The matter of demons and mediation
requires more detailed attention. First, one has to ascertain why Paul would associate
idols and demons in 10:19-22. As so often with Paul, the Old Testament is the
point of departure. Several texts could have played a formative role here.
Septuagint Ps. 93:4-5 reads: ὅτι μέγας κύριος καὶ αἰνετὸς σφόδρα φοβερός ἐστιν ἐπὶ
πάντας τοὺς θεούς ὅτι πάντας τους θεους τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια ὁ δὲ κύριος τοὺς
οὐρανοὺς ἐποίησεν. Given that 1 Corinthians 8-10 focuses on the exclusive
worship of the one true God and that 8:6 explicitly cites his creation of the
world as the basis for this exclusive worship, it is likely that Paul had Septuagint
Ps. 95:4-5 in mind when composing 1 Cor. 10:19-22 (or at least he was refereeing
a traditional critique of idolatry in which Ps. 95/96 has a key role). The case
for his dependence on the Psalm may be strengthened when we consider that the
Hebrew word behind the Septuagint δαοιμονια
is אֱלֹהִֽים. This has the primary meaning of ‘vain, insignificant, worthless’
(HALOT) and was used pejoratively of the idols of the nations (e.g. Isa. 2:8;
Ezek. 30:13; Hab. 2:18). This fits perfectly into Paul’s denigration of the
idols in 8:1-3 and 10:19. The true God, אֱלֹהִ֑ים, is contrasted with the
useless אֱלֹהִֽים of the nations (which are in a further wordplay אֱלִילִ֥ים, ‘dumb,
mute’; see Hab. 2:18; 1 Cor. 12:2). He appears to use both the Septuagint and
the Masoretic Text traditions as part of his critique of the idol cults.
The second text is Deut. 32:16-17
(cf. Lev. 17:7; Baruch 4:7): παρώξυνάν με ἐπ᾽ ἀλλοτρίοις ἐν βδελύγμασιν αὐτῶν ἐξεπίκρανάν
με ἔθυσαν δαιμονίοις καὶ οὐ θεῷ θεοῖς οἷς οὐκ ᾔδεισαν καινοὶ πρόσφατοι ἥκασιν οὓς
οὐκ ᾔδεισαν οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν. The Song of Moses was a favorite reference for
New Testament writers, and it could hardly have been out of Paul’s consciousness
as he recited the history of the wilderness generation to the Corinthians: God,
the Rock, provides miraculously for his people (Deut. 32:4/1 Cor. 10:4) but
they indulge in idolatry (Deut. 32:20-42/1 Cor. 10:5-10). The critique of
idolatry in the Song is familiar enough, but the mention of demons, שֵּֽׁדִים/δαιμονιος, is of obvious interest. Here, as
in Psalm 95/96, the so-called gods are denigrated: they are not-God. The note
of sacrifice assures the relevance of Deuteronomy 32 for 1 Corinthians
10. It also connects this verse with Septuagint Psalm 105:37 (MT 106:37): καὶ ἔθυσαν
τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτῶν τοῖς δαιμονίοις (Heb. שֵּֽׁדִים).
An even more important connection,
however, is with Septuagint Isa 65:11: ὑμεῖς δὲ οἱ ἐγκαταλιπόντες με καὶ ἐπιλανθανόμενοι
τὸ ὄρος τὸ ἅγιόν μου καὶ ἑτοιμάζοντες τῷ δαίμονι τράπεζαν καὶ πληροῦντες τῇ τύχῃ
κέρασμα. The ‘table for demons’ (τω δαιμονι τραπεζαν) quite clearly forms the
background for Paul’s phrase τραπεζης δαιμονιων in 1 Cor. 10:21. This in turn is
dependent on an earlier reference to demons in Septuagint Isa 65:3: illicit
worship is offered τοις δαιμονιοις α ουκ εστιν. The appearance of this last
phrase in the Septuagint (it is missing in the MT) is difficult to account for
except as a theologically inspired gloss, derived perhaps from Isa. 65:11 via
Deut. 21:17. Although at face value 65:3 could be taken to mean demons simply
do not exist, such a view would ill suit a Hellenistic context in which the
vast majority of Jews and Gentiles alike believed in various spirit beings. It
is far more likely that the Septuagint is making the same point as Paul in 1
Cor 8:1-3: whatever existence the demons/false gods may have, they are unworthy
of worship or the name ‘god’. To the extent that ontological issues may be in
view, the verse would affirm that these spirits have a completely derivative,
contingent existence which is wholly dependent on the creative power of the
living God—an existence which can and will be taken away when their fraudulent claims
to deity are exposed. This appears to be the point of Ps. 82:6-7, ‘I said you
are gods . . . but you will die like men’. (Sean M. McDonough, Christ as
Creator: Origins of a New Testament Doctrine [Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2009], 160-61)
