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Galatians 3:19 states that the Torah was given by angels, a detail not found in the Hebrew Bible but echoed in other Jewish traditions, such as in the book of Jubilees, where the angel of the presence delivers the heavenly tablets with the Torah.
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Jubilees 1:29
Pseudepigrapha
28 The Lord will appear in the sight of all, and all will know that I am the God of Israel, the father of all Jacob's children, and the king on Mt. Zion for the ages of eternity. Then Zion and Jerusalem will become holy.” 29 The angel of the presence, who was going along in front of the Israelite camp, took the tablets which told of the divisions of the years from the time the law and the testimony were created — for the weeks of their jubilees, year by year in their full number, and their jubilees from the time of the creation until the time of the new creation when the heavens, the earth, and all their creatures will be renewed like the powers of the sky and like all the creatures of the earth, until the time when the temple of the Lord will be created in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion. All the luminaries will be renewed for the purposes of healing, health, and blessing for all the elect ones of Israel and so that it may remain this way from that time throughout all the days of the earth.
Date: 150-100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Galatians 3:19
New Testament
17 What I am saying is this: The law that came 430 years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to invalidate the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave it to Abraham through the promise. 19 Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary is not for one party alone, but God is one. 21 Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
Date: 54-55 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Book of Jubilees provides very early evidence for Jewish thinking about how feasts should be celebrated or how laws were interpreted in at least some circles of early Judaism. Its authors also shared with some of the New Testament writers the view that the Torah was mediated through angels (Jubilees 1:27, compare Acts 7:53, Galatians 3:19, Hebrews 2:2) ..."
Docherty, Susan E.
The Jewish Pseudepigrapha: An Introduction to the Literature of the Second Temple Period
(p. 36) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2014
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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