Enoch and the Mosaic Torah- The Evidence of Jubilees

The Concept of Covenant in Jubilees

tween. At the beginning of Jub 15:9 h.#?P stands where Gen 17:9 has TPID.
The occurrence of VI'13 at the beginning of Gen 17:10 is not reproduced in
Jubilees due to the haplography. Gen 17:11 has A'13 fllX^1? while the Ethiopic
reads ;th9°C-t- •• /"Ci-H : H °i 9°, which indicates the addition of 0 7157 in
the Hebrew text of Jubilees. Compare Jub 15:28, where we find •J-K9^0 C'M( •'
h.&t, which must reflect something like nXTH/ntn n'TSn niX.
Jub 15:13: This verse is equivalent to Gen 17:13, and there is a virtually
word-for-word correspondence between the biblical Hebrew text and the
Ethiopic. Thus, it is most likely that the Hebrew of Jubilees simply repro­
duced what appears in the biblical source, such that D3"H1>33 VI'13 nnVH
D^IS? nn3^1 7 stands behind the Ethiopic fflJcVhrn-? : h.fl?f : fl>-n+ ••
f»?\ar>- : /"CI : H 1 9°, despite the fact that the Ethiopic renders the
two occurrences of JTH3 with two different Ethiopic terms. Compare Jub
15:19, which has wh'KD-9^0 • h.^7f : 9°nA,W- : h.3V : H °i 9° where Gen 17:19
reads D^IJ? n, 131 7 inN VPIS-IIK VIQpm, rendering both occurrences of
JTH3 in this case with h.'S?.

Jub 15:25: This is a more problematic example than those discussed

above, since this verse begins the additions to the biblical base text and there

is no Hebrew text with which to compare the Ethiopic. Admittedly, "ordi­

nance" (as in both Wintermute's and VanderKam's translations) apparently

makes more sense here, since the word /"Cl'h refers to the commanded

practice (rhl) and is said to be "ordained and written on the heavenly tab­

lets." I propose that here D^IS? flpn may very well have appeared in the origi­

nal Hebrew.^23 However, it is worthy of note that the expression n^iy nn3

does appear in the Pentateuch in such a way that its meaning could be taken

as "eternal covenantal ordinance" (Exod 31:16). Thus, it is possible that the

author of Jubilees used it here in that sense and that the original Hebrew did

read

Jub 15:26: Wintermute is almost certainly correct to take dy-frf. :

/"CI'J- as standing for Hebrew lTH3[ri] '33 ("the sons of the covenant"),

given that the term "sons" most naturally indicates membership or partici­

pation, not in the ordinance of circumcision itself, but in the covenant it

serves. It is also worth noting that the Ethiopic verb used here, •hllP.R

(takdyada), usually has h.£"> as its object.

Jub 15:28: In this verse we have ;th9aC-t-ll • u.^">, which as I noted

above must reflect something like nXTH/ntn n,T3H fllS, followed by

23. For D^1 ?^ Dpn in the Pentateuch, see, e.g., Exod 12:14,17; 27:21; 29:9; Lev 3:17; 7:36;
    16:29, 31, 34; 17:7; Num 15:15; 19:10, 21.