Mastema 268910 221147619 2008-06-23T06:54:58Z William Ortiz 5385979 /* Book of Jubilees */ {{context}} '''Mastema''' is the name of an arch-demon who first appears in the literature of Israel's [[Second Temple Period]], as a personification of the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word "mastemah" (משטמה), meaning "hatred", "hostility", "enmity" or "persecution". ==Hosea== From [[Hosea]] 9.7-8: <blockquote> 7 The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your '''hostility''' so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. 8 The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and '''hostility''' in the house of his God. </blockquote> ==Book of Jubilees== According to the book of [[Jubilees]], Mastema "Hostility" is the chief of the [[demons]] engendered by the [[fallen angel|fallen]] Watchers/[[Angel]]s with women, perhaps one of those same demons. His actions and name indicate he is [[Satan]], the 'Adversary', but much more the Satan who appears in the [[book of Job]] with a function to fulfill under [[God]] than the [[Satan]] of later tradition who is the uttermost enemy of [[God]]. [[Beliar]], mentioned twice in Jubilees, is likely to be identical with Mastema in this work. When [[God]] is ready to destroy all these demons after the [[biblical flood|flood]] and [[Noah]] prays that his descendants be released from their attacks, Mastema intervenes, beseeching [[God]] to allow him to retain and control one tenth of these [[demons]] in order to exercise his authority because they are "intended to corrupt and lead astray before my judgement because the evil of the sons of men is great". So Mastema is the tester of humans with [[God]]'s permission. Mastema sends a plague of birds onto the land in the days of [[Terah]]. Later, Mastema counsels [[God]] to test [[Abraham]] (Jubilees 17:15-16) just as [[Satan]] in the book of Job wants permission to test [[Job (person)|Job]]. As Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son [[Isaac]], Mastema stands in [[God]]'s presence. On his deathbed Isaac promises that the spirits of Mastema will have no power to turn [[Jacob]] or his descendants away from [[Yahweh]]. The strange account in [[Exodus]] 4.24 where [[Yahweh]] meets [[Moses]] by the way and tries to kill him is retold in a way that attributes the attack to Mastema instead (Jubilees 48:1-3). It is claimed that Mastema aided the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] priests that opposed Moses. Mastema is also said to have been chained while the [[Israelites]] left Egypt but then let go to encourage the Egyptians to chase after the Israelites and so come to their doom in the [[Red Sea]]. On the other hand, the deaths of the firstborn of the Egyptians are attributed to "all the powers of Mastema". [[Category:Demons in Judaism]] [[ja:マスティマ]]