteous from Adam to the Second Temple; a final pair of dark and bright waters constitute the consummation of the present age of corruption and the beginning of the age of incorruption; cf. Robert G. Hall, Revealed Histories: Techniques for Ancient Jewish and Christian Historiography [JSPSup 6; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991] 68–75; Roddy, ‘Two Parts,’ 6–7); Apoc. Abr. 29:1–2 (‘And I said, “Eternal, Mighty One! How long a time is an hour of the age?” And he said, “I decreed to keep twelve periods of the impious age among the heathens and among your seed, and what you have seen will be until the end of time”’). 4Ezra 14:11–12 is particularly relevant here: ‘For the age is divided into twelve parts, and nine of its parts have already passed, as well as half of the tenth

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chapter two We may loosely compare b. Sanh. 97b, where Elijah asserts to Rab Judah, the brother of R. Salia the pious, that a messianic era lasting one jubilee will begin after 84 jubilees (= 4116 or 4200 years, depending on whether a jubilee is reckoned as 49 or 50 years), making a total world age of 85 jubilees (= 4165 or 4250 years).182 Similarly, Eusebius’ Chronicle indicates that 29 ce (the year of Jesus’ death) was the ‘beginning of the 81st jubilee of the world according to the Hebrews’ (principium LXXXI iobelaei secundum Hebraeos),183 which for Eusebius may mark the beginning of the messianic era.184

It is immediately obvious that our reconstruction bears a certain resemblance to that of Michel Testuz, who argues for a similar threefold chronological structure in Jubilees: (1) the Era of Testimony from crepart; so two of its parts remain, besides half of the tenth part.’ This scheme of world history (9 1/2 parts past + 2 1/2 parts to come) is comparable to our reconstruction of the chronological system in Jubilees (7 parts past + 5 parts to come). Cf. Stone, Fourth Ezra, 337, 421 n. 46, who in discussing the significance of the 3000 years in 4Ezra 10:45, considers the possibility that the text presupposes a world age of 12×500 = 6000 years, thus making 3000 (am) the midpoint of the world age. (Compare our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological scheme, with its world age of 12×490 = 5880 years and 2940 am as its midpoint.) In 2Bar. 27:1–15, the time of distress in ‘the end of times’ (v. 15) is divided into twelve parts. For a different perspective, see Koch, ‘Sabbat, Sabbatjahr und Weltenjahr,’ 82, who argues that although the numbers 12 and 10 had been used for the temporal framework of the Deuteronomistic History and the Priestly Writing, respectively, these numbers became of secondary importance in later apocalyptic literature. 182 Cf. b. Sanh. 97b: ‘Elijah said to Rab Judah, the brother of R. Salia the pious: “The world shall exist not less than eighty-five jubilees, and in the last jubilee the son of David will come.”’ On this text, see August Strobel, ‘Weltenjahr, große Konjunktion und Messiasstern. Ein themageschichtlicher Überblick,’ ANRW II.20.2 (1987) 988– 1187 (1079): ‘Wir möchten begründeterweise annehmen, daß es sich hierbei um den Nachhall einer essenischen Tradition handelt, in der der Anbruch der Messiaszeit nach zweimal 2000/2100 Jahren berechnet war.’ To substantiate this thesis, Strobel appeals to As. Mos. 1:1 (read: 1:2); 10:11–12 (on both texts, see further above [p. 128 n. 130]). See also Ben Zion Wacholder, ‘Jewish Eras,’ in Essays on Jewish Chronology and Chronography (New York: Ktav, 1976) VII–XVII (VII; cf. XIII): ‘The Rabbinic calendar assumes that the Exodus occurred 2,448 years after Creation, 1,000 years before the era of the Cessation of Prophecy (the Seleucid era).’ Elsewhere in rabbinic tradition, a world era of 6000 years is divided into three periods of equal length: 2000 years of desolation, 2000 years of Torah, and 2000 years of messianic age. Cf. b. Sanh. 97ab; b. #Abod. Zar. 9a; b. Roˇs Haˇs. 31a; Richard Landes, ‘Lest the Millennium Be Fulfilled: Apocalyptic Expectations and the Pattern of Western Chronography 100– 800 ce,’ in Werner Verbeke, et al. (eds.), The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages (Mediaevalia Lovaniensia 1.15; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988) 137–211 (156– 160); Irshai, ‘Dating the Eschaton,’ 131; Strobel, ‘Weltenjahr,’ 1081. 183 Rudolf Helm (ed.), Die Chronik des Hieronymus (2nd ed.; GCS 47; Eusebius Werke 7; Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1956) 174. 184 Irshai, ‘Dating the Eschaton,’ 132.

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ation to Sinai, lasting 49 jubilees; (2) the Era of the Torah, lasting possibly 22 jubilees; and (3) the Messianic Era.185 However, the similarity between the two reconstructions is merely superficial. While we would agree that the 50th jubilee marks the transition between the first two eras,186 the rest of Testuz’s reconstruction differs markedly from our own. Instead of a second era consisting of 20 jubilees, Testuz finds an era of 22 jubilees, for Jacob was the 22nd patriarch and the sabbath was the 22nd act of creation. However, these reasons hardly suffice to establish the length of the second era. Furthermore, the characterization of the third era as ‘Messianic’ seems misguided, since there is no substantial evidence of a messianic expectation in the book.187 We have seen that Jubiliees’ chronological system is far more than just the use of a biblically-tinged chronological unit (the jubilee) and its application to Israel’s pre-Canaan history in order to make a telling point about the momentous events of the 50th jubilee period.188 Rather, Jubilees’ chronological system points well beyond the jubilee of jubilees, encompassing, as we have stated, the whole history of the world. By taking advantage of the fact that the cultic cycles generated from the time of creation and continuing to the time of the new creation periodically come into conjunction with one another, Jubilees’ chronological system is able to mark certain momentous occasions in the life of the cultus and of the nation as a whole. On a national level, where the law of jubilee is applied on a national scale, Jubilees’ chronological system emphasizes especially the entrance into the Land and the eventual return to the Land, at the culmination of important jubilee cycles. These times mark the turn of an era. On the cultic level, where the grand cycle of priestly rotation (which we have dubbed the ‘otot’ cycle) is implicitly tracked, Jubilees’ chronological system emphasizes particularly Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden, the destruction of the First Temple, and the rebuilding of the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion.189 These times 185 Michel Testuz, Les ideés religieuses du Livre des Jubilés (Geneva: Droz; Paris: Minard, 1960) 138–139, 165–177. 186 Cf. also VanderKam, ‘Konzept,’ 97. 187 See further in chap. 3 (pp. 173–177). 188 Cf. VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 102; idem, ‘The Origins and Purposes of the Book of Jubilees,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997) 3–24 (17). 189 On our hypothesis, there are exactly 20 ‘otot’ cycles in the world era encompassed by Jubilees. The fact that the final year of the 120-jubilee course of human history (5880 am) also begins a new ‘otot’ cycle implies that by that point, the eschatological Temple

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mark a trajectory that the priestly writer(s) of Jubilees hope will eventuate in their own installation into priestly service in the eschatological Temple on the model of their esteemed forebear, Enoch. Standing on Mt. Sinai, Moses receives a divine revelation of events both in the past and in the future. Indeed, the past is seen as the key to the future, since the two mirror one another almost precisely. Jubilees 1 opens with a preview of Israel’s future, expressed in terms of the familiar Deuteronomic SER pattern. Later, Jubilees 23 returns to this SER pattern, this time weaving together the particular history of Israel with the universal history of humankind. The solution to the plight of humanity, which began with the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden, is the restoration of human longevity that begins with Israel’s restoration in the Land. For Jubilees, Israel stands on the verge of the third and final era of human history, which commences the long process of repristinization culminating in the new creation itself and the establishment of God’s eschatological Temple on Zion. Scholars have long puzzled over the lack of an explicit timetable expressed in terms of jubilees and weeks in Jubilees’ eschatological predictions (esp. in chaps. 1 and 23).190 Nevertheless, as we have argued, Jubilees clearly presupposes such a timetable—the Apocalypse of Weeks—which Jubilees has modified and adapted to fit its own chronological conception. Given the book’s penchant for seeing symmetry in world chronology, the author evidently felt that an explicit detailing of the whole timetable would be superfluous, for the Endzeit corresponds almost exactly to the Urzeit.191 Instead, the author provided a decisive will have been established on Zion at the culmination of the new creation (cf. Jub. 4:26: Mt. Zion ‘will be sanctified in the new creation for the sanctification of the earth. For this reason the earth will be sanctified from all its sins and from all its uncleanness into the history of eternity’; 25:21). 190 Cf., e.g., Himmelfarb, ‘Torah, Testimony, and Heavenly Tablets,’ 19 n. 1, 24–25. 191 Cf., similarly, Adler and Tuffin (trans.), The Chronography of George Synkellos, xxxi: ‘The surviving fragments of the chronicle of Julius Africanus (mainly preserved by Synkellos) reveal a work governed by rigidly dogmatic principles. For Africanus, the past was not an isolated or random series of events, upon which the historian had to impose order and meaning. The primary task of the Christian historian was, rather, to uncover the plan of a providential mind governing the course of time from the very beginning of creation. According to this plan, the whole train of human history conformed to the design of creation. Just as God required six days to create the universe and rested on the seventh day, so would the world run its course in six millennia, to be followed by a thousand years of rest.’ Like Africanus, Jubilees found in biblical chronology before the flood invaluable foreshadowing of and clues to the divine plan. This opens the possibility that Africanus’ chronography was directly or

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clue to his view of the future by indicating his expectation that in the third era—the restoration of Israel—human life spans would grow progressively longer, just as they had grown incrementally shorter during the first era. ‘Recapitulation’ aptly describes the kind of expectation we find in Jubilees. As David E. Aune indicates in his discussion of Jewish apocalyptic literature (excluding Jubilees), ‘The conception that the End should recapitulate the Beginning (the Urzeit/Endzeit or “protology”/ “eschatology” pattern), which is understood as both perfect and paradigmatic, forms the basic horizon of the apocalyptic view of the world, for the imperfect present lies at the low point between the perfections of the distant past and the perfections of the imminent future.’192 Jubilees fits this description to a tee. In Jubilees, recapitulation includes both universal and particular aspects that are integrally interrelated. In keeping with its view of sacred time—a comprehensive chronological frameindirectly influenced by Jubilees or another similar Jewish writing. As we have noted above, Africanus (apud Eusebius, P.E. 10.10.10, 12) assigns 490-year increments to both the period of the Judges and the monarchy, not to mention his treatment of the 490 years of Dan 9:24. Cf. J. van Goudoever, ‘A Study on the Idea of Mid-Time,’ Bijdragen 33 (1972) 262–307 (299–300), who argues that Jubilees considered the flood ‘the Middle of History,’ comparing Julius’ Africanus’ similar conception. We may note, however, that whereas Africanus’ chronology places the flood in the middle of a 6000-year world history (cf. Syncellus 97.11), the Jubilees chronology suggested by Goudoever places the flood in the middle of a world era of less than half that duration (somewhere between 2156 and 2548 total years, depending on whether the flood dates to the 22nd or the 26th jubilee). Since the entrance into the Land occurs at the jubilee of jubilees (2450 am; cf. also Goudoever, ‘Mid-Time,’ 264), the flood cannot be the middle of all human history. For an ancient Near Eastern parallel, see Isaac M. Kirawada, ‘Primeval History,’ ABD, 5.461–466 (462): ‘The Sumerian King List furnishes the basic genealogical pattern with seven to ten generations from the beginning to the great Flood, depending on how one counts them. The main characteristic of these antediluvian kings is their extreme longevity, such as King Alulim reigning for 280,000 years. This makes the antediluvian period, though consisting only of seven or ten generations, much longer than the postdiluvian period, comprised of many generations. The postdiluvian King Zambia, for instance, reigned only three years. The great Flood (Sum amARU, Akk ab¯ubu) thus bisects ancient world history, establishing a historiographic time axis with such expressions as “before the Flood” (Akk l¯am ab¯ubi, cf. lammabbûl, Ps 29:10) and “after the Flood” (Akk arki ab¯ubi, cf. Gen 9:28; 10:1, 32; 11:10), analogous to our convention of b.c. and a.d. divisions in world history and “antebellum” and “postbellum” in American history.’ Although the flood is not the midpoint of history in Jubilees, according to Jub. 5:1, the sin of the angels of the Lord with the daughers of men occurred sometime in the 25th jubilee (1175–1225 am), which is the exact midpoint of the jubilee of jubilees (2450 am). 192 Aune, ‘From the Idealized Past to the Imaginary Future: Eschatological Restoration in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature,’ 147; see further ibid., 169–173.

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work which is rooted in the creative order itself—Jubilees necessarily contains a complementary vision of sacred space, including the whole created world and especially the holiest sites, Zion and the Land, which will occupy the focal point in the age to come. All times and places will eventually be brought back into conformity with the Creator’s will as foreordained in the heavenly tablets.193 By the culmination of the new creation at the very latest, all things will be brought back into order ‘on earth as in heaven.’ That process of renewal begins when Jacob’s sons heed the teachings which were given to Levi ‘so that he would preserve them and renew them for his sons until today’ (Jub. 45:16).

193 Cf. Ben Zion Wacholder and S. Wacholder, ‘Patterns of Biblical Dates and Qumran’s Calendar: The Fallacy of Jaubert’s Hypothesis,’ HUCA 66 (1995) 1–40 (37–38): ‘In fact, what made the sectarian calendar sectarian was precisely its utopian pattern. All evidence points to a fascinating conclusion: this sabbatical calendation … had originated at the time of creation and would reappear at the end of time. The 365 1/4-day solar year as the sect saw it resulted from human corruption. The sect rejected this mode of calculation as a sign of human sinfulness. In contrast, it regarded the 364day calendar as that of Urzeit and Endzeit.’ Cf., similarly, Alexander, ‘Enoch and the Beginnings of Jewish Interest in Natural Science,’ 239.

PART II SACRED SPACE

chapter three THE LAND OF ISRAEL IN THE BOOK OF JUBILEES

Introduction In the preceding chapters, the law of jubilee in Leviticus 25 was seen as foundational to the whole chronological scheme in the Book of Jubilees. As we have discussed, Jubilees plots the timing of historical events against the recurrent cycles of the cultus, including most prominently the 49-year ‘jubilee’ which gives the book its name. For Jubilees, however, Leviticus 25 is far more than the source of its fundamental timingdevice; it is also the basis of the book’s key theological conception: At the jubilee of jubilees (i.e., the 50th jubilee from the creation of the world [2450 am]), YHWH redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt and returned his people to the land that rightfully belonged to them. Already in Leviticus 25 itself, the imitatio dei on a national scale is considered the basis for the law of jubilee as applied on the individual level. That is, in the year of jubilee, Israelites are to redeem fellow Israelites from ‘slavery’ to resident aliens and to return them to their patrimony in the Land precisely because YHWH had already done the same for the nation as a whole at the time of the exodus from Egypt and the conquest of the Land. Therefore, the law of jubilee is not just a matter of particular timing but also of a specific place in which the law was to apply among Israelites. In other words, sacred space—the Land that belongs ultimately to YHWH himself—is just as much a part of the law of jubilee as sacred time. Indeed, as Jacob Milgrom points out, the common denominator of everything discussed in Leviticus 25 is ‘land,’ which occurs twenty times in the chapter.1 Jubilees follows Leviticus 25 in emphasizing the importance of the Land. In fact, according to our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system, not only do the entrance and reentry into the Land form the crucial transitions between both eras 1–2 and 2–3, but also the goal

1

Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27 (AB 3B; New York: Doubleday, 2001) 2151.

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of history itself is to bring sacred space into conformity with sacred time ‘on earth as in heaven.’ The first window of opportunity for this realignment came at the jubilee of jubilees, when God delivered Israel from Egypt and brought them into the Land. When Israel failed to seize that opportunity but rather defiled sacred space by going astray with respect to the rhythms of sacred time embedded in the creative order of the world, then the next opportunity to ‘get it right’ would come after the exile, which would end when Israel repented from its former sin, and God restored the people to the Land. This time, however, Israel would succeed because God would enable them to obey his laws from the heart. By the end of the period of restoration, which culminates with the new creation and the establishment of the eschatological Temple in Zion, all times and places will be brought back into conformity with the Creator’s will as foreordained in the heavenly tablets. In view of these observations from our study so far, the Land obviously occupies a prominent position in the Book of Jubilees.2 The present chapter seeks to bolster this conclusion in several ways. First, we shall consider the scholarly opinion that the Land does not play such a crucial role in Jubilees. Second, the question will be examined whether Jubilees’ universalism, especially its notion of Israel’s expected universal sovereignty, undermines the book’s particularism and with it the centrality of the Land. Third, we shall examine Jubilees’ notion of the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’ as applied to the era of restoration in the Land. Finally, the book’s concept of the ideal borders of the ideal Land will be explained. Since this last point is so crucial to our whole thesis, a major portion of the present chapter will be devoted to it.

The Role of the Land in Jubilees: A Disputed Point According to our reconstruction, the Land of Israel plays a crucial role in the chronological system of Jubilees, in which sacred space and sacred time are expected eventually to converge into a unified and Godordained whole. Although the emphasis on the Land that we see in Jubilees coheres in general with the work of Doron Mendels, who argues 2 In a way, the dichotomy between being in the Land and outside the Land parallels the dualism between the two kinds of human beings. On the latter in Jubilees, see, e.g., James C. VanderKam, Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees (HSM 14; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1977) 264–267.

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that the raison d’être of the book was the reconquest of Eretz Israel (see further below [p. 182 n. 53]),3 our reconstruction runs countercurrent to some recent scholarly opinion on Jubilees and the closely related Qumran scrolls. Hermann Lichtenberger, for example, argues that there is little or no interest in the Land of Israel in the Qumran scrolls, and that the scrolls annul the Land as the place of all Israel (‘das Land Israel als Ort ganz Israels ist aufgehoben’).4 Instead, with the major exception of the Temple Scroll,5 the focus of the scrolls is on the inhabitants of the Land, and particularly on the Qumran community itself. Indeed, according to Lichtenberger, ‘Das neue Land ist jetzt faktisch die Gemeinde.’6 In response to this thesis, we may note that although ‘Land of Israel’ occurs relatively infrequently in the scrolls, there are nevertheless several important occurrences of the term used of the concrete land rather than as a metaphor for the community. In CD 1.7–8, for example, the historical survey includes a statement at the end of the 390-year period: ‘He [sc. God] caused a plant root to sprout from Israel and Aaron to inherit his land (åöøà) and to prosper on the good things of his earth (åúîãà).’ In 4QMMT (4Q394–399) B 63, ‘Land of Israel’ (ìàøùé õøà) serves as a halakhic (rather than a geopolitical) term for the area that is subject to the laws of tithing of produce and the offering of fourthyear produce.7 In 4QMMT B 29–33, the Land is presented as Temple land on the analogy of the wilderness camp of Israel arrayed around the central tabernacle.8 In the War Scroll, all twelve tribes are expected to participate in an eschatological war (1QM 2.7), which proceeds outward in concentric circles from the nations nearest the Land to the rest of the nations of the world (1QM 2.9–14). This shows that the Land of Israel is important to the Qumran community’s expectations.9 Ben Zion 3

Cf. Doron Mendels, The Land of Israel as Political Concept in Hasmonean Literature: Recourse to History in Second Century B.C. Claims to the Holy Land (TSAJ 15; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1987) 57–88 (esp. 59, 63, 65). 4 Hermann Lichtenberger, “‘Im Lande Israel zu wohnen, wiegt alle Gebote der Tora auf ”. Die Heiligkeit des Landes und die Heiligung des Lebens,’ in Reinhard Feldmeier and Ulrich Heckel (eds.), Die Heiden. Juden, Christen und das Problem des Fremden (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1993) 92–107 (citation on 97). 5 Ibid., 94–96. See further Lawrence H. Schiffman, ‘Sacred Space: The Land of Israel in the Temple Scroll,’ in Biblical Archaeology Today, 1990: Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1993) 398–411; Harmut Stegemann, “‘Das Land” in der Tempelrolle und in anderen Texten aus den Qumranfunden,’ in Georg Strecker (ed.), Das Land Israel in biblischer Zeit (GTA 25; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983) 154–171. 6 Lichtenberger, ‘Im Lande,’ 97. 7 Cf. Elisha Qimron and John Strugnell (eds.), Qumran Cave 4: Miqsat Ma#a´ se ha-Torah . (DJD 10; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) 54. 8 Ibid., 144–145. 9 See further 1QM 7.2; William J. Lyons, ‘Possessing the Land: The Qumran Sect

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chapter three Wacholder argues that the Qumran community understood its site as the En-gedi and En-eglaim, to which Ezek 47:10 refers as the place on the borders of Israel that will become the Orchard of Eden in the end time, nourished by the stream flowing from the threshold of the Temple.10 In 4QPseudo-Ezekiela (4Q385, 386, 385b, 388, 385c), the forecast about the devastated Land of Israel, the dispersion of the people of Israel, their oppression by evil rulers, and the awaited return of the Israelites to their land is counterbalanced by Ezekiel’s question about ‘when will you gather them together?’ and his request that God hasten the passing of time so that the Israelites may come to their inheritance, that is, the Land of Israel.11 It cannot be denied, then, that the Land plays at least some role in the expectations of the Qumran scrolls.

More to the point for the present study, Betsy Halpern-Amaru, for example, denies that the Land plays any role at all in the eschatological expectation of Jubilees:12 The basic structure of the biblical covenant remains in Jubilees: promises to the patriarchs, a national covenant conditional on obedience to divine law; a conception of history organized around the paradigm of sin, punishment, repentance and restoration; and an end-time in which perfection is achieved. But in the Jubilees reconstruction the Land is no longer the key component in the structure. The election of the descendants of Jacob as God’s people, not the promise of the Land, is the focal point around which Israel formulates its origins. The quality of Israel’s relationship with God, not possession of the Land, is the gauge for interpreting covenantal history. Most significantly from the postexilic perspective of the author, restoration of a lost purity, not exile and return to the Land, is the signature of the imminent eschaton.

There are several difficulties with this argument. First, the surface narrative of the whole book climaxes, as we have seen, in the expected and the Eschatological Victory,’ DSD 3 (1996) 130–151, which deals with 4QSefer ha-Milhamah (4Q285), a text related to the War Scroll which looks forward to the . possession of ‘the Land’ (õøàä) after final victory over the Kittim (frg. 8.4–12; cf. P. Alexander and G. Vermes [eds.], ‘4QSefer ha-Milhamah,’ in Stephen J. Pfann, et . al. [eds.], Qumran Cave 4, XXVI: Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, Part 1 [DJD 36; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000] 228–246 [241–243]). See also on 4Q285 7.6; 10.6. 10 Ben Zion Wacholder, ‘Geomessianism: Why Did the Essenes Settle at Qumran?’ in Stanley F. Chyet and David H. Ellenson (eds.), Bits of Honey: Essays for Samson H. Levey (South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 74; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1993) 131–138 (136–138). 11 Cf. Devorah Dimant, ‘Resurrection, Restoration, and Time-Curtailing in Qumran, Early Judaism, and Christianity,’ RevQ 76 (2000) 527–548. 12 Betsy Halpern-Amaru, ‘Exile and Return in Jubilees,’ in J.M. Scott (ed.), Exile: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Conceptions (JSJSup 56; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 127–144 (143– 144).

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jubilee of jubilees, when Israel is liberated from slavery in Egypt and receives back the Land that is rightfully theirs by inheritance. Hence, the Land plays a much more fundamental role in Jubilees than HalpernAmaru allows. Second, as we have also argued, the implicit expectation of the book is that there will be another jubilee of jubilees in the future, that is, another liberation from slavery (exile) and restoration to the Land.13 Already in the crucial opening chapter, Jubilees maps out the expectation of Israel’s future restoration to the Land in terms of the traditional Deuteronomic SER pattern. The same Deuteronomic pattern appears again in Jubilees 23, this time superimposed with a theory of the decline and recovery of human longevity, based in part on the Deuteronomic concept of long life in the Land which is contingent upon obedience. In other words, Jubilees’ concern for the Land becomes merged with a universalistic, salvation-historical narrative. Nevertheless, the universalistic aspect does not replace the particularistic. The emphasis on Israel’s history, together with the Land that is so crucial in that history, remains focal, and the history of humankind in general is completely subordinated to it. This will become all the more apparent below, when we examine the theme of Israel’s universal sovereignty in Jubilees. Third, as we have seen, Jubilees’ concept of the ‘new creation’ (1:29; 4:26; cf. 23:28–29) focuses on the renewal of Jerusalem/Zion in accordance with Isa 65:17–25. Thus, Jubilees broadens the aforementioned universalistic, salvation-historical narrative to include a cosmic dimension. Again, however, the restoration of Israel to the Land remains the particular focus, not least because Zion is seen as a primary holy place ‘in the middle of the navel of the earth’ (Jub. 8:19; cf. 1:10; 49:18). If Jubilees’ conception of Zion as ‘the navel of the earth’ is based on Ezek 38:12 (another restoration text!), then Jubilees’ expectation for the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion may well be grounded in Ezekiel 40–48, where the Temple occupies a central position both between the rearranged northern and southern tribal portions and within the central

13 Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘The Origins and Purposes of the Book of Jubilees,’ in Matthias Albani, et al. (eds.), Studies in the Book of Jubilees (TSAJ 65; Tübingen: MohrSiebeck, 1997) 3–24 (22): ‘The land was theirs by ancient right, the land of a people who would enjoy political blessings if they lived sincerely according to the covenant. God had accomplished their deliverance and liberty in the past [i.e., in the exodus from Egypt] and could do so again for a people true to the extraordinarily ancient covenant.’

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itself.14 Therefore, we have ample evidence that Jubilees expects the Land to continue to function as the center stage where the covenantal relationship between God and his people will be lived out in the age to come. As we have seen in chapter 1, Enoch’s entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden (Jub. 4:23–25) is presented as a harbinger of the priestly service that will take place in the restoration, when Mt. Zion ‘will be sanctified in the new creation for the sanctification of the earth’ (v. 26).

äîåøú

The Land and Jubilees’ Expectation of Israel’s Universal Sovereignty The trajectory set up in Jubilees between creation and the new creation encourages us to draw parallels between the protoplasts and Israel. In chapter 2 (pp. 132–135), we noted the correspondence in Jubilees between the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and Israel’s exile from the Land. To this, we may add the analogy between Adam and Israel in terms of universal sovereignty. According to Jub. 2:14 (cf. Gen 1:26, 28), after God had made the animals on the sixth day, he accomplished one final act of creation:15 … he made mankind—as one man and a woman he made them. He made him rule everything on earth and in the seas and over flying creatures, animals, cattle, everything that moves about on the earth, and the entire earth. Over all these he made him rule.

Thus, Adam was created to rule as universal sovereign over the whole world. 14 Ezekiel’s understanding of the Land as Temple land is the conceptual foundation of the book’s narrative. See Kalinda Rose Stevenson, ‘The Land is Yours: Ezekiel’s Outrageous Land Claim’ (a paper delivered at the SBL Ezekiel Seminar in Denver [November 2001]). Insofar as Jubilees follows Ezekiel in its emphasis on the centrality of Zion and the eschatological Temple, it may also appropriate Ezekiel’s notion of the Land as Temple land. See, e.g., Ezekiel 20, where after the exodus from exile and a cleansing judgment in the wilderness of the peoples (v. 35), God will restore his people directly to Zion (‘my holy mountain’), and ‘there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land’ (v. 40). In other respects, however, Jubilees rejects Ezekiel’s vision for the Land, especially with respect to its borders. On both of these points, see further below. 15 For a comparison of Jub. 2:13–14 with Gen 1:24–31, see J.A.T.G.M. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1–11 in the Book of Jubilees (JSJSup 66; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 42–46. The Jubilees text goes beyond the biblical account precisely in making the man (or humankind) sovereign over ‘everything on earth’ and indeed over ‘the entire earth’ itself (Jub. 2:14).

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In Jubilees, Israel is presented as the new Adam and world ruler.16 Although we shall examine some unequivocal examples of this point in a moment, we turn first to one that is alluring but improbable. According to Jub. 2:23, ‘There were 22 leaders of humanity from Adam until him [sc. Jacob]; and 22 kinds of works were made until the seventh day. The latter [i.e., the sabbath] is blessed and holy and the former [i.e., Jacob], too, is blessed and holy. The one with the other served (the purposes of) holiness and blessing.’ At first sight, we might be tempted to see here a parallel between Adam and Jacob based on number symbolism. If Adam, the first ‘head of humanity,’ was the 22nd work of creation (cf. Jub. 2:15, 23), then the text could be saying that Jacob was the 22nd ‘head of humanity’ (Jub. 2:23).17 Since Jacob was hardly the ‘head of humanity’ during his own lifetime (except perhaps as a righteous descendant of Adam), the significance of this title and the ordinal number would probably be future-thrusting, as in Isaac’s deathbed blessing of Jacob in Gen 27:29: ‘Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you.’ Similarly, during his own deathbed blessing of his twelve sons in Genesis 49, Jacob predicts ‘what will happen

16 On Israel as the new Adam or humanity as it was originally intended, see further Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis, All of the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 42; Leiden: Brill, 2002) 93–94, 97, 135, 435–437 et passim. We may note that in 4QpPsa (4Q171), in which, as we have seen, the returnees from exile receive ‘all the inheritance of Adam’ (3.1–2), that is, human longevity, the text goes on to state in its commentary on Ps 37:22, ‘Its interpretation concerns the congregation of the poor, who [shall possess] the whole world as an inheritance’ (line 10). Presumably, the inheritances in each case—human longevity and universal sovereignty—are interconnected as aspects of the restoration of Adam’s prelapsarian state. 17 Jub. 2:19–21 includes the election of Israel as part of the creation account. Cf. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted, 49, 57–65 (here 59): ‘The special status of Israel is anchored in the order of creation.’ One factor that may have encouraged the connection between Israel and creation is the use of àøá (‘create’) with respect to God’s (re-)creation of Israel (cf. Isa 43:1, 15; 65:18), for this is the same verb that is used of God’s creation of íãàä in Gen 1:27. Just as God ‘created’ Adam, so also he ‘created’ Israel, and this may have led the author of Jubilees to bring Israel into the creation account soon after the creation of mankind (Jub. 2:14). Of course, there are other factors that encouraged the connection between Israel and creation, including the desire to stress the Sabbath day as the sign of Israel’s election (cf. Jub. 2:19–24). On the connection between Adam and Israel, see also Jub. 3:31, where Adam is likened to ‘all those who know the judgment of the law,’ that is, Israel. Note also that the tôl¯edôt of Genesis (i.e., the scriptural basis for Jubilees’ notion of the 22 heads of humanity) lead inexorably from creation (Gen 2:4a [‘the úåãìåú of the heavens and the earth’]) to Jacob and his progeny (Gen 37:2 [‘the úåãìåú of Jacob’]).

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to you at the end of days (íéîéä úéøçà)’ (v. 1),18 which includes the (partially enigmatic) blessing of Judah: ‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah … and the obedience of the peoples is his’ (v. 10; cf. Num 24:17; Isa 11:1–16). Seen in this light, the world rule of Adam and Jacob/Israel as heads of humanity would correspond to the first and last (22nd) letters of the Hebrew alphabet—à and ú—signifying the beginning and the end, as well as completeness. In that case, we might be dealing with an early example of Jewish alphabet symbolism.19 Indeed, appealing to Jubilees (or, as he calls it, Little Genesis [Λεπτ6 Γνεσις]), Syncellus (Chronographia 5.13–17) makes an explicit connection between the 22 γεναρχαι (‘generations of patriarchs’) from Adam to Jacob and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.20 Hence, according to this interpretation, the parallelism between Adam and Jacob/Israel in Jub. 2:23 serves to reinforce Jubilees’ drive to encompass both Urzeit and Endzeit in its chronological purview of ‘what is first and what is last’ (Jub. 1:26), in which Israel is the ultimate and definitive head of humankind. The problem with this interpretation is that it fails to do justice to the text, unless Jubilees is engaging in some kind of creative counting of the generations from Adam to Jacob. For in the count that includes Adam as the first head of humankind (and the second Kainan as the 13th head),21 Jacob would be the 23rd head. Only by beginning with 18 This interpretation of íéîéä úéøçà is common in the Qumran scrolls. Cf. Annette Steudel, ‘íéîéä úéøçà in the Texts of Qumran,’ RevQ 16 (1993) 225–246. 19 See further David E. Aune, Revelation (3 vols.; WBC 52; Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1997–1998) 1.57 (on τ λφα κα τ 9 in Rev 1:8a); Mitchell G. Reddish, ‘Alpha and Omega,’ ABD, 1.161–162. 20 See the citation and discussion in James C. VanderKam (ed. and trans.), The Book of Jubilees (2 vols.; CSCO 510–511, Scriptores Aethiopici 87–88; Leuven: Peeters, 1989) 2.13–14 (note on Jub. 2:23); William Adler and Paul Tuffin (trans.), The Chronography of George Synkellos: A Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) 4, with n. 4. See further Martha Himmelfarb, ‘Some Echoes of Jubilees in Medieval Hebrew Literature,’ in John C. Reeves (ed.), Tracing the Threads: Studies in the Vitality of Jewish Pseudepigrapha (SBLEJL 6; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1994) 115–141 (124–125). 21 Like Gen 10:24 LXX, Jub. 8:1 includes a generation (Kainan) between Arpachshad and Shelah that is not present in the MT. The reason for this discrepancy has been a matter of some debate. R.H. Charles (The Book of Jubilees or The Little Genesis [London: Black, 1902] 66 n. 1) and Adolf Büchler (‘Studies in the Book of Jubilees,’ REJ 82 [1926] 253–274 [258]) argued that the author of Jubilees added this second Kainan because Jub. 2:23 specifies that there are 22 patriarchs from Adam to Jacob. As James C. VanderKam (‘Jubilees and the Hebrew Texts of Genesis-Exodus,’ in From Revelation to Canon: Studies in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature [JSJSup 62; Leiden: Brill,

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the generation after Adam can Jacob be reckoned as the 22nd head of humankind. In no case, however, can Adam be the first head of humanity and Jacob the 22nd, unless Jubilees either (1) misrepresents the actual number of generations, (2) omits, say, the second Kainan from the count, or (3) relies at this point on a tradition that has a different textual basis (e.g., the [proto-]MT, which does not have the second Kainan). More probably, however, the text is not attempting at this point to correlate Adam and Jacob as universal sovereigns. Instead, the parallelism in Jub. 2:23a between ‘until him [sc. Jacob]’22 and ‘until the seventh day’ should be maintained. As VanderKam rightly argues, Jubilees puts Jacob in the 23rd generation, so that he correlates with the Sabbath, the 23rd event of the creation week.23 This interpretation makes good sense in context because Jub. 2:23b (‘The latter is blessed and holy and the former, too, is blessed and holy’) would mean that both the sabbath and Jacob are blessed and holy. Moreover, the immediate context is seeking to cement a connection between Israel’s election, the creation, and the celebration of the sabbath, which was Israel’s sole prerogative (cf. Jub. 2:19–24).24 2000] 448–461 [453 n. 17]) points out, Jub. 2:23 (‘There were 22 leaders of humanity from Adam until him [sc. Jacob]’) is ambiguous: ‘Does this mean “up to and including him”? If it does, then the extra Kainam is incidental and ruins the series of 22. If it means “up to but not including,” then the name is integral to the text.’ Even if, as we shall argue presently, the inclusion of the postdiluvian Kainan in the text serves Jubilees’ purposes, we should be wary of presuming that Jubilees is therefore responsible for the insertion of the second Kainan into the text. For by comparing the patriarchal birth years in the MT, the SP, the LXX and Jubilees, Rook (‘Studies in the Book of Jubilees,’ 129–156) was able to show that although there are some similarities between the lists in Jubilees and the LXX, Jubilees is actually much closer to the list in the SP (which, however, does not have the extra Kainan), and that therefore the tradition that includes the second Kainan antedates both the LXX and Jubilees. 22 The Hebrew text reads åéìà ãò (‘until him’); cf. 4QJubileesa (4Q216) 7.15 (DJD 13, 19). See also the comment on line 15 (DJD 13, 22). 23 James C. VanderKam, ‘Genesis 1 in Jubilees 2,’ DSD 1 (1994) 300–321 (318, 319). 24 The connection between the creation of the world and the (re-)creation of Israel is already traditional. Cf. John F. Kutsko, Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the Book of Ezekiel (Biblical and Judaic Studies from the University of California, San Diego 7; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2000) 140: ‘… the chapter [Ezekiel 37] associates creation traditions with nationalism. A similar juxtaposition occurs in Deutero-Isaiah (for example, Isa 42:5–7; 43:1; 44:24–28). Yahweh’s power is witnessed in creation, and this recollection serves as a reassurance that Yahweh can save his people. The universal scope of the creation narratives has been particularized in Israel. As order is brought out of chaos in creating the world, Israel will be returned from chaos in its restoration from exile. Gerhard von Rad’s observations are particularly appopriate. “Jahweh created the world. But he created Israel too. In Is. li.9f., the two creative works

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There are more promising indications in Jubilees that Israel takes on the role of the new Adam and world ruler. Jubilees 22:13 draws an explicit connection between the blessings of Adam and the blessings of Abraham which are to be transferred to Jacob. Hence, it is highly significant that Jubilees interprets the Abrahamic promise of Genesis as a promise of universal sovereignty. For example, after the birth of Jacob and Esau (Jub. 19:13), Abraham predicted the following to Rebecca concerning Jacob (vv. 17–23): (17) My daughter, take care of my son Jacob because he will occupy my place on the earth and (will prove) a blessing among mankind and the glory of all the descendants of Shem. (18) For I know that the Lord will choose him as his own people (who will be) special from all who are on the surface of the earth. (19) My son Isaac now loves Esau more than Jacob, but I see that you rightly love Jacob. (20) Increase your favor to him still more; may your eyes look at him lovingly because he will prove to be a blessing for us on the earth from now and throughout all the history of the earth. (21) May your hands be strong and your mind be happy with your son Jacob because I love him much more than all my sons; for he will be blessed forever and his descendants will fill the entire earth. (22) If a man is able to count the sands on the earth, in the same way his descendants, too, will be counted. (23) May all the blessings with which the Lord blessed me and my descendants belong to Jacob and his descendants for all time.

At first glance, the expectation that Jacob’s descendants would ‘fill the entire earth’25 would seem to contradict the thesis that Jubilees maintains an expectation of return to the Land. Instead, the Abrahamic promise of ‘land’ (õøà) would appear to be reinterpreted as a promise of ‘earth’ (õøà), that is, a grant of universal sovereignty to Israel. In light of the other evidence that we have seen which supports the ongoing significance of the Land in Jubilees, we should avoid jumping to the concluare almost made to coincide. The prophet apostrophises the creation of the world, but at the same time he speaks of Israel’s redemption from Egypt. For hardly has he spoken about the driving back of the waters, in the language of the mythical struggle with the dragon of Chaos, than he jumps to the miracle at the Red Sea where Jahweh again held the waters back ‘for the redeemed to pass through.’ Here creation and redemption almost coincide, and can almost be looked on as one act of dramatic divine saving action in the picture of the struggle with the dragon of Chaos …. Creation is part of the aetiology of Israel!”’ 25 Cf. 1QM 12.7–16, where echoes of the first creation account of Genesis, including the command to fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over the whole of creation (Gen 1:28), climax in Israel’s summons to ‘have dominion over the kingdoms.’ According to Fletcher-Louis (All of the Glory of Adam, 435–437), this passage interprets Israel as true Adam.

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sion that Israel’s universal sovereignty takes away from the emphasis on the Land. More probably, we are witnessing another way in which the text merges the particularistic emphasis on Israel with a universal, salvation-historical narrative that encompasses all of humankind. As we shall see, Israel’s universal sovereignty is directly connected with the expectation of the return and restoration to the Land. In accordance with his earlier prediction, Abraham, near the time of his death, blesses Jacob (sic!) with these words (Jub. 22:11b–12a, 13–14):26 (11b) May my son Jacob and all his sons be blessed to the most high Lord throughout all ages. May the Lord give you righteous descendants, and may he sanctify some of your sons within the entire earth. May the nations serve you, and may all the nations bow before your descendants. (12) Be strong before people and continue to exercise power over all Seth’s descendants. […] (13) May the most high God give you all the blessings with which he blessed me and with which he blessed Noah and Adam. May they come to rest on the sacred head of your descendants throughout each and every generation and forever. (14) May he purify you from all filthy pollution so that you may be pardoned for all the guilt of your sins in ignorance. May he strengthen and bless you; may you possess the entire earth.

Seth is the third son of Adam and Eve, who was born after the death of Abel and the banishment of Cain (Gen 4:25–26). Therefore, not only is Jacob given dominion over all humankind, but the dominion once again relates directly to the universal sovereignty originally bestowed on Adam. This is further underscored by the fact that the tôl¯edôt of Adam’s family lists Seth as Adam’s firstborn son and direct heir (Gen 5:3–4; cf. Jub. 4:7; 19:24; 1 Chr 1:1; Luke 3:38). Later in the narrative, after his name had been changed to ‘Israel’ (Jub. 32:17; cf. Gen 32:28; 35:10), Jacob received another divine revelation (Jub. 32:18–19):27 (18) I am the Lord who created heaven and earth. I will increase your numbers and multiply you very much. Kings will come from you, and they will rule wherever mankind has set foot. (19) I will give your descen26 We are reminded here again of Isaac’s deathbed blessing of Jacob in Gen 27:29 (‘Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you’). 27 For the Hebrew text of Jub. 32:18–19, see 4QpapJubileesh (4Q223–224) 1 i 1–3 (DJD 13, 100): ‘And I will make you fruitful [and multiply you very greatly, and kings will be from you,] (2) [and] they [will rul]e in every place where the sole of [mankind’s foot] has trod. [I will give to your descendants all the land which is beneath] (3) [the heavens. And] they [will] rule over all the [nations according to their will. And afterwards they will take all the land and will possess it forever.]’

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chapter three dants all of the land that is beneath the sky. They will rule over all the nations as they wish. Afterwards, they will gain the entire earth, and they will possess it forever.

This passage is based on Gen 35:11–12, where God says to Jacob: (11) I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you. (12) The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.

Clearly, Jubilees 32 interprets the Genesis text as a promise of universal sovereignty for Israel.28 Jubilees expects Israel’s universal reign to begin at the time of the restoration, which, as we have seen, is also otherwise a period of prosperity for Israel and of judgment over Israel’s enemies. This will be a time of great reversal, for whereas Israel in exile was delivered over into the control of the nations with the result that the nations ruled over them (cf. Jub. 1:19), restored Israel would in turn rule over the nations. According to Deut 30:7, Israel’s restoration was to be a time of dramatic inversion: what Israel had once suffered in exile would then be inflicted on the nations.29 Deuteronomy 15:1–6 implies that when Israel obeys the Law, including the commandment concerning the sabbatical year (vv. 1–3), ‘you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you’ (v. 6). Again, Jubilees presumably applies this promise to the period of the restoration. Ultimately, Deuteronomy may have also contributed to the notion of Israel’s universal sovereignty, for ‘to dispossess nations larger and mightier than you’ is a thoroughly Cf. Gen 28:14, where, taking up the Abrahamic promise of land in Gen 13:14–15, God promises Jacob and his seed possession of the four corners of the earth. Similarly, Sir 44:19–23 takes the Abrahamic promise to mean that Israel will ‘inherit from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth’ (v. 21; cf. Ps 72:8; Zech 9:9–10). Josephus (Ant. 1.282) interprets the promise to Jacob in Gen 28:14 as a promise of universal sovereignty: ‘To your children … I hereby give rule over this earth (τατης τς γς), and they shall fill all the earth and all the sea under the sun (ο: πληρ3σουσιν ;σην <λιος ρ=> κα γν κα $λασσαν).’ 29 The War Scroll (1QM) provides a salient example of how one Jewish group expected the end-time armies of all Israel to achieve universal sovereignty by systematically conquering each of the three parts of the world (Shem, Ham, and Japheth). Insofar as this tripartite division of the world is elaborated in Jubilees 8–9, together with an expectation of eschatological judgment for the nations (cf. 9:15), we may suspect either that the War Scroll used Jubilees as a source for its conception of the war plan or, more likely, that both writings go back a common precursor at this point. Cf. James M. Scott, ‘Geographic Aspects of the Noachic Materials in the Scrolls at Qumran,’ in Stanley E. Porter and Craig A. Evans (eds.), The Scrolls and the Scriptures: Qumran Fifty Years Later (JSPSup 26; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) 368–381. 28

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Deuteronomic concept (cf. Deut 4:38; 7:1; 9:1; 11:23; Josh 23:9).30 This is confirmed by the fact that Jub. 1:16 applies Deut 28:13 to the time of the restoration. Thus, when Israel returns to the Land in obedience to the covenant, they will become ‘the head, and not the tail,’ which means that they will gain ascendancy over the nations (cf. Deut 28:9–10). Whether this universal sovereignty is connected with a messianic expectation cannot be answered with certainty. Although there is clearly no developed messianism in the book, it is more difficult to know whether the text at least hints at a messianic figure. The promise that ‘kings will come from you’ (Jub. 32:18; cf. Gen 35:11) is perhaps suggestive.31 In Jub. 31:18–20, Isaac blesses Judah in terms that may indirectly include an eschatological messianic figure (‘Be a prince—you 30 Note, for example, that in Deut 11:22–25, if the people of Israel fulfill the commandment of the imitatio dei (cf. Deut 19:2) and ‘walk in all his ways,’ they will inherit the Promised Land and become the greatest nation on earth: ‘If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, (23) then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves. (24) Every place on which you set foot shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the Western Sea. (25) No one will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the fear and dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, as he promised you.’ 31 On the other hand, Jub. 1:24 applies to Israel of the restoration the promise of divine adoptive sonship in 2Sam 7:14, indicating perhaps a ‘democratization’ of the Davidic promise (cf. Isa 55:1–10). Cf. T. Elgvin, [ed.], ‘4QRenewed Earth,’ in Stephen J. Pfann, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XXVI: Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, Part 1 (DJD 36; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000) 464–473 (472, note on line 7); George J. Brooke, ‘Miqdash Adam, Eden and the Qumran Community,’ in Beate Ego, et al. (eds.), Gemeinde ohne Tempel. Zur Substitutierung und Transformation des Jerusalemer Tempels und seines Kultes im Alten Testament, antiken Judentum und frühen Christentum (WUNT 118; Tübingen: MohrSiebeck, 1999) 285–301 (287); William M. Schniedewind, Society and the Promise to David: The Reception History of 2Samuel 7:1–17 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) 117– 118. It seems unlikely, however, that such a ‘democratization’ of the Davidic promise necessarily entails a corresponding dissolution of the promise to David’s heirs, for we see a somewhat similar ‘democratization’ of priestly holiness in Jubilees (cf. Christine E. Hayes, Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion for the Bible to the Talmud [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002] 73–81; Martha Himmelfarb, ‘“A Kingdom of Priests”: The Democratization of the Priesthood in the Literature of Second Temple Judaism,’ Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 6 [1997] 89–104), although no one would suggest that the book thereby dissolves the priesthood. Perhaps this application of royal and priestly attributes to Israel simply reflects the fundamental tenet of God’s covenant with Israel, that they would be a ‘kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Exod 19:6; cf. Jub. 16:17–18; 33:20). On Exod 19:6 in OT and Jewish tradition, see further James L. Kugel, Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998) 671–674.

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and one of your sons—for Jacob’s sons’ [v. 18]), while emphasizing Judah’s military supremacy over the nations (cf. Gen 49:10; Num 24:17).32 The aforementioned Adam typology that is present in Jubilees may also indicate an underlying expectation of a messianic figure.33 Furthermore, since other Second Temple texts interpret the Abrahamic promise in light of the Davidic promise as an expectation of universal sovereignty,34 it is possible that Jubilees presupposes a similar expectation.35 A less direct piece of evidence may also be relevant here: If Deuteronomy accepted the ideal borders of Gen 15:18, which reflected the limits of the Davidic kingdom, as binding borders (Deut 1:7; 11:24; 34:1–4), then Transjordan was an integral part of the Land (Deut 34:1), and 32 The blessing in Jub. 31:18–20 reads in full: ‘May the Lord give you the power and strength to trample on all who hate you. Be a prince—you and one of your sons—for Jacob’s sons. May your name and the name of your sons be one that goes and travels around in the entire earth and the regions. Then the nations will be frightened before you; all the nations will be disturbed; all peoples will be disturbed. (19) May Jacob’s help be in you; may Israel’s safety be found in you. (20) At the time when you sit on the honorable throne that is rightly yours, there will be great peace for all the descendants of the beloved’s sons. The one who blesses you will be blessed, and all who hate and trouble you, and those, too, who curse you, will be uprooted and destroyed from the earth and are to be cursed.’ Here, it is interesting to compare the grandiose notions of universal sovereignty which were associated with Alexander the Great (whose conquests reputedly extended ‘to the ends of the earth’ [1Macc 1:3]) and which already from the second century bce onward, were claimed by the Romans themselves (cf. Plutarch, Ti. Gracch. 9.6: ‘the masters of the whole world’). 33 Compare the divine command to rule over the earth in Gen 1:26–28 with the prayer in Ps 72:8 that the idealized Israelite king ‘rule from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.’ Created in the image of God, Adam is commissioned to manifest God’s rule on earth in a kind of priestly democratization of kingship (see above on the use of 2Sam 7:14 in Jub. 1:24). 34 Cf., e.g., Sir 44:19–23, where the promise that Abraham’s seed will be given an inheritance ‘from sea to sea and from the River to the end of the earth’ mirrors the expectation for the Davidic king in Ps 72(71):8 (κα κατακυριεσει π αλ$σσης ?ως αλ$σσης κα π ποταμο ?ως περ$των τς ο@κουμνης). Compare also Rom 4:13a ( !παγγελα τ4, %Αβρα μ A τ4, σπρματι α+το, τ κληρονμον α+τν εCναι κσμου) with Gal 3:16, which identifies the ‘seed’ of Abraham with Christ. 35 Even without the Davidic connection, the Abrahamic promise may have been understood as an expectation of universal sovereignty on the basis of a passage like Isa 54:1–3, where the reference to exilic Zion as a ‘barren’ woman recalls Sarah from the previous context (cf. 51:2); the superabundance of progeny recalls the expectation of a great nation; and the vocabulary of inheritance recalls the Abrahamic promise of land. In other words, Isa 54:1–3 expects that the Abrahamic promise of seed and of becoming a great nation is the means by which, spreading out from Zion, Israel will gradually take possession of all the nations of the earth. Philo has a similar conception based on the Abrahamic promise. Cf. J.M. Scott, ‘Philo and the Restoration of Israel,’ in Eugene H. Lovering, Jr. (ed.), Society of Biblical Literature 1995 Seminar Papers (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1995) 553–575 (559–562).

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this might be an endeavor to restore Israel to its ideal borders of the Davidic-Solomonic period.36 Hence, insofar as Jubilees also accepts these ideal borders of the Land (see below on Jub. 14:18 [pp. 195– 205]), they may have messianic implications for Jubilees. Yet, despite these possible glimpses of a messianic expectation in the book, there can be no doubt that Jubilees places the emphasis on Levi and his priestly descendants. The messianic expectation of the book, if any,37 is completely subordinated to this central theme, just as the Messiah of Israel in the Qumran scrolls is subordinated to the priesthood.38 The 36 Moshe Weinfeld, ‘The Extent of the Promised Land—the Status of Transjordan,’ in Georg Strecker (ed.), Das Land Israel in biblischer Zeit. Jerusalem-Symposium 1981 der Hebräischen Universität und der Georg-August-Universität (GTA 25; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983) 59–75. 37 If Jubilees sees YHWH as the King, and the Land is his, there is perhaps little room for a temporal king to assert control in a similar, albeit subordinate, way. Whereas in Mesopotamia all land theoretically belonged to the king, and was held only as a grant or fief by his subjects, ‘The God of Israel had replaced the earthly monarch: all land was his; he parceled it out to Israel’s clans, and it could never be alienated’ (Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2194). Moreover, it is possible that in keeping with its overall tendency to antedate, Jubilees harkens back to the time when Israel had no other king but God himself and when asserting a temporal potentate was viewed as acting like all the other nations (Deut 17:14; 1Sam 8:1–22 [esp. v. 5]). For Jubilees, acting like other nations—an integral part of Israel’s history of infidelity (cf. Ezek 20:32)—was a thoroughly abhorrent idea (cf., e.g., Jub. 1:9; 3:31; 6:35). 38 In Jub. 31:12–20, Isaac blesses Levi and Judah (in that order), taking Levi by his right hand and Judah by his left (v. 12). Moreover, Levi’s blessing is longer and greater (vv. 13–17) than Judah’s (vv. 18–20). As we observed in chapter 1, Jubilees regards the priestly line as beginning with Adam himself, who offered incense outside the Garden of Eden (Jub. 3:27), and continuing on to Enoch, and through Abraham and Isaac to Levi, the most important of Jacob’s sons, who becomes the first priest among the Israelites and occupies a position on earth analogous to the highest orders of angels in heaven (Jub. 31:14). Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Jubilees’ Exegetical Creation of Levi the Priest,’ RevQ 17 (1996) 359–373 (360, 371–372); idem, ‘The Origins and Purposes of the Book of Jubilees,’ 19. On the other hand, Mendels (The Land of Israel, 60–62) argues that Jubilees has a concept of ‘dual rulership’ in which the secular and religious authorities are equal. In any case, there seems to be no hint of the Hasmonean conception of the king-priest, which could have had its roots in such OT texts as Genesis 1–3 (Adam), Gen 14:17–20; Ps 110:1–4 (Melchizedek, whom Jubilees omits from its account of Abraham [except perhaps incidentally in the restored lacuna of Jub. 13:25] and altogether dissociates from Jerusalem [Salem, the city of which Melchizedek is king in Gen 14:18, is located on the east side of Shechem in Jub. 30:1; cf. Gen 33:18 LXX]), and/or Exod 6:23 (Aaron’s marriage to Elisheba of the tribe of Judah; cf. William Adler, ‘Exodus 6:23 and the High Priest from the Tribe of Judah,’ JTS NS 48 [1997] 24–47). As we noted in chapter 1 (p. 58 n. 100), however, 2Enoch 71 presents an interesting contrast to the portrayal of Enoch in Jub. 4:17–26. According to 2Enoch (A) 71:27–29, God promises that the Garden of Eden is the place where Melchizedek would be put by the archangel Gabriel, so that the child might escape death in the flood, and that

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text certainly downplays the role of the tribe of Judah vis-à-vis the Temple, at one point even failing to mention the name of the tribe that sponsored the location and building of the Temple.39 Nevertheless, it may be that, as VanderKam suggests, Jubilees’ ‘emphasis on priestly and kingly leadership [in 31:11–17, 18–20; cf. 30:18] seems to be an early stage in the development of the dual messianism found at Qumran ….’40 Perhaps, then, the Deuteronomic law of the king, in which the

‘Melchizedek will be my priest to all priests ….’ Hence, we have in Jubilees and in 2Enoch two antediluvian figures who are readmitted to the Garden of Eden before the flood and are seen as prototypical priests having supernatural traits: Enoch straddles heaven and earth, keeps company with the highest angels of heaven and burns incense in the Garden as the harbinger of the restored priestly service on Mt. Zion (Jub. 4:17– 26; cf. v. 24: ‘Because of him the flood water did not come on any part of the land of Eden …’), whereas Melchizedek is the product of a miraculous conception (2Enoch 71:2: ‘And she [sc. Nir’s wife Sothonim] conceived in her womb, but Nir the priest had not slept with her …’) and, in keeping with his title in Gen 14:18 (‘priest of God Most High’), he is destined to be God’s ‘priest to all priests’ (2Enoch 71:29). Do these two figures represent competing priestly traditions, the latter possibly being Samaritan? At first glance, the much later dating of 2Enoch (early first century ce?) might argue against such a possibility. Yet the severely diminished or even non-existent role of Melchizedek in Jubilees, a priestly apocalyptic writing, suggests otherwise. Moreover, in accordance with Samaritan tradition, Jub. 30:1 identifies Salem with Shechem (cf. Ps.-Eupolemus, apud Eusebius, Pr. Ev. 9.17.5–6; Asitir 2:5 [‘And Jared became the father of Enoch and he built a city and called it Salem the Great’]), and Levi’s election to an eternal priesthood is connected with the extermination of the Shechemites (see below on Jub. 30:18). 39 Cf. Jub. 49:18: ‘When the Israelites enter the land which they will possess—the land of Canaan—and set up the Lord’s tabernacle in the middle of the land in one of their tribal groups [i.e., Judah] (until the time when the Lord’s temple will be built in the land) ….’ For the idea that Jerusalem was located in unconquered territory in Judah, see Josh 15:63. David finally succeeded in capturing Jerusalem from the Jebusites and in relocating the ark there, thus making this centrally-located and extraterritorial city the political and religious center of his kingdom to consolidate the northern and southern tribes. As David’s own possession by right of conquest, Jerusalem became so intimately associated with David that it was called the City of David. Since David was of the tribe of Judah, this could have reinforced the idea that Jerusalem was in Judahite territory. 40 James C. VanderKam, ‘Messianism and Apocalypticism,’ in John J. Collins (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, Vol. 1: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity (New York/London: Continuum, 2000) 193–228 (203); cf. also idem, Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees, 280 n. 124: ‘Jub.’s silence regarding a messiah, may, however, be a result of the insufficient opportunity which its narrative structure gave the author for expressing himself on such matters.’ Jubilees does not seem to have gone to the extreme of Ben Sira in retelling Israel’s history so that there is no reason for nostalgia for kingship. Cf. Martha Himmelfarb, ‘The Wisdom of the Scribe, the Wisdom of the Priest, and the Wisdom of the King according to Ben Sira,’ in Randal A. Argall, et al. (eds.), For a Later Generation: The Transformation of Tradition in Israel, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000) 89–99.

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king is subject to the law kept by the priests at the sanctuary (Deut 17:14–20; cf. 2 Kgs 22:8), illustrates the kind of subordination of the monarchy to the priesthood that Jubilees has in view.41 Jubilees’ interpretation of the Abrahamic promise as an expectation of Israel’s universal sovereignty may strike us as inconsistent with Jubilees 8–10, where the territories allotted to Noah’s sons are seen as inviolable, and trespassers are subject to eschatological judgment (9:14– 15). For example, Canaan illegitimately took territory that was allotted to Shem (10:27–34), thereby becoming doubly cursed (v. 32).42 Here we should note, however, that when Abraham entered the so-called ‘Land of Canaan,’ he received a reconfirmation of the promise as the legitimate heir of the Land (13:1–3). The implication is that Israel did not conquer a land that rightfully belonged to another nation; they were merely taking back territory that was theirs all along. This is Jubilees’ basic premise when it applies the law of jubilee on a national scale. The original rule of territorial inviolability evidently changes after ‘the day of judgment on which the Lord God will punish them [sc. the descendants of Noah who violate the oath of territorial inviolability] with sword and fire …’ (9:15). Jubilees apparently envisions that after the eschatological judgment of the nations, God would not only expel Israel’s enemies from the Land and restore the patrimony to Israel (23:30–31), but would also hand over world rule to Israel (cf. Dan 7:18, 25, 27, where there the correlation between the heavenly ‘holy ones’ [the angels] and the earthly ‘holy ones’ [Israel] is set within the context of the ultimate transfer of the universal kingdom of God to Israel).43 This is perhaps part of the great reversal that we mentioned earlier, in which what Israel suffered at the hands of the nations, the latter will in turn suffer at the hands of Israel. 41 Note also that in Jer 33:19–22, the duration of YHWH’s covenant with David and the levitical priests is likened to God’s covenant faithfulness in maintaining the cycles of the sun that govern day and night. Inasmuch as Jubilees is based on the cycles of the sun, it may also presuppose the endurance of the other two covenants. 42 Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Putting Them in Their Place: Geography as an Evaluative Tool,’ in John C. Reeves and J. Kampen (eds.), Pursuing the Text: Studies in Honor of Ben Zion Wacholder on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday (JSOTSup 184; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994) 46–69. 43 On Dan 7:18, 22, 27, see John J. Collins, Daniel: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Hermeneia; Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1993) 312–318. On function of the angelic holy ones as patrons of the righteous, God’s saints, compare the double use of ‘holy’ in 1Enoch 100:5a, on which see George W.E. Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of Enoch, Chapters 1–36; 81–108 (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001) 500–501.

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chapter three The Land and the ‘Already’—‘Not Yet’

Like other apocalyptic literature, Jubilees considers itself to be on the threshold of the new age.44 More specifically, the book looks forward to the end of the period of exile and even seeks to hasten its day through proper confession and cultic reform. In Jubilees’ deterministic worldview, divine sovereignty over the course of history, written as it is on heavenly tablets before the foundation of the world, and human responsibility for maintaining the covenant stipulations, whereby the course of events can be altered in accordance with obedience or disobedience, are not seen as mutually exclusive alternatives. For Jubilees, the important thing was that the end—or at least the beginning of the end—was in sight. Like the Apocalypse of Weeks, Jubilees expects the final culmination of the restoration to come about in the distant future. Although the process of restoration was about to begin, it would not be completed for almost two and a half millennia— a period longer than the first century ce is from our own day! Jubilees contains a perspective which has widely come to be known as the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet.’ This conception allowed various groups in the Second Temple period to hold that the eschatological drama had already in some sense arrived (or was about to begin), while acknowledging that the final consummation was still to come in the future.45 In Jubilees, the intervening years were expected to be characterized by incremental progress toward the final consummation. As time went on, everything would gradually be restored to its original, pristine condition in accordance with the originally intended divine will inscribed on the heavenly tablets. We may compare Jubilees’ notion of incremental restoration to a gray scale that gradually shades from black to white, or better yet to the Munsell color model, in which any particular color is further defined in terms of two axes: the ‘value’ axis, which distinguishes degrees of lightness, and the ‘chroma’ axis, which distinguishes the saturation or purity of a hue. For example, the color yellow (10Y) in the Munsell system reaches its fullest chroma at 9/12, although there are many 44 Cf. Lars Hartman, ‘The Functions of Some So-called Apocalyptic Timetables,’ NTS 22 (1976) 1–14. 45 Cf. Steudel, ‘íéîéä úéøçà in the Texts of Qumran,’ 225–246, who shows that the Qumran community understood itself as living in the midst of the final period of history (‘the end of days’).

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shades of yellow leading up to that point.46 If we think of the value axis as increasing purgation and re-creation, the chroma axis can be seen as increasing saturation of heaven on earth over time. All during this incremental restoration in the Land, Jubilees expects that ‘generation by generation’ human longevity will gradually return to the divinely intended ideal of 1000 years. As we discussed in chapter 2 (pp. 121–122), however, Jubilees also expects that over such an extensive restoration era, people will continue to die, albeit at a ripe old age. What happens to people after death? According to Jub. 23:31, ‘Their bones will rest in the earth and their spirits will be very happy. They will know that the Lord is one who executes judgment but shows kindness to hundreds and thousands and to all who love him (Exod 20:6; Deut 5:10).’ Nickelsburg interprets this passage to mean that the spirits of the righteous ascend into the joy of God’s presence after death (while their physical bodies [‘bones’] presumably remain in the grave).47 Similarly, Collins takes it as referring to ‘resurrection of the spirit,’ as in Daniel and 1Enoch.48 If these interpretations are correct, then For the chart of 10Y in full color, see http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~XN6T-OGR/ colors/mh10Y.html. 47 Cf. George W.E. Nickelsburg, ‘The Nature and Function of Revelation in 1Enoch, Jubilees, and Some Qumranic Documents,’ in Esther G. Chazon and Michael Stone (eds.), Pseudepigraphic Perspectives: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 31; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 91–119 (105). We may perhaps compare 2Bar. 14:13, which states that the righteous ‘leave this world without fear and are confident of the world you have promised to them with an expectation full of joy.’ See also James C. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001) 143: ‘Jubilees is clear on the point [i.e., on whether the soul is immortal]: when the new age comes, the bones of the righteous who have perished will rest in the earth, while their spirits will rejoice (23.30–31). This can hardly be regarded as a Pharisaic view, as Pharisees are reported to have believed there would be a resurrection of the body; it is certainly not a Sadducean one, as they are said to have denied a post-mortem existence.’ We may also compare Jub. 36:1, where Isaac announces that he is ‘going on the way of my fathers, to the eternal home where my fathers are.’ Thereupon, Isaac instructs his children to bury him ‘near my father Abraham in the double cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite which Abraham acquired to (have) a burial place there’ (v. 2). 48 Cf. John J. Collins, Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (The Literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls; London/New York: Routledge, 1997) 112–113. See, however, Gene L. Davenport, The Eschatology of the Book of Jubilees (SPB 20; Leiden: Brill, 1971) 40 n. 2: ‘The use of bones and spirits does not mean a resurrection of the spirit, as Charles thought …. The lines are parallel. Man is a unity, even in death.’ Note also that N.T. Wright (The Resurrection of the Son of God [Christian Origins and the Question of God 3; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003] 108–109 et passim) rejects the notion of a ‘resurrection of the spirit,’ defining resurrection instead as ‘bodily life after “life after death,” or, if you prefer, bodily life after the state of “death.”’ Wright (ibid., 143– 46

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Jubilees 23 contains important evidence of an earthly expectation that is juxtaposed to a heavenly expectation.49 Although there is a distinction between the earthly period of bliss and prosperity for the whole person and the heavenly ‘eternal state’ for the spirit alone, the two are not seen as mutually exclusive expectations, but rather as consecutive modes of

144) interprets Jub. 23:30–31 as referring to the intermediate state between death and resurrection, when the people ‘will rise and see great peace’ (v. 30). 49 On the other hand, the place to which the dead go may be somewhere else on earth. Cf. David E. Aune, ‘From the Idealized Past to the Imaginary Future: Eschatological Restoration in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature,’ in J.M. Scott (ed.), Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives (JSJSup 72; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 147–177 (170– 171). According to Jub. 4:23–24, for example, Enoch was taken away to the Garden of Eden (located in the eastern extremity of the world; cf. Jub. 8:16), and because of him the flood did not reach Eden. Similarly, according to 1Enoch 70:3–4, ‘the place for the elect and righteous ones’ is located somewhere on earth between the north and the west. This place is variously designated a garden where the chosen and righteous (specifically Enoch) dwell (1Enoch 60:8), the Garden of the Righteous Ones (1Enoch 60:23) or the Garden of Life (1Enoch 61:12). In 1Enoch 106:7–8, Enoch dwells with the angels at the ends of the earth. There is a close similarity to Greek mythical conceptions of Elysion or the Islands of the Blessed, vaguely located in the far reaches of the world, where only exceptional heroes like Menelaus are admitted after death, while Hades was the postmortem destination of most mortals. Josephus (JW 2.154–158) characterizes the Essenes as believing in the immortality of the soul, which he compares to the Greek conception of the dead heroes who remain in the Islands of the Blessed. Apparently, therefore, Josephus presents the Essenes as believing in an earthly place for the righteous dead, such as that found in the aforementioned passages in Jubilees and 1Enoch. See, however, Steve Mason, ‘What Josephus Says About the Essenes in his Judean War,’ in Stephen G. Wilson and Michael Desjardins (eds.), Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity: Essays in Honour of Peter Richardson (Studies in Christianity and Judaism 9; Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2000) 423–455 (444–445), who argues that Josephus’ description of the Essenes’ view of the soul and afterlife reflects Josephus’ own perspective, according to which the body is the storehouse of the soul (JW 3.372), and the souls of those who die naturally are allotted ‘the holiest heavenly place’ (χ,ρον ο+ρ$νιον τν Dγι3τατον, JW 3.374). See further FletcherLouis, All the Glory of Adam, 127–131. Hippolytus’ description of the Essenes, which is otherwise parallel to but probably independent of Josephus’, adds the important point that the Essenes ‘acknowledge both that the flesh will be resurrected and that it will be immortal, just as the soul is already immortal (μολογοσι γ ρ κα τ6ν σ$ρκα ναστ/σεσαι κα 0σεσαι $νατον, Fν τρπον Gδη $νατς !στιν  ψυχ/)’ (Ref. 9.27.1). As several scholars have emphasized, Hippolytus’ description at this point is consistent with the eschatological expectations in several Qumran scrolls concerning a future resurrection. See, e.g., 4QPseudo-Ezekiela (4Q385) 2 and 4QPseudo-Ezekielb (4Q386) 1 i 1–10 (cf. Devorah Dimant [ed.], Qumran Cave 4, XXI: Parabiblical Texts, Part 4: PseudoProphetic Texts [DJD 30; Oxford: Clarendon, 2001] 17–69 [esp. 32–37, on resurrection in the Dead Sea scrolls]); 4QMessianic Apocalypse (4Q521) 2 ii+4 9–12; 7+5 ii 6 (cf. Émile Puech [ed.], Qumrân Grotte 4, XVII: Textes hébreux [4Q521–4Q528, 4Q576–4Q579] [DJD 25; Oxford: Clarendon, 1998] 1–38 [10–18, 23–28]).

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existence—mortal and postmortem.50 As the older generation of the third era dies, their spirits ascend to heaven, where they continue their bliss in a new location (and in closer proximity to God?).51 If, as we have suggested, the third era lasts 50 jubilees/2450 years until human longevity is gradually restored to 1000 years, then children will continue to be born, grow up, procreate, and die until both limits are finally attained at the time of the fully consummated new creation. All during the third era, the ‘eternal state,’ i.e., the heavenly mode of existence, goes on concurrently with the earthly. Moreover, Jubilees repeatedly indicates that the transformation expected in the restoration will last from that time and until eternity, which is another evidence of the continuity between the third era and the eternal state. Thus, we read in Jub. 1:23, ‘I will create a holy spirit for them and will purify them in order that they may not turn away from me from that time forever.’52

50 One wonders whether Isa 26:19 (cf. Ezek 37:1–14), which refers apparently to the restoration of the Israelite nation, contributed to Jubilees’ concept of the afterlife: ‘Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth shall give birth to those long dead.’ 51 If God will descend to earth and live with Israel for all ages of eternity in his eschatological Temple on Zion (Jub. 1:26–29), then it is difficult to see how the spirits of the departed could enjoy greater proximity to God in their heavenly abode. Perhaps we are to imagine a qualitative difference between the earthly and heavenly experience of God’s presence. In some apocalyptic writings, the highest goal of human existence is transformation to an angelic state (cf. 1Enoch 104; Martha Himmelfarb, ‘Revelation and Rapture: The Transformation of the Visionary in the Ascent Apocalypses,’ in John J. Collins and James H. Charlesworth [eds.], Mysteries and Revelations [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991] 79–90). As was noted above, Daniel 7 develops a parallelism the heavenly ‘holy ones’ (the angels) and the earthly ‘holy ones’ (Israel) in the context of the transfer of the universal kingdom of God to Israel. Perhaps Jubilees conceives of the postmortem state of the righteous Israelites as an angelic (or angel-like) condition and as the precondition for inheriting the aforementioned universal sovereignty promised to the patriarchs (or at least for enjoying it to the fullest extent). 52 By this point at the latest, the correlation between Jubilees’ chronological conception and the practical meaning of the Pythagoreans’ number symbolism becomes apparent. As Adela Yarbro Collins (‘Numerical Symbolism in Jewish and Early Christian Apocalyptic Literature,’ in ANRW II.21.2 [1984] 1221–1287 [1253]) points out, G.S. Kirk and J.E. Raven [The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957) 228] ‘perceived the central notions of the Pythagorean way of life to be contemplation (the¯oria), and orderliness found in the arrangement of the universe (kosmos), and purification (katharsis). The logic of the Pythagorean life style seems to have been based on the conviction that by contemplating the order of the universe and by conforming one’s life to that order, a person may progressively purify oneself until he or she escapes the cycle of rebirth and attains immortality.’ On the possible connection between Pythagoreanism and the Essenes’ way of life, see chapter 1 (p. 70 [n. 119]).

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The same temporal indicator is found in Jub. 50:5: ‘The land will be pure from that time until eternity.’

The Ideal Boundaries of the Ideal Land in the Book of Jubilees Finally, we turn to Jubilees’ description of the Land itself, particularly its definition of the borders of the Land. For several reasons, Jubilees puts great emphasis on defining the borders of the Land of Israel.53 First, the precise timing of the entrance into the Land determined the proper observance of the times and seasons of the sabbatical calendar that was foreordained from the foundation of the world.54 Since the commandments specific to the Land (e.g., the feast of weeks and the feast of first fruits, the sabbatical year, and the year of jubilee itself) were binding on Israel from the moment that Israel entered the Land,55 it was 53 On the borders of the Land of Israel in Jubilees, see esp. Mendels, The Land of Israel, 57–88. Mendels dates Jubilees to the Hasmonean period (c. 125 bce) and argues that the raison d’être of the book was the reconquest of Eretz Israel (ibid., 59, 63, 65). ‘Jubilees therefore asks what borders the Jewish state is to have, what is to be its political authority, and what exactly should be done with the foreigners settled on the Land’ (ibid., 59). If, however, as seems likely, Jubilees should be dated earlier than 125 bce, then the text would not be referring to Hasmonean expansionism to fill out its ideal borders. On Hasmonean expansionism and the dynasty’s attempt thereby to fulfill OT prophecies about the expected extent of the restored Land of Israel, see Jonathan A. Goldstein, ‘The Hasmonean Revolt and the Hasmonean Dynasty,’ in W.D. Davies and Louis Finkelstein (eds.), The Cambridge History of Judaism, Vol. 2: The Hellenistic Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) 292–351 (325–326, 333, 337–338). In any case, Jubilees gives no hint that it should be read against the background of events in the Hasmonean period (unless there is a very subtle polemic against the Hasmonean conception of the king-priest in Jub. 31:12–20 [see further above]), and the ideal borders of the Land that Jubilees envisions go well beyond the more modest territorial acquisitions of the Hasmoneans. Even at its maximum extent during the reign of Alexander Janneus (103–76 bce), the Hasmonean kingdom did not extend beyond Antiochia, north of the Sea of Chinnereth, although it did include Transjordan (see Map 1 [p. 184 below], which is adapted from Goldstein, ‘The Hasmonean Revolt,’ 341; cf. also Helmut Waldmann [et al.], ‘Syrien und Palästina in hellinistischer Zeit, 16.2: Die Makkabäer und die Hasmonäer [167–37 v.Chr.],’ TAVO B V 16 [Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1987]; reprint ed., Siegfried Mittmann and Götz Schmitt [eds.], Tübinger Bibelatlas, Auf der Grundlage des Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients [TAVO] [Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgeschellschaft, 2001]; Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas [3rd ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1993] 158–159 [map 214]). 54 By the same token, these data would be absolutely crucial for determining the time of the return to the Land, when the third era is ushered in. 55 Cf., e.g., Jub. 49:18–19: ‘When the Israelites enter the land which they will possess—the land of Canaan—and set up the Lord’s tabernacle in the middle of the land

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absolutely essential to know the precise boundaries of the Land (a controversial point in biblical tradition, as we shall see!).56 Thus, Leviticus 25, which has fundamentally influenced the Book of Jubilees, commences the Mosaic revelation about the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee: ‘When you enter the land that I give you, the land shall observe a sabbath to YHWH’ (Lev 25:2; cf. 19:23; 23:10).57 Similarly, the Mosaic legislation of Deuteronomy, which, as we have seen (e.g., pp. 76–79, 115–117), has also influenced Jubilees’ fundamental conceptions, looks forward to the day ‘when you come to the land that YHWH your God is giving you’ (Deut 17:14; cf. 6:1, 3; 7:1; 11:10–12, 23, 29; 30:18; 31:13; esp. 31:21).58 For Jubilees, the matter is so critical that the exact time will be communicated to Moses and the rest of the Israelites when they enter the Land. Thus, in Jub. 50:2–3, the angel of the presence states to Moses, ‘On Mt. Sinai I told you about the sabbaths of the land and the years of jubilees in the sabbaths of the years, but its year we have not told you until the time when you enter the land which you will possess. (3) The land will observe its sabbaths when they live on it, and they are to know the year of the jubilee.’ Second, Jubilees puts an emphasis on the exact borders of Israel because the boundaries of all lands were supposed to be inviolable. Thus, when Noah had parceled out the earth to his sons by lot (just as Joshua later parceled out the Land to the Israelites by lot), Noah in one of their tribal groups (until the time when the Lord’s temple will be built in the land), they are to come and celebrate the passover in the Lord’s tabernacle and sacrifice it before the Lord from year to year. (19) At the time when the house is built in the Lord’s name in the land which they will possess, they are to go there and sacrifice the passover ….’ 56 Cf. Moshe Weinfeld, ‘The Borders of the Promised Land: Two Views,’ in The Promise of the Land: The Inheritance of the Land of Canaan by the Israelites (The Taubman Lectures in Jewish Studies 3; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993) 52–75; idem, ‘The Extent of the Promised Land,’ 59–75. 57 According to Lev 25:38, the purpose for which YHWH freed Israel from the land of Egypt was to give them the land of Canaan. This verse ‘stresses that the land is God’s, and in ceding it to Israel, God makes it incumbent on all the people to obey all the laws relating to the land, especially the sabbatical and jubilee.’ Cf. Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2212; see also idem, Leviticus 17–22, 1579. 58 Cf. Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1–11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 5; New York: Doubleday, 1991) 57: ‘The land plays a most important role in the book of Deuteronomy. According to Deuteronomy the laws could be implemented only in the land of Israel, as may be learned from the opening sentence of the code, which states that the laws to be presented are designated for the people after they enter the land (12:1). In the desert, where the Israelites live in the Mosaic period, there is a lawless situation: “everyone doing what he pleases” (12:8).’

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Map 1. The Kingdom of Alexander Janneus, 103–76 bce (after J.A. Goldstein). At the height of Hasmonean expansionism, the boundaries of the Land do not extend beyond Antiochia in the north but do include Transjordan in the east (cf. Josephus, JW 1.86–87, 89, 104–105; Ant. 13.393–398; 14.18).

required his sons and grandsons to ‘swear by oath to curse each and every one who wanted to occupy the share which did not emerge by his lot’ (Jub. 9:14), pending ‘the day of judgment on which the Lord will punish them with the sword and fire …’ (v. 15). It would be necessary to

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know the precise boundaries of the Land in order to ascertain whether a nation had violated the oath. Moreover, the oath would apply with even greater logical force to the very special Land of Israel. According to Deut 32:8–9, the Most High himself fixed the boundaries of the peoples, allotting a portion to each nation, and to Israel a very special portion, the Promised Land. To occupy another nation’s land would in effect be to move its boundary marker, which was strictly prohibited under penalty of a curse (cf. Deut 19:14; 27:17).59 Third, Jubilees emphasizes the boundaries of Israel because the whole Land is considered Temple land, with the holiness of the Holy of Holies radiating out in concentric circles to the borders of the Land,60 beyond

59 Before the Hasmonean period, the ideal Land of Israel had been occcupied by a series of foreign powers. Under the Persians, for example, Jews at least enjoyed a measure of autonomy and self-identity in the province of Yehud, albeit within greatly reduced borders. Cf. Charles E. Carter, ‘The Boundaries of Yehud,’ in idem, The Emergence of Yehud in the Persian Period: A Social and Demographic Study (JSOTSup 294; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999) 75–113. Under the Seleucids, however, the Land was incorporated within Coele-Syria, with an attendant loss of autonomy. On the inclusion of Judea in Coele-Syria until the establishment of the Hasmonean state, see Menahem Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism (3 vols.; Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1974) 1.14, 179. 60 Cf., e.g., Jub. 1:10 (also v. 17): ‘… my temple which I sanctified for myself in the middle of the land so that I could set my name on it and that it could live (there).’ See also Jub. 49:18 and our discussion of the holiness of the Land in connection with exile. In its authoritative interpretation of the Torah, including a large portion paralleling Deuteronomy (cf. cols. 52–66), the Temple Scroll (11Q19) has a similar conception to Jubilees of the Land as Temple land. Beginning from the inner sanctum of the Temple itself, the Temple Scroll works outward to Jerusalem and other cities, but never gives a definition of the boundaries of the Land. Cf. Schiffman, ‘Sacred Space: The Land of Israel in the Temple Scroll,’ 398–411; Stegemann, ‘“Das Land” in der Tempelrolle und in anderen Texten aus den Qumranfunden,’ 154–171. We may also compare the conception of the Land in 4QMMT. Cf. Hannah K. Harrington, ‘Holiness in the Laws of 4QMMT,’ in Moshe Bernstein, et al. (eds.), Legal Texts and Legal Issues: Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies, Cambridge 1995, Published in Honour of Joseph M. Baumgarten (STDJ 23; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 109–128 (112–117, esp. Fig. 2 [114]). Already in the priestly literature of the OT we find the basis for this conception. On the Land as an extension of the sanctuary, see further Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2184–2187, 2226–2227; J. Joosten, People and Land in the Holiness Code: An Exegetical Study of the Ideational Framework of the Law in Leviticus 17–26 (VTSup 57; Leiden: Brill, 1996) 99, 176–178, 189–190; Stevenson, ‘The Land is Yours.’ See also Milgrom, Leviticus 23– 27, 2154: In Leviticus, ‘the entire land is of equal sanctity because it belongs to God ….’ On the holiness of the Land, see further J. Milgrom, Leviticus 17–22 (AB 3A; New York: Doubleday, 2000) 1397. For the view that the rutual purity laws of Second Temple Judaism had little or no connection with the sanctity of the Temple, see John C. Poirier, ‘Purity Beyond the Temple in the Second Temple Era,’ JBL 122 (2003) 247–265.

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which lay the unclean nations round about.61 Indeed, uncleanness was constantly threatening to overtake the Land in one form or another and ultimately to desecrate the sanctity of the central sanctuary.62 Therefore, from Jubilees’ priestly perspective, which supplements the Deuteronomic concept of the ‘holiness of the people,’63 every measure had to be taken both to stave off uncleanness from the outside and to eradicate it from within.64 Ultimately, only the new creation itself will be able to bring about Mt. Zion’s sanctification, which will result, in turn, in the sanctification of the earth (Jub. 1:28; 4:26).65 At that time, when Israel will be purified from sin, ‘Then they will live confidently in the entire land. They will no longer have any satan or any evil person. The land will be pure from that time until eternity’ (50:5).66 The reference to ‘the 61 Cf., e.g., Jub. 15:31: ‘He [sc. the Lord] made spirits rule over all [nations] in order to lead them astray from following him.’ 62 Cf., e.g., Jub. 30:15, 16: ‘If one does this [i.e., if an Israelite man takes a foreign woman as wife or gives an Israelite woman in marriage to a foreigner] or shuts his eyes to those who do impure things and who defile the Lord’s sanctuary and to those who profane his holy name, then the entire nation will be condemned together because of all this impurity and this contamination. (16) […] (So) is any man or woman in Israel to be who defiles his sanctuary.’ See also Jub. 3:10–11, 13; 23:21 (‘They will defile the holy of holies with the impure corruption of their contamination’). 63 Here, as often elsewhere, Jubilees modifies a Deuteronomic concept by means of a priestly one (or vice versa), thereby making a new synthesis in the process. Although Jubilees ascribes to the Deuteronomic concept of the ‘holiness of the people’ (cf. Jub. 16:17–18, 26; 22:12, 27; 25:3, 12, 18; 30:8; 31:14; 33:20), the book also supports the priestly idea of the ‘holiness of the Land’ (on the Deuteronomic concept of holiness in distinction to the priestly perspective, see Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972; reprint ed., Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992] 225–232; cf. Joosten, People and Land, 191–192, 201). However, a significance difference between Jubilees and the priestly tradition is that Jubilees accepts the Deuteronomic boundaries of the Land, including Transjordan, whereas the priestly tradition restricts the boundaries of the Land to the western side of the Jordan (see further below). For Jubilees, the Promised Land was the place where Abraham would raise up holy descendants (cf. Jub. 22:27). 64 Cf., e.g., Jub. 22:16: ‘Now you, my son Jacob, remember what I say and keep the commandments of your father Abraham. Separate from the nations, and do not eat with them. Do not act as they do, and do not become their companion, for their actions are something that is impure, and all their ways are defiled and something abominable.’ An inventory of their abominations follows (vv. 17–18). 65 Cf. Jub. 1:28: ‘Then [i.e., at the time of Israel’s restoration] Zion and Jerusalem will become holy’; 4:26: ‘… and Mt. Zion … will be sanctified in the new creation for the sanctification of the earth. For this reason the earth will be sanctified from all its sins and from its uncleanness into the history of eternity.’ 66 Thus, when Israel is purified from sin, the people no longer defile the Land with their impure practices, which causes the Land to vomit out its inhabitants (cf. Lev 18:25, 27–28). Jacob Milgrom (‘The Concept of Impurity in Jubilees and the Temple

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entire land’ suggests, once again, that the boundaries of the Land are a concern for Jubilees. Jubilees describes the Land in utopian terms. The Land is, of course, part of the temperate territory that was allotted to Noah’s son, Shem. According to Jub. 8:30: ‘It [sc. Japtheth’s hereditary share] is cold while the land of Ham is hot. Now Shem’s land is neither hot nor cold but it is a mixture of cold and heat.’ Shem’s strategic allotment in the temperate center of the earth may have been understood in geopolitical terms as the divinely appointed place from which to rule the world (see above on Jubilees’ notion of Israel’s universal sovereignty [pp. 166– 177]).67 In other ways, too, Shem’s territory corresponds to a utopian ideal: – It contains places where the Lord lives,68 including the Garden of Eden as ‘the residence of the Lord’ (Jub. 8:18–19). – It contains, among other holy sites, Mt. Zion, which is ‘the middle of the navel of the earth’ (8:19). – It is characterized as ‘a blessed and excellent share’ and as ‘a blessed and spacious land. Everything in it is very beautiful’ (8:21). Scroll,’ RevQ 16 [1993] 277–284 [279]) argues that Jubilees not only refrains from using the adjective ‘holy’ to describe the Land, but that the book also avoids speaking of the Land’s defilement in the wake of Israel’s transgressions; instead, ‘Jubilees speaks of the defilement of the people of Israel’ (on Israel as an inherently ‘holy people’ in Jubilees, see ibid., 281). As we have seen, however, Jub. 50:5 looks forward to the time when ‘the Land will be pure,’ and Jub. 23:21; 30:15, 16 view the sanctity of the central sanctuary as dependent upon holy living in the Land, in order to avoid abominable practices that defile God’s sanctuary. The latter text is particularly instructive in this regard, for Jub. 30:10 interprets the impure Molech worship that pollutes the sanctuary (Lev 20:3; cf. Ezek 23:38–39) and the Land (Lev 18:21, 25), that is, giving one’s descendants to Molech (Lev 18:21), as intermarriage with Gentiles. Since Jubilees places this interpretation in the context of the rape of Dinah by the son of Hamor the Hivite, ‘the ruler of the land’ (Jub. 30:2), that is, the ruler of part of the Promised Land (see below on the citation of Gen 15:18–21 in Jub. 14:18), the issue of intermarriage discussed here relates specifically to the sanctity of the Land itself. For Jubilees, the pure Land of Israel remains the proper place where the holy people of Israel live out their relationship with God in holiness around the central sanctuary. 67 Cf. James M. Scott, Geography in Early Judaism and Christianity: The Book of Jubilees (SNTSMS 113; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) 33–34. 68 Cf. Jub. 8:18: ‘He [sc. Noah] recalled everything that he had said in prophecy with his mouth, for he had said: “May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may the Lord live in the places where Shem resides.”’ This alludes to Jub. 7:12, which interprets the subject of the verb ïëùéå (‘and let him dwell’) in Gen 9:27 as a reference to God rather than to Japheth: ‘May the Lord enlarge Japheth, and may the Lord live in the place where Shem resides.’ On this interpretation of Gen 9:27 in Jewish tradition, see further Kugel, Traditions of the Bible, 290, 674.

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More specifically, the Promised Land itself is described as ‘very pleasant’ (13:1; cf. 12:30; 25:17).69 Abraham ‘saw that the land was spacious and most excellent and (that) everything was glowing on it: vines, fig trees, pomegranates, oak trees, holm oaks, terebinths, olive trees, cedars, cypresses, incense trees, and all (kinds of) wild trees; and (there was) water on the mountains’ (13:6). The characterization of the Land as ‘most excellent’ and ‘spacious’ recalls the general description of Shem’s territory, which is expressed in the same terms (cf. 8:21). Furthermore, the emphasis on the abundant variety of trees in the Land recalls the earlier description of the Garden of Eden, which also stresses the trees (2:7; 3:12, 17–22, 25).70 The Land is thus portrayed as a veritable Garden of Eden, thereby picking up a pervasive theme in the OT (cf., e.g., Exod 3:8: ‘a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey’; Num 13:23: the spies who were sent into Canaan ‘cut down a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them’).71 If, as we have seen, Jubilees rewrites Genesis 1–Exodus 24, then it would not be surprising to find that the book also reworks the two boundary texts that occur within that section of the Pentateuch, that is, Gen 10:19 and Gen 15:18–21. This is indeed the case. Hence, we turn now to a discussion of the use of these biblical boundary texts in Jubilees. The Boundary Text in the Table of Nations (Gen 10:19) In the radical rewriting of the Table of Nations (Genesis 10) in Jubilees 8–10, the description of the boundaries of the Promised Land in Gen 69 Similarly, in the Animal Apocalypse (1Enoch 85–90), the Land of Israel at which the sheep (Israel) arrived is described as ‘a very pleasant place,’ ‘a land beautiful and glorious,’ and ‘the beautiful land’ (1Enoch 89:40). 70 Because of the Garden of Eden’s strong association with trees, the Septuagint calls it a παρ$δεισος (Gen 2:8 LXX), which stems from a Persian loanword denoting forested parkland. Cf. Christopher Tuplin, ‘The Parks and Gardens of the Achaemenid Empire,’ in Achaemenid Studies (Historia: Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte 99; Stuttgart: Steiner, 1999) 80–131; Jan N. Bremmer, ‘Paradise: From Persia, via Greece, into the Septuagint,’ in Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (ed.), Paradise Interpreted: Representations of Biblical Paradise in Judaism and Christianity (Themes in Biblical Narrative: Jewish and Christian Traditions 2; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 1–20. 71 Cf. Jub. 1:7: ‘Now you write this entire message which I am telling you today, because I know their defiance and their stubbornness (even) before I bring them into the land which I promised by oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “To your posterity I will give the land which flows with milk and honey.”’

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10:19 undergoes a major transformation. It is helpful to set these texts in a synoptic table for the sake of comparison: Gen 10:19

Jub. 10:29, 33–34

The border of the Canaanite was from Sidon as you go towards Gerar as far as Gaza, (and) as you go toward Sodom … as far as Lasha.

(29) When Canaan saw that the land of Lebanon as far as the stream of Egypt was very beautiful, he did not go to his hereditary land to the west of the sea. He settled in the land of Lebanon, on the east and west, from the border of Lebanon72 and on the seacoast. (33) He settled in the land of Lebanon— from Hamath to the entrance of Egypt—he and his sons until the present. (34) For this reason that land was named the land of Canaan.

Philip S. Alexander explains Gen 10:19 as follows: ‘To make sense of this it must be assumed that Gerar lay beyond Gaza and Sodom beyond Lasha as one moves S from Sidon. The Sidon-Gerar line is marked off at Gaza, and the Sidon-Sodom line at Lasha. The Land is defined by the Sidon-Gaza-Lasha triangle.’73 To illustrate this geographical conception, Alexander provides the following schematic map:74

72 VanderKam (The Book of Jubilees, 2.63, note on ‘Lebanon3’ in Jub. 10:29) notes that ‘Jordan’ is a strongly supported variant that is preferred by several leading scholars. On the basis of the latter reading, Mendels (The Land of Israel, 70) argues that according to Jub. 10:29, Canaan did not settle in Transjordan, thus reflecting the more limited accomplishments of Hasmonean expansionism during the reign of John Hyrcanus I (134–104 bce) rather than a conception of a ‘“greater” Eretz Israel.’ However, if we read ‘Lebanon’ with VanderKam, then Mendels’ argument falls away. 73 Philip S. Alexander, ‘Geography and the Bible (Early Jewish),’ ABD 2.977–988 (985). See further idem, ‘The Toponymy of the Targumim, with Special Reference to the Table of Nations and the Boundaries of the Land of Israel’ (D. Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 1974). 74 Alexander, ‘Geography and the Bible (Early Jewish),’ 985.

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Map 2. The Boundaries of Canaan according to Gen 10:19 (after P.S. Alexander).

Jubilees abandons this triangular portrayal of the Land in Gen 10:19,75 in favor of a modified description that proceeds according to the four points of the compass—from north to south (‘the land of Lebanon as far as the stream of Egypt’ [v. 29]; ‘from Hamath to the entrance of Egypt’ [v. 33]) and then from east to west (‘on the east and west, from the border of Lebanon and on the seacoast’ [v. 29]). Since no one OT text describes the boundaries of the Land precisely in this way, the individual elements of the description are probably drawn from several boundary texts:76 (1) Lebanon as a constituent of the Land: Deut 1:7: ‘… the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.’ 75 The Gen 10:19 SP simply substitutes the formulation of Gen 15:18: ‘And the border of the Canaanite was from the river of Egypt (íéøöî øäðî) to the great river, the river Euphrates, and to the Western Sea (ïåøçàä íéä).’ Similarly, Deut 34:1–3 substitutes the formulation of Gen 15:18. Cf. Emanuel Tov, ‘The Nature and Background of Harmonizations in Biblical Manuscripts,’ JSOT 31 (1985) 3–29 (9). 76 Texts with more than one element in common with Jub. 10:28, 33–34 are repeated in the following list. Compare also Josephus, Ant. 1.191, which accepts the northern border of the Land given in Gen 10:19 but rejects the southern border mentioned there: ‘He [sc. Abraham] had attained his ninety-ninth year when God appeared to him and announced that he would have a son by Sarra, bidding him call him Isa(a)c, and revealing how great nations and kings would spring from him, and how they would win possession, by war, of all Canaan from Sidon to Egypt (τ6ν Χανανααν Jπασαν π Σιδ,νος μχρι Α@γπτου).’

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Deut 11:24: ‘… your territory shall extend from the wilderness and the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the Western Sea.’ Josh 1:4: ‘From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.’ Josh 13:1–6: ‘Now Joshua was old and advanced in years; and the LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land still remains to be possessed. (2) This is the land that still remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites (3) (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is reckoned as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim, (4) in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, (5) and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath, (6) all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians.”’ (2) (Lebo-)Hamath as the northernmost boundary of the Land:77 Num 13:21: ‘So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.’ Num 34:7–9: ‘This shall be your northern boundary: from the Great Sea you shall mark out your line to Mount Hor; (8) from Mount Hor you shall mark it out to Lebo-hamath, and the outer limit of the boundary shall be at Zedad; (9) then the boundary shall extend to Ziphron, and its end shall be at Hazar-enan; this shall be your northern boundary.’ Josh 13:1–6 (cited above). 1Kgs 8:65 (cf. 2 Chr 7:8): ‘So Solomon held the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a great assembly, people from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt ….’ 2Kgs 14:25: ‘He [sc. Jeroboam II] restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet ….’ Ezek 47:15–17 (cf. 48:1; Num 34:7–9): ‘This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side, from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, and on to Zedad, (16) Berothah, Sibraim (which lies between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath), as far as

77 Cf. Benjamin Mazar, ‘Lebo-hamath and the Northern Border of Canaan,’ in The Early Biblical Period: Historical Studies (ed. Shmuel Ahituv and Baruch A. Levine; . Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1986) 189–202.

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chapter three Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. (17) So the boundary shall run from the sea to Hazar-enon, which is north of the border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north. This shall be the north side.’ Amos 6:14: ‘… they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi Arabah.’

(3) Egypt as the southernmost boundary of the Land: Num. 34:3–5 (cf. Josh 15:1–4): ‘… your south sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom. Your southern boundary shall begin from the end of the Dead Sea on the east; (4) your boundary shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its outer limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar-addar, and cross to Azmon; (5) the boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Wadi of Egypt, and its termination shall be at the Sea.’ 1Kgs 5:1 (cf. 2 Chr 9:26): ‘Solomon was sovereign over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the border of Egypt ….’ 1Kgs 8:65 (cited above). Ezek 47:19 (cf. 48:28; Num 34:3–5): ‘On the south side, it shall run from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, from there along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea. This shall be the south side.’ (4) The (Mediterranean) Sea as the westernmost boundary of the Land:78 Exod 23:31: ‘I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates ….’ Num 34:6: ‘For the western boundary, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast; this shall be your western boundary.’ Deut 11:24: ‘… your territory shall extend from the wilderness and the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the Western Sea.’ Josh 1:4 (cited above). Ezek 47:20: ‘On the west side, the Great Sea shall be the boundary to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This shall be the west side.’

The reason that Jub. 10:29, 33–34 has elected to assemble its own description of the Land from various OT boundary texts may be due to the fact that Jubilees takes a maximalist perspective on the northern and eastern borders of the Land that is unparalleled in any other single 78 The Mediterranean Sea is given as the western border even though the Philistines controlled a major portion of the coastline.

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text.79 First, with respect to the eastern border, Jubilees’ description does not effectively exclude Transjordan from the Land, as some texts do that regard the river Jordan as part of the eastern boundary of the Land (cf. Num 34:10–12; Ezek 47:18). Indeed, the text refers rather vaguely to Canaan’s settlement in Lebanon ‘on the east and west, from the border of Lebanon and on the seacoast’ (Jub. 10:29). This opens the possibility that, as will be discussed below, Jubilees regards not only Cisjordan as constituting the Land but Transjordan as well. Second, with respect to the northern border, Jub. 10:29, 33 mentions Lebanon and Hamath. This time, Jubilees sides with the aforementioned boundary texts, for example, in Num 34:3–12 (esp. v. 8) and Ezek 47:15–20 (esp. 15–17), which designate (Lebo-)Hamath as part of the northern boundary of the Land. In other words, Jubilees deviates from the biblical tradition that restricts the Land to Cisjordan, whereas it has no difficulty in appropriating the same biblical tradition when it gives greater scope to the northern extent of the Land. The toponym Hamath occurs one other time in the Book of Jubilees (13:1–3), where it again marks the northernmost boundary for the Land. This time, however, Hamath occurs as part of an expansion to the description of the Land to which Abram and his family came according to Gen 12:4–7: (1) Abram went from Haran and took his wife Sarai and Lot, the son of his brother Haran, to the land of Canaan. He came to Asur. He walked as far as Shechem and settled near a tall oak tree. (2) He saw that the land—from the entrance of Hamath to the tall oak—was very pleasant. (3) Then the Lord said to him: ‘To you and your descendants I will give this land.’

Although this text does not indicate where Hamath is located, the mere occurrence of the toponym shows that the northern boundary of the Land is very much a concern of the Book of Jubilees. Perhaps a polemic against the legitimacy of the Seleucid Empire in this part of the world is implied (see further below [pp. 197, 207]). Since Jubilees prefers natural borders for the Land (‘the stream of Egypt’ on the south and ‘the seacoast’ on the west [Jub. 10:29]), it seems likely that Hamath would also be located at or near a natural boundary. In the nearly contemporary Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen), which

79 On the other hand, the western and southern borders are fixed by natural boundaries.

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probably stands in some kind of literary relationship to Jubilees,80 Abraham’s circumambulation of the Land that the Lord told him to view in Gen 13:14–15 (cf. 1QapGen 21.8–12) starts at the Nile (Gihon), proceeds along the (Mediterranean) Sea, as far as the ‘Mountain of the Bull’ (øåè àøåú), that is, the Taurus mountain range, continues eastward to the Euphrates, and follows the Euphrates all the way to the Red Sea, skirts the Arabian Peninsula, and heads back again to the Nile (1QapGen 21.15–19). In other words, the Genesis Apocryphon extends the borders of the Land to the farthest possible natural boundaries, including Taurus-Amanus mountains on the north. The same perspective is found in the Targumim, which, for example, interpret Num 34:5 (äìçð íéøöî) as referring to the ‘Nile,’ and Num 34:8 (úîç) as Syrian ‘Antioch,’ which lies south of the Taurus-Amanus mountains.81 In view of this evidence, it would not be surprising if Jubilees also located Hamath as the northernmost settlement of the Land on the border of a natural boundary (see Map 3).82

80 For a comparison, e.g., between 1QapGenesis 16–17 and Jubilees 8–9, see J.M. Scott, Paul and the Nations: The Old Testament and Jewish Background of Paul’s Mission to the Nations with Special Reference to the Destination of Galatians (WUNT 84; Tübingen: MohrSiebeck, 1995) 30–33. On the relationship between the Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees, see further Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1, 76. 81 Cf. Alexander, ‘The Toponymy of the Targumim,’ 181–183, 187, 203–207, 249. On the identification of Antioch with Hamath and thus the inclusion of Syria in the Land, see further Markus Bockmuehl, ‘Antioch and James the Just,’ in Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans (eds.), James the Just and Christian Origins (NovTSup 98; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 155–198 (169–179); Martin Hengel, ‘%Ιουδαα in der geographischen Liste Apg 2,9–11 und Syrien als ‘“Grossjudäa,”’ RHPR 80 (2000) 51–68. For rabbinic texts that explicitly contrast Syria (standing for the Diaspora) and ‘the Holy Land,’ see Pieter W. van der Horst, ‘“I gave them laws that were not good”: Ezekiel 20:25 in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity,’ in idem, Hellenism—Judaism—Christianity: Essays on Their Interaction (2nd ed.; Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology 8; Leuven: Peeters, 1998) 135–155 (141–143). 82 For discussion of Map 3, which Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, the French Hebrew commentator [1040–1105]) uses to illustrate the issue of whether Syria is part of the Land of Israel in b. Git. 8a (cf. m. Git. 1:2), see further Catherine Delano Smith and Mayer I. Gruber, ‘Rashi’s Legacy: Maps of the Holy Land,’ The Map Collector 59 (1992) 30–35, where, however, ‘Tractate Bittin’ is mistakenly printed in the central text block of the English-language transcription (34), and the photograph of the Hebrew original is printed upside down (35).

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Map 3. Rashi’s Map of Canaan based on Num 34:3–12: The ‘Land of Canaan’ (ïòðë õøà) consists of everything south of the ‘Amanus Mountains’ (ïåðîà éøåè), west of the ‘Jordan’ (ïãøé), north of the ‘Wadi of Egypt’ (íéøöî ìçð) and east of ‘the Great Sea’ (ìåãâä íéä). (Hebrew original: BSB Cod. hebr. 5/I fol. 140r, 1233 ce, 155×190 mm, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, lines in red ink; English transcription adapted from Catherine Delano Smith, Mayer I. Gruber and Pieter Louppen).

The Boundary Text in Gen 15:18–21 Our second boundary text reinforces the possibility that Jubilees includes extensive territory to the north and east as part of the Land of Israel. Like the closely related Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen 21.10– 12, 15–19) to which we have already referred, Jubilees provides a formal description of the boundaries of the Land based on God’s promise to Abraham in Gen 15:18–21: Gen 15:18–21

Jub. 14:18

(18) On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,

On that day the Lord concluded a covenant with Abram with these words:

‘To your descendants I give this land,

‘To your descendants I will give this land,

196 from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, (19) the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, (20) the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, — — (21) the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’

chapter three from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, — the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Phakorites, the Hivites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’

The citation of Gen 15:18–21 shows unequivocally that Jubilees applies the Abrahamic promise not merely to the expectation of Israel’s sovereignty over the whole world (see further above [pp. 166–177]), but also more specifically to the concrete, physical Land of Israel.83 Just a few verses earlier, in the same context of the covenant with Abraham, Gen 15:13 provides the scriptural basis for Jubilees’ expectation of the 400-year countdown to the exodus from Egypt, which began in 2010 am (Jub. 14:13; 19:1) and ended in 2410 am. The exodus, as we have seen, is the first stage of the jubilee of jubilees, which culminates in the return of the patrimony (i.e., the Land) to Israel in 2450 am. There are two clearly defined parts in Gen 15:18–21 and Jub. 14:18. In the first part, the geographical scope of the Land is described from south to north (‘from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates’). In the second part, we find a list of the ten (or eleven?) people groups that inhabited Canaan before Israel entered the Land.84 83 Cf. Jub. 14:7 (‘I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you the land of the Canaanites to occupy forever …’); 15:10 (‘[To you and your descendants after you I will give] the land where you have resided as an alien—the land of Canaan which you will rule forever’); 22:27 (‘The most high God is the God of all and Creator of everything who brought me from Ur of the Chaldeans to give me this land in order that I should possess it forever …’); 25:17 (‘May he give them this pleasant land as he said he would give it for all time to Abraham and his descendants after him; may they own it as an eternal possession’); 27:11. In an addition to the biblical text (cf. Gen 35:28–29), Isaac announces his imminent death to his children and instructs them to bury him ‘near his father Abraham in the double cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite which Abraham acquired to (have) a burial place there’ (Jub. 36:1–2). 84 Cf. VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees, 2.86 n. on ‘and the Jebusites’ in Jub. 14:18: ‘It is quite possible that these words were not in the original text of Jubilees, since mss. 9 12 17 21 38 39 42 47 48 63 omit them. They are found in the versions of Gen 15:21.’ If the

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First, the south-north axis requires comment. Whereas in Jub. 10:29, 33–34, the description of the Land’s scope proceeds from north to south, in Jub. 14:18 the exact opposite is observed, and instead of Hamath, the Euphrates forms the northern border of the Land. The northern and southern boundaries of the Land (‘from the Euphrates to the river of Egypt’) parallel the Deuteronomic formula, ‘from the Euphrates … to the border of Egypt’ (1Kgs 5:1), which extends the kingdom of David and Solomon over all of Syria.85 Hence, by using Gen 15:18, Jubilees may once again imply a polemic against the Seleucid empire.86 In any case, the book emphasizes that Jacob should receive ‘all the land which the Lord gave to Abraham’ (Jub. 27:11). The southern border mentioned in Gen 15:18 and Jub. 14:18 is more problematic. Appearing only once in the OT, the expression íéøöî øäð (‘river of Egypt’) might suggest the Nile, which is certainly the best-known Egyptian river.87 But the contrasting designation of the Euphrates as the ‘great river’ may imply that the íéøöî øäð is a lesser stream (Wadi el "Arish?).88 For Jubilees, however, there can be little question: the Nile (Gihon) forms the southern border of the territory allotted to Shem and therefore necessarily the southern border of the Land of Israel as well.89 Although the Nile actually runs from south to north,

reference to the Jebusites is omitted from Jubilees’ list, then both texts list ten peoples, which seems probable. 85 Volkmar Fritz, ‘Die Grenzen des Landes Israel,’ in Gershon Galil and Moshe Weinfeld (eds.), Studies in Historical Geography and Biblical Historiography, Presented to Zecharia Kallai (VTSup 81; Leiden: Brill, 2000) 14–34 (15–19). Thus, the summary of David’s conquests in 2Sam 8:1–14 indicates that David ruled over a vast territory from Edom in the south to Zobah on the Euphrates and to Hamath in the north. Cf. Eupolemus (apud Eusebius, P.E. 9.30.3–4): ‘Then David, his [sc. Saul’s!] son, assumed power. He subdued the Syrians dwelling by the river Euphrates and in the region of Commagene and the Assyrians in Galadene and the Phoenicians; he also fought against the Idumaeans, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Ituraeans, the Nabataeans and the Nabdaeans ….’ Josephus (Ant. 7.100–104) expresses the same opinion: David conquered the mighty king Hadad of Damascus and subjected to himself ‘Damascus and the rest of Syria’ (Δαμασκν κα τ6ν λλην Συραν). 86 Cf. Scott, Geography, 143. If indeed Jubilees is opposing the intrusion of the Seleucids in Israel’s domain, then this may well have significant implications for the dating of the book. In that case, the Hasmonean dynasty would obviously not come into question. See further in the Conclusion to the present study. 87 Cf. Jdt. 1:9: Nebuchadnezzar sent messengers ‘beyond the Jordan as far as Jerusalem and Bethany and Chelous and Kadesh and the river of Egypt (πραν το %Ιορδ$νου ?ως %Ιερουσαλημ κα Βατανη κα Χελους κα Καδης κα το ποταμο Α@γπτου) ….’ 88 Cf. H. Bar-Deroma, ‘The River of Egypt (Nahal Mizraim),’ PEQ 92 (1960) 37–56. . 89 See further Scott, Geography, 142–143.

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Jubilees (8:22–23) regards it as emanating from the Garden of Eden in the east (cf. Gen 2:10–14) and flowing in a generally westward direction until it reaches the Great Sea (the Mediterranean). This is incidentally how the Madaba mosaic map, the earliest extant map of the traditional Land of Israel (dating from the second half of the sixth century ce), also depicts the course of the Nile (at least for the portion of the map that is still extant, which does not include Eden, if it ever did).90 Second, we come to the list of ten pre-Israelite people groups that inhabited Canaan. Tomoo Ishida suggests that the list of nations in Gen 15:19–21 is geographically arranged from south to north and reflects the extent of the Davidic empire.91 In that case, the movement of the list parallels that of the extent of the Land in v. 18 (‘from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates’), which, again, corresponds to the expanse of the Davidic empire. In contrast to the base text in Gen 15:19–21, Jubilees omits one people group (the Hittites) and adds two others (the Phakorites and the Hivites). The reason for the omission of the Hittites is unclear, since they are included in Gen 15:20 and are also otherwise regularly featured in lists of the pre-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan, often as the first people group in the list.92 Perhaps one reason for the omission is that by the time of the second century bce, the Hittites are extinct as a people, although admittedly the same could be said for several other peoples that are nevertheless included in the list (i.e., the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites).93 A more probable explanation for the Cf. Scott, Paul and the Nations, 25–28. Tomoo Ishida, ‘The Structure and Historical Implications of the Lists of PreIsraelite Nations,’ Biblica 60 (1979) 461–490 (483–484). 92 Cf. Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Num 13:29; Deut 7:1*; 20:17*; Josh 3:10; 9:1*; 11:3; 12:8*; 24:11; Judg 3:5; 1Kgs 9:20; Ezra 9:1; Neh 9:8; 2 Chr 8:7*. Passages in which the Hittites appear at the head of the list are marked by an asterisk (*). 93 In any case, the names of the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the Land linger on in the tradition as appellations for subsequent foreign peoples in the Land, even in the time of Ezra-Nehemiah (cf. Ezra 9:1–2) and in the period of Hasmonean expansionism. Thus, 1Maccabees’ overall treatment of the nations living within the Land (‘the nations roundabout’ [τ 0νη !ν κκλ4ω α+τ,ν], a standard expression for the non-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan) was to see them as implacable foes of Israel, evil ‘Canaanites’ who must be driven from the Land. Cf. Seth Schwartz, ‘Israel and the Nations Roundabout: 1Maccabees and the Hasmonean Expansion,’ JJS 42 (1991) 16–38. See also 11QTa (11Q19) 2.2–5: ‘[See, I will drive out before you] the A[morites, the Canaanites,] (3) [the Hittites, the Girgashite]s, the Pe[rizzites, the Hivites, and] (4) [the Jebusites. Take ca]re not to make a coven[ant with the inhabitants of the land] (5) [into which you] will enter, or they will become a sna[re among you.]’ 90 91

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omission is the fact that Jubilees presents the Hittites in a favorable light when Abraham buys the cave near Hebron from them to bury his wife Sarah: they insist on giving him the cave for free, and although the patriarch does not accept this kind offer, he ends up bowing twice to them (Jub. 19:4–6). Jubilees may have felt that the Hittites’ act of cooperation, which gave Abraham his first foothold in the Promised Land,94 could not be requited with dispossession and annihilation; therefore, the Hittites are quietly omitted from the hit list. Of course, although this act of cooperation is also recorded in the base text, it did not prevent the Hittites from being put on biblical lists of pre-Israelite inhabitants who would be annihilated and dispossessed. Concerning the two additions, nothing is known about the Phakorites, which is unique to Jubilees and may be a textual corruption for another, more familiar people group.95 The addition of the Hivites, on the other hand, is understandable on several levels.96 For not only do the Hivites regularly appear in other lists of the pre-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan whose land would be given to Israel after they had been eradicated,97 but also Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, ‘the ruler of the land,’ raped Jacob’s daughter Dinah (Jub. 30:2). Jubilees treats this

94

Abraham resisted the attempt of Hittites to give him the cave in which to bury Sarah, and insisted rather on paying the full price for the land (vv. 3–6) in order to acquire an inheritable estate. Cf. Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2190. 95 On the analogy of the omission of the Hittites (who are presented positively in Jubilees) and the addition of the Hivites (who are portrayed very negatively in the book), we may speculate that the addition of ‘the Phakorites,’ whoever they may be, represent another of Israel’s archenemies. Could, therefore, the name be a corruption for ‘the Philistines,’ who appear in a list of the peoples whose lands still remain to be conquered by Israel (Josh 13:1–7) and who certainly fit the description of an archenemy? The clashes between the Philistines and the Israelites are vividly reflected in the Book of Judges. The pressure of the Philistines was relentless, as seen, for example, in the stories of the migration of part of the tribe of Dan, who traveled to the far north of Galilee in their search for a safe refuge (Judg 18:1–31). Only with King David’s victories over the Philistines did Israel finally gain the upper hand, becoming the leading power in the land of Canaan. In the Book of Jubilees, the Philistines are cast in a wholly negative light, and an eternal curse is pronounced on them by Isaac (cf. Jub. 24:15–18, 28–33; 38:7). 96 Cf. David W. Baker, ‘Hivites,’ ABD, 3.234: ‘Geographically, the Hivites appear to inhabit the central and northern regions of the Land, ranging from Gibeon, just north of Jerusalem (Josh 9:7; 11:19), through Shechem, where a Hivite raped Jacob’s daughter Dinah (Gen 34:14), up toward Lebanon and Mount Hermon (Josh 11:3; Judg 3:3; 2Sam 24:7). They also seem to have some contacts in Transjordan (Gen 36:2).’ 97 Cf., e.g, Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 7:1; 20:17; see also 4Q377 1 i 8: ‘the] Hivite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Jeb[u]s[ite], the Girgash[ite ….’ Interestingly enough, Gen. Rab. 44.23 attempts to explain why the Hivites were

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defilement of an Israelite woman by a foreigner as a very grave offense. Not only are the Shechemites exterminated for this crime (v. 4–6), but the text goes on to draw extensive implications from the story, including prohibitions against giving Israelite women in marriage to foreigners, engaging in illicit sexual relations within Israel, and marrying foreign women (vv. 7–23). Even God’s reason for choosing Levi’s descendants for the priesthood is connected with this story, because Levi and his sons were zealous to punish the Shechemites (vv. 18–20; cf. v. 4).98 Most importantly, Jub. 30:5–6, 17 specifically justifies that the punishment of the Hivites99 of Shechem was divinely ordained: For the punishment had been decreed against them in heaven that they were to annihilate all the Shechemites with the sword, since they had done something shameful in Israel. (6) The Lord handed them over to Jacob’s sons for them to uproot them with the sword and to effect punishment against them and so that there should not again be something like this within Israel—defiling an Israelite virgin. (17) For this reason I have ordered you: ‘Proclaim this testimony to Israel: “See how it turned out for the Shechemites and their children—how they were handed over to Jacob’s two sons. They killed them in a painful way. It was a just act for them and was recorded as a just act for them.”’

This lengthy justification of the actions of Simeon and Levi seems intended to counteract the interpretation of Gen 49:6–7 which sees Jacob’s disapproval of Simeon and Levi jointly killing ‘a man’ in their anger as an unambiguous reference to the revenge on Shechem in Gen 34:25–26 (cf. 4 Macc 2:19–20).100 From Jubilees’ perspective, it is easy to see why the Hivites would be added to the list of people groups whose land would be given to Abraham and his descendants. Jubilees is simply adding to the indictment in the case against the Hamite inhabitants of Canaan, who from the perspective of Jubilees are doubly accursed for having usurped territory that

omitted from the list of people groups in Gen 15:18–21. This illustrates the very kind of sensitivity that may have prompted Jubilees actually to add the Hivites to the Genesis text. 98 Cf. VanderKam, ‘Jubilees’ Exegetical Creation of Levi the Priest,’ 359–373. 99 The textual tradition appears confused about whether the tribe that Hamor led was Hivite (MT, SP) or Horite (LXX)—cf. Josh 9:7; also note Gen 36:2, 20. Clearly, however, Jub. 30:2 sides with the MT and SP. 100 On the various Jewish and Christian interpretive traditions based on the story of Dinah in Genesis 34, see Kugel, Traditions of the Bible, 404–435.

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was not theirs (Jub. 10:32).101 According to Jub. 22:20–21, the Canaanites were destined for complete annihilation, as Abraham tells Jacob: Be careful, my son Jacob, not to marry a woman from all the descendants of Canaan’s daughters, because all of his descendants are (meant) for being uprooted from the earth. (21) For through Ham’s sin Canaan erred. All of his descendants and all of his (people) who remain will be destroyed from the earth; on the day of judgment there will be no one (descended) from him who will be saved.

This very much reflects the sentiment of the Deuteronomic perspective on the Hivites in particular. Contact with them was strictly forbidden to Israel, who had to put them under the ban, lest they lead the people astray into the worship of their deities (Deut 20:17). This policy was not adhered to, however (Judg 3:5), since even Solomon was able to exploit the yet undestroyed peoples as conscripted labor in his building projects (1Kgs 9:20–21). One biblical explanation as to why God allowed them to remain was to serve as a training field for the Israelites in the art of warfare, and also as a test to see whether Israel would finally obey God’s command, presumably by exterminating these predecessors of Israel (Judg 3:3–4). Taken together, the two parts of the description of the Land in Gen 15:18–21 and Jub. 14:18 give us a fairly comprehensive picture of the extent of the Land promised to Abraham. In fact, Moshe Weinfeld argues that Gen 15:18–21 constitutes one of two divergent biblical ‘maps’ (the other being Num 34:3–12) which represent the ideal borders of the Land.102 The Genesis map includes the eastern side of the Jordan and all the land of Syria and Lebanon (see Map 4),103 whereas the Numbers map excludes Transjordan (see Map 5). Depending on the presupposed border-system, the Israelites initially entered the Land 101 In the Table of Nations (Gen 10:17; cf. 1 Chr 1:15), the Hivites descend from Ham through the Canaanites. 102 Cf. Weinfeld, ‘The Borders of the Promised Land: Two Views,’ 52–75, with drawings of the two ‘maps’ on 56–57. See also idem, ‘The Extent of the Promised Land—the Status of Transjordan,’ 66–70. 103 The fragmentary Madaba mosaic map appears to be an attempt to encompass the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel and the surrounding regions in such a way as to reflect the confines of the Land as promised to Abraham in Gen 15:18. Part of Transjordan is clearly visible to the north of the Dead Sea, but for the northern portion of the mosaic there are only two isolated fragments: a section of the Galilean mountains and part of the tribal area of Zebulun. Cf. Herbert Donner, The Mosaic Map of Madaba: An Introductory Guide (Palaestina Antiqua 7; Kampen, The Netherlands: Kok Pharos, 1992) 16, 97–98.

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Map 4. The borders of Isreal according to Genesis 15:18–21 (after M. Weinfeld). Transjordan forms part of the Promised Land.

either when they crossed the Jordan or when they crossed the Arnon. On the one hand, the ideal border-system that excludes Transjordan from the Land of Israel ‘conforms to the view accepted in most biblical sources in which the crossing of the Jordan marks the beginning of the conquest of the land of Canaan and also signals the point at which the commandments specific to the Land of Israel become binding.’104 104 Weinfeld, ‘The Borders of the Promised Land: Two Views,’ 58, citing Num 33:51– 52; 35:10. According to Josh 4:19, the crossing of the Jordan ‘on the tenth day of the first month’ marks the entrance into the Promised Land, where, encamped at Gilgal, the first order of business was the circumcision of the generation born during the wilderness wanderings (Josh 5:2–9) and the celebration of the first Passover ‘on the fourteenth day of the month’ (v. 10), at the conclusion of which the Israelites ate of the produce of the Land and manna ceased (vv. 11–12).

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Map 5. The borders of Isreal according to Numbers 34:3–12 (after M. Weinfeld). Transjordan is excluded from the Promised Land.

On the other hand, the ideal border-system that includes Transjordan as an inseparable part of the Promised Land conforms to the view accepted in Deuteronomy in which the crossing of the Arnon and the conquest of the land of Sihon the Amorite, the king of Hesbon, mark the beginning of the conquest (ùø ìçä) of the Land (Deut 2:24– 25, 31; cf. 3:24, 26–27; 34:1–4)105 and also signal the point at which the commandments specific to the Land of Israel become binding on

105 Since, according to Deuteronomy, Transjordan is an integral part of the Promised Land and on par with Cisjordan, the newly conquered land east of the Jordan is distributed to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh as a regular part of the allotment of tribal territories (cf. Deut 3:12–17; 29:7–8).

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the people.106 According to Deut 2:24–25, the crossing of the Arnon and the beginning of the conquest of the Land even had universal consequences: ‘This day (äæä íåéä) I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven (­ìë úçú íéîòä íéîùä) ….’107 Again, the timing of the entrance into the Land is seen as crucial. As in so many of its fundamental conceptions, Jubilees adheres to a Deuteronomic perspective in this regard. For Jubilees, the new jubilee cycle began already when Israel acquired its first holdings in Transjordan. Thus, Jub. 50:4 states that the 40-year countdown to the entrance into the Land extends from the revelation on Mt. Sinai ‘until the time when he leads (them) across to the land of Canaan, after they have crossed the Jordan to the west of it.’ At first sight, this confusing verse could be read as reinforcing the usual view that the crossing of the Jordan marks the entrance into the Land.108 Upon closer examination, however, it becomes clear that ‘the land of Canaan’ which belongs to Israel’s inheritance (cf. Jub. 14:18) begins already in Transjordan, for Weinfeld, ‘The Borders of the Promised Land: Two Views,’ 69–70. Thus, for example, the Israelites apply the law of h. erem to Transjordan (2:34; 3:6) just as they are commanded to do to the peoples of the western side of the Jordan (Deut 20:16–17). 107 Cf. 4QDiscourse on the Exodus/Conquest Tradition (4Q374) 2 ii 9: ‘And though no one had known you [sc. Israel?], they [sc. the peoples of the Promised Land?] melted and tre[m]bled.’ C. Newsom (‘Discourse on the Exodus/Conquest Tradition,’ in Magen Broshi, et al. [eds.], Qumran Cave 4, XIV: Parabiblical Texts, Part 2 [DJD 19; Oxford: Clarendon, 1995] 99–110) shows that there are numerous allusions to traditions of the exodus from Egypt and the settlement of the Land in frg. 2 ii 1–10 (ibid., 101– 105). Given the possibility that line 9 alludes to the fear that Deut 2:25 promised would come upon the peoples of land which Israel was about to take possession (cf. ibid., 104), we should be wary of assuming that line 5, which pertains to the settlement of the Land (‘And he made a planting [òèéå] for [u]s, his chosen, in the land which is the most desirable of all the lands’), ‘is particularly important for deciding whether the historical setting of the text is before or after the crossing of the Jordan’ (ibid., 103 [emphasis mine]). Quite apart from the issue of whether the verb is a converted imperfect referring to past action or a simple imperfect consecutive, it should also be considered whether the crossing of the Arnon is the point of reference in the Qumran text, for Deut 2:24 orders the Israelites to begin their conquest of the Land upon crossing the Arnon in Transjordan; thereupon, v. 25 makes the promise of putting fear upon the inhabitants of the land they are about to enter. 108 Cf. 4Q379 (4QApocryphon of Joshuab) 12.3–6: ‘They [cr]ossed over on dry ground in the [fir]st month (4) of the forty-f[irst] year of their exodus from the lan[d] (5) of Egypt. That was the year of the jubilees when they began to enter the land of (6) Canaan. The Jordan was full of wa[ter] over all its banks ….’ See further Carol Newsom, ‘379. 4QApocryphon of Joshuab,’ in George Brooke, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, XVII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 3 (DJD 22; Oxford: Clarendon, 1996) 263–288 (270– 271). 106

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the Jordan is ‘to the west of it [sc. the land of Canaan].’ Presumably, then, the text affirms, albeit rather enigmatically, that Israelites enter the Land before they cross the Jordan, and that the precise moment of this entrance requires divine guidance. The majority who held the contrary view, i.e., that crossing the Jordan marked the actual entrance into the Land, were, from the very outset, ipso facto in gross violation of the divinely ordained sabbatical chronology, since a considerable time elapsed between the crossing of the Arnon and the crossing of the Jordan.109 From the perspective of Jubilees, this violation would have been compounded by a further error—the majority’s observance of the aberrant lunar calendar, with the result that Israel went irreconcilably astray as to the jubilees (cf. Jub. 1:14; 23:19). Here we see how integrally interconnected sacred space and sacred time were viewed. The fact that Transjordan is part of the Promised Land can also be seen in Jub. 29:2–11. After serving Laban in ‘the eastern land’ for so many years (28:1–30), Jacob decided to take his wives and possessions with him back to ‘the land of Canaan’ (29:2). According to Jub. 29:4, ‘After he had crossed the river, he reached the land of Gilead.’ Since Gilead is the region on the east side of the Jordan river extending from the Arnon river in the south to Bashan in the north, ‘the river’ to which the text refers here is undoubtedly the Arnon, which, as we have seen (p. 202), is considered the border of the Promised Land in the book of Deuteronomy.110 Whereas Genesis uses ‘the River’ (øäðä) to refer to the Euphrates (cf. Gen 31:21; 36:37),111 Jubilees presumptuously applies this designation to the much smaller river that marks the eastern border of 109 According to Deuteronomy, the Mosaic conquests and acquisitions in Transjordan included not only the Amorite kingdom of Sihon, centered in Hesbon and extending from the Arnon to Gilead (Deut 2:24, 26, 36), but also the Amorite kingdom of Og, which stretched from Bashan to Mt. Hermon (Deut 3:1–11; cf. 29:7–8). These daunting military operations would have required considerable time to accomplish. 110 It is interesting to note that the Hereford Cathedral map (c. 1285 ce), which, like other medieval mappaemundi, may owe something to the imago mundi reflected in Jubilees 8:10–9:15 (cf. Scott, Geography, 166–168), shows the circuitous journey of the Israelites who went out from Egypt, crossed the ‘River Arnon’ (and the Jordan) into the Land, and arrived finally at Jericho. Cf. Eveyln Edson, Mapping Time and Space: How Medieval Mapmakers Viewed Their World (The British Library Studies in Map History 1; London: The British Library, 1997) Plate VIII; see also ibid., 114, 116 (on the Imago Mundi of Honorius Augustodunensis [late 12th century], whose accompanying map likewise features the Arnon). 111 It is unlikely that in Jub. 29:4, ‘the river’ refers to the Euphrates (so J. Goudoever, Biblical Calendars [2nd ed.; Leiden: Brill, 1961] 67–68), for elsewhere Jubilees refers

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and main entrance to the Land. Jubilees dates Jacob’s return to Gilead to ‘the seventh year of the fourth week’ of the forty-fourth jubilee (Jub. 29:5), that is, 2135 am. This date happens to be the 305th ‘week’ since creation (= the 11th ‘week’ [77 years] of the eighth ‘otot’ cycle).112 Hence, Jacob’s entrance into the Land upon crossing the Arnon takes place in conjunction with the culmination of a sabbatical cycle, just as Israel’s entrance into the Land would take place 315 years (= 45 ‘weeks’) later, at the culmination of the jubilee of jubilees (2450 am).113 From Jubilees’ perspective, sacred space and sacred time will be brought into conformity with the foreordained divine will. When Israel finally repents of its sinful ways, not least with respect to the calendar, the period of the restoration will commence with the return of the exiles to the Land, at ‘year zero’ in the countdown to the culmination of the restoration 2450 years later at the second jubilee of jubilees. The returnees will not make the same mistake that the majority did when Israel originally entered the Land in the time of Moses and Joshua. This time, the precise moment of Israel’s entrance into the Land will be properly noted because the true borders of the Land will be acknowledged, which entails an implicit rejection of the ideal borders of the restored Land of Israel as outlined in Ezek 47:13–20.114 Moreover, upon entering the Land, the laws specific to the Land will be scrupulously to the Euphrates by its proper name (cf. Jub. 9:4–5; 14:18 [‘the great river, the river Euphrates’]). 112 Similarly, Jacob’s crossing of the Jordan occurs in 2136 am (Jub. 29:14), that is, at the end of the 356th mishmarot cycle (= the 13th such cycle [78 years] of the eighth ‘otot’). Hence, just as Jacob’s crossing of the Arnon into Gilead takes place in conjunction with the end of a sabbatical cycle (Jub. 29:5), so also here his crossing of the Arnon occurs in conjunction with the end of a mishmarot cycle. 113 Since taking a journey on the Sabbath is proscribed in Jubilees (50:12), and Jubilees does not have the patriarchs travel on the Sabbath (cf. Annie Jaubert, The Date of the Last Supper [Staten Island, NY: Alba House, 1965] 25–27), we must assume apparently that the actual entrance into the Land at the jubilee of jubilees does not take place precisely on the Sabbath. 114 If, as we suggested above, Jubilees’ conception of Zion as ‘the navel of the earth’ is based on Ezek 38:12, and Jubilees’ expectation for the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion is grounded in Ezekiel 40–48, where the Temple occupies a central position both between the rearranged northern and southern tribal portions and within the central äîåøú itself, then it is interesting to note that contrary to Ezek 47:18 (cf. Num 34:10–12), Jubilees apparently rejects the Jordan as the eastern border of the Land. In that case, we must reckon with merely a partial acceptance of Ezekiel’s eschatological vision for the restored Land of Israel, including, as previously mentioned, the more expansive northern boundary (Ezek 47:15–17) and also the observance of the year of jubilee (Ezek 46:17).

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observed in accordance with the sabbatical timetable embedded in the creative world order. From that moment of reentry onward, the restoration will proceed incrementally toward its culmination. Israel will expel its enemies from the Land (particularly the Seleucids in the north?), eventually pushing the borders back to their maximum extent in accordance with the promise to Abraham (Gen 15:18–21). Presumably, then, Israel’s aforementioned path to universal sovereignty will commence with reentry into the Land, when, on analogy to the original entrance into the Promised Land (but with even greater logical force), God ‘will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven …’ (Deut 2:25). The analogy to the eschatological battle as depicted in the War Scroll is obvious. Since the original conquest of Canaan is a model for Israel’s eschatological return and restoration, Jub. 49:18–19 provides a likely scenario of the events that lead up to the rebuilt Temple on Zion: When the Israelites enter the land which they will possess—the land of Canaan—and set up the Lord’s tabernacle in the middle of the land in one of their tribal groups (until the time when the Lord’s temple will be built in the land), they are to come and celebrate the passover in the Lord’s tabernacle and sacrifice it before the Lord from year to year. (19) At the time when the house is built in the Lord’s name in the land which they will possess, they are to go there and sacrifice the passover ….

On this model, the Israelites of the restoration era will first enter the Land, take possession of it from the foreigners who currently occupy it, set up the tabernacle in the middle of the Land, and then rebuild the Temple on that site. Since the building of the First Temple occurred long after Israel had conquered its enemies and became well established in the Land, a process that proceeded by fits and starts until the time of David and Solomon,115 it is possible that Jubilees expects the eschatological Temple to be built after a similarly long period of time. If this is correct, then we have additional evidence that the restoration period is conceived of as a lengthy and incremental process. The era of earthly bliss and peace that is expected to accompany the future restoration of Israel in the Land may be understood as an 115 Although 2Sam 7:1 states that the Lord had given David rest from all his enemies around him, the subsequent accounts of David’s wars show that the peace was fragile. According to 1Kgs 5:3–4, ‘David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his [v.l. my (sc. Solomon’s)] feet. (4) But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune.’

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outflow of the reestablished harmony between sacred space and sacred land. When the Temple Land is no longer being desecrated and when the nations of the world are finally oriented on Zion under Israel’s hegemony, the beneficent presence of God in the Land will radiate out beyond its borders to the rest of the earth. This point is made already in the section on Enoch (Jub. 4:17–26), which, as we have shown, contains a major theme of the entire book. When Enoch—the mediator par excellence between heaven and earth (cf. v. 21)—entered into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary on the mountain of incense in the Garden of Eden (vv. 23–25), his work there became a harbinger of the future ‘on earth as in heaven,’ setting up a trajectory that extends beyond the destruction of the First Temple to the reestablishment of the Temple and its priesthood on Mt. Zion and the proper synchrony between heaven and earth. At the time of the rebuilt Temple, Mt. Zion ‘will be sanctified in the new creation for the sanctification of the earth. For this reason the earth will be sanctified from all its sins and from its uncleanness into the history of eternity’ (v. 26). Here we see once again the twin foci of the book—particularism (the focus on Israel) and universalism (the focus on the world)—coming to expression in a harmonious way. The positive effects of Israel’s restoration are expected to spill out over the borders of the Land to the rest of the world.116

Conclusion In the foregoing we have shown that the Land of Israel occupies center stage in the eschatological expectations of the Book of Jubilees. If, as we had previously argued, Jubilees regards the goal of history to be the realignment of sacred space with sacred time so that everything will become ‘on earth as in heaven,’ then the holy Land of Israel, with its central sanctuary, must be the focal point of that conception. The present chapter confirms this conclusion. The universalistic strains in the book are completely subordinated to its particularistic emphasis on 116 Insofar as the Temple was conceived as a microcosm of the ideal world that God originally created, and indeed a cosmic capstone of that creation, (cf., e.g., Jon D. Levenson, ‘Cosmos and Microcosm,’ in idem, Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence [Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988] 78–99), Jubilees may expect the alignment of the eschatological Temple and the new creation in accordance with the protological model, the world as it was meant to be.

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Israel and the Temple in the Land. Most importantly, Jubilees puts a premium on ascertaining the ideal borders of the ideal Land, for the ultimate realignment of sacred space with sacred time depends on it.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing study constitutes a tentative probe into the understanding of sacred space and sacred time in the Book of Jubilees. Because of the often incomplete, complex and recondite nature of the evidence on these issues in Jubilees, the picture that we have attempted to sketch here has been necessarily hypothetical at several crucial points. Nevertheless, we have been guided throughout by strong indications both within the book itself (especially periodicity and symmetry) and within the traditions with which the book engages. The following summarizes our major findings and provides some suggestions for further research on the Book of Jubilees itself, other Jewish literature of the Second Temple period, and early Christian literature. Jubilees is a polemical writing with a distinctly priestly orientation that seeks to prove the validity of its own position over against other competing perspectives with respect to two major issues—sacred space and sacred time. Like other pseudepigrapha in the Second Temple period, Jubilees is vying for predominance in the name of divine revelation transmitted through heroes of the past. To this end, Jubilees portrays itself not only as containing the divine revelation written on heavenly tablets and given through angelic mediation to Moses on Mt. Sinai, but also—and more importantly—as encapsulating the very revelation that angels had already given to Enoch in the primeval period some 528 to 822 years earlier. According to Jub. 4:21, Enoch was ‘with God’s angels for six jubilees of years. They showed him everything on earth and in the heavens—the dominion of the sun—and he wrote down everything.’ This appeal to Enoch is the book’s clincher, part of a general tendency within the book to ascribe its scriptural interpretations regarding cultic and halakhic matters to the early patriarchal period. For Jubilees, Enoch, the seventh patriarch in the line from Adam, is the prototypical priest, the mediator par excellence between heaven and earth. Enoch is the model that the priestly author(s) of the book seeks to emulate. Enoch is also the harbinger of the author’s most treasured hope—the restoration of sacred space and sacred time, so that all things, especially the cultus, eventually will be ‘on earth as in

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heaven.’ For, as we learn in Jub. 4:25–26, Enoch’s priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden sets up a trajectory to the expected priestly service in the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion in the new creation. By that time at the latest, all things in heaven and earth will conform to the Creator’s original intention. As a polemical writing, Jubilees engages in critical dialogue with its scriptural base text and the Enochic apocalyptic tradition within which it stands. Although the book is firmly based on Israel’s scriptures, it is nevertheless also, at least in part, a radical reworking of those texts. Jubilees shapes the biblical text, particularly Genesis 1 to Exodus 24, so that it conforms to the book’s own theological agenda and chronological scheme. Similarly, Jubilees adapts and reinterprets Enochic apocalyptic tradition, most notably the Apocalypse of Weeks, in order to assert that its own version of the revelation to Enoch (and to Moses after him) has the greater claim to authenticity and authority. To this end, the book seeks to demonstrate the divinely ordained symmetry between the temporal and spatial axes in the space-time continuum.

Temporal Symmetry in the Book of Jubilees First, Jubilees affirms a rigorous temporal symmetry. All human history from creation to new creation is foreordained by God and inscribed in the heavenly tablets, which, in turn, are revealed through angelic mediation to Moses on Mt. Sinai, just as they were revealed to Enoch before him. In this presentation, historical patterns are adduced to confirm divine providence over earthly events. A striking example of this is found in the correspondence between Endzeit and Urzeit. In Jubilees, as in other apocalyptic literature, God intends the world ultimately to conform to his original intention for the creation. But Jubilees goes even further by implying a nearly complete recapitulation, that is, that the Endzeit or restoration would almost exactly mirror the Urzeit or patriarchal period. For just as human longevity progressively declined over the course of the 50 jubilees from the creation of the world until the entrance into the Land from Adam’s 930 years (i.e., 70 years less than 1000 years) to Moses’ 120 years, and then further plummeted after Israel was in the Land to a maximum life expectancy of 70 years, so also human longevity will incrementally increase over the course of the 50 jubilees from Israel’s return to the Land to the new creation, from the meager 70-year life span to the originally intended divine ideal of

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1000 years. Thus, according to Jub. 23:27, after the people return to the right way, ‘The days will begin to become numerous and increase, and mankind as well—generation by generation and day by day until their lifetimes approach 1000 years and to more years than the number of days (had been).’ In other words, the proof of the existence of divine providence—and therefore the correctness of Jubilees’ version of things—is in its rhythmic working in history: construction, destruction, and reconstruction. All this was decreed from heaven to occur in periods that were equal in length and therefore symmetrical.1 In this conception of the progress of world history, Jubilees represents a major advance over the Apocalypse of Weeks, which, although it too has periods of equal length (i.e., 490-year ‘weeks’), fails to achieve the same degree of bilateral symmetry in world history. Instead, the Apocalypse of Weeks has merely a partial and asymmetrical complementarity between ‘weeks’ 1–7 and 8–10. The Apocalypse of Weeks is arguably the main point of departure for Jubilees’ chronological system. Both writings stand within Enochic apocalyptic tradition, are based on a sabbatical chronology, and expect a protracted era of restoration. Although Jubilees evidently accepts some of the basic tenets of the chronological structure of the Apocalypse of Weeks, Jubilees also seeks to improve on the Apocalypse in various ways (see further below). Once we see the symmetry between the first and the third eras in the Book of Jubilees, that is, between the time from creation to the entrance into the Land, on the one hand, and time from the return to the Land to the new creation, on the other, we must also recognize that there is an intermediate era between the first and third that constitutes the history of Israel both before and after the exile. The length of this second era is not directly stated in the Book of Jubilees, although 1 Hence, insofar as Jubilees presents time and history as both cyclical (the rhythms of the sun) and linear (progressing toward the ultimate goal of Endzeit corresponding to Urzeit), the modern (Nietzschean) distinction between ‘Greek thinking’ and ‘Hebrew thinking’ shows itself to be a gross oversimplification. See further Hubert Cancik, ‘“Ewige Wiederkunft”: Antike Zeitvorstellungen bei Nietzsche,’ in Nietzsches Antike. Vorlesung (Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler, 1995) 107–121. In view of our discussion of the Book of Jubilees, Cancik (ibid., 121) seems to overstate the contrast between the apparently well-developed ‘philosophy of history’ among the Greeks and Romans and so-called ‘Hebrew thinking’: ‘Nirgends im Alten Testament oder Neuen Testament, in Mischna oder Talmud oder christlichen Apokryphen gibt es zusammenhängende Texte und Diskurse über Zeit, Zukunft, Geschichte in dieser begrifflichen Schärfe, von solchem Reichtum der Beobachtung, Dichte der Tradition. Da keine Texte dieser Art existieren ….’

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the existence of the era itself is unquestionable, because both Jubilees 1 and 23—the two key eschatological chapters of the book—use the Deuteronomic pattern of Sin-Exile-Restoration to describe the era’s main contours. By comparing other sabbatical chronologies in Jewish writings of the Second Temple period, we may surmise that Jubilees ascribes 980 years or 20 jubilees to this second era, with the exile and destruction of the First Temple occurring in the middle of the era flanked by two periods of 490 years each. Hence, according to our tentative reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system, the total world era consists of 120 jubilees (50 +20 +50), and the axis of symmetry on the temporal plane—both the midpoint and low point of all human history—is astonishingly the exile of Israel and the destruction of the Temple, which occurred at the culmination of the 60th jubilee (2940 am = 588/587 bce). On either side of this line of symmetry, human history is essentially a mirror image. This reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system correlates with our thesis that Jubilees adapts the Enochic Apocalypse of Weeks tradition. While Jubilees follows the date of the exile and the destruction of the Temple in the Apocalypse of Weeks (2940 am), it apparently disagrees with the Apocalypse that the building of the First Temple is the center of history, that is, in the middle of the ten-‘week’ chronological scheme. Instead, Jubilees seems to put the destruction of the Temple at the center of its longer, 120-jubilee chronological scheme, because this better correlates with the book’s view of the human condition, which has been on the decline since Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Moreover, by making the patriarchal era from Adam to Moses 490 years longer than that found in the Apocalypse of Weeks and in effect shortening the preexilic period by a corresponding 490 years, Jubilees’ chronological scheme could maintain the date both of the destruction of the Temple (2940 am) and of the restoration (3430 am) that it found in the Apocalypse of Weeks (i.e., the end of the sixth and seventh ‘weeks,’ respectively), while shifting the destruction of the Temple to the midpoint of human history in the process. Thus, Jubilees reworks the chronological scheme of the Apocalypse of Weeks in order to make the latter more perfectly symmetrical. This nearly perfect historical symmetry is a function of the cultic cycles (i.e., the weekly Sabbath, the year, the seven-year ‘week,’ the jubilee, the mishmarot, and the ‘otot’) generated by rhythms of the sun, which were established on the fourth day of creation—the exact middle of the first week. The greater and lesser conjunctions of these cultic

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cycles divide history into distinct periods, and the intersection of these conjunctions with major events in human history lend the events a particular significance or reveal an interrelationship with other events. For example, the grand jubilee of jubilees—the 50th jubilee from creation in 2450 am—is seen, in conformity with the law of jubilee in Leviticus 25 interpreted on national scale, as the time for Israel’s redemption from the slavery in Egypt and the nation’s return to the Land which rightfully belongs to it. Here again, Jubilees represents a major advance over the Apocalypse of Weeks, whose patriarchal era is patently short and whose chronology lacks the inner coherence and theological cogency of the jubilee system. On the one hand, Jubilees recognized that according to the figures of the underlying biblical text, the period of time from Adam to the building of the Temple extended well beyond the 2450 years supposed by the Apocalypse of weeks. For Jubilees assigned 2450 years to the period just from Adam to the entrance into the Land. The inner coherence and theological cogency of this move is made obvious by the fact that it fits perfectly into the book’s jubilean structure, which sets the entrance to the Land at the culmination of the jubilee of jubilees. Of course, lengthening the patriarchal era to accomplish this end meant that the third era, which mirrors it, had to be lengthened as well. This is why the world era in Jubilees’ chronological scheme consists of 5880 years, whereas the world era in the Apocalypse of Weeks is 980 (2 ×490) years shorter, encompassing a total of only 4900 years. Since the past is the key to the future in these apocalyptic writings, the real battle was over the length of the patriarchal era, which gave the decisive clue as to how long the restoration would last. This probably explains why the surface narrative of Jubilees is content with rewriting essentially Genesis 1 to Exodus 24. The rest, as they say, is history. For Jubilees, then, the task of the priestly historian is to exegete the divine plan of history and, if necessary, to rewrite the chronological facts accordingly. Sometimes, it is necessary to blatantly contradict the chronological data in the scriptures, so that everything harmonizes with the revealed chronological system.2 Thus, for example, Jubilees 2 Interestingly enough, with a few minor adjustments, the following description could just as well apply to the chronological system of the Book of Jubilees: ‘In the 12th-century history Sefer Ha-Qabbalah (“The Book of Tradition”) by Abraham IbnDaud, chronology was made to conform to a preconceived notion of the symmetry of history, perceivable in recurring cycles set in time by divine providence. Now and then, the figures given in the biblical text were abandoned in order to save the pattern

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has no qualms about changing the length of Enoch’s sojourn with the angels from ‘300 years’ (Gen 5:22) to ‘six jubilees of years [= 294 years]’ (Jub. 4:21), which corresponds to the grand cycle of priestly rotation in the Qumran calendrical documents (cf. 4Q319 [4QOtot]). By making this small adjustment to the biblical text, Jubilees is able to divide the first part of the patriarchal era (0–882 am) into three equal periods of 294 years each,3 with Enoch’s all-important entrance into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden coinciding with the beginning of the fourth ‘otot’ cycle. Of course, the rigorous schematization goes beyond the patriarchal period: By extrapolating the scheme, we can see that all of human history—from creation to the new creation—is likewise periodized into a total of 20 ‘otot’ cycles, during which especially auspicious or ominous cultic events are associated with the culmination of an ‘otot’ cycle. Thus, on our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological scheme, the midpoint of history—the destruction of the First Temple—occurred exactly seven ‘otot’ cycles after Enoch entered priestly service in the Garden and ….’ Mordecai Cogan, ‘Chronology (Hebrew Bible),’ ABD, 1.1002–1011 (1003), citing as an example Gerson D. Cohen (ed. and trans.), A Critical Edition with a Translation and Notes of the Book of Tradition (Sefer Ha-Qabbalah) by Abraham Ibn Daud (Philadephia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1967) 10: ‘Behold how trustworthy are the consolations of our God, blessed be His name, for the chronology of their exile corresponded to that of their redemption. Twenty-one years passed from the beginning of their exile until the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of the monarchy [—contrast the biblical calculation of 11 years—2Kgs 24:12 and 25:8]. Similarly, twenty-one years passed from the time its rebuilding was begun until it was completed [—the exact figure is uncalculable from the biblical data].’ For a comprehensive discussion of the symmetry of history in Sefer ha-Qabbalah and its rabbinic precursors, see Cohen (ed.), The Book of Tradition, 189–222; cf. also Philip S. Alexander, ‘From Poetry to Historiography: The Image of the Hasmoneans in Targum Canticles and the Question of the Targum’s Provenance and Date,’ JSP 19 (1999) 103–128; idem, The Targum of Canticles (The Aramaic Bible 17A; Collegeville, MI: The Liturgical Press, 2003) 14–18. It remains to be seen whether Ibn Daud’s major historical work has any relationship, direct or indirect, with the Book of Jubilees. Insofar as Ibn Daud’s work is a frontal attack on the Karaites’ contention that rabbinic tradition was a late fabrication (cf. Cohen, Sefer HaQabbalah, XLIII–LXXII, et passim), it should be noted that a connection between the Karaites and the Dead Sea scrolls has been suggested (cf., e.g., Fred Astren, ‘Karaites,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam [eds.], Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls [2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000] 1.462–465). Since, as we have seen, Jubilees’ chronology was foundational to that of the Qumran scrolls, was Ibn Daud’s chronological system a reaction against the Karaites’ own system, which, in turn, was founded on Jubilees? 3 Jubilees, like the Samaritan Pentateuch, reckons that Methuselah was born in 587 am, rather than in 687 am as in the MT; hence, Enoch’s sojourn with the angels begins ostensibly in 588 am = 2×294 years.

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presumably then seven ‘otot’ cycles before the eschatological priesthood enters priestly service in the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion. Since, as we have seen, Jubilees makes a point of establishing a trajectory between Enoch’s priestly service in the Garden and the priestly service in the rebuilt Temple on Mt. Zion, our reconstruction is plausible, even if Jubilees provides no direct statement to confirm it.

Spatial Symmetry in the Book of Jubilees Jubilees affirms not only a temporal symmetry between Urzeit and Endzeit, but also, secondly, a spatial symmetry between heaven and earth. If, as we have argued, the goal of history in the book is reversion to God’s original intention for his creation, that is, the total recapitulation of the primeval period before Adam’s sin in the Garden, then we must also notice that the way things will be on earth is the way things are and always have been in heaven. The goal of history, in other words, is that the cultus will be ‘on earth as in heaven.’4 Since the earthly cultus operates first and foremost in the Land of Israel, and especially in the central sanctuary within the Land, the 4

There are a number of striking parallels between Jubilees and medieval Kabbalah. Only a few of these can be listed here: (1) The whole course of human history can be restructured by tapping into the divine source of history itself, i.e., the ‘intradivine system’ (cf. Moshe Idel, ‘Some Concepts of Time and History in Kabbalah,’ in Elisheva Carlebach, et al. (eds.), Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi [The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series 29; Hanover/London: Brandeis University Press, 1998] 153–188 [162]); (2) to tap into the divine order requires the imitatio dei on earth as in heaven, particularly within the Land of Israel (ibid., 162, 177); (3) the imitatio dei is achieved by observing the cycles of the heavenly bodies, which faithfully reflect the divine order (ibid., 162); (4) accordingly, Shemittot and Yovelim, which mark the beginning and the end to the whole material universe, figure largely in Kabbalistic speculation (cf. Moshe Idel, ‘Jewish Apocalypticism: 670–1670,’ in Bernard McGinn [ed.], The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, Vol. 2: Apocalypticism in Western History and Culture [New York: Continuum, 1998] 204–237 [213]; Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism [New York: Schocken Books, 1995] 178–180; idem, ‘Kabbalah,’ EncJud 10 [1972] 489–653 [581–583]); (5) ‘the theurgical nature of human religious activity culminates in the restoration of the lost primeval harmony in the Endzeit’ (Idel, ‘Some Concepts of Time and History in Kabbalah,’ 176–177); (6) the redemption from exile is the goal of history (cf. Scholem, ‘Kabbalah,’ 600; see further Moshe Idel, ‘Saturn and Sabbatai Tzevi: A New Approach to Sabbateanism,’ in Peter Schäfer and Mark Cohen [eds.], Toward the Millennium: Messianic Expectations from the Bible to Waco [Studies in the History of Religions 77; Leiden: Brill, 1998] 173–202 [187–189, 193–194]; Elliot R. Wolfson, ‘Kabbalah,’ in Schiffman and VanderKam [eds.], Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls [2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000] 1.461–462).

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process of recapitulation begins when Israel in exile repents from its previous sins (not least from its previous failure to observe the proper calendar and especially the sabbatical year), and God returns the people to the Land. At the precise moment of entrance into the Land of restoration, the cultic clock starts ticking. The people are expected to enter the Land at the culmination of the 70th jubilee (3430 am), i.e., 10 jubilees (= 70 ‘weeks’ = 490 years) after the exile began. From then on, Israel is obligated to observe the entire law, including most prominently the weekly sabbath, the annual festivals, the sabbatical year, and the year of jubilee. Only in so doing can Israel and the earthly cultus maintain the proper rhythm which is simultaneously going on in heaven—all oriented on the cycles of the sun. If the clock of the cultic cycles starts ticking upon entrance into the Land, then the exact boundaries of the Land need to be precisely defined. Since the scriptures give differing dimensions for the Land, Jubilees opts for the tradition that gives the Land maximal boundaries to the north and to the east (Gen 15:18–21; Deuteronomy), corresponding to the ideal extent of the Land during the Davidic-Solomonic empire. Jubilees apparently holds that the generation of the conquest not only employed a faulty (lunar) calendar, but that they also misconstrued the boundaries of the Land as beginning at the Jordan rather than at the Arnon, as in the book of Deuteronomy. In that case, Israel radically erred in its cultic practice from the outset and thereby defiled the Land. Perhaps, in Jubilees’ view, this made the exile necessary so that the Land would make up the cumulative 70 years of sabbatical rest that had been missed (or asynchronously observed) during the 490-year preexilic period (cf. 2 Chr 36:21). Thus, by the end of the corresponding 490-year period of exile, atonement for iniquity would have been made (cf. Dan 9:24). In Jubilees, recapitulation includes both universal and particular aspects that are integrally interrelated. In keeping with its view of sacred time—a comprehensive chronological framework which is rooted in the creative order itself—Jubilees necessarily contains a complementary vision of sacred space, including the whole created world and especially the holiest sites, Zion and the Land, which will occupy the focal point in the age to come. All times and places will eventually be brought back into conformity with the Creator’s will as foreordained in the heavenly tablets (cf. Jub. 1:26–29). Enoch’s priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden has already paved the way for this blessed hope.

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Suggestions for Further Research Our study of sacred space and sacred time in the Book of Jubilees provokes several questions for further research (1) on Jubilees itself, (2) on related Jewish literature of the Second Temple period, and (3) on the NT and other early Christian literature. Although a full examination of such questions goes beyond the scope of the present study, we may survey them in a very preliminary way. The Dating of the Book of Jubilees First, let us consider a question about the dating of the book that arises from our study. While the dating of Jubilees is a matter of great importance to the overall interpretation of the book, our investigation did not begin with a firm commitment to any particular hypothesis in this regard. As the investigation progressed, however, it became increasingly probable that Jubilees fits better within the context of the Maccabean revolt (166–160 bce) than in the context of the subsequent Hasmonean period (142–63 bce). The Hebrew manuscripts of Jubilees from Qumran already point in this direction, since the earliest of these (4QJubileesa [4Q216]) is dated paleographically to c. 125–100 bce (cf. DJD 13, 2), suggesting that the original writing itself is probably even older. The very fact that Jubilees is cited as an authoritative writing in the Damascus Document (CD), a foundational document of the Qumran community, also supports an early date for the book. We may now add another piece of corroborating evidence: The ideal borders of the Land that Jubilees envisions include both Syria to the north and Transjordan to the east, apparently, as we have argued, in an anticipated reclamation of the earlier holdings of the Davidic and Solomonic empire. In contrast, even at the height of Hasmonean expansionism during the reign of Alexander Janneus (103–76 bce), the Hasmonean kingdom did not extend beyond Antiochia, just north of the Sea of Chinnereth, although it did include Transjordan. Hence, the ideal borders of the Land in Jubilees more probably reflect the optimism of the early years of success against Seleucid domination, when the prospect of ridding the whole Land of all foreigners seemed like a realizable goal. While the Hasmoneans did expand their territorial holdings, perhaps even with scriptural warrant,5 their tendency to assimilate foreign 5

Cf. Jonathan A. Goldstein, ‘How the Authors of 1 and 2Maccabees Treated the

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peoples rather than to eliminate them stands in sharp contrast to the position in Jubilees, which looks forward to the original conquest of the Land and arguably also to its corresponding reconquest after the exile, both requiring the total elimination of foreigners in the Land. Furthermore, Jubilees 8–10 condemns foreign usurpation of Israel’s allotted territory, which would apply more to the period of Seleucid rule than to the later period of independence under the Hasmoneans. On the other hand, our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system suggests that the era of restoration was expected to commence in 98/97 bce, which coincides with the reign of Alexander Janneus (103–76 bce). This date is based on our argument, discussed in chapter 2, that the destruction of the Temple and the exile took place, according to Jubilees’ scheme, in 2940 am, which coincides with the year of jubilee in 588/587 bce. On the basis of this ‘fixed point’ in the external absolute chronology, we are able to calculate the following values for Jubilees’ chronological system according to our reconstruction:6 (1) the creation of the world occurred in 3528/3527 bce (2940 +588/587); (2) the entrance into the Land of Israel took place in 1078/1077 bce (588/587 +490); (3) the restoration era was expected to begin in 98/97 bce (588/587–490); and (4) the end of the world era was expected to take place in 2353/2352 ce (2940–588/587).

This reconstruction could be used as support for dating the book to the Hasmonean period, for it could be argued that the author of Jubilees would see himself as on the threshold of the restoration era and thus nearer to 98/97 bce. Nevertheless, the aforementioned evidence that indicates a pre-Hasmonean date for the book cannot be ignored. Moreover, if we are right that Jubilees was written as early as 166– 160 bce, then the author of Jubilees is indeed on the threshold of the restoration in 98/97 bce, which is approximately the length of the human life span of 70 years according to Ps 90:10. Conversely, even if we are right that Jubilees was written before the Hasmonean period, the book’s expectation that the restoration would “Messianic” Promises,’ in Jacob Neusner, et al. (eds.), Judaism and Their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987) 69–96. 6 Although insofar as it reckons dates to the creation of the world (anno mundi), Jubilees’ system is an absolute chronology (cf. J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1–11 in the book of Jubilees [JSJSup 66; Leiden: Brill, 2000] 124, 175), it is impossible to see how Jubilees’ absolute chronology correlates with our modern time-reckoning without ascertaining a point of convergence with the external absolute chronology.

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commence in 98/97 bce (during the reign of Alexander Janneus) may help to explain the presence in the Qumran scrolls of a petition for the welfare of King Jonathan (i.e., Alexander Janneus’ Hebrew name which appears on coins he minted) and the people of Israel scattered abroad in the Diaspora. Thus, we read in 4QApocryphal Psalm and Prayer (4Q448) II.1–6: ‘Guard (or: Rise up), O Holy One (2) over King Jonathan (or: for King Jonathan) (3) and all the congregation of Your people (4) Israel (5) who are in the four (6) winds of heaven.’7 In Zech 2:10, the expression íéîù úåçåø òáøà (‘four winds of heaven’) is used in connection with the Diaspora from which Israel is expected to be restored to the Land. If 4Q448 II.5–6 is intended as an allusion to Zech 2:10, then the petition may be invoking God to restore his people from exile during the reign of King Jonathan. Since it is highly unusual that a Qumran scroll would preserve an eschatological expectation for the restoration of Israel that is connected with a Hasmonean king (the Qumran community otherwise execrates the Hasmonean dynasty),8 does the date for the commencement of the return and restoration implied in Jubilees’ chronological system (i.e., 98/97 bce) help to explain why the Qumran community would be interested in this petition (cf. 4QMMT C 10–32)? Related Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period Second, we consider questions concerning related Jewish literature of the Second Temple period that arise from our study of Jubilees’ concept of sacred space and sacred time. Particularly intriguing and potentially

7 Cf. Esther Eshel, et al. (eds.), ‘448. 4QApocryphal Psalm and Prayer,’ in E. Eshel, et al. (eds.), Qumran Cave 4, VI: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, Part 1 (DJD 11; Oxford: Clarendon, 1998) 403–425 (410–415, 421–422). On the attempt to read the prayer in 4Q448 cols. B and C as composed against Alexander Jannaeus, see, e.g., Emmanuelle Main, ‘For King Jonathan or Against? The Use of the Bible in 4Q448,’ in Michael E. Stone and Esther G. Chazon (eds.), Biblical Perspectives: Early Use and Interpretation of the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Proceedings of the First International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 12–14 May, 1996 (STDJ 28; Leiden: Brill, 1998) 113–135, as well as the critical comments on this approach by Hanan Eshel and Esther Eshel, ‘4Q448, Psalm 154 (Syriac), Sirach 48:20, and 4QpIsaa,’ JBL 119 (2000) 645–659 (654 n. 23); Bilhah Nitzan, ‘Prayers for Peace in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Traditional Jewish Liturgy,’ in Esther G. Chazon (ed.), Liturgical Perspectives: Prayer and Poetry in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 48; Leiden: Brill, 2003) 113–132 (124–129). 8 Cf., e.g., 1QpHab 8.8–13, 16–17; 9.9–12; 4QpPsa 1–10 iv 8–10.

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fruitful is the question of whether Jubilees and the Temple Scroll are in some way complementary in their conceptions of space and time. As we have seen, there is an integral connection between sacred space and sacred time in the Book of Jubilees. All the cycles expressed and implied in the book commence with the creation of the sun on the fourth day, and the goal of human history is that the cultus would conform to these cycles ‘on earth as in heaven.’ Hence, in our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system, when Israel is finally restored to the Land in 3430 am (i.e., the 70th jubilee or the 490th week), all cultic events will be scrupulously synchronized with these cycles, including the lesser and greater cycles of priestly rotation—the mishmarot (every six years) and the ‘otot’ (every 294 years). Later in the period of restoration, when God establishes the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion, the end-time descendants of Levi will be installed as priests in that Temple precisely 14 ‘otot’ cycles after Enoch’s initial entrance into the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden in 882 am. If Jubilees had described the architecture of the eschatological Temple, we would not be surprised to find it imbued with mathematical symbolism reflecting the integral connection between sacred space and sacred time in the cultus, including the expectation of their complete harmonization in the time of Israel’s restoration in the Land. Based on everything we have discussed in the foregoing chapters, we would, in fact, expect something of a rudimentary ‘unified field theory,’ the ancient Jewish equivalent of the quest of modern physics to find an underlying beauty of mathematical symmetry and harmony in the order of the universe (see, e.g., pp. 69–70, with n. 119). We need not look far to find a Jewish writing of the Second Temple period that complements Jubilees in precisely this respect (and in other ways as well). The Temple Scroll provides a close parallel, for although it does not focus on the eschatological Temple that God himself will build at the time of the new creation (cf. 11QTa 29.8–10; Jub. 1:15–17, 26–29),9 the architecture of the interim Temple detailed in the Temple Scroll contains the kind of mathematical symbolism that we might have expected in Jubilees, given the latter’s conception of the nexus between sacred space and sacred time. At least in effect, if not in purpose, there is indeed a complementary relationship between Jubilees and the 9 Yigael Yadin (ed.), The Temple Scroll (3 vols.; Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society/The Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem/The Shrine of the Book, 1983) 1.182–187.

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Temple Scroll. For, although both of these mid-second-century writings are presented as divine revelation to Moses at Sinai in their respective ways (i.e., mediated through angels and direct from God), and both are oriented to an expectation of restoration for all Israel (expressed in terms of either maximum boundaries of the Land or territorial allotments for all twelve tribes), with the Temple in the middle, in other respects, the two writings contain differences that point more toward complementarity. For example, whereas Jubilees incorporates the narrative line from Genesis 1 to Exodus 24, the Temple Scroll includes material from approximately Exodus 24 to the end of the Pentateuch (although the main objective of the redactor was apparently to produce a new Deuteronomy). If, as we have stated, the Temple Scroll presents an ideal plan of how Israel is to build an interim Temple before the establishment of the final eschatological Temple built by God himself, Jubilees and the Temple Scroll may dovetail in their respective expectations for the restoration period. For although Jubilees itself mentions nothing about an interim Temple, there is, according to our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system, a major gap of 1568 years (32 jubilees) between the time of the reentry into the Land in 3430 am and the establishment of the eschatological Temple in 4998 am. What was the priesthood of the restoration to do during that long period without a properly functioning Temple (or at least one that was incrementally approaching the divine ideal)? The Temple Scroll may well complement Jubilees in this respect, laying out elaborate plans for an interim Temple, because it was expected that, once built, it would be in service for a very long time (perhaps more than four times longer than the First Temple had been in use, assuming an intervening period of 1568 years). To take merely one possible example of the way the Temple Scroll complements Jubilees with respect to mathematical symmetries between space and time, we may consider the dimensions of the Temple courts in the Temple Scroll (cols. 30–46). According to the Temple Scroll, the interim Temple is to have three successively larger square courts, nested one within the other, enclosing the sanctuary in their common middle (see Fig. 7):

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Fig. 7. The Three Courts of the Temple in the Temple Scroll (after L.H. Schiffman).

– The inner court, with an inside measure of 280 ×280 cubits and an outside dimension of 294 ×294 cubits (11QT 36.3–7). – The middle court, with an outside dimension of 480 ×480 cubits (38. 12–15). – The outer court, with an outside dimension of 1590×1590, or, including the outward protrusion of the gates, 1604 ×1604 cubits (40.5–41.17). Of particular interest for our purposes are the dimensions of the walled inner court and its four gates. Although the beginning of the Temple

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Scroll’s command regarding the inner court is unfortunately not preserved, it is possible to reconstruct the dimensions and plan of this court. The four gates correspond to the cardinal points of the compass, and, as can be determined by comparison with the apportionment of chambers on the outside wall of the outer court, represent the four clans of the tribe of Levi: the Aaronide priests on the east, and the Levites of Kohath on the south, Gershon on the west and Merari on the north.10 The exact same arrangement of the four clans appears in Num 3:14–39, which describes their placement around the tabernacle in the desert camp. Yadin’s description of the measurements of the inner court is worth citing in full:11 In detailing the dimensions of the sections between the court gates, the author of the scroll adopted a method similar to the one that he used to describe the other courts …. However, with the other courts he started with the corner (äðô) of the court (the outer angle …), while here he cites the measurements from the angle (òåö÷î), that is, the inner angle. He is very explicit: ‘And from the corner of the gate to the second angle of the court, twenty / and one hundred cubits’ (Col. XXXVI:12–13; apparently also in ll. 3–4 …). The exterior dimension of the inner court is, therefore, (120 ×2)+40 (the gate)+2×7 (the wall) = 294 cubits; the interior dimension, however, is 280 cubits …. Since these numbers have no apparent connotation in the author’s method, it proves that he departed from the system of measurement used for the intervening sections—namely, from the angle rather than from the corner—to emphasize the number 120. Like 480 in the measurements of the middle court … and 360 in those of the outer court …, the number 120 was probably taken from the special calendar of the Dead Sea sect, which was based on the number 360 [sic]. Furthermore, if the measurements of the two intervening sections on each side are combined, without the gate, we obtain 240, or one-half of the number 480 in the description of the middle court. 10 Cf. Yadin, Temple Scroll, 1.203–204; Lawrence H. Schiffman, ‘Descriptions of the Jerusalem Temple in Josephus and the Temple Scroll,’ in David Goodblatt, et al. (eds.), Historical Perspectives: From the Hasmoneans to Bar Kokhba in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 37; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 69–82 (71–76); idem, ‘Sacred Space: The Land of Israel in the Temple Scroll,’ in Biblical Archaeology Today, 1990: Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology, Jerusalem, June-July 1990 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society/The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1993) 399–410; idem, ‘The Construction of the Temple According to the Temple Scroll,’ RevQ 17/65–68 (1996) 555–571; Johann Maier, ‘Temple,’ in Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 2.921– 927. 11 Yadin, Temple Scroll, 1.204–205 (author’s emphasis); cf. also ibid., 243.

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Thus, Yadin himself suspects that the ideal dimensions given in the description of the inner court are intended to correlate with calendrical considerations. Although his explanation for the emphasis on the number 360 as a multiple of 120 seems highly implausible (the Qumran community had a 364-day, rather than a 360-day, solar year), nevertheless Yadin could be on the right track. The key lies in discerning, first, the importance of the number 294 as the outside measure of the four walls of the inner court, whose gates represented the four groups of the tribe of Levi, including the Aaronide priests on the east. As we have seen in our study of implied cultic cycles in the Book of Jubilees, 294 years (= six jubilees) is the grand cycle of priestly rotation that, beginning with creation and extending to the culmination of the new creation, sets up a trajectory from the time that Enoch—the prototypical priest—enters into priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden to the time that the end-time priests of Levi enter into service in the eschatological Temple on Mt. Zion (Jub. 4:17–26; cf. 4Q319 [4QOtot]). Since Enoch presumably entered priestly service in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the fourth cycle of 294 years (i.e., 882 am), and, correspondingly, the priests of Aaron are apparently expected to enter their priestly service in the eschatological Temple three full jubilees before the end of the 120-jubilee history of humankind (i.e., in 4998 am), the symbolism of the four walls of the inner court is complete. Moreover, if the difference between the inside and the outside dimensions of the walls of the inner court is the thickness of the wall on each side (2 ×7 cubits), then it is interesting to speculate whether the number 14 may be significant as well, for in our reconstruction, there are precisely 14 cycles of 294 years between Enoch’s entrance into priestly service and the entrance of the end-time priests of Levi into priestly service. With these associations in mind, we may consider, second, the emphasis on the number 120 to which Yadin drew attention in the measurements of the inner court. If, as we have suggested, 120 jubilees comprises the total world era in the Book of Jubilees, an emphasis on this number in the Temple Scroll would seem most appropriate in the context of the apparent chronological symbolism embedded in the Temple architecture. Further investigation into the question of the relationship between Jubilees and the Temple Scroll may yield additional insights into these mathematical symmetries between sacred space and sacred time.

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The NT and Other Early Christian Literature Finally, we turn our attention to questions concerning the NT and other early Christian literature that arise from our study of Jubilees’ concept of sacred space and sacred time. First, with respect to Jubilees’ conception of sacred space, the title of the present study itself, On Earth as in Heaven, invites comparison, for example, with the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:7–15; Luke 11:1–4), especially the third petition in Matt 6:10b (γενη/τω τ λημ$ σου, Pς !ν ο+ραν4, κα !π γς). To what extent, if any, does this prayer presuppose the kind of coordination between heaven and earth that Jubilees expects will come about during Israel’s restoration, which culminates in the new creation and the establishment of the eschatological Temple as the central sanctuary in the Land on Zion? Or to frame the question more broadly: Does the historical Jesus himself have a basically heavenly expectation, an earthly expectation, or a combination of these? If the latter, how does Jesus conceive of the relationship between heaven and earth? To what degree is Jesus’ expectation informed by priestly conceptions of sacred space, including the traditional Land of Israel and the Temple? Second, with respect to sacred time, we may compare Jubilees with the NT and other early Christian literature on several significant points. For example, according to our reconstruction of Jubilees’ chronological system, the book expects an era of incremental restoration to last for 50 jubilees (2450 years), corresponding to the length of the first era of incremental decline. In this regard, Jubilees’ expectation can be compared with that in the Apocalypse of Weeks, which looks forward to a similarly lengthy period of restoration. In view of these expectations for a progressive and protracted restoration, which do not appear to be apologetic in nature, does the so-called ‘delay of the parousia’ in Christian sources now look less like a dire expedient to explain away an embarrassing situation than an established tradition regarding the lengthy period of time required for the recapitulation of all things? Or do imminent expectations of the parousia gradually yield to the earlier Jewish tradition regarding the protracted restoration precisely because of the delay of the parousia? With respect to sacred time, we may also compare Jubilees with early Christian chiliasm. In the following, we shall restrict our attention to early Christian writings that have apparently used Jubilees’ conception of time as a key source for their chiliastic ideas. We begin our considerations with Justin Martyr. In the section on the millennium in his Dialogue

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with Trypho the Jew (Dial. 81.1–3), Justin Martyr adduces explicit support from the OT and the NT for his chiliastic conception, most prominently Isa 65:17–25, the famous passage on the new creation, which he cites in full. In commenting on this OT passage in Dialogue 81.2, Justin states that Isa 65:22 ‘obscurely predicts a thousand years.’ It is clear, however, that Isa 65:22 does not in fact have anything about the millennium per se, for the text as Justin himself cites it reads simply: ‘According to the days of the tree [of life] shall be the days of my people ….’ Obviously, something more is at work in Justin’s chiliastic interpretation of this passage, and he goes on to state exactly what: For as Adam was told that in the day he ate of the tree he would die, we know that he did not complete a thousand years. We have perceived, moreover, that the expression, ‘The day of the Lord is as a thousand years’ (Ps 90:4), is connected with this subject.

In other words, Justin’s chiliastic interpretation of Isa 65:17–25 is based on a clever explanation of how, on the one hand, Gen 2:17 could warn that Adam would die ‘in the day’ that he ate of the forbidden tree and how, on the other hand, Gen 5:5 could report that Adam died at the ripe, old age of 930 years. The apparent contradiction is resolved by appealing to Ps 90:4: a ‘day’ of the Lord is as a thousand years. Therefore, Adam did indeed die ‘on the day’ that he ate of the tree, once one understands how really long a divine ‘day’ is. Here it should be emphasized that Jubilees is not only our earliest source of this creative interpretation of Gen 2:17, but also the first to relate it to the interpretation of Isa 65:17–25 (cf. Jub. 4:30; 23:12, 28, 29) If, as seems probable, Jubilees was a source for Justin’s chiliastic thinking at this point, then he has also changed Jubilees’ meaning when he applies the 1000 years of Ps 90:4 to the length of the millennium itself. In Jubilees, the 1000 years does not apply to the length of an era. As we have seen, the third era in Jubilees’ chronological scheme is defined by the maximization of two limits—the restoration of 1000 years as the original divine ideal for human longevity and the second jubilee of jubilees at 2450 years after Israel’s repentance and return to the Land. Although the latter figure marks the length of the third era, it is conceivable that the significance of 2450 years of restoration eventually became obscure, especially as the sabbatical framework of the number fell into disuse and other chronological conceptions came to the fore.12 Similarly, it seems likely that the understanding of the 12

For an overview of the kinds of chronological conceptions which may have sup-

conclusion

229

1000 years could have become dislodged from its original context in Jubilees, so that the 1000 years would no longer be understood as the divinely intended life span that was gradually being restored in humans during the whole period of 2450 years in the third era. Instead, the 1000 years supplanted the defunct 2450 years as the length of the restoration itself. In that case, the later belief in a ‘sabbatical millennium’ in JudeoChristian thought developed out of the view that a day of the Lord lasted for a thousand years, and that he had created the world in six days, resting upon the seventh.13 All the elements for this conception are found already in Jubilees, albeit in a completely different constellation. This is at least one way to construe how Justin may have understood the Jubilees tradition and its application to his chiliastic thinking.

planted Jubilees and may have shaped the subsequent Judeo-Christian chronographic tradition, see, e.g., August Strobel, ‘Weltenjahr, große Konjunktion und Messiasstern. Ein themageschichtlicher Überblick,’ ANRW II.20.2 (1987) 988–1187. Cf. Ben Zion Wacholder, ‘Chronomessianism: The Timing of Messianic Movements and the Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles,’ HUCA 46 (1975) 201–218 (209): ‘Only with the gradual disappearance of the agricultural laws of shemittah from Jewish life did the link between the calendar and the expectations of redemption finally disappear.’ 13 Cf. Richard Landes, ‘Lest the Millennium Be Fulfilled: Apocalyptic Expectations and the Pattern of Western Chronography 100–800 ce,’ in Werner Verbeke, et al. (eds.), The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages (Mediaevalia Lovaniensia 1.15; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988) 137–211 (141–149); Karl-Heinz Schwarte, ‘Die chiliadische Hebtaemerontypologie als Grundlage für Parusiedatierung und Chronographie,’ Die Vorgeschichte der augustinischen Weltalterlehre (Antiquitas 1.12; Bonn: Habelt, 1966) 119– 176. Although Robert A. Kraft (The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary, Vol. 3: Barnabas and the Didache [ed. Robert M. Grant; New York: Nelson, 1965] 128 [on Barn. 15:4]) suggests that the concept of the cosmic week or millennial epochs ‘antedates the book of Jubilees,’ he does not provide evidence to support this contention. If our reconstruction of the chronological system of Jubilees is correct, then the total course of world history would be 120 jubilees or 5880 years, which is very close to the six millennia commonly found in Jewish and Christian chronography (although it should be emphasized that chronological schemes with six millennia of world history most often expect a seventh millennium to complete the cosmic week of 7000 years). Cf., e.g., Barn. 15.4–5: ‘Listen carefully, my children, to these words: “God finished his work in six days ….” That means that in 6000 years God will bring all things to completion, because for him “a day of the Lord is as 1000 years ….” Therefore, my children, in six days, that is in 6000 years, the universe will be brought to its end. “And on the seventh day he rested ….”’ Cf. Everett Ferguson, ‘Was Barnabas a Chiliast? An Example of Hellenistic Number Symbolism in Barnabas and Clement of Alexandria,’ in David L. Balch, et al. (eds.), Greeks, Romans, and Christians: Essays in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990) 157–167; Charles E. Hill, Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001) 43 n. 70.

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conclusion

Irenaeus is another example of an early Christian chiliast who may have been influenced by Jubilees’ conception of time. We know that Irenaeus encountered Justin Martyr in Rome. Perhaps Irenaeus’ exposure to Jubilees came through Justin. Irenaeus explicitly refers to Justin twice in his Against Heresies (4.6.2; 5.26.2) and otherwise shows dependence on Justin and his chiliastic thinking. For example, Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. 5.23.2) uses the same argument that Justin does (Dial. 81.3) to show that Adam did in fact die ‘in the day’ that he ate of the forbidden tree (Gen 2:17), citing once again Ps 90:4, although, unlike Justin, Irenaeus does not apply this as an argument for the length of the millennium. Indeed, the extensive chiliastic ending of Against Heresies (5.30–36) does not mention the length of the millennium at all. For this reason, Irenaeus’ chiliasm has sometimes been labeled idiosyncratic. In a recent article, Christopher R. Smith goes so far as to argue that ‘Ireneus [sic] … is simply not a chiliast or millennialist in the traditional sense.’14 Smith makes much of the fact that Irenaeus never specifies the temporal duration of the millennium, even though the Christian tradition (including Justin Martyr) allowed him several options for doing so. Moreover, as Smith also states, ‘traditional chiliasm cannot serve his [sc. Irenaeus’] purposes. Preparation for glory is an organic process, not the product of following a regimen for a fixed length of time [i.e., for a millennium]; it requires, moreover, continuity between the present creation and the eternal state.’15 For Smith, Irenaeus’ concept of the millennium envisions a long and continuous process of bringing humankind from Edenic immaturity in the distant past to the true maturity of Godlikeness at an undetermined time in the future. What we have found in Jubilees 23, however, is the same kind of organic and incremental process Smith describes, but there the process occurs within a fixed period of time. Hence, a fixed length of time and an organic process are not, as Smith supposes, mutually exclusive alternatives. In Jubilees, during the era of restoration, humankind will gradually attain to the ideal that God had intended from the beginning of creation. Moreover, as we shall discuss in a moment, Jubilees shows the same kind of continuity between the present creation and the eternal state that we see in Irenaeus. Is it possible, then, that like Justin, Irenaeus actually used Jubilees

14 Christopher R. Smith, ‘Chiliasm and Recapitulation in the Theology of Ireneus [sic].’ Vigiliae christianae 48 (1994) 313–331 (320). 15 Ibid., 320 (emphasis mine).

conclusion

231

as a source for his chiliastic thinking, a source which he consequently adapted within a thoroughly Christocentric framework? Smith’s work raises a crucial point for our whole discussion: very frequently studies of early Christian chiliasm are based on a definition of the term that determines what is and is not ‘traditional chiliasm.’ As a result, certain writings are eliminated from consideration because they do not meet the specified criteria. Such definitions are often quite narrow. For example, Charles E. Hill writes in the recently published second edition of his Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millennial Thought in Early Christianity:16 Chiliasm or millennialism as used here will signify belief in a temporary, earthly, Messianic kingdom to be realized sometime in the future: temporary, for although it covers an extended period of time, it is not viewed as the ultimate state of things; earthly, as it takes place on this earth, typically with Jerusalem as its capital; and Messianic, as an individual deliverer(s) plays a central role in it. Whereas many Jewish works may be seen to contain one or two of these components, it is probably best to regard such documents as ‘defective’ stages towards and possible sources for the full-blown chiliasm that we find in the Jewish apocalypses 2 (Syriac) Baruch and 4Ezra, and to reserve the term ‘chiliasm’ for those places where all three components converge.

By this definition, the Book of Jubilees hardly comes into consideration in Hill’s study, because Jubilees does not have an expectation of a temporary and messianic kingdom. Hence, Jubilees could be considered at most a ‘“defective” stage’ or a possible source for ‘full-blown chiliasm.’ For Hill, chiliasm is a quite late development: 4Ezra and 2Baruch, the two Jewish examples of ‘full-blown chiliasm’ that he adduces, date to about 100 ce and the first or second decade of the second century, respectively, with Papias of Hierapolis being ‘our first clear example of Christian chiliasm, stemming from the first decades of the second century ….’17 If Hill had included Jubilees in his study,18 he might have come to different conclusions about both Irenaeus’ chiliasm in particular and early Christian chiliasm in general. Hill argues on the basis of the pref16 Hill, Regnum Caelorum, 5. Hill’s overly restrictive definition of chiliasm determines the outcome of many crucial issues in his book (e.g., ibid., 46, 49, 54 n. 34, 55). 17 Hill, Regnum Caelorum, 21. Hill (ibid., 220–242) does not regard the book of Revelation as an example of chiliasm. 18 Unfortunately, Hill’s definition of chiliasm practically eliminates Jubilees from the whole discussion of early Christian chiliasm (see merely ibid., 233). There is, of course, inevitably some circularity in any definition: the definition is determined by the texts

232

conclusion

ace to Irenaeus’ extended treatment of the millennium in Adv. Haer. 5.31.1 that the main difference between the non-chiliast orthodox and the chiliast is what happens to the individual during the ‘intermediate state’ before the general resurrection. For the non-chiliast orthodox, the righteous go to heaven immediately after death and enter directly into the presence of God. For Irenaeus, however, the orthodox who hold this view ‘overstep the order of the promotion of the righteous and are ignorant of the method of the preparation for incorruption ….’ In other words, Irenaeus holds that the non-chiliast orthodox need to be taught that before the just can be considered worthy of entering into the divine presence, they must first wait in the infernal abodes, then experience the resurrection of the just, and finally reign with Christ in the millennium. ‘The millennium for Irenaeus serves the necessary purpose of training and gradually accustoming the righteous to apprehend God and his glory (paulatim assuescunt capere Deum, V.32.1; cf. V.35.1–2).’19 The whole argument of Hill’s book hinges on this distinction: the heavenly intermediate state in the system of the orthodox dissenters is set in opposition to the earthly millennium in the system of Irenaeus. Indeed, ‘this heavenly postmortem existence takes the place of the millennium.’20 For Hill, these alternatives are so mutually exclusive that, as he states, ‘we are extremely hard-pressed to find any remotely contemporary Jewish or Christian writing (apocalyptic or non-apocalyptic) whose eschatology combines a clear notion of an intermediate state in heaven with a clear notion of an interim earthly kingdom ….’21 This is where a discussion of Jubilees’ chronological system could be significant. For Jubilees 23 does indeed conceive of an interim earthly kingdom (albeit a kingdom of Israel) with a concurrent ‘intermediate state’ in heaven before the time of the fully consummated new creation. Here, we use the term ‘intermediate state’ not in the traditional sense of the state of the dead between death and resurrection (there is no conception of resurrection in Jubilees), but rather in the sense of the state of those who die in the period of restoration before the final consummation of the new creation. However, ‘intermediate state’ is probably not the best term to selected, although it is supposed to be the basis for the selection. My point is simply that we should choose the definition and the corpus that will best allow us to appreciate the actual connections between texts. Hill’s narrow definition causes us to miss some of these important connections and is therefore not as helpful as a broader definition. 19 Hill, Regnum Caelorum, 19. 20 Ibid., 20 (author’s emphasis). 21 Ibid., 241–242.

conclusion

233

use in this case; in Jubilees 23, the spirits of those who die during the restoration era actually enter into the ‘eternal state’ that the rest of restored Israel will enter by the end of the third era. Hence, although there is a distinction between the earthly period of bliss and prosperity for the whole person and the heavenly ‘eternal state’ for the spirit alone (the body stays in the grave), the two are not seen as mutually exclusive alternatives, but rather consecutive modes of existence—mortal and postmortem. As the older generation of the third era dies, their spirits ascend to heaven, where they continue their bliss in a new location (and possibly in closer proximity to God). If, as we have suggested, the third era lasts 50 jubilees/2450 years until human longevity is gradually restored to 1000 years, then children will continue to be born, grow up, procreate, and die until both limits are finally attained at the time of the fully consummated new creation. All during the third era, the ‘eternal state,’ i.e., the heavenly mode of existence goes on concurrently with the earthly. Moreover, Jubilees repeatedly indicates that the transformation expected in the restoration will last from that time and until eternity, which is another evidence of the continuity between the third era and the eternal state. Although there are certainly differences between Jubilees’ eschatological conception and Irenaeus’ chiliasm, nevertheless Jubilees opens up new vistas for understanding Irenaeus’ position vis-à-vis the orthodox non-chiliasts. In view of Justin’s probable use of Jubilees, it would not at all be surprising if Irenaeus has used Jubilees as a source for his chiliasm. Could it be that Jubilees’ notion of recapitulation has contributed to some aspects of Irenaeus’ recapitulation theology and particularly to some aspects of Irenaeus’ chiliasm within that recapitulation theology? To ask the question is almost to answer it. For in both cases, recapitulation is an earthly expectation that involves a process of spiritual and physical development over an extended period of time, which culminates in the renewal of all things in accordance with the Creator’s originally intended will (God-likeness). Moreover, in both cases, the future expectation entails continuity between the restored creation and the eternal state. In sum, Jubilees helps us to see that what scholars have often held as mutually exclusive alternatives in early Christian chiliasm—fixed period vs. incremental process, present creation vs. eternal state, heavenly intermediate state vs. interim earthly kingdom—all of these supposed strict alternatives can actually be held in creative tension with one another.

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conclusion

If we are correct, then Jubilees will be an important point of departure for a renewed discussion of early Christian chiliasm. Our first obligation will be to understand Jubilees’ concept of sacred space and sacred time within its own context. Then, we also will want to ask what it was about this book that fascinated early Christian chiliasts. Perhaps tracing the reception of the Book of Jubilees will help us to reconstruct the dialogue about temporal and spatial expectations that must have taken place between Jews and the followers of Jesus during the first two centuries of the Common Era.

appendix MAJOR EVENTS OF WORLD HISTORY PLOTTED AGAINST THE CULTIC CYCLES IN THE BOOK OF JUBILEES

This Appendix consists of two parts: (1) a table listing dated events in the Book of Jubilees1 and (2) a chart showing how these events correlate with the expressed and implied cultic cycles that, as we argued in chapter 1, are foundational to the book (i.e., jubilees, ‘weeks,’ years, mishmarot, and ‘otot’).2 The TABLE consists of eight columns. The first column provides index numbers that key the events in the book to the cycles on the chart. The second column gives the references to the events in the Book of Jubilees. Columns 3–5 date the events in terms of the book’s awkward system of jubilees, weeks, and years from creation, insofar as these data are either explicitly mentioned in the text or can be inferred 1

Cf. James C. VanderKam, ‘Das chronologische Konzept des Jubiläenbuches,’ ZAW 107 (1995) 80–100 (86–89), which includes ‘alle Daten, die in den Kategorien von Jahren, Wochen und Jubiläen ausgedrückt werden’ (ibid., 86). Although the following table is not exhaustive (only a copious selection of the dated events is included), nevertheless our table also attempts to go beyond VanderKam’s list by incorporating some important events whose dates may be inferred from the text (e.g., Enoch’s entrance into the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden in 882 am and Noah’s death in either 1652 or 1659 am). As we have argued, Jubilees itself clearly expects its readers to infer some dates and their significance based on the data that is provided in the text. To take the most obvious example, the date and significance of the grand jubilee of jubilees in 2450 am—surely one of the most important events in the book—can be ascertained only by an elaborate series of summations and deductions: first, by adding ‘40 years’ (Jub. 50:4b) to the explicit date for the revelation to Moses on Mt. Sinai, that is, ‘49 jubilees from the time of Adam until today, and one week and two years’ (v. 4a); second, by recognizing that this arithmetic sum ([49×49]+7+2+40 = 2450) places several important events (i.e., the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai in 2410 am and the entrance into the Land in 2450 am) within the 50th jubilee from creation (2401–50 am); and, finally, by deducing the significance of this conjunction for the overall chronological conception of the book based on Leviticus 25 as interpreted on a national scale. Here, as throughout the rest of the book, Jubilees provides the essential clues, but the reader is expected to supply the insight to make the necessary connections within the presupposed interpretive framework. 2 I am grateful to my daughter, Kathryn E. Scott, for her help in producing the appended chart.

236

appendix

from the context. In the latter case, the number is bracketed. The sixth column simply reexpresses these complex dates in terms of years from creation (annus mundi).3 The seventh column indicates whether the dated events coincide with the conclusion of the cultic cycles implied in the text (i.e., mishmarot [marked by •] or ‘otot’ [••]). Finally, the eighth column briefly describes the events themselves, often with explanatory comments about their chronological relationship either to other dated events or to the implied cultic cycles. These comments do not necessarily reflect the original intention of the author of Jubilees in every case but are included here for heuristic purposes. The CHART plots the major events in the table against the expressed and implied cultic cycles in the Book of Jubilees. The chart includes three tiered scales: (a) the baseline, which is expressed in terms of years from creation (am), marked off in 49-year increments; (b) the ordinal number for the jubilee that corresponds to each of the 49year increments on the baseline; and (c) the ordinal number for the otot cycles that occur at intervals of six jubilees. There are no separate scales for ‘weeks’ and mishmarot cycles, since they are subsumed under the jubilee and otot cycles, respectively. If an event occurs at the culmination of a cultic cycle, then a red index number keyed to the table is placed beside that cycle’s symbol (black diamond for ‘otot,’ red square for jubilees, yellow triangle for ‘weeks,’ and purple star for mishmarot). If an event falls between completed cultic cycles, then the default placement for the red index number is on the ‘week’ cycle, since the dating of events in Jubilees normally includes this datum. Although the dated events in Jubilees extend only from creation to the anticipated entrance into the Land at the jubilee of jubilees in 2450 am (cf. Jub. 50:4), we have argued that the book presupposes a chronological framework that goes all the way to the new creation in 5880 am. Therefore, the chart covers the whole world era that we have hypothesized the book envisions, that is, from creation to new creation (cf. Jub. 1:26–29; 4:18–19, 24, 26).

3 To convert Jubilees’ complex system of dating an event in terms of jubilees (a), weeks (b), and years (c) to a simplified dating in terms of the discrete year am, the following equation is used: (a-1)49+(b-1)7+c. Thus, the date when Adam died (Index no. 17) would be calculated as follows: (19–1)49+(7–1)7+6 = 930 am.

major events of world history Index No.

Jub.

Jubilee

Week

0

2:8

1.

3:15

[1]

1

2.

3:17, 27, 32

[1]

2

3.

3:34

[2]

[1]

4.

4:1

2

3

Year

Annus Mundi

Mishmarot/ Otot •

237

Event/Comments

Creation of the sun on the fourth day = the origin of all cultic cycles in the book.

1–7

Adam and Eve spent the first ‘week’ (seven years) in the Garden of Eden.

1

8

The serpent tempted Eve on II/17 of the eighth year. Adam and Eve exiled from the Garden of Eden; Adam burns incense outside the Garden on IV/1, that is, at the beginning of the second quarter of the eighth year.

[1]

[50]

Adam had first sexual encounter with Eve.

64–70

Cain born. Abel born.

5.

4:1

2

4

71–77

6.

4:2

3

1

99–105

7.

4:7

3

5

4

130

Seth born.

8.

4:9

5

1

1

197

Houses were built on the earth; Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch.

9.

4:11

5

5

4

228

Cain killed Abel.

•

Enosh born (at the end of the 38th mishmarot cycle).

10.

4:13

7

5

3

325

Kainan I born.

11.

4:14

9

1

3

395

Malalael born.

12.

4:15

10

3

6

461

Jared (ãøé) born, so named ‘because during his lifetime the angels of the Lord who were called Watchers descended (ãøé) to the earth ….’

13.

4:16

11

5

4

522

14.

4:20

12

7

6

15.

4:28

15

3

16.

4:23–25

[18]

17.

4:29

19

7

18.

4:31

[19]

•

587

Enoch born (at the end of 87th mishmarot cycle = 49 mishmarot cycles [= one ‘otot’ of years] after the birth of Enosh). Methuselah born.

701–707

Noah born.

[882]

[••]

Enoch entered priestly service in the primeval sanctuary of the Garden of Eden at the beginning of fourth ‘otot’ cycle.

6

930

•

Adam died (at the end of the 155th mishmarot cycle = 49 years [= 1 jubilee of years] into the fourth ‘otot’ cycle).

[7]

[7]

[931]

Cain was killed at the end of the 19th jubilee.

19.

4:33

25

5

3

1207

Shem born.

20.

4:33

25

5

5

1209

Ham born.

238

appendix Event/Comments

Index No.

Jub.

Jubilee

Week

Year

Annus Mundi

Mishmarot/ Otot

21.

4:33

25

6

1

1212

•

Japheth born (at the end of the 202nd mishmarot cycle = the sixth such cycle since the beginning of the fifth ‘otot’).

22.

5:1

25

[6]

[7]

[1218?]

?

The angels of the Lord married the daughters of men ‘in a certain (year) of this jubilee [i.e., the 25th jubilee = 1176–1225 am].’ (The most ineffable sacred time for this heinous act to have taken place would presumably have been the conjunction of the 203rd mishmarot cycle [= the seventh such cycle in the fifth ‘otot’] and the 174th ‘week’ [= the sixth ‘week’ in the fifth ‘otot’] in 1218 am.)

23.

5:22

27

5

5

1307

24.

5:23

27

5

6

1308

•

Flood began (at the end of the 218th mishmarot cycle = the 22nd such cycle from the beginning of the fifth ‘otot’ = 15 mishmarot cycles after the hypothesized year when the angels married the daughters of men).

25.

5:31

27

5

7

1309

26.

7:1

27

7

1

1317

27.

7:1

27

7

4

1320

28.

7:2

27

7

5

1321

Noah built the ark.

Flood ended (at the end of the fifth week); Noah sacrificed; Festival of Weeks began on earth as it already had been celebrated in heaven since the time of creation. Cf. Jub. 6:18: ‘This entire festival had been celebrated in heaven from the time of creation until the lifetime of Noah—for 26 jubilees and five weeks of years [= 1309 years.] Then Noah and his sons kept it [sc. the Festival of Weeks] for seven jubilees and one week of years until Noah’s death [= 350 years = 1309–1659 am].’ See, however, below on Jub. 10:15–16. Noah planted a vine. •

The vine produced fruit in the fourth year (at the end of the 220th mishmarot cycle = the 24th [6 × 4] such cycle in the fifth ‘otot’). Noah made wine from the fruit, which he kept until I/1 of the fifth year. Cf. v. 3: ‘He joyfully celebrated the day of this festival. He made a burnt offering for the Lord—one young bull, one ram, seven sheep each a year old, and one kid—to make atonement through it for himself and for his sons.’ Canaan cursed.

major events of world history Index No.

Jub.

Jubilee

29.

8:1

30.

8:5

31.

Mishmarot/ Otot

Event/Comments

Week

Year

29

1

3

1375

Kainan II born.

30

2

4

1432

Shelah born.

8:7

31

5

5

1503

Eber born.

32.

8:8

32

7

6

1567

Peleg born.

33.

8:10

33

[1]

[1]

[1569]

Division of the earth among the sons of Noah.

34.

10:1

33

3

1583– 1589

Impure demons began to mislead Noah’s grandchildren.

35.

10:15–16

36.

10:18

33

2

37.

10:20

33

4

38.

10:27

34

4

1

1639

Dispersal from the Tower.

39.

11:1

35

3

7

1687

Serug born.

40.

11:2–6

35

1667– 1715

Major sins began during Serug’s lifetime. V. 6: ‘For this reason Serug was named Serug: because everyone turned to commit every (kind of) sin.’

4

Annus Mundi

239

[1652?]

If Noah was born in the 3rd week of the 15th jubilee (= 701–707 [Jub. 4:28]), and if Noah died at 950 years of age (Jub. 10:16), then Noah died sometime in 1651–1657 (perhaps at the culmination of the 236th ‘week’ in 1652 am?). See, however, above on Jub. 5:31; 6:18, which would put Noah’s death at 1659 am (the culmination of the 237th ‘week’).

1579

Regew born, so named because ‘Mankind has now become evil through the perverse plan to build themselves a city and tower in the land of Shinar.’

1590– 1596

Building the Tower of Babel began (43 years in construction).

41.

11:8

36

5

1

1744

42.

11:10

37

6

7

1806

43.

11:15

39

2

7

1876

Nahor born. •

Terah born (at the auspicious conjunction of the end of the 258th week and the 301st mishmarot cycle, the seventh such cycle of the seventh ‘otot’ cycle). Abram born (at the end of the second week, 70 years after Terah’s birth).

240

appendix Event/Comments

Index No.

Jub.

Jubilee

Week

Year

Annus Mundi

Mishmarot/ Otot

44.

11:16

[39]

[4]

[7]

[1890]

•

45.

12:1–8

39

6

7

1904

At the end of the 272nd ‘week,’ Abram asks Terah why he practices idolatry. (This event occurs 140 [70× 2] years into the seventh ‘otot’ cycle [1904–1764]).

46.

12:9

40

2

7

1925

Abram married Sarai at the end of the second week of a new jubilee.

47.

12:10

40

3

7

1932

48.

12:12

40

4

4

1936

At age 60, Abram burned down the temple of the idols.

49.

12:16

40

6

5

1951

Abram observed the ‘signs’ of the stars, moon, and sun.

50.

12:28

40

6

7

1953

Abram departed for the land of Canaan at the end of the 279th ‘week’ (= the 27th ‘week’ of the seventh ‘otot’).

51.

13:8

40

7

1

1954

Abram called on the name of the Lord. Cf. Jub. 4:12.

52.

13:11

40

7

3

1956

53.

13:16

41

1

3

1963

Abram returned to the Land.

54.

14:1–20

41

1

4

1964

Abrahamic promise; Festival of Weeks renewed (cf. Jub. 6:18–19: ‘From the day of Noah’s death [1652 am?] his sons corrupted [it = the Festival of Weeks] until Abraham’s lifetime …. (19) Abraham alone kept [it], and his sons Isaac and Jacob kept it until your [sc. Moses’] lifetime’).

55.

14:24

41

1

5

1965

Ishmael born when Abram was 86 years old.

56.

15:1– 16:14

41

4

5

1986

•

•

•

‘When he [sc. Abram] was two weeks of years [= 14 years], he separated from his father in order not to worship idols with him.’ (This event occurs at the auspicious conjunction of the 270th ‘week’ and the 315th mishmarot cycle, which is the 21st such cycle of the seventh ‘otot’ cycle and the 14th since Terah’s birth [1890–1806 = 84 years = 14 mismarot cycles]).

Lot born (seven years after Abram married Sarai, at the end of the 276th ‘week’ and the 322nd mishmarot cycle).

Abram went to Egypt (at the end of the 326th mismarot cycle = the 32nd mishmarot cycle of the seventh ‘otot’).

Abram celebrated Firstfruits; received the name ‘Abraham’ (at the end of the 331st mishmarot cycle, that is, the 37th such cycle in the seventh ‘otot’)

major events of world history Index No.

Jub.

Jubilee

Week

Year

Annus Mundi

57.

17:15– 18:16

41

7

1

2003

58.

19:1

42

1

1

2010

Mishmarot/ Otot

241

Event/Comments

Abraham is commanded to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Zion; obedience to this commandment brings a blessing for all nations of the earth (Gen 22:18; cf. 12:3). •

At the end of the 335th mishmarot cycle (the 41st such cycle of the seventh ‘otot’), Abraham returned and lived opposite Hebron; beginning of the 400-year countdown to the exodus from Egypt (Gen 15:13; cf. Jub. 14:13).

59.

19:2, 7

42

3

1

2024

60.

19:13

42

6

2

2046

•

Sarah died at the age of 127 years. Jacob and Esau born (at the end of the 341st mishmarot cycle = the 47th such cycle in the seventh ‘otot’).

61.

20:1–12

42

7

1

2052

•

Abraham admonished Isaac and his twelve children; he sent away all his children but Isaac, giving everything to him. (This event occurs at the end of the 342nd mishmarot cycle = the 48th such cycle in the seventh ‘otot’.)

62.

21:1–26

42

7

6

2057

[••]

At the very end of the seventh ‘otot’ cycle (1764–2058 am), that is, in the 293rd year of that 294-year cycle, Abraham instructed Isaac in proper sacrificial procedure.

63.

24:1

43

3

1

2073

After Abraham’s death, Isaac went out from Hebron and lived at the well of the vision for seven years.

64.

24:2–7

43

4

1

2080

Famine began in the land; Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.

65.

24:8

43

4

2

2081

Isaac went down to Gerar.

66.

24:17

43

7

1

2101

Abimelech orders Isaac to leave Gerar because he had become too prosperous.

67.

24:21

44

1

1

2108

Abrahamic promise confirmed to Isaac.

68.

22:1, 7; 23:8

44

1

2

2109

Abraham died at 175 years of age. But 1876 am (the year of Abraham’s birth [cf. Jub. 11:15])+ 175 = 2051 am (= the end of the 293rd ‘week’ = the 41st ‘week’ in the eighth ‘otot’). VanderKam (‘Konzept,’ 88; The Book of Jubilees, 2.127) gives the date as 2060. In the same year, Rebecca admonished Jacob not to marry any Canaanite women (Jub. 25:1).

69.

26:1

44

1

7

2114

Isaac blessed Jacob at the end of the 302nd ‘week’ (= eighth ‘week’ of the eighth ‘otot’).

242

appendix Annus Mundi

Mishmarot/ Otot

Event/Comments

Index No.

Jub.

Jubilee

Week

Year

70.

27:19

44

2

1

2115

Jacob at Bethel.

71.

28:1

44

3

1

2122

Jacob requested Rachel but received Leah. (Cf. v. 8: Jacob served Laban seven more years for Rachel.) In the same year, Reuben was born (Jub. 28:11).

72.

28:13

44

3

3

2124

73.

28:14

44

3

6

2127

Levi born. In the same year, Dan was born (Jub. 28:18).

74.

28:15

44

4

1

2129

Jacob received Rachel (seven years after marrying Leah); Judah born.

75.

28:19

44

4

2

2130

76.

28:20

44

4

3

2131

Gad born.

77.

28:21

44

4

5

2133

Asher born.

78.

28:22

44

4

4

2132

Issachar born.

79.

28:23

44

4

6

2134

Zebulun born.

80.

28:24

44

4

6

2134

Joseph born.

81.

29:5

44

4

7

2135

Jacob returned to Gilead at the end of the 305th ‘week’ (= the 11th ‘week’ of the eighth ‘otot’ = 77 years). According to v. 4, Jacob reached the land of Gilead after he had crossed ‘the river,’ that is, the Arnon, which for Jubilees (as for Deuteronomy) marks the boundary of the Land. Hence, entering the Land takes place in conformity with the sabbatical cycle.

82.

29:14

44

5

1

2136

83.

30:1–24 (esp. vv. 18– 20)

44

6

1

2143

•

•

•

Simeon born (at the end of the 354th mishmarot cycle = the 11th such cycle in the eighth ‘otot’).

Naphtali born (at the end of the 355th mishmarot cycle = the 12th such cycle in the eighth ‘otot’).

Jacob crossed the Jordan (at the end of the 356th mishmarot cycle = the 13th mishmarot cycle of the eighth ‘otot’). Just as crossing the Arnon river into the Land takes place in conformity with the sabbatical cycle (cf. Jub. 29:5), so also here crossing the Jordan takes place in accordance with the mishmarot cycle. Jacob went up to Salem; Levi’s descendants appointed for priesthood; Jacob received the name ‘Israel’ (cf. Jub. 32:17). In the same year, Benjamin was born and Rachel died (cf. 32:33).

major events of world history Mishmarot/ Otot

243

Event/Comments

Index No.

Jub.

Jubilee

Week

Year

Annus Mundi

84.

33:21–23

44

6

3

2145

85.

34:1–9

44

6

6

2148

86.

34:10 (cf. 39:2)

44

6

7

2149

At age 15, Joseph sold to Egypt at the end of the 307th ‘week’ (= the 13th ‘week’ of the eighth ‘otot’).

87.

35:1–8

45

1

1

2157

Rebecca summoned her son Jacob and ordered him regarding his father and brother that Jacob was to honor them throughout his entire lifetime.

88.

36:1, 18

45

1

6

2162

Isaac summoned Esau and Jacob and gave them instructions; Isaac died at 180 years of age. In the same year, Joseph ascended to the vice-regency in Egypt at age 30 (cf. Jub. 40:11–12).

89.

36:21

45

2

4

2167

Leah died.

90.

41:8–21

45

2

6

2169

Judah and Tamar.

91.

41:22

45

2

7

2170

Seven years of plenty completed at the end of the 310th ‘week’ (= the 16th ‘week’ of the eighth ‘otot’). In the same year, Tamar gave birth to Perez and Zerah.

92.

42:1

45

3

1

2171

93.

45:1, 6

45

3

2

2172

•

Israel went to Egypt at 130 years of age (= the 362nd mishmarot cycle = the 19th such cycle in the eighth ‘otot’ = 36 mishmarot cycles after Abram went to Egypt).

94.

45:11

45

4

1

2178

•

Famine in Egypt ended; the land produces crops again (= the 363 mishmarot cycle = the 20th such cycle in the eighth ‘otot’). Hence, the seven-year famine in Egypt is framed at its beginning by the conclusion of a ‘week’ (Jub. 41:22) and at its ending by the conclusion of a mishmarot cycle.

95.

45:13

45

5

4

2188

Israel died at the age of 147 years. After his death, Israel’s children increased in Egypt for 10 ‘weeks’ (= 70 years) until their deliverance (cf. Jub. 46:1).

96.

46:8

46

6

2

2242

Joseph died.

Jacob and all his sons visited Isaac and Rebecca, and the latter in turn blessed them. •

The sons of Jacob attacked in Shechem (at the end of the 358th mishmarot cycle = the 15th such cycle in the eighth ‘otot’).

Famine in Egypt began.

244

appendix Mishmarot/ Otot

Event/Comments

Index No.

Jub.

Jubilee

Week

Year

Annus Mundi

97.

46:9

47

2

2

2263

The bones of Jacob’s sons buried in the Land, except those of Joseph.

98.

47:1

47

7

7

2303

Moses’ father Amram returned from Canaan to Egypt (cf. Jub. 46:10) at the end of the 47th jubilee (= 329th ‘week’ = 35th ‘week’ of the eighth ‘otot’).

99.

47:1

48

4

6

2330

100.

47:9

[48]

[7]

[6]

[2351]

101.

47:10 (cf. 48:1)

[49]

[3]

[6]

[2372]

Three ‘weeks’ after Moses entered the royal court, he killed an Egyptian, and an Israelite asks Moses, ‘Who appointed you as ruler and judge over us?’ Moses fled from Egypt.

102.

48:1

50

2

2

2410

Moses returned to Egypt; the exodus of Israel from Egypt followed. (End of the 400-year countdown to the exodus from Egypt which began in 2010 am [Jub. 14:13; 19:1; cf. Gen 15:13].) In the same year, Moses was on Mt. Sinai (Jub. 50:4). Cf. Jub. 6:19: ‘During your [sc. Moses’] lifetime the Israelites had forgotten (it = Festival of Weeks) until I renewed (it) for them at this mountain.’

103.

50:4

[50]

[7]

[7]

[2450]

From the revelation of Moses on Mt. Sinai, the entrance into the Land is still 40 years off. This is the jubilee of jubilees (50 jubilees × 49 years), which occurs at the conclusion of the first two jubilees in the ninth ‘otot’ cycle. Just as Jacob crossed the Arnon into the Gilead at the conclusion of the 305th ‘week’ in 2135 am (Jub. 29:5), so also Israel will cross the Arnon into the Promised Land at the conclusion of the 350th ‘week,’ that is, 45 ‘weeks’ later.

Moses born. [••]

After Moses had completed three ‘weeks’ (= 21 years), he entered the royal court. (This event occurs at the end of the eighth ‘otot’ cycle [2058–2352 am]).

major events of world history

245

246

appendix

major events of world history

247

248

appendix

major events of world history

249

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INDEX OF ANCIENT LITERATURE

Old Testament Genesis 1–3 1 1:5 1:14–19 1:24–31 1:26–28 1:26 1:27 1:28 2–3 2:1–3 2:2–3 2:3 2:4–4:1 2:4 2:7 2:8–14 2:8 (LXX) 2:10–14 2:17 3 3:8–13 3:8 3:14–19 3:14 3:17–19 3:18–19 3:19 3:22–24 3:23–4:1 3:23–24 3:23 3:27 3:29 3:32 4–5

175n.38 11, 73, 124n.118 29n.28 26n.18 166n.15 174n.33 166 167n.17 166, 170n.25 124n.118 82 78n.11 26n.18 134n.147 167n.17 110n.80 57n.96 188n.70 198 53, 110, 228, 230 136n.152 79n.16 79 122n.112 124n.118 124n.118 53 110n.80 111n.80, 120n.105 134 134 52 134 134 134 52

4:1–2 4:2 4:11–16 4:18 4:23 4:25–26 4:25 (SP) 4:26 5 5:1–32 5:1–21 5:1–8 5:3–32 5:3–4 5:3 5:5 5:6 (SP) 5:8 5:9–32 5:10 5:11 5:14 5:15 5:17 5:18 (SP) 5:20 5:21–24 5:21–23 5:21 5:22

5:23 5:24

52 52 53 50n.76 52 52, 171 53 53, 64 37, 41, 64n.109 47n.72 58n.98 52 46n.68 171 53 20, 44, 53, 108, 110, 111, 228 66 108 52 64n.109 108 108 50n.76 108 66 108 38 55n.90 41, 66 21, 38, 41, 42n.63 (SP), 45, 46nn.67– 69, 56n.94, 66, 101, 216 55n.90, 108 21n.5, 38, 46n.68, 56

270 5:27 5:28–29 5:29 5:31 6:1–4 6:2 6:3 9:11–17 9:27 9:28 9:29 10 10:1 10:17 10:19 10:24 (LXX) 10:29 10:32 10:33 11:10–23 11:10–11 11:10 11:12–13 11:14–15 11:16–17 11:18–19 11:20–21 11:22–23 11:24–25 11:32 12:4–7 12:8 13:3 13:4 13:14–15 14 14:17–20 14:18 15:13–14 15:13 15:18–21

15:18

index of ancient literature 108 52 53 108 6, 136n.152 114n.92 43, 114n.92 1 187n.68 157n.191 44, 108, 114n.92 188 157n.191 201n.101 85n.28, 188, 189, 190 168n.21 190 157n.191 190 114n.92 108 157n.191 108 108 108 108 108 108 108 108, 114n.92 193 64 64n.110 64 172n.28, 194 14n.29 175n.38 175n.38, 176n.38 131n.141 43, 101n.67, 121n.107, 196 187n.66, 188, 195, 196, 200n.97, 201, 202, 207, 218 174, 190n.75, 197,

15:19–21 15:20 15:21 17:17 21:5 23:1 25:7 25:26 26:25 27:29 28:10–22 28:14 28:17 28:20–22 29:20–21 29:27 31:21 32:28 33:18 34 34:5 34:14 34:25–26 34:30 35:7 35:10 35:11–12 35:11 35:28–29 35:28 36:2 36:20 36:37 37:2 41:29–30 47:13–26 47:28 49 49:1 49:5–7 49:6–7 49:10 50:22 Exodus 1:13–14

201n.103 198 198 196n.84 43 67n.117 44 44, 104, 108 68n.117 64 167, 171n.26 64n.110 172n.28 33n.41 33n.40 43 43 205 171 175n.38 (LXX) 32, 200n.100 32 11, 199n.96 200 32 64n.110 171 172 173 196n.83 20n.3, 44, 108 199n.96, 200n.99 200n.99 205 43, 167n.17 43 13 20, 43, 44, 108 167 75, 168 32 200 168, 174 43 13

index of ancient literature 3:8 3:17 6:6 6:16 6:18 6:20 6:23 6:25 12:40 13:5 15:13 19:1 19:6 19:13 19:16 19:19 19:23 20–24 20:6 20:8 20:9 20:11 21:12 23:10 23:23 23:28 23:31 24 25 25–30 25:9 25:40 26:30 27:8 30:7–8 30:34–38 31:14–15 32:25–29 33:2 34:11 35:2 35:12 Leviticus 11:44–45 12:2–8

188, 198n.92, 199n.97 198n.92, 199n.97 14, 140n.161 108 108 108 175n.38 33 101n.67, 131n.141 198n.92, 199n.97 14, 140n.161 2n.2 31, 173n.31 85n.29 85n.29 85n.29 85n.29 12n.23 179 26n.18 82n.22 78n.11, 82 53 82n.22 198n.92, 199n.97 198n.92, 199n.97 192 73 5n.8 5n.8 5n.8 5n.8 5n.8 5n.8 57, 135n.148 57, 135n.148 26n.18 32n.38, 33n.39 198n.92, 199n.97 198n.92, 199n.97 83n.22 26n.18 13n.27 133n.145

18:21 18:25 18:27–28 19:2 19:23 20:3 20:26 21:7–8 23:2 23:3 23:10 25

25:1–55 25:2 25:3 25:4 25:8–55 25:8–9 25:8 25:9 25:10–11 25:10

25:12 25:13–34 25:25–55 25:38 25:39–55 25:41–42 25:42 25:43 25:47–54 25:50–53 25:50–54 25:54–55 25:55 25–26 26 26:33–35 26:34–35

271 186n.66, 187n.66 186n.66, 187n.66 186n.66 13n.27 183 187n.66 13n.27 13n.27 26n.18 82n.22 183 12, 13, 14, 15, 22, 84, 85, 91, 94, 96, 138n.157, 139, 161, 183, 215 93 86, 103, 183 82n.22 82n.22 21 96, 138n.157 21, 22 85n.29, 96, 147n.175 21 21n.6, 22, 83n.22, 93, 130, 138, 139, 140n.161, 146 140n.161 84 13 183n.57 84 84n.28 14 13 13 14n.31 14 84n.28 14 12n.23 91, 92 91 78n.12, 93

272 26:34 26:43 Numbers 3:14–39 13:21 13:23 13:25 13:29 14:34 16:39–40 20:27–28 24:17 25 25:1–18 25:1–15 25:13 26:55–56 33:37 33:51–52 33:54 34:3–12 34:3–5 34:5 34:6 34:7–9 34:7–8 34:8 34:10–12 34:13 35:10 35:21 36:2 Deuteronomy 1:1 1:7 2:24–25 2:24 2:25 2:26 2:31 2:34 2:36 3:1–11 3:6

index of ancient literature 84n.28, 98 91, 98 225 191 188 93n.45 198n.92 93n.45 57, 135n.148 195 168, 174 33 32 33n.39 32 114n.94 195 202n.104 114n.94 193, 195, 201, 203 192 194 192 191 195 193, 194 193, 206n.114 114n.94 202n.104 53 114n.94 12 174, 190 203, 204 204n.107, 205n.109 204n.107, 207 205n.109 203 204n.106 205n.109 205n.109 204n.106

3:12–17 3:24 3:26–27 4:25–31 4:25–28 4:38 5:10 5:16 5:33 6:1 6:2 6:3 7:1 9:1 11:9 11:10–12 11:16–17 11:21 11:22–25 11:23 11:24 11:29 12:1 12:8 15:1–6 15:1–3 15:6 17:14–20 17:14 19:2 19:14 20:16–17 20:17 25:15 27:17 28:1–14 28:9–10 28:13 28:14 28:28 28:50 29:7–8 29:24–28 29:28

203n.105 203 203 79 78n.11 173 179 116 116 183 116 183 173, 183, 198n.92, 199n.97 173 116 183 78n.11 116 173n.30 173, 183 174, 191, 192 183 183n.58 183n.58 172 172 172 177 175n.37, 183 173n.30 185 204n.106 198n.92, 199n.97, 201 116 185 79 79, 173 79, 115, 173 105, 116 88n.35 105, 116 203n.105, 205n.109 78n.11 70n.120

index of ancient literature 30:1–10 30:7 30:15–20 30:17–18 30:18 31:13 31:17 31:18 31:19 31:20 31:21 32:8–9 32:20 32:47 34:1–8 34:1–4 34:1–3 34:1 34:7

79, 119 106, 115, 119, 172 116 78n.11 183 183 78 78 76, 77 77 183 185 78 116 107 174, 203 190n.75 174 108, 114

Joshua 1:4 3:10 4:19 5:2–9 5:10 5:11–12 9:1 9:7 11:3 11:19 12:8 13:1–7 13:1–6 14:2 15:1–4 15:63 19:51 23:9 24:11 24:29

191, 192 198n.92 202n.104 202n.104 202n.104 202n.104 198n.92 199n.96, 200n.99 198n.92, 199n.96 199n.96 198n.92 199n.95 191 114n. 94 192 176n.39 114n.94 173 198n.92 114

Judges 3:3–4 3:3 3:5 18:1–31

201 199n.96 198n.92, 201 199n.95

273

1Samuel 8:1–22 8:5

175n.37 175n.37

2Samuel 7:1 7:14 7:16 8:1–14 24:7

207n.115 173n.31, 174n.33 136n.152 197n.85 199n.96

1Kings 5:1 5:3–4 6:1

6:38 7:1 8:1 8:38 8:65 9:20–21 9:20

192, 197 207n.115 99 (MT, LXX), 101, 129n.135, 130, 131, 132n.142 132n.142 132n.142 132n.142 128n.132 191, 192 201 198n.92

2Kings 14:25 22:8 24:12 25:8

191 177 216n.2 216n.2

1Chronicles 1:1 1:15 5:30 (ET 6:4) 6:35 (ET 6:50) 24 24:1–19 24:1 24:7–19 24:7 24:11 24:16 24:17 24:19

171 201n.101 33 33 25n.14, 66n.113 25 25n.14 26 28, 145 66n.113 27n.22 27n.22, 66n.113 26

274 2Chronicles 7:8 8:7 8:14 9:26 24:15 26:16–20 36:20–21 36:21

index of ancient literature 191 198n.92 25 192 114 57, 135n.148 92 84n.28, 93, 95, 129n.134, 218

Ezra 9:1–2 9:1

198n.93 198n.92

Nehemiah 5:5–12 9:8 9:33 13:5 13:12 13:15–18

14n.29 198n.92 76 35n.48 35n.48 91n.42

Psalms 29:10 37:18–19 37:22 72:8 89:10 90 90:4 90:10 90:15 106:10 110:1–4

157n.191 137n.155 167n.15 172n.28, 174n.33, 174n.34 117n.101 (LXX) 117, 120 54, 109, 110, 117, 120, 228, 230 43, 103, 117, 120, 220 106, 120, 121, 139 14 175n.38

Job 42:16

114

Isaiah 6:3 11:1–16 11:6–9 14:13–14

2n.4 168 124 7n.11

26:19 27:13 35:4 35:9 40–55 42:5–7 43:1 43:15 44:22 44:23 44:24–28 48:20 51:1–6 51:2 51:3 51:10 52:3 52:9 54:1–3 55:1–10 58:13–14 61 61:1–3 61:2 62:12 63:9 65:17–25 65:17–24 65:17–21 65:17–18 65:17 65:18 65:20 65:21–22 65:21–23 65:22 65:24 65:25 66:14 66:22–23 Jeremiah 10:25

181n.50 138n.157 14 14 140n.161 169n.24 14, 140n.161, 167n.17, 169n.24 167n.17 14, 140n.161 14, 140n.161 169n.24 14, 140n.161 124n.118 174n.35 124n.118 14, 140n.161 14, 140n.161 140n.161 174n.35 173n.31 91n.42 139 96, 138, 139 96n.53 140n.161 14 120n.105, 121, 122, 124, 125, 138, 139, 165, 228 80 139 124 124n.118, 126n.125 167n.17 121, 124 122n.109 123n.118 122n.109, 124, 228 79 122, 124 122n.112 121n.108 105

index of ancient literature 11:11 14:12 15:4 24:17 25:8–12 25:11–12 29:10 32 32:16–25 33:19–22 34:8–22 34:17 Ezekiel 4:4–6 4:4–5 4:6 20 20:12–13 20:16 20:20–21 20:23–24 20:32 20:35–36 20:35 20:40 23:38–39 37:1–14 38:12 40–48 40:1 46:17 47:10 47:13–20 47:15–20 47:15–17

105 105 147 147n.176 95n.48 92, 93, 100, 129n.134, 145n.172 92, 93, 129n.134, 145n.172 147n.176 147n.176 177n.41 145, 146n.174 145, 146, 147 96n.55, 100n.65 100n.65 100n.65 166n.14 91n.42 91n.42 91n.42 91n.42 175n.37 137n.155 166n.14 137n.155, 166n.14 187n.66 181n.50 165, 206n.114 165, 206n.114 147n.175 206n.114 164 206 193 191, 193, 206n.114

47:18 47:19 47:20 48:1 48:28 Daniel 7 7:18 7:25 7:27 9 9:1 9:4–19 9:23–24 9:24–27 9:24 9:25 9:26

275 193, 206n.114 192 192 181 192 181n.51 177 177 177 96 145n.172 76, 92n.44 97 92n.44, 93, 94 92, 93, 94, 102, 144n.172, 157n.191, 218 93, 96 96

Hosea 6:7

133n.144

Amos 6:14

192

Micah 4:10

14

Zechariah 1:12–17 2:10 9:9–10

95n.48 221 172n.28

Malachi 2:4–7 2:6

33n.39 21n.5

276

index of ancient literature New Testament

Matthew 6:7–15 6:10 Luke 3:38 11:1–4

227 227 171 227

Acts 13:20

99n.64

Romans 4:13 5:12–21 5:14

174n.34 114n.93 114n.93

2Corinthians 5:17

126n.125

Galatians 3:16 6:16

174n.34 126n.125

Ephesians 2:15 4:24

126n.125 126n.125

Revelation 1:8

168n.19

Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha Apocalypse of Abraham 9:9 126n.125 17:4 126n.125 29:1–2 153n.181 29:19 122n.112 Assumption of Moses 1:2 128n.130, 154n.182 10:11–12 154n.182 10:12 128n.130 2 Baruch 14:13 17:1–4 27:1–15 28:2 32:6 53–74 54:15 54:19 55:8 73:1–7 73:1 73:6–74:3

231 179n.47 112n.86, 114n.93 154n.181 97 126n.125 153n.181 113n.89 113n.89 122n.112 122n.112 122n.112 122n.112

3 Baruch 4:10–11 5:5–6

58n.100 64n.109

1 Enoch Book of the Watchers 1–36 6n.10, 38n.58, 41n.60, 56n.93, 120n.105 2:1–4 8n.12 5:9 122n.113 6–16 56n.93 7:1 6n.9 8:1 6n.9 8:3 41n.60 10:17 122n.113 12 45n.66 12:1–2 45n.65 12:3–4 38n.58 14:8–23 38n.58 15:1 38n.58 15:2 6n.10 15:3–7 6n.10 17–36 45n.65, 45n.66 17:1 45n.65 19:1 45n.65

index of ancient literature 20:2 45n.65 20:3 45n.65 23:1 45n.65 25:5–6 120n.105 25:6 119n.105 28:1 45n.65 30:1 45n.65 31:2 45n.65 32:1 45n.65 32:2 45n.65 33:1 45n.65 33:3 45n.65 34:1 45n.65 35 45n.65 36:2 45n.65 45:4–5 126n.125 60:8 56n.95, 180n.49 60:23 180n.49 61:12 180n.49 70:3–4 180n.49 Astronomical Book 72–82 30, 40n.59, 45n.66, 57n.97, 86n.32, 132n.143 72 45n.66 72:1 45n.66, 126n.125 81:5–6 57n.97 80:2–8 132n.143 82:4–9 40n.59 82:10–20 36n.51 82:13 36n.51 Animal Apocalypse 85–90 95, 188n.69 89:40 188n.69 89:72 95 90:1 95 90:5 95 90:17 95 Epistle of Enoch 91:1 41n.61 92:1 38n.58, 41n.6 Apocalypse of Weeks 93:1–10; 91:11–17 30, 41, 100, 115n.97, 125, 125, 147, 148,

91:11–17 91:12–15 91:15 91:16 91:17 93:1–2 93:2 93:3 93:7–8 93:7 93:8 93:9–10 93:10 100:5 104 106:7–8

277 150, 153, 156, 178, 212, 213, 214, 215, 227 41, 115n.97, 125 115n.97 41n.61 126n.125 41n.61, 125 128n.129 41n.61, 126 41n.61 130 128, 129n.132, 131 130n.137, 144, 150 151 125 177n.43 181n.51 56n.95, 180n.49

2 Enoch 69–72 71 71:2 71:27–29 71:29

135n.148 175n.38 176n.38 58n.100, 175n.38 176n.38

4 Ezra 3:21 7:28 7:60 7:75 7:95 7:96 7:98 7:118 7:131 10:45 14:11–12

231 113n.89 120n.107, 122n.112 122n.112 126n.125 122n.112 122n.112 122n.112 113n.89 122n.112 198 n.181 153n.181

Jubilees Prologue 1

11n.22, 9, 59, 73, 76, 79, 80, 81, 83, 87, 115, 122, 123, 124, 214

278 1:4 1:4b-26 1:5–18 1:5–6 1:7–12 1:7 1:8 1:9 1:10

1:11 1:12 1:13–14 1:13 1:14 1:15–18 1:15–17 1:15 1:16 1:17 1:19–21 1:19 1:20 1:21 1:22–25 1:22 1:23–25 1:23 1:24–25 1:24 1:26–27 1:26–29 1:26 1:27–29 1:27 1:28–29 1:28 1:29

index of ancient literature 11, 11n.22, 27n.21, 83 10n.17 76n.5 76 77 188n.71 76, 77 175n.37 60, 87, 90, 91n.39, 132n.142, 134, 165, 185n.60 78n.11, 113n.88 77 78 90, 135 2, 10, 26n.18, 79, 87, 205 78, 90, 119, 123 222 78n.10, 122 79, 115, 122, 173 60, 124n.118, 134, 185n.60 79 135, 172 113n.88 124 79, 123 137 4n.6, 119 124, 181 81n.19 173n.31, 174n.33 11 59, 79, 88, 181n.51, 218, 222 11n.22, 27n.21, 60, 79, 80, 168 75n.1, 80 124n.118 119 134, 186 11, 11n.22, 27n.21, 55, 60, 73,

2–50 2:1 2:2 2:7 2:9–10 2:9 2:13–14 2:14 2:15–33 2:15 2:17–33 22:17–24 2:18 2:19–24 2:19–21 2:21 2:23 2:25–27 2:30 3:1–35 3:10–11 3:10 3:12–13 3:12 3:13 3:17–22 3:17–20 3:23–29 3:23–24 3:25 3:26–35 3:27 3:29 3:31 3:32–4:33 3:32 3:35

81, 83, 124, 126n.125, 127n.125, 134, 149, 165

10 2, 82n.21 34n.43 188 86n.32 27n.21 166n.15 166, 166n.15, 167n.17 82n.21 167 2 135n.150 2, 34n.45 27n.20, 167n.17, 169 3, 167n.17 3, 34n.45 167, 168, 169 26n.18 3, 23n.10, 34n.45 134n.147 186n.62 133n.145 133n.145 188 186n.62 188 113n.88 136n.152 134 137n.154, 188 134 31, 36n.52, 56, 134, 135n.148, 175n.38 134 135, 167n.17, 175n.37 38, 52, 54 36n.52, 134, 137n.154 53

index of ancient literature 4 4:2 4:4 4:7 4:11 4:12 4:15 4:16 4:17–26

4:17–24 4:17–19 4:17 4:17b 4:18–19 4:18 4:19 4:20–26 4:20–21 4:20 4:21–24 4:21–22 4:21

4:22–24 4:22 4:23–26 4:23–25 4:23–24 4:23 4:24

49n.76, 64, 65, 101, 110 52 53 53, 171 49n.76, 63, 65 64 5, 50n.76, 136n.152 50n.76 38, 38, 45, 54, 60, 67n.115, 75n.1, 90, 128n.129, 175n.38, 176n.38, 208, 226 37n.54 61, 65 32, 39, 40, 67 40n.59 55, 83, 88 39, 41, 54, 60, 60, 128 11n.21, 39, 41, 55, 58, 74, 115n.96, 128n.129 101 21, 52, 144 37, 39, 41 55 55 5, 7, 37, 38n.58, 39, 41, 42, 45, 45n.66, 52, 54, 60, 61, 66, 132n.143, 208, 211 55 6, 40, 55, 56n.93, 136n.152 5, 55, 57n.96, 58, 60, 134, 149, 150 166, 208 55, 180n.49 40, 56, 57n.96 40, 55, 57n.96,

4:24a 4:25–26 4:25 4:26

4:28 4:29–30 4:29 4:30 4:31–32 4:31 5:1–10 5:1 5:6 5:7 5:8 5:9 5:10 5:12 6:1 6:15 6:17–19 6:17–18 6:17 6:18 6:22 6:23 6:24–31 6:27 6:32–38 6:34–37 6:35 6:36–37 6:38 7:3

279 58, 74, 76, 88, 115n.96, 176n.38

58 135n.148, 144, 212 40, 56, 57n.96, 61, 133n.145, 135n.148 40, 57n.96, 58, 59, 71n.121, 124, 156n.189, 165, 166, 186, 208 50n.76 44, 53, 109, 110, 120 20, 22n.8, 42, 44, 50n.76, 67n.115, 111 54 53n.87, 110 53n.89 136n.152 6, 113n.88, 135n.149, 157n.191 5, 6n.10 7 43, 114n.92 7 6n.10, 115n.96 81n.18 1, 2n.2 1 85n.29 1 2n.2 8, 34 11 36 36 37n.52 86, 132n.143 87 175n.37 7, 26n.18, 87 91n.39 36n.52

280 7:12 7:20–25 7:21–25 7:27 7:38–39 8–10 8–9 8:1 8:1–4 8:3 8:4 8:10–9:15 8:11–9:15 8:16–19 8:16 8:18–19 8:18 8:19–20 8:19

8:21 8:22–23 8:30 9:4–5 9:14–15 9:14 9:15 10:1–14 10:1–11 10:5 10:14 10:16–17 10:16 10:17 10:19 10:22 10:27–34 10:28 10:29–34 10:29 10:32 10:33–34

index of ancient literature 187n.68 136n.152 113n.88 113n.88 32n.36 177, 188, 220 73, 172n.29, 194n.80 129n.134, 168n.21 41n.60 7, 113n.88, 136n.152 7 205n.110 85n.28, 114 57n.96 180n.49 187 187n.68 133 5, 23, 36n.52, 56, 57n.96, 61, 133, 135n.148, 165, 187 187, 188 198 187 206n.111 115, 177 114, 184 115, 172n.29, 177, 184 113n.88, 136n.152 7 7 32n.36 108 22n.8, 44 55, 74, 115n.96 6 115n.96 177 190n.76 115 189, 192, 193, 197 177, 201 189, 190n.76, 192, 197

10:33 11:4–5 11:8 11:11 11:15 12:20 12:27 12:30 13:1–3 13:1 13:6 13:8 13:16 13:25 14:7 14:13 14:18 15:1 15:10 15:17 15:25–34 15:26–27 15:27 15:31 15:33 16:15 16:17–18 16:26 17:16 18:9 18:12 19:1 19:3–6 19:4–6 19:7 19:13 19:17–23 19:24 19:28 20:4 21:1 21:2 21:7–16 21:10

193 113n.88 70n.119 113n.88 67n.117, 68n.117 113n.88 32n.36 188 177, 193 188 188 64 64 35n.48, 175n.38 196n.83 43, 101n.67, 196 175, 187n.66, 195, 196, 197, 201, 204, 206n.111 68n.117 196n.83 43, 67n.117 4n.6 3 34n.45 113n.88, 186n.61 113n.88 67n.117 31, 173n.31, 186n.63 186n.63 113n.88 113n.88 113n.88 101n.67, 196 199n.94 199 44 67n.117, 170 170 171 113n.88 135n.149 67, 68n.117 44 67 32n.36

index of ancient literature 22:1 22:7 22:11–12 22:12 22:13–14 22:13 22:16 22:17–18 22:17 22:20–21 22:20 22:27 23

23:8–31 23:8 23:9–25 23:9–11 23:9–10 23:9 23:10 23:11–25 23:11 23:12 23:13 23:15 23:16–21 23:16 23:18 23:19 23:21 23:23 23:25 23:26–31

106n.71 44 171 186n.63 171 218 186n.64 186n.64 113n.88 112n.85, 115n.96, 201 135n.149 186n.63, 196n.83 9, 103, 106, 107, 111, 115, 116, 117, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 138, 139, 143, 156, 165, 214, 232, 233 11n.22, 150 44, 68n.117, 106, 111 106 110 106, 112, 119 87n.33, 108, 111, 114n.91, 137n.152 112n.83 106, 113, 122n.115 87n.33, 111n.82, 113, 114, 137n.152 117, 122 170 44, 117, 120 113n.90 115 122n.109 88, 205 87n.34, 132n.142, 133, 186n.62, 187n.66 116 118, 119, 122n.110 106, 119, 139

23:27–29 23:27 23:28–29 23:28 23:29–31 23:29 23:30–31 23:30 23:31 23:32 24:15–18 24:22–23 24:24 24:28–33 25:1 25:3 25:4 25:5–6 25:9 25:12 25:17 25:18 25:21 27:9–10 27:11 28:1–30 28:2 28:8 28:14 28:19 29:2–11 29:2 29:4–5 29:4 29:5 29:14 30 30–32 30:1 30:2 30:4–6 30:4 30:5–6 30:5 30:6

281 119, 126n.125 119, 120, 213 165 122 139 120, 122, 124 177, 179n.47, 180n.48 115, 119 120, 179 11, 117, 126 199n.95 36n.52 64 115n.96, 199n.95 135n.149 186n.63 67n.117 135n.149 135n.149 186n.63 188, 196n.83 186n.63 156n.189 135n.149 196n.83, 197 205 43 43 67n.116 67n.116 205 205 140n.161 205 206, 206n.112 206n.112 4n.6, 176n.38 32 175n.38 32, 187n.66, 199, 200n.99 200 200 200 32 32

282 30:7–23 30:8 30:10 30:15–16 30:15 30:16 30:17 30:18–20 30:18 30:22 30:24 31:3 31:11–17 31:12–20 31:12 31:13–20 31:13–17 31:14 31:18–20 31:18 32 32:1 32:3 32:9 32:16 32:17 32:18–19 32:18 32:21 32:22 33:20 35:14 36:1–2 36:1 36:2 36:10 36:18 36:20 37:21–22 38:7 39:2 39:6–7 40:3 41:2

index of ancient literature 200 186n.63 187n.66 132n.142 186n.62, 187n.66 186n.62 200 200 32, 34, 176 110n.79 11 37n.52 176 175n.38, 182n.53 175n.38 4 4, 33, 175n.38 4, 34, 175n.38, 186n.63 173, 174n.32, 175n.38, 176 174 65, 175 35n.48 33, 35n.48 33, 35n.48 33n.42 171 171 173 75 33n.42 31, 173n.31, 186n.63 112n.85 196n.83 179n.47 179n.47 110n.79 20n.3, 44 35n.46 124n.117 199n.95 43 32n.36 43 135n.149

45:8 45:13 45:14 45:16 46:3 46:11–16 47:1 48:2–4 48:9 48:12–13 48:15–18 48:18–19 49:2–3 49:18–19 49:18 50:1–5 50:1–4 50:2–5 50:2–3 50:3 50:4

50:5 50:6–13 50:12

13 20, 43, 44, 68n.117, 112n.84 75 31, 32n.36, 158 43 13 114n.92 113n.88 113n.88 113n.88 113n.88 14, 75n.3 113n.88 132n.142, 182n.55, 207 165, 176n.39, 185n.60 12, 106, 124 85, 123 123n.116 183 85, 88 70, 86n.30, 101n.67, 114n.92, 135n.149, 140n.161, 151, 204 88, 113n.88, 122, 123, 124, 182, 186, 187n.66 2 206n.113

Judith 1:9

197n.87

1Maccabees 1:3

198n.93 174n.32

4Maccabees 2:19–20

200

Sirach 17:1–10

136n.152

index of ancient literature 17:1–2 44:19–23 44:21 Testament of Levi 3:5–6 9:3–4

110n.80 172n.28, 174n.34 172n.28 34n.44 33n.40

14:1 16:1 17:1–2 17:8–11

283 95 95 95 95n.51

Wisdom of Solomon 2:23–24 113n.89 Dead Sea Scrolls

CD (Damascus Document) 24, 219 1.3–11 87n.33, 96, 97 1.3 96n.55 1.7–8 163 3.12–16 87n.33 3.14–15 70n.120 3.20 136n.152 10.7–10 83n.25, 87n.33, 111n.82 10.7–9 96n.54, 111n.82, 136n.152 10.9–10 111n.82, 114n.91 16.1–4 82n.20 16.2–4 87n.33, 88, 97, 111n.82 16.3–4 9, 83 20.13–15 96 1QapGen (Genesis Apocryphon) 50n.77, 193 2.23–25 56n.95 16–17 194n.80 21.8–12 194 21.10–12 195 21.15–19 194, 195 1QHa (Hodayot) 4.15 8.16 [6.16] 13.11 16.4–27 16.4–24

24, 141 136n.152 141n.164 126n.125 [8.4–27] 141n.164 134n.146

1QM (War Scroll) 1.3 1.8 1.9 2.1–14 2.1–6 2.2 2.7 2.9–14 7.2 8.4–12 10.10–16 10.11–15 12.7–16 14.12–14

24, 172n.29, 207 137 143 143 143 24 26 163 163 163n.9 164n.9 143 143 143, 170n.24 143

1QpHab (Habakkuk Pesher) 8.8–13 221n.8 8.16–17 221n.8 9.9–12 221n.8 1QpPsa (Psalms Pesher) 1–10 iv 8–10 221n.8 1QS (Rule of the Community) 24 4.23 136n.152 4.25 126n.125, 136n.152 9.10–24 29n.31 9.15–19 69n.119 9.24 29 1QSa (Rule of the Congregation) 1.13–17 68n.119

284

index of ancient literature

1.24–26 2.3–18

68n.119 68n.119

4Q223–224 (4QJubileesh) 1 i 1–3 171n.27

1QSb (Rule of Benedictions) 141 4.24–26 34n.44

4Q221 (4QJubileesf) 3.4 112n.82

4Q158 (4QReworked Pentateucha) 50, 51n.83 4Q167 (4QpHosb [Hosea Pesherb]) 7–8 133n.144 4Q171 (4QpPs [Psalms Pesher ]) 3.1–2 137n.155, 167n.16 3.10 167n.16 a

a

4Q174 (4QFlorilegium) 3.6 141 4Q212 (4QEnochg) III:18–22 128n.129 4Q216 (4QJubileesa) 9, 219 1.3–4 83n.24 1.9–12 10n.19 1.11–12 83n.25 1.12–17 76n.4 1.17 77n.8 2.1–12 77n.8 2.4–5 77n.9 2.12 77n.9 2.17 78n.10, 78n.13 4.3–10 11n.20 4.3–6 79n.15 4.6–10 80n.17 7.15 169n.22 4Q217 (4QpapJubileesb?) 1.1 83n.25 2.1–2 80n.17 2.1 83n.25 4Q219 (4QJubileesd) 2.35 106

4Q223–224 (4QpapJubileesh) 2 iii 11 20n.3 4Q225 (4QPseudo-Jubileesa) 1.7 80n.17 4Q227 (4QPseudo-Jubileesc) 2.1–6 56n.93 2.1–2 37n.54 2.2 37 4Q228 (4QText with a Citation of Jubilees) 1i1 83n.25 1i2 83n.25 1i4 83n.25 1i7 83n.25 1i9 83n.25 4Q247 (4QPesher on the Apocalypse of Weeks) 1–4 131 4Q259 (4QSe [Rule of the Community]) 29, 30 4Q265 (4QMiscellaneous Rules) 7 ii 11–17 133n.145 4Q285 (4QSefer ha-Milhamah) . 164n.9 7.6 164n.9 8.4–12 164n.9 10.6 164n.9 4Q319 (4QOtot)

iv 10–11

24, 25, 28, 29, 37, 39, 48, 58n.99, 62, 66n.113, 216, 226 26n.17, 28n.26

index of ancient literature iv 16–17 iv 11 vii 2–7

28n.26 26 36

4Q320 (4QCalendrical Document/ Mishmarot A) 1 i 3–5 26 3 i 10–12 26n.17 4 ii 10–14 26n.17 4Q328 (4QMishmarot F) 2–6 36 4Q329 (4QMishmarot G) 2.1–3 36 4Q331–333 (4QHistorical Text) 27, 62 4Q332 (4QHistorical Text D) 3.2–3 27n.22 4Q333 (4QHistorical Text E) 1.3–8 27n.22 4Q364–367 (4QReworked Pentateuch) 51n.83 4Q364 (4QReworked Pentateuchb) 50 4Q369 (4QPrayer of Enosh) 1 i 1–7 64n.109 4Q374 (4QDiscourse on the Exodus/ Conquest Tradition) 2 ii 1–10 204n.107 2 ii 5 204n.107 2 ii 9 204n.107 4Q377 (4QApocryphal Pentateuch B) 1i8 199n.97 4Q379 (4QApocryphon of Joshuab) 86n.30

12.3–6

285 85n.30, 204n.108

4Q380–81 (4QNon-Canonical Psalms A/B) 141 4Q383–390 (4QApocryphon of Jeremiah C) 83n.23, 98 4Q385a (4QApocryphon of Jeremiah Ca) 3 98 4Q385 (4QPseudo-Ezekiela) 2 164, 180n.49 4Q386 (4QPseudo-Ezekielb) 164 1 i 1–10 180n.49 4Q387 (4QApocryphon of Jeremiah C b) 1 98 1.7–8 98 2 ii 3–4 99 4Q388a (4QApocryphon of Jeremiah Cc) 3 98 4–6 98 4Q389 (4QApocryphon of Jeremiah C d) 6–7 98 6.1–2 98 4Q390 (4QApocryphon of Jeremiah C e) 1.7–8 99 4Q392 (4QWorks of God) 141 4Q393 (4QCommunal Confession) 141

286

index of ancient literature

4Q394–399 (4QMMT) 185n.60 B 29–33 163 B 63 163 4Q400–407, 11Q17, Mas1k (Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice) 2n.4, 34n.44, 141 4Q408 (Apocryphon of Mosesc?) 141 4Q448 (4QApocryphal Psalm and Prayer) II.1–6 221 II.5–6 221 4Q470 (4QText Mentioning Zedekiah) 1.3 146n.174 4Q475 (4QRenewed Earth) 81n.19 4Q500 (4QBenediction) 1 134n.146 4Q504 (Words of the Heavenly Lights) 141 8 133n.144 4Q508 (4QFestival Prayersb) 2.2 140n.161

4Q521 (4QMessianic Apocalypse) 2 ii + 4 9–12 180n.49 7 + 5 ii 6 180n.49 11Q12 (11QJubilees) 9 5.1–4 109 11Q13 (11QMelchizedek) 96, 125n.122 ii 2 96 ii 4 96, 139 ii 6–8 96, 139 ii 6 96 ii 7 96 ii 9 96, 139 ii 18 96 ii 20 139 ii 25 96 11Q19 (11QTemple [Temple Scroll]) 24, 163, 222–226 2.2–5 198n.93 18–23 22n.8 29.8–10 222 29.8–9 134n.146 29.9 141 30–46 223 36.3–7 224 36.12–13 225 38.12–15 224 40.5–41.17 224 52–66 185n.60 Josephus

Against Apion 2.19

99n.64

Jewish Antiquities 1.82–87 1.105–108 1.108 1.191 1.282 7.68

120n.106 120n.106 120n.106 190n.76 172n.28 99n.64

7.100–104 8.61 10.147 13.393–8 14.18 15.371 20.230 Jewish War 1.86–87

197n.85 99n.64 99n.64 184 184 70n.119 99n.64 184

index of ancient literature 1.89 1.104–105 2.119–161 2.128

184 184 87n.32 87n.32

2.147 2.154–158 3.372 3.374

287 87n.32 180n.49 180n.49 180n.49

Mishnah, Talmud, & Related Literature Mishnah Gittin 1:2

Genesis Rabbah 3.7 44.23

194n.82

Babylonian Talmud Abodah Zarah 9a 154n.182 Gittin 8a 194n.82 Nedarim 61a 22n.9 Rosh HaShanah 18a 140n.161 31a 154n.182 Sanhedrin 97ab 154n.154 97b 128n.130, 154

29n.28 199n.97

Pesiqta deRab Kahana 133n.144 Seder ‘Olam 26 28 30

95n.48, 97 96n.55, 100n.65 97 28n.23, 97

Targum of Canticles 5:10 34n.45 7:3 34n.45 Tosefta Ta‘anit 3:9

27, 71, 144

Early Christian Literature Barnabas 15:4–5 15:4

229n.13 229n.13

Eusebius Praeparatio evangelica 9.17.5–6 176n.38 9.30.3–4 197n.85 10.10.10 100n.65, 130n.136, 157n.191 10.10.12 99n.64, 130n.136, 157n.191 Hippolytus Refutatio omnium haeresium 9.27.1 180n.49

Irenaeus of Lyon Against Heresies 4.6.2 5.23.2 5.26.2 5.30–36 5.31.1 5.32.1 5.35.1–2

230 230 230 230 232 232 232

Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho 81.1–3 228 81.2 228 81.3 230

288

index of ancient literature

George Synkellos Chronography 5.13–17 168

21.1–8 97.11

117n.103 117n.103, 157n.191

Classical Writings Aristotle Metaphysics 1.5.1–5 Herodotus 1.32 3.151 Hesiod Theogony 31–32

70n.119

Works and Days 90–93 112–120

110n.79 110n.79

119n.104 124n.117

Plato Meno 91e 3–7

96n.54

62n.105

Plutarch Iside et Osiride 46–47 153n.180 Tiberius et Gaius Gracchus 9.6 174n.32

INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS Abegg, M G., Jr., 26n.16, 28n.24, 29n.26, 86n.31 Adler, W., 95n.48, 118n.103, 156n.191, 168n.20, 175n.38 Aharoni, Y., 182n.53 Albani, M., 69n.119, 86n.31, 87n.33 Alexander, P.S., 6n.9, 34n.45, 102n.69, 132n.143, 158n.193, 189n.74, 190, 194n.81, 216n.2 Allegro, J.M., 51n.83 Anderson, B.W., 140n.161 Anderson, G.A., 112n.87, 136n.152 Andrei, O., 95n.48, 101n.67 Astren, F., 216n.2 Attridge, H., 64n.109 Aune, D.E., 120n.105, 125n.120, 157n.192, 168n.19, 180n.49 Avi-Yonah, M., 182n.53 Baillet, M., 9n.14 Baker, D.W., 199n.96 Bar-Deroma, H., 197n.88 Barrett, C.K., 99n.64 Bauckham, R., 129n.134 Baumgarten, J.M., 133n.145 Bautch, K.C., 57n.98 Beckwith, R.T., 102n.70, 126n.123 Ben-Dov, J., 25n.13, 27n.20, 28n.25, 29nn.27&29, 30, 37, 48 Berger, K., 12n.24 Bergsma, J., 22n.9, 84n.27 Bernstein, M.J., 50n.77 Bianchi, F., 84n.27 Blocher, H., 112n.87 Boccaccini, G., 36n.50, 93n.46, 94n.46 Bockmuehl, M., 194n.81 Boda, M. J., 76n.6 Bremmer, J.N., 188n.70 Brin, G., 107n.74, 111n.81

Brodsky, H., 64n.110 Brooke, G.J., 134n.146, 136n.152, 137n.155, 141n.164, 146n.174, 173n.31 Broshi, M., 131 Buchler, A., 168n.21 Cancik, H., 213n.1 Carter, C.E., 185n.59 Charles, R.H., 128n.130, 168n.21 Charlesworth, J.H., 40n.59 Chazon, E.G., 136n.151 Chilton, B.D., 138n.156 Chyutin, M., 70n.119 Clay, J.S., 62n. 105 Cogan, M., 216n.2 Cohen, G.D., 216n.2 Collins, J.J., 139nn.159&160, 140n.161, 142n.165, 177n.43, 179n.48 Crawford, S.W., 51n.83 Davenport, G.L., 10n.16, 112, 179n.48 Davidson, M.J., 34n.44 Davila, J.R., 2n.4 Dimant, D., 83n.25, 98, 126n.124, 129n.134, 164n.11, 180n.49 Doering, L., 2n.3, 83n.23 Donner, H., 201n.103 Doran, R., 113n.90 Dreizehnter, A., 96n.54, 119n.104 Edson, E., 205n.110 Ego, B., 2n.4, 3n.5 Elior, R., 2n.4 Elgvin, T., 81n.19, 173n.31 Elliot, M., 6n.9 Endres, J.C., 35, 113n.90, 115n.98, 122n.111

290

index of modern authors

Eshel, E., 48, 49n.74, 50, 133n.145, 221n.7 Eshel, H., 48, 49n.74, 50, 221n.7

Horst, P. van der, 6n.9, 32n.36, 41n.60, 69n.118, Hultgård, A., 153n.180

Falk, D.K., 52n.84, 76n.6 Fauth, W., 87n.32 Feldman, L.H., 120n.106 Ferguson, E., 229n.13 Fishbane, M., 92n.43 Fitzgerald, J.T., 70n.119 Fitzmyer, J., 27n.22 Fletcher-Louis, C.H.T. 133n.144, 136n.152, 141, 142n.165, 143, 167n.16, 170n.25, 180n.49 Flint, P.W., 9nn.14&15 Fraad, S.D., 65n.111 Freedman, D.N., 147 Frey, J., 57n.96, 102n.70, 126n.123 Fried, L.S., 147 Fritz, V., 197n.85

Idel, M., 19n.1, 89n.38, 140n.160, 217n.4 Irshai, O., 97n.57, 154n.184 Ishida, T., 198

Gafni, I.M., 97n.57, 133n.144 Gibson, E.L., 14n.31 Glessmer, U., 25n.13, 26n.18, 86n.31 Goldstein, J.A., 182n.53, 184, 219n.5 Goudoever, J. van, 147n.175, 157n.191, 205n.111 Grabbe, L.L., 95n.48, 96n.55 Grelot, P., 57n.96 Gruber, M.I., 194n.82, 195 Hall, R.G., 4n.6, 153n.181 Halperin, D.J., 7n.11, 133n.144 Halpern-Amaru, B., 31n.35, 125n.119, 164, 165 Harrington, H.K., 185n.60 Hartman, L., 178n.44 Hayes, C.E., 4n.6, 32n.37, 173n.31 Helm, R., 154n.183 Hengel, M., 194n.81 Hill, C.E., 229n.13, 231, 232 Himmelfarb, M., 11n.21, 34n.45, 38n.58, 39n.58, 61n.102, 75n.2, 77n.7, 81n.20, 102n.70, 116n.99, 126n.123, 156n.190, 168n.20, 173n.31, 176n.40, 181n.51 Hollander, H.W., 96n.51

Jaubert, A., 206n.113 Jonge, M. de, 96n.51 Joosten, J. 185n.60, 186n.63 Kaminsky, J.S., 107n.72 Kirawada, I.M., 157n.191 Kirk, G.S., 181n.52 Klien, R.W., 47n.72 Knibb, M.A., 95n.50, 115n.98 Koch, K., 83n.23, 87n.33, 99n.63, 100, 102n.70, 126n.124, 127, 128, 132n.142, 154n.181 Kraft, R.A., 229n.13 Kugel, J.L., 31n.35, 110n.77, 114n.92, 117, 120n.107, 122n.112, 173n.31, 187n.68, 200n.100 Kutsko, J.F., 78n.11, 169n.24 Kugler, R.A., 142n.166 Laato, A., 98n.58 Landes, R., 154n.182, 229n.13 Larson, E., 146n.174 Lefebvre, J.-F., 84n.27 Levenson, J.D., 129n.133, 208n.116 Licht, J., 127n.127 Lichtenberger, H., 163n.4 Lyons, W.J., 163n.9 Maier, J., 24n.12, 129n.132, 225n.10 Main, E., 221n.7 Mandelbaum, B., 133n.144 Martínez, F.G., 9n.14, 11n.21, 75n.2, 96n.52, 109n.75 Mason, S., 180n.49 Mazar, B., 191n.77 Mendels, D., 163n.3, 175n.38, 182n.53, 189n.72 Metso, S., 29n.30

index of modern authors Milgrom, J., 12n.23, 13nn.27–29, 14nn.30&32, 15, 21n.7, 22, 26n.18, 82n.22, 83n.22, 84nn.27&28, 85n.29, 91nn.40&41, 92n.43, 138n.157, 140n.161, 146n.173, 147n.176, 161n.1, 175n.37, 183n.57, 185n.60, 186n.66, 199n.94 Milik, J.T., 9n.14, 20n.3, 37n.54, 56n.93, 106n.71, 111n.82 Milikowsky, C., 28n.23, 68n.117, 97n.57, 99n.64, 125n.119 Morris, P., 133n.144 Najman, H. 11n.21, 55n.91, 69n.119, 75n.1 Neusner, J., 133n.144 Newsom, C., 2n.4, 86n.30, 202n.107, 204n.108 Nickelsburg, G.W.E., 8n.12, 11n.21, 38n.58, 95n.49, 113n.90, 120n.105, 122n.113, 127n.127, 128n.129, 177n.43, 179, 194n.80 Nitzan, B., 221n.7 Orlov, A.A., 58n.100 Pfann, S.J., 69n.119 Poirier, J.C., 185n.60 Puech, É., 180n.49 Qimron, E., 163n.7 Raven, J.E., 181n.52 Reddish, M.G., 168n.19 Roddy, N., 98n.58, 153n.181 Rook, J.T., 10n.17, 68n.117, 69n.119, 169n.21 Ruiten, J.T.A.G.M. van, 3n.5, 27n.20, 37n.55, 38nn.56&57, 42n.63, 47nn.71&72, 49n.76, 52nn.85&86, 53n.88, 57n.96, 60n.102, 64n.108, 65nn.111&112, 79n.16, 82n.21, 86n.32, 87n.34, 110n.78, 124n.118, 126n.125, 127n.125, 128n.129, 134n.147, 135nn.150&151, 136, 137nn.153& 154, 166n.15, 167n.17, 220n.6

291

Schiffman, L.H., 163n.5, 185n.60, 224, 225n.10 Schniedewind, W.M., 173n.31 Scholem, G., 217n.4 Schulman, E., 107n.73 Schwarte, K.-H., 229n.13 Schwartz, D.R., 27n.22 Schwartz, S., 198n.93 Scott, J.M. 129n.134, 172n.29, 174n.35, 187n.67, 194n.80, 197n.86, 198n.90, 205n.110 Smith, C.D., 194n.82, 195 Smith, C.R., 230, 231 Smith-Christopher, D.L., 76n.6 Stager, L.E., 134n.146 Steck, O.H., 77n.9 Stegemann, H., 163n.5, 185n.60 Stern, M., 185n.59 Stern, S., 19n.2 Steudel, A., 168n.18, 178n.45 Stevenson, K.R., 166n.14, 185n.60 Stone, M.E., 121n.107, 122n.112, 135n.148, 136n.152 Strobel, A., 154n.182, 229n.12 Strugnell, J., 64n.109, 116n.98, 163n.7 Stuhlmueller, C., 140n.161 Suter, D.W., 55n.92 Talmon, S., 25n.14, 26n.19, 27n.21, 28n.23, 35n.49, 36n.51, 86n.31, 144n.171 Testuz, M., 10n.16, 154, 155n.185 Tigchelaar, E.J.C., 9n.14 Tov, E., 48n.73, 49n.75, 190n.75, Trump, J., 128n.130 Tuffin, P., 118n.103, 156n.191, 168n.20 Tulpin, C., 188n.70 VanderKam, J.C., 1n.1, 2n.2, 9nn.13–15, 10nn.17&18, 11nn.21–23, 12nn.25&26, 19n.2, 26nn.15&18, 31n.34, 32n.36, 33n.39, 35n.48, 36n.50, 37nn.53&54, 38n.58, 40n.59, 41nn.60&61, 42nn.62&63,

292

index of modern authors

45nn.65&66, 46n.70, 50n.78, 51n.82, 56n.93, 57n.98, 61n.103, 62n.106, 68n.117, 76n.4, 81n.18, 82n.21, 83n.25, 85nn.28&29, 86n.31, 88n.36, 94n.47, 95nn.48& 49, 96nn.52&55, 98n.59, 99n.63, 102n.70, 109n.75, 116n.98, 117n.101, 123n.114, 125nn.121&122, 126n.124, 128n.129, 129n.133, 131n.141, 132n.143, 133n.145, 135n.149, 136n.152, 137n.154, 138n.157, 139n.160, 140n.160, 155nn.186& 188, 162n.2, 165n.13, 168nn.20& 21, 169n.23, 175n.38, 176n.40, 177n.42, 179n.47, 189n.72, 196n.84, 200n.98 Vermes, G., 164n.9

Wacholder, B.Z., 95n.48, 97n.57, 102n.70, 123n.116, 154n.182, 164, 158n.193, 229n.12 Wacholder, S., 158n.193 Waldmann, H., 182n.53 Weinfeld, M., 116n.100, 175n.36, 183n.56, 186n.63, 201, 202n.104, 203, 204n.106 Werline, R.A., 76n.6 Whitters, M.F., 98n.58 Williamson, H.G.M., 92n.43 Wise, M.O., 131n.141 Wolfson, E.R., 217n.4 Wright, N.T., 179n.48 Yadin, Y., 222n.9, 225, 226 Yarbro Collins, A., 70n.119, 126n.124, 181n.52