Jubilees / Chapter 48

Jubilees 48

19 verses • Ge'ez (Ethiopic)

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

God calls Moses from the burning bush. On the way back, Mastema attacks Moses at the inn — Jubilees' answer to the mysterious Exodus 4:24-26. The plagues fall. Mastema is bound at the Exodus. The Red Sea crossing.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This chapter resolves one of the Torah's most puzzling passages by identifying Mastema as the attacker at the inn, not God. Mastema's binding parallels the binding of Azazel in 1 Enoch.

Translation Friction

The substitution of Mastema for God is a significant theological reinterpretation.

Connections

Exodus 3:1-4:31; Exodus 7-12 (plagues); 1 Enoch 10 (binding of Azazel); Revelation 20:2.

Jubilees 48:1

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

You lived in Midian for five weeks and one year. You returned to Egypt in the second week, in the second year of the fiftieth jubilee.

REF And thou didst dwell in Midian five weeks and one year.

Jubilees 48:2

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

You know what the prince Mastema tried to do to you when you were returning to Egypt — when he met you at the inn.

REF And thou knowest what prince Mastema desired to do to thee at the inn.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

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The chief demonic spirit, identified as the attacker at the inn — resolving the theological puzzle of Exodus 4:24-26

Translator Notes

  1. This is Jubilees' interpretation of Exodus 4:24-26 — Mastema, not God, is the attacker.
Jubilees 48:3

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

Did he not try with all his power to kill you and rescue the Egyptians from your hand?

REF Did he not seek to slay thee?

Jubilees 48:4

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

But I delivered you from his hand. You then performed the signs and wonders in Egypt.

REF And I delivered thee out of his hand.

Jubilees 48:5

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

The Lord struck them with blood, frogs, lice, swarms of flies, diseased livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness.

REF And the Lord smote them with plagues.

Jubilees 48:6

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

He killed all their firstborn and destroyed all their livestock. The Lord sent angels to destroy everything Mastema had created.

REF And He slew all the firstborn, and Mastema's works were destroyed.

Jubilees 48:7

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

Prince Mastema was bound and imprisoned, kept away from the children of Israel so he could not accuse them.

REF And Mastema was bound.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Mastema's binding during the Exodus parallels the binding of Azazel in 1 Enoch 10:4-6.
Jubilees 48:8

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

That night the Lord commanded us to lead all the angels through Egypt to strike down every firstborn.

REF And on that night the Lord commanded us to pass through Egypt.

Jubilees 48:9

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

Against all the gods of Egypt the Lord executed judgments and destroyed them.

REF And against all the gods of Egypt He executed judgments.

Jubilees 48:10

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

Mastema incited the Egyptians to pursue Israel with all their chariots and horses.

REF And Mastema incited the Egyptians to pursue.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Mastema retains enough influence to incite the pursuit despite being bound.
Jubilees 48:11

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

I stood between the Egyptians and Israel. We delivered Israel from Mastema's hand. The Lord brought them through the sea on dry land.

REF And I stood between the Egyptians and Israel.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The angelic narrator reveals the cosmic battle dimension of the Exodus.
Jubilees 48:12

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

All who pursued Israel — the Lord cast them into the depths of the sea, as he had destroyed Sodom.

REF And all who pursued were cast into the sea.

Jubilees 48:13

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

He took vengeance on a million soldiers and a million horsemen in the sea. On the fourteenth we bound Mastema.

REF And He destroyed a million warriors in the sea.

Jubilees 48:14

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

On the fifteenth we released him toward the Egyptians to pursue Israel.

REF And on the fifteenth we released him to pursue.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Mastema bound on Passover night (14th) and released on the 15th.
Jubilees 48:15

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

On that day the Lord saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians.

REF And the Lord saved Israel that day.

Jubilees 48:16

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

All the children of Israel walked on dry ground through the middle of the sea. The sea stood as a wall on their right and left.

REF And Israel walked on dry ground through the sea.

Jubilees 48:17

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

The Lord saved Israel that day — from Egypt, from Mastema, and from all the peoples of Egypt.

REF And the Lord saved Israel from Egypt and Mastema.

Jubilees 48:18

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore. Israel witnessed the mighty hand of the Lord.

REF And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore.

Jubilees 48:19

Ge'ez text per Charles/VanderKam editions

The people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses. They sang praises to the Lord.

REF And the people feared the Lord and sang praises.