Annette Yoshiko Reed
books of Enoch" and "shares the generative idea of Enochic Judaism, the
idea that evil is superhuman and is caused by the sin of the Watchers
(7:2iff.)."^3 For Boccaccini, Jubilees' interweaving of traditions from Gen 6:1-
4 and the Book of the Watchers thus exemplifies its efforts to bridge two
competing worldviews: (1) the "Enochic Judaism" that purportedly exalted
the pre-Sinaitic sage, downplayed the significance of the Pentateuch, and
saw the priesthood of the second temple as corrupt, and (2) the "Zadokite
Judaism" that held authority in the temple, formed the Tanakh, and em
braced Moses as central to Jewish identity.^4
Just how central, however, is the angelic descent myth to Jubilees' the
ology, cosmology, and narrative?^5 Are Boccaccini and others correct to read
its integration of this myth as a sign of its agreement with the Book of the
Watchers' beliefs in the supernatural origins of evil? Insofar as most research
on Jubilees has proceeded from the assumption of its close relationship to
the Pentateuch,^6 we might also question the degree to which its use of
Enochic traditions stands in tension with its overarching appeal to Mosaic
authority. Is our understanding of Jubilees aided by the assumption of an
early opposition between Enochic and Mosaic traditions?
Traditions about angels and demons will here serve as a focus for re
flecting on these questions. I will begin with a brief survey of the angelology
- Boccaccini, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis, 87.
- Boccaccini, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis, 12-16, 68-79; see also his contribution in
this volume for a more nuanced articulation of the same argument. A similar point is made
in H. Kvanvig, "Jubilees — between Enoch and Moses: A Narrative Reading," JSJ 35, no. 3
(2004): 243-45. Kvanvig here suggests that Jubilees integrates Mosaic traditions into an
Enochic worldview, pointing to the interpretation of Gen 6:3 in Jub 5 as paradigmatic; he re
frains, however, from any generalizations about distinct "Judaisms." - Assessments of Jubilees that downplay the significance of the fallen angels within
the text as a whole include J. C. VanderKam, "The Angel Story in the Book of Jubilees," in
Pseudepigraphic Perspectives: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Light of the Dead Sea
Scrolls, ed. E. G. Chazon and M. E. Stone (Leiden: Brill, 1999), esp. 154; T. R. Hanneken, "An
gels and Demons in the Book of Jubilees and Contemporary Apocalypses," Hen 28 (2006):
14-18. See also L. Stuckenbruck's contribution to this volume. - Its close relationship to the corresponding portions of Genesis and Exodus has
been established by a number of studies on Jubilees as exegesis; this approach and its value
are exemplified by J. van Ruiten, Primaeval History Interpreted: The Rewriting of Genesis 1—11
in the Book of Jubilees (Leiden: Brill, 2000). In addition, its resonance with the rest of Exodus
(esp. 19; 23:10-33; 24) has been recently established by J. C. VanderKam, "The Scriptural Set
ting of the Book of Jubilees," DSD 13 (2006): 61-72. Its discursive and epistemological conti
nuities with Deuteronomy are richly explored in H. Najman, Seconding Sinai: The Develop
ment of Mosaic Discourse in Second Temple Judaism, JSJSup 77 (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 16-69.