Thursday, April 4, 2024

Joy L. Vaughan on Israelite Perspectives on Demon Possession

  

Ancient Perspectives

 

Israel

 

In ancient Israelite perspective, some strands of evidence point to violent sorts of activities in association with spirits/demons. Beginning with the LXX, Psalm 91:6 LXX refers to demons that cause terror night and day. Enochic literature refers to evil spirits who “afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on earth, and cause trouble . . .” (1 En. 15:8-12). In Jubilees demons cause bloodshed on earth (7:27; 11:5) and seek to destroy Noah’s children to blind and kill them (10:1-2). They are meant for destruction (10:8). In 49:2 demons seem to assist Mastema in killing al the first-born in Egypt. Tobit further realizes the extent of violence possible through its depiction of the demon Asmodeus who kills Sarah’s seven fiancĂ©es. (Joy L. Vaughan, Phenomenal Phenomena: Biblical and Multicultural Accounts of Spirits and Exorcism [Waco, Tex: Baylor University Press, 2023], 137)