by Brian Godawa
All this is not to say, as liberal scholars and Bible haters say, that Jesus was wrong in his apocalyptic declarations, but rather that, as the spiritual warfare motif of Jesus Triumphant points to, he was both suffering servant and mighty conqueror of a spiritual Armageddon, a covenantal “end of the age,” for a kingdom not of this world, whose effect would ultimately be seen in history.
Caesar and Christ
But even pagans have their Christ prophecies too. It seems everyone wanted to be God. And the Romans were no exception. The language of Augustus Caesar reflected similar concepts of the divinity of their emperor, as the New Testament did of Jesus Christ. Inscriptions on coins and buildings throughout the empire called Augustus, “God, Son of God, Savior.”[17] A famous proclamation of Augustus used phrases such as “savior,” “god manifest,” and “good news [gospel].”
The most divine Caesar…we should consider equal to the Beginning of all things…; for when everything was falling [into disorder] and tending toward dissolution, he restored it once more and gave to the whole world a new aura…and who being sent to us and our descendants as Savior…and [whereas,] having become [god] manifest, Caesar has fulfilled all the hopes of earlier times… and whereas, finally, the birthday of the god [Augustus] has been for the whole world the beginning of good news concerning him [therefore let a new era begin from his birth].[18]
Early and Medieval Church Fathers were so impressed by classical wisdom, they sought to incorporate great Greek and Roman writers into their revealed wisdom of God. Some claimed that Aristotle or Plato were even saved through natural revelation. Augustine told a story in his City of God about a prophecy that was allegedly given by the Erythraean Sibyl to Augustus Caesar, but pointed toward Christ, not Caesar, as the world ruler. As scholar Burke elucidates some of the lines of this prophecy as they appear in Jesus Triumphant,
“In token of judgment, the earth shall drip with sweat.
A king destined to rule forever will arrive from heaven,
present in mortal flesh, in order to judge the world.”[19]
Though these are fabricated legends by well meaning Christians, reading into Greek sibylline literature to bolster their faith, they point up the fact that sometimes, God does use pagans as instruments of prophecy or judgment (Num. 22:21-39; 1Sam. 19:21-24; Isa. 10).
Nephilim and Demons
Demons are a theological problem. Where do they come from? What are they? Why are they almost entirely absent in the Old Testament, and then all of a sudden, there is a flurry of demonic activity and possessions once Messiah comes to Israel? The casting out or exorcism of demons is so frequently linked with Jesus’ proclamation of the Gospel that it seems to be more than a mere symbolic expression of his power over the spiritual world. It is an essential theological component of the New Covenant.
First, just what are demons? We see in the New Testament that they are evil spirits that possess or inhabit the physical bodies of living individuals (Luke 11:24-26), and who are cast out by Jesus and his disciples by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 8:16; Luke 10:17). Their presence sometimes causes physical infirmities like blindness (Matt. 12:22), deafness (Mark 9:17-29), or epilepsy (Matt. 17:15-18), as well as mental insanity (Mark 5:15). Many of them can inhabit one body (Mark 5:9), and bring great strength to the host (Mark 5:4).
But where did these evil spirits come from? In the Old Testament, there is very little explanation of demons. God sends an evil spirit to torment King Saul in 1 Sam. 16:14. Based on Saul’s insane behavior it is safe to say he was most likely possessed by that evil spirit (v. 15-23). 1 Kings 22:22-23 reveals that God sends a “lying spirit” into the mouths of false prophets. Demons? Maybe. But certainly subservient to God’s interests. Even the satan is depicted as a circumscribed servant of God’s will in the Old Testament (Job 1:12). As explained in other Appendices of the Chronicles, pagan idols are sometimes referred to as demonic (Deut. 32:17; Psa. 106:34-37; Lev. 17:7) exposing the spiritual reality behind their earthly façade of graven images and foreign deities.
But other than these few examples, there is a dearth in the Old Testament of the kind of activity we read about in the New Testament, with raging demoniacs being exorcised by Christ and his disciples. It seems like the demons knew that the presence of Messiah was the final countdown of their own demise and they were throwing fits and tantrums. As if the Seed of the Woman was crushing the Seed of the Serpent’s head and the body was wriggling in pain.
But they are never described as fallen angels in the Bible.
What then, are demons and from where do they come?
The church father Origen claimed that there was no clearly defined teaching on their genesis in the early church, but that a significant opinion was that “the devil was an angel, and that, having become an apostate, he induced as many of the angels as possible to fall away with himself, and these up to the present time are called his angels.”[20]
This common Christian idea of the satan and demons as fallen angels is often proof-texted from Isa. 14:12-15, Ezek. 28:12-16, and Rev. 12:4. But as explained in the Appendix to Enoch Primordial, I do not believe these passages apply to a satanic fall from heaven.[21] Isaiah 14 is the likening of the monstrous pride of the king of Babylon to a Canaanite myth of arrogant deities. Nothing about the satan there. And there is no reference to any others joining him either. Ezekiel 28 is a condemnation of the king of Tyre by likening him to Adam’s fall in the Garden, not the satan. This passage also fails to mention anyone in collusion with the arrogant prince. One has to import an alien notion of the satanic fall into these passages through eisegesis.
Lastly, Revelation 12 is not about a satanic fall or war in heaven before the Garden of Eden, or even in some future end of the world scenario. It is an apocalyptic parable that is describing the war of the satan at the incarnation of Christ, his ascension to the throne of authority over all principalities and powers, and his suppression of the satan’s power as the Gospel goes forth into the world.
So in the Bible there is no description of angels falling before the Garden of Eden. There is a satanic “fall” or a “casting out” of heaven (John 12:31) and a “throwing down” to the earth of the satan during the time of Christ (Luke 10:17-20). But that would be too late in the game to explain the few evil spirits in the Old Testament or their presence before the arrival of Messiah. The only other “fall” of angelic beings in the Bible is the Sons of God, the Watchers, in Genesis 6 coming to earth.[22]
But that presents another problem, namely that the ontological nature or “material being” of the angels as revealed in the Bible would seem to preclude these fallen angels from being the Old Testament or New Testament demons. While angels are multidimensional in their ability to traverse between the heavenlies and the earth, they are described as having flesh that eats food (Gen. 18; 19:1), and can have sexual congress with human beings (Gen. 6:1-4). This is a heavenly flesh that is different from human flesh (1 Cor. 15:39-40), but is flesh nonetheless. This would make angels or divine beings such as the Watchers unlikely candidates for incorporeal spirits seeking flesh to inhabit or possess.
There is no origin of demons detailed in the Bible. There is merely a description of their spiritual nature and evil activities. But there is a tradition of their origin that carries some weight beyond mere speculation. Regarding this origin, the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible says, “The most popular myth, however, is found in the Bible, intertestamental literature, the rabbis and the Church fathers: demons are the souls of the offspring of angels who cohabited with humans.”[23] We are right back to that ancient text that keeps rearing its head in the New Testament; the book of 1 Enoch. There we read that the giants had unique ontological status as hybrids of both human and angel. So when they died in the Flood, their spirits became roaming entities seeking bodily possession of humans.
1 Enoch 15:8-16:1
8 “But now the giants who are born from the (union of) the spirits and the flesh shall be called ev
il spirits upon the earth, because their dwelling shall be upon the earth and inside the earth. 9 Evil spirits have come out of their bodies. Because from the day that they were created from the holy ones they became the Watchers; their first origin is the spiritual foundation. They will become evil upon the earth and shall be called evil spirits…12 And these spirits shall rise up against the children of the people and against the women, because they have proceeded forth (from them)… From the days of the slaughter and destruction, and the death of the giants… they will corrupt until the day of the great conclusion, until the great age is consummated, until everything is concluded (upon) the Watchers and the wicked ones.”[24]
Chronicles of the Nephilim assumes this Enochic interpretation in its storyline as the last gasp attempt of the Seed of the Serpent to bite the heel of the Seed of Eve. Needless to say, their head is crushed in that attempt.
Gaia, Satyrs, and Pan
Surely, one of the more apparently outrageous imaginative elements that appears in Jesus Triumphant, in addition to previous Chronicles of the Nephilim, is the depiction of Gaia, the Goddess Earth Mother in the form of an immense tree, and her group of guardians. These guardians include Pan, the satyr goat god, along with the demoness Lilith, her children, and the huge serpent, Ningishzida.
Some may think this inclusion is completely alien to the Bible and its storyline of Christus Victor. That depicting these demonic monsters is theologically jumping the shark.
But they would be wrong. Theologian, correct thyself.
These creatures actually do appear in certain Old Testament texts in the form of poetic allusion to the demonic nature of the pagan world. So Jesus’ ministry of casting out demons from the land of Israel is directly connected to these beings. First, we’ll look at satyrs, then Lilith and Ningishzida.
Take a look at these prophecies of Isaiah referencing the destruction of Babylon and Edom.
Isaiah 34:11–15 (The destruction of Edom)
11But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it… 13Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches. 14And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat (seirim) shall cry to his fellow.
Isaiah 13:21–22 (The destruction of Babylon)
21But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats (seirim) will dance. 22Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.
The passages above speak of God’s judgment upon the nations of Babylon and Edom (symbols of all that is against Israel and Yahweh). A cursory reading of the texts seem to indicate a common word picture of Yahweh destroying these nations so thoroughly that they end up a desert wasteland with wild animals and birds inhabiting them because the evil people will be no more.
Nothing about mythical monsters like satyrs there, right?
Wrong. Because the English translation of the Hebrew word seirim as “wild goats,” obscures the full ancient meaning. If we look closer into the ancient languages, we find a more expanded mythopoeic reference to pagan deities.
A look at the Septuagint (LXX) translation of those passages into Greek made by ancient Jews in the second century before Christ, reveals the hint of that different picture.
Isaiah 34:13-14 (LXX)
11 and for a long time birds and hedgehogs, and ibises and ravens shall dwell in it: and the measuring line of desolation shall be cast over it, and satyrs shall dwell in it…13 And thorns shall spring up in their cities, and in her strong holds: and they shall be habitations of monsters, and a court for ostriches. 14 And devils shall meet with satyrs, and they shall cry one to the other: there shall satyrs rest, having found for themselves a place of rest.[25]
Isaiah 13:21-22 (LXX)
But wild beasts shall rest there; and the houses shall be filled with howling; and monsters shall rest there, and devils shall dance there, 22 and satyrs shall dwell there.[26]
Wow, what a dramatic difference, huh? Of course, the LXX passages above are not in Greek, but are English translations, which adds a layer of complication that we will unravel shortly to reveal even more mythopoeic elements. But the point is made that ancient translators understood those words within their ancient context much differently than the modern bias of more recent interpreters. Of course, this does not necessarily make the ancient translators right all the time, but it warrants a closer look at our own blinding biases.
The LXX translates the word for “satyrs” that appears in these Isaiah passages as onokentaurois, from which we get our word “centaur.” The Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint defines this word as “donkey-centaur, mythic creature (a centaur resembling a donkey rather than a horse).”[27]
In Isaiah 34:14 of the ESV we read of “the wild goat crying to his fellow,” and in 13:21, “there wild goats will dance.” But the underlying Hebrew (seirim) is not about wild goats, but satyrs, that were prevalent in Canaanite religion. Scholar Judd Burton points out that Banias or Panias at the base of Mount Hermon in Bashan was a key worship site for the Greek goat-god Pan as early as the third century B.C. and earlier connections to the goat-idol Azazel.[28]
The Bible writers considered these pagan seirim deities to be demons and thus called them “goat demons.” So prevalent and influential were these satyr gods that Yahweh would have trouble with Israel worshipping them as idols.
Leviticus 17:7
7 So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons (seirim), after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
2 Chronicles 11:15
15[Jeroboam] appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols (seirim) and for the calves that he had made.
Not only did Israel fall into worshipping the seirim in Canaan, they even committed spiritual adultery with them in the wilderness! It is no wonder Yahweh considered them demons, a declaration reiterated in Moses’ own prophecy that after Israel would be brought into Canaan by the hand of God, she would betray Yahweh by turning aside to other gods, redefined as demons.
Deuteronomy 32:17
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.[29]
Siyyim and Iyyim (Demons and Goblins)
Moving back to the prophecies of Isaiah 13 and 34 we find additional spiritual creatures of chaos that are connected to the satyrs. We read of hawks, ostriches, owls, and ravens was well as other unknown animals. But the English translations make it look like they are just more natural animals.
Not so in the Hebrew.
Let’s take a closer look at the Hebrew words behind two more of these strange creatures, “wild animals” and “hyenas.”
Isaiah 13:21–22
21 But wild animals (siyyim) will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. 22 Hyenas (iyyim) will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.
Isaiah 34:14
14 And wild animals (siyyim) shall meet with hyenas; (iyyim) the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place.
The Hebrew for the words “wild animals” and “hyenas” are not readily identifiable,[30] so the ESV translators simply guessed according to their anti-mythical bias and filled in their translations with naturalistic words like “wild animals” and “hyenas.” But of these words, Bible commentator Hans Wildberger says,
“Whereas (jackals) and (ostriches), mentioned in v. 13, are certainly well-known animals, the creatures that are mentioned in v. 14 cannot be identified zoologically, not because we are not provided with enough information, but because they refer to f
airy tale and mythical beings. Siyyim are demons, the kind that do their mischief by the ruins of Babylon, according to [Isaiah] 13:21. They are mentioned along with the iyyim (goblins) in this passage.[31]
The demons and goblins that Wildberger makes reference to in Isaiah 13:21-22 and 34:14 are the Hebrew words siyyim and iyyim, a phonetic play on words that is echoed in Jeremiah’s prophecy against Babylon as well:
Jeremiah 50:39 (ESV)
39 “Therefore wild beasts (siyyim) shall dwell with hyenas (iyyim) in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations.
The Dictionary of Biblical Languages (DBL) admits that another interpretation of iyyim other than howling desert animals is “spirit, ghost, goblin, i.e., a night demon or dead spirit (Isa. 13:22; 34:14; Jer. 50:39), note: this would be one from the distant lands, i.e., referring to the nether worlds.”[32] One could say that siyyim and iyyim are similar to our own play on words, “ghosts and goblins.”
The proof of this demon interpretation is in the Apostle John’s inspired reuse of the same exact language when pronouncing judgment upon first century Israel as a symbolic “Mystery Babylon.” But instead of using the words “wild beasts” and “hyenas,” he uses, “demons” and “unclean spirits.”
