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Pokaż mi serce nie opętane zwodniczymi marzeniami, a pokażę ci człowieka szczęśliwego.

Greek Vocabulary Concerning Demons
Greek culture had an extensive demonology, and consequently there were many words
used to describe demons and the problems they caused. R. Kotansky, author of the entry on
Demons in The Dictionary of New Testament Background, writes, “The presence of a demon is
felt to be the universal cause of the medical complaint.”18 Archeology has unearthed many
amulets, which were used as protective talismans against demons. “Aramaic uses the verb to seal
as a mode of protection… Greek uses ‘passive’ language of prevention [including] protection
warding off, banishing, and containment.”19 Greek and Semitic cultures used magical practices
including rituals and texts (read aloud) to protect against demons and also to get rid of them.20
Texts like the Magical Papyri describe Greek methods of exorcism. Aramaic and Hebrew
amulets use “ ‘exorcistic’ verbs which mean ‘to shout’ or ‘to rebuke’ to mean ‘to drive away’/
‘to expel’/ ‘to exorcize’.”21 Hence, the concept of exorcism was not new, nor was it unpopular
among Greeks. The daimonia that required exorcism were malicious spiritual beings (sometimes
“the unquiet dead” as I mentioned before) who entered into peoples bodies and prevented them
from going about their normal lives, made them insane, or physically ill.
The Old Testament

18 R. Kotansky, Craig A. Evans, and Stanley E. Porter, ed. Dictionary of New Testament Background. (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2000.) 271
19 Kotansky 272
20 Kotansky 272
21 Kotansky 272


Felder 10
The Old Testament refers to demons, however they are not a central concept.22 Judaism
does acknowledge demons and in several instances they are used to depict the destruction of
Babylon and Rome, also they can be linked to idolatry.23 “The Israelite conception of demons…
resembled in some ways that held elsewhere [i.e. Ancient Near East].”24 There is evidence in
Egyptian culture and Zoroastrianism that people believed in demons and sought to defend
themselves against them with the use of amulets and magical incantations.25 1 Kings (written as
early as the reign of King Josiah and Hezekiah between the eighth and seventh century BCE26),
and 1 Samuel (written as early as 586 BCE during the Babylonian exile27) mention demons28
however, these spirits are not the enemy of God nor are they in opposition to Him. These beings
are the agents of God. This is the major difference between Ancient Near Eastern demons that
the Israelites believed in (such as we see in the Hebrew Bible), and New Testament demons,
which exist in opposition to God in the dualistic context mentioned earlier. This understanding of
demons as agents of God along with angels explains the marginal position of demons in the Old
Testament. God has the ability to provide blessings for men when they please Him, and also
render punishment when they wrong Him. Demons are simply considered a method of delivering
punishment.29
Ethiopic Enoch

22 Kotansky 270
23 Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, ed. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Trans. Geoffrey W.
Bromiley. (Michigan; W. B. Eerdmans, 1985.) 138
24 “Demons and Demonology.” Encyclopedia Judaica. (1972.) 1523
25 Reese 140
26 The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 487
27 The New Oxford Annotated Bible, 398
28 “Demons and Demonology.” Encyclopedia Judaica. 1523
29 Jewish Study Bible, Numbers 22:22, 329


Felder 11
Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion of Persia under the reign of Cyrus the great
when he ended the Babylonian exile of the Jews by taking over in 538BCE.30 This Persian
religion is characterized by a dualism between good and evil.31 In the Old Testament, God is one
being from whom everything (good and bad) comes, whereas Persian dualism has, “two
primordial uncreated Spirits, a Good Spirit (that is, God) and an Evil Spirit.”32 In the Persian
system, the world and its people are caught between these two spirits each battling for supremacy
over it. Some scholars have been struck by the similarities between this Persian religion and the
later Jewish religious sect, the Essences, which produced the Dead Sea Scrolls written around the
second century BCE and later. In Judaism during the last centuries BCE the concept of demons
and demonology underwent radical changes as apocalypticism took root in Jewish communities,