Lawrence H. Schiffman
claims can be falsified, there is no question that Jubilees is related to the sect
of the scrolls because it was found in the Qumran library,^6 although it is cer
tainly to be classified as part of what we call the nonsectarian section of the
collection.^7 Most interestingly, however, it does seem to follow the Zadokite/
Sadducean approach to Jewish law^8 found in the Qumran sectarian texts and
uses the 364-day "Qumran" calendar,^9 and we will see a variety of other af
finities. Close study of these relationships will allow us to get a glimpse of
the complexity of textual and perhaps socioreligious divisions in ancient Ju
daism. In what follows we will carefully outline the affinities and contrasts
between these two works, dealing with issues of language and style, theology,
early Jewish law and lore, calendar, and the role of these texts in the history
of Judaism.^10
Language, Style, and Contents
As the work was clearly composed in Hebrew, in discussing its language and
style we will consider only the surviving Hebrew fragments whose language
and style can be compared to that of the Temple Scroll. Jubilees survives in
fifteen fragmentary manuscripts,^11 whereas the Temple Scroll exists in one
more-or-less complete manuscript (with the first columns rewritten at some
point as a repair)^12 and three fragmentary copies.^13 Needless to say, when we
- J. T. Milik and J. C. VanderKam, in H. Attridge et al., Qumran Cave 4. VIII:
Parabiblical Texts, Part I, DJD 13 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994); J. C. VanderKam, Textual and
Historical Studies in the Book of jubilees, HSM 14 (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977);
Hamidovic, Les Traditions du Jubile a Qumran, 97-172. - Cf. D. Dimant, "The Qumran Manuscripts: Contents and Significance," in Time to
Prepare the Way in the Wilderness: Papers on the Qumran Scrolls by Fellows of the Institute for
Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1989-90, ed. D. Dimant and L. H.
Schiffman, STDJ 16 (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 23-58. - See C. Albeck, Das Buch der Jubilaen und die Halacha (Berlin: Siebenundvierzigster
Bericht der Hochschule fiir die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin, 1930). - J. C. VanderKam, Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measuring Time (London and
New York: Routledge, 1998), 27-33. - Cf. J. C. VanderKam, "The Temple Scroll and the Book of Jubilees," in Temple
Scroll Studies, ed. G. J. Brooke, JSPSup 7 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1989), 211-36; J. H. Charlesworth,
"The Date of Jubilees and the Temple Scroll," in SBLSP 24 (1985), 193-204. - A convenient listing is in Hamidovic, Les Traditions du Jubile a Qumran, 99.
- Y. Yadin, The Temple Scroll, 3 vols. (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and the
Shrine of the Book, 1983), 1:5-12. - 4Q524 in E. Puech, Qumran Grotte 4.XVIII: Textes hebreux (4Q521-4Q528, 4Q5J6-