Angelic Authority:Continuities and Transformation in the Angelic World of the Book of Jubilees

Jacques T.A.G.M. van Ruiten offers a reading that is sensitive both to the time of the work’s composition and its reception in Ethiopian traditions that regard the book as sacred scripture. After exploring how the angels come into being on the first day of creation, van Ruiten discussesIntroduction IX the angels of the presence and of holiness, who play prominent roles in Jubilees.In particular, the angel (singular) of the presence acquires a significance that is later taken up and expounded in the Ethiopian Maṣḥafa Milād and Maṣḥafa Bǝrhān. The overview then turns to evil angelic beings who, according to Jubilees, were originally sent by God on a positive mission to earth, but who sinned with the daughters of humanity and were punished by being bound tothe depths of the earth. The spirits of their offspring (demons) remain active on the earth after the Great Flood, and are subservient to their leader, called “the prince of Mastema.