Studies in the Book of Jubilees: The Themes of Calendar, Genealogy and Chronology

This thesis is divided into three distinct yet related chapters. The first chapter deals with the question of the actual calendar which is used in Jubilees. The work criticizes scholarly opinions concerning the calendar which have gone relatively unchallenged since the Qumran discovery. The chapter concludes that while the calendar question is difficult and many calendars can be detected as functioning in the work, it is the 28-day month which is dominant and not months of 30, 30 and 31 days. In the second chapter which deals with the genealogy of the patriarchs, the attention of the reader is directed to the names of the wives of the patriarchs. The question which the thesis raises at this point is related to the function of these women in the narrative in relation to the etymology of their names. The conclusion reached is that the narrative and the etymology of the names are clearly related. For example, when the etymological meaning of a woman is favourable, the narrative at that point is positive and vice versa. Chapter Three deals with chronology which is in close proximity to both calendar and genealogy. The question the thesis asks is how the chronology of Jubilees relates to the chronologies of MT, LXX and SP and also raises the question as to which chronology that of Jubilees is dependent upon for its structure. It is determined that Jubilees and SP are most closely related. The structure itself of the chronology of Jubilees is examined and it is concluded that the design is more concerned with past history than future history. The implications of the thesis on the questions of date and authorship are considered. The conclusion is reached that the author is a member of an unnamed conservative-pietist sect who wrote at a time later than Antiochus IV.