Demons

Oh no! Demons! Horned creatures with long, forked tongues, wielding all sorts of deadly weapons who will torture us in Hell for all eternity!

…Yeah, not quite.

Like with Angel, the term Demon is used a little loosely these days. We typically use the word to describe any malevolent spiritual entity. However, like with their good counterparts, there is more than one type of entity that classifies as a Demon.

The origin of Demon is the Greek word δαίμων, or Daimon, which can refer to a god or spirit in the general sense. Daimon itself likely derived from Daiesthai, a verb for “To divide” in Greek.

Many people will think Demons are the Fallen Angels, and they aren’t wrong to equate the two. The false ‘gods’ mentioned earlier, which many commonly refer to as the Powers and Principalities, fit the bill as they terrorize mankind under the authority of Satan.

Since we already talked about them, let’s instead focus on another type of Demonic entity.

What? There is more than one kind of demon?

There is one thing often associated with Demons that the Fallen Angels are incapable of, and that is human possession. Thus Fallen Angels are not the only kind of Demon one needs to be aware of.

Demonic possession is prevalent throughout the New Testament. There are numerous examples to pull from, ranging from the ever infamous Legion in the Gospels (Matthew 8: 28-32, Mark 5: 1-13, and Luke 8: 26-33) to the woman possessed by a spirit of Python whom Paul ran into in Philippi (Acts 16: 16-24).

The effects possession can have on its host can vary, some inducing sinful behaviors, some causing medical problems such as blindness or bleeding, or even violent, self destructive behavior.

If these malevolent spirits capable of possessing humans are not the same as the Fallen Angels, then what are they?

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.”

Genesis 6:1-4

In Second Temple Jewish tradition and literature, they tied unclean spirits to the flood event in Genesis, associating them with the Nephilim. They go by other titles as well, such as Repha’im, but we shall stick to Nephilim for now.

Who, or what, are the Nephilim?

According to 1 Enoch, a Second Temple Jewish text, the Nephilim were the offspring of the Watchers and human women. Watcher being another title associated with angels.

In chapter 6 of the text, it states the daughters of man were “beautiful and comely”, and the angels “saw and lusted after them.” They then departed from Heaven and slept with some of the human women, who then gave birth to monstrous offspring.

Typically Nephilim are depicted as having been giants, very skilled in the art of war, and were revered. Genesis 6 did state they were known as “the men of renown” afterall.

In truth this common depiction is… mostly true! Goliath in the Old Testament was described as being six cubits and a span (approximately 9 feet) in height (1 Samuel 17: 4) and had been fighting since he was a child (verse 33).

While they weren’t as large as many would imagine them, 9 feet tall is still pretty large, especially compared to the average person at the time.

The Nephilim were often treated as god kings or divine warriors by many cultures. For example, the Epic of Gilgamesh tells the story of Gilgamesh, who was said to be two-thirds god, one-third man, making it probable that he was a Nephilim himself.

Going back to Genesis 6, we all know what happened next, and that was the great flood. The existence of these offspring of both Angels and human women was considered abominable. They were not a part of God’s creation, and they were unnatural to say the least.

Being the children of both immortal and mortal beings placed them in a weird position. Not only that, but 1 Enoch, as well as other appearances of them throughout the Old Testament, make it clear that these hulking men were lovers of bloodshed and war. They consumed far more food than either mankind or the animals, and thus often left the latter two without food. Had things kept going the way they were, mankind would perish. Thus the need for them to be wiped out.

The flood killed many of the Nephilim, but we know that they still walked the Earth after the deluge, of which there are theories as to how they survived. These surviving giants had to be dealt with.

Thus the conquests of Israel came to be, with key figures such as Moses, Joshua, and David leading many battles against them. David himself had wiped out the last of the Nephilim.

So the Nephilim, a race of giant quasi-divine people, are all dead. How does that explain evil spirits that can possess people?

Well what happens when anyone dies? Their spirit is released. The same thing of course happened with the Nephilim, their spirits were released from their bodies and sent to the underworld.

As mentioned earlier, another name used for the Nephilim is Repha’im. The word has three meanings in Hebrew: Giants, shades, and the dead.

Let’s quickly look over a few passages in which Repha’im appears in the original Hebrew text.

“Do you work wonders for the dead?
 Do the departed rise up to praise you?”

Psalm 88:10

In this passage, the Hebrew word for “the departed” is Rephai’im.

“Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
 all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
 all who were kings of the nations.”

Isaiah 14:9

In this passage, “the shades” is Repha’im in Hebrew, and describes them as being rulers when they were still alive.

Deuteronomy 3:11 is just one of many instances in the Bible in which certain kings are referred to as being Repha’im. In particular, this passage is talking about Og of Bashan, who was also believed to be giant in stature.

The restless spirits of dead kings, who were giant in stature. This obviously connects them to the Nephilim of Genesis 6.

Interestingly enough, Phoenician and Ugaritic texts also make mention of the Repha’im (rp’um in their language) as being shades of their great kings within the underworld, who are distinct from the regular human dead. In these texts, the spirits of the Rephai’m fall under the authority of their sun deity, Shapsh.

In the book of Jubilees chapter 10, Satan, referred to as Mastema, is given authority over a portion of the evil spirits, which would’ve included both the Fallen Angels and the Nephilim spirits, while the rest were then cast into the place of condemnation by the Lord.

This is the reason they possess people and cause them to sin. You have the false gods ruling over the nations to sow the seeds for sin on a large scale, and then you have the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim causing people to sin on the smaller, individual level.

But do not fear them, for any true follower of Christ, what can they do to you? The Messiah was to be a new David, and He was. David slew the last of the Nephilim of his time, and Jesus cast out their spirits in His time. Demons of every kind submitted to Christ’s authority, they could not stand against Him.

So dear viewer, rejoice! Listen to God’s teachings, let the Spirit fill you, and follow the example of our savior Jesus Christ! If you do, Demons shall cower before you, because nothing they do can ever beat the power of our Heavenly Father, of Jesus on the Cross, nor of God’s Spirit of Wisdom.