Esther Eshel
ALD Jubilees
cedar cypress
juniper (bay) silver fir
almond (Aramaic), mastik (Greek) almond
fir fir
pine pine
ash cedar
cypress juniper
fig date
oleaster (Aramaic), cypress (Greek) olive wood
laurel myrtle
myrtle laurel wood = cedar
juniper bush
aspalathos balsamBearing in mind the difficulty of identifying these trees, and also the indefi-
niteness of some of the Ethiopian terms found in this passage, the two lists
may be even closer than appears at first glance.^8 In our commentary on ALD
we undertook a linguistic comparison of these parallel lists, which points to
the originality of ALD's list. Here I focus on what appears to be a mistake in
Jubilees: where ALD has NnitfD K57, "oleaster," the parallel in Jubilees reads
"olive wood." Since TWfi means "oil," NntPft N57 was mistakenly understood
as "olive wood," while "olive tree" is NIT'T in Aramaic. The prohibition in
rabbinic halakah of the use of olive wood on the altar (m. Tamid 2:3) implies
that ALD has preserved the original reading. Supporting this supposition is
the fact that Jubilees' priestly halakah is generally stricter than rabbinic hala
kah; it is therefore unlikely that Jubilees would permit the use of olive wood
on the altar. This suggests that in the process of copying the list from ALD,
the original version was corrupted.
With regard to the above-noted lists found in ALD 6 -10, it should be
noted that despite some points of contact with later sacrificial practice as re
ported in rabbinic literature, these lists are largely unique and perhaps even
provide evidence for the existence of cultic handbooks during the second
temple period. Because it is not related to the fixed daily, Sabbath, new
moon, or festival sacrifices prescribed in the Pentateuch, the list of sacrifices
is particularly interesting.
- Here I compare only the translation. For the full details and discussion, see Green
field, Stone, and Eshel, The Aramaic Levi Document, 165-68.