The Relationship between Jubilees and the Early Enochic BooksGENERALIZATIONS
To summarize, it is almost certain that the author of Jubilees knew and en
dorsed AB. However, AB made only a limited impact on the theology or narra
tive of Jubilees. The most important elements Jubilees shares with AB are its
calendar and its general perspective on the cosmos, but Jubilees is not depend
enton AB for these concepts. Rather, both texts reflect a stream of second tem
ple Jewish thought. Different calendrical debates are at the heart of the two
texts. What the author of Jubilees would have liked to find most in AB —
namely, the enumeration of divisions of weeks of years and jubilees — simply
wasn't there. Nonetheless, Jubilees freely attributes this knowledge to Enoch.
A general contrast between "scientific" and "cultic-liturgical" interests
may be observed. AB is fascinated with the "science" of the heavenly bodies in
part, at least, for its own sake, whereas Jubilees sees no point in astronomical
knowledge except as it is relevant to establishing the proper cultic calendar.
III. The Relationship of the Book of the Watchers and Jubilees
The discussion of the dating of BW and Jubilees above demonstrated that it
is highly unlikely that BW postdates Jubilees. To argue such would require
that one either (l) take the lowest possible date (on paleographic grounds)
of the oldest manuscript of BW from Qumran (4QEna), i.e., circa 150 B.C.E.,
and then assume that BW was composed very shortly after Jubilees; or
(2) argue that Jubilees is pre-Maccabean, which is unlikely in light of Jub
38:14, which could hardly have been penned before the Maccabean conquest
of Edom under John Hyrcanus (163 B.C.E.).
Therefore, one is justified in assuming that Jubilees postdates BW, and
the apparent literary relationship between the two works may be interpreted
in terms of Jubilees' dependence on BW.
The influence of BW on Jubilees is most apparent in four passages, de
scribed in the following table:^26
Passage Synopsis of Contents
4:16 The Watchers descend during the days of Jared, to teach mankind
and "perform judgment and righteousness" on earth.
4:21-26 Summarizes the contents of BW, with modification: The angels
- The unexcelled study of the dependence of Jubilees on Enochic material remains
VanderKam, "Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and Other Second-Century Sources."