Supernatural Religion (Discovering the Reality of Divine Revelation). Walter Richard Cassels

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СКАЧАТЬ in the Epistle to the Hebrews will likewise be remembered, where it is said of the angels: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth for ministry on account of them who shall be heirs of salvation."(1) There was at the same time a singular belief that when any person went into the private closet, the guardian angel remained at the door till he came out again, and in the Talmud a prayer is given for strength and help under the circumstances, and that the guardian angel may wait while the person is there. The reason why the angel does not enter is that such places are haunted by demons.(2)

      The belief in demons at the time of Jesus was equally emphatic and comprehensive, and we need scarcely mention that the New Testament is full of references to them.(3) They are in the air, on earth, in the bodies of men and animals, and even at the bottom of the sea.(4) They are the offspring of the fallen angels who loved the daughters of men.(5) They have wings like the angels, and can fly from one end of heaven to another; they obtain a knowledge of the future, like the angels, by listening behind the veil of the Temple of God in Heaven.(6) Their number is infinite. The earth is so full of them that if man had power to see he could not exist, on account of them; there are more demons than men, and they are about as close as the earth thrown up out of a newly-made grave.(7) It is stated that each man has 10,000 demons at his right hand, and 1,000 on his left, and the passage continues: "The crush on the Sabbath in the Synagogue arises from them, also the dresses of the Rabbins become so soon old and torn through their rubbing; in like manner they cause the tottering of the feet. He who wishes to discover these spirits must take sifted ashes and strew them about his bed, and in the morning he will perceive their footprints upon them like a cock's tread. If any one wish to see them, he must take the afterbirth of a black cat, which has been littered by a first-born black cat, whose mother was also a first-birth, burn and reduce it to powder, and put some of it in his eyes, and he will see them."(l) Sometimes demons assume the form of a goat. Evil spirits fly chiefly during the darkness, for they are children of night.(2) For this reason the Talmud states that men are forbidden to greet any one by night, lest it might be a devil,(3) or to go out alone even by day, but much more by night, into solitary places.(4) It was likewise forbidden for any man to sleep alone in a house, because any one so doing would be seized by the she-devil Lilith, and die.(5) Further, no man should drink water by night on account of the demon Schafriri, the angel of blindness.(6)

      An evil spirit descended on any one going into a cemetery by night.(1) A necromancer is defined as one who fasts and lodges at night amongst tombs in order that the evil spirit may come upon him.(2) Demons, however, take more especial delight in foul and offensive places, and an evil spirit inhabits every private closet in the world.(3) Demons haunt deserted places, ruins, graves, and certain kinds of trees.(4) We find indications of these superstitions throughout the Gospels. The possessed are represented as dwelling among the tombs, and being driven by the unclean spirits into the wilderness, and the demons can find no rest in clean places.(5) Demons also frequented springs and fountains.(6) The episode of the angel who was said to descend at certain seasons and trouble the water of the pool of Bethesda, so that he who first stepped in was cured of whatever disease he had, may be mentioned here in passing, although the passage is not found in some of the older MSS. of the fourth Gospel,(7) and it is argued by some that it is a later interpolation. There were demons who hurt those who did not wash their hands before meat. "Shibta is an evil spirit which sits upon men's hands in the night; and if any touch his food with unwashen hands, that spirit sits upon that food, and there is danger from it."(8)

      The demon Asmodeus is frequently called the king of the devils,(1) and it was believed that he tempted people to apostatize; he it was who enticed Noah into his drunkenness, and led Solomon into sin.(2) He is represented as alternately ascending to study in the School of the heavenly Jerusalem, and descending to study in the school of the earth.(3) The injury of the human race in every possible way was believed to be the chief delight of evil spirits. The Talmud and other Rabbinical writings are full of references to demoniacal possession, but we need not enter into details upon this point, as the New Testament itself presents sufficient evidence regarding it. Not only one evil spirit could enter into a body, but many took possession of the same individual. There are many instances mentioned in the Gospels, such as Mary Magdalene, "out of whom went seven demons" [——]—],4 and the man whose name was Legion, because "many demons" [——]—] were entered into him.(5) Demons likewise entered into the bodies of animals, and in the narrative to which we have just referred, the demons, on being expelled from the man, request that they may be allowed to enter into the herd of swine, which being permitted, "the demons went out of the man into the swine, and the herd ran violently down the cliff into the lake, and were drowned,"(1) the evil spirits, as usual, taking pleasure only in the destruction and injury of man and beast. Besides "possession," all the diseases of men and animals were ascribed to the action of the devil and of demons.(2) In the Gospels, for instance, the woman with a spirit of infirmity, who was bowed together and could not lift herself up, is described as "bound by Satan," although the case was not one of demoniacal possession.(3)

      As might be expected from the universality of the belief in demons and their influence over the human race, the Jews at the time of Jesus occupied themselves much with the means of conjuring them. "There was hardly any people in the whole world," we have already heard from a great Hebrew scholar, "that more used, or were more fond of, amulets, charms, mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of enchantments."(4) Schoettgen bears similar testimony: "Cæterum judoeos magicis artibus admodum deditos esse, notissimum est."(5) All competent scholars are agreed upon this point, and the Talmud and Rabbinical writings are full of it. The exceeding prevalence of such arts alone proves the existence of the grossest ignorance and superstition.

      There are elaborate rules in the Talmud with regard to dreams, both as to how they are to be obtained and how interpreted.(1) Fasts were enjoined in order to secure good dreams, and these fasts were not only observed by the ignorant, but also by the principal Rabbins, and they were permitted even on the Sabbath, which was unlawful in other cases.(2) Indeed, the interpretation of dreams became a public profession.(3) It would be impossible within our limits to convey an adequate idea of the general superstition prevalent amongst the Jews regarding things and actions lucky and unlucky, or the minute particulars in regard to every common act prescribed for safety against demons and evil influences of all kinds. Nothing was considered indifferent or too trifling, and the danger from the most trivial movements or omissions to which men were supposed to be exposed from the malignity of evil spirits was believed to be great.(4) Amulets, consisting of roots, or pieces of paper with charms written upon them, were hung round the neck of the sick, and considered efficacious for their cure. Charms, mutterings, and spells were commonly said over wounds, against unlucky meetings, to make people sleep, to heal diseases, and to avert enchantments.(5) The Talmud gives forms of enchantments against mad dogs, for instance, against the demon of blindness, and the like, as well as formulae for averting the evil eye, and mutterings over diseases.(1) So common was the practice of sorcery and magic that the Talmud enjoins "that the senior who is chosen into the Council ought to be skilled in the arts of astrologers, jugglers, diviners, sorcerers, &c, that he may be able to judge of those who are guilty of the same."(2) Numerous cases are recorded of persons destroyed by means of sorcery.(3) The Jewish women were particularly addicted to sorcery, and indeed the Talmud declares that they had generally fallen into it.(4) The New Testament bears abundant testimony to the prevalence of magic and exorcism at the time at which its books were written. In the Gospels, Jesus is represented as arguing with the Pharisees, who accuse him of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. "If I by Beelzebub cast out the demons [——]—] by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore let them be your judges."(5)

      The thoroughness and universality of the Jewish popular belief in demons and evil spirits and in the power of magic is exhibited in the ascription to Solomon, the monarch in whom the greatness and glory of the nation attained its culminating point, of the character of a powerful magician. The most effectual forms of invocation and exorcism, and the most potent spells of magic, were said to have been composed by him, and thus the grossest superstition of the nation acquired the sanction of their wisest king. Rabbinical writings are never weary of enlarging upon the magical power and knowledge of Solomon. He was represented as not only king of the whole СКАЧАТЬ