Mastema

For these are malignant and created in order to destroy.

6. and let them not rule over the spirits of the living for thou alone canst exercise dominion over them and let them not have power over the sons of the righteous from henceforth and for evermore seven and the lord our god bade us to bind all And the chief of the spirits, Mastema, came and said, Lord, Creator, let some of them remain before me, and let them hearken to my voice, and do all that I shall say unto them.

For if some of them are not left to me, I shall not be able to execute the power of my will on the sons of men.

For these are for corruption, and leading astray before my judgment.

For these are malignant and created in order to destroy.

6. and let them not rule over the spirits of the living for thou alone canst exercise dominion over them and let them not have power over the sons of the righteous from henceforth and for evermore seven and the lord our god bade us to bind all And the chief of the spirits, Mastema, came and said, Lord, Creator, let some of them remain before me, and let them hearken to my voice, and do all that I shall say unto them.

For if some of them are not left to me, I shall not be able to execute the power of my will on the sons of men.

For these are for corruption, and leading astray before my judgment.

It could not necessarily have been written with knowledge of Jubilees alone because it has kind of a fossil embedded in it.

This is also the point in the book of Jubilees where you have a character named Prince Mastema, or like the Prince of Mastema.

It's a noun, a substantive of the verb to hate, of a verb to hate.

He is basically Satan by another name.

He makes a bargain with God.

Most of the demons will be put away so that human beings can thrive on earth.

But a tenth of the demons will remain under the leadership of Mastema.

And they're there to torture humans.

today we are stepping into one of the darker and most misunderstood territories in christian history demons not the cartoon devil not the halloween mask not the evil medieval caricature with horns hooves and a pitchfork we are asking a more serious question than that where do demons in christianity actually come from because the answer is not simple and it is definitely not something that appears in one moment fully formed christian demonology is built in layers The Hebrew Bible gives us a world of accusation, impurity, false worship, wilderness danger, destructive powers, and beings that haunt the edges of order, but not yet the complete infernal system most people imagine when they hear the word demon.

The second temple period expands that world dramatically through apocalyptic literature, rebellious heavenly beings, named adversaries, the watchers, the Nephilim, the giants, the spirits of the giants, Belial, Mastema, unclean spirits, and more structured evil.

The New Testament brings demons to center stage in the ministry of Jesus.

Then the early church turns demonology outward against pagan religion.

But Belial is not the only figure who matters in this still unsettled world.

Another major adversarial figure is Mastima, especially in the Book of Jubilees.

The Torah's discussion of the reintroduced watcher's myth notes that Jubilees explains some fallen angels surviving the flood at the request of Mastema, their leader, so that demons continue to tempt humans on earth.

That matters because it reinforces a crucial historical point.

Jubilees even stages a negotiation about this in heaven.

The chief of the Watchers, later tradition will call him Mastema, a kind of Satan figure, begs that not all the spirits be destroyed.

He wants some left to test and accuse humans.

God permits a limited number to remain under Mastema's authority, while binding or destroying the rest.

This scene does several things at once.

It explains why, in the present, people still experience demonic temptation and oppression, even though the ancient giants are long gone.

This is also why Jubilees is so important for later demonology.

If you're a Second Temple Jew or early Christian trying to explain why evil spirits seem active in a world governed by one good god, Jubilees hands you a toolbox.

And again, Jubilees is a book that is part of the Ethiopian canon.

It adds that after the flood, there was an evil, a chief evil spirit named Mastema who asked God to have a tenth of the demons destroyed.

um, active to leave a 10th of the demons active to test humankind.

And in this scripture, it says that God granted it and had the angels teach Noah herbal medicines to resist them so that Noah and his family were given information to be able to resist the torments of these demons that were left on earth.

Noah's prayer, 3-6.

Mastema allowed to retain one-tenth of his subject spirits, 7-11.

Noah taught the use of herbs by the angels for resisting the demons, 12-14.

Noah dies, 15-17.

And the Lord our God bade us to bind all.

8.

And the chief of the spirits, Mastema, came and said, Lord, Creator, let some of them remain before me, and let them hearken to my voice, and do all that I shall say unto them.

For if some of them are not left to me, I shall not be able to execute the power of my will on the sons of men.