Answer
Mastema, also known as Mastemat or Mansemat, is the name of the devil, or a high-ranking demon, in the Book of Jubilees. Mastema, who is one and the same with Satan, is said to have directly opposed Noah, Abraham, and Moses.
Jubilees is an apocryphal Jewish work found among the Dead Sea Scrolls near Qumran, Israel. It was likely written originally in Hebrew, although the only complete copy of Jubilees is in classical Ethiopian. Portions also exist in Latin, Greek, and Syriac. The text was written in 170—150 BC and retells the events of Genesis 1 through Exodus 16. In the book, Mastema is portrayed as the chief fallen angel.
The Zadokite Fragments and the Dead Sea Scrolls portray Mastema as the angel of disaster—the father of evil. In the hierarchy of the demonic tree, Mastema was known as the chief or the prince. Second Temple Jewish literature most often names the top-ranking evil figure “Belial” (88 times), although “Mastema” occurs 18 times. Belial is associated with “worthlessness,” whereas Mastema is associated more with “hatred” and “animosity.”
Early on in Jubilees, Mastema is linked to a group of fallen angels called the Watchers. These angels crossed the boundary between the physical and spiritual (see Genesis 6:4). The spawn of these unnatural unions, the Nephilim, were part of what prompted the flood of Noah’s time. According to the Book of Jubilees, Mastema pleaded with God to spare one tenth of the spirits of the dead Nephilim from condemnation: “Let some of them remain before me, and let them hearken to my voice, and do all that I shall say unto them” (Jubilees X:8). God granted the request, and that was the origin of the demons, according to Jubilees.
Later in Jubilees, in a scene reminiscent of the book of Job, Mastema suggests that God test Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac (Jubilees XVI:16). And, later still, Mastema tries to kill Moses to prevent the release of the Israelite slaves from bondage (Jubilees XLVIII; cf. the book of Exodus). According to the apocryphal story, it was the power of Mastema that was behind the Egyptian magicians’ feat of turning their rods into snakes.
The Bible does not speak of Mastema, but it does identify Satan, or the devil, as the adversary against the covenant plan of God’s family. God told Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply and that the Savior would come through their offspring to crush the evil one’s head (Genesis 3:15). Jesus fulfilled that promise: “For he [Jesus] must reign, until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he ‘has put all things under his feet’” (1 Corinthians 15:25–27).
We can take comfort in the fact that Jesus has triumphed over hell and every demonic force, including Mastema. Jesus did more than beat the demons; He triumphed over a much greater foe on behalf of those who believe—He conquered death itself!
