Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Jubilee

Tuesday night Bible Study Guide
Elder Dennis Trudgen
Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Jubilee
Question: “When they found the Dead Sea Scrolls the Book of Jubilee was in there. The Dead Sea Scrolls are important in the sense of backing the King James Version but yet this one of the
banned books and still was with the Dead Sea Scrolls being a part of the book.”
In Addition, I received a couple of follow up questions relevant to our question of the week: “Didn't Mary also write a gospel?” And, “Is it any accident that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in close proximity of time to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In the book of Ether we are promised the more would come forth when we are able to receive it. Ether 1:109 Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will shew unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief. also in the book of Mormon we find Mormon 4:14 And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. …Do you think the Dead Sea Scrolls could be the greater things?”
pseud·e·pig·ra·pha
1. Spurious writings, especially writings falsely attributed to biblical characters or times.
2. A body of texts written between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200 and spuriously ascribed to various prophets and kings of Hebrew Scriptures.
ca•non•i•cal (kəˈnɒn ɪ kəl) adj. Also,ca•non′ic.
1. pertaining to, established by, or conforming to a canon or canons.
2. included in the canon of the Bible.
3. authorized; recognized; accepted.
I Nephi 6 : 5 3 And I did read many things unto them, which were written in the book of Moses; 4 But that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer, wherefore, I
did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; 5 For I did liken all scriptures unto us that it might be for our profit and learning. 6 Wherefore, I spake unto them, saying, Hear ye the words of the prophet,
II Nephi 3 : 29 28 And upon these, I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass: 29 For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children. 30 Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.
Alma 10 : 17 Behold, the scriptures are before you; if ye will wrest them it shall be to your own destruction.
Alma 17 : 32 And these plates of brass which contain these engravings, which have the records of the holy scriptures upon them, which have the genealogy of our forefathers, even from the
beginning.
Helaman 5 : 126 And angels did appear unto men, wise men, and did declare unto them glad tidings of great joy; thus in this year the scriptures began to be fulfilled.
III Nephi 11 : 29 And he saith, These scriptures which ye had not with you, the Father commanded that I should give unto you, for it was wisdom in him that they should be given unto future generations.
John 7 : 42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
John 10 : 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
John 19 : 36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
II Timothy 3 : 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
II Peter 1 : 21 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
II Samuel 23 : 2 The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at Khirbet Qumran in what was then British Mandate Palestine, and since 1947 known as the West Bank. They were found on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name. The texts are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Nabataean, mostly on parchment but with some written on papyrus and bronze.[2] The manuscripts have been dated to various ranges between 408 BCE and 318 CE.[3] Bronze coins found on the site form a series beginning with John Hyrcanus (135-104 BCE) and continuing until the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE).
The scrolls have traditionally been identified with the ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes, although some recent interpretations have challenged this association and argue that the
scrolls were penned by priests in Jerusalem, Zadokites, or other unknown Jewish groups.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are divided into three groups; copies of texts from the Hebrew Bible, which comprise roughly 40% of the identified scrolls, texts from the Second Temple Period like the Book of Enoch, Jubilees, the Book of Tobit, the Wisdom of Sirach, Psalms 152–155, etc., that ultimately were not canonized in the Hebrew Bible, which comprise roughly 30% of the identified scrolls, and sectarian manuscripts (previously unknown documents that shed light on the rules and beliefs of a particular group or groups within greater Judaism) like the Community Rule, the War Scroll, the Pesher on Habakkuk and the The Rule of the Blessing, which comprise roughly 30% of the identified scrolls.
Apocrypha writings above Book of Tobit, Wisdom of Sirach, Psalms 152-155
“The presence of 'apocryphal' psalms such as the Prayer of Manasseh, and the Psalms of Solomon, which were considered inspired by many Jews around the turn of the era, along with the
presence of apocryphal psalms in 11QPsa indicate the distinction between canonical and apocryphal psalms had not been clarified before the advent of Christianity." (The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2, p. 610)”
The word 'Apocrypha' comes from the Greek root word Apokruphos meaning 'hidden'. It was generally accepted to include writings whose origins is doubtful (spurious) or known to be false and heretical. It was not until 1880 that the American Bible Society voted to remove the "Apocrypha" Books from the King James Version. Five years later, the Anglican Church officially removed the
Apocrypha from their English printings of the KJV by the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Book of Tobit
"If the Devil, or an evil spirit troubles anyone, they can be driven away by making a smoke of the heart, liver, and gall of a fish...and the Devil will smell it, and flee away, and never come again anymore." Tobit 6:5-8.
Tobit 12:9 states that “alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin.” There are also historical errors as well to deal with. For example, Tobit claims to have been living when Jeroboam revolted (circa 931 B.C.) and still living when Assyria conquered Israel (circa 722 B.C.). He would have had to have lived over 200 years to see both events. (Tobit 1:3-5; 14:11).
Wisdom of Sirach
“Sirach is accepted as part of the Christian biblical canon by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican,[4] and most Oriental Orthodox but not by most Protestants.”
Water will quench a flaming fire; and alms maketh an atonement for sin”. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 3:3, 30
Sirach 12:4-7 advices, “Give to the godly man, and help not a sinner. Do well unto him that is lowly, but give not to the ungodly; hold back thy bread, and give it not unto him...give unto the good, and help not the sinner.”
Gospel of Mary
The Gospel of Mary is a collection of writings attributed to Jesus as told through and for Mary of Magdala. As with most Gospels, it is unlikely she wrote it herself; it is more likely that followers of her Church wrote it. John D. Crossan has stated in Jesus, a Revolutionary Biography that there is sufficient evidence to accept that there was a church that was in Mary's name and that it is likely Mary was the leader and preacher. Karen King, in The Gospel of Mary of Magdala goes into depth not only on the Church, but its theology.
The confrontation of Mary with Peter, a scenario also found in The Gospel of Thomas, Pistis Sophia, and The Gospel of the Egyptians, reflects some of the tensions in second-century Christianity. Peter and Andrew represent orthodox positions that deny the validity of esoteric revelation and reject the authority of women to teach. The Gospel of Mary attacks both of these positions head-on through its portrayal of Mary Magdalene. She is the Savior's beloved, possessed of knowledge and teaching superior to that of the public apostolic tradition. Her superiority is based on vision and private revelation and is demonstrated in her capacity to strengthen the wavering disciples and turn them toward the Good.
Book of Jubilees
“The Book of Jubilees sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work, considered one of the pseudepigrapha by Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Jubilees is considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Jews in Ethiopia, where it is known as the Book of Division (Ge'ez: Mets'hafe Kufale)…. Jubilees covers much of the same ground as Genesis, but often with additional detail... Jubilees covers much of the same ground as Genesis, but often with additional detail, and addressing Moses in the second person as the entire history of creation, and of Israel up to that point, is recounted in divisions of 49 years each, or "Jubilees". The elapsed time from the creation, up to Moses receiving the scriptures upon Sinai during the Exodus, is calculated as fifty Jubilees, less the 40 years still to be spent wandering in the desert before entering Canaan — or 2,410 years.
Four classes of angels are mentioned: angels of the presence, angels of sanctifications, guardian angels over individuals, and angels presiding over the phenomena of nature. Enoch was the first
man initiated by the angels in the art of writing, and wrote down, accordingly, all the secrets of astronomy, of chronology, and of the world's epochs. As regards demonology, the writer's position is largely that of the deuterocanonical writings from both New and Old Testament times.
The Book of Jubilees narrates the genesis of angels on the first day of Creation and the story of how a group of fallen angels mated with mortal females, giving rise to a race of giants known as
the Nephilim. The Ethiopian version states that the "angels" were in fact the disobedient offspring of Seth (Deqiqa Set), while the "mortal females" were daughters of Cain.[13] This is also the view held by Simeon bar Yochai, Clementine literature, Sextus Julius Africanus, Ephrem the Syrian, Augustine of Hippo, and John Chrysostom among many other early authorities. Their hybrid children, the Nephilim in existence during the time of Noah, were wiped out by the great flood. However, Jubilees also states that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to try to lead mankind astray after the flood.
Jubilees makes an incestuous reference regarding the son of Adam and Eve, Cain and his wife. In chapter iv (1-12) (Cain and Abel), it mentions that Cain took his sister Awan to be his wife and Enoch was their child. Also, it mentions that Seth (another son of Adam and Eve) married his sister Azura. Contains the story of Genesis pretty much chapter by chapter but curiously, mentions Israel often some 2500 years before their existence. No mention of the
Melchizedek that Hebrews says was the High Priest. It also talks about the feast days and holy of holies before the birth of Israel. It also does not have the latter day prophecies found in Gen 49 or the story of the angel guarding the Tree of Life. DLT)
According to this book, Hebrew is the language of Heaven, and was originally spoken by all creatures in the Garden, animals and man, however the animals lost their power of speech when Adam and Eve were expelled. Some time following the Deluge, the earth is apportioned into three divisions for the three sons of Noah, and his sixteen grandsons. After the destruction of the tower of Babel, their families were scattered to their respective allotments, and Hebrew
was forgotten, until Abraham was taught it by the angels.
Jubilees also contains a few scattered allusions to the Messianic kingdom. RH Charles in 1913 wrote: "This kingdom was to be ruled over by a Messiah sprung, not from Levi — that is, from the Maccabean family — as some of his contemporaries expected — but from Judah. This kingdom would be gradually realized on earth, and the transformation of physical nature would go hand in hand with the ethical transformation of man until there was a new heaven and a new earth. Thus, finally, all sin and pain would disappear and men would live to the age of 1,000 years in happiness and peace, and after death enjoy a blessed immortality in the spirit world."[3] ^ a b c The Book of Jubilees (Int., tr.), from "The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament", by R. H. Charles. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913
It was well known to Early Christians, as evidenced by the writings of Epiphanius, Justin Martyr, Origen, Diodorus of Tarsus, Isidore of Alexandria, Isidore of Seville, Eutychius of Alexandria, John Malalas, George Syncellus, and George Kedrenos. It was so thoroughly suppressed in the 4th century that no complete Hebrew, Greek or Latin version has survived. There is conjecture among western biblical scholars that Jubilees may be a rework of material found in the canonical books of Genesis and Exodus The Book of Jubilees claims to present "the history of the division of the days of the Law, of the events of the years, the year-weeks, and the jubilees of the world" as revealed to Moses (in addition to the Torah or "Instruction") by Angels while he was on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights.[2] The chronology given in Jubilees is based on multiples of seven; the jubilees are periods of 49 years, seven 'year-weeks', into which all of time has been divided. According to
the author of Jubilees, all proper customs that mankind should follow are determined by God's decree.
Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), the only surviving manuscripts of Jubilees were four complete Ge'ez texts dating to the 15th and 16th centuries,… Between 1947 and 1956, approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Hebrew.
Dating: The dating of Jubilees has been somewhat problematic for biblical scholars. While the oldest extant copies of Jubilees can be assigned on the basis of the handwriting to about 100 BC, there is much evidence to suggest Jubilees was written prior to this date. For example, the author of Jubilees seems to be aware of 1 Enoch's "Book of Dreams"; of which, the oldest extant copy (DSS-13 4Q208) has been carbon dated to ca. 200 BC. Generally agree the book was written (135-105 B.C)…And yet, many scholars continue to subscribe to Robert Henry Charles's view that Jubilees could not have been written before the events of 1 Maccabees, due to perceived cryptic references within the text. As a result, general reference works such as the Oxford Annotated Bible and the Mercer Bible Dictionary conclude the work can be dated to 160–150 BC.” From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ether 1:109, Mormon 4:14: Do you think the Dead Sea Scrolls could be the greater things?
Daniel 12 : 4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
III Nephi 12 : 3 And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things, then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them. 4. And if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation. 5 Behold I was about to write them all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the
Lord forbid it, saying, I will try the faith of my people; therefore I, Mormon, do write the things which have been commanded me of the Lord….(See also Ether 1:90-114; 1 Nephi 3:190-191; 2 Nephi 12 : 72 (Book of Lost tribes), Alma 17 : 32-34 (Plates of Brass)