The Book Formerly Known as Genesis: A Study of the Use of Biblical Language in the Hebrew Fragments of the Book of Jubilees

This paper argues that the author of the Book of Jubilees either had a very liberal approach to the text of a Vorlage or the Vorlage itself was still fluid. This freedom with the text can also be seen in the use of “prophetic” language with which the author re-tells Israel’s prehistory. His objective is to “establish” a prehistory that is in agreement with the Scriptural laws as found in the latter parts of the Torah, and that can serve as a more stringent basis for the prophetic literature. This is illustrated in several examples from the Book of Jubilees.