ITT.
Perhaps no great conqueror ever left behind him a fairer fame than Cyrus the Great. His mighty achieve- ments have been bonie down to us on the voice of the nation which he eleva- ted ; his evil deeds had no historian to record them. What is more, it was his singular honor and privi- lege to be the first Gentile fHend to the people of Je- hovah in the time of their sorest trouble, and to re- store them to the land whence light was to break forth for the illumination of all nations. To this high duty he is called by name by the prophet (Isa. xliv, 28; xlv, 1), and for per- forming it he seems to l>e entitled ** the righteous man'* (xli, 2; xlv, 13). There are also important passages in Jeremiah (xxv, 12 ; xxix, 10 ; xxiii, 7-18) that predict the same event, without mentioning the name of Cyrus as the agent. The corresponding his- tory is found in the books of Daniel and Ezra. The language of the proclamation in Ezra i, 2, and 2 Chron. zxxvi, 22, seems to countenance the idea that he was
DJEMON
640
D^SaONIAC
that enter into men and kill them, unless tbey can ob- tain some help against them ;" and he speaks of their exorcbm by fumi^i^ation (as in Tob. viii, 2, 8). . See also Ant, vi, c 8, 3 ; viii, c. 2, 5. Writing as he did with a odnstant view to the Gentiles, it is not likely that he would ose the word in the other sense, as ap- plied to heathen divinities.
By PhUo the word appears to be used in a more general sense, as equivalent to ** angels," and referring to both good and evil. See Giaht.
III. The New-Testament vriten always use the word in a bad sense when they speak as from themselves. In the Gospels generally, in James ii, 19, and in Rev. zvi, 14, the daemons are spoken of as spuitnal beings at enmity with God, and having power to a£9ict man not only with disease, but, as is marked by the fre- quent epithet *' unclean," with spiritual pollution also. In Acts xix, 12, 13, etc, they are exactly defined as "evil spirits" (rd wivfiara rd, vomipd). They " be- lieve" the power of God " and tremble" (James ii, 19) ; they recognise our Lord as the Son of God (Matt viii, 29 ; Luke iv, 41), and acknowledge the power of his name, used in exorcism, in the place of the name of Jehovah, by his appointed messengers (Acts xix, 16) ; and look forward in terror to the Jud^ent to come (Matt viii, 29). The description is precisely that of a nature akin to the angelic (see Anobl) in knowl- edge and powers, but with the emphatic addition of the idea of positive and active wickedness. Nothing is said either to support or to contradict the common Jewish belief that in their ranlcs might be numbered the spirits of the wicked dead. In support of it are often quoted the fact tliat the demoniacs sometimes haunted the tombs of the dead (Matt, viii, 28), and ttie supposed reference of the epithet oKdOapra^ " un- clean," to the ceremonial uncleanness of a dead body. In 1 Cor. X, 20, 21 ; 1 Tim. iv, 1 ; and Rev. ix, 20, the word Satfwvia is used of the objects of Crentile wor- ship, and in the first passage it is opposed to the word Bi(f (with a reference to Deut. xxxii, 17). So also is it used by the Athenians in Acts xvii, 18. The same identification of the heathen deities with the evil spir- its is found in the description of the damsel having " a spirit of divination" (Trvfvfia irvOwva, or TtvOtavoQ) at Pbilippi, and the exorcism of her as a dsemoniac by Paul (Acts xvi, 16) ; and it is to be noticed that in 1 Cor. X, 19, 20, the apostle is arguing with those who declared an idol to b« a pure nullity, and while he ac- cepts the truth that it is so, he yet declares that all which is ofiiBred to it is offered to a " daemon." See Pythoness. Indeed, it lias been contended that evi- dence is found in the Old Test, to show that daemons who had once been souls of men were the objects of immediate foorehip among the heathens (Deut. xxvi, 14 ; Psa. cvi, 28 ; Isa. viii, 19), and it is in contradis- tinction to these tliat Jehovah is so frequently called "the Hdng God" (Deut. v, 6, etc. etc ; see Farmer*s Essay on the Dcemoniacs^ passim). More particularly,
1. As to their nature, daemons are irvivfiaray or spir- its (comp. Matt viii, 16 ; x, 1 ; xii, 43-45 ; Mark ix, 20; Luke x, 20, etc.). Hence there is ascribed to them intelligence and will (Mark i, 24; Luke iv, 84; James ii, 19 ; iii, 14), as well as great power (Matt viii, 28-32 ; Mark ix, 26 ; Eph. vi, 12). Whether they are to be reckoned as belonging to the class, and as fallen from the original condition of the angels, does not clearly appear from any statement of Scripture. As the messengers and agents of Satan (q. v.), they may be either the one or the other ; but the probability seems to be that they belong to the same class as him- self (see Doddridge, Family Expositor^ i, 83, London, 1799 ; Campbell, Prelim, DisseH. p. 190). He is called the Prinoe of the Daemons ; the daemons whom our Lord cast out are collectively called Satan (Matt xii, 24-29 ; Luke xiii, 16) ; and the phrase ** unclean spir- ite," which is applied to them (Matt, x, 1 ; Mark iii, U ; vi, 7, etc), is applied also to £&llen angels (Rev.