[3] He first appears in the literature of the Second Temple Period as a personification of the Hebrew word mastemah (מַשְׂטֵמָה), meaning "hatred", "hostility", "enmity", or "persecution".
In the Book of Jubilees, Mastema requests hosts of demons, the spirits of the Nephilim, from God in order to tempt and corrupt humanity.
Throughout the work, Mastema substitutes evil actions attributed to Yahweh in the Torah and abolishes the Godhead of the Hebrew tradition from malice.
According to the Book of Jubilees, Mastema ("hostility") is the chief of the Nephilim, the demons engendered by the fallen angels called Watchers with human women.
Although leading a group of demons, the text implies that he is an angel working for God instead, as he does not fear imprisonment along with the Nephilim.
[14][15] The account of Zipporah at the Inn where Yahweh meets Moses and tries to kill him is retold in a way that attributes the attack to Mastema instead (Jubilees 48:1-3).
[19] By substituting Yahweh's malevolent role throughout the Torah by one of his angels, God is abolished from evil actions.
As such, the text inverts the audience's expectations by nullifying the power of the agent of evil as long as they stay loyal to the Jewish tradition.