What Scripture says
Genesis and Exodus tell the story Jubilees retells. Scripture gives no 364-day calendar and no system of 49-year jubilee periods for world history. The jubilee in Scripture is a law for Israel’s land: every 50th year, land returns to its original families and slaves are released (Leviticus 25:8–17). It isn’t a way of dating history.
What the evidence says
History
What it contains
Jubilees presents itself as a revelation given to Moses on Mount Sinai by “the angel of the presence”, who dictates the history of the world from creation to the Exodus from heavenly tablets. It:
- Divides history into jubilees of 49 years each (seven weeks of years), dating every event: Moses receives the law in the 50th jubilee after creation.
- Insists on a 364-day calendar of 52 weeks, so that festivals always fall on the same day of the week, and condemns those who follow the moon.
- Shows the patriarchs keeping the law before it was given: Noah, Abraham and others celebrate festivals and observe the Sabbath.
- Explains evil through angels: the Watchers (as in 1 Enoch) and a chief evil spirit named Mastema, who leads demons and tests Abraham.
- Fills gaps in Genesis: names for Adam’s and Noah’s wives, details of Abraham’s youth, and smoothed-over difficulties in the stories.
Date and manuscripts
Jubilees was written in Hebrew around 160–150 BC. Around 15 copies were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, more than many books of the Hebrew Bible, showing it was important to that community, which shared its calendar.
Textual Criticism
The full text survives in Ge’ez, with Hebrew fragments from Qumran and parts in Latin and Greek quotations. Its claim to come from Moses is a literary device: the book’s concerns, especially its calendar and its strict separation from Gentiles, fit the 2nd century BC, when calendar disputes divided Jewish groups and Greek culture pressed on Judaism.
| Feature | Genesis–Exodus | Jubilees |
|---|---|---|
| Chronology | Ages and genealogies | Every event dated in jubilees |
| Calendar | Not specified | Exactly 364 days, required |
| Patriarchs and the law | Before the law | Keeping laws not yet given |
| Evil spirits | Barely mentioned | Mastema and the Watchers |
Where they meet
Jubilees shows how some Jews read Genesis around 150 BC, filling in gaps and addressing the controversies of their day. It was never accepted into the Hebrew Bible, and the early church didn’t include it. Only the Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes it in its canon (see 3.11).
What’s still open
Very little about its status. Scholars discuss its exact date and its relationship to the Qumran community.
Bottom line
Jubilees retells Genesis–Exodus in 49-year cycles with a 364-day calendar (c. 160–150 BC). It is pseudonymous, and only the Ethiopian church accepts it, so leaving it out is rated Settled.