Demons – Class 2
Reading: Mark 1:21-28

•	We did not finish last class – so to begin lets review, and complete that class, before looking in more detail at one of the miracles in the Gospel accounts

•	Demon possession language appears to be synonymous with describing mental illness, or physical ailments like blindness/deafness which have no visible cause – today many diseases with the same symptoms can be treated with drugs and therapy
•	Illness blamed on demons is elsewhere ascribed to God (e.g. blindness)
o	OT teaching is that God is the only one who can inflict illness and healing
o	Several passages such as Isa 41:23-24 sarcastically challenge the gods of the nations to do something to prove they exist – the implication being that they do not.
o	Part of an extended theme of the foolishness of the belief in the idols and gods of the surrounding nations
o	This leads to some surprise when we come to the New Testament – is there a contradiction since it now seems these gods do exist

•	Demon language is concentrated in Matt, Mark, Luke and a bit in Acts
o	These are the 4 primary preaching books of the NT. The rest is written to converted believers.
•	Miracles – only occur in areas where people believed in demons – and the types of demons reflect local beliefs
o	Galilee had Canaanite demons
o	Philippi had Greek demons

•	These facts can be explained when looking at history of time – during inter-testamental period Persian and Greek ideas infiltrated the Jews – Apocrypha and other books contain very elaborate speculations on demons based on Gen 6 and other places.
•	People had come to believe in demons
o	Christ is using the language of the day
o	Matt-Luke are using language of audience
•	But the Bible does not endorse these ideas – it does not share the elaborate details about where demons came from etc. 

•	We looked at demon references in rest of NT, outside of Matt-Luke
o	1Cor 8:4-6 – idols/so-called gods do not exist. Some in Corinth ecclesia struggled with this – a hard idea to let go of, hence the accommodating language – like a monster in a child’s room.

1Cor 10:7, 14
•	Warnings against idolatry – uses examples of exodus – will see this in the first miracle too!

1Cor 10:19-21
•	Here we see demons and idols equated. Some say that there were demons behind/in the idols to give them power. This of course contradicts all we know of idols
•	V20 is a OT quote – Deut 32:17 (LXX)
o	V21 – they are not really gods, they are simply idols 
o	V39 – no other gods, only God can wounds and heal

While in OT – another LXX reference
96:4 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is terrible above all gods.
96:5 For all the gods of the heathen are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.

Psa 96:4-5
•	Look in Hebrew – devils/demons = idols
•	Idol here in Hebrew = “nought, nothing”, “worthless” or “no value” (as in Job 13:4)
o	Jer 14:14 (thing of nought), Zech 11:17 (worthless shepherd) also a good xrefs
•	Again we see idol and demon linked – but in a way that indicates that they are nothing.

Back to the NT
-	Will skip 1Tim 4:1 – we looked at this in my Timothy classes last year, and also mentioned it at Manitoulin – if you are taking notes, the links to bear in mind are 1Kings 22:22 and 2 Thess 2:10-11

Will look at James in a moment

Rev 9:20
•	Another clear passage – idols and demons linked – but we are told that they cannot see, hear or walk!
•	Another OT LXX quotation – Psa 106:35-39 – context – the false gods of the nations

One last LXX quotation – we will look at Isa 65 more in a future class as it links quite well to the healing of Legion

Isa 65:3
•	Note what the LXX adds:
65:3 This is the people that provokes me continually in my presence; they offer sacrifices in gardens, and burn incense on bricks to devils, which exist not.

•	This is a very clear indication – whether or not this is a lost part of the original, or simply a reflection of the beliefs of the LXX translators – it shows the attitude to “demons” – they do not exist.

•	Word also occurs in 65:11 – Fortune and Destiny were Canaanites gods

65:11 But ye are they that have left me, and forget my holy mountain, and prepare a table for the devil, and fill up the drink-offering to Fortune. 

James2:19 
•	Tremble - OO - 3 OT occ. in LXX (Job4:15, Dan7:15) The important one is Jer 2:11-13: The verse is saying that a people has stopped believing in one God, and tells the heavens to shudder. 
•	An ironic reference to uselessness of demons and idols – (GB) We have seen that demons and idols are often equavelt terms – think about idols in OT - who, figuratively, "tremble" in the presence of the One True God. e.g. Dagon (1Sa 5:1-4). Idols do tend to totter - Isa 40:20; 41:7, Jer 10:4, 7, Isa 46:1-2
•	(an alternate view): demons = the sick who trembled at the time of their cures in Gospel accounts. These mentally sick had the faith to be cured, but only a handful further responded with the works which a word-based faith should have produced. 

Now look at a miracle – will see it to be constructed as an enacted parable of the entire nation, based on the historical event of the exodus.

Mark 1:21-28
•	Jesus is teaching in a synagogue – he has authority –a reference to the fact that he did not quote other rabbis justify his own teaching.
•	Challenged by a possessed man

Unclean Spirit
•	Luke says – “spirit of an unclean demon” – reflects his Greek audience – “unclean spirit” a Galilean or Jewish term which he is explaining in Greek terms. – we see this in v31 where he explains where Capernaum is, something a Jewish audience would not need to be told.

•	Why Unclean? – Used in law of 
o	Unclean animals to not touch or eat
o	Leprosy
o	Certain discharges of the body
o	Contact made one unclean themselves – a priestly activity to determine cleanness and uncleanness

•	Term also used to describe the inhabitants of Canaan, and especially their idolatry
o	Ezra 9:11
o	Ezek 36:17-18 – Israel becomes unclean by contact
o	Zech 13:2 – unclean spirit equated with removal of idols
o	Unclean animals 

Now see that the language of the possessed man reflects the language of Israel in bondage to Egypt – and wanted to stay that way:

“let us alone” 
•	not in Mark, only in Luke – translated “Ha!” in NASB
•	Only occurrence – Exod 14:12

“destroy us”
•	Only occurrence Deut 1:27 (and Josh 7:7 which cites it)

Israel were in physical and spiritual bondage and possession in Egypt

Ezek 20:7-8
•	context – deliverance from Egypt
•	goes on to describe how God resolves to cleanse them in the wilderness

“holy one”
•	a title referring to Christ – but also associated with the exodus
o	Psa 78:41 – a reference to the angel who accompanied them (also in Hab 3:3)

“know who you are”
•	primary motive for God delivering Israel was so that they would “KNOW” God (Ex 6:7, 10:2).

The language reflects the nation of Israel – possessed by Egyptian idolatry – Acts 7:39-43 – note “works of their hands”, “which you made” – Stephen is saying the nation is just like this.

Imagery continues in the healing:
There is a rebuke – God’s rebuke of Egypt
V26 – a “loud voice”  Exod 11:6, 12:30 -  the cry at the death of first born – Israel’s deliverance accompanied by this
•	Israel was in Egypt, but Egypt was in Israel too – the deliverance should have cast them out.

Exod 14:14 is another link – “Hold your peace” (in KJV) – the Red Sea, and final destruction of Egypt

Finally – the amazement of v27-28 and the news speading reflects the Exodus
•	Exod 15:14-15 (amazed in KJV v15) – other passages too show the surrounding nations hear and are amazed

Conclusions
•	language is linked to Exodus – we know from the OT that the demons/idols of Egypt thet Israel were possessed by did not exist – this is a subtext to Mark as well that on the surface appears to accept the belief in demons, but reading between the lines says the opposite
•	Even on the surface, there is little being told to us here about demons – nothing to base a belief on – we have no idea of what they are.
•	First Century
o	Jews in bondage to sin (e.g. John 8) They denied being in bondage, but they forgot Egypt
o	They wanted Christ to leave them alone – they knew who he was, but would not submit. 
o	He is the Holy one who can free them.
•	Will see that all miracles are like this next class