על משמעות הביטוי 'תורה ותעודה' בספר היובלים

The expression תורה ותעודה, which appears numerous times in the narrative frame of Jubilees (prologue, chap. 1), and also in two legal passages (2:24, 33; 3:14), has been recognized as one of the keys for understanding this book. Although there is overall scholarly consensus that the first element of this word-pair, תורה, relates to the legal material found throughout the book, numerous suggestions have been put forth for the interpretation of the second,.תעודה Based on two passages in the book (Jub. 30:18–23; 31:31–32), this article suggests a new meaning for the word תעודה, translated by the Ethiopic semeʿ (testament), as the equivalent of 'covenant' or 'stipulations of the covenant'. This suggested interpretation is identical to the meaning of its cognate terms in Akkadian and Aramaic. In addition, this sense fits all the appearances of semeʿ throughout the book, regarding both laws and the calendar, which was instituted as part of the covenant in Jub. 6. The expression תורה ותעודה should be understood as a hendiadys (based upon the singular demonstrative pronoun in 2:24), and can thus be translated as 'laws of the covenant'. This notion of covenant is central to Jubilees' worldview; in fact, according to Jubilees, the election of Israel extends all the way back to creation, when Israel was chosen from among the nations (Jub. 2). The biblical notion of covenant always includes the giving of laws or stipulations, and it is therefore suggested here that Israel's special status as a favored nation from the beginning of time is what led to the insertion of laws into this early period, one of the book's most prominent characteristics. The giving of the laws in the patriarchal period should thus be viewed as a series of covenants, beginning with the Sabbath, the "first" תורה ותעודה, at the time of creation, and continuing until the Sinaitic revelation.