The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

HENRY W. MORISADA RIETZ 223
COSMIC DIMENSIONS OF THE CALENDAR
The following of the 364-day solar calendar had not only halakic and thus
social, but also cosmic dimensions. The book of Jubilees attests to the idea
that the terrestrial worship of the Jerusalem Temple was to be synchronized
with the celestial worship in the heavens. 92 The holy day which
dominates Jubilees is the weekly Sabbath. 93 Instructions concerning the
Sabbath are found in Jub. 2:17–33 and 50:1–13 which concludes the
document. These two sections form a sort of inclusio to the book. Like the
Priestly writer of the Pentateuch, the author of Jubilees ties the institution
of the Sabbath to the creation event. 94 However, distinct from the biblical
tradition, the command to observe the Sabbath was first given to the
angels (in the following passages referred to in the first person plural) and
the Sabbath is to be observed in heaven;
He gave us the sabbath day as a great sign so that we should perform work
for six days and that we should keep sabbath from all work on the seventh
day. He told us—all the angels of the presence and all the angels of holiness
(these two great kinds)—to keep sabbath with him in heaven and on earth
(Jub. 2:17–18). 95
On it 96 we kept sabbath in heaven before it was made known to all humanity
that on it they should keep sabbath on earth (Jub. 2:30b). 97
the sabbath was only made known to the chosen people of israel, 98 and
they were to observe the Sabbath with the angels;
In this way he made a sign on it by which they, too, would keep sabbath
with us on the seventh day to eat, drink, and bless the creator of all as he
had blessed them and sanctified them for himself as a noteworthy people
out of all the nations; and to keep sabbath together with us (Jub. 2:21). 99
92. For the biblical antecedents of the worship in the heavens, see Isaiah 6; cf.
Daniel 7, 1 Kgs 22:19–23, 1 Enoch 14.
93. “…it [the sabbath] is more holy and more blessed than any day of the jubilee of
jubilees.” (Jub. 2:30a). Cf. the section in CD MS A 10.14–11.18 “Concerning the
Sa[bba]th.”
94. Jub. 2:25; cf. Gen 2:1–4.
95. Translation from VanderKam, The Book of Jubilees.
96. That is, the seventh day.
97. Translation from VanderKam, ibid.
98. Jub. 2:19–20, 30b; 50:9–10.
99. Translation from VanderKam, ibid.; emphasis added.