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The Dead Sea Scrolls describe an ideal age of history with no adversary and no evil, only peace and blessing. Jubilees uses that same language for Joseph’s rule over Egypt, treating his leadership as a sample of a future, promised age.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4Q504
Words of the Luminaries
Dead Sea Scrolls
Thou hast caused [the scourge] of Thy [plagues] to cleave to us of which Moses wrote, and Thy servants the Prophets, that Thou wouldst send evil against us in the last days... IV ... Thy dwelling-place ... a resting-place in Jerus[alem, the city which] Thou hast [chosen] from all the earth that Thy [Name] might remain there for ever. For Thou hast loved Israel above all the peoples. Thou hast chosen the tribe of Judah and hast established Thy Covenant with David that he might be as a princely shepherd over Thy people and sit before Thee on the throne of Israel for ever. All the nations have seen Thy glory, Thou who hast sanctified Thyself in the midst of Thy people Israel. They brought their offering to Thy great Name, silver and gold and precious stones together with all the treasures of their lands, that they might glorify Thy people, and Zion Thy holy city, and the House of Thy majesty. And there was neither adversary nor misfortune, but peace and blessing... and they ate and were satisfied and grew fat ...
Date: 160 B.C.E. - 100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 40:9
Pseudepigrapha
8 So Joseph became ruler over the entire land of Egypt. All of the pharaoh’s princes, all of his servants, and all who were doing the king’s work loved him because he conducted himself in a just way. He was not arrogant, proud, or partial, nor did he accept bribes because he was ruling all the people of the land in a just way. 9 The land of Egypt lived in harmony before the pharaoh because of Joseph for the Lord was with him. He gave him a favorable and kind reception for all his family before all who knew him and who heard reports about him. The pharaoh’s rule was just, and there was no satan or any evil one. 10 The king named Joseph Sefantifanes and gave Joseph as a wife the daughter of Potiphar, the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis — the chief cook.
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Notes and References
... Pharaoh’s rule was just. There was no satan or any evil one. The last characteristic reminds one of those other passages in the book in which the absence of a satan is noted; all of them speak of ideal times. The occurrence in 46:2 parallels the present one because ‘There was no satan or any evil one throughout all of Joseph’s lifetime that he lived after his father Jacob...’ ... The expression recurs in eschatological contexts. One is in Jubilees 23:29, part of the depiction of the new age when people will be numerous and live lives of antediluvian length in peace and joy: ‘There will be neither a satan nor any evil one who will destroy. For their entire lifetimes will be times of blessing and healing.’ The final occurrence is in the last chapter where the angel predicts that Israel will become pure of evil and live confidently in the land: ‘They will no longer have any satan or any evil one. The land will be pure from that time until eternity’ (50:5). The implication is that the way in which Joseph governed the country produced conditions matching those anticipated in eschatological times. Berger maintains that the writer presents Joseph’s rule as an ideal time of deliverance and that it has a messianic character. ...
VanderKam, James C.
Jubilees 1: A Commentary on the Book of Jubilees Chapters 1–21
(p. 1028) Fortress Press, 2018
* 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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