III. DEMONOLOGY.

The belief in evil spirits is universal. As to its origin, I must refer to remarks made at the outset.1
Polyanimism — if the word is to be tolerated — is the precursor of polytheism, as this last is itself the precursor of dualism in the first instance and then of monotheism. In all this we have in action the scientific and philo- sophic principles of reducing the many to the one.
As showing how widespread the belief in evil spirits isj I may name the following works (see full titles at the commencement— Literature) : Among the Chinese, DennysandNevius; among the Dravidians, etc., in India, Caldwell ; among the Arabs, Freytag's u Einleitung " and Wellhausen's ." Reste " ; among the Singalese, see Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1865-6, " Demon Possession." Dr.RoskofTs "Geschichte des Teufels " gives a mass of information as to the prevalence among all peoples of dualism in religion,
Demonology in the Old Testament.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Old Testament as a whole stands opposed to the "belief in evil spirits, yet
1 See supra, p. 8 fT. ■ It is doubtful, and even more than doubtful, whether in the strict sense devil-worship exists or has ever existed. What is so called, is probably nothing more than prayer and sacrifices to well-disposed spiritual beings with the view of securing the help of these last against spiritual beings which are malicious.
96 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DfiMONOLOGY
there are many indications and survivals throughout the Old Testament of this superstition.
Firstly, many demons are referred to by name: DH#, in Deut. xxxii. 17, and in Ps. cvi. 37 are demons; DH^ttf, literally, " hairy ones," are goat-like demons which dwelt in the wilderness,1 Isa. xiii. 21 ; xxxiv. 14, etc.
/t^TJ/*, Lev. xvi. 8, 10, 26, is a demon that had its home in the wilderness, though both Mishna and Gemara explain it as a steep rock over which the goat wa$ hurled,2
JVb'b (Assyrian Lelitu,' also masc. Lelu) was a night ghost (H76* or is this a mere popular etymology ?) or demon, Isa. xxxiv. 14, 4/*
The D^&En are spirits who dwelt especially in Sheol. but they also roam about on the earth, where they once lived.*
Dp&g in Prov. xxx, 15, rendered by the LXX. $U\\^
Vulg. sanguisuga, and in t\\% English versions u horse- leach, " is probably a vampire or blood-sucking demon* Thus Muhlau de Prov, Aquri, 42 IT., and Wellhausen "Reste," 149.
In Arabic the word for horse-leach is formed from the same root " to hang," means the kind of Jinn called Ghoul (J^)*
Reference has been more than once made to the serpent as a demon. In Ps. lviii. 5, ]JH3 seems to be
1 See W. R. Smith, "Rel. Seat.," p. 423 ; Wellh., Reste, p. 151 i. Cf. the Teutonic representation of the Devil as a he-goat (Grimm, p. 095). 2 joei it p. 63#
3 See Griinbaum, Z.D.M.G., xxxi., p. 250, f: Baethgen's "Sindban," p. 8 f. ; Wellh., Reste, p. 150 ; W. R. Smith, " Rei. Sem.,J> p. 423 ; and Cheyne on Isa. xxxiv. 14.
4 Wellh., Reste, p. 150, and his " Israel, und Jud. Gescli.," p. 99.
DEMONOLOGY 97
regarded as an evil spirit against whom binding charms are applied.
In the Talmud1 and by Rashi,2 the Itftf ^3, is called a Pi thorn (DWS), one who has his head resting on his breast between his two shoulders, and utters his oracle from his armpits ; or, probably, simply with hands raised and his head lying between both armpits. The word is surely fror?. the Biblical ]/}3, " adder," and is connected with* the Greek wSOw, which means first a serpent, then a soothsayer. The Talmudic DVV3 would appear to be -one that summoned the serpent demon to give an oracle. But the exact meaning of the Talmud is a mystery.
The Hebrew Mot (niO), Duma (HOW), and Sh'ol (^Nttf), were originally demons or Jinn's, corresponding to the Greek K^p, ©aVaros and'AtSqs, and to the Roman Lethum, Mors and Pluto.
According to Philo of Byblus (f end of first century a.d.) Mot was the son of El. Phoenician and Jewish traditions say he hovered near dying persons. The name occurs in .HIO1?^ restored by Noldeke to its old etymology of 72 and JTJO (see Z. A. W., 1897, P* l83 ff-)> and JIID^HH ; cf. name Mutaddu in the Tel-el-Arnarna tablets; and the modern river name Nahr-el-Mut (Bae- dekers " Palestine ")/
The Jewish Aggada says that Duma (HOT!, silence) is the name of the angel of death. There is a tribe on the Syrian boundary that bears this name. Perhaps it was the name of the totem animal first of all ; then the name of the tribe devoted to this animal.
£ Sanhed., 65a, b. ^Comm. on Deut. xviii. ft.
H
98 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND pEMONOLOGY
There is a town in the Haur&n of the same name, and another among the mountains of Judaea between Hebron andBeersheba; modern name ed-Dauma. Sh*ol (VlNttf), /now a synonym for grave "Dp, was originally a spirit presiding over the underworld, answering to the Pluto of Roman mythology.
Thus Mot, Dumah and Darkness in the folk-lore of the Hebrews were demons ; not, however, indeed exclusively in the bad sense we attach to that word, for they were regarded as to some extent friendly.
In Exodus iv. 24 we read that Jehovah met Moses and spUght to kill him ; through the circumcision of his son Moses was let alone. This has been explained as meaning that an evil .spirit laid hold of Moses, and that the bircumcision of the child caused it to depart.
Sober exegesis is against this, but it is a fact that circumcision has been regarded as a protection against demons ; the child, up to the time when the ceremony took place, being considered to, be under demoniacal control. Just as in the early Church, at the ceremony of baptism, a formula of exorcism was uttered by the officiating minister, as is done at the present time in the Russian orthodox Roman Catholic and German Evangelical Churches. Indeed, infant baptism not improbably originated in the view that until baptism everyone was in the power and Kingdom of Satan.
Eisenmenger * gives proof that among the Jews cir- cumcision was believed to give efficacy to prayer. After circumcision, prayer .-was heard, though previously it might not have been heard.
The ear-rings which Jacob buried under "the oak of
■ "Jud. Ent.,"i. p. 682 f.
DEMONOtOGV 99
Shechem were (as remarked before, seep. 52 f.) amulets.1 These ear-rings are thus explained by Kleinert in Riehm (" Zauberei "), Delitzsch (Franz. Comment, in loco), W. R. Smith (Journ. Phil. xiv. 122) and Smend, p. 126, cf. Wellhausen, "Reste," p. 165, note 6.
The O'tfin^ or moonlets, were moon-shaped amulets worn around the neck by . men and women, and even puf on camels. (See Judges viii. 21 and 26; Isaiah iii. 18.)
Wellhausen,2 Dozy,3 give J ^ as an ornament. The Greeks used to adorn themselves with inscribed sunlets and moonlets.* The modern horseshoe often hung up in houses, is a survival of this amulet.
Israel is urged in Hos. ii. 2, under the figure of the wife of the prophet, to put away- her whoredoms from her face (0^3) : (i.e. the nose-ring which was a charm against the evil eye), and her adulteries from between her breasts (i.e. necklaces, also worn as amulets). These nose -rings and necklaces, when worn, meant an acknow- ledgment of the heathen religion, in which they were considered to protect against the evil eye.
The serpent in the history of the fall is a form of the demon.5
The bells (O^bj® Exod. xxviii. 33 f., xxxix. 25 f.) which hung from the high priest's garment, were irKhe first instance amulets 'to frighten the evil spirits away. It is a fact that from very ancient times, storms, ra;n, thunder, lightning, hail, etc., were ascribed to demotis.6 Burton in his " Anatomy of Melancholy," p. 123, says
1 See Gen. xxxv, 4 ff. 2 "Reste," p. 165.
3 Dozy, Lexicon, sub voce: 4 See Jahn, p. 42,
* See Smend, 119; cf. Wellh., Reste, p. 152 fif. *jCrooke, i. 65.
100 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEMONOLOGYj
that "sudden whirlwinds, tempestuous storms/' though often referred by meteorologists to natural causes, are most frequently due to " aerial devils/' ■
Among the East Indians, the storm-bringing demons are scared away by any kind of noise, and especially by that of sounding metal. The Circassians sprinkled holy water over their friends' graves, and the priests tolled bells near Jthem, in order to keep evil spirits away.2
In Pegu, copper vessels or bells were used to frighten away demons that wished to disturb the repose of the dead.2
Rabbi Bachia b. Asher (Saratoga, 1 291), in his " Com- mentary on the Pentateuch," is quoted by Ennemoser8 as saying that when interments took place a boy stood near the middle of the body, ringing a bell that the evil spirits might be kept at a distance.4-^ •
It is now generally held that the object of the ringing ►of the bells in the Tin of the Temple was that the people outside might know the exact moment when the priest entered the most holy place.5 It is quite possible, notwithstanding its magical origin, that it came to have this function.
Demonology in the Apocrypha.
' The Old Testament Apocrypha is comparatively free from direct allusions to demons and their work.
We have, however, an important exception in the book of Tobit, chapters vi. and vii. Tobias, sonofTobit,
1 Cf. Tylor, ii. 26. ,k 2 Grant, p. 276. 3 i. p. 380.
4 Cf. Tylor, ii. p. 113.
* See Exod. xxviii. 35; cf. Eccles. xlix. $> and Luke i. 9, 2t.
DEMONOLOGY 10 1
is sent undeV the guidance of the unknown angel Raphael t'o Ecbatana, to claim money due to his father> and to seek for himself the hand of Sarah, the beautiful daughter of Raguel who lives in that city. In the Tigris, a fish is caught, of which he is told, by his angel guide, to reserve the heart, liver, and gall ; the first two are to prevent the demons, who had killed the former husband ^f Sarah, from killing Tobias the first night of his marriage. This turns out exactly as intimated at the time of the catching of the fish. Sarah is so loved by a powerful demon, that, seven men who had in turn married her were by him put to death the night of the marriage, before indeed it was consummated.
But the heart and liver of the above fish saved the life of Tobias ; by means of them the devil is driven into Egypt (viii. 1—3).
The demon referred to before is called Asmodeus, and the incident shows that at the time when the book was written (some tipie in the second century B.C., accord- j ing to Friizsche, Bissell and Rosenmann) demons were believed to be capable of sexual love, reminding one of the love of the sons of God for the daughters of men in Gen. vi. 2, and especially of the Jinns among the Arabs, whom W. R. Smith l rightly regards as by no means peculiar to the Arabs, though the name probably is.
Two opinions prevail as to the etymology of the name Asmodeus. A Semitic origin is claimed by the Talmud (in which he is called DH'lOT ^D), and by several modern scholars.
The root would in that case be ^$, which in Hiph. means to destroy, Asmodeus being an aphel form. But for,
*-«'Rd. Sem.," p. 4??^
102 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEM0N0L0GY
notin agent, il destroy er," we should, had this etymology been correct, have had Masmodeus, not Asmodeus.
The great bulk of modern scholars identify this Asmodeus with the Persian Ashma, who in the Avesta is next to Angromainyus, the chief of the evil spirits, Benfey, Stem, Windischmann, Fritssche (in Schenkel sub wee) and Kohut, say the word means covetous, lustfiiL The last part of the word is, they say, derived from doeva (div)=demon (cf. &uos, deus). Thus also Baudissen (Herzog ii.).
Rev. J. M. Fuller,1 while admitting the Persian origin, holds that the character given to Asmodeus agrees with Babylonian rather than with Persian belief.
Evil spirits are referred t6 in some other parts of the Apocrypha— such as in Wisdom ii. 24 (" by the envy of the tievil {6 StdftoXos] cleath entered into the world1*). In Ecclus. xxi. 27 Satan is mentioned.
Demonology in the New Testament.
Those miracles recorded in the Gospels by which demons were expelled, sliow that in the time of Christ the belief in demoniacal possession and in the power of exorcism was prevalent among the Jews. It has been the habit among Christian expositors to accept these accounts in their literal sense. Thus Edersheim,2 Delitzsch,3 Rev. Walter Scott,4 and the bulk of theo- logical writers, not to mention the widespread belief of the Churches.
This same belief prevails among the Chinese at the present time. Dr. Nevius, for many years an American
1 Speaker's Commentary. 2 "Life and Times of the Messiah,".
3 In Riehm, art. " Besessene," i. p. 209b. '" « " The Existence of Evil Spirits."
DEMONOLOOY IO3
Presbyterian missionary in China, says that the modern Chinese have the very same conceptions, as to possession arid exorcism, which the Jews entertained in the first century of our era. Moreover, he contends that, though when he first settled in the country he strongly opposed these conceptions, he adopted them subse- quently as his own.
Rev. R. Bruce, B.A., at present a missionary in the same country, told me some months back (February, 1897) that a prominent convert to Christianity had, before his conversion, a great reputation as an exorcist. People supposed to be possessed Came~or were brought to him from all parts. Notwithstanding the fact that he has ceased to belong to the popular religion, andj indeed, is now an eloquent Christian preacher, yet the natives, though not themselves Christians, continue to flock to him, and he is, they say, as successful now as before his change of religion.
Mr. Bruce tells me that the Chinese converts to Christianity take the gospel narratives concerning demon possession quite literally, and the missionaries do not feel called upon to correct the views they have, even if they hold different views from the natives.
There can, however, be no doubt that in all these cases, in Palestine and in China, nothing more is meant than certain diseases superstitiously regarded as due to demoniacal influence.
Among the Jews of a later time, and probably at this very time, 0*7$ or demons are designated according
to the diseases they induce. There were demons of asthma, croup, hydrophobia, insanity and indigestion.1
1 1 See authorities quoted by Edersheim, ii. p. 759-
)
IO4 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEM0N0L0GY
How widespread this view is, appears from what Dr. E. B. Tylor tells us of the Indian Archipelago and its superstitions.1
It is a confirmation of the identity of demons and diseases that among all peoples the favourite resorts of demons are damp places, latrines, ovens, ruined houses,' rivers, etc., in the East the most prolific originators of sickness.
Tallqvist2 says that among the Assyrians, demons were named after the diseases due to them. He further tells us Jthat the connection was so close that names of demons and ^corresp'onditTg^ diseases came to be identical.
Demons were among the later Jews supposed to be j capable of being transferred from ' one individual to another, or from human beings to animals. We come across this formula in the Talmud : " May the blindness of M, the son of N, leave him and pierce the eyeballs of this dog."3
D'Alviella4 speaks of the same idea— -that demons were transferred from human beings to animals, stones, etc.
Compare with this Christ's casting out of demons from the man on the east of the Sea of Galilee, and causing them to enter swine in such wise that the swine rushed into the lake and were drowned (Matt. viii. 28 f.; Mark v. 1 ff.; Luke viii. 26 f.; cf. also Mark vi. 25).
Josephus, who was born less than a decade after the death of Jesus, has an interesting parallel to this. In Antiq. viii. 2, 5, he gives an account of a celebrated exor- cist of his time, by name EHezar. He saw him, not only casting out evil spirits, but giving ocular demonstration of
1 " Prim. Cult.," ii. 127. 2 " Assyr. Besch.," p. 17.
3 Gittin, iv. 66* * Hibb. Lect., p. SB £
DEMONOLOGY^ 105
the fact. This Eliezar proceeded thus— and all this the Jewish historian says he " saw ^with his own eyes." He applied to the nostrils of the possessed a ring having attached to it a root which Solomon is made to have prescribed. The demons came out through the same nostrils by which they are alleged to have entered. fThis last is significant, for how many diseases are trace- able to* what is inhaled. As the demons came out, Eliezar caused them to pass into a basin filled with water, which was at once thrown over.
The same superstition as to. the connection of demons and disease obtained among the Egyptians, as I have already pointed out.1
We have before us in the New Testament, phenomena which are upon all fours with what we see among the best known nations of antiquity, and there is no doubt that in all cases we have the same data— disease due to demoniacal influence, and recovery a result of driving out the demon. This is not the place to vindicate the character of Christ in either winking at the ignorance or superstition of His contemporaries, or in being Himself the victim of such ignorance or superstition. This is the task of the theologian, and I do not think it is a very difficult one. I will, however, say this much, that we do not read of Christ's employing such means as exorcists employ. He never counsels the wearing of amulets. He appears even to despise those who do put on such defences as phylacteries, etc. He applies no medica- ment ; He utters no incantation ; He simply speaks the vv ord.
In Acts xix. we have two noteworthy incidents. In
* See Wiedemann, p. 271 ff.
106 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEMONOLOGY
verse 12 we are told that not only was Paul able to cast out demons and heal diseases, but that handkerchiefs and aprons which had been in contact with his body had this same power. This is much like the anti- demoniacal magic which one meets among heathen nations.
In verses 13 — 20, many of those at Ephesus, who practised " curious," i e. {i magical ,9 arts (ncpUpya), brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. We know from other sources, literary and monu- mental, that the Ephesians used such written charms, called £
The formulae were written on leather generally, though some on papyrus, on lead, and even on gold. Those mentioned in the present instance must have been more valuable than leather. They could hardly have cost ^"2000 (50,000 drachmas) unless some were made of gold. Such charms have been dug up from the ruins of Ephesus.
Antichrist.
It appears to me that the Antichrist legend, the seeds of which are to be found in Daniel, where Antiochus Epiphanes is the arch-enemy of God, is part of the same general conception,
In later Judaism the Antichrist appears as Armillus, under which name he often figures in the Jewish fables of the Middle Ages. He is known by this name already in the Targum of Jonathan on Isaiah xi. 4.
In 2 Thess. ii, 1 — 12, and in Rev. xiii. zo, this concep- tion comes prominently forward, Whoever is meant — and emperors, popes, and many others have been put
DEMONOLOGY 107
forward-— it appears to me that we have here the opera- tion of that dualism which was so powerful a factor in the Oriental world, and especially among the Baby- lonians and Persians. It is a pity that Bible expounders so generally regard the conception as a product of the Jewish ' mind alone. It is really part of a very general idea among Eastern peoples.
A shojit and simple account of views respecting cl Anti- christ,' ' or its equivalent in the Bible and among Jews and Christians in later time, may be seen in Findlay's excellent Commentary oh " the Epistles to the Thes- salonians," p, 170 fF. But for a full history of the " Anti- christ Legend," students will consult the able work of Bousset (Englished by A. H. Keane, London, 1896).
Demonology of Josephus.
The great Jewish historian, Josephus, was born a.d. 37 and died a.d. 100, i.e. so near the time of Jesus Christ that his belief may be regarded as sampling the Jewish beliefs of Christ's day.
In Antiq. viii. 2, 5, already referred to, he says that God taught Solomon how demons were to be expelled, a M science useful and sanitative to men." He (Solomon) composed incantations by which demons were exorcised .and diseases healed.
The a root " by which Eliezar drove out evil spirits is very like, if not identical with, that which he describes in Wars,- vii. 6, 3. He calls it " Baaras," probably the Hebrew ttllfQ boara, burning, for he describes it as flame-like in colour, emitting at evening a lightning-like ray. Unless protected by certain drugs, it is fatal to j;ouch it. It must also be carried in a certain way. All
108 MAGIC, DIVINATION, 'AND 0EMONOLOGV
this shows how closely in the mind of Josephus, as in all times and among all peoples, demonology and magic go hand in hand, this last supplying the antidote to the former.
Demonology of rm Pseudefigraphical Writings.
The word Pseudepigrapha (i/rcvScm'ypa^a) is used by many Protestant scholars to designate a number of Greek writings, called mostly after patriarchs, prophets etc., of the Old Testament, such as Enoch, Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Psalms of Solomon, etc. By far the most important of this collection for our purpose is the Book of Enoch, and we shall refer to no other.
In ehs. vi. — xyi., which belong to the ground-work of our existing Book of Enoch, and which Charles dates before b,c. 170, we have a history of the fall of the angels. This came through their lusting after the daughters of men, whom they at length marry, and from whom ;they get children. These children are giants in strength and their wickedness proportionate.
Demons, according to ch. xvi. 1, are the ghosts of those malicious giants gotten of the angels by the daughters of men. These demons, in their disembodied state, are allowed to bring moral ruin among men until the time of the final judgment.
In ch. liv. 6 and ch. lxix^ 5,' which, according to Charles, is eighty or ninety years later than the other part, Satan is set forth as the ruler of a counter kingdom of evil, though one subject to the Lord of spirits. He it was who led the angels astray, and made them subjects of his kingdom.
demonology io9
Demonology in Post-Biblical Judaism.
The Mishna and Talmud fall first to be considered, and this can be done but briefly.
It is indisputable that, as compared with the Gemara,1 the Mishna is very free from magic and demonology. The reason for this is not far to seek.1
The Mishna is almost wholly halachic, i.e. it contains for the most part laws for the government of Jewish persons, homes and communities.
Then, again, it was conceived and put to writing2 at a period when Jews were very exclusive. In later times the Jews settled numerously in Babylon, Persia and Egypt, and contact with other religions would make them broader, and more ready to adopt new principles and practices.
There are, however, in the Mishna, as Joel is compelled to admit, undoubted traces of magic. (See Joel i. p. 57.)
But it is in the Gemara that demonology and magic bulk largely ; and it is particularly interesting to note that what in the Mishna has a natural explanation, is regarded in the Gemara from the magical point of view.
JHPT VV in the Mishna means simply " ;envy," as in Pirqe Abot ii. n : " Envy (jrn ]*y), evil desire, and
1 See supra, 61 f.
2 Whether the Mishna was eVer, as such, put to writing prior to or even during the time of the Amoraim is uncertain. The Amoraim simply quote the tradition ; no MS. of the Mishna is once referred to in either Talmud. Vet it is hardly likely that such an immense col- lection of material should be handed on by word of mouth alone. It has been said that for each part of the Mishna separate scholars were set apart. When, therefore, in the schools of Sural), Pumbadith, Tiberias, etc., the sections of the Mishna were discussed, the text was supplied by the persons appointed to commit the particular part to memory.
1 10 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEMONOL0&1T
hatred of human1 creatures, take men out of the world." Cf. v. 19 : M Envy (>nn VV)i and haughtiness and lust."
In these passages the effect is taken for the cause, just as among the Assyrians and in later Jewish.Jiterature, demons and diseases are identified^
We have in \ the same tract, of the Mishna1 the antithetic phrase rQi& ]ly, which must have been formed by analogy/
In the Talmud, and in other Jewish writings of a later time, \% means "a sickness due to the action of demons." See Levy, sub ^y , for examples.
Magic and demonology reached their highest point among the Amoraim in the time of Abaya (best known of the Pumbaditha teachers) and Raba, who was head of the Machusa Rabbinical SchooL
Abaya acknowledges that he had changed his own opinion as to demoniacal influence. Thus he says,2 formerly he looked upon washing of the hands after meals as needful for cleanliness only ; but later he came to believe it to be necessary in order to remove all traces of contact by evil spirits. Formerly the sin of eating out of a bundle of vegetables consisted in the fact that it showed greediness. But subsequently he came to see that such a bundle contained an evil spirit, and each part taken out of the bundle was injurious for that reason.
Joel, in Heft i. and ii., gives detailed accounts with adequate citations of the magical and demonological beliefs and practices which prevailed among the Jews from the time of the Genera to comparatively modern' times. See also Brecher's compact and interesting book.
I submit here a brief and general statement concerning
1 ji. 9. i Khullin, 105W
DEMONOLOGY III
Jewish demonology'. In this part I am "much indebted to Weber and to Kohut. Full references to authorities are given by these writers.
Evil spirits are called mazziqin (PjpMO), i.e. beings who
injure (p>3). They are divided into two main classes: —