The Book of Jubilees - What is it?

Should the Book of Jubilees be

in the Bible?
The Book of Jubilees (also called Lesser Genesis) is an ancient writing that claims to be revelation
given to Moses regarding the division of the days, weeks, months, and Jubilees of the Law. These
Jubilees are considered 49-year periods of time in which all of world history is divided.

The material included in the Book of Jubilees often overlaps with the Book of Genesis. Additional
details are provided, however, such as names for Adam and Eve's daughters, the chronology of time
prior to Moses receiving the Law, four classes of angels, an interesting interpretation regarding the
Nephilim of Genesis 6, and that Hebrew was the original language of the world.

Today, the only complete ancient copies are in Ethiopian. However, numerous fragments or portions
exist in Greek and Latin, with one discovery in Syriac. In addition, several Hebrew fragments were
discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls discoveries in the twentieth centuries.

The date of the Book of Jubilees is not certain. Several early Christian writers mentioned it. In
addition, the oldest Hebrew fragments date to approximately 100 BC. The Book of Jubilees further
seems to quote 1 Enoch, a book dated to 200 BC or before. Most scholars date the original
composition sometime in the second century BC.

Should the Book of Jubilees be added to the Bible? Several concerns have kept this book from
being added in the past that continue to stand true today. First, there is no complete early copy of
the writing in the original language. The Old Testament, in contrast, was completed
centuries before the Book of Jubilees and has much greater manuscript support in its original
Hebrew and Aramaic languages.

Second, the Book of Jubilees came after the Old Testament during a period in which no inspired
writing was added to Scripture. This does not determine whether the text of this work is accurate or
not, but affirms it was composed in a time period between the Old and New Testaments during
which no writing was added to Scripture.

Theologically, if God wanted the Book of Jubilees to exist as part of the Bible, He would have made
a way for the early church to affirm its inclusion. Instead, the earliest collections of the New
Testament left this writing out of every single developed list of its accepted writings and did not
consider the Book of Jubilees inspired for consideration in the New Testament.

Is the Book of Enoch inspired writing? Should the Book of Enoch

be in the Bible?
Jude 1:14-15 reads, "It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied,
saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and
to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an
ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'" What is this
Book of Enoch?

This Book of Enoch (also known as 1 Enoch) was an ancient Jewish writing known within Jewish
culture. It exists in full today only in Ge'ez, the religious language of Ethiopia, though it likely existed
in Hebrew or Aramaic prior. It is believed the early portions of it existed from about 300 BC while the
later portions were added by the first century BC.

The writer of this work is unknown. It is based on the biblical character Enoch who is listed in
Genesis as the great-grandfather of Noah and was noted as the "seventh from Adam" (Jude 1:14).
Along with Elijah and Jesus, Enoch is noted as leaving this world alive and ascending to
God. Genesis 5:24 says, "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Hebrews
11:5 reiterates that Enoch did not die but was rather taken up by God.

Because the Book of Enoch is quoted in Jude, some have wondered whether it should be
considered a book of the Bible. However, the following reasons stand against this view. First, the
Book of Enoch existed before the New Testament period and was not accepted as authoritative by
the Jewish leaders who affirmed the Old Testament writings.

Second, the Book of Enoch was not authored by the biblical Enoch. While there are biblical books
whose author is unknown, there is no biblical book whose authorship is knowingly attributed to a
false author.

Third, quoting a book in the New Testament does not require that the book be considered part of the
Bible. For example, Paul quoted Greek poets (Acts 17; Titus 1:12) and surely did not consider these
sources "biblical sources" or inspired. He instead used these sources to illustrate an idea with his
audience. The same was true of Jude's use of Enoch. His Jewish readers would have been familiar
with the Book of Enoch. Jude used this quotation concerning judgment as a warning to his readers,
but did not do so to help prove that the Book of Enoch should be in the Bible.

Instead, the Book of Enoch is to be treated like other historical writings. Some of its information is
true and some is not. It can be helpful in research, but is not inspired as Scripture.