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Jubilees echoes Deuteronomy by repeating its description of Israel's future disobedience, prosperity, and turning to other gods. This makes Moses appear as the speaker, and by imitating his speech, Jubilees presents itself as a continuation of the Torah.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 31:20
Hebrew Bible
20 For after I have brought them to the land I promised to their ancestors—one flowing with milk and honey—and they eat their fill and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject me and break my covenant. 21 Then when many disasters and distresses overcome them this song will testify against them, for their descendants will not forget it. I know the intentions they have in mind today, even before I bring them to the land I have promised.” 22 So on that day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites, 23 and the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you.” 24 When Moses finished writing on a scroll the words of this law in their entirety, 25 he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, 26 “Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you, 27 for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. Indeed, even while I have been living among you to this very day, you have rebelled against the Lord; you will be even more rebellious after my death!
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 1:8
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
7 And write for yourself all these words which I declare to you this day, for I know their rebellion and their stiff neck, before I bring them into the land of which I swore to their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, saying: 'To your seed I will give a land flowing with milk and honey. 8 And they will eat and be satisfied, and they will turn to strange gods, to (gods) which cannot deliver them from any of their tribulation: and this witness shall be heard for a witness against them. 9 For they will forget all My commandments, (even) all that I command them, and they will walk after the Gentiles, and after their uncleanness, and after their shame, and will serve their gods, and these will prove to them an offence and a tribulation and an affliction and a snare.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The author tried to write in as “biblical” a Hebrew as possible, often peppering his discourse with phrases cited from the Pentateuch and elsewhere; this tendency is particularly pronounced in the opening chapter of the book, as the author tries to establish for readers that it is really Moses who is writing. This verse, like the preceding ones, is thus a patchwork of different biblical phrases: God tells Moses that He knows well Israel’s defiance and stubbornness, both of which appear together in Deuteronomy 31:27; He similarly refers to giving the land to your posterity, a phrase used frequently in Genesis (Genesis 12:7; 15:18; 24:7; 26:4, etc.) and it, along with When I bring them … with milk and honey, are recurrent phrases in the Pentateuch; see esp. Deuteronomy 31:20. When they eat and are full reflects Deuteronomy 31:20. The citation continues into the next verse with the words: they will turn to foreign gods … likewise from Deuteronomy 31:20 ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 22.
* 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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