James M. Scottdus and conquest as jubilean events, "[wjhether the author meant to imply
more about the chronology of the post-conquest period cannot be inferred
from the text"4.
There are also significant differences in the constituent parts of the
two chronological systems, including, for example, the heptadic units em
ployed in each (i.e., "weeks" [— 490 years?] in the Apocalypse of Weeks^5 ver
sus "jubilees" [= 49 years], "weeks" [= 7 years], and "years" in Jubilees) and
— depending on the numerical value of the "weeks" in the Apocalypse of
Weeks — the relative dating of historical events in the two writings. For ex
ample, whereas in the Apocalypse of Weeks the year 2450 A.M. (i.e., the end
of the "fifth week") coincides with the building of the temple (1 En 93:7), in
Jubilees, the same year corresponds to the culmination of the momentous
"jubilee of jubilees," the entrance into the land that would take place 40 years
after the revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai in 2410 A.M. (cf. Jub 48:1; 50:4).
Despite these difficulties, I have attempted elsewhere to argue that the
chronological system of the book of Jubilees is indeed influenced by the
chronology of the Apocalypse of Weeks, and that therefore the Apocalypse
of Weeks can be used cautiously to help fill in some of the gaps of the
postconquest era that Jubilees mentions but does not explicitly periodize in
terms of its awkward system of jubilees, weeks, and years.^6 The tentative na
ture of my reconstruction was clear to me from the outset, but it seemed
plausible in view of several factors: (1) the schematic nature of the sabbatical
chronologies of which Jubilees is a prime example; (2) the stimulating sug
gestion of George Nickelsburg and James C. VanderKam that Jub 4:18-19,
which deals with the Enochic origin of the book's chronology, actually al
ludes to the Apocalypse of Weeks; (3) the chronological trajectories in the
book; and (4) the mirroring effect of the sequence of events in Jub 23:8-31
with earlier parts of the book. In the present paper I would like to reinforce
my argument that the Apocalypse of Weeks may have influenced the chro
nology of the book of Jubilees.
- VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees, 96, emphasis mine.
- Cf. J. S. Bergsma, The Jubilee from Leviticus to Qumran: A History of Interpretation,
VTSup 115 (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 241. Even if it is argued that the "weeks" in the Apocalypse of
Weeks are of unequal length, it is still possible — and perhaps even probable — that Jubilees
would have understood the Apocalypse's "weeks" as equal units of time. - Cf. J. M. Scott, On Earth as in Heaven: The Restoration of Sacred Time and Sacred
Space in the Book of Jubilees, JSJSup 91 (Leiden: Brill, 2005). The following deliberations are
based largely on this book, which also constituted the point of departure in my original con
ference paper.