Enoch and the Mosaic Torah- The Evidence of Jubilees

Loren T. Stuckenbruck

the function of angels who report all sins, whether they have been committed
openly or not, before God (4:6; cf. 1 En 99:3; 100:10; esp. 104:7-8). The second
regulation derived from the story involves the death of Cain, which is made to
illustrate the principle of lex talionis engraved in the heavenly tablets. In 4:31
the reader learns that Cain's death occurred when his house built with stones
fell on him, a fitting end for someone who had killed his brother with a stone.
Thus the regulation: "By the instrument with which a man kills his fellow he
is to be killed. As he wounded him so are they to do to him" (4:32).
Similar to Gen 4, nothing is said about any consequence of Cain's deed
for others.^15

C. The Fallen Angels Tradition (5:1-19; 7:20-39; 8:1-4; 10:1-14)

The disobedience of angels to God opens a further development in the in­

troduction of evil to the world. While this point is not debated in itself, one

may ask the question: What kind of "beginning" or "origin" does this event

inaugurate? In coming to terms with the question, we note that the author of

Jubilees is not simply interpreting Genesis, but shows an awareness of an in­

terpretive tradition that regarded the "sons of God" of Gen 6:2 as rebellious

angels who committed sin leading to upheaval in the created order itself. As

the writer expresses an awareness of writings attributed to Enoch (4:17-26),

it is likely that Enochic writings provided at least one source of his knowl­

edge.^16 A tradition-historical link of this sort between Jubilees and the Book

of the Watchers, in particular 1 En 6-16, is strengthened by the statement in

Jubilees that Enoch "testified to the Watchers who had sinned with the

daughters of men because these had begun to mix with earthly women so

that they became defiled" (Jub 4:22).

Though admitting some dependence on the earliest Enochic tradition

(the Book of the Watchers and, perhaps also, the Book of Giants), the writer

15. Cf. perhaps also the Animal Apocalypse at 1 En 85:4-7, though the story of Cain
    and Abel functions more as an underlying narrative that shapes the language of complaints
    raised by the righteous in the face of injustices carried out against them; compare, e.g., the
    Book of the Watchers, 1 En 8:4-9:3 and 22:4-7.


16. In particular, the Astronomical Book (Jub 4:17), Book of the Watchers (see discus­
    sion below), Apocalypse of Weeks (4:18), and possibly the Epistle of Enoch (4:19); on the use
    of the latter two in Jubilees, see J. C. VanderKam, Enoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic
    Tradition, CBQMS 16 (Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1984),
    142-44.