Aharon Shemeshthe Garden of Eden and the laws of purification after childbirth — are
joined together in Jub 3, and that the text of these units of 4Q265 is actually a
shorter version of the same tradition. According to Jubilees, Adam was cre
ated in the first week and Eve in the second. God brought Adam to the Gar
den of Eden forty days after his creation, and he joined Eve to him forty days
later at the eightieth day of his creation. Then, in what is known to be a
unique characteristic of Jubilees, the composition's editor associates the law
of childbirth to this narrative: "And therefore the command was written in
the heavenly tablets for one who bears, Tf she bears a male, she shall remain
seven days in her impurity like the first seven days, And thirty-three days she
shall remain in the blood of her purity. And she shall not touch anything
holy. And she shall not enter the sanctuary until she has completed these
days which are in accord with (the rule for) a male (child). And that which is
in accord with (the rule for) a female is two weeks — like the two first weeks
— in her impurity. And sixty-six days she shall remain in the blood of her
purity. And their total will be eighty days'" (3:io-n).^7
The second unit has, as I mentioned, clear sectarian flavor. The scroll's
editor has already noted its close affinity with lQS 8:1-10. Furthermore, I'm
now convinced by Menahem Kister that this unit is actually a paraphrase or
even a variant version of that paragraph in lQS. Thus line 7 in our fragment,
"[W]hen there will be in the council of the Community fif[teen men]," par
allels lQS 8:1, "In the Community council (there shall be) twelve men and
three priests," and the phrase "The council of the Community is established"
(1. 8) appears in lQS 8:5. Also, line 10 in our fragment is a variant of lQS 8:9,
and similarly the wo rdsH^1 ?!!? 'Sp ttQW&ri HSC are with most probability a
paraphrase of lQS 8:10, HS/ttn r,l"in^1 ?1. In light of these parallels the
content of unit 2 in our frg. 7 becomes clear. The council of the yahad that is
- "71J7 DS7t073 (an eternal plant) will grow, develop, and survive the eschato
logical future. The yahad is tlHIp fl'S for Israel, and its members were cho
sen by God. Their righteous deeds please God and are accepted like sacri
fices, and thus have the power to atone for the land.^8
Let's go back to the first unit of frg. 7. Its content, we recall, is halakah
and had at least six rulings, probably seven or eight. Some of these are with
no doubt concerning Shabbat law. The Shabbat is explicitly mentioned in
line 2, though in this case the content of the law didn't survive. The Shabbat
7. All Jubilees' translations are from OTP, vol. 2, slightly revised when needed.
8. See J. Licht, The Rule Scroll: A Scroll from the Wilderness of Judaea, lQS, iQSa, lQSb;
Text, Introduction, and Commentary (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1965), 168-75.