Enoch and the Mosaic Torah- The Evidence of Jubilees

4Q265 and the Authoritative Status of Jubilees at Qumran

a detailed account of the first Shabbat, to which we shall return soon (vv. 16-
26). From v. 26 onward the commandment to the Israelites to keep the
Shabbat is given. Vv. 31-32 sum up the issue as follows: "The creator of all
blessed it, but he did not sanctify any people or nations to keep the Sabbath
thereon with the sole exception of Israel. He granted to them alone that they
might eat and drink and keep the Sabbath thereon upon the earth. And the
creator of all, who created this day for a blessing and sanctification and
glory, blessed it more than all days. This law and testimony was given to the
children of Israel as an eternal law for their generations." To recall, the sub­
ject of the immediately following chap. 3 is the story of the creation of Eve
from Adam's rib, the entrance of the couple into the Garden of Eden, fol­
lowed by the halakic instructions concerning purification after childbirth.
The sequence of the narrative in this portion of Jubilees is thus:

• the list of Shabbat prohibitions,


• the election of the children of Israel from among the nations, and


• the creation of Eve, the entrance to the Garden of Eden, and laws of
  impurity after childbirth.

The last sentence (vv. 31-32) stresses that the people of Israel were sanctified
and elected from all the nations to keep the Sabbath. This declaration is a
condensed repetition of the narrative that appears earlier in this chapter (w.
20-22).

And he (God) said to us (the angels), "Behold I shall separate for myself

a people from among all the nations. And they will also keep the Sab­

bath. And I will sanctify them for myself, and I will bless them and they

will be my people and I will be their God.

"And I have chosen the seed of Jacob from among all that I have

seen. And I have recorded him as my firstborn son, and have sanctified

him for myself forever and ever. And I will make known to them the

Sabbath day so that they might observe therein a Sabbath from all work,

and bless the one who created all things and has chosen them from all

the nations so that they might keep the Sabbath together with us

(DTOIP 130 S7 im nVD^1 ?!). So that their deeds (the keeping of the Sab­

bath) will go up as sweet odour, which is acceptable before him all the

days(nps?m traTi "73 IMS'? nxr -iwx mm m-i n"?!?' vmixa)."^14

14. The translation provided here reflects the Hebrew version as emerged from the
    Qumran fragments of Jubilees (4Q216, col. 7). The Ethiopian has a longer version.