servation and not by calculation c^s >" ^inn ^'iTip rt'i'^X'^n), and that the Sanhedrim had the power of or- daining intercalary years [see Hii.lel II], adducing in corroboration of this view the remark in Jubil. vi, 95- 133, the chronological system of the author, which is based upon heptades ; and the strict observance of the Sabbath, which, as an Essene loving the sacred number seven, he urges upon every Israelite (compare Juliil. ii, 73-135 ; iv, 19-61 ; Beth Ha-3Jidrash, iii, p. xi) ; whilst Frankel maintains that the writer was an Egyptian Jew, and a priest at the temple in Leontopolis, which ac- counts for his setting such a high value upon sacrifices, and tracing the origin of the festivals and sacrifices to the patriarchs (3fonatssch7-iff,v,-p.3Q&}.
Notwithstanding the difference of opinion as to which phase of Judaism the author belonged, all agree that this book was written in Hebrew, that it was afterwards translated into Greek, and that the Ethiopic, of which Dillmann has given a German version, was made from the Greek. ]\Iany of the expressions in the book can only be understood by retranslating them into Hebrew. Thus, for instance, the remarks " unci es giebt keine Uebergehung" (Jubil. vi, 101, 102), "und sie sollen kei- nen Tag iiebergehen" (vi, 107), become intelligible when we bear in mind that the original had ^^':i''l' , interca- lation. Moreover, the writer designates the Avivcs of the patriarchs from the family of Seth by names which express beauty and virtue in Hebrew ; Seth married Az- urah, iTTll£", restraint; Jared married Beracha, ii;:'^^, blessing ; Enoch and Methuselah married wives of the name of Adni, n"^" , pleasure ; whilst Cain married his sister Avan, "(IN, vice (Jubil. iv, 24-128). The words ^in"^ir3 ^'2, Gen. xxii, 16, are rendered in the book of Jubil. (xvii, 42) bei meinim Ilavpte, whiih is the well- known Palestinian oath "CNI, "'TTX"! '^'^na (compare Sanhedrim, 2, 3, al.), and which no Greek writer would use, especially as the Sept. does not have it here. There are also other renderings which show that the writer had the Hebrew Scriptures before him and not the Sept., a fact which is irreconcilable on the supposition that he was a Greek Jew, or wrote in Greek, as he would un- doubtedly have used the Sept. Thus, for instance, the I book of Jubil. xiv, 9, 10, has " dcr aus deinem Leibe her- vorgeht," which is a literal translation of the Hebrew "iril^a N:J'i "ifX, Gen. xv, 4; otherwise the Sept. cc i^fXivatrai Ik (tov : Jubil. xiv, 29 has " aber Abram wchrtc sie ab," so the Hebrew C^SS tlniX 2i;;*_"l (Gen. XV, 11), not the Sept. Kai cvviKoSnatv avTo'ii;"Aj3pai.i (comp. also book of Jubil. xv, 17 with Sept. Gen. xvii, 7 ; XV, 43 with Sept. xvii, 17; xv, 46 with Sept. xvii, 19). To these is to be added the testimony of St. Jerome, who remarks upon ilS"i, " Hoc verbum, quantum mcmoria suggerit, nusquam alibi in scripturis Sanctis apud Hc- braeos invenisse me novi, absque libro apocrj'jiho, qui a Grajcis fiiKpoyivtaiq appellatur. Ibi in a'dificatione tur- ris pro stadio ponitur, in quo excercentur pugiles et ath- letaj et cursorum velocitas comprobatur" (comp. In ej.is- lola ad Fabiolam de viansionibvs. Mansio xviii on Nimib. xxxiii, 21, 22); and agaui (Mansio xxiv on Numb. xxxiii, 27, 28), " Hoc eodem vocabulo (ln*Fl) et iisdem literis scriptum invenio patrem Abraham, qui in supra- dicto apocrypho Geneseos volumine abactis corvis, qui liomjnum frumenta vastabant, abactoris vel depulsoris sortitus est nomen ;" as well as the fact that portions of the book are still extant in Hebrew (comp. Jellinek, 7?f ^/* Ha-Midrash, vol. iii, p. ix, etc."). The agreement of many passages with the Sept., when the latter deviates from the Hebrew, is, as Dillmann observes, to be as- cribed to the translator, who, when rendering it into Greek, used the Sept. (Ewald, Jahrbuch, iii, 90).
IV. Date and Importance of the Book. — That this book was written before the destruction of the Temple is evident not only from its description of the sacrifices
JUBILEES, BOOK OF
1045
JUD^A
and the services performed therein, but from its whole complexion, and this is admitted by all who have writ- ten on it. Its exact date, however, is a matter of dis- pute. Kriiger maintains that it was written between B.C. 332 and 320 ; Dillmann and Frankel think that it was written in the first centunj before Christ ;'\\h\lst Ewald is of opinion that it originated about the birth of C/irisf. The medium of the two extremes is the most probable.
The importance of this book can hardly be overrated when we remember that it is one of the very few Bibli- cal works which have come down to us written between the close of the O.-T. canon and the beginning of the N. T. There are, however, several other considerations which render this book a most important contribution, both to the interpretation of the Bible and to the history of Jewish belief anterior to the Christian rera. 1. Many portions of it are Uteral translations of the book of Gen- esis, and therefore enable us to see in what state the Hebrew text was at that age, and furnish us with some readings which are preferable to those given in the tex- tus receptus, e. g. Jubil. xvii, 17 renders it probable that the correct reading of Gen. xxi, 11 is b""! 133 nX h" ir,*2it mx, which is corroborated by the verse imme- diately following. 2. It shows us that the Jews of that age believed in the siu"vival of the soul after the death of the body (xxiii, 115). though the resurrection of the body is nowhere mentioned therein ; that they believed in the existence of Satan, the prince of legions of evil spirits, respecting which so little is said in the O. Test, and so much in the New; and that these evil spirits have dominion over men, and are often the cause of their illnesses and death (x, 35-47; xlix, 7-10). 3. It shows us what the Jews believed about the coming of tlie ^lessiah, and the great day of judgment (xxxiii, 37-1 18 ). 4. It explains the statements in Acts vii, 53 ; Gal. lii, 19; lleb. ii, 2, which have caused so much dif- ficulty to interpreters, by most distinctly declaring that the law was given through the presence-angel (i, 99-102). 5. It even appears to be quoted in the N. T. (compare 2 Pet. ii, 4; Jude 6, with Jubil. iv, 76; v, 3, 20).