JUBILEES, BOOK OF. - A Jewish apocryphal work that paraphrases Gen 1–13; 24.
The Fathers call it *Leptogenesis* (Didymus of Alexandria, *Enarrat. in epist. I Io.* 3, 12), because its content follows Gen 1–13; 24; *Book of Jubilees* (St. Epiphanius, *Haer.*, XXXIX, 6), from the material which is divided, with chronological precision, into jubilee periods of seven weeks of years, and according to events indicated in terms of month, year, weeks of years, as well as the jubilee period; and *Apocalypse of Moses* (Byzantine chroniclers), from the fact of the revelation received by the legislator. The Gelasian Decree mentions it among the non-canonical writings under the name *Liber de filiabus Adam*.
It was originally written in Hebrew and in Palestine. It survives complete only in Ethiopic, and one-third in Latin; both versions derive from the Greek. Moreover, fragments remain in Syriac and Mandaic. The Book of Jubilees cites the biblical text verbatim: it agrees for the most part with the Septuagint, but also with the Masoretic and with the Samaritan versions.
The author appears to be a priest of the Temple or a supporter of priests: Levi, in fact, is prominent over Judah (31, 13 ff.), the sons of Levi preserve the writings of Jacob and his fathers (54, 16); the existence of the Temple is assumed (49, 20), with Zion consecrated for the sanctification of the land. There are also contaminations: e.g., the laurel wreath on the head at the Feast of Tabernacles (8, 3) has a Hellenistic flavor; similarly, the division of heptads into septenaries used by Alexandrian Jews, which is admired by the Egyptians.
Jubilees knows the *Book of Enoch* (4; 17–23) and that of Noah (10, 13; 21, 10); it is independent of the *Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs* (Charles); it is not exact in citing legal provisions of the Law (16, 22; cf. Num 29, 13–33) and the extensions of the Mishnah (49, 20); it does not pay much heed to practice, as is evident from the calendar based on the solar year of 364 days (neither Hebrew nor of other peoples); at times it faithfully reports the words of the Patriarchs (from whom the history of Israel is understood to have originated), and at times it makes self-interested suppressions, such as of Gen 3, 17.
The time of composition seems to some to be the first half of the 1st century AD, because only thus can the bitterness against Edom and the fear of religious decline against which one is warned be explained. For others, however, the veneration for the tribe of Levi and the claim of the most ancient rights of the Jewish people over Idumea, conquered in 125 BC, leads to attributing the writing to the time of John Hyrcanus: indeed, a revival of ancient hopes is witnessed, for which the halo is requested on pp. 5–8. Hence the ideological complex.
Jubilees (1, 27; 33, 18) supposes that God on Sinai orders the angel of the face (cf. Is 63, 9) to reveal to Moses the history of creation and the events that followed. And Moses writes. This paraphrase of Genesis, with additions, omissions, and modifications, aims to demonstrate the antiquity of the Jewish people, linking their history with creation; and to inculcate strict observance of the Law, establishing its authority.
Antiochus and Hellenism had opposed, as contrary to nature and natural law, two things: circumcision and the Sabbath. To prove that such institutions are part of eternal law, the author says that the angels themselves—at least the two highest orders of the celestial hierarchy—were created circumcised (15, 27) and had to observe the Sabbath (1, 18).
After Moses, history is nothing more than prediction: God announces to Moses the entry of the Israelites into the Promised Land, their infidelities, punishments, and return. The Lord, answering the legislator’s prayer, lifts the veil of the future, which is the time in which the author lives: God now creates in them a new spirit; they will be faithful forever and will know that He loves them.
The Messiah of this time cannot be placed anywhere. The new holy people (the Hasideans) were about to side with the Hasmonean princes: but how could one expect a Messiah of Levitical descent instead of the traditional one of Davidic descent? And since one did not wish to displease the Hasmoneans, the messianic role remained in the shadows (cf. 21, 18).
The sons of Judah will in the future be a terror to the Gentiles; their military leader, Levi, who was once nearly cursed with Simeon, is now blessed first (31, 15). It seems that the principate prevails over the priesthood. Hence the various conceptions are affected: e.g., those of the final destiny (not of traditional idea), of *Gehenna* (a place for the wicked and sinners), of the great judgment (prior to the messianic period). The center of interest is the Palestinian society contemporary with the author, exalted by fortunate wars and prosperous conditions. Moses, legislator of the present time, was less suited to treat the final destiny than Enoch, who was taken from the earth to converse with God.