Enoch and the Mosaic Torah- The Evidence of Jubilees

The Composition of Jubilees

Dimant correctly concluded that "This shows that Jub. borrows from vari­
ous sources, often without reconciling the contradictions."

2. The order of the births of Jacob's sons. The births of Jacob's sons (ex­
   cept for Benjamin) are listed in Gen 29-30, and organized there according to
   their mothers: Leah (first four children), Bilhah, Zilpah, Leah (final two chil­
   dren), Rachel. According to a straightforward reading of Gen 31:41, all the
   children were born during a 7-year period (in the second period of 7 years
   during which Jacob worked for Laban), and it is therefore reasonable to as­
   sume an overlap between the births.^13 According to the dates presented in
   the chronological framework of Jub 28 (w. 14-15, 18), such an overlap oc­
   curred between the births of Leah's first children and the births of Bilhah's
   sons, as Dan (Bilhah's older son) was conceived prior to the birth of Levi
   (Leah's third son) and was born before Judah (Leah's fourth):

JubileeJubilee Week Year Year from Creation Week Year Year from Creation

28:u Birth of Reuben 44 3 1 2122

28:13 Birth of Simeon 44 3 3 2124

28:14 Birth of Levi 44 3 6 2127

28:15 Birth of Judah 44 4 1 2129

28:18 Birth of Dan 44 3 6 2127

In contradiction, according to 28:17, aH four of Leah's first children were
born before Bilhah was even given to Jacob: "When Rachel saw that Leah
had given birth to four sons for Jacob — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah
— she said to him: 'Go in to my servant girl Bilhah.. .'" Some scholars have
attempted to resolve this contradiction by emending the dates found in the
chronological framework.^14 However, it is more convincing to understand

fundamental significance for the chronological conception of Jubilees. This suggestion is
difficult to accept, as it is highly unlikely that such a fundamental notion was left unstated,
but more significantly, it is predicated on the assumption that the chronological note in Jub
4:21 refers to a 49-year period, in contradiction to Gen 5:22.

13. Contrast S. 'Olam Rab. 2, which posited that there was no overlap between them,
    and therefore each pregnancy extended only over a seven-month period. Interestingly, Jubi­
    lees extended the period of births to also include the final six years during which Jacob re­
    mained in Laban's household.


14. See H. Ronsch, Das Buch der Jubilaen oder die kleine Genesis (Leipzig: Fues's
    Verlag, 1874), 327-31. Ronsch generally relied on other compositions, primarily the Testa­
    ment of the Twelve Patriarchs, to reconstruct the dates in Jubilees. These suggested emenda­
    tions were accepted by R. H. Charles, The Book of Jubilees or the Little Genesis (London:
    Adam and Charles Black, 1902), 170-72.

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