Commenting on the demonology of Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides), Seymour Feldman wrote that:
In Leviticus 17:17, the Israelites are explicitly forbidden
to offer any sacrifices to se’irim, which are usually taken to be some
kind of demon represented by or manifested in goats. In ancient Greece they
were called “satyrs.” A literal reading of this verse can yield the conclusion
that at one time the Israelites believed in such things and made expatiatory
offerings to them, but then the Bible prohibited these sacrifices without, however,
denying the belief in satyrs. Levi will have nothing to do with this interpretation.
The word se’irim connotes demons, which are false
imaginations that caused the Israelites to believe that things which are not
really divine are divine. I think that because the planet Saturn was believed
to have control over demons . . . and the goat is the animal representing
Saturday (as is maintained in astrology), demons were called se’irim, or
goats. . . . (Commentary on the Torah, 158b.)
In this passage Levi clearly connects the belief in
demons to some astrological doctrine about the symbolic representation of Saturn
by goats. The ancient Israelites, uncritically, believing in some false theory
that attributed divinity to the planets, sacrificed to Saturn via his “sacred”
animals, the goats. But this is nonsense, as his commentary upon Deuteronomy
32:17 reveals:
They sacrifice to imaginary entities that they believed
were divine . . . i.e., these [entities] were thought to be gods, but in
reality they didn’t even exist. They were only vain fantasies. . . . Demons don’t
exist at all (Ibid., 242b).
It is not merely that sacrifices to demons are forbidden;
they are forbidden because demons do not exist, and a sacrifice to or blessing
over a nonexistent thing is a “vain” sacrifice or blessing. (The Mishnah explicitly proscribes vain blessings [Mishnah, Berakhot 9:3])
If, then, demons are not the causes of the various kinds
of divination, all of which are proscribed by Scripture, what kind of analysis
are we to give of these phenomena? This question is aggravated by the apparent
acceptance of the phenomenon of divination throughout the Bible. Remember that
the Egyptian wise men also perform several “wonders,” and the Witch of ‘Ein Dor
is described as actually conjuring up Samuel from the grave. Again, it would
seem not that the Bible denies these phenomena but that it just does not
approve of them. On the story of the Egyptian wise men, Gersonides comments as
follows:
I think that these wise men were people, who were well
versed in Egyptian wisdom. This wisdom consisted of magic, whereby strange
deeds were performed that natural methods cannot accomplish. This was done
either by trickling the audience with optical illusions . . . or using natural
devices to produce strange things, which seemed to be like those that are done
by magic; or they actually performed these strange things by magic. . . . To
this very day we don’t know very much about magic, so we don’t think it proper
to say much about it . . . (Ibid., 58c-d).
This passage is interesting if only because it reveals Gersonides’ uncertainly about magic. He is prepared to admit that the Egyptian wise men did have some special skill and that it had to do with magic, but he was not clear on the nature of magic. At any rate, however, he is inclined to interpret this ability as optical illusion: the Egyptian magicians were able to deceive the onlookers into thinking that their rods had been magically transformed into snakes. Nevertheless, the vanity of their pretension was proved by the fact that Aaron’s rod really turned into a snake, which then proceeded to devour the wooden wands of the Egyptian magicians. (Commenting on the demonology of Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides), Seymour Feldman wrote that:
In Leviticus 17:17, the Israelites are explicitly forbidden
to offer any sacrifices to se’irim, which are usually taken to be some
kind of demon represented by or manifested in goats. In ancient Greece they
were called “satyrs.” A literal reading of this verse can yield the conclusion
that at one time the Israelites believed in such things and made expatiatory
offerings to them, but then the Bible prohibited these sacrifices without, however,
denying the belief in satyrs. Levi will have nothing to do with this interpretation.
The word se’irim connotes demons, which are false
imaginations that caused the Israelites to believe that things which are not
really divine are divine. I think that because the planet Saturn was believed
to have control over demons . . . and the goat is the animal representing
Saturday (as is maintained in astrology), demons were called se’irim, or
goats. . . . (Commentary on the Torah, 158b.)
In this passage Levi clearly connects the belief in
demons to some astrological doctrine about the symbolic representation of Saturn
by goats. The ancient Israelites, uncritically, believing in some false theory
that attributed divinity to the planets, sacrificed to Saturn via his “sacred”
animals, the goats. But this is nonsense, as his commentary upon Deuteronomy
32:17 reveals:
They sacrifice to imaginary entities that they believed
were divine . . . i.e., these [entities] were thought to be gods, but in
reality they didn’t even exist. They were only vain fantasies. . . . Demons don’t
exist at all (Ibid., 242b).
It is not merely that sacrifices to demons are forbidden;
they are forbidden because demons do not exist, and a sacrifice to or blessing
over a nonexistent thing is a “vain” sacrifice or blessing. (9)
If, then, demons are not the causes of the various kinds
of divination, all of which are proscribed by Scripture, what kind of analysis
are we to give of these phenomena? This question is aggravated by the apparent
acceptance of the phenomenon of divination throughout the Bible. Remember that
the Egyptian wise men also perform several “wonders,” and the Witch of ‘Ein Dor
is described as actually conjuring up Samuel from the grave. Again, it would
seem not that the Bible denies these phenomena but that it just does not
approve of them. On the story of the Egyptian wise men, Gersonides comments as
follows:
I think that these wise men were people, who were well
versed in Egyptian wisdom. This wisdom consisted of magic, whereby strange
deeds were performed that natural methods cannot accomplish. This was done
either by trickling the audience with optical illusions . . . or using natural
devices to produce strange things, which seemed to be like those that are done
by magic; or they actually performed these strange things by magic. . . . To
this very day we don’t know very much about magic, so we don’t think it proper
to say much about it . . . (Ibid., 58c-d).
This passage is interesting if only because it reveals
Gersonides’ uncertainty about magic. He is prepared to admit that the Egyptian wise
men did have some special skill and that it had to do with magic, but he was
not clear on the nature of magic. At any rate, however, he is inclined to
interpret this ability as optical illusion: the Egyptian magicians were able to
deceive the onlookers into thinking that their rods had been magically
transformed into snakes. Nevertheless, the vanity of their pretension was
proved by the fact that Aaron’s rod really turned into a snake, which then
proceeded to devour the wooden wands of the Egyptian magicians. (Seymour
Feldman, The Wars of the Lord, 3 vols [Jerusalem: The Jewish Publication
Society, 1987], 217-18)
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, The Wars of the Lord, 3 vols [Jerusalem: The Jewish Publication
Society, 1987], 217-18)
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