Hindy Najman
Now, I want to further develop this claim by examining the way the exemplar
(the founding figure associated with this tradition) functions in this text. Of
course, there are other texts in which the founding figure functions promi
nently as the pseudonymous author, e.g., 1, 2, and 3 Enoch and 4 Ezra and
5 Ezra, among other examples. Here, however, I want to consider the role of
the exemplar in the book of Jubilees, on two levels. The first is the angel of the
presence and the figure of Moses. These two figures are the ones authorizing
this work. They have produced it through divine revelation and have secured
the heavenly stature and status of this now earthly copy to which we have ac
cess. Of course, Moses and the angel of the presence are the two most perfect
figures to which a new discourse of this sort should be attributed. The angelic
figure dictates faithfully and the exemplary scribe writes as they both fulfill
the divine charge with inspiration and accuracy. There is, however, a second
level at which the exemplar operates. This second level returns us to the ques
tion mentioned above about the role of interpretation or expansion of texts
we recognize from biblical tradition. The book of Jubilees is an assembly of
narratives recounting the history of exemplarity. These figures are deserving
of the gift of writing and the divine, heavenly tablets. They are figures of the
past on both the first (Moses) and second (the patriarchs, Jacob, etc.) levels,
they are the new prophecy for the intended audience, and they ultimately
come to play important roles for imagining perfection and conceiving of rev
elation in second temple Judaism.
I. Jubilees as a Revelatory Text
In earlier work I have focused on Jubilees' fascination with writtenness and
scribalism.^17 Here it is necessary to discuss once again the claim of a cessa
tion of prophecy, this time from a different angle. For scholars have long
claimed that prophecy was transformed from that earlier immediate divine
communication called prophecy into scribalism and textual interpretation.
On this view, the cessation of prophecy is explained in terms of an ending of
one form of divine communication (i.e., through direct divine utterance)
into a mediated form of divine access through the text. The claim presup
poses that textuality and writtenness became the predominant form of ac
cessing the divine.^18 The transformation is understood as linear and demon-
- Najman, "Interpretation as Primordial Writing."
- See H. Najman, "Angels at Sinai: Exegesis, Theology and Interpretive Authority,"
DSD 8 (2000): 313-33.