Shalom everyone,
This article is as a result of answering the questions of several enquirers who asked about the topics of demons, evil spirits, ghosts, possessions and exorcisms. The reason why there might be some disjuncture between parts of the overall article, is because it is made up of several answers I gave to people with different questions.
It is also important to point out that Talmidis are advised NOT to study evil, or the wicked actions of wicked people, or pay any mind to the darker side of the spiritual realm – because doing so is mentally and spiritually unhealthy, and counter-productive to the healthy functioning of the human soul.
This article covers several different aspects of the topic:
1. A general look at Yeshua’s healings and exorcisms
2. The Accusation of Yeshua ‘casting out demons in the name of Satan’
3. How the foreign idea of Satan was introduced into Judaism
4. What is your view on unclean spirits and ghosts?
5. How do we explain demon possession?
6. How the original Yahwist Israelite faith dealt with belief in demons
7. How Torah handles possible belief in demons
1. A general look at Yeshua’s healings and exorcisms
One thing you have to remember, is that the gospels were specifically written for a Gentile audience who were former pagans. It would have meant a lot to them that there was a man-god who could overcome demons. The pagan obsession with demons has therefore got passed onto Christianity.
As a result of 1Enoch introducing the concept of demons into Jewish culture, and there being regular contact between pagans and Jews in the late 2nd Temple period, some Jews came to believe that a) sickness was a punishment from God, and b) that serious illnesses were as a result of demon possession, especially mental illness. The original Israelite faith did not agree with either of these two suppositions.
It may have been that Yeshua encountered people who seriously believed these two things – not only the sick person, but also the family of the sick person. Any genuine healer would somehow have to deal with these wrongful beliefs in both the patient and his family. Psychological / mental illnesses (such as epilepsy and some forms of psychosis) would only need someone to understand the human mind to treat them; in the case of epilepsy, it would need a healer who could help the family understand how to deal with it when it reoccurred, and that there were no demons involved. I think that most of the cases of ‘demon-possession’ were about people who were mentally ill.
A traditional healer would go through the rigmarole of setting up the healing, chanting and performing rituals, and speaking secret incantations. Of course, all this would have to be paid for (most ‘healers’ in those days were charlatans). Yeshua did none of these things, which is significant. Christians say it is because he was God, but for someone who does not believe that he was a god, the explanation is simpler. He himself did not believe that demon-possession was the cause of sicknesses, and so kept the mumbo-jumbo to a bare minimum.
There was maybe something he did or said that made people mistakenly think that he was expelling demons, and this maybe got blown up out of all proportion, by word of mouth, into stories of full-blown exorcisms. The long and short of it is that the Israelite faith discouraged belief in demons and evil spirits; it’s only because of 1Enoch and contact with pagan Gentiles that it gained ascendance among some Jewish people. The stories or exorcism in the gospels is purely for the benefit of former pagans, to impress them and convince them of the ‘power of Christ’. I do not believe these stories are true, rather that they are stories that got blown up out of all proportion by people who witnessed the simple way in which Yeshua healed people.
2. The Accusation of Yeshua ‘casting out demons in the name of Satan’
The way this pericope (Mk 3:20-30) is used in the gospels, they make it out to mean that Satan cannot fight against himself – Jesus is accused of casting out demons on behalf of Satan, and Jesus counters that no one who fights against himself can stand.
Someone who is brought up in the Christian tradition will find nothing odd or incongruous about the passage in Mark 3:20-30. For Christians, Satan is the prince and ruler of all demons, the lord of all evil, so this episode presents no conceptual problems. The only thing is, Yeshua was a Jew, and so were his followers, and in ancient Judaism, Satan was not the lord of all evil, or the ruler of a kingdom of evil. In the beliefs of Second Temple Judaism, Satan was an angel who was completely subservient to God, and only acted as the council for the prosecution when souls were judged.
In Mark, Jesus is effectively being accused of sorcery. There are a number of places recorded in the Talmud where Yeshua is mentioned as being a sorcerer and a magician who sought to control demons, and magic is forbidden in the Jewish faith. As we proceed, I will explain why, and why I therefore think that Jesus’s supposed control of demons is a Gentile Christian belief, not an original Jewish one.
For information on how the ancient Israelites understood ghosts and evil spirits, see this article which explains the cultural context of demons.
3. How the foreign idea of Satan was introduced into Judaism
In Yahwism, evil actions are attributed completely to the freely-taken decisions of the individual – every human being has the free will to do either good or evil, and every individual is answerable to God for their own actions. Within every human mind there is the potential to do either good or evil, and the goal of the religious person who loves God, is to conquer that negative side of their own personality and overcome it. This is the type of advice that God gave to Cain – to overcome his evil desires (Gen 4:7).
After the Babylonian Exile, due to the influence of Persian Zoroastrianism, there later developed the belief that evil actions were caused by evil spirits, and so you were not responsible for the evil that you do (and you could claim, ‘the devil made me do it’). The verses in 1Sam 16:14-23 (and certain other places in the Book of Samuel) were redacted after the Babylonian Exile, and they make it appear like evil spirits cause people to do evil things – which is completely contrary to what the original Israelite faith taught. Similarly, in 1Chr 21:1, composed after the Exile, it is Satan who causes David to sin, but in the exact same story in the earlier Yahwist version of the story from before the Exile, 2Sam 24:1, there is no mention of Satan whatsoever. Any mentions of Satan in the Hebrew Bible are later redactions, and would not have appeared in any text composed before the Exile.
It also needs to be said that the very idea of Satan came from Zoroastrianism. That religion is dualistic, which means that it believes the cosmos is ruled equally by a good god (Ahura Mazda), and an evil god (Ahriman). The idea of battles in heaven also came from Zoroastrianism, which taught that the reason why evil exists, and why bad things happen to good people, is because these two gods and their angels are at constant war in heaven. After the return from the Babylonian Exile, Judaism became heavily influenced by Zoroastrianism; the idea of Satan was not native to the Israelite faith – it originated in Zoroastrianism.
In contrast, the prophets teach a God who is sole Sovereign over everything, and there is only peace in heaven (eg Ezekiel chapter 1). In Yahwism, bad things simply happen in life, and God gives you the strength and courage to endure those things that you have no control over with dignity. In Yahwism, there is no need to fear being attacked by evil spirits, because Adonai has full sovereignty over all creation.
4. What is your view on unclean spirits and ghosts?
Regarding ‘unclean spirits’: this type of belief was very much a ‘folk belief’ of its time. The prophet Zechariah criticised the belief in ‘unclean spirits’ (Zech 13:2), but by the New Testament period, it seems to have permeated general everyday belief. At that time, they believed that ‘unclean spirits’ were the cause of physical illnesses and mental illness, and that therefore sufferers needed to be exorcised. Of course, we know today that this is nonsense.
During the period covered by the Hebrew Bible, the Israelites were sometimes tempted to make offerings to ‘wilderness demons’, because they thought that these demons caused sickness – again, Israelites were warned against this practice (Lev 17:7). Yahwist belief is that it is Adonai who has power over all things; therefore, to believe that evil spirits or demons cause sickness is actually contrary to the Yahwist Israelite faith.
Anything in the New Testament that gives credence to the belief that evil spirits do cause sickness, is actually contrary to the stance of Yahwist Israelite belief. The N.T. belief that evil spirits exist, may have been strengthened by pagan beliefs among Gentiles who became Christians. Therefore, stories about Jesus exorcising demons would have had enormous weight amongst Paul’s previously pagan Believers, but were likely fictitious, and never happened.
Amongst Jews of that time period, there was the undesirable belief among some people that, if you became ill, or had some misfortune, then it was your own fault and that God was punishing you – you must have done something wrong to deserve your illness or misfortune. However, a compassionate and godly person would have seen the injustice and heartlessness of this way of thinking. So, as a prophet of God, the real Yeshua would not only NOT have believed in evil spirits (because it was inherently a pagan belief), but also, he would have felt that it showed a lack of understanding of God’s compassion.
As for the existence of ghosts and ‘shades’, the Hebrew Bible accepts that they probably do exist (given how the medium of Eyn-Dor summons Samuel’s spirit for Saul). However, as Yahwists we are forbidden to summon spirits of the dead or speak to them. The main reason for this, is that we are supposed to seek advice and comfort from God, not from spirits of the dead; turning to spirits of the dead is viewed in the same way as turning to pagan gods.
If one defines demons as ‘evil spirits’, whose sole existence is to deliberately cause misfortune, then they do not exist. It is contrary to Yahwist belief. The existence of demons implies that God does not have complete dominion over the afterlife.
So to summarise the general Talmidi attitude to the supernatural: there are some things that we don’t yet understand, and for which science has not yet found an explanation. However, the important point to remember is that the existence or non-existence of these things should not form the basis of decision-making in our lives. Some Talmidis believe in the supernatural, and some don’t.
Angels: if we believe they do exist, then we should not pray to them or worship them; our prayers and worship should be directed to God, and God alone
Unclean spirits and demons: do not exist, since their origin was from pagan religion, and are contrary to Yahwist beliefs about the nature and abilities of God
Ghosts and shades: probably exist, but again, we should not make life-decisions based on their existence or non-existence
5. How do we explain demon possession?
I present the information below with extreme caution – so that your curiosity is sated, but not so much that you dwell on the issue (you will understand why at the end). On the whole, I am certain that most instances of apparent ‘demon possession’ are in reality merely forms of mental illness which cause patients to become violent. However, for those who insist that there are things in some ‘possessions’ that could not be explained by mental illness, there could be another spiritual explanation.
First, I need to present a couple of definitions (according to popular culture):
Satan: lord of all evil, who controls and sends evil, and is equal and opposite in power to God
demons: the minions of Satan, who are sent out to do evil things, to plan evil, cause misfortune, and take possession of people and make them sick or do evil things
By these definitions, Satan and demons do not exist, since in the heavenly realm, God is supreme Sovereign over all, and nothing in the heavenly realm can oppose or fight against God.
Now, if so-called ‘demon-possession’ is describing an actual phenomenon, then it must be something else. I’ll have to explain a few things before I get to the actual answer.
According to the ‘Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs’ (TOT12P), there is a place referred to as ‘the lowest heaven’. From its description there, it has to be what Yeshua called, ‘the Outer Darkness’, and what the ancient Israelites knew as ‘Azza Zeil’ (the Fortress of Shadow).
According to the TOT12P, this is the place where our unrepented sins are removed from us after death, and left behind to remain in the Outer Darkness (this is what is behind the symbolism of the 2 goats on Yom kippur). The purified soul then goes on to heaven, once the soul has felt true remorse for everything bad they have ever done, but not repented of in life. To be brought to a point of remorse, the soul has to experience for themselves, all the hurt and pain they have caused others, but as if they were inflicting this pain on themselves. In other words, whatever suffering that a wicked soul has inflicted on others in life and never felt sorry for, they will experience the very same suffering themselves in the Outer Darkness.
The TOT12P refers to what is removed from the soul as, ‘shadows of sin’ (tselalim in biblical Hebrew). The best way to understand what tselalim are, is to compare them to poisons that are removed from the soul after death, or like dirt that is removed from soiled clothing. They behave like recordings of sinful deeds past – they are things, rather than entities with minds or any purpose of their own.
In the Book of Revelation, these tselalim are what are being alluded to metaphorically when an angel opens the ‘gates of the abyss’ (i.e. the gates of She’ol or the Outer Darkness), and releases the shadows of sins there (Rev 9:1-3). In Revelation, the shadows of these sins are used as a poetic device to describe what has befallen the people of Judah in their physical trials and misfortunes.
Just as a doorway into heaven can be opened up within us by doing good and living a holy way of life, so too can a doorway through to the Outer Darkness be opened within us by living a wicked life. A good person can become better by doing good things, but equally so can a wicked person be affected by these ‘poisons’ by refusing to turn away from wickedness.
The veil between this earthly realm and the spiritual realm is a very thin one, and if, in one particular location, many wicked things take place, the wickedness tears a rift into the Outer Darkness, and the poison that is these tselalim seeps out. Things such as murder, genocide, war, oppression, physical violence, aggravated robbery etc, can rupture the veil between our world and the Outer Darkness.
Like an infection, or like a harmful drug or poison gas, the tselalim can enter and affect human beings, and such a human being might then behave irrationally or even wickedly (and so appearing to be someone who is ‘demon-possessed’).
The only way to protect oneself from being harmed by tselalim is to live God’s ways, and concentrate on learning about good, not evil. By living a life close to God’s Glory, we can be protected by it.
It is also the reason why we are advised not to study evil, or the wicked actions of wicked people, or pay any mind to the darker side of the spiritual realm – so that no crack or rift can ever be opened within us to the Outer Darkness, and so poison us.
A follower of God is instead encouraged to study goodness and holiness, so that only the power of God can surround us and bless us. Just as the walls of cities in ancient times protected their inhabitants from wild beasts, so too can turning our souls and our thoughts towards God and to what is good protect us from spiritual poison, and so forget about these dark things.
That’s basically it. It is never stated openly, but when something bad happens to people, part of the process of healing, and of blessing the lives of victims to enable them to heal, is also so that any cracks through to the Outer Darkness are closed, so that their poison cannot hurt the living (this is one of the unwritten purposes of the ritual to heal communities affected by a murdered person found between towns or cities – the expiation ritual for an unsolved murder, Dt 21:1-9).
I hope that makes sense. It is not demons that actually possess people; it is rather like a psychological sickness caused by spiritual poisons that seep through from the Outer Darkness, in places where wicked things have been done. I think that explaining any more would be unhealthy and spiritually harmful; I would again emphasise that these are things that Followers of God should not dwell on, so that we are closed off from the harm that they can cause.
6. How the original Yahwist Israelite faith dealt with belief in demons
Here is an extract from The Exhortations (Modern Writings passage 7:27, verses 1-34), which I thought you might like to read:
According to the beliefs of many pagan peoples in the ancient world, skin diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, and death were all specifically caused by demons; other instances in life of what Torah describes as ritual unfitness (‘or ‘unwholeness’), were not normally attributed in pagan religion to demonic activity. However, in the world of Yahwist monotheism, there are no such things as demons. To someone who sees demons and devils around every corner, this is an astonishing statement.
In Yahwist belief, there are no such things as devils who were created by an evil being, to purposefully wreak havoc and misery on human beings. Yahwism rejects any belief in supernatural demons, whose purpose is to deliberately do evil, or knowingly cause us harm.
In the opening verses of Numbers chapter five, three types of sick people were to be removed from the camp of the Israelites in the Sinai to a place outside. They were removed, because they were a threat to the holiness of God’s reputation, not because of their illness itself. These people might think, ‘I have been made ill by a demon, therefore God is not a holy God’. There was a concern that they might therefore cause the Presence of God to withdraw from the camp, and in so doing, leave the Israelites vulnerable. The reason for the removal was not because of any danger to human persons, but rather “so that they do not defile the camp of those in whose midst I dwell.”
Having left Egypt – where belief in demons was commonplace – many Israelites may also have carried over a belief in demons and devils into their personal faith. It seems that even a belief in demons was enough to get them removed – remember, it wasn’t ritual unfitness itself that was the problem (otherwise all ritually unfit persons would have been removed). The objectionable part of their condition was the possibility that they – and those around them – might think their afflictions were somehow connected to demons; in true Yahwism, that simply was not acceptable. The clear and present danger to the holy way of thinking was too great, and could only be combatted by physical removal of the afflicted individuals (of course, they would still be cared for outside the camp).
There is a certain range of thought that poses a danger to the fullness of God’s holiness dwelling among us. For the Pharisees and Sadducees, ritual purity were things that you avoided; physical things contaminated you. For those who seek a true understanding of God our living God, there is a realisation that certain ways of thinking push God’s holiness away from us – that certain ways of thinking contaminate you.
Believing that demons and the devil are behind every bad thing that happens to us, causes God’s holiness to withdraw from our lives – just look at how superstitious and judgmental that people who believe in this stuff have become! For example, believing that perfectly natural catastrophes are a punishment from God upon an entire nation, also causes God’s holiness to withdraw – because that’s not how God works in this world. And believing that a particular sickness is a punishment against a certain group of people, also causes the goodness and compassion of God’s holiness to withdraw from our lives.
The evidence that God’s holiness has withdrawn from those people who think like this, is plain for all to see: they become cold, judgmental people who are quick to condemn; they see life as a battle to be fought; they are fearful people who see dark forces behind every corner; and just like the ancient pagan peoples who saw demons behind every minor upset in life, each day becomes a struggle against the fear of the unknown – they become terrified of the future, and wonder, ‘Where is God in all this?’ Believing in demons, and seeing their presence around every corner, causes a person to cease being able to see the presence of God.
In total contrast, knowing that the very Presence of God is to be found in the human help given to those who are sick, actually invites the holiness of God’s Glory to open up to us; knowing that if we are striving to live our lives closer to God’s compassion, then we realise that natural catastrophes are not a punishment – this change in our perspective invites God’s holiness in; and seeing God’s active Presence in the compassion of those who care for the sick and the dying, rather than in the disease itself – this calls forward God’s holiness into our hearts.
The plain, visible evidence of God’s Presence in the lives of those who think this way is this: that those in suffering, trial and pain are greatly moved by the compassion shown by God’s real servants, and are thereby inspired to draw near to God; those who are despised and rejected by society are warmed by the radiant love of God for the shunned and the outcast in the actions of God’s servants, and are filled with renewed faith and awe for God. And the sick and dying who before have known only condemnation, suddenly see forgiveness and kindness in the actions of God’s true servants, and reach out to the living God of mercy.
None of us can dictate to God whom God should and shouldn’t be compassionate towards, for thus says God: “I will show mercy to whomsoever I choose to show mercy, and I will have compassion upon whomsoever I choose to have compassion”. The lesson drawn from these few short verses therefore, is this: think and speak in such a way that God’s holiness draws near to you; and do not think or speak in ways that will drive God’s Presence far from you, because evidence of both will be obvious to those in sore need of God; such people will know whether God is near to you, or far from you, because of what you say and do.
7. How Torah handles possible belief in demons
Generally, the Torah handles the topic by completely ignoring the belief, as if the writer were unaware of any kind of belief in demons or evil spirits.
In the story of Jacob’s Dream (Gen 28:10-22), any suggestion that this might have been a holy place to any other religion is expunged. In contemporary middle-eastern religions of that time, it was the custom to spend a night in a sacred precinct in a temple to find connection to a pagan god. To show the Yahwist view of this experience, Ya`aqov is portrayed not in a sacred place, but in an anonymous and utterly unimportant place, showing that God can be experienced and encountered anywhere. Also, this stopover is unplanned, and the encounter unexpected. The pagan gods are at the beck and call of human beings, and are therefore the invention of human beings, but this shows that God is in control.
In some religions, rivers contain malicious deities and spirits. In the story of Jacob crossing a river to get back to Canaan (Gen 32:22-32), he encounters a heavenly being (not ‘God’). Ya`aqov has already crossed the river several times by this point, making sure that all his family and his herds are safely across. Now he is alone by the river. In pagan European cultures, there were many tales of rivers with a spirit that guarded the rivers. These spirits were often seen by pagans as dangerous to human life – spirits that had to be won over with offerings to allow passage of people and livestock.
However, such a demon-like spirit is completely incompatible with Yahwist beliefs. In a Yahwist culture, everything under heaven is seen as being under the command of God. In our narrative, the being has nothing to do with a river spirit – it does not interfere with anyone or anything else that crosses the river. The literary motif is thus transformed here into a messenger or angel of God. Indeed, Ya`aqov seems to know nothing of the comparable pagan tradition, since the attack is clearly unexpected. Some scholars have concluded that this heavenly being is meant to represent the guardian archangel of the people of Edom, who tries to prevent Jacob from entering the Land. However, Jacob prevails, and the promise of God is fulfilled.
Concluding warning
Once again, I state my initial warning: it is not productive to study evil, or the wicked actions of wicked people, or pay any mind to the darker side of the spiritual realm – because doing so is unhealthy, and counter-productive to the healthy functioning of the human soul.