The following is important as it shows that belief in the yester hara (the evil inclination/impulse) and a supernatural personal Satan are not mutually exclusive:
Plea for Deliverance in 11QPsalmsa (11Q5 xix 1–18)
13 ... סלחה יהוה לחטאתי
14 וטהרני מעווני רוח אמונה ודעת חונני אל אתקלה
15 בעווה אל תשלט בי שטן ורוח טמאה מכאוב ויצר
16 רע אל ירשו בעצמי כי אתה יהוה שבחי ולכה קויתי
13 ... Forgive my sin, O Lord,
14 and purify me from my iniquity. Vouchsafe me a spirit
of faith and knowledge, and let
me not be dishonoured
15 in ruin. Let not Satan rule over me, nor an unclean
spirit; neither let pain nor evil inclination
16 take possession of my bones. For thou, O Lord, art my
praise, and in thee do I hope
. . .
The third and most reasonable explanation for “pain” and
“evil inclination” is that they refer to the types of demonic influence caused
by the “satan” and the “unclean spirit.” The syntax of lines 15–16 suggests מכאוב
is paired with ,שטן and יצר רע with רוח טמאה . It is well attested that demons
were thought to be a source of pain and, thus, a correlation between מכאוב and
a demon (in this case שטן ) in line 15 would not be out of the ordinary. The
relationship between “evil inclination” and a demon (here, רוח טמאה ) is not as
immediately apparent. Yet, since demons are thought to cause pain, and because יצר
רע is associated here with pain, it suggests that “evil inclination,” in this
instance, is listed as an effect of demonic affliction.
The Plea for Deliverance similarly, and, perhaps, more
clearly, attests to the association of יצר רע with the demonic. As Wold
explains, “the yetzer ra in these lines [11Q5 xix 15–16] is not an inward part
of a person, or at least exclusively, but parallel to ‘satan’ and ‘unclean
spirit’ and therefore also an outward force.” Lange describes the inclination
as an indication of demonic influence, stating: “both ‘satan’ and ‘spirit of
impurity’ manifest their rule over the praying person not only by his ‘pain’
but also by his ‘evil inclination’ in the form of his ‘sins,’ ‘iniquity,’ and
‘transgression’.” Lange’s characterization of יצר רע is comparable to the
concept of “demonizing sin” mentioned by others. The point at which Wold and
Lange agree is that, to whatever extent the יצר רע is naturally internal, it is
here associated with the demonic and described in terms of demonic
manipulation. “Pain,” to some degree, is a “personal” feature, yet in this
instance it is caused by demons. So too the יצר רע in Plea for Deliverance is
not entirely an external being (like טמאה רוח ,שטן , or another demon) nor is
it a purely anthropological feature, but rather it is a manifestation of
outward demonic influence. (Michael J. Morris, Warding Off Evil: Apotropaic
Tradition in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Synoptic Gospels [Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 451; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017],
84, 86, 89)
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