The Book of Jubilees and the Temple ScrollIllout ritual based on Pentateuchal sources. Some of these cases no doubt re
sult from the differing emphases of the two documents. Jubilees attempts to
retell the patriarchal narratives so as to attribute to them adherence to the
author's particular views on questions of Jewish law and a particular
calendric system. The Temple Scroll presents a code of practice for a
premessianic Temple that its author hoped to see built and that he expected
would function according to his code.
At the same time, many of these incongruities probably represent dif
ferences in opinion or at least in emphasis. For example, Jub 50:10-11 indi
cates that the daily offering may not be set aside in favor of the Sabbath sac
rifice. Rather, it serves as a means of atonement, and it must be offered each
day, including on the Sabbath. Temple Scroll 13:17-14:2 is a paraphrase of
Num 28:9-10. However, the Temple Scroll provides no information on the
disposition of offerings other than to repeat the biblical material that itself
gave rise to the problem in the first place. Perhaps the Temple Scroll agrees
with the view of Jubilees on Sabbath sacrifices, although definitive evidence
is lacking.^47
The cases of complete agreement testify to common traditions in some
areas, and in others result from common exegetical techniques applied to the
very same biblical texts. Jub 49:1-23 contains a long discussion of the celebra
tion of the festival of Passover.^48 Most of the material is a simple retelling of
the contents of Exod 12. Jub 49:6 describes the observance of the first Pass
over, including the eating of the paschal lamb, drinking of wine, praising and
blessing God, and giving thanks. This description certainly recalls a Passover
celebration similar to that envisaged in rabbinic literature, which included
the paschal sacrifice, the four cups of wine, the commandment to retell the
story of the exodus, and the recitation of the Hallel Psalms. V. 10 explains the
difficult ben ha-'arbayim, literally, "between the evenings," of Exod 12:6: the
sacrifice is to be observed "from the third part of the day to the third part of
the night" (cf. Jub 49:19). This ruling is explained in w. 11-12 as follows: the
paschal sacrifice should be slaughtered in the last third of the fourteenth of
Nisan and is to be eaten in the first third of the night of the fifteenth. Since the
festival occurs fairly close to the equinox, it would be fairly accurate to say
that the sacrifice must take place between two o'clock and sunset (at six) and
the paschal lamb must be eaten between sunset (six) and ten o'clock in the
- Schiffman, The Halakhah at Qumran, 128-31.
- Cf. B. Halpern-Amaru, "The Festivals of Pesah and Massot in the Book of Jubi
lees," in the present volume.