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The Book of Jubilees. Jubilees has been marketed as a missing secret biblical book, one of the many books omitted from Scripture. It was probably written between 160–150 BC, by a Jewish priest or scribe seeking to defend traditional Jewish Law against Hellenism. What complicates things a bit is that it is included in the Bible of some of the Ethiopian churches.

Jubilees is a retelling of Genesis, but the timeframe is set in terms of 49 year jubilee cycles, hence its name. After seven cycles of seven years Israel was to have a fiftieth jubilee year. Proberty was to revert to the original family ownership. Indeed in essence property could only be leased with payment being based on the number of years until the next jubilee when it would revert back to its original owner.

Many other special rules applied. For example no sowing of crops was to be done. The land was to rest every seventh year, and rest for a second year in a row during the 50th jubilee year. Israel was to trust that God would provide during those two years. See Leviticus 25:10–30 for details about the jubilee year. Israel never observed letting the land rest during that seventh year or the jubilee years. Oddly, in the “Book of Jubilees,” while the 49 year cycle is maintained, the jubilee cycle doesn’t include the 50th year (at least in the timeline of the edition referenced here).

There are numerous differences between Jubilees and Genesis. In the first chapter, the “angel of the presence of the Lord” tells Moses on Mt. Sinai all that will befall the Israelites. The creation of the angels becomes part of the first day of Creation. The Mosaic Law is backdated into Jubilees, and both Adam and Eve had to be ritually purified after God created them. Did God created them unclean in some way? Why after God’s very good perfect creation, would they need to be ritually purified? As there was no sin at that point, what did they need purificiaton from? That makes no sense.

In addition, Noah expounds on part of what would become the Law, and the Feast of Weeks is backdated into Noah’s time. For details on the actual Feast of Weeks, see Exodus 34:24ff.

Prior to the Fall, all animals could talk. Corruption comes not through Adam and Eve’s sin buth through the birth of the Nephilim, fathered by the Watchers. Evil spirits—the dead Nephilim—pollute the post-flood world. Legendary tales of Abram’s rejection of Terha’s idols are also added in.

Events recorded in Genesis are often skipped in Jubilees. Some of the omitted items include: the consequences of the Fall; Shechem’s rape of Dinah and Simeon and Levi’s murderous response; Tamar’s deception and Judah getting her pregnant; Jacob’s wrestling with what is best understood as the angel of the Lord; and Jacob’s blessing of his 12 sons. Notice that much of what is missing would be considered embarrassing within Jewish history. It also lets Adam and Eve off the hook for their choice that brought sin into this world.

When looking at all of the modifications found in Jubilees compared to Genesis, coupled with the very late date of its writing, it is clear that Jubilees is not inspired Scripture. It was not part of the Old Testament Scriptures. Regarding its placement in some Ethiopian Bibles, it is worth remembering that in ancient times Ethiopia was an isolated region, having little contact with other churches.

As with other supposedly suppressed “biblical” books, Jubilees does not offer a “true” accurate account of events. While it may be of some historical interest regarding Jewish thought in the second century prior to Christ’s birth, it is not Scripture. If read as supposed “truth,” as its marketers would wish, there is a real danger of it causing confusion, of drawing people away from what Scripture actually says.

In no way, shape, or form is the “Book of Jubilees” worth the hype and attention it is getting.

The “Book of the Giants.” The “Book of the Giants” is marketed as an important historical book that fills in missing information regarding the Watchers and the great flood. In that sense, it is related to 1 Enoch, which we will look at in detail a bit later in the series.

Fragments of the “Book of the Giants” are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was probably written in the third century BC. Fragments of a later version have been found within Manichaeism, within the writings of Mani, dated sometime in the third century, probably between 240–274 AD.

Manichaeism was a gnostic religion founded by Mani (216–274 AD). Mani taught that God and Satan were opposites. He considered God and Satan to be equal with each other. Both were eternal. God was light and spirit, ruling that world, while Satan was the master over the physical world, matter, and the body. For the Gnostics, all matter was considered evil, whereas light and spirit were regarded as good.

Each person was in essence a light-spark trapped within the body. Life’s goal was to free that light-spark from the body and return to the world of purity and light. The version of “Giants” found within Manichaeism was probably written in the third century AD.

The two versions differ somewhat. Within the Dead Sea Scrolls, the angelic Watchers were supposed to teach men, but instead impregnated women. In Mani’s version, demons came, inhabited the earth, and impregnated women.

Before taking that wicked step, the watchers/domons had initially been seduced by women who were part of the line of Cain. The giants that resulted, the Nephilim, bring and practice great evil on the earth. They eventually dream of their own destruction. That destruction by the flood is confirmed to them by Enoch.

All cultures have myths about giants; claims have been made about finding unusual remains and bones. Interestingly, there are also over 50 named giants in Greek mythology.

So what is the problem with “Giants”? Only fragments of the book survive. Those fragments are random enough that much of the narrative has been heavily reconstructed.

Scripture tells us very little about the Nephilim. What is certain is that human sin, human choices, human practice, that everyone giving themselves continually over to evil brought about the Flood. The sin issue was with us as humans, not the half-breed creatures of the Nephilim.

As for the “Book of the Giants,” the reality is far less than the hype. It has very little substance and majors instead on conjecture. The reconstructed fragments take up only a few pages. The interest in it traces more to the way it parallels first Enoch than for what it may directly say.

In the next post, we will look at the “Book of Jubilees.”

Extra-Biblical Books? Part 4A: Other “Ancient” Books

What other books are commonly touted as providing “special” knowledge that the Bible has supposedly suppressed?

Other key books that have been suggested include the “Book of Jasher,” the “Book of the Giants,” the “Book of Jubilees,” and especially the “Book of Enoch.” We will look at each one in turn, starting with Jasher.

Jasher is a supposed retelling of the early history of Israel, starting with the creation of man and ending with the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. It is marketed as providing much more detail for the early days of Israel, filling in and expanding on the events recorded in Scripture from Genesis to Joshua, giving “truths” that the Bible does not.

We do find references to Jasher in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18. The trouble is, the original Jasher that Scripture refers to has long since been lost. The most commonly available “authentic” version, the one referenced here, is a seventeenth century forgery. It consists of various Jewish legends and the retelling of extra-biblical Jewish midrashic writings.

We will look at one example from it in detail, the story of Abram’s conflict with king Nimrod.

When Abram (Abraham) was born, astrologers saw a sign that Abram would grow up and one day destroy the kingdom of the evil king Nimrod. Nimrod therefore demands the right to kill baby Abram. Abram’s father, Terah, substitutes a slave girl’s baby, a baby that Nimrod kills, believing it to be Abram. Later, Nimrod discovers that Terah had lied and that Abram was still alive.

As a result, Abram is thrown into a fire for three days. God keeps Abram alive, and Nimrod orders him to come out. Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. Nimrod then has a dream that indicates Abram’s descendants will destroy the kingdom when Nimrod’s successors are in power.

Nimrod seeks to kill Abram again after he refuses to worship idols and thereby come under Nimrod’s authority. He flees to Shem and Noah’s house, where he is taught by Noah for a month. After that, he flees with Terah to Haran, and after Terah’s death, leaves for Canaan.

There are numerous problems with the tale as Jasher tells it. Biblically, while Shem is alive at the time of Abram’s birth, Noah is already dead. It is therefore not possible for Abram to have come under Noah’s tutelage. In addition, although the Bible does not provide precise dates, it is fairly clear that Nimrod lived a few generations before Abram.

If Jasher was a movie, it would be labeled: “inspired by Scripture.” Is it in any way truly biblical? No. Is it a fanciful fictional retelling of Israel’s early history? Yes. That is the nature of Jasher. To cite another example: Cain’s killing of Abel becomes another long, drawn-out fanciful tale.

Sadly, some will gravitate towards Jasher. Although biblically false, the claim that Jasher provides information the Bible omits, gives it a type of credence for those who seek to disparage and reject the Bible.

Bluntly, there is nothing in Jasher to recommend it. It is, after all, a forgery. As a forgery, which means by definition it is a lie, why would we be surprised when ads for it misrepresent the importance of its contents?

In the next post, we will look at Giants.