Jubilees, Book

​Originally, Deuteronomy presented itself as the torah, and even after its incorporation into the Pentateuch, it retains a distinct identity, which is why the Septuagint translates mishneh torah (Deuteronomy 17:18) as deuteronomium, “Second Torah.” At the same time, with the canonization of the Pentateuch, the role of the “second Torah” was claimed by: Jubilees, some Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, early Christians, and ultimately the rabbis, culminating in the composition of the Mishnah. A millennium later, Maimonides presented his Mishneh Torah as the (so-far) complete and final embodiment of that second revelation.

In the Bible, dates are generally by regnal years. Over time, several different counting systems developed, counting from: the exodus, the jubilee or sabbatical years, the building of the First Temple, its destruction, the building of the Second Temple, and its destruction. In postbiblical times, documents were dated according to the Seleucid era, and this remained standard for contracts well into the medieval period. Beginning in late antiquity, counting from creation emerged as one of many options, and only became the consensus in relatively recent times.

Jubilees, and later the Mekhilta, suggest that the covenant ceremony described after the revelation at Sinai (Exodus 24) actually took place earlier — at the moment when the Israelites declared נַעֲשֶׂה, “we will do” (Exodus 19). According to Rabbi Ishmael, it was then that Moses read Leviticus 25–26 to the people — a section explicitly framed as spoken at Sinai, and which sets out the terms of the covenant.

Exodus instructs each family in Egypt to slaughter a paschal lamb and eat it at home, while Deuteronomy commands a community ritual, to take place at the central worship location, i.e., the Jerusalem Temple. These two conceptions cross-pollinate, first in the Torah and then in its early reception: Jubilees requires everyone to eat in the Temple as their home; the Mishnah requires everyone to slaughter together in three cohorts; most surprisingly, R. Eliezer claims that, in theory, all of Israel can share one paschal animal.

Already the editors of the Torah recognized the discrepancies between the two creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2–3 and made redactional alignments so the two stories would read better next to each other. Such awareness is also evident among the earliest interpreters of the Bible, including the book of Jubilees and the Septuagint.

In the Second Temple Period the idea of “Torah” was not limited to the Five Books of Moses.

Biblical prohibitions against preparing food on Shabbat are further developed in the Second Temple and rabbinic periods. At the same time, a new emphasis emerges: celebrating Shabbat with festive meals.

The missing links

And the Re-imagining of the Harvest Festival in the Wake of the Babylonian Exile

Jewish tradition places a strong emphasis on the importance of repentance on Yom Kippur. It finds its way into Yom Kippur through a post biblical association between fasting and repentance. But what does fasting signify in the Bible and what did it mean originally in the context of Leviticus 16?

Rebecca, informed by God of her sons’ destinies, thwarts her husband’s effort to bless Esau. The Torah thus portrays an assertive Rebecca in contrast to a weak and uninformed Isaac. Early Jewish interpreters took conflicting approaches to this unusual depiction of a patriarchal couple.

The book of Jubilees is the earliest source to connect Shavuot to the Sinai covenant.

A 364 Day Solar Year