Gate II: Ancient Texts & The Unseen World
The Rule of the Second Gate
We do not just tell about the ancient texts; we let them speak. Here we look at exact quotes and precise paraphrases from Jubilees, Jasher, the Testaments, and others to uncover the unseen realm and lesser-known traditions.
Beyond Genesis
Gate I followed the biblical Covenant:
But Genesis is not the end of the ancient memory of these people. Other writings tell strange additional stories.
- Some are genuinely ancient Jewish works.
- Some survive in later forms.
- Some may preserve older traditions.
- Others clearly expand Scripture.
They speak of angels, Mastema, heavenly tablets, dreams, temptation, idols, repentance, and hidden struggles behind visible events.
What else did ancient people believe was happening around the Covenant?
Let us open the books.
Jubilees — The Covenant Written in Heaven?
The Book of Jubilees retells Genesis and part of Exodus. But from its opening pages it gives the story another dimension.
Moses is told history through an angelic revelation. Jubilees repeatedly uses expressions such as:
“…according to that which is written on the heavenly tablets.”
— Jubilees 3:10, 4:5, 16:29, etc.
History below... has a record above. That is already a very different window through which to look at Genesis.
Abraham and the Idols
Genesis tells us that God called Abraham out of his country and family. But it does not tell us much about Abraham's life before that call. Jubilees fills part of that silence.
“And in the sixtieth year of the life of Abram… Abram arose by night, and burned the house of the idols, and he burned all that was in the house, and no man knew it. And they arose in the night and sought to save their gods from the midst of the fire. And Haran hasted to save them, but the fire flamed over him, and he was burnt in the fire, and he died in Ur of the Chaldees…”
— Jubilees 12:12-14
SCRIPTURE? No. Genesis never tells this story.
ANCIENT TRADITION? Yes. And notice what the tradition has done.
Before Abraham becomes father of the Covenant...
he becomes a man who rejects the gods around him.
Abraham Looks to the Stars
Then Jubilees adds another beautiful scene. Abram observes the heavens seeking knowledge, but realizes something profound:
“And he sat alone observing, and a voice came into his heart and said: ‘All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord. Why do I search them out?’ … And he prayed to the Creator of all…”
— Jubilees 12:17-19 (paraphrased)
And then... God speaks to him (Jubilees 12:22). Jubilees appears to contrast the stars as objects from which men seek destiny with the Creator who made the stars and gives the promise.
The Binding of Isaac — An Unseen Challenge
Genesis 22 begins simply: “God did tempt Abraham…”
But Jubilees adds something Genesis does not reveal. A spiritual adversary enters the scene.
“And Prince Mastema came and said before God, 'Behold, Abraham loves Isaac his son, and he delights in him above all things else; bid him offer him as a burnt-offering on the altar, and Thou wilt see if he will do this command…'”
— Jubilees 17:16
The Visible Story
Abraham and Isaac climb the mountain.
The Unseen Story (Jubilees)
A spiritual accusation (Mastema) stands behind the test.
This immediately resembles the book of Job, where Job suffers after a heavenly challenge. Jubilees doesn't prove this happened behind Genesis 22, but an ancient Jewish writer understood Abraham's test in precisely that unseen-world framework.
The Testament of Joseph — The Righteous Sufferer
Now we open another ancient work. The Testament of Joseph, contained within the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, expands Joseph's struggle with Potiphar's wife. Genesis tells us she repeatedly tried to seduce him and he refused. The Testament turns this into a prolonged spiritual battle:
“How often did the Egyptian woman threaten me with death! … I fasted in those seven years, and I appeared to the Egyptians like one living delicately, for they that fast for God's sake receive beauty of face.”
— Testament of Joseph 3:1,4
The central idea is striking: faithfulness may lead into suffering before it leads into vindication. Joseph does what is right... and ends up in prison.
Later readers remembered Joseph not merely as the man who interpreted dreams, but as the righteous man who suffered because he remained faithful.
Joseph and Aseneth — A Stranger Story
Genesis gives Joseph an Egyptian wife: Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On (Genesis 41:45). And Genesis moves on. But an ancient work known as Joseph and Aseneth asks: What happened between them?
Aseneth begins surrounded by Egyptian religion. But when she encounters Joseph, she rejects her idols, repents, and fasts. During her repentance, a mysterious heavenly figure appears:
“And she saw, and behold, a man in every respect similar to Joseph, by the robe and the crown and the royal staff, except that his face was like lightning, and his eyes like sunshine, and the hairs of his head like a flame of fire of a burning torch, and hands and feet like iron shining forth from a fire…”
— Joseph and Aseneth 14:9
He tells her to bring a honeycomb, blesses it, and she eats it. The text associates the honey with heavenly life and transformation. Then bees emerge in a strange visionary episode (Joseph and Aseneth 16).
Notice what has happened:
An Egyptian woman associated with an idolatrous world rejects her gods, turns toward the God of Joseph, receives a heavenly visitor, and becomes joined to the family carrying the Covenant.
That is not in Genesis. But it certainly makes us look twice.
Jasher — The Gaps Between Genesis
The later work commonly called the Book of Jasher greatly expands the patriarchal stories. It preserves a fascinating body of later Jewish storytelling. Characters speak more, motives are explained. It can feel almost like someone asked: “What happened between the verses?”
For example, when the brothers stand before Joseph in Egypt (before they know who he is), Jasher amplifies the tension into an epic confrontation:
“And Judah said to Joseph, ‘...if I draw my sword I will not return it empty... I will bring the whole of Egypt to the ground!’ And Joseph answered... ‘If thou drawest thy sword I will put it to thy neck.’ … And Judah cried out with a loud voice, and his voice was heard at a great distance, and all the inhabitants of Egypt were terrified at the voice of Judah.”
— Jasher 44 (paraphrased selections)
That makes Jasher fascinating... and dangerous. Because an expanded, cinematic story is not automatically recovered history.
A Rule for the Second Gate
By now our method should be clear. When another ancient text says something Genesis does not, we ask:
- How old is the text?
- What kind of text is it?
- Does another source support it?
- Is it history, interpretation, symbolism or storytelling?
And sometimes the only honest answer is: WE DON'T KNOW.
That is not a disappointing answer. Sometimes mystery should remain mystery.
We have enough pieces on the table: the biblical foundation, the spiritual adversary (Mastema), the righteous sufferer (Joseph), and the repentant outsider (Aseneth). Now, we open the Third Gate.