VI. Apocalyptic Demonology

Demonology is especially well developed in the Jewish apocalyptic writings before and during the time of Jesus. The most extensive and interesting references may be found in the following:

Tobit - about 175 B.C.
I Enoch - about 170-110 B.C.
Jubilees - about 135-105 B.C.
I Enoch - chapts. 37-71 & 91-104 about 95-64 B.C,
Tobit gives an account of an evil spirit named Asmodaeus who had slain the first seven husbands of Sarah, The archangel Raphael saves Tobias, her eighth husband, from this fate by exorcising the demon, Raphael's magic powers resided in the use of the heart and liver of a fish:
[Tobias] remembered what Raphael had said, and took the ashes of the incense and put the heart and the liver of the fish on them and made a smoke. And when the demon smelled the smoke, he fled to the farthest parts of Upper Egypt, and the angel bound him there.(18)
I Enoch, which often refers to demonology, is made up of many small sections written by different authors at different times; thus many of the stories are at variance with each other. In one of several stories about the origins of evil, Semjaza and Azalellead a conspiracy of angels who descend to the earth and marry the daughters of men, The offspring of this marriage are giants, and the offspring, in turn, of the giants are tl1e evil spirits which are to plague mankind until the final judgment, when they will be destroyed, (This story is an elaboration upon Genesis 6:2-5, where the "sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all.") In two accounts of the fall of the angels (those of I Enoch chapters 21 and 86) the fall was similar to that of a star. Such an idea may well be represented in the following words of Jesus in Luke 10:18­
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Although Satan is one of the figures among the fallen angels during the stories of I Enoch, he is far from the dominant one. At various times one finds Semjaza, Azalel, and whole classes of Satans ruling over the forces of evil.

The most important contribution of I Enoch to the demonology of Jesus is the prediction of the destruction of Satan's kingdom by the Messiah. This is so important that we shall quote two references:
And Michael, and Gabriel, and Raphael, and Phanuel shall take hold of them on that great day, and cast them on that day into the burning furnace, that the Lord of Spirits may take vengeance on them for their unrighteousness in becoming sub­ject to Satan and leading astray those who dwell on the earth,'.
And he sat on the throne of his glory,
And the sum of judgment was given unto the Son of Man,
And he caused the sinners to pass away and be destroyed from off the face of the earth,
And those who have led the world astray.
With chains shall they be bound,
And in their assemblage-place of destruction shall they be imprisoned,
And all their works vanish from the face of the earth.(20)
Jubilees often echoes the ideas of Enoch, including an account of the fall of the angels and the presence of a tempter who opposes God and is called alternately Mastema and Satan. The most important idea relating to Jesus is the following eschatological prediction:
And all their days they will complete and live in peace and in joy,
And there will be no Satan nor any evil destroyer;
For all their days will be days of blessing and healing.
And at that time the Lord will heal his servants
And they will rise up and see great peace,
And drive out their adversaries."(21)
This passage is unique in its prediction not only of the destruction of Satan, but also of the healing of all disease. Apparently Messianic expectation of each of these was current at the time of Jesus. Whether or not they were equated (demons causing disease) is much more debatable.

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18. The Apocrypha, translated by E. Goodspeed (New York, 1959), p. 121.
19. I Enoch translated by R. H. Charles (Oxford, 1912), chapter 54, verse 6.
20. I Enoch 69:27-28.
21. Jubilees, translated by R. H. Charles (London, 1902), chapter 23, verses 29 and 30.

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