James M. Scott
that it is difficult to point to an exact parallel.^12 In answer to van Ruiten's cri
tique, VanderKam is right to insist, however, (a) that even if we are not sure
that an item is from one Enochic book or another, it may still be from one or
both of them; (b) that Jub 4:17-26 in particular corresponds quite closely in
theme, if not in wording, to several Enochic texts; and (c) that it seems more
economical to assume dependence on these written Enochic sources than to
appeal to unknown ones, especially since Jubilees underscores that Enoch
left written works behind and even pictures him as continuing his scribal ac
tivity after his removal from human society to the Garden of Eden.^13
The comprehensive nature of the revelation to Enoch in the Apoca
lypse of Weeks and the book of Jubilees pertains especially to their chrono
logical systems, which are universal in scope insofar as they extend from cre
ation to new creation.^14 The Apocalypse of Weeks begins with a reference to
"the first week" (1 En 93:3), which strongly implies creation, and ends with
the expectation that "the first heaven will pass away in it, and a new heaven
will appear" (91:16), alluding to the new creation in Isa 65:17 ("For I am
about to create new heavens .. ").^15 Between these two poles, the whole span
of human history is schematically represented in this short apocalypse. Like
wise, the book of Jubilees contains a universal scope in its chronological sys
tem. Thus, we read in Jub 1:29:
The angel of the presence, who was going along in front of the Israelite
camp, took the tablets (which told) of the divisions of the years from the
time the law and the testimony were created — for the weeks of their ju
bilees, year by year in their full number, and their jubilees from [the time- Cf. J. van Ruiten, "A Literary Dependency of Jubilees on 1 Enoch?" in Enoch and
Qumran Origins: New Light on a Forgotten Connection, ed. G. Boccaccini (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2005), 90-93 (esp. 92-93); see also M. A. Knibb, "Which Parts of 1 Enoch Were
Known to Jubilees? A Note on the Interpretation of Jubilees 4.16-25," in Reading from Right to
Left: Essays on the Hebrew Bible in Honour of David J. A. Clines, ed. J. C. Exum and H. G. M.
Williamson, JSOTSup 373 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003), 254-62. - Cf. J. C. VanderKam, "Response: Jubilees and Enoch," in Enoch and Qumran Ori
gins, 162-70 (esp. 163-64). - See further Bergsma, The Jubilee, 240: "Moreover, after the ten weeks, the apoca
lyptic author [of the Apocalypse of Weeks] expects 'many weeks without number,' some
what similar to Jubilees' vision of a future in which 'jubilees will pass by until Israel is pure
... until eternity' {Jub. 50:5)." - Cf. Jacques van Ruiten, "The Influence and Development of Is 65,17 in 1 En 91,16,"
in The Book of Isaiah — Le livre d'Isaie: les oracles et leurs reflecteurs. Unite et complexity de
Vouvrage, ed. Jacques Vermeylen, BETL 81 (Louvain: Leuven University Press, 1989), 161-66.