Although considered the first book of the Bible, have there ever been suggestions of works earlier than Genesis?
Where did Moses get his information from regarding the creative days and the Adamic family tree?
Bible books before Genesis and where did Moses get his information from?
by truthseeker 16 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Little Drummer Boy
From my favorite musical:
"Moses, Moses, Moses. I think your Moses shall have been a fool!"
Ok, I'm going, I'm going...
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truthseeker
Thank you Drummerboy for your well thought out response
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truthseeker
Let's get the discussion going...
The Book of Jubilees, probably written in the 2nd century B.C.E., is an account of the Biblical history of the world from creation to Moses. It is divided into periods ('Jubilees') of 49 years. For the most part the narrative follows the familiar account in Genesis, but with some additional details such as the names of Adam and Eve's daughters, and an active role for a demonic entity called 'Mastema'. The anonymous author had a preoccupation with calendar reform, and uses Jubilees as a platform for proposing a solar calendar of 364 days and 12 months; this would have been a radical departure from the Jewish Calendar, which is lunar-based. There are also a couple of messianic, apocalyptic passages, although quite a bit less than the Book of Enoch.
The only complete version of Jubilees is in Ethiopian, although large fragments in Greek, Latin and Syriac are also known. It is believed that it was originally written in Hebrew. If at times one gets the impression that you are reading a first draft of Genesis, you are in good company. R.H. Charles, the translator, a distinguished academic Biblical scholar, concluded that Jubilees was a version of the Pentateuch, written in Hebrew, parts of which later became incorporated into the earliest Greek version of the Jewish Bible, the Septuagint.
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Mysterious
God told him. Sorry the sarcasm is in full force today. I just find a lot of the explanations for these sort of issues to be ridiculous.
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truthseeker
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/jub/jub02.htm
INTRODUCTION
SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE BOOK
THE Book of Jubilees, or, as it is sometimes called, "the little Genesis," purports to be a revelation given by God to Moses through the medium of an angel (" the Angel of the Presence," i. 27), and containing a history, divided up into jubilee-periods of forty-nine years, from the creation to the coming of Moses. Though the actual narrative of events is only carried down to the birth and early career of Moses, its author envisages the events of a later time, and in particular certain events of special interest at the time when he wrote, which was probably in the latter years of the second century B.C., perhaps in the reign of the Maccabean prince John Hyrcanus. Though distinguished from the Pentateuch proper ("the first Law," vi. 22), it presupposes and supplements the latter. The actual narrative embraces material contained in the whole of Genesis and part of Exodus. But the legal regulations given presuppose other parts of the Pentateuch, especially the so-called "Priest's Code" (P), and certain details in the narrative are probably intended to apply to events that occurred in the author's own time (the latter years of the second century B.C.). The author himself seems to have contemplated the speedy inauguration of the Messianic Age, and in this respect his point of view is similar to that of the Apocalyptic writers. But his work, though it contains one or two passages of an apocalyptic character, is quite unlike the typical apocalypses. It is largely narrative based upon the historical narratives in Genesis and
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[paragraph continues] Exodus, interspersed with legends, and emphasizing certain legal practices (such as the strict observance of the Sabbath, circumcision, etc.), and laying much stress upon their eternal obligation. But his main object was to inculcate a reform in the regulation of the calendar and festivals, in place of the intercalated lunar calendar, which he condemns in the strongest language. He proposes to substitute for this a solar calendar consisting of 12 months and containing 364 days. The result of such a system is to make all festivals, except the Day of Atonement, fall on a Sunday; the author also fixes the date of the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) on Sivan 15th (in place of the traditional Sivan 6th). He obviously believes that the prevailing system has produced grave consequences in religious practice. The proper observance of the feasts, which had been prescribed by divine authority, is, according to his view, rendered impossible so long as the right principles for regulating the calendar are ignored. These principles are justified from the written Law, and are represented as having been ordained in heaven. To what party or tendency in Judaism did the author belong? Various answers have been given to this question, which will be fully discussed below. It is very difficult to believe, as Dr. Charles contends, that the author was a Pharisee, for the positions he advocates are in many respects fundamentally opposed to later Pharisaic practice. In particular, how can any member of the Pharisaic party, which from its beginning championed popular religious custom, have advocated a solar calendar? More can be said for the view that the author was a member of the Hasidim or "pious" (who must not be confounded with the Pharisees), while in a recent important discussion Leszynsky has made out a strong, if not quite convincing, case for Sadducean authorship. The Book has sometimes been styled a Midrash, but such a descriptive term needs some qualification. It claims to be a revelation, and not a mere exposition of Genesis and
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[paragraph continues] Exodus. At the same time, there is a certain Midrashic tendency observable in the way the author rewrites the older narratives, which reminds one of the work of the Chronicler as compared with the earlier canonical books which he remodelled. But Jubilees is not at all like the typical Midrash of the later Rabbinical period; it is more independent, and resembles rather such works as the "Chronicles of Jerahmeel," or the earlier (narrative) part of the "Apocalypse of Abraham."
The Book, which was probably composed in Hebrew, is divided into fifty chapters, and appears to be complete.
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truthseeker
An interesting take on the creation account from the Book of Jubilees
The Angel dictates to Moses the Primæval History: the Creation of the World and Institution of the Sabbath (ii. 1-33; cf. Gen. i.-ii. 3).
II. And the angel of the presence spake to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: Write the complete history of the creation, how in six days the Lord God finished all His works and all that He created, and kept Sabbath on the seventh day and hallowed it for all ages, and appointed it as a sign
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for all His works. 2. 1 For on the first day He created the heavens which are above and the earth and the waters and all the spirits which serve before Him--the angels 2 of the presence, and the angels of sanctification, 3 and the angels [of the spirit of fire and the angels] of the spirit of the winds, 4 and the angels of the spirit of the clouds, and of darkness, and of snow and of hail and of hoar frost, 5 and the angels of the voices 6 and of the thunder and of the lightning, 7 and the angels of the spirits of cold and of heat, and of winter and of spring and of autumn and of summer, 8 and of all the spirits of His creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth, (He created) the abysses and the darkness, eventide (and night), and the light, dawn and day, which He hath prepared in the knowledge of His heart. 3. And thereupon we saw His works, and praised Him, and lauded before Him on account of all His works; for seven great works did He create on the first day. 4. And on the second
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day 1 He created the firmament in the midst of the waters, and the waters were divided on that day--half of them went up above and half of them went down below the firmament (that was) in the midst over the face of the whole earth. And this was the only work (God) created on the second day. 5. And on the third day 2 He commanded the waters to pass from off the face of the whole earth into one place, and the dry land to appear. 6. And the waters did so as He commanded them, and they retired from off the face of the earth into one place outside of this firmament, and the dry land appeared. 7. And on that day He created for them all the seas according to their separate gathering-places, and all the rivers, and the gatherings of the waters in the mountains and on all the earth, and all the lakes, and all the dew of the earth, and the seed which is sown, and all sprouting things, and fruit-bearing trees, and trees of the wood, and the garden of Eden, in Eden, and all (plants after their kind). These four great works God created on the third day. 8. And on the fourth day 3 He created the sun and the moon and the stars, and set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon all the earth, and to rule over the day and the night, and divide the light from the darkness. 9. And God appointed the sun 4 to be a great sign on the earth for days and for sabbaths and for months and for feasts and for years and for sabbaths of years and for jubilees and for all seasons of the years. 10. And it divideth the light from the darkness [and] for
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prosperity, that all things may prosper which shoot and grow on the earth. These three kinds He made on the fourth day. 11. And on the fifth day 1 He created great sea monsters in the depths of the waters, for these were the first things of flesh that were created by His hands, the fish and everything that moves in the waters, and everything that flies, the birds and all their kind. 12. And the sun rose above them to prosper (them), and above everything that was on the earth, everything that shoots out of the earth, and all fruit-bearing trees, and all flesh. These three kinds He created on the fifth day. 13. And on the sixth day 2 He created all the animals of the earth, and all cattle, and everything that moves on the earth. 14. And after all this He created man, a man and a woman created He them, and gave him dominion over all that is upon the earth, and in the seas, and over everything that flies, and over beasts and over cattle, and over everything that moves on the earth, and over the whole earth, and over all this He gave him dominion. And these four kinds He created on the sixth day. 15. And there were altogether two and twenty kinds. 3 16. And He finished all His work on the sixth 4 day--all that is in the heavens and on the earth, and in the seas and in the abysses, and in the light and in the darkness, and in everything. 17. And He gave us a great sign, the Sabbath day, 5 that we should work six days, but keep Sabbath on the seventh day from all work. 18. And all the angels of the presence, and all the angels of sanctification, these two great classes--He hath hidden us
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to keep the Sabbath with Him 1 in heaven and on earth. 19. And He said unto us: "Behold, I will separate unto Myself 2 a people from among all the peoples, and these will keep the Sabbath day, and I will sanctify them unto Myself as My people, and will bless them; as I have sanctified the Sabbath day and do sanctify (it) unto Myself, even so shall I bless them, and they will be My people and I shall be their God. 20 . And I have chosen the seed of Jacob 3 from amongst all that I have seen, and have written him down as My firstborn son, 4 and have sanctified him unto Myself for ever and ever; and I will teach them the Sabbath day, that they may keep Sabbath thereon from all work." 21. And thus He created therein a sign 5 in accordance with which they should keep Sabbath with us 6 on the seventh day, to eat and to drink, and to bless Him 7 who hath created all things as He hath blessed and sanctified unto Himself a peculiar people 8 above all peoples, and that they should keep Sabbath together with us. 22. And He caused His commands to ascend as a sweet savour 9 acceptable before Him all the days. . . . 23. There (were) two and twenty heads of mankind from Adam to Jacob, and two and twenty kinds of work were made 10 until
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the seventh day; this 1 is blessed and holy; and the former 2 also is blessed and holy; and this one serves with that one for sanctification and blessing. 24. And to this (Jacob and his seed) it was granted that they should always be the blessed and holy ones of the first testimony and law, even as He had sanctified and blessed the Sabbath day on the seventh day. 25. He created heaven and earth and everything that He created in six days, and God made the seventh day holy, for all His works; therefore He commanded on its behalf that, whoever doth any work thereon shall die, 3 and that he who defileth it shall surely die. 26. Wherefore do thou command the children of Israel to observe this day that they may keep it holy 4 and not do thereon any work, and not to defile it, as it is holier than all other days. 5 27. And whoever profaneth it shall surely die, and whoever doeth thereon any work shall surely die eternally, that the children of Israel may observe this day throughout their generations, and not be rooted out of the land; for it is a holy day and a blessed day. 28. And every one who observeth it and keepeth Sabbath thereon from all his work, will be holy and blessed throughout all days like unto us. 29. Declare and say to the children of Israel the law of this day both that they should keep Sabbath thereon, and that they should not forsake it in the error of their hearts; (and) that it is not lawful to do any work thereon which is unseemly, to do thereon their own pleasure, 6 and that they should not prepare thereon anything to be eaten or drunk. 7 †and (that it is not lawful) to draw water, or bring in or take out thereon through their gates any burden,† 8 which they had not
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prepared for themselves on the sixth day 1 in their dwellings. 30. And they shall not bring in nor take out from house to house 2 on that day; for that day is more holy and blessed than any jubilee day of the jubilees: on this we kept Sabbath in the heavens before it was made known to any flesh to keep Sabbath thereon on the earth. 31. And the Creator of all things blessed it, 3 but He did not sanctify all peoples and nations to keep Sabbath thereon, but Israel alone: them alone He permitted to eat and drink and to keep Sabbath thereon on the earth. 32. And the Creator of all things blessed this day which He had created for a blessing and a sanctification and a glory above all days. 33. This law and testimony was given to the children of Israel as a law for ever unto their generations. 4
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choosing life
Sorry, I haven't read all the posts yet. I have limited time, as my family will be home soon.
I have read some of the apocryphyl books and they seem to fill in so many details left out of the Bible. I don't know when they were written, in relation to the Bible. but I often wondered if some info came from these. They answer some questions I have always wondered about when I read the Bible.
One in particular was the Book of Adam and Eve, I think. It went into how Adam and Eve felt after being tossed out of paradise. It really gave you a feel for the extreme innocence of the two. Gave a whole different slant than the Bible version. There were some others too, but can't remember their names. I would say a lot of them are worth reading to round out things.
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jwfacts
I used to wonder about these source books. For instance
Gen 5:1 This [is] the book of the generations of Adam
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Mum
Like most ancient cultures, oral tradition was passed down for many generations before anything was written. I was told by a religion professor that if Moses wrote all five books of the Pentateuch, he could easily have written the account of his own death as well.
Regards,
SandraC