Rewritten Scripture

Introduction to rewritten scripture

Prepare Hanneken, Introduction to Jubilees pp. 1–5; Jubilees 1 (PDF)

Early biblical interpretation

• Presumes authority of a text to be interpreted
• Ties the interpreter’s ideas to established authority
• Begins 2nd century BCE
• Approaches text as a riddle to be deciphered with wisdom
• Early form: “rewritten bible”
• Later form: quotation and commentary

The four assumptions of early biblical interpretation

• Scripture is Cryptic
  • Secret meanings beyond the plain sense
  • Contradictions are actually clues to hidden meanings
• Scripture is Perfect
  • There can be no contradictions within the text (e.g., two creation stories within Genesis)
  • There can be no contradictions between authoritative books (e.g., Genesis agrees with Psalms)
  • There can be no contradictions between biblical texts and later theological ideas (e.g., God is all-knowing)
  • Biblical heroes are morally perfect (e.g., Jacob)
• Scripture is Relevant
  • About us and our times
• Scripture is Divine
  • Emphasis on God as author behind human authors

Examples of biblical interpretation we already saw

• WisSol 2:23, image of god means nature of god means humans created immortal
• WisSol 2:24, But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.
• WisSol 10:19-21, plagues
• Philo, Adam’s death on the day he ate the fruit is in soul, body lives to 930.
• Philo, Abraham returning to his fathers means immortality of soul.
• 1 Macc invoked Phinehas and Levites to justify Mattathias
• 2 Macc quoted Deuteronomy (subtle)
• Josephus rewrote 1 Maccabees
• 1 Enoch interpreted “walked with God” and “sons of God”
• Animal Apocalypse and Apocalypse of Weeks built on biblical history as foundation, looser sense of interpretation
• Ben Sira less directly, but interprets Eve as origin of evil and praise (male) biblical heroes, builds on Proverbs

Introduction to Jubilees

Jubilees, composition

• Titles: Jubilees (49-year periods), little/detailed Genesis, book of the divisions of the times
• Date (150s BCE), relationship to Maccabean revolt
• Language: Hebrew
• Setting, Exodus 24 (cf. Rabbinic idea of “Oral Torah” given on Sinai)
• Influence and canonicity

Jubilees, major concerns

• Solving problems in Genesis
• Opposition to assimilation: circumcision, separation from gentiles, intermarriage
• Chronological precision
  • Base-7 structure, fortuitous times
  • Macro-level release and return: Exodus and conquest fulfills Leviticus 25 on national level
• Festival calendar of 364 days/year
  • Same every year, holidays never conflict with sabbath
• Legal observance and precedent well before Sinai, adding legal material to Genesis
• Relationship to apocalypses

Jubilees 1

• Who wrote Genesis?
• Who wrote Jubilees?
• Eternal vs. temporal: Was there a time before the law? After the law?
• Prediction of history and explanation of suffering from Deuteronomy
  • Sin: they will forget my commandments
  • Punishment: I will deliver them into the control of the nations
  • Repentance: after this they will return to me
  • Restoration: I will transform them

Creation in 6 or 7 days

Prepare Genesis 1–3; Jubilees 2–3 (PDF)

Day 1

• Creation of angels
• Hierarchy of angels introduced
  • Presence ≘ Levites, serve in the heavenly sanctuary
  • Holiness ≘ Israelites, circumcised, keep sabbath
  • Nature ≘ Gentiles, do not rest on sabbath
• God created everything out of nothing

Day 2, when did God create heaven?

• Dome=firmament; sky=heaven
• Gen 1:1, First day, God began to create the heavens and the earth
• Gen 1:8, Second day, implies that “sky” is the name of the firmament
• Jub 2:2, First day, God creates heaven and beings who live in heaven
• Jub 2:4, Second day, the firmament is different from heaven

Day 3, when did God create Eden?

• Gen 2:8, God planted a garden in Eden
• Not two contradicting creation stories (perfect)
• No stray projects

Day 4, solar calendar

• Moon has no role in determining “fixed times”

Day 6, when did God create woman?

• Genesis 1:27, God created human in God’s image, male and female
• Genesis 2:22, God built a woman from the rib of the man
• Jub 2:14, God created woman in the first week as a rib
• Jub 3:8, God expanded the rib into a woman

Day 7, Sabbath for certain angels and humans

• Finished on sixth day, not seventh day (Gen 2:2)
• Only angels of presence and holiness keep sabbath
• Jacob chosen in advance to keep sabbath exclusively
• Why Jacob?
  • 22 = number of works of creation = number of generations until Jacob = number of letters in Hebrew alphabet
  • Extreme particularism: absolute separation from beginning of time until eternity

The Garden of Eden

Formation of woman

• Gen 2:18–20 / Jub: 3:1–3
• The assumption of perfection
• No contradictions
  • When did God create the animals?
  • When did God create woman?
• Transcendence
  • Who brings the animals to Adam?
• Omniscience
  • Why were animals brought to Adam?
• Omnipotence
  • How hard is it to create a partner?

The origin of work

• Genesis 3:17–19, work is a punishment for sin
• Jubilees 3:15–16, Adam worked before sin
• Genesis 3:24, driven out of paradise
• Jubilees 3:29–32, graduated and sent home
• Implications? Is life as we know it as God intended, or are we fallen in some sense?

The gym is for losers

• Assumption of relevance
• 1 Macc 1:11–15
• Genesis does not condemn nudity
• Jubilees 3:31 takes Gen 3:21 as a commandment

The flood and theodicy

Prepare Jubilees 4–5, 10 (PDF)

Perfect justice with Adam

• Gen 2:17, On the day you eat of it you shall surely die
• Jubilees 4:29–30
• Perfection, Psalms fills in gaps in Genesis
  • Psalm 90:4, A thousand years for you are just yesterday
• Cryptic, day really means millennium
• Other solutions

Perfect justice with Cain

• Punishment (Jub. 4:31)
• Omniscience (Jub. 4:4)

Perfect justice with Flood

• Maybe a little emotional?
• Everyone deserved it?
• Even the animals?
• No lingering contamination
• Perfect justice for every individual
• Mercy for Jews only (Jub. 5:17–19)

Theodicy review

• Apocalypses… The cosmic judicial system is broken in the present
• Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon… the world is basically good in the long run
• Jubilees… there is no injustice

Rewritten 1 Enoch

The Watchers

• Genesis 6, sons of God mated with humans, explains demigods
• Book of the Watchers, angels rebelled in heaven
• Jubilees 4:15, angels sent to teach, only later sinned
• Implication for origin of evil?
  • Not cosmic enemies of God, just example of sin and punishment for everyone

Jubilees 10:6-14, demons and Mastema (1–14)

• Agree on story of origin of demons from giants
• Jub 10:6-10

Angelic princes of nations, Jub 15:31-32

• An angel appointed to every nation
• For Israel
  • Apocalypses: Seventy bad angels
  • Apocalypses: Even the good angels are ineffective
  • Jubilees: no outsourcing
• For other nations
  • Apocalypses: empires have powerful angels behind them
  • Jubilees: God orders angels of nature to lead gentiles away from God
  • The God of Israel does not want to be worshiped by other nations

Religion

Prepare Jubilees 6, 15, and 23 (PDF)

Festival of covenant renewal, Jub 6:15-22

• Religion is not a human invention
• Celebrated in heaven from creation
• Renewed well before Moses
• The book of the first law

The 364 day calendar, Jub 6:23-37

• 12 months of 30 days
• 4 days for the four seasons
• Practical advantage
• Theological necessity
• The Heavenly Tablets, 6:35
• Gentile calendars and festivals
• Alternative Jewish calendars

Gentiles

Jubilees 15:25–27, 33, circumcision

• Circumcision on 8th day is absolutely necessary
• Eternal
• Other views
  • Custom is negotiable to integrate with Greek culture
  • Can be delayed
  • Adult converts
• Joining gentiles means joining their fate as the people meant for destruction

All Gentiles will be destroyed (and God is just)

• The claim: Israelites should avoid Gentiles because they have no future
• The problem: A just god would not destroy people if they didn’t break a law. God gave Israelites laws but what about Gentiles?
• The solution: God gave laws to Noah and sons (Jub 6:10-12)
• Prohibition of eating blood and murder → consequence of eating blood is murder
• Unconditional covenant by God → conditional covenant signed by all Gentiles

Noachide laws

• Idea picked up in New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism
• Acts 15:19–21

Jubilees 10:31–34, Canaan’s rebellious settlement

• Canaanites deserved destruction

The Jubilees “apocalypse”

Longevity, Jub. 23:9–15

• Sin, Suffering, and Resolution
• Living less than 100 years is punishment for sin
• Studying the laws will lead to longer lives

View of Judah Maccabee, Jub. 23:16–25

• Jews killing other Jews is the sin, not the solution
• Foreign invasion is punishment by God for sin
• Resisting God only makes it worse
• Resolution is to obey the laws strictly

View of the new era, Jub. 23:26–30

• Human initiative
• Restoration is gradual, already begun
• No major reforms
• People live longer

Afterlife, Jub. 23:31

• No immortality
• No resurrection of the body
• Long life, good death, rest in peace

Test on rewritten bible

• Study guide (PDF)