Mastema in Jubilees 10:8-9: Who He Is and Why It Matters
Short answer: Mastema is a figure in the book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish writing that retells Genesis and Exodus. In Jubilees 10:8-9 he is named as the chief of the unclean spirits that came forth after the flood and began to lead people astray. The passage says he asked that a portion of these spirits remain with him so they could accuse and mislead. Mastema is not mentioned anywhere in the canonical Bible. He belongs to the wider Jewish world of the Second Temple period, where writers used names like Mastema, Belial, and Satan for the leader of hostile angelic powers. The New Testament assumes a real devil and real spiritual opposition, as Ephesians 6:11-12 says, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Reading Jubilees carefully helps us understand the setting of the New Testament without adding to it.
What Jubilees Is and Where Mastema Appears
Jubilees is a retelling of Genesis and part of Exodus, written in the second century before Christ, most likely in Hebrew. It is often called the Little Genesis because it covers the same ground as the first book of Moses. The writer frames Israel's story as a series of forty-nine year periods called jubilees, hence the name. It is not part of the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. It was treasured in some Jewish circles and later in some Christian ones, and portions were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Because it is not Scripture, we read it with interest but not as a source of doctrine. Mastema steps into this retelling at a specific moment, and the way he is introduced tells us a great deal about how the writer thought about evil.
The name Mastema comes from a Hebrew root that carries the sense of hostility, opposition, or enmity. In other words, the name describes his role: he is the adversary, the one who opposes. Jewish writers of this period often gave such descriptive names to the leader of the fallen or hostile angels. Belial means worthlessness or wickedness, and Satan means accuser or opponent. These names overlap in function. They are not necessarily different beings in every text, but ways of naming the same dark reality: a personal, intelligent enemy who stands against God and against God's people. Jubilees chooses Mastema, and the choice fits the role the figure plays throughout the book.
The setting is the aftermath of the flood. Jubilees follows Genesis in describing a new beginning for the human race through Noah, but also a continuing problem. Evil did not drown. In the retelling, the spirits of the giants who perished become the source of ongoing trouble, and Mastema becomes their leader. This matters because the writer is answering a question every reader of Genesis asks: if the flood wiped out the wicked, why is the world still so broken? Jubilees answers that the spiritual rebellion did not end with the flood. It continued in a new form, and it had a leader. The book is trying to make sense of the world as it actually is, and it uses this figure to do it.
We should be candid here. This is not the inspired Word of God, and the details Jubilees gives about the origin of the spirits are not found in the Bible. Genesis does not say that the spirits of the dead giants became demons. That is the writer's own elaboration, drawing on older traditions and answering his own questions. Recognizing this protects us from two errors: treating Jubilees as if it were Scripture, and dismissing it as if it had nothing to teach us about the world the New Testament entered. It is a witness to how faithful Jews before Christ wrestled with the problem of evil, and that background is genuinely useful for reading the Bible.
Mastema's Request and the Limits Placed on Him
In Jubilees 10:8-9, the unclean spirits begin to act after the flood. They are described as leading astray and blinding and harming people. The text says that Noah prayed for his sons, asking that they not be destroyed. Then Mastema appears and asks that some of these spirits remain under his authority so that he might have power to accuse and mislead. The request is granted by God through the mediation of an angel, but with a limit: a portion are set aside, while the rest are confined. The scene is a courtroom, and Mastema is the prosecutor who wants to keep working. The writer pictures the spiritual conflict as governed by God even when evil is permitted to continue.
The most important theological feature of this passage is its restraint. Mastema is not a rival god. He does not act on his own authority. He must ask, and he receives only what is granted. Whatever power he has operates inside boundaries set by another. Anyone who has read the opening chapters of Job will recognize the pattern. There, the adversary moves among the sons of God and must answer to God, and he can only do what he is permitted to do. Jubilees 10 borrows that grammar of permission and applies it to the post-flood world. The point is not that evil is trivial. The point is that evil is not sovereign. The one who opposes is himself under authority.
Notice also the purpose clause. Mastema wants spirits so that he may accuse. The role of accuser is central. In Scripture, the accuser is the one who brings charges against people, and this theme runs from Job to Zechariah to the book of Revelation, where the accuser of the brothers is thrown down. In Jubilees, the accusation takes the form of leading people into sin and then pointing to their guilt. This is a coherent picture of how temptation works: the enemy entices, and then condemns. He does not want people merely to suffer; he wants them to sin and then to despair. That insight is pastorally valuable even though the story itself is not part of the Bible.
There is a limit to what this text establishes. It does not give us a doctrine of demonic origins. It does not tell us the number of the spirits, their nature, or their ultimate fate, though elsewhere in Jubilees there is a hope that they will be removed. It does not give a ritual for dealing with them. It tells a story that explains the persistence of evil and locates the responsibility for it in a personal enemy who acts under divine restraint. If we treat the passage as a window into ancient Jewish reflection on evil, it is illuminating. If we treat it as a revealed manual on the spirit world, we are asking it to do something it was never meant to do.
Mastema, Satan, and the Names of the Adversary
It is natural to ask whether Mastema is simply another name for Satan. The honest answer is that the relationship is close but not simple. In many Second Temple texts, names like Mastema, Belial, and Satan function as titles for the leader of the hostile powers. The functions overlap heavily: he accuses, he tempts, he opposes God's people, and he is ultimately subject to God. Yet the biblical writers themselves do not treat the names as interchangeable technical terms. Satan in the Hebrew Bible is often a role, the accuser, and only later becomes a proper name. The New Testament speaks of the devil, Satan, the evil one, and the ruler of this world, all pointing to the same personal enemy of God and humanity.
What this means for us is that Mastema helps us feel the weight of the New Testament's language. When we read in 2 Corinthians 12:7 that Paul was given a thorn in the flesh, and he names it a messenger of Satan, we are hearing the same category of thought. Paul does not say a messenger of Mastema, but the role is identical. The enemy is real, personal, and active. Anyone who has ever been worn down by persistent affliction knows how natural it is to sense an accusing presence behind it. Paul's language gives that instinct a proper home: there is an adversary, and he is a messenger, not a master. He is sent, he is allowed, and he serves purposes larger than himself.
At the same time, we must resist the temptation to build a full demonology out of Jubilees. The New Testament authors are restrained. They name the enemy and call for resistance, but they do not satisfy our curiosity about the hierarchy of spirits or the mechanics of temptation. Where Scripture is quiet, we should be quiet. This is not a failure of the Bible; it is a matter of focus. What God has revealed is sufficient for us to know that the enemy is real and defeated, that we are called to stand, and that our struggle is not merely against flesh and blood. Everything beyond that is speculation, and speculation about the spirit world tends either to terrify or to entertain, rarely to sanctify.
It is also worth noticing that the names differ in tone. Mastema emphasizes hostility and opposition. Satan emphasizes accusation. Belial emphasizes worthlessness and lawlessness. Together they paint a composite portrait of evil as relational, legal, and moral. Evil is not a vague force or an impersonal darkness. It is personal opposition to God, expressed in lies and accusations and lawless rebellion. That composite picture is exactly what the New Testament assumes. So while we should not read Mastema into the Bible, we can let the ancient name sharpen our sense of what the Bible's own words mean. The adversary is not merely a symbol. He is an enemy, and he has a name because he has a will.
Why the New Testament World Knew This Figure
To read the New Testament well, it helps to know that its authors were not inventing the idea of a personal adversary. Jewish readers in the first century already lived in a world populated by angels and demons, by holy watchers and unclean spirits, by a great conflict between light and darkness. The Dead Sea Scrolls speak of Belial and the spirits of his lot. The book of Tobit features a demon and an angel. Jubilees tells the story of Mastema and his spirits. When Jesus and the apostles speak of casting out demons and standing against the devil, they are not introducing a strange new idea. They are addressing a reality their hearers already feared and hoped to see defeated.
This background also illuminates the gospel itself. If the world is occupied by hostile powers, then salvation is not merely a matter of moral improvement. It is a rescue. The Son of God appeared, as 1 John puts it, to destroy the works of the devil. He enters a contested world, confronts the enemy, and defeats him not by overwhelming force but by the cross. Colossians describes the powers being disarmed and led in triumph. The early readers who knew stories like the one in Jubilees 10 would hear the gospel as the answer to a real and terrifying problem. The announcement that the kingdom of God has come near is good news precisely because another kingdom has been at work, and its leader is now on notice.
At the same time, the New Testament corrects and clarifies the older traditions. There is no place in the apostolic writings for dualism, for a good god and an evil god locked in an eternal struggle. There is no place for the idea that the devil has rights or that he can negotiate as an equal. The enemy is a creature, a fallen spiritual being, and his doom is certain. When the seventy return rejoicing that the demons submit to them, Jesus answers that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. The imagery is vivid but the theology is clear: the strong man has been bound, and his house is being plundered. The ancient fear of Mastema finds its answer in the authority of Christ.
This is why the background matters for pastoral care. People who sense that something is arrayed against them are not crazy. The Bible takes the spiritual conflict seriously, and so should we. But the Bible also anchors that seriousness in the victory of Christ. We are not called to become experts in the enemy. We are called to resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by our brothers and sisters throughout the world. The more we know the victor, the less we need to fear the adversary. That is the balance the New Testament keeps, and it is the balance we should keep too.
Standing Against the Accuser: Practical Application
First, take the reality of the enemy seriously without becoming obsessed with him. Ephesians 6:11-12 says, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." The verse does not tell us to study the devil; it tells us to put on armor. The armor is God's, and every piece of it is about our standing, our truth, our righteousness, our faith, our salvation, and the word of God. The practical effect of believing in a real enemy is not fear but preparedness. If you know there is an accuser, you will not be surprised when you feel accused. You will reach for the promises of God instead of arguing with the voice in your head.
Second, recognize the pattern of temptation followed by condemnation. Mastema's role in Jubilees is to accuse, and the same pattern shows up everywhere in Christian experience. The enemy entices us into sin and then tells us that our sin proves we were never truly God's. Both halves of that work are lies, but they are effective together. The remedy is confession and the gospel. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The accuser wants you to hide; the Spirit leads you to bring your sin into the light. The moment you confess, the accusation loses its grip, because the one who justifies is greater than the one who condemns.
Third, remember that trials have a purpose and a limit. In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul says that a thorn in the flesh was given to him, described as a messenger of Satan to torment him, so that he would not be exalted excessively. This is a hard sentence, and faithful Christians have differed about what the thorn was and how to interpret it. But the structure is unmistakable: the enemy's work was permitted, and it served a humbling purpose in Paul's life. He asked three times for it to be removed, and the answer was no, followed by the promise that grace is sufficient and power is made perfect in weakness. If you are walking through a long trial, this does not mean you can name the devil behind every detail. It means you can trust that nothing, not even the enemy's activity, escapes God's wise governance.
Fourth, put your attention where the Bible puts it: on Christ and on the community of faith. Ephesians tells us to put on the whole armor of God, and most of the pieces are things we receive rather than things we manufacture. We stand in truth, in righteousness, in the gospel of peace, in faith, in salvation, and in the word. Standing is not a solitary project. It is done together, with prayer for all the saints. If the enemy's great weapon is accusation, then the church's great defense is the gospel spoken to one another. We remind each other who God is, what Christ has done, and what is true. That is how a community resists the accuser, not by hunting for demons behind every bush but by holding fast to the word of life.
What We Should and Should Not Take from Jubilees 10:8-9
We should take the theology of divine sovereignty over evil. The passage presents a hostile figure who must ask permission and who operates within limits. This is consistent with the Bible's witness from Job to the Gospels. When we face the reality of evil in the world, we are not facing a chaos that God cannot control. We are facing an enemy who has been given a leash, and whose time is short. That truth steadies the soul. It also guards against the despair that comes when evil seems unchecked. The God of the Bible is not absent or overwhelmed; he governs even the rebellion of his creatures, and he turns it toward his own purposes without ever being the author of sin.
We should take the seriousness of spiritual conflict. Modern believers often swing between two extremes: dismissing the devil as a myth and seeing him everywhere. Jubilees 10:8-9 sits closer to the biblical balance. Evil is personal, active, and organized enough to have a leader, but it is also limited. The New Testament assumes both. We do not need to attribute every difficulty to demonic activity, and we do not need to explain away the existence of the demonic. A sober mind takes the enemy seriously without giving him more attention than he deserves. The right response is vigilance, prayer, and confidence in Christ, not fascination or fear.
We should not take the details of demonic origin as doctrine. The idea that the spirits of the dead giants became the demons is peculiar to Jewish tradition and is not found in the Bible. The Bible does not tell us how the demons came to be, and we should not pretend otherwise. Nor should we take the book of Jubilees as authoritative for faith and practice. It is valuable as background and as an illustration of how ancient readers meditated on the Scriptural story, but it is not the Word of God. The rule is simple: what is consistent with the Bible we may use for understanding, and what goes beyond it we hold loosely. This keeps our teaching honest and our authority clear.
Finally, we should let the passage drive us back to the gospel. The great reason the New Testament speaks so calmly about the devil is that the devil has been defeated. He is an enemy on a chain, an accuser whose accusations have been answered at the cross. If you belong to Christ, your case is closed. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That verdict is the final answer to every accusing voice, whether it comes from ancient legends or from your own heart. Mastema may be an unfamiliar name, but the reality he represents is familiar to every believer. And so is the remedy: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Biblical fidelity check
It is important to say plainly what the passage does and does not establish. Jubilees 10:8-9 does establish that some Jewish writers before the Christian era believed in a personal leader of hostile spirits who acted under God's permission. It does establish that the New Testament was written in a world where such beliefs were common, which helps us read its language about the devil and demons with better understanding. But the passage does not establish doctrine for the church. It is not in the biblical canon, and no apostle quotes it or appeals to it. It does not tell us the origin, number, or nature of demons in a way that binds the conscience. It does not give us a ritual, a formula, or a hierarchy. Its authority is the authority of historical background, not of revelation.
A common misreading is to treat Jubilees as a hidden key that unlocks the Bible's teaching on Satan, so that its details become a standard for interpreting the New Testament. This is wrong for several reasons. It reverses the order of authority, making a non-canonical book the interpreter of canonical Scripture. It creates confidence about matters God has left unclear, which is the opposite of humility. And it tends to generate sensational teaching that draws attention to the enemy rather than to Christ. The right approach is to let the Bible set the boundaries and to use extra-biblical writings only as context. Where faithful Christians differ on the details of the spirit world, we should say so rather than pretend certainty. Scripture gives us what we need: an enemy who is real, and a Savior who has overcome him.
Other passages that speak to Jubilees 10:8-9
For a fuller biblical frame on spiritual conflict and the call to unity among God's people, see What Does 1 Corinthians 1:10 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application, and What Does 1 Corinthians 1:9 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application. These studies show that the church's strength against the accuser lies in Christ's faithfulness and in a united, truthful community. For a broader survey of the letter, see 1 Corinthians 1: Called, United, and Boasting in the Lord. And for warnings about spiritual danger and the freedom Christ gives, see 1 Corinthians 10: Warnings and Freedom.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Mastema in the book of Jubilees?
Mastema is the name given in the book of Jubilees to the leader of the hostile spirits that afflict humanity after the flood. His name comes from a Hebrew root meaning hostility or opposition. In Jubilees 10:8-9 he asks that a portion of the unclean spirits remain under his authority so he can accuse and mislead people, and his request is granted with limits. He functions much like the figure called Satan or Belial in other Jewish writings, as the personal opponent of God and his people.
Is Mastema the same as Satan in the Bible?
Mastema is not mentioned in the Bible. He belongs to the same stream of Jewish thought about a personal adversary that stands behind the biblical terms Satan and devil. The functions overlap: both accuse, tempt, and oppose God's people, and both act under divine permission. But the Bible never uses the name Mastema, and we should not treat the two names as simply interchangeable. The Bible's own terms, not extra-biblical ones, should govern our doctrine of the enemy.
Should Christians read the book of Jubilees?
Christians may read Jubilees with discernment, as they might read any ancient Jewish or Christian writing. It is not Scripture and should not be taught as such, but it is valuable background for understanding the world of the New Testament. It shows how devout Jews before Christ wrestled with the problem of evil and the promises of God. Read it the way you would read a commentary or a history book: helpful for context, but always tested by the Bible. Where it goes beyond Scripture, hold it loosely and do not build doctrine on it.
