demons, namely, the alleviation of human suffer- ing. To give in any detail the points of difference between the general subject of demonology and Gospel demonology would be impossible here, but, when the great mass of facts has been studied, the contrast between the two can be compared only to the contrast between folly and seriousness. Another conviction to which one is compelled in contemplating Gospel demonology in its broad out- lines is that it is connected in the closest possible manner with the subject of sin ; the symptoms of the ' possessed ' in the Gospels are such as are common to humanity, and nobody doubts the accuracy with which these are described ; the real crux arises when their cause has to be determined ; this is ascribed by the compilers of the Gospels to the action of demons, i.e. to an evil agency ; nowa- days the same symptoms are ascribed to different causes — broadly speaking, to ' natural causes ' ; but may it not be that behind both theories there lies a deeper cause, the principle of Evil, occupy- ing a vacant place in individuals which they them- selves have provided by the abandonment of their self-control ? There are cases in the Gospels to which this would not apply, but it is worth taking into consideration in contemplating the subject as a whole. It is well also to remember that the ad- vance of Modern Science, especially in the domain of Psychology, has revealed problems whose most important result is to show how extremely little we know about such things as ' secondary per- sonality,' the ' subliminal self,' ' change of control,' etc. etc. — in a word, how hidden still are the secrets of the region of the supersensuous.
Upon a subject that bristles with so many diffi- culties nobody would wish to dogmatize ; no con- clusion that has been reached is free from serious objections, and the same is the case with that here offered : —
Christ saw in the case of every ' possessed ' victim a result of sin, not necessarily through the co-operation of the victims ; t sin He saw em- bodied in ' Satan,' who is identified with ' demon ' (see above) ; he was the personification of the prin- ciple of Evil, which was manifested in men in a
* Cf. Christ's rebuke to His disciples in Lk 10=".
1 1 1 IS necessary to react Ro 7"-== and 1 Co 10" =2 111"-M, esp.
variety of ways. When Christ ' exorcized ' a 'demon,' He, by His Divine power, drove the evil out, and at the same time obliterated the visible results of sin. When the words and acts of Christ came to be written clown, they were not always understood ; * they were, no doubt, in tlieir broad outlines, correctly reproduced ; but what more natural than that they should be told in accord- ance with the ideas then current ? Not the essence but the form differed from the actuality.
Literature. — Blau, Das atljudische Zauberwesen, Strass- burj;, 189S [most interesting ami useful] ; Brecher, Das Tran- sceiidentale. Magic utul magische Ueilarteil im Talmud, Vienna, 1S50 [for gaining an insight into the connexion between demons and magic, according to Rabbinical notions, this book is indis- pensable] ; Franz Delitzsch, Siistem dcr biblischen Psycholoi/ie, Leipzig, 1855 ; Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus t/w Messiah^ chs. xiv. xxv., London, 1890 ; Eisenmengcr, Entdeckles Judenthum, Dresden, 1893 ; Kohut, in AbhaiuHuniien fur die Kunde des Morgenlatules, vol. iv., issued by the ZDMG, Leip- zig, 1859, etc.; Schubert, Die Krankheiten mid Storungen der vunschlichen Seele ; Stube, Jiidisch-babylonische Zaubertextc Halle, 1895; Trench, Noles on the Miracles'^, pp. 101-175; Weber, Judisehe Theotogie auf Grand des Talmud und ver- wandter Schriften- (esp. § 54), Leipzig, 1897 [this most im- portant work is an improved edition of the earlier System der altsynagogalen palastinischen Theotogie]; Wrede, ' Zur Messiaserkenntnis der Daraonen bei Markus,' in Z^TW, July 1904; Winer, Biblisches Reatworterbuch, Riehm, HWBA, Hastings' DB, the Ency. Bibl., under ' Demon,' etc.
For the subsequent beliefs and superstitions about demons prevalent during the Middle Ages, and even up to the present day, a few references may be given out of a large number of works dealing with the subject : —
In the arts, in JQR by Mr. Conybeare, already referred to, there is an admirable survey of the beliefs of the Church Fathers (viii. pp. 694-G08, ix. pp. 69-72). Another work of M. Maury, who is one of the chief authorities on the subject, is his Croy- ances et legendes du moyen-dge, Paris, 1890. Andrew Lang deals with the psychology of the subject in his Making of Re- ligion, mentioned above ; so too Delitzsch, System . . „ also referred to above. Two other books are, Nevins' Demon Pos- session and allied Themes, New York, 1895 ; and Wall's Deoits, a popular sketch of demons in ecclesiastical art, with good illustrations (London, 1904).
/ W. O. E. OE.STERLEY.
DEN (Mt 21" = Mk ll" = Lk 19^'^ air-^Xaiov [X-gtrTup]; elsewhere in the Gospels only Jn 11^^ to describe the tomb of Lazarus, ^v di o-x^jXaio^). — In estimating the meaning of our Lord's declaration that the Temple had been made a den or cave of robbers, the immediate occasion of the words must be kept in view. It was the feast of the Passover, and the Temple courts were crowded by those who sold sheep, oxen, and pigeons, while the money- changers also carried on tlieir trade. As no trace is found in the OT of such a market existing, it may be supposed it sprang up some time after the Captivity. It woultl plead for justification the needs of the new condition of the nation. Foreign Jews would thus be able to obtain on the spot both the Temple half-shekel required by the Law (Ex 30'^), and also animals necessary for sacrifice, pro- bably with the additional advantage that the latter would have an official guarantee of Levitical fitness for sacrifice, which must purchased elsewhere.