In the Bible we hold today, the great adversary goes mostly unnamed. He is "the satan" — a title meaning the accuser — in the book of Job. He is "the serpent," "the devil," "the evil one." But in one ancient book, closely related to Genesis and once read widely among Jews and early Christians, he has a proper name: Mastema.
That book is Jubilees, sometimes called "the Little Genesis." It retells the stories of Genesis and Exodus, filling in the silences — and one of its boldest additions is to name the prince of the evil spirits. The name itself is a confession of character. "Mastema" comes from a Hebrew word for hatred or hostility. He is, almost literally, the Prince of Animosity.
His most revealing moment comes right after the flood. The evil spirits — in this tradition, the restless spirits of the dead giants — are leading Noah's descendants astray. God moves to bind them all. And then Mastema steps forward to bargain.
"The chief of the spirits, Mastema, came and said: 'Lord, Creator, let some of them remain before me… for great is the wickedness of the sons of men.'" — Jubilees 10
God grants him a tenth. From that moment, Jubilees says, a measured portion of the spirits remains under Mastema's hand to test and tempt the world — never beyond God's permission, but real. And watch what else this figure does: in Jubilees it is Mastema who prompts the terrible testing of Abraham with his son Isaac — exactly the role "the satan" plays in the book of Job. It is Mastema who assaults Moses on the dark road to Egypt. The removed book gives a name and a face to the adversary the familiar Bible leaves in shadow.
Mastema is not a different devil — he is an older, Jewish way of picturing the same accuser we call Satan, preserved in a book most Christians never see. He always works under God's permission, never beyond it. Meeting him does not shake the faith; it deepens the picture of a struggle the Bible has always described, if only in outline.
Satan Has Another Name: Mastema — read aloud
The full voiced Broadcast follows Mastema through Jubilees — the bargain after the flood, the testing of Abraham, the attack on Moses — and asks what this old name teaches us about the accuser. In a real voice.
Hear the full Broadcast →