G — Biblically Based Apocryphal Works

Chapter 2

Premium narration

, 11Q12) The pseudepigraphon, known prior to Qumran from a complete Ethiopic and partial Greek, Latin and Syriac translations, has for the first time surfaced in a large number of mostly small fragments in its Hebrew original in five Qumran caves. The work itself is a midrashic retelling of the story of Genesis in the form of a revelation conveyed by angels to Moses. Apart from some 4Q relics, the texts from 1-3Q and 11Q are too mutilated to provide the basis for an English translation and their chief significance lies in their attestation of a Hebrew original generally close to the account preserved in the ancient versions. The 4Q material includes some larger fragments suitable for rendering into English, and 4Q225, surnamed pseudo-Jubilees by the editors, but which could just as well be accepted simply as an alternative account, reveals supplementary material of some importance not only for Jubilees in general, but also for the study of the Akedah or story of the sacrifice of Isaac, certain features of which receive here their first pre-Christian attestation. 4Q216, which in part may be the earliest Jubilees manuscript and should be dated palaeographically to the last quarter of the second century BCE, testifies in the form of small fragments to the beginning of the book. It contains the Hebrew title of the work, Book of the Divisions of the Times, repeated also in other 4Q fragments, a title already known from the Damascus Document. 4Q217 and 218, the first consisting of eleven tiny papyrus fragments and the second of a single small leather fragment, both probably derive from the opening chapters of Jubilees. 4Q219, also poorly preserved, has preserved tit-bits from

chapters xxi, to XXII, 1. Its only noteworthy contribution is that in col. 11, lines 35-6, it dates the death of Abraham correctly to the forty-third jubilee counted from the creation, and not to the forty-fourth, as the Ethiopic version does. 4QJube 4Q220 supplies a single largish, hence translatable, fragment of Jub. xxi, 5-10 written in an early Herodian script. It occasionally overlaps with 4Q219, thus permitting the filling in of two gaps. The remaining four 4QJub manuscripts are once again so fragmentary that no translation is possible. 4Q221 consists of thirty-seven tiny fragments, covering small identified portions of Jub. xxi, to xxxix, 9. The six fragments of 4Q222 echo Jub. xxv, 9-12; XXVII, 6-7 and XLIX, and the badly worn papyrus manuscripts of 4Q223-4, where identifiable, reflect Jub. XXXII, to XLI, 10. Remains of three Hebrew manuscripts have preserved a writing akin to Jubilees or representing a discrepant version of it. In either case, 'Pseudo-Jubilees', the title chosen by the editors, is no doubt a misnomer. Palaeographically, 4Q225 is dated to the turn of the era; 4Q226 to the second half, and 4Q227 to the final decades, of the first century BCE. Of the three fragments, the first and the third are very damaged, but substantial parts of fragment are extant. The author recounts the sacrifice of Isaac with details which differ from the Genesis story and display close parallels to the post-biblical representation of the Akedah or Binding of Isaac, anticipating features known from the Palestinian Targums. The presence of angels at the sacrifice is repeatedly attested in the Targums. 4Q225 provides the earliest evidence for the rabbinic story of Isaac's voluntary self-sacrifice which is thought to have supplied a model for the formulation by New Testament writers of the teaching on the sacrificial death of Jesus. Cf. G. Vermes, Scripture and Tradition in Judaism, 193-227. Cf. also G. Vermes, 'New Light on the Akedah from 4Q225', JJS, 140-46. 4Q226 or psJubb is made up of fourteen fragments, half of them unidentifiable. The first six mention Egypt, the wilderness, Joshua's crossing and the land of Canaan. Fr. 7, the largest,

returns to the aftermath of the sacrifice of Isaac and furnishes a text closely resembling 4Q225 2, ii. The badly damaged fr. of 4Q227 is centred on the figure of Enoch, instructed by angels, testifying against his contemporaries and the angels called Watchers. Allusion is made to his writing activity, including astronomical knowledge which was to stop the righteous from going astray. The two small fragments of 4Q227 contain references to Moses and to Enoch and 4Q228 consists of one large and eight tiny fragments, one of which displays the phrase, 'For thus is written in the Divisions of times'. Hence it is identified as an unknown work quoting the Book of Jubilees. For the editio princeps of 4Q216-28, see J. C. VanderKam and J. T. Milik, DJD, XIII, 1-185. For 11Q12, see F. García Martínez et al. DJD, XXIII, 207—20. 4Q220, fr. And do not go after idols and after.. and do not eat any blood of a wild or domestic animal or a bird which flies.. And if you sacrifice a peace-offering as a burnt-offering, sacrifice it for pleasure. And sprinkle their blood on the altar. And all the flesh of the burnt- offering you will offer on the altar together with the flour mixed with oil of its meal-offering.. You will offer all on the altar as a fire- offering, a pleasant odour before God. And the.. of peace-offerings you will offer on the fire which is on the altar. And the fat which is on.. and the fat which is on the entrails and the kidneys and the fat which is on them.. and the lobes of the liver with the kidneys you shall remove and you shall offer.. with its offering and its libation... on that day and on the morrow.. 4Q225 fr. 2

I.. that soul will be cut off.. he dwelt in Haran for twenty years. And Abraham said to God, 'Behold, I am naked and it is Eliezer, the son of my household, who will inherit from me.' vacat And the Lord said to Abraham, 'Lift up and gaze at the stars and see and count the sand that is on the sea shore and the dust of the earth as to whether they can be counted. And Abraham believed in God and this was reckoned for him as righteousness. And a son was born afterwards to Abraham and he called his name Isaac. And the prince Mastemah came to God and accused Abraham on account of Isaac. And God said to Abraham, 'Take your son, Isaac, your only whom you love and offer him to me as a burnt-offering on one of the.. mountains which I will tell you.' And he rose and he went from the wells to Mount Moriah.. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and behold there was a fire. And he placed the wood on Isaac, his son, and they went together. And Isaac said to Abraham, his father, 'Behold there is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?' And Abraham said to Isaac, his son, 'God will provide a lamb for himself.' Isaac said to his father, 'Tie me well'.. the holy angels.standing and weeping over the altar.. his sons from the earth. And the angels of Mastemah.. were rejoicing and saying, 'Now he will be destroyed.. we shall see whether he will be found weak and whether Abraham will be found unfaithful to God.' And he called, 'Abraham, Abraham.' And he said. 'Here am I.' And he said, 'Now I know that he will no longer be loving.' And the Lord God blessed Isaac all the days of his life and he begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Levi third generation. And all the days of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Levi were.. years. And the prince Mastemah was bound and the holy angels.. the prince Mastemah, and Belial listened to.. 4Q226, fr. 7

Abraham was found faithful to God and.. for pleasure. And the Lord blessed Isaac all the days of his life. And he begot Jacob and Jacob begot Levi in the third generation. And all the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Levi were.. years. And the holy angels.. Fast here.. 4Q227, fr.. Enoch after they/we taught him.. six jubilees of years.. earth towards the children of men. And he testified against all of them.. and against the Watchers. And he wrote all the.. heaven and the ways of its host and the months.. that the righteous may not stray..