Jubilees - Subsequent Use

Subsequent Use

Jubilees was immediately adopted by the Hasmoneans, and became a source for the Aramaic Levi Document. Jubilees remained a point of reference for priestly circles (although they disputed its calendric proposal), and the Temple Scroll and "Epistle of Enoch" (1 Enoch 91:1–10, 92:3–93:10, 91:11–92:2, 93:11–105:3) are based on Jubilees. It is the source for certain of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, for instance that of Reuben.

There is no official record of it in Pharisaic or Rabbinic sources, and it was among several books that were left out of the canon established by the Sanhedrin (possibly at the so-called Council of Jamnia, c 80 AD, though this theory has been largely discredited, see Development of the Hebrew Bible canon for details). Sub rosa, many of the traditions which Jubilees includes for the first time are echoed in later Jewish sources, including some 12th-century midrashim which may have had access to a Hebrew copy. The sole exception within Judaism are the Beta Israel Jews formerly of Ethiopia, who regard the Ge'ez text as canonical.

The book of Jubilees was evidently held in high regard, and sometimes quoted at length, by some Early Church Fathers. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and Beta Israel Jews have continued to consider Jubilees an important book of the Bible, dictated to Moses, and older than Genesis.