Topic Study

• Torah: Shemot (Exodus) 29:35-45; Wayiqra (Leviticus) 23:1-2, 33-44
• Prophets: Daniel 8:13-26
• Additional: 2 Maccabees 10:1-9
• Apostolic: John 10:22-30

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Deuteronomy 16:13-17

RELATED ADDITIONAL READINGS

• 2 Maccabees 6:1-31
• 2 Maccabees 7:1-42
• Leviticus 23:33-44 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
• Jubilees 16:16-31; Jubilees 32:16-34
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 3.10.4

Torah

Leviticus 23:1 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them, ‘The appointed times of YHWH, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my appointed times…33 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh new moon is the Festival of Booths for seven days to YHWH. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no work of service. 36 Seven days you shall bring an offering made by fire to YHWH. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall bring an offering made by fire to YHWH. It is a closing assembly; you shall do no work of service. 37 These are the appointed times of YHWH which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to bring an offering made by fire to YHWH, a burnt offering, a grain offering, a slaughter, and libation offerings, each on its own day— 38 besides the Sabbaths of YHWH, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to YHWH. 39 So on the fifteenth day of the seventh new moon, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall celebrate the festival of YHWH seven days. On the first day shall be a rest, and on the eighth day shall be a rest. 40 You shall take on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before YHWH your Elohim seven days. 41 You shall keep it as a festival to YHWH seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh new moon. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native in Israel shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the sons of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am YHWH your Elohim.’ ” 44 So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel the appointed times of YHWH.

Prophets

Additional

1 and 2 Maccabees are set during the reign of the Seleucid Greek empire (the part of the Greek empire that found its roots in Syria). It tells the story of how the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes attested to suppress Temple worship and to destroy the practice of Jewish law. This caused the Maccabean revolt, led by Mattathias and his sons. As a part of the revolt, the Temple was freed from the control of the Greek empire and rededicated (an act that is still commemorated yearly in the festival of Hanukkah). The Maccabees then ruled over Israel, first as High Priests and then as High Priests and Princes of Israel. 1 Maccabees follows this story until the death of Shimon (the third son of Mattathias to rule over Israel) at the hands of the Egyptian Greeks (from about 175-134 B.C.).

2 Maccabees recaps some of the story (until the events of 161 B.C.) and adds in details about God’s intervention into the events reports. 2 Maccabees, the first work to pose an opposition between Judaism and Hellenism, sees Hellenism as a new kind of threat in Jewish history. Previously, foreign cultures were perceived as dangerous because of the temptation posed by their gods. But for 2 Maccabees, Hellenism involves a system of values distinct from idolatry, the values associated with the gymnasium. 2 Maccabees condemns Jews who adopt these values even as they remain loyal to the God of Israel.

3:45 And Jerusalem was without inhabitant as a wilderness, there was none of her seed that went in or went out; and the sanctuary was trodden down, and the sons of strangers were in the citadel, the Nations lodged therein; and joy was taken away from Jacob, and the pipe and the harp ceased. 46 And they gathered themselves together, and came to Mizpeh, near Jerusalem; for in Mizpeh was there a place of prayer aforetime for Israel. 47 And they fasted that day, and put on sackcloth, and put ashes upon their heads, and tore their clothes, 48 and laid open the book of the law, concerning which the Nations were wont to inquire, seeking the likenesses of their idols. 49 And they brought the priests’ garments, and the first fruits, and the tithes: and they stirred up the Nazarites, who had accomplished their days. 50 And they cried aloud toward the heavens, saying, What shall we do with these men, and whither shall we carry them away? 51 And your holy place is trodden down and profaned, and your priests are in heaviness and brought low. 52 And, behold, the Nations are assembled together against us to destroy us: you know what things they imagine against us. 53 How shall we be able to stand before them, except you be our help? 54 And they sounded with the trumpets, and cried with a loud voice. 55 And after this Judas appointed leaders of the people, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens. 56 And he said to those who were building houses, and were betrothing wives, and were planting vineyards, and were fearful, that they should return, each man to his own house, according to the law. 57 And the army removed, and encamped upon the south side of Emmaus. 58 And Judas said, Gird yourselves, and be valiant men, and be in readiness against the morning, that you may fight with these Nations, that are assembled together against us to destroy us, and our holy place: 59 for it is better for us to die in battle, than to look upon the evils of our nation and the holy place. 60 Nevertheless, as may be the will in the heavens, so shall he do. 4:1 And Gorgias took five thousand footmen, and a thousand chosen horse, and the army removed by night, 2 that it might fall upon the army of the Jews and strike them suddenly: and the men of the citadel were his guides. 3 And Judas heard thereof, and removed, he and the valiant men, that he might strike the king’s army which was at Emmaus, 4 while as yet the forces were dispersed from the camp. 5 And Gorgias came into the camp of Judas by night, and found no man; and he sought them in the mountains; for he said, These men flee from us. 6 And as soon as it was day, Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men: howbeit they had not armor nor swords such as they desired. 7 And they saw the camp of the Nations strong and fortified, and horsemen compassing it round about; and these were expert in war. 8 And Judas said to the men that were with him, Fear you not their multitude, neither be you afraid of their onset. 9 Remember how our fathers were saved in the Sea of Reeds, when Pharaoh pursued them with an army. 10 And now let’s cry to the heavens, if he will have us, and will remember the covenant of our fathers, and destroy this army before our face today: 11 and all the Nations shall know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel. 12 And the strangers lifted up their eyes, and saw them coming near them: 13 and they went out of the camp to battle. And those who were with Judas sounded their trumpets, 14 and joined battle, and the Nations were discomfited, and fled into the plain. 15 But all the hindmost fell by the sword: and they pursued them to Gazara, and to the plains of Idumaea and Azotus and Jamnia, and there fell of them about three thousand men. 16 And Judas and his army returned from pursuing after them, 17 and he said to the people, Be not greedy of the spoils, inasmuch as there is a battle before us; 18 and Gorgias and his army are near to us in the mountain. But stand you now against our enemies, and fight against them, and afterwards take the spoils with boldness. 19 While Judas was yet making an end of these words, there appeared a part of them looking out from the mountain: 20 and they saw that their army had been put to flight, and that the Jews were burning the camp; for the smoke that was seen declared what was done. 21 But when they perceived these things, they were sore afraid; and perceiving also the army of Judas in the plain ready for battle, 22 they fled all of them into the land of the Philistines. 23 And Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they got much gold, and silver, and blue, and sea purple, and great riches. 24 And they returned home, and sang a song of thanksgiving, and gave praise to the heavens; because his mercy is good, because his mercy endures forever. 25 And Israel had a great deliverance that day. 26 But the strangers, as many as had escaped, came and told Lysias all the things that had happened: 27 but when he heard thereof, he was confounded and discouraged, because neither had such things as he would been done to Israel, nor had such things as the king commanded him come to pass. 28 And in the next year he gathered together threescore thousand chosen footmen, and five thousand horse, that he might subdue them. 29 And they came into Idumaea, and encamped at Bethsura; and Judas met them with ten thousand men. 30 And he saw that the army was strong, and he prayed and said, Blessed are you, O Saviour of Israel, who did quell the onset of the mighty man by the hand of your servant David, and did deliver the army of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan the son of Saul, and of his armor bearer: 31 shut up this army in the hand of your people Israel, and let them be ashamed for their army and their horsemen: 32 give them faintness of heart, and cause the boldness of their strength to melt away, and let them quake at their destruction: 33 cast them down with the sword of those who love you, and let all that know your name praise you with thanksgiving. 34 And they joined battle; and there fell of the army of Lysias about five thousand men, and they fell down near them. 35 But when Lysias saw that his array was put to flight, and the boldness that had come upon those who were with Judas, and how they were ready either to live or to die nobly, he removed to Antioch, and gathered together hired soldiers, that he might come again into Judea with even a greater company. 36 But Judas and his kindred said, Behold, our enemies are discomfited: let’s go up to cleanse the holy place, and to dedicate it afresh. 37 And all the army was gathered together, and they went up to mount Zion. 38 And they saw the sanctuary laid desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned up, and shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest or as on one of the mountains, and the priests’ chambers pulled down; 39 and they tore their clothes, and made great lamentation, and put ashes upon their heads, 40 and fell on their faces to the ground, and blew with the solemn trumpets, and cried toward the heavens. 41 Then Judas appointed certain men to fight against those that were in the citadel, until he should have cleansed the holy place. 42 And he chose blameless priests, such as had pleasure in the law: 43 and they cleansed the holy place, and bare out the stones of defilement into an unclean place. 44 And they took counsel concerning the altar of burnt offerings, which had been profaned, what they should do with it: 45 and there came into their mind a good counsel, that they should pull it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the Nations had defiled it: and they pulled down the altar, 46 and laid up the stones in the mountain of the house in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to give an answer concerning them. 47 And they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar after the fashion of the former; 48 and they built the holy place, and the inner parts of the house; and they hallowed the courts. 49 And they made the holy vessels new, and they brought the candlestick, and the altar of burnt offerings and of incense, and the table, into the temple. 50 And they burned incense upon the altar, and they lighted the lamps that were upon the candlestick, and they gave light in the temple. 51 And they set loaves upon the table, and spread out the veils, and finished all the works which they made. 52 And they rose up early in the morning, on the five and twentieth day of the ninth new moon, which is the new moon Kislev, in the hundred and forty and eighth year, 53 and offered slaughter according to the law upon the new altar of burned offerings which they had made. 54 At what time and on what day the Nations had profaned it, even on that day was it dedicated afresh, with songs and harps and lutes, and with cymbals. 55 And all the people fell upon their faces, and worshipped, and gave praise to the heavens, which had given them good success. 56 And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and offered burned offerings with gladness, and slaughtered a slaughter of deliverance and praise. 57 And they decked the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold and small shields, and dedicated afresh the gates and the priests’ chambers, and made doors for them. 58 And there was exceeding great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the Nations was turned away. 59 And Judas and his kindred and the whole congregation of Israel ordained, that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their seasons from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the new moon Kislev, with gladness and joy.

2 Maccabees 1:1-18 

2 Maccabees recaps some of the story until the events of 161 B.C. and adds in details about Elohim’s intervention into the events reports. 2 Maccabees, the first work to pose an opposition

1:1 The kindred, the Jews that are in Jerusalem and those who are in the country of Judea, send greeting to the kindred, the Jews that are throughout Egypt, and wish them good peace: 2 and may Elohim do good to you, and remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his faithful servants; 3 and give you all a heart to worship him and do his pleasure with a great heart and a willing soul; 4 and open your heart in his law and in his statutes, and make peace, 5 and listen to your supplications, and be reconciled with you, and not forsake you in an evil time. 6 And now we here are praying for you. 7 In the reign of Demetrius, in the hundred threescore and ninth year, we the Jews have already written to you in the tribulation and in the extremity that has come upon us in these years, from the time that Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and the reign, 8 and set the gate on fire, and shed innocent blood: and we implored the Lord, and were heard; and we offered slaughter and grain offering, and we lighted the lamps, and we set forth the bread of the presence. 9 And now see that you guard the days of the feast of tabernacles of the new moon Kislev. 10 Written in the hundred fourscore and eighth year. THEY that are in Jerusalem and those who are in Judea and the senate and Judas, to Aristobulus, king Ptolemy’s teacher, who is also of the stock of the anointed priests, and to the Jews that are in Egypt, send greeting and health. 11 Having been saved by Elohim out of great perils, as men arrayed against a king, we thank him greatly. 12 For himself cast forth into Persia those who arrayed themselves against us in the holy city. 13 For when the prince was come there, and the army with him that seemed irresistible, they were cut to pieces in the temple of Nanaea by the treachery of Nanaea’s priests. 14 For Antiochus, on the pretense that he would marry her, came into the place, he and his Friends that were with him, that they might take a great part of the treasures in name of a dowry. 15 And when the priests of Nanaea’s temple had set the treasures forth, and he was come there with a small company within the wall of the precincts, they shut to the temple when Antiochus was come in: 16 and opening the secret door of the paneled ceiling, they threw stones and struck down the prince, and they hewed him and his company in pieces, and struck off their heads, and cast them to those that were without. 17 Blessed be our Elohim in all things, who gave for a prey those who had committed impiety. 18 Whereas we are now about to guard the purification of the temple in the new moon Kislev, on the five and twentieth day, we thought it necessary to certify you thereof, that you also may keep a feast of tabernacles, and a memorial of the fire which was given when Nehemiah offered slaughters, after that he had built both the temple and the altar.

2 Maccabees 6:1-31

6:1 Not long after this, the king sent out an old man of Athens to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and not to live by the laws of God, 2 and also to pollute the sanctuary in Jerusalem and to call it by the name of Olympian Zeus, and to call the sanctuary in Gerizim by the name of Zeus the Protector of foreigners, even as the people who lived in that place did. 3 The inspection of this evil was harsh and utterly grievous. 4 For the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the heathen, who dallied with prostitutes, and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and moreover brought inside things that were not appropriate. 5 The altar was filled with those abominable things which had been prohibited by the laws. 6 A man could neither guard the Sabbath, nor observe the feasts of their ancestors, nor so much as confess himself to be a Jew. 7 On the day of the king’s birth every new moon, they were led along with bitter constraint to eat of the slaughters. When the feast of Dionysia came, they were compelled to go in procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy. 8 A decree went out to the neighboring Greek cities, by the suggestion of Ptolemy, that they should observe the same conduct against the Jews, and should make them eat of the slaughters, 9 and that they should kill those who didn’t choose to go over to the Greek rites. So the present misery was for all to see. 10 For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. These, when they had led them publicly around the city with the babes hung from their breasts, they threw down headlong from the wall. 11 Others who had run together into the caves nearby to guard the seventh day secretly, were betrayed to Philip and were all burned together, because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of the honor of that most solemn day. 12 I urge those who read this book to not be discouraged because of the calamities, but recognize that these punishments were not for the destruction, but for the chastening of our race. 13 For indeed it is a sign of great kindness that those who act impiously are not let alone for a long time, but immediately meet with retribution. 14 For in the case of the other nations, the Sovereign Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have attained to the full measure of their sins; but not with us, 15 that he may not take vengeance on us afterward, when we have come to the§ height of our sins. 16 Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us; but though he chastens with calamity, he doesn’t forsake his own people. 17 However let this that we have spoken suffice to remind you; but after a few words, we must come to the narrative. 18 Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, a man already well advanced in years, and of a noble countenance, was compelled to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh. 19 But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with defilement, advanced of his own accord to the instrument of torture, but first spat out the flesh, 20 as men ought to come who are resolute to repel such things as not even for the natural love of life is it lawful to taste. 21 But those who had the charge of that forbidden sacrificial feast took the man aside, for the acquaintance which of old times they had with him, and privately implored him to bring flesh of his own providing, such as was proper for him to use, and to make as if he did eat of the flesh from the slaughter, as had been commanded by the king; 22 that by so doing he might be delivered from death, and so his ancient friendship with them might be treated kindly. 23 But he, having formed a high resolve, and one that became his years, the dignity of old age, and the gray hairs which he had reached with honor, and his excellent education from a child, or rather the holy laws of God’s ordaining, declared his mind accordingly, bidding them to quickly send him to Hades. 24 “For it doesn’t become our years to dissemble,” he said, “that many of the young should suppose that Eleazar, the man of ninety years, had gone over to an alien religion; 25 and so they, by reason of my deception, and for the sake of this brief and momentary life, would be led astray because of me, and I defile and disgrace myself in my old age. 26 For even if for the present time I would remove from me the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die, I wouldn’t escape the hands of the Almighty. 27 Therefore, by bravely parting with my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age, 28 and leave behind a noble example to the young to die willingly and nobly a glorious death for the revered and holy laws.” When he had said these words, he went immediately to the instrument of torture. 29 [… …] When they changed the good will they bore toward him a little before into ill will because these words of his were, as they thought, sheer madness, 30 and when he was at the point to die with the blows, he groaned aloud and said, “To the Lord, who has the holy knowledge, it is manifest that, while I might have been delivered from death, I endure severe pains in my body by being scourged; but in soul I gladly suffer these things because of my fear of him.” 31 So this man also died like this, leaving his death for an example of nobleness and a memorial of virtue, not only to the young but also to the great body of his nation.

Apostolic

10:22 It was the Feast of Chanukah at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Yeshua was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. The Judeans therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Yeshua answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Related Scriptures

16:13 You shall guard the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press. 14 You shall rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your maid, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates. 15 You shall guard a festival to YHWH your Elohim seven days in the place which YHWH chooses, because YHWH your Elohim will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. 16 Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before YHWH your Elohim in the place which he chooses: in the festival of unleavened bread, in the festival of weeks, and in the festival of booths. They shall not appear before YHWH empty. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to YHWH your Elohim’s blessing which he has given you.

Related Additional Readings​

2 Maccabees 7:1-42

7:1 It came to pass that seven brothers and their mother were at the king’s command taken and shamefully handled with scourges and cords, to compel them to taste of the abominable swine’s flesh. 2 One of them made himself the spokesman and said, “What would you ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.” 3 The king fell into a rage, and commanded that pans and caldrons be heated. 4 When these were immediately heated, he gave orders to cut out the tongue of him who had been their spokesman, and to scalp him, and to cut off his extremities, with the rest of his brothers and his mother looking on. 5 And when he was utterly maimed, the king gave orders to bring him to the fire, being yet alive, and to fry him in the pan. And as the smoke from the pan spread far, they and their mother also exhorted one another to die nobly, saying this: 6 “The Lord God sees, and in truth is entreated for us, as Moses declared in his song, which witnesses against the people to their faces, saying, ‘And he will have compassion on his servants.’ ” 7 And when the first had died like this, they brought the second to the mocking; and they pulled off the skin of his head with the hair and asked him, “Will you eat, before your body is punished in every limb?” 8 But he answered in the language of his ancestors and said to them, “No.” Therefore he also underwent the next torture in succession, as the first had done. 9 When he was at the last gasp, he said, “You, miscreant, release us out of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us who have died for his laws up to an everlasting renewal of life.” 10 After him, the third was made a victim of their mocking. When he was required, he quickly put out his tongue, and stretched out his hands courageously, 11 and nobly said, “I got these from heaven. For his laws’ sake I treat these with contempt. From him, I hope to receive these back again.” 12 As a result, the king himself and those who were with him were astonished at the young man’s soul, for he regarded the pains as nothing. 13 When he too was dead, they shamefully handled and tortured the fourth in the same way. 14 Being near to death he said this: “It is good to die at the hands of men and look for the hope which is given by God, that we will be raised up again by him. For as for you, you will have no resurrection to life.” 15 Next after him, they brought the fifth and shamefully handled him. 16 But he looked toward the king and said, “Because you have authority among men, though you are corruptible, you do what you please. But don’t think that our race has been forsaken by God. 17 But hold on to your ways, and see how his sovereign majesty will torture you and your descendants!” 18 After him they brought the sixth. When he was about to die, he said, “Don’t be vainly deceived, for we suffer these things for our own doings, as sinning against our own God. Astounding things have come to pass; 19 but don’t think you that you will be unpunished, having tried to fight against God!” 20 But above all, the mother was marvelous and worthy of honorable memory; for when she watched seven sons perishing within the space of one day, she bore the sight with a good courage because of her hope in the Lord. 21 She exhorted each one of them in the language of their fathers, filled with a noble spirit and stirring up her woman’s thoughts with manly courage, saying to them, 22 “I don’t know how you came into my womb. It wasn’t I who gave you your spirit and your life. It wasn’t I who brought into order the first elements of each one of you. 23 Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the first origin of man and devised the first origin of all things, in mercy gives back to you again both your spirit and your life, as you now treat yourselves with contempt for his laws’ sake.” 24 But Antiochus, thinking himself to be despised, and suspecting the reproachful voice, while the youngest was yet alive didn’t only make his appeal to him by words, but also at the same time promised with oaths that he would enrich him and raise him to high honor if he would turn from the ways of his ancestors, and that he would take him for his friend and entrust him with public affairs. 25 But when the young man would in no way listen, the king called to him his mother, and urged her to advise the youth to save himself. 26 When he had urged her with many words, she undertook to persuade her son. 27 But bending toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, she spoke this in the language of her fathers: “My son, have pity upon me who carried you nine new moons in my womb, and nursed you three years, and nourished and brought you up to this age, and sustained you. 28 I beg you, my child, to lift your eyes to the sky and the earth, and to see all things that are in it, and thus to recognize that God made them not of things that were, and that the race of men in this way comes into being. 29 Don’t be afraid of this butcher, but, proving yourself worthy of your brothers, accept your death, that in God’s mercy I may receive you again with your brothers.” 30 But before she had finished speaking, the young man said, “What are you all waiting for? I don’t obey the commandment of the king, but I listen to the commandment of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses. 31 But you, who have devised all kinds of evil against the Hebrews, will in no way escape God’s hands. 32 For we are suffering because of our own sins. 33 If for rebuke and chastening, our living Lord has been angered a little while, yet he will again be reconciled with his own servants. 34 But you, O unholy man and of all most vile, don’t be vainly lifted up in your wild pride with uncertain hopes, raising your hand against the heavenly children. 35 For you have not yet escaped the judgment of the Almighty God who sees all things. 36 For these our brothers, having endured a short pain that brings everlasting life, have now died under God’s covenant. But you, through God’s judgment, will receive in just measure the penalties of your arrogance. 37 But I, as my brothers, give up both body and soul for the laws of our fathers, calling upon God that he may speedily become gracious to the nation, and that you, amidst trials and plagues, may confess that he alone is God, 38 and that in me and my brothers you may bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has been justly brought upon our whole race.” 39 But the king, falling into a rage, handled him worse than all the rest, being exasperated at his mocking. 40 So he also died pure, putting his whole trust in the Lord. 41 Last of all, after her sons, the mother died. 42 Let it then suffice to have said thus much concerning the sacrificial feasts and the extreme tortures.

Composed in Talmudic Israel (c.150 – c.250 AD). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is a western targum (translation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it was known in medieval times. But because of a printer’s mistake it was later labeled Targum Jonathan, in reference to Jonathan ben Uzziel. Some editions of the Pentateuch continue to call it Targum Jonathan to this day. Most scholars refer to the text as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. This targum is more than a mere translation. It includes much Aggadic material collected from various sources as late as the Midrash Rabbah as well as earlier material from the Talmud. It is effectively a combination of a commentary and a translation. In the portions where it is pure translation, it often agrees with the Targum Onkelos. The date of its composition is disputed. It cannot have been completed before the Arabic conquest as it refers to Mohammad’s wife Fatimah, but might have been initially composed in the 4th Century AD. However, some scholars date it in the 14th Century.

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with the sons of Israel: In the fifteenth day of this seventh new moon shall be the Feast of Tabernacles, seven days unto the Name of the Lord. On the first day of the feast is a holy convocation; no work of labour may you do. Seven days you shall offer an oblation to the Name of the Lord, you shall gather together to pray before the Lord for rain; no work of labour may you do. These are the times of the order of the Lord’s festivals which you are to convoke for holy convocations, to offer an oblation to the name of the Lord, a burnt slaughter and a mincha, sanctified offerings and libations, the rite of a day in its day; beside the days of the Lord’s Sabbaths, beside your gifts, and beside your vows, and beside your free‑will offering which you bring before the Lord. But on the fifteenth of the seventh new moon, at the time when you collect the produce of the ground, you shall solemnize a festival of the Lord seven days. On the first day, rest; and on the eighth day, rest. And of your own shall you take on the first day of the feast, the fruits of praiseworthy trees, citrons, and lulabin, and myrtles, and willows that grow by the brooks; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your Elohim seven days. [JERUSALEM TARGUM. Citrons and lulabs.] And you shall solemnize it before the Lord seven days in the year, by an everlasting statute in your generations shall you observe it in the seventh new moon. In tabernacles of two sides according to their rule, and the third a handbreadth (higher), that its shaded part may be greater than that into which cometh the sunshine; to be made for a bower (or shade) for the feast, from different kinds (of materials) which spring from the land and are uprooted: in measure seven palms, but the height within ten palms. In it you shall sit seven days; the males in Israel, and children who need not their mothers, shall sit in the tabernacles, blessing their Creator whenever they enter thereinto. That your generations may know how, under the shadow of the cloud of glory, I made the sons of Israel to dwell at the time that I brought them out redeemed from the land of Mizraim. And Mosheh declared the time of the orders of the Lord’s festivals, and taught them to the sons of Israel.

Between 1947 and 1956 approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Hebrew. The large number of manuscripts (more than for any biblical books except for Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, in descending order) indicates that Jubilees was widely used at Qumran. A comparison of the Qumran texts with the Ethiopic version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Ethiopic was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation. Scholars have dated Jubilees to have been written sometime around 160-150 B.C.

Jubilees 16:16 And we returned in the seventh new moon, and found Sarah with child before us] and we blessed him, and we announced to him all the things which had been decreed concerning him, that he should not die till he should beget six sons more, and should see (them) before he died; but (that) in Isaac should his name and seed be called: 17. And (that) all the seed of his sons should be Nations, and be reckoned with the Nations; but from the sons of Isaac one should become a holy seed, and should not be reckoned among the Nations. 18. For he should become the portion of the Most High, and all his seed had fallen into the possession of Elohim, that it should be unto the Lord a people for (His) possession above all nations and that it should become a reign and priests and a holy nation. 19. And we went our way, and we announced to Sarah all that we had told him, and they both rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 20. And he built there an altar to the Lord who had delivered him, and who was making him rejoice in the land of his sojourning, and he celebrated a festival of joy in this new moon seven days, near the altar which he had built at the Well of the Oath. 21. And he built booths for himself and for his servants on this festival, and he was the first to celebrate the feast of tabernacles on the land. 22. And during these seven days he brought each day to the altar a burnt offering to the Lord, two oxen, two rams, seven sheep, one he-goat, for a sin offering, that he might atone thereby for himself and for his seed. 23. And, as a thank offering, seven rams, seven kids, seven sheep, and seven he-goats, and their fruit offerings and their libation offerings; and he burnt all the fat thereof on the altar, a chosen offering unto the Lord for a sweet smelling savour. 24. And morning and evening he burnt fragrant substances, frankincense and galbanum, and stacte, and nard, and myrrh, and spice, and costum; all these seven he offered, crushed, mixed together in equal parts (and) pure. 25. And he celebrated this feast during seven days, rejoicing with all his heart and with all his soul, he and all those who were in his house; and there was no stranger with him, nor any that was uncircumcised. 26. And he blessed his Creator who had created him in his generation, for He had created him according to His good pleasure; for He knew and perceived that from him would arise the plant of righteousness for the eternal generations, and from him a holy seed, so that it should become like Him who had made all things. 27. And he blessed and rejoiced, and he called the name of this festival the festival of the Lord, a joy acceptable to the Most High Elohim. 28. And we blessed him for ever, and all his seed after him throughout all the generations of the land, because he celebrated this festival in its season, according to the witness of the heavenly tables. 29. For this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tables concerning Israel, that they shall celebrate the feast of tabernacles seven days with joy, in the seventh new moon, acceptable before the Lord–a statute for ever throughout their generations every year. 30. And to this there is no limit of days; for it is ordained for ever regarding Israel that they should celebrate it and dwell in booths, and set wreaths upon their heads, and take leafy boughs, and willows from the brook. 31. And Abraham took branches of palm trees, and the fruit of goodly trees, and every day going round the altar with the branches seven times [a day] in the morning, he praised and gave thanks to his Elohim for all things in joy.

Jubilees 32:16-34 And on the following night, on the twenty-second day of this new moon (seventh new moon, cf. Jubilees 31:3), Jacob resolved to build that place, and to surround the court with a wall, and to sanctify it and make it holy for ever, for himself and his children after him. 17. And the Lord appeared to him by night and blessed him and said unto him: “Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall they name thy name.” 18. And He said unto him again: “I am the Lord who created the heavens and the land, and I shall increase thee and multiply thee exceedingly, and kings will come forth from thee, and they will judge everywhere wherever the foot of the sons of men hath trodden. 19. And I shall give to thy seed all the land which is under the heavens, and they will judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they will get possession of the whole land and inherit it for ever.” 20. And He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him, and Jacob looked till He had ascended into the heavens. 21. And he saw in a vision of the night, and behold an angel descended from the heavens with seven tablets in his hands, and he gave them to Jacob, and he read them and knew all that was written therein which would befall him and his sons throughout all the ages. 22. And he showed him all that was written on the tablets, and said unto him: “Do not build this place, and do not make it an eternal sanctuary, and do not dwell here; for this is not the place. Go to the house of Abraham thy father and dwell with Isaac thy father until the day of the death of thy father. 23. For in Egypt thou wilt die in peace, and in this land thou wilt be buried with honour in the sepulchre of thy fathers, with Abraham and Isaac. 24. Fear not, for as thou hast seen and read it, thus will. it all be; and do thou write down everything as thou hast seen and read.” 25. And Jacob said: “Lord, how can I remember all that I have read and seen?” And he said unto him: “I will bring all things to thy remembrance.” (cf. John 14:22-31; 2 Edras 40:37-48) 26. And he went up from him, and he awoke from his sleep, and he remembered everything which he had read and seen, and he wrote down all the words which he had read and seen. 27. And he celebrated there yet another day, and he slaughtered thereon according to all that he slaughtered on the former days, and called its name †”Addition,”† for †this day was added,† and the former days he called “The Feast.” 28. And thus it was manifested that it should be, and it is written on the heavenly tables: wherefore it was revealed to him that he should celebrate it, and add it to the seven days of the feast. 29. And its name was called †”Addition,” † †because that† it was recorded amongst the days of the feast days, †according to† the number of the days of the year. 30. And in the night, on the twenty-third of this new moon, Deborah Rebecca’s nurse died, and they buried her beneath the city under the oak of the river, and he called the name of this place, “The river of Deborah,” and the oak, “The oak of the mourning of Deborah.” 31. And Rebecca went and returned to her house to his father Isaac, and Jacob sent by her hand rams and sheep and he-goats that she should prepare a meal for his father such as he desired. 32. And he went after his mother till he came to the land of Kabrâtân, and he dwelt there. 33. And Rachel bare a son in the night, and called his name “Son of my sorrow”; for she suffered in giving him birth: but his father called his name Benjamin, on the eleventh of the eighth new moon in the first of the sixth week of this [2143 A.M.] jubilee. 34. And Rachel died there and she was buried in the land of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem, and Jacob built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road above her grave.

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Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 AD in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. In 62 AD he went to Rome to free some imprisoned priests. After accomplishing this mission through the intercession of Nero’s wife, Poppaea, he returned to Jerusalem in 65 AD to find the country in revolt against Rome. Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the ruler of the ‘entire world’. His prophecy became true in 68 AD when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Rome and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78 AD, the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 AD. The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews contain two references to Yeshua of Nazareth (18.3.3. and 20.9.1.) and one reference to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist (18.5.2.).

3.10.4. Upon the fifteenth day of the same new moon, when the season of the year is changing for winter, the law enjoins us to pitch tabernacles in every one of our houses, so that we preserve ourselves from the cold of that time of the year; as also that when we should arrive at our own country, and come to that city which we should have then for our metropolis, because of the temple therein to be built, and keep a festival for eight days, and offer burnt-offerings, and slaughter thank-offerings, that we should then carry in our hands a branch of myrtle, and willow, and a bough of the palm-tree, with the addition of the pome citron: That the burnt-offering on the first of those days was to be a slaughter of thirteen bulls, and fourteen lambs, and fifteen rams, with the addition of a kid of the goats, as an expiation for sins; and on the following days the same number of lambs, and of rams, with the kids of the goats; but abating one of the bulls every day till they amounted to seven only. On the eighth day all work was laid aside, and then, as we said before, they slaughtered to Elohim a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, with a kid of the goats, for an expiation of sins. And this is the accustomed solemnity of the Hebrews, when they pitch their tabernacles.