Mastema
| “ | You know they tried to take me out of the picture so people could stick to the image of an "all-loving" God? Well, didn't really work out so well. Because I'm still here. And I'm still an angel. I take away a righteous man's family and entire life in the blink of an eye. I force fathers to kill their favorite child. And when I'm feeling especially generous, break a special bone in a human's body when its gets personal. From now 'til kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your entire existence... is never understanding why. | „ |
| ~ Mastema |
Mastema is an arbiter angel who persecutes evil in Jewish mythology. He carries out punishments for God. He tempts humans and tests their faith. In the Zadokite Fragments and the Dead Sea Scrolls, he is the angel of disaster and a flatterer of God.
History[]
Background[]
Mastema is one of the Arbiter angels and subordinate to Samael before his fall from grace. After the war in Heaven, Mastema was elected to be the chief of the Arbiters, however, since he was a confidante of Samael, he too shared his views on humanity but unlike Samael did not go to extreme lengths such as inciting a war against the Almighty and the Holy Host. Nevertheless, his clear disdain towards humanity was prevalent and noticeable.
Mastema became something of a persecutor of those who sinned against God but unlike the Dark Angels who dole out punishments for these transgressions, Mastema nurtures mankind's innate desire to turn away from God's glory, and instead have them walk into the direction where the maw of Hell awaits to devour their souls. Mastema does this as a means to prove to God that Samael was right in his assessment of humanity showing that he sympathized with the Devil. This of course only earned him nothing but scorn and contempt from the Celestial Host which made him an outcast among the eternal inhabitants of Heaven.
Arbiter of Man[]
Mastema had several moments in biblical legends. In the Book of Jubilees, after Mastema sent a plague of birds onto the land in the days of Terah, he was the one that suggested to God to test Abraham’s loyalty by asking him to offer Isaac to the altar. Mastema tells God that Abraham will not sacrifice his own son out of loyalty. And according to the Old Testament, God listened to Mastema and allows Mastema to try to prove his point. When Abraham actually follows through, God intervenes, putting Mastema to shame.
Arguably his most well-known appearance was in the Book of Job. Job is a righteous man favored by Yahweh. Job describes the "sons of God" (bənê hāʼĕlōhîm) presenting themselves before Yahweh. Yahweh asks Mastema, "the satan", where he has been, to which he replies that he has been roaming around the earth. Yahweh asks, "Have you considered My servant Job?" Mastema replies by urging Yahweh to let him torture Job, promising that Job will abandon his faith at the first tribulation. Yahweh consents; Mastema destroys Job's servants and flocks, yet Job refuses to condemn Yahweh. The first scene repeats itself, with Mastema presenting himself to Yahweh alongside the other "sons of God". Yahweh points out Job's continued faithfulness, to which Mastema insists that more testing is necessary; Yahweh once again gives him permission to test Job. In the end, Job remains faithful and righteous, and it is implied that Mastema is shamed in his defeat.
In Exodus, it was he who hardened Pharaoh's heart and helped the Egyptian sorcerers to stand up against Moses in Egypt. Another was when he was believed to have been the angel who wrestled with Jacob. Jacob was a con artist who had been conned, a liar who had been lied to, and a manipulator who had been manipulated. He was a man full of fears and anxieties and wanted to be in control of his own fate. When the patriarch set up camp to meet with Esau, Jacob was confronted by Mastema himself who wrestled with him all throughout the night until daybreak. When Mastema saw that he did not overpower Jacob, he touched Jacob on the sinew of his thigh, and, as a result, Jacob developed a limp. Because of this, "to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket". On his deathbed, Isaac promises that the spirits of Mastema will have no power to turn Jacob or his descendants away from God.
