Heavenly Tablets and “Eschatology”: Looking for Later Layers in the Book of Jubilees

Abstract

A widespread consensus underscores a substantially constant and more or less fixed Ethiopic text of the Book of Jubilees that also includes the early Hebrew manuscripts from the Second Temple era. It took a lengthy scholarly discussion, especially on the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments, to free oneself from the shackles of “canonical” presuppositions, when it comes to the interpretation of ancient Israelite and Second Temple compositions. But, among recent exegetes, the idea of estimating textual versions not only as variants, but foremost as independent texts, finds more support. The following examination focuses on eschatological passages in Jub. 1 and 23 and their “counterparts” among the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q216 and 4Q176). It leads to the conclusion that reading the Book of Jubilees as a stable Ethiopic text that should profit from the Hebrew fragments as variants only should be avoided. The fragments of 4Q216 and 4Q176 may instead be discussed as genuine texts providing important indications of the growth of the book.