Jubilees and the Samaritan Tradition
varieties of messianic belief in second temple Judaism, belief in the Taheb
does not look out of place.^24 The term "messiah" seems to be lacking, but
this is also the case with some Jewish figures who are labeled messianic. The
Taheb is a prophet but also a king in some texts. He sets up a kingdom on
earth and lives for no years, after which he dies before the eschaton.^25 One
can compare this with the messianic figure in 4 Ezra 7:28-44 who also dies
(after a reign of 400 years).
One can speak of a sort of "messianic kingdom" in Jubilees in such
passages as 1:29 and 23:26-31. There seems to be no messiah as such, however;
the closest we come is a reference to a prince from the tribe of Judah (31:18-
20). The wording is rather vague, though, and it is not clearly a messiah. It
could be referring to the future Israelite king in the image of David. The king
was of course anointed and thus a "messiah," but only in that sense does a
messiah seem to be discussed. In any case, Jubilees and the Samaritans ap
pear to have rather different concepts.
Conclusions
No evidence suggests that Jubilees is a Samaritan work. There are too many
incongruities with Samaritan beliefs. To take one small example, Jubilees
clearly gives a special place to Jerusalem in 1:28-29:
i:28"The Lord will appear in the sight of all, and all will know that I am
the God of Israel, the father of all Jacob's children, and the king on Mt.
Zion for the ages of eternity. Then Zion and Jerusalem will become
holy." i:29The angel of the presence, who was going along in front of the
Israelite camp, took the tablets (which told) of the divisions of the years
from the time the law and the testimony were created — for the weeks of
their jubilees, year by year in their full number, and their jubilees from
[the time of the creation until] the time of the new creation when the
heavens, the earth, and all their creatures will be renewed like the powers
of the sky and like all the creatures of the earth, until the time when the
temple of the Lord will be created in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion.
- See L. L. Grabbe, Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period: Belief and Practice
from the Exile to Yavneh (London and New York: Routledge, 2000), 271-91, and the literature
cited there.
- Dexinger, "V. Samaritan Eschatology," 272-76.
