Possessed by Demons

NLT  Matthew 8:28

When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area.

 

Why is this Ponderable?

The term “demon”  derives from the Greek term daimōn, which refers to all sorts of beings, not just ones that are evil. The biblical notion of “demon,” however, refers to malignant supernatural entities who seek to harm humans. This is ponderable because evil demons under the control of Satan, seem more threatening to Christians than to the Israelites. 

Satan confronts Jesus during his 40-day fast in the desert. Demon-possessed men confront Jesus as he enters the region of the Gadarenes. Jesus cures a demoniac by sending a legion of unclean spirits into a herd of swine. When Jesus tells his disciples that he would  be killed, then raised from the dead,  Peter openly rejects this scenario. Jesus retorts, "Get thou behind me Satan." 

The notion of demons, as it existed in the time of Jesus, resembled that of the non-Isrealite Jews of surrounding territories. Demons live in deserts or ruins (Lev. 16:10; Isa. 13:21; 34:14). They inflict sickness on men (Ps. 91:5–6). They trouble men's minds (Saul; I Sam. 16:15, 23) and deceive them (I Kings 22:22–23) – but nevertheless these evil spirits are sent by the Lord.

The mysterious being who attacks Jacob in Genesis 32:25ff. exhibits a trait common to the secular notion associated with demons. They are spirits of the night and must perish at dawn. Even in Israelite popular religion, however, there seems to have been relatively little fear of the spirits of the dead. The Bible often mentions the shades of the dead, but "the congregation of the shades" (Prov. 21:16) carries on a shadowy existence below, and does not seem to trouble the living.

Some features of the Israelite cult bear a formal resemblance to apotropaic measures employed in other religions. Thus, the bells on the robe of the high priest (Ex. 28:33–35) recall the use of bells in other cultures in the belief that their tinkling keeps off demons. So, also, horns (Ex. 19:16; Lev. 25:9; et al.), incense (Lev. 16:12–13), smearing of doorposts (Ex. 12:7), the color blue (Num. 15:38), written scripture-texts (phylacteries; Deut. 6:8; 11:18) – all have parallels elsewhere as devices to ward off evil spirits. In a given case, however, it is often extremely difficult to say to what extent any of these devices were consciously used for protection against demons at a particular period.

Demons in the Dead Sea Scrolls

By the last centuries BC, A great change had taken place in angelology and demonology within Judaism, . In this period, Judiasm safeguarded its monotheistic character, but took on many traits of a dualistic system.  God and the forces of good and truth were opposed in heaven and on earth by powerful forces of evil and deceit.  Ancient mythological themes, and figures from the Bible only potentially demonic, like Satan, were selected to explain the role of evil spirits in the cosmos. These evil spirits are led by a prince, often called Belial, or Satan.

These spirits of good and evil struggle within the human soul, for in this period the role of demons is often conceived of as that of tempting men to evil rather than of inflicting physical harm. As a result, in many passages it is difficult to say whether "spirit" refers to a demon external to man or to a trait within the human soul. Belial is the most common name for the leader of the demons in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It appears in other intertestamental literature and in II Corinthians 6:15.

¹⁵ What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil^[a]? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. 

In the intertestamental literature, Belial is "the spirit of perversion, the angel of darkness, the angel of destruction" and other spirits are subject to him. Mastemah, which as a common noun means approximately "enmity, opposition" in Hosea 9:7, 8 and in some passages in the Five Scrolls, is also a demon.  "Prince Mastemah" in Jubilees (11:5, 11; 17:16; et al.), and in the Damascus Document (16:5).  Watchers (Aram. ʿirin) are mentioned in Daniel 4:10, 14, 20.  According to Genesis 6:2, they cohabited with women before the flood and fathered the race of giants. Asmodeus (Tobit 3:8, 17) is a demon who had slain the first seven husbands of Sarah, who becomes the wife of Tobias son of Tobit.

Demons in the New Testament

New Testament demonology reflects the dualism attested in the sectarian literature from Qumran. Demons are called "unclean spirits" or "evil spirits," as in rabbinic literature. They are believed to inhabit wastelands. Possession by demons causes various sicknesses, especially those in which there is a perversion of the human personality. The demon, not the man himself, directs his acts and speech (Mark 1:23, 26; 9:17–29).

The story of how Jesus cured a demoniac by sending a legion of unclean spirits into a herd of swine (Matt. 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–39) illustrates the persistence of very ancient popular belief, as does the parable of Matthew 12:43–45, in which the unclean spirit, after wandering through the wilderness, takes seven devils with him. On the other hand, in the New Testament lesser demons have little independent personality or power, but are subject to Satan.

The demonic is often presented, not as something occasional and relatively harmless, but as a cosmic reality of great importance; the enemy of God and man (Eph. 6:12). Beelzebul (Beelzebub) is a name applied to the chief demon by both Jesus and his opponents (Matt. 10:25; 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15–19). The spelling Beelzebub reflects identification of Beelzebul with Baal-Zebub, god of Ekron (II Kings 1:2). Possibly there were two different original forms, Beelzebul meaning "Baal is prince" or "Lord of the shrine," and Beelzebub "Lord of flies" (cf. Ugaritic il dbb [in Gordon, Textbook, ʿnt 3:43]).

In the Talmud

Among the accomplishments of both Hillel (Sof. 16:9) and his disciple R. Johanan b. Zakkai was their knowledge of "the speech of the shedim" ("devils," Suk. 28a). The latter also gave the analogy of a ru'ah tezazit ("the demon of madness") entering a man and being exorcised, in order to explain to  heathen the anomaly of the laws of the red heifer. However, he agreed with his wondering disciples that it was but "putting him off with a straw" and that he himself did not accept it (PR 40a; Num. R. 19:4).

Although these statements refer to Erez Israel, the Jerusalem Talmud is markedly free from demonology, and in fact mentions only three general names for them – mazzikim, shedim, and ruhot. A passage in the Babylonian Talmud specifically states that various beliefs connected with demons which were current in Babylon were ignored in Erez Israel. Whereas in Erez Israel they translated shiddah and shiddot (Eccles. 2:8) as "carriages," in Babylon they rendered them "male and female demons" (Git. 68a). The Palestinian R. Johanan stated that the mazzikim which used to hold sway in the world disappeared with the erection of the sanctuary in the wilderness (Num. R. 12:30).

Demonology, however, is more prominent in the Palestinian Midrashim than in the Jerusalem Talmud. Yet the Babylonian Talmud is replete with demonology, reflecting the belief in demons which was widespread in Babylonia. The Babylonian Jews lived in a world which was filled with demons and spirits, malevolent and sometimes benevolent, who inhabited the air, the trees, water, roofs of houses, and privies. They are invisible; "If the eye could see them no one could endure them. They surround one on all sides. They are more numerous than humans, each person has a thousand on his left and ten thousand on his right" and they are responsible for many daily inconveniences.