Second Temple Period Rationales for the Torah’s Commandments: Book of Jubilees
Tomb of Patriarchs, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patriarch_tomb.JPG
The literature of Second Temple Judaism is both varied and extensive. Under this rubric one may include Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Hellenistic Jewish literature (Philo and Josephus), and the Dead Sea Scrolls. For our purposes today, will be concentrating on three particular works: the book of Jubilees, a pseudepigraphical work dated to sometime after 180 BCE, the works of Philo Judaeus (c. 20 B.C.E.-50 CE), the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, the biblical antiquities of Josephus, d. ca. 100 CE, and some scattered references in the Dead Sea Scrolls. We will be concerned here with understanding the approach of these authors to determining and presenting rationales for commandments required by the Torah. We shall not discuss in this paper the views of Second Temple authors on the theoretical basis for the authority of Torah prescriptions or those rulings found in Second Temple legal sources. We and other scholars have talked in detail about the theoretical bases for the authority of biblical legislation in a variety of studies. Further, although some helpful background can be gleaned from accounts of the period of the return— the Persian Period, we will confine our study to the Greco-Roman era. In this framework, we… Continue reading
Qumran Sabbath Law
The Qumran sect began the Sabbath shortly before sunset on Friday night to ensure that they would not do work on the Sabbath. All discussion of business was forbidden and even walking in the field to plan future work was prohibited.
The sect accepted the Sabbath limit – tehum shabbat – and ruled that a man could only walk a thousand cubits beyond his city limits unless he was pasturing animals, in which case he could walk two thousand cubit.
All food had to be prepared before the Sabbath, including the opening of containers. Food and drink could be consumed only within the camp. Carrying from domain to domain was prohibited even inside the camp.
The Sabbath could not be violated to save material possessions, including animals. It is probably that the sect allowed the violation of the Sabbath to save a human life but required this be accomplished without the use of instruments or tools that were muqseh, wherever possible.
The Qumran sect also prohibited spending the Sabbath amongst gentiles, either for fear that one would be tempted to violate the day or because of the danger of impurity.
For more information about the Qumran Sabbath Code,… Continue reading
History and Genetics: Conclusion
Human genome, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_genome.png
Part IX
This paper has attempted to construct a migration history of the Jewish people based on both historical and genetic evidence. We can be certain that both the historians and the geneticists will continue to uncover new information from this sources, whether archaeological, written or biological. The evidence gathered so far, we have tried to argue, shows that when taken together the sources available to us show that the broad outlines of the history of the Jews are confirmed by the genetic evidence that scientists have been gathering.
We began with a very specific question: Can the history of the Jews actually be observed in their genomes? From our point of view, the question needs to be somewhat redefined: to what extent can we synthesize historical data derived from the classical forms of historical research with those of modern genetic research? The answer is certainly clear. We are at the beginning point of new methods and can only imagine the great insights that they will be able to provide. For now, our historical sources need to serve as controls, demonstrating the overall accuracy of the methodologies used by geneticists. As we move ahead, our emphasis will… Continue reading
