John S. Bergsma
GENERALIZATIONS
Jubilees accepts the basic story of BW but adapts it rather freely, reshaping it
to avoid several perceived theological problems — the origin of evil in
heaven, the lack of a moral justification for the flood, Enoch's troublesome
advocacy for evil angels, and others. BW shows its influence on Jubilees in
the narrative extending from Jub 4 (the life of Enoch) to Jub 11 (the lives of
Noah's immediate descendants). Thereafter the presence of BW is scarcely
felt in Jubilees' narrative.^34
BW is more an explanation for human evil in general than an explana
tion of the cause of the flood. BW traces the evils of humanity to the evil
spirits of the giants and ultimately to their fathers, the Watchers, who sinned
already in heaven. Thus the heavenly realm is the ultimate source of earthly
evil. Jubilees, on the other hand, while accepting in principle BW's conten
tion that some of societal evil has a supernatural origin (i.e., fallen angels),
nonetheless emphasizes human responsibility to a much greater degree. Hu
mans give themselves to evil, although evil spirits contribute to the process.
In this way evil in Jubilees finds its origin in, and is limited to, the earthly
realm.^35 As was noted above, in Jubilees the Watchers fall after they have al
ready descended to the earth.
Finally, if a few broad observations may be permitted, the results of
this study point to the fact that the influence of the early Enochic material in
Jubilees is limited, for the most part, to the narratives of Jubilees from Enoch
to Noah, roughly corresponding to Gen 5-9. Enoch's importance to Jubilees
does not, in our opinion, come close to rivaling the importance of Moses.^36
- L. Arcari ("The Myth of the Watchers and the Problem of Intermarriage in Jubi
lees," Hen 31, no. 1 [2009]) understands the Watcher myth to function as a paradigmatic nar
rative grounding Jubilees'later condemnation of exogamous marriages. While this hypothe
sis is possible, I am not persuaded by it. The author of Jubilees draws no parallel between the
Watchers' marriages and those between Jews and Gentiles in Jub 30:1-24 or elsewhere. In
stead, he grounds his prohibitions against miscegenation in the Mosaic tradition. - VanderKam also makes this point, in "Enoch Traditions in Jubilees," 244.
- In this respect I differ from H. S. Kvanvig, "Jubilees — between Enoch and Moses:
A Narrative Reading," JSJ 35, no. 3 (2004): 243-61. In my opinion, the role of Enoch and the
influence of the Enochic literature are not so great on Jubilees that the plot of the book
should be characterized as "mediating" between the two figures. Moses and his tradition
clearly dominate. Of course, the 364-day calendar of the Enochic tradition is important to
Jubilees. But the calendar is valued because it facilitates scrupulous observance of Mosaic
festivals, not because of its Enochic authority per se. On the superiority of Moses to Enoch,
see D. M. Peters, "Noah Traditions in Jubilees: Evidence for the Struggle between Enochic
and Mosaic Authority," Hen 31, no. 1 (2009).