The Book of Jubilees, or the Little Genesis

This is a reproduction of the original book, first published in 1902 A.D.. The text is unaltered and unedited. It is difficult to exaggerate the value of Jubilees. The fact that it is the oldest commentary in the world on Genesis, is in itself a distinction. But it is not on this ground that we value it, but rather for the insight it gives us into the religious beliefs of Judaism in the second century B.C. Its interests are many sided. It appeals to the textual critic, as it attests the form of the Hebrew text, which was current in that century. It appeals to the Old Testament scholar, as exhibiting further developments of ideas and tendencies which are only in their incipient stages in the Old Testament. It appeals to the New Testament scholar, as furnishing the first literary embodiment of beliefs which subsequently obtained an entrance into the New Testament, and as having in all probability formed part of the library of some of the apostolic writers. It appeals to the student , of theological doctrine, as providing certain indispensable links in the process of development. Finally, to the Jewish scholar, a Pharisaic work of the second century B.C. cannot fail to be of transcendent interest, as it gives the earlier forms of certain legislative enactments that appear in the Mishna, and of legends which in later Judaism have undergone much transformation.