The conjecture of Kuenen, supported by Wellhausen, that originally Lev. xxv. 8 seq. had reference to the seventh year is a highly probable one. This may be the case also with Ezek. xlvi. 16-18 (cf. Jer. xxxiv. 14). A later Rabbinical device for evading the provisions of the law was the _prosbul_ (ascribed to Hillel)--i.e. a condition made in the presence of the judge securing to the creditor the right of demanding repayment at any time, irrespective of the year of remission. Further enactments regarding the jubilee are found in Lev. xxvii. 17-25 and Num. xxxvi. 4. (W. R. S.; G. H. Bo.)
[1] Heb. _deror_. The same word (_duraru_) is used in the Code of Hammurabi in the similar enactment that wife, son or daughter sold into slavery for debt are to be restored to _liberty_ in the fourth year (§ 117).
JUBILEES, BOOK OF, an apocryphal work of the Old Testament. The Book of Jubilees is the most advanced pre-Christian representative of the Midrashic tendency, which had already been at work in the Old Testament Chronicles. As the chronicler had rewritten the history of Israel and Judah from the standpoint of the Priests' Code, so our author re-edited from the Pharisaic standpoint of his time the history of the world from the creation to the publication of the Law on Sinai. His work constitutes the oldest commentary in the world on Genesis and part of Exodus, an enlarged Targum on these books, in which difficulties in the biblical narration are solved, gaps supplied, dogmatically offensive elements removed and the genuine spirit of later Judaism infused into the primitive history of the world.
_Titles of the Book._--The book is variously entitled. First, it is known as [Greek: ta Iôbêlaia, hoi Iôbêlaioi], Heb. [Hebrew: haiuvalim]. This name is admirably adapted to our book, as it divides into jubilee periods of forty-nine years each the history of the world from the creation to the legislation on Sinai. Secondly, it is frequently designated "The Little Genesis," [Greek: hê leptê Genesis] or [Greek: hê Mikrogenesis], Heb. [Hebrew: bereshit zutta]. This title may have arisen from its dealing more fully with details and minutiae than the biblical work. For the other names by which it is referred to, such as _The Apocalypse of Moses_, _The Testament of Moses_, _The Book of Adam's Daughters_ and the _Life of Adam_, the reader may consult Charles's _The Book of Jubilees_, pp. xvii.-xx.