Texts in Conversation
Jubilees uses a phrase from 2 Kings for men who “saw the king’s face” and were known as close servants. It uses this for angels who serve in heaven and reshapes a picture of courtly service on earth into one of loyalty in serving God.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Kings 25:19
Hebrew Bible
18 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. 19 From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five men seeing the king's face30 who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens for military service, and 60 citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Jubilees 1:29
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
28 And the Lord will appear in everyone's sight, 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.' 29 And the angel of the presence who went ahead of the camp of Israel took the tablets of the divisions of the years — from the time of the creation — of the Torah and of the testimony of the weeks of the jubilees, according to the individual years, according to all the number of the jubilees [according to the individual years], from [the time of the first creation until] the new creation when the heavens and the earth shall be renewed and all their creation according to the powers of 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 heavenly lights be renewed for healing and for peace and for blessing for all the chosen people of Israel, and that it may be this way from that day and to all the days of the earth.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The “angels of the presence” [literally “of the Face”] are, along with the “angels of holiness,” the highest class of angels, those who are privileged to see God’s face and serve Him directly in the heavenly sanctuary, just as earthly kings allow only some of their servants to be “those who see the king’s face” (see 2 Kings 25:19; Esther 1:10, 14; Tobit 12:15). This particular angel of the presence is apparently the angel, the one often chosen by God for special tasks ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 26.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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