禧年書 第 21 章

And in the sixth year of the seventh week of this jubilee, Abraham called Isaac his son, and commanded him, saying, I have grown old, and I do not know the day of my death, for I am full of my days.

And behold, I am one hundred and seventy-five years old, 5 and throughout all the days of my life I have remembered the Lord, and sought with all my heart to do His will, and to walk uprightly in all His ways.

And do thou, my son, observe His commandments and His ordinances and His judgments, and walk not after the abominations and after the graven images and after the molten images.

And eat its meat on that day and on the second day, and let not the sun on the second day go down upon it till it is eaten, and let nothing be left over for the third day; for it is not acceptable [for it is not approved ] 7 and let it no longer be eaten, and all who eat thereof will bring sin upon themselves; for thus I have found it written in the books of my forefathers, and in the words of Enoch, and in the words of Noah.

And on all guard, my son, against blood, be on thy guard exceedingly; cover it with dust.

And take heed concerning the wood for the offering, that you bring upon the altar no wood except such as these: cypress and bay and almond and fir and pine and cedar and savin and palm and the olive tree and myrtle and laurel and aspalathus, whose name is arbat, and balsam. And of these woods lay beneath the burnt offering upon the altar, after they are tested as to their appearance, and do not lay any split or dark wood, but hard and unblemished woods, perfect and new growth; and do not lay any old wood, for its fragrance has gone out, for there is no longer fragrance upon it as at first. Apart from these woods you shall lay no other beneath.

It is well-known that this Noachic Book was also one of the sources of the Book of Enoch, 1 Enoch, vi.-xi., 1x., lxv.-lxix. 25, and cvi.-cvii. being probably derived from it. There is reason, also, to believe that the author of Jubilees was acquainted with some form of the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch). According to Charles the parts of 1 Enoch with which our author was acquainted are 1 Enoch vi-xvi., xxiii.-xxxvi. and lxxii.-xc. He seems clearly to refer to the last section in iv. 17: And he [Enoch ] was the first among men that are born on earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom and who wrote down the signs of heaven according to the order of their months in a book, that men might know the seasons of the years according to the order of their separate months. p. xiv what was and what will be he saw in a vision of his sleep, as it will happen to the children of men throughout their generations until the day of judgement; he saw and understood everything, and wrote his testimony, and placed the testimony on earth for all the children of men and for their generations) forms an exact description of the "Dream-Visions " in 1 Enoch lxxxiii.-xc. 1. There are also a number of parallels with the Testaments of the XII Patriarchs, but these are not sufficient to show dependence on either side; the phenomena rather suggest that both writers are using common sources: Cf. xxviii. 9; xxx. 2-6, 18, 25; xxxi. 3-4, 13, 15, 16; xxxii. 1, 8; xxxiii. 1, 2, 4; xxxiv. 1-9; xxxvii.-xxxviii.; xli. 8-14, 24-25, xlvi. 6-9. It has already been mentioned that a knowledge of our Book seems to be presupposed in some of the later Jewish literature. Thus the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a late compilation written in Hebrew, contains much material common to Jubilees; at times it reproduces the actual words of the text of the latter. Another late Jewish work, the Midrash Tadshe, contains passages which are largely identical with portions of the text of our Book. This Midrash was compiled in its present form by Moses ha- Darshan in the eleventh century A.D., but is based upon a much earlier work by R. Pinchas b. Jair (end of second century, A.D.), who utilized materials from our Book. Besides the above, our Book appears to have been known to the compiler of the Samaritan Chronicle (twelfth century, A.D.), and also to the compiler of the Pire de R. Eliezer (finally redacted in the ninth century A.D.). In fact, in both cases there is implicit a certain amount of polemic (especially in calendar-matters) against the positions advocated in Jubilees. But besides this, there is a remarkable parallelism in subject-matter between our Book and the Pire de R. Eliezer, to which Friedlander calls attention. He points out that both "are alike in being practically Midrashic paraphrases p. xv and expansions of the narratives contained in the Book of Genesis and part of the Book of Exodus. . . . Both books deal with the Calendar . . . and in this respect they recall the Books of Enoch. " Both "have chapters setting forth the story of the Creation (Ma‘aseh Bereshith). . . . The past is recalled and the future revealed. The nature of God, angels and man is unfolded. We read of sin and grace, repentance and atonement, good and evil, life and death, Paradise and Gehenna, Satan and Messiah. " 1 Numerous references to Jubilees occur in Christian literature (patristic period and later), where long extracts from the Book are often cited, and by name. These have been collected by Charles (op. cit., pp. lxxvii ff.), who also cites a number of parallels between our Book and the New Testament. But these are somewhat vague, and are hardly sufficient to establish any real or direct connexion. Footnotes xiv:1 For further parallels see Charles, Jubilees, pp. lxviii ff. xv:1 Op. cit., p. xxii. THE SPECIAL AIMS AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE BOOK It is obvious that Jubilees is dominated by certain interests and antipathies. It is to a large extent polemical in character, and its author desires at once to protest against certain tendencies which, in his view, threaten true religion, and to inculcate certain reforms. Incidentally it commends certain religious practices, and endeavours to invest them with enhanced sanctions. In the forefront, as its name ( "the Book of Jubilees ") suggests 2 stands the question of the Calendar. It is all important in the author's view that the divinely ordained principle according to which history is divided up by year-weeks (i. e. periods of 7 years) and jubilees (i. e. periods of 7 X 7 years) is recognized (Cf. i. 26 f.). Accordingly, he gives a history from Creation to Moses, in which the sequence of events is recorded and dated exactly p. xvi by jubilee-periods, or portions of such. This leads up to a final section in which the law respecting jubilees and sabbatical years is solemnly enjoined. The writer's aim seems to have been nothing less than a reformation of the Jewish Calendar. The prevailing system has led to the nation "forgetting " new moons, festivals, and sabbaths (and (?) jubilees); 1 in other words, it has produced grave irregularities in the observance of matters which were of divine obligation. A cardinal feature of the writer's system is the jubilee-period, which consists of 7 X 7 (i. e. 49) years. Here we are confronted with a difficulty. The passage in Lev.

And at all times be clean in your body, and wash yourself with water before you go to make the offering upon the altar, and wash your hands and your feet before you draw near to the altar; and when you have finished making the offering, wash your hands and your feet again. And let no blood appear upon you or upon your garments; take heed, my son, of blood, take great heed; bury it in the earth. And do not eat any blood, for the blood is the life; and do not eat any blood at all.

And take no gifts for the blood of man, lest it be shed with impunity, without judgment; for it is the blood that is shed that causeth the earth to sin, and the earth cannot be cleansed from the blood of man save by the blood of him who shed it.

And take no present or gift for the blood of man: blood for blood, that thou mayest be accepted before the Lord, the Most High God; for He is the defence of the good: and that thou mayest be preserved from all evil, and that He may save thee from every kind of death..

I see, my son, That all the works of the children of men are sin and wickedness, That all the works of the children of men are sin and wickedness, And all their deeds are uncleanness and an abomination and a pollution, And all their deeds are uncleanness and an abomination and a pollution, And there is no righteousness with them. And there is no righteousness with them. 22 . Beware, lest thou shouldest walk in their ways

Beware, lest thou shouldest walk in their ways And tread in their paths, And tread in their paths, And sin a sin unto death And sin a sin unto death 2 before the Most High God. Else He will [hide His face from thee, Else He will [hide His face from thee, And ] give thee back into the hands of thy transgression, And ] 3 give thee back into the hands 4 of thy transgression, And root thee out of the land, and thy seed likewise from under heaven, And root thee out of the land, and thy seed likewise from under heaven, And thy name and thy seed will perish from the whole earth. And thy name and thy seed will perish from the whole earth. 23 . Turn away from all their deeds and all their uncleanness,

Turn away from all their deeds and all their uncleanness, And observe the ordinance of the Most High God, And observe the ordinance of the Most High God, And do His will and be upright in all things. And do His will and be upright in all things. 24 . And He will bless thee in all thy deeds,

And He will bless thee in all thy deeds, And will raise up from thee the plant of righteousness And will raise up from thee the plant of righteousness 5 through all the earth, throughout all generations of the earth, And my name and thy name will not be forgotten under heaven for ever. And my name and thy name will not be forgotten under heaven for ever. 25 . Go, my son, in peace.

Go, my son, in peace. May the Most High God, my God and thy God, strengthen thee to do His will, May the Most High God, my God and thy God, strengthen thee to do His will, And may He bless all thy seed and the residue of thy seed for the generations for ever, with all And may He bless all thy seed and the residue of thy seed for the generations for ever, with all righteous blessings, That thou mayest be a blessing on all the earth. " 1 7. 17. 7. 4. 11. 14. 8. 13.

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