HomeThe legends surrounding the gods of the ancient nations were extremely complex, often self-contradictory and continually changing. They reflected the rise and fall in the fortunes of the peoples who invented and worshipped them. In many respects the gods were presumed to behave like humans. They bore children, who in turn became gods to be feared. It is possibly this changing nature of the pagan legends which is being referred to in Deuteronomy 32:17, where Moses writes that Israel sacrificed to "new gods, new arrivals ...".
In all the religious systems of the ancient nations around Israel, there was included at least one god of evil, sometimes several such gods. These gods were of considerable importance and were attended by lesser gods who carried out their orders. Many of the myths associated with these gods of evil were about conflicts between them and the gods regarded as good. One of the gods of evil would usually be in charge of the place of the dead, in particular that part of it to which the souls of the wicked were supposed to go. In that place the wicked were thought to suffer all kinds of dreadful torments.
In Egypt, for example, there was the legend of the god Set. He was the brother of the good god, Osiris, and "finally became the incarnation of the spirit of evil, in eternal opposition to the spirit of good" (The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology). It was also said, "all that is in creation and blessing comes from Osiris; all that is destruction and perversity arises from Set". Set became a "kind of devil, enemy of all the gods" and was aided by other lesser gods as his accomplices.
In the Babylonian legends, the underworld came under the rule of Nergal who had by him Namtaru, the god of plague. There were also the genii, good and evil. The evil genii were in two groups. There were those who were supposed to be the souls of the dead who had not been properly buried: "They avenged themselves by tormenting the living". Then there were those from the lower world who "overwhelmed men with disease, inspired them to criminal acts, spread disunion among families".
It was at a time when these legends were believed in Babylon, from which the ancestors of Israel had come, and in Egypt, from which the nation had recently been delivered, that God said through Moses:
"the LORD himself is God in heaven above, and on the earth beneath; there is no other" (Deut.4:39)
and
"I, even I, am he, and there is no God beside me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand." (Deut.32:39)
Many years later, Isaiah, in chapter 46:1, writing against a background of Babylon idolatry, refers to two Babylonian gods, Bel and Nebo. Then in verse 9, the LORD says:
"For I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me." (Isa. 46:9)
In the times of Isaiah, similar legends existed in Persia. In the religion founded by the Persian prophet Zoroaster there were two principal gods:
Of Ahriman it was said that to him "the earth owes the evil instincts which infest it ... and all the misfortunes which ravage the race of mankind". Ahriman was the prince of the deavas. The deavas were described as being "devoted to trickery and falsehood. Their vocation was to thwart all efforts to achieve the good".
It was against the background of these legends in Persia that God said through the prophet Isaiah:
"I am the First and I am the Last; besides me there is no God" (Isa. 44:6)
"I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides me ... I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity, I the LORD, do all these things" (Isa. 45:5-7)
In these verses the LORD takes to himself the responsibility for the conditions under which the human race is now living and to which it has been subjected by him because of sin. There are not two gods, one of good and the other of evil, nor are there any genii or deavas to torment mankind; "there is no other God besides me, a just God and a Saviour" (Isa. 45:21).
Among the pagan nations it was a common practice to name specific demons, deavas, genii and the like, after the afflictions they were supposed to cause. For example, in Mesopotamian literature, plague and pestilence are regarded as agents of Ira, the god of disease. Some commentators (e.g. The Interpreters' Dictionary of the Bible) suggest that such ideas are also found in the Old Testament, Psalm 91:5 - 6 being given as an example. Note particularly the description "the pestilence that walks" as if pestilence is a being. It is suggested that all four elements there, the terror, the arrow, the pestilence and the destruction, are the names of demons found in pagan sources of the time. However, concerning this example and others it is also stated that "All the references to them occur in poetic passages, and it is therefore open to question whether they are really nothing more than were figures of speech".
Figures of speech, such as the personification of abstract ideas and inanimate things, are very common in the Bible (See "Hints and Helps to Bible Interpretation", para 2, page xi in Young's Concordance, 8th Edition, for a long list). In view of the consistent rejection of pagan gods throughout the Old Testament, which would include such ideas as the deavas and the genii, this is the more likely interpretation, since it would be inconsistent for belief in such demons to be upheld. I would take this a stage further and suggest that irony may also be involved. Even if the writers were using words which their readers recognised as the names of pagan gods, it is also clear that the afflictions described were totally subject to the LORD's will and that, hence, the minor gods named after these afflictions were of no account before the Maker of heaven and earth. We shall see similar uses of irony in Chapter 10.
Belief in a god of wickedness has persisted in many cultures down to the present day. Common names for him, taken up from the New Testament (more of that in Chapter 8 and Chapter 9) are the Devil and Satan. He is described as having his own minions who do his bidding, and to whom the term "demons" is sometimes applied. He is also supposed to be in continual conflict with God for the souls of men and women, tempting them to sin and, through his agents, inflicting all manner of ills upon them. Those of whom he takes possession are supposedly subjected to terrible torments in Hell after death.
As can be seen from the earlier descriptions, the roots of all these ideas are to be found in the ancient pagan religions. Those who believe in a supernatural personal devil, with hordes of demons at his command, demons which are supposed to bring various afflictions on mankind, are essentially reverting to pagan ideas over 4000 years old, and firmly rejected in the Old Testament.
Down the centuries there have been, and are today, people who profess to be in league with this mythical devil and his demon agents. There are those who describe themselves as his priests or as witches, and who claim to derive their power from him. Practices described as Black Magic, or the Black Arts, are supposed to be derived from the devil and, together with various anti-Christian practices, come under the general term Satanism. There are other people who, while not wishing to be associated with the devil, nevertheless claim contact with the supernatural and, thereby, powers beyond those of normal human beings. There are, as instances, white witches, fortune-tellers, clairvoyants and spiritualist mediums.
All these groups, in their various ways, correspond with people in the pagan nations of Bible times who claimed special powers from the gods, from the benevolent or the malevolent or both. There were the priests of temples dedicated to the various gods. There were also other groups, known in our English Bibles by a variety of names such as sorcerers, magicians, wizards, witches, charmers, soothsayers, enchanters, necromancers, consulters with familiar spirits, mediums and so on. Each of these groups used different practices by which to deceive those who came to them for advice. Throughout the Bible they are condemned, along with the false gods with whom they claimed to have contact. The following references, of which there are many more, make this clear.
In Deuteronomy 18:9-12, Moses wrote:
"When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire" (that is, as a sacrifice to the pagan gods) "or one who practises witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out before you."
In Isaiah 19:3 there is a proclamation against Egypt:
"The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst; I will destroy their counsel, and they will consult the idols and the charmers, the mediums and the sorcerers."
The word "idol" here is the Hebrew elil, meaning "thing of nought" (see Chapter 8). If that is the nature of Egypt's gods, then their agents listed here must be equally worthless.
In Isaiah 46 and 47, the prophet is pronouncing judgement on Babylon. In 46:1, he refers to Bel and Nebo, gods of the Babylonians. Then in Isaiah 47:11-14:
"Therefore evil shall come upon you ... desolation shall come upon you suddenly ... Stand now with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have laboured from your youth ... You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you ... Behold, they shall be as stubble, the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame ... No one shall save you."
Bel and Nebo were no gods. Those who claimed powers from them were frauds. They could not save themselves from God's judgments, let alone Babylon.
Later, writing at a time when many in Israel had turned away from God to the gods of the surrounding nations, and when, as a judgement, God was going to deliver them into the hand of the King of Babylon, Jeremiah has this to say:
"Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you saying 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon.' For they prophesy a lie to you ..." (Jer. 27:9-10)
There are also New Testament references to such people. There was Simon of Samaria, "who ... practised sorcery" (Acts 8:9) and the Jew, Bar-Jesus (Elymas), described as a "sorcerer" and "a false prophet" (Acts 13:6), and there were the "itinerant Jewish exorcists" at Ephesus (Acts 19:13). All of these were proved, in different ways, to be false. Also at Ephesus, as a result of Paul's preaching and the "unusual miracles" God worked through him, many of the people who had "practised magic" believed the Gospel and burned their books, thereby demonstrating their rejection of the pagan superstitions. The "magic" was what might today be called the "black arts": that is to say, practices associated with the occult, the hidden supernatural world. The people destroyed the books containing the words of the magicians, because they had come to recognise them as false, but "the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed" because that was true (Acts 19:18-20).
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul lists what he calls "the works of the flesh":
"adultery, fornication, ... idolatry, sorcery, ... envy, murders," etc. (Gal. 6:19-21)
This list confirms that these evil things arise from our human nature, the flesh, and not from a supernatural devil, or, indeed, any other supernatural source. It is, therefore, particularly significant that Paul includes "sorcery" in the list, no doubt representative of all occult practices.
In the Bible, all pagan gods, great or small, are rejected as false, together with any powers they, or their human ministers, are supposed to have. The Bible consistently teaches that there is but one God, and the ultimate destiny of humanity belongs to him and him alone. There is no god opposing him, neither a powerful god of evil, nor lesser gods, demons, interfering in the affairs of nations or individuals. These gods do not exist, except in the imagination of those who believe in them. But nor should we underrate such beliefs. There is no doubt that they can be held with deep conviction, and as a consequence can exert extremely powerful, and often evil, influences on the minds of those who accept them.
It was for these reasons that God forbad his people to have other gods (Exodus 20:3-5), or to have anything to do with those who claimed occult powers (Deuteronomy 18:9-14). The same principles are upheld throughout the Old Testament.
Where is one particular point to which we must return. In many pagan religions, it was believed that the spirits of those who met untimely deaths, who had not had a proper burial, or who had been particularly wicked, would not find rest after death. These restless spirits were thought to be capable of inhabiting living people, thereby causing various afflictions. There are people in the world today who believe much the same thing. Some who believe it belong to Christian denominations, and would identify these restless spirits with demons.
The idea arises as part of the broader belief that there is a spirit in man which consciously survives the death of the body. However, the consistent teaching of the Bible is that the state of the dead is one of utter unconsciousness. Upon death, knowledge and thought cease and, according to God's decree, the body returns to the dust of the ground:
"for dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19);
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave, there you are going." (Eccl. 9:10).
The Hebrew word for the grave, the place of the dead, is Sheol. When king Hezekiah's life was spared by God, he prayed:
"Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise you, as I do this day." (Isa. 38:18-19).
The only hope of living again, brought before us in the Bible, is by resurrection from the dead at the return of Christ to the earth (1 Cor. 15:20-23).
Disembodied spirits of the read do not live on, immediately after death, as supernatural beings; nor is it possible for clairvoyants, mediums and such like to contact the dead. Here is Isaiah's verdict on such practices:
"And when they say to you, 'seek those who are mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter,' should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?'" (Isa. 8:19)
with the clearly intended answers "Yes" and "No" respectively!
It follows, also, that there are no restless spirits of the dead wandering around looking for homes in people still alive, and entering in to torment them. Such an idea, like many others associated with demons, owes its origin to pagan imagination and, as such, is nothing to fear except by those who believe it. For those who do, it may then have the same destructive effect on them as it did on people in the ancient world.
Nevertheless, the word "spirit" is frequently used in the Bible in relation to mankind. The last chapter of this booklet examines this and relates it to the alternative description of demons as unclean spirits.
When the word hell appears in an English Bible, either
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