Angel of the Presence
In the pseudepigraphal literature that expands the biblical account of revelation at Sinai, a particular heavenly being serves as the direct intermediary who unveils the hidden patterns of history to Moses. Commissioned by God, this figure dictates the contents of the Book of Jubilees, tracing events from the six days of creation through the antediluvian patriarchs, the judgment of the Flood, and the apportionment of the earth among Noah’s descendants. The account repeatedly highlights the observance of the solar calendar of 364 days and the statutes given to the ancestors, presenting these as eternally binding ordinances rather than later innovations. References to this intermediary appear at key structural points in Jubilees. At the opening of the work the angel is instructed to “write for Moses from the beginning of creation until my sanctuary has been built” (Jubilees 1:27), after which the narrative proceeds through the patriarchal stories and the renewal of the covenant. Similar language recurs in chapters 2, 6, and 32, where the angel explains the festivals, the laws of sacrifice, and the division of the land, always framing these institutions as already inscribed on heavenly tablets. The same figure is occasionally identified with one of the archangels who stand in God’s presence, linking the text to the angelic hierarchy described in 1 Enoch 40, where angels of the presence minister before the throne and intercede for humanity. Within the broader Enochic tradition this being embodies the continuity between the wisdom revealed to Enoch and the Torah given to Moses. By recounting events that predate Sinai, the angel demonstrates that the solar calendar and the moral order it sustains were observed by the patriarchs long before the giving of the Law at Sinai, thereby authorizing these practices for later generations. The narrative device thus functions both as a historical review and as a theological claim: the divine statutes are unchanging, preserved in heaven, and transmitted faithfully through chosen intermediaries.
Biography
- Occupation
- Heavenly Narrator and Instructor
- Era
- Eternal / Exodus
Did You Know?
This angel acts as the narrator who dictates the entire book of Jubilees to Moses.
He reveals the hidden history and laws observed by the patriarchs before Sinai.
Key Chapters
Key Passages
The Angel Speaks to Moses
The Book of Jubilees 1:8
The Angel of the Presence is sent to speak to Moses on the mountain and to write the book of the division of the days according to their jubilees and weeks.
8 love them. And do thou write down for thyself all these words which I declare unto thee on this mountain, the first and the last, which shall come to pass in all the divisions of the days in the law and in the testimony and in the weeks and the jubilees unto eternity, until I descend and dwell with them throughout eternity.' And He said to the angel of the presence: Write for Moses from the beginning of creation till My sanctuary has been built among them for all eternity. And the Lord will appear to the eyes of all, and all shall know that I am the God of Israel and the Father of all the children of Jacob, and King on Mount Zion for all eternity. And Zion and Jerusalem shall be holy.' And the angel of the presence who went before the camp of Israel took the tables of the divisions of the years -from the time of the creation- of the law and of the testimony of the weeks of the jubilees, according to the individual years, according to all the number of the jubilees , from the day of the creation when the heavens and the earth shall be renewed and all their creation according to the powers of the heaven, and according to all the creation of the earth, until the sanctuary of the Lord shall be made in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and all the luminaries be renewed for healing and for peace and for blessing for all the elect of Israel, and that thus it may be from that day and unto all the days of the earth.
Angel Instructs Moses on Creation and Laws
The Book of Jubilees 2:1-5
The angel dictates the story of the six days of creation, the institution of the Sabbath, the naming of the days, and the laws that were observed by the patriarchs long before Sinai.
1nd the angel of the presence spake to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: Write the complete history of the creation, how in six days the Lord God finished all His works and all that He created, and kept Sabbath on the seventh day and hallowed it for all ages, and appointed it as a sign for all His works. For on the first day He created the heavens which are above and the earth and the waters and all the spirits which serve before him -the angels of the presence, and the angels of sanctification, and the angels of the spirit of the winds, and the angels of the spirit of the clouds, and of darkness, and of snow and of hail and of hoar frost, and the angels of the voices and of the thunder and of the lightning, and the angels of the spirits of cold and of heat, and of winter and of spring and of autumn and of summer and of all the spirits of his creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth, (He created) the abysses and the darkness, eventide (and night), and the light, dawn and day, which He hath prepared in the knowledge of his heart. And thereupon we saw His works, and praised Him, and lauded before Him on account of all His works; for seven great works did He create on the first day.
The Angel Reveals the History of the Patriarchs
The Book of Jubilees 2:1-5
Through the angel, Moses learns the detailed lives of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, with emphasis on the covenants, tithes, and the solar calendar that must be kept.
1nd the angel of the presence spake to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: Write the complete history of the creation, how in six days the Lord God finished all His works and all that He created, and kept Sabbath on the seventh day and hallowed it for all ages, and appointed it as a sign for all His works. For on the first day He created the heavens which are above and the earth and the waters and all the spirits which serve before him -the angels of the presence, and the angels of sanctification, and the angels of the spirit of the winds, and the angels of the spirit of the clouds, and of darkness, and of snow and of hail and of hoar frost, and the angels of the voices and of the thunder and of the lightning, and the angels of the spirits of cold and of heat, and of winter and of spring and of autumn and of summer and of all the spirits of his creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth, (He created) the abysses and the darkness, eventide (and night), and the light, dawn and day, which He hath prepared in the knowledge of his heart. And thereupon we saw His works, and praised Him, and lauded before Him on account of all His works; for seven great works did He create on the first day.