*' Head - ornaments ' : small leathern ra^ - t o i .- Ia
13110 111.6, Dt OJS 1113" written on par! bound round the head and left arm by nu n ; r
straps. Thiswas done in obedience to the o.ii: .i.: i ii-. The Greek name (^u>.«j:tij;5(«) shows that they ■.. - i. r. _ n I. I us safeguards, t.f. against demons (cf. Mt 235). Both this and the custom just mentioned are observed by all orthodox Jews at the present day.
t Cf. also the distinction in Lk 1332 ;,^aA).4. S»,,i«i..« ««, ,iaus
1 The addition of ««;
.veil attested.
DEMON, DEMONIACS
DEMON, DEMONIACS
441
the generality of cases this was not necessary, and, indeed, we find this to be the case, since in every other recorded instance the word -was sutiicicnt. Then, again, Ueelzebul), tlie prince of the demons, is identified with Satan (Mt IS^-""'", Mk 3=^-^ Lk 1 !"■'», cf. Rev 16"), and Satan liiniself is by name reclvoned among the demons in Lie 10"'-" ; and he is the originator ot sin in man, as sliown by the Tempta- tion, the parable of tlie Tares (Mt 13=^"-), and the sin of JuQas (see especially Lk 22^). The demons are intangible, incorporeal,* and (if one excepts those passages in which Satan is represented as having been seen, e.g. Lk 10'" 4™-) invisible; 'the NT writers believed that the jdiysical constitution of a spirit, whether holy or impure, was akin to vapour.' The demon enters (eiffipx""-'-) a man at will, and he goes out (iiipx"°-^) at will (Lk 11-^), but in most cases he goes out only on compulsion (iK^iWuv) ; lie is also able to take possession of animals (Mk 5'') ; there are good grounds for the supposition that a storm-fiend was believed in, as will be seen by comparing the phraseology of the two following passages: Mk 4™ (weTi/iT]cref tC avijxiji KoX elirev ttj da\daffrj 2iw7ra, Trecpi^uao ; Mk 1*^ iir^Tl- fjLT]{T£i/ aifTtii o^ltjffous X^ywy ^tfxuidijTi. , . .f Desolate places, such as the desert (Lk S-"), or mountainous regions (Mk 5'), or among tombs J (Mk 5"), and waterless places (Lk 11-^), i.e. places to whicli men come onlj' in small numbers or singly, are those for which demons have a preference. They are represented as congregating together (Mk S'*, Lk 8^), sometimes in sevens § (Lk 8^ IP", cf. Rev I'') ; for this reason the plural form is usually employed. In Mk 5" the demons beseech Christ not to send them out of the country ; they are thus able to speak, or, at all events, so to overmaster their victim as to make bis faculties their own (Mk l""). Nothing is said in the Gospels, directly, as to
lions is, II but iitly, a place ICC banished iunt for tlieir in Lk S=':':
where the permanent home of t
the 'abyss' is spoken
whence they could n^
there ; this would, at i
entreaty not to be bn
they clearly realized that .i tiiiic cii ii'iiurni w.is m
store for them (Mt 8""), and thai, tliis u.i mnil mi^lit,
take place before the a]>iKjiiiti(l tiim- (Ml^ ■"'', '-Iv s-^),
and so the sight of Christ filled them with dread.
There is nothing in the Gospels to show that demons were believed to be the unquiet spirits of the wicked departed, and the belief that they were heathen gods is equally absent (cf., on the other hand, 1 Co lO"-'^-^").
(c) Demoniacal possession, demoniacs. — The usual term for this is Sainon^d/xevos (e.rj. Mt 4"), but a number of other expressions for it are found in the Gospels, viz. Sa^ixofiaddi (Mk 5'«, Lk 8™), fij-Spw- TTos iv Tpev/iari aKadaprifi (Mk 1'-'' 5" ^;' = 'in the power of), lx<^v Saifiovia (Lk 8"), di'dpuiros Ix"" Tvev/ia Sai/iOfiov aKadapTov (Lk 4""), ^i/ox^^oi'M-cO! inri Tfevp-aruv aKadapruiv (Lk 6'"), ^Xawd/Jefos dxA toD Sai/ioj-os (Lk 8='), aeX-nviaicadai (Mt 4='').
With but few exceptions those who are said to be possessed are grown-up men ; the exceptions
* Cf. Ignatius (ad Sinym, iii. 2), who tells us that Christ said to His disciples after His resurrection : e>ix t!fj.i httif^onov
t Cf. Conybeare in JQR ix. 460 ; see also an example ot a spell addressed to the storm-cod in Sayce's IJibbeH Lectures, p. 317.
t Cf. the highly interesting inscription, the text ot which is given in Deissmann's Bihetshulien, p. 26ff.
§ Companies of seven evil spirits are not infrequently men- tioned in Assyr.-Bab. incantations, c./;. 'there are seven wicked sons ot the abyss,' which occurs in an incantation to fire ; see Budge's Assijrian Incantations to Fire and Water] cf. also the • seven wicked spirits' in ancient Bab^ionian belief (Sayce, op.
II The 'eternal fire' is, according to Mt 25*1, reserved tor the devil and his angels; but there is no mention of these in Lk 16-iir., where the flame in Hades is spoken ot.
If In the parallel passages there is no mention of the abyss (cf. Mt 831, Mk 51").
are : certain women wlio had been healed of e\ il spirits, and Mary Magdalene (Lk 8-) ; the woman who had been bound by Satan for eighteen years (Lk 13"- '^) ; Peter's wife's mother (see below, Lk 4*-') ; a boy (Lk 9^«) ; and the little daughter of the Syro-Phoenician Moman (Mk 7-^). It is, however, probable that others, besides men, are included in such passages as Mk V-"; Lk 7-'. The sigm of possession may be thus summarized : dumbness (RIt 9^^ Mk 9"*), dumbness and deafness (Mk 9==), blindness and dumbness (Mt 12-), savage fierce- ness (Mt 8=«, Mk 5\ Lk 8=»), abnormal strength (Mk 5\ Lk 8'-'»), falling into the fire and water (Mt 17'=), conxulsioiis (.Mk !-« 9'-», Lk 4^=), raving (Mk 5'), grinding tlie teeth (Mk 9'8), foaming at the nioutli (Lk 9^''- ■■-). These are all .signs of epilepsy (ffeXrifidiccrBai) ; in Mt 4-^ the ffeX-qfta^S/iemt are distinguished from tlie oaipLoini'o/xet'oi.* Fever would also appear to have been regarded as a sign of ijossession, for Christ is said to ' rebuke' (iTrerl- firjcei') the fever, the identical word which is fre- quently used by Him when addressing demons, e.ff. in the next verse but one to the passage in question (Lk 4*'). One other sign of possession must be noted, a man who is ' mad,' in the modern sense of being out of his mind, is said to have a demon; this is said of John the Baptist (Mt 11'*), and of Christ (Jn 10=»).