nora
(Nora)
#1
The Book of Jubilees and Early Jewish Mysticism
implicit in Jubilees' claim that the Sabbath (Jub 2:30) and the Feast of Weeks
(6:18) were observed in heaven before they were observed on earth. It is pos
sible that Jubilees also means to claim that the Feast of Booths was observed
in heaven before Abraham established it on earth since it describes Abraham
as the "first man on earth" to celebrate it (i6:2i).^25 Jubilees explicidy requires
sacrifices for these festivals as they are observed on earth;^26 this suggests that
their heavenly observance would also have required use of a sanctuary,
though Jubilees offers no hint of how it understands the heavenly equivalent
of sacrifice, a topic on which some texts are more forthcoming.^27
The only point related to the heavenly temple on which Jubilees is ex
plicit is the correspondence between earthly priests and angels. Thus Isaac
blesses Levi, "May the Lord give you and your descendants greatness and
glory, and set you and your descendants apart from all mankind to minister
to him and to serve him in his sanctuary like the angels of the presence and
the holy ones" (Jub 31:14). This is a correspondence with a long history. It
goes back at least as far as Ezekiel, who describes angels as dressed in linen
(Ezek 9:2,3,11; 10:2,6,7), the fabric of priests' garments (Exod 28:42), a de
scription picked up in the book of Daniel (Dan 10:5; 12:6-7). Once heaven is
understood as a temple, the comparison is perhaps inevitable. In Jubilees
priests are compared not to angels in general, but to specific classes of angels,
the angels of the presence and the holy ones, the two highest classes of angels
(Jub 2:18). The comparison flatters priests, but it can also be used to hold
priests to account when they fail to live up to the high standards appropriate
to their duties, as in the Book of the Watchers.
But for Jubilees the correlation between angels in heaven and priests on
earth is only one aspect of a larger and more important correlation. As the
heavenly observance of the Sabbath and the Feast of Weeks indicates, Jubilees
understands not only priests but also the entire people of Israel to be the
earthly counterpart of the angels; indeed, all Jews are the counterparts of the
angels of the presence and the holy ones, the very classes of angels to which
Levi's descendants are compared, since these are the angels who observe the
Sabbath with God from its creation. This point is crucial. Jubilees is one of
25. All quotations from Jubilees are taken from the translation of R. H. Charles, rev.
C. Rabin, in The Apocryphal Old Testament, ed. H. F. D. Sparks (Oxford: Clarendon, 1984).
26. Sabbath: "to burn frankincense and present offerings and sacrifices in the Lord's
presence every day and every sabbath" (Jub 50:10); Feast of Weeks: "I have written in the
book of the first law... the details of its sacrifices" (Jub 6:21).
27. See Martha Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 33-36.
