The Relationship between Jubilees and the Early Enochic Books- These demons continue to plague mankind even after the flood.
- Enoch was eventually shown the secrets of the entire cosmos.
Despite the fact that Jubilees embraces these basic premises, its author intro
duces a large number of modifications to the plot of the Watchers story, sev
eral of which are theologically significant.^27 A. Reed and L. Stuckenbruck
have both made insightful and thorough contributions to the analysis of the
differences between BW and Jubilees.^28 Here, we must be content only to
mention the most important differences:
l. The motive for the descent of the Watchers is different. Jub 4:15 notes
that the Watchers "came down" in the days of the ancestor Jared (TV, "to de
scend") in order "to teach the sons of man, and perform judgment and righ
teousness on earth." This is in stark contrast to BW, in which two hundred
angels bind each other by a solemn oath while still in heaven to descend to
the earth and take human wives (1 En 6:1-8). After taking the women, the an
gels begin to teach secret arts and sciences (1 En 7-8), but this was not a mo
tivation for their initial descent.
Thus, in Jubilees the Watchers come down initially for a noble purpose
(to teach and judge) and only later corrupt themselves. In BW, however, the
Watchers succumb to the temptation of feminine attraction while still in
heaven, swear an oath to commit a grievous sin, carry out the act, and then
aggravate the situation by communicating illicit knowledge.
One can only speculate on the reason Jubilees modifies the narrative
of BW.^29 Perhaps the BW account seemed theologically problematic: How
could angels fall prey to sensual temptation and deliberately, self-consciously
organize themselves into a rebellious body while still in heaven and presum
ably in or near the presence of God himself? In Jubilees it is only after the
Watchers leave heaven to carry out their task on earth that — apparently after
- For some discussion of the differences, see I. Frohlich, "Enoch and Jubilees," in
Enoch and Qumran Origins, 141-47. Unsurprisingly, VanderKam has also examined the
Watcher story in both BW and Jubilees. See VanderKam, "The Angel Story in the Book of Ju
bilees," in Pseudepigraphic Perspectives: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Light of the
Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. E. G. Chazon and M. Stone, STDJ 31 (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 151-70.
VanderKam's analysis proceeds in a different fashion from mine, but our conclusions are
similar. - See A. Y. Reed, "Enochic and Mosaic Traditions in Jubilees: The Evidence of
Angelology and Demonology" (paper read at Fourth Enoch Seminar, Camaldoli, Italy, 8-12
July 2007); and L. T. Stuckenbruck, "The Book of Jubilees and the Origin of Evil," in this vol
ume. - VanderKam discusses the issue in "Enoch Traditions in Jubilees," 244.