The Wesley Center Online: The Book Of Jubilees From . Charles Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1. INTRODUCTION 1. SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE BOOK. The Book of Jubilees is in certain limited aspects the most important book in this volume for the student of religion. Without it we could of course have inferred from Ezra and Nehemiah, the Priests' Code, and the later chapters of Zechariah the supreme position that the law had achieved in Judaism, but without Jubilees we could hardly have imagined such an absolute supremacy as finds expression in this book. This absolute supremacy of the law carried with it, as we have seen in the General Introduction, the suppression of prophecy - at all events of the open exercise of the prophetic gifts. And yet these gifts persisted during all the so- called centuries of silence- from Malachi down to N. T. Thus Jubilees represents the triumph of the movement, which had been at work for the past three centuries or more. And yet this most triumphant manifesto of legalism contained within its pages the element that was destined to dispute its supremacy and finally to reduce the law to the wholly secondary position that alone it could rightly claim. This element of course is apocalyptic, which was the source of the higher theology in Judaism, and subsequently was the parent of Christianity, wherein apocalyptic ceased to be pseudonymous and became one with prophecy. The Book of Jubilees was written in Hebrew by a Pharisee between the year of the accession of Hyrcanus to the high priesthood in 1. Pharisees some years before his death in 1. B. C. It is the most advanced pre- Christian representative of the midrashic tendency, which has already been at work in the Old Testament Chronicles. As the Chronicler had rewritten the history of Israel and Judah from the basis of the Priests' Code, so our author re- edited from the Pharisaic standpoint of his time the history of events from the creation to the publication, or, according to the author's view, the republication of the law on Sinai. In the course of re- editing he incorporated a large body of traditional lore, which the midrashic process had put at his disposal, and also not a few fresh legal enactments that the exigencies of the past had called forth. His work constitutes an enlarged Targum on Genesis and Exodus, in which difficulties in the biblical narrative are solved, gaps supplied, dogmatically offensive elements removed, and the genuine spirit of later Judaism infused into the primitive history of the world. His object was to defend Judaism against the attacks of the hellenistic spirit that had been in the ascendant one generation earlier and was still powerful, and to prove that the law was of everlasting validity. The Crescent Moon, Rabindranath Tagore, 1913. I PACED alone on the road across the field while the sunset. In Memoriam: Hans Ruesch, “Founding Father” – 1913-2007. On August 27, 2007, Hans Ruesch—whose book, Slaughter of the Innocent, was a seminal contribution to. From our author's contentions and his embittered attacks on the paganisers and apostates, we may infer that Hellenism had urged that the levitical ordinances of the law were only of transitory significance, that they had not been observed by the founders of the nation, and that the time had now come for them to be swept away, and for Israel to take its place in the brotherhood of the nations. Our author regarded all such views as fatal to the very existence of Jewish religion and nationality. But it is not as such that he assailed them, but on the ground of their falsehood. The law, he teaches, is of everlasting validity. Though revealed in time it was superior to time. Before it had been made known in gundry portions to the fathers it had been kept in heaven by the angels, and to its observance henceforward there was no limit in time or in eternity. Writing in the palmiest days of the Maccabean dominion,in the high- priesthood of John Hyrcanus, looked for the immediate advent of the Messianic kingdom. This kingdom was to be ruled over by a Messiah sprung, not from Levi - that is, from the Maccabean family, as some of his contemporaries expected- but from Judah. This kingdom would be gradually realized on earth, and the transformation of physical nature would go hand in hand with the ethical transformation of man till there was a new heaven and a new earth. Thus, finally, all sin and pain would disappear and men would live to the age of 1,0. VARIOUS TITLES OF THE BOOK. Our book was known by two distinct titles even in Hebrew. This appears from Epiphanius (Haer. It is found also in the Syriac Fragment entitled 'Names of the Wives of the Patriarchs according to the Hebrew Book of Jubilees,' first published by Ceriani, Mon. The Ethiopic Version of the Hebrew Book of Jubilees. This name admirably describes the book, as it divides into jubilee periods of forty- nine years each the history of the world from the creation to the legislation on Sinai. The writer pursues a perfectly symmetrical development of the heptadic system. Israel enters Canaan at the close of the fiftieth jubilee, i. The epithet 'little' does not refer to the extent of the book, for it is larger than the canonical Genesis, but to its character. It deals more fully with details than the biblical work. The Hebrew title was variously rendered in Greek. The Testament of Moses. The Book of Adam's Daughters. The Apocalypse of Moses. This title had some currency in the time of Synceflus (see i. It forms an appropriate designation since it makes Moses the recipient of all the disclosures in the book. The Testament of Moses. This title is found in the Catena of Nicephorus, i. It has, however, nothing to do with the Testament of Moses, which has become universally known under the wrong title - the Assumption of Moses. Ronsch and other scholars formerly sought to identify Jubilees with this second Testament of Moses, but this identification is shown to be impossible by the fact that in the Stichometry of Nicephorus 4,3. Jubilees and only 1. Testament of Moses. On the probability of a Testament of Moses having been in circulation - which was in reality an expansion of Jubilees ii- iii see my edition of Jubilees, p. The Book of Adam's Daughters. SLH: A BRIEF CLUB HISTORY. Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (German: Mountain View Resort - Mountain Views, Close to Yellowstone Cody, WY, USA vacation Lodge Rental - 4.8 star rating. Nestled only 1 mile from the Shoshone. This book is identified with Jubilees in the Decree of Gelasius, but it probably consisted merely of certain excerpts from Jubilees dealing with the names and histories of the women mentioned in it. Such a collection, as we have already seen, exists in Syriac, and its Greek prototype was used by the scribe of the LXX MS. This title is found in Syncellus i. It seems to have been an enlarged edition of the portion of Jubilees, which dealt with the life of Adam. There are four Ethiopic MSS., a b c d, the first and fourth of which belong to the National Library in Paris, the second to the British Museum, and the third to the University Library at Tubingen. Of these a b (of the fifteenth and sixteenth century respectively) are the most trustworthy, though they cannot be followed exclusively. In a, furthermore, the readings of the Ethiopic version of Genesis have replaced the original against bed in iii. For a full description of these MSS. THE ANCIENT VERSIONS- GREEK, ETHIOPIC, LATIN, SYRIAC. This fragment, which consists of ii. Charles's edition of the Ethiopic text. Other fragments of this version are preserved in Justin Martyr, Origen, Diodorus of Antioch, Isidore of Alexandria, Isidore of Seville, Eutychius, Patriarch of Alexandria, John of Malala, Syncellus, Cedrenus. Syncellus attributes to the Canonical Genesis statements derived from our text. This version is the parent of the Ethiopic and Latin Versions. This version is most accurate and trustworthy and indeed as a rule servilely literal. It has, of course, suffered from the corruptions naturally incident to transmission through MSS. Thus dittographies are frequent and lacunae are of occasional occurrence, but the version is singularly free from the glosses and corrections of unscrupulous scribes, though the temptation must have been great to bring it into accord with the Ethiopic version of Genesis. To this source, indeed, we must trace a few perversions of the text: 'my wife' in iii. Latin version of Jubilees, nor in the Mass., Sam., LXX, Syr., and Vulg. In the above passages the whole version is influenced, but in a much greater degree has this influence operated on MS. Ethiopic version of Genesis have replaced the original text. In the case of b there appears to be only one instance of this nature in xv. Charles's Text, pp. For instances of corruption native to this version, see Charles on ii. This version, of which about one- fourth has been preserved, was first published by Ceriani in his Monnmenta sacra et profana, 1. It contains the following sections: xiii. This version was next edited by Ronsch in 1. Das Buch der Fubilaen . This work attests enormous industry and great learning, but is deficient in judgement and critical acumen. Ronsch was of opinion that this Latin version was made in Egypt or its neighbourhood by a Palestinian Jew about the middle of the fifth century (pp. In 1. 89. 5 Charles edited this text afresh in conjunction with the Ethiopic in the Oxford Anecdota (The Ethiopic Version of the Hebrew Book of Jubilees). To this work and that of Ronsch above the reader must be referred for a fuller treatment of this subject. Here we may draw attention to the following points. This version, where it is preserved, is almost of equal value with the Ethiopic. It has, however, suffered more at the hands of correctors. Thus it has been corrected in conformity with the LXX in xlvi. Oon' against all other authorities. The Ethiopic version of Exod. Ethiopic text, but it did not. Two similar instances will be found in xvii. Again the Latin version seems to have been influenced by the Vulgate in xxix. II (canos meos where our Ethiopic text = . Of course there is the possibility that the Latin has reproduced faithfully the Greek and that the Greek was faulty; or in case it was correct, that it was the Greek presupposed by our Ethiopic version that was at fault. Two other passages are deserving of attention, xix. In the former the Latin version 'et creverunt et iuvenes facti sunt' agrees with the Ethiopic version of Gen.
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