Apocrypha Part 2: Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees was written around 150BC. It was a highly influential book amongst the Jews of the 1st Century, and especially popular at the community in Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written. Out of all that was found, the most common writings were copies of Genesis first and then Book of Jubilees and First Enoch next.
The name Jubilee means ‘blowing a ram’s horn’, or a shofar, and first appears in Leviticus.
Leviticus 25 v 8-10
Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet (shofar) sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan.
Jubilees were celebrated at ever 50th year. At this time, all of Israel returned to their home land, slaves were freed and debts were forgiven.
Another way of looking at this is a Jubilee is a Sabbath Year. The seventh day of the week was a Sabbath, a day of rest. So seven times seven years would indicate the beginning of the Sabbath Year.
According to a straightforward forward reading of the Bible, the first Jubilee was when Israel entered the Land of Canaan. Though, the Book of Jubilees suggests in the first sentence that these Jubilees started from the beginning of Creation:
Book of Jubilees
This is the history of the division of the days of the law and of the testimony, of the events of the years, of their (year) weeks, of their Jubilees throughout all the years of the world.
The cycle of the Jubilee years continue from the beginning of the Genesis. The writer places the biblical events (with extra commentary) of the first two books of the Bible into this Jubilee calendar.
Later in the text, after God creates the Sun, he lays out the time periods. Today, we have days, months and years. But in Jubilees, we see the writer explain time is split further.
Book of Jubilees
And God appointed the Sun to be a great sign on the earth for days and for sabbaths and for months and for feasts and for years and for sabbaths of years and for jubilees
The book divides time differently. And later, we see an argument to adopt a 364 day solar year over the preferred Jewish tradition of using the lunar cycle to determine feasts.
The Book of Jubilees in the New Testament
We see the New Testament either quote or share the same traditions as some parts of the Book of Jubilees. For example in St Stephen’s speech in Acts he refers to several of these traditions found in Jubilees.
The resting place of the patriarchs is only found in Jubilees.
Acts 7 v 15-16
Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
The age of Moses at different events of his life.
Acts 7 v 23 and 30
When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
And the tradition that the law was given to Moses through angels.
Acts 7 v 53
You who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.
Peter also refers to the same traditions found in Jubilees when he refers to Noah as a ‘preacher of righteousness’.
2 Peter 2 v 5
If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others
Another phrase to pick out from 2 Peter is:
2 Peter 3 v 8
With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
This is sometimes linked to a verse in Psalms.
Psalms 90 v 4
A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
But Peter was likely also referring to the Book of Jubilees.
For one thousand years are as one day in the testimony of the heavens
We also see possible references to phrases within St John’s and St Paul’s writings to similar phrases in Jubilees. So from this, we can see the early church were well acquainted with this text and they drew on the same traditions.
Jubilee in the New Testament
There are no recorded Jubilees in the Old Testament. Though when Luke writes about the census, I get an impression that he is alluding to a Jubilee. As everyone in Judea was instructed to return to their ancestral land. This suggests a Jubilee was occurring, and God was resetting his relationship with humanity, looking to forgive all debts of sin.
Luke 2 v 1-3
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
Another influence of the Book of Jubilees is around the evil character of Mastema. Even though he isn’t named in the New Testament, we can see how his narrative in Jubilees impacts upon the Jewish understanding of demonology.
Mastema, was the leader of the giants or Nephilim (Genesis 6). As they were about to be punished by God, Mastema advocates for them.
Book of Jubilees
Mastema, came and said: 'Lord, Creator, let some of them remain before me, and let them harken to my voice, and do all that I shall say unto them; for if some of them are not left to me, I shall not be able to execute the power of my will on the sons of men; for these are for corruption and leading astray before my judgment, for great is the wickedness of the sons of men.' And He said: Let the tenth part of them remain before him, and let nine parts descend into the place of condemnation.'
God then allows 10% of the Nephilim spirits to roam the earth, to persecute the wicked and bring them to repentance. The rest of them, he imprisons in the Abyss (the deepest part of the Underworld/Hell).
We see this idea in St Paul’s writings in 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 5 v 5
So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
Handing those going astray over to Satan or Mastema, will hopefully bring them back to repentance. Satan and Mastema are names for the same ultimate evil spirit. Just like the Serpent, the Devil and Lucifer are too. The names help identify particular characters of this evil spirit.
In the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus converse with a demon.
Mark 1 v 22-23
Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
He then speaks again with one in Matthew.
Matthew 8 v29
“What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
The demons are referring to the coming Judgement, where Mastema/Devil and all the demons will be destroyed and tortured in the Abyss. The demonic spirits are strictly limited by God and in the Gospels we see Christ command and punish them.
Modern Jubilees
The Catholic Church regular commemorates jubilees. There have been 31 since 1300AD. The next one is due in 2025 and will commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Though these jubilees are purely spiritual and focus on the forgiveness, reconciliation and restoring people back to Christ.
Having said that, could we have an economic system which includes jubilees? A system which would reset the debt load on a society. I saw quite a few discussions around this after the 2008 Credit Crisis. There were debt crises in the ancient world and to resolve these clay tablets, which held financial contracts, were literally smashed every so often to relieve the unbearable build up of debts in an economy.
I don’t think modern jubilees would be able to mimic the Old Testament nowadays, but maybe a similar system could be developed.
At the turn of the century, Jubilee 2000 was set up. It was a campaign which called for the debt of the poorer nations to be wiped out by the richer nations. The plan was to reduce the debt load of around $100 billion down to $40 billion. It was hoped this would free up poorer countries to grow economically. Though it was largely successful at reducing the debts, I am not sure it propelled the poorer economies to greater growth.
Book of Jubilees is Not Canon
There are several reasons why the book of Jubilees were rejected by the Church. They were unsure whether Moses authored this book. There was a strong push in the text to move from a religious lunar calendar to a solar one. And it also added extra details to Genesis and Exodus, which weren’t within the Pentateuch.
But the most pressing reason, it wasn’t within the Septuagint, the early Greek translation of the Old Testament from around 3rd century BC. This was the version of the Scriptures used by the early Church. As the Book of Jubilees wasn’t in the Septuagint, it was ultimately rejected as Scripture.
Having said this, we should consider reading The Book of Jubilees as it brings an interesting narrative to Genesis and Exodus. It helps unpack some of the references made in the New Testament. And it can be strange to read it and suddenly see a connection between Scripture and the text of the Book of Jubilees.