Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

When was/is the10th Jubilee according to the Essene calendar?

According to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Essenes were expecting the Son of Man to arrive on the Day of Atonement at the end of the tenth Jubilee.

“And this thing will occur in the first week of the Jubilee that follows the nine Jubilees. And the Day of Atonement is the end of the tenth Jubilee, when all the Sons of Light and the men of the lot of Melchizedek will be atoned for.”...The Heavenly Prince Melchizedek (IIQ13).

The Jubilee was every 49 or 50 years (depending on the counting method) when slaves were released, debts forgiven and land returned to the original tribe, Leviticus 25:8-13. It is my understanding that around the time frame of the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon (586 B.C.) that Zion was in the 17th cycle of Jubilee. I have read that no Jubilee was observed after the fall of Jerusalem and some scholars even question if a proper Jubilee was ever observed in the first place but that is beside the point. The point being, the Essenes had their own yearly calendar and method of counting Jubilees. However, I am unable to fix a date as to what year would be the 10th Jubilee for the Essenes.

Does anyone know?

Respectfully,

John T

The Essenes were right inasmuch as they were trying to rectify errors in the Jewish calendar system. However, it is a moot point that their proposed 'fix' was the right way of going about it. That being said, I may be able to add some ideas.

John T wrote:The Jubilee was every 49 or 50 years (depending on the counting method) when slaves were released, debts forgiven and land returned to the original tribe,

49 is the correct year. The 50th year was 'overlaid', straddling the 49th and 1st years of the following cycle. Here is a diagram:

John T wrote:It is my understanding that around the time frame of the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon (586 B.C.) that Zion was in the 17th cycle of Jubilee .... however, I am unable to fix a date as to what year would be the 10th Jubilee for the Essenes.

Well, 10 Jubilees was in itself a large calendar cycle of 490 years. If 586 BC was in a 17th Jubilee, (and Im not sure that it was) then you need to count three more jubilees to reach the end of the 20th Jubilee. Then you need to count another 10 Jubilees (490 years) and you will reach what the Essenes thought was the 30th Jubilee.

Incidentally, the last cycle of 10 Jubilees (490 years) was the same as that referred to by Daniel, except he called them 70 'weeks'.