Apocryphal Books > Orthodox Deuterocanon > The Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called
Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient
Jewish religious work of 50 chapters,
considered canonical by the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel
(Ethiopian Jews), where it is known as the
Book of Division. Jubilees is considered one
of the pseudepigrapha by Protestant,
Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox
Churches. It is also not considered
canonical within Judaism outside of Beta
Israel. It is generally dated to the 2nd
century BC and its primary purpose seems
to be in promoting the use of a 364-day
calendar in Israel (a year equally divided
into 52 weeks of seven days each). With no
intercalary method given, the year would
not synchronize with the seasons in the
long-term. The book also reimagines some
of the history of Genesis and introduces a
concept foreign to Judeo-Christianity in
which certain sins are unatonable.
