Ghosts, Devils, and Demons in Jewish Tradition

(17) You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

(9) When you enter the land that your God יהוה is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. (10) Let no one be found among you who consigns a son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, (11) one who practices Ov, Yi'doni, or seeks [knowledge] from the dead. (12) For anyone who does such things is abhorrent to יהוה, and it is because of these abhorrent things that your God יהוה is dispossessing them before you. (13) You must be wholehearted with your God יהוה. (14) Those nations that you are about to dispossess do indeed resort to soothsayers and augurs; to you, however, your God יהוה has not assigned the like.

(31) Do not turn to Ov and Yid'oni, to be defiled by them: I יהוה am your God.

(1) Having brought up the dead, Scripture now mentions charmers and wizards , since they purport to communicate with the dead (as it is written in Isaiah, “[seek guidance] of the dead on behalf of the living” [Isaiah 8:19]). charmers [Hebrew: ’ovot] as in “jugs” [Hebrew: ’ovot] [Job 32:19] — this being a major tool of their trade. (2) wizards [Hebrew: yidd‘onim], from “knowledge” [Hebrew: da‘at]. They seek knowledge of the future. Certain empty-headed people have asserted that Scripture would not have forbidden charmers as a form of witchcraft if they were not true. I declare the exact opposite of their words: Scripture has forbidden only that which is false, but has not forbidden the truth. This is borne out by the prohibitions against idols and graven images. Were it not for my unwillingness to enter into a digression, I could elucidate definitive proofs against this practice. (3) Do not turn to learn the art. (4) Do not seek to request their services (as Saul did [I Samuel 28:8]). (5) I am God your God You must seek out God alone. That is why Scripture uses the phrase defiled by them: anyone who turns to or who seeks out these forms of magic defiles his soul, because he detaches himself from God.

(1) At that time the Philistines mustered their forces for war, to take the field against Israel. Achish said to David, “You know, of course, that you and your men must march out with my forces.” (2) David answered Achish, “You surely know what your servant will do.” “In that case,” Achish replied to David, “I will appoint you my bodyguard for life.” (3) Now Samuel had died and all Israel made lament for him; and he was buried in his own town of Ramah. And Saul had forbidden [recourse to] ghosts and familiar spirits in the land. (4) The Philistines mustered and they marched to Shunem and encamped; and Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. (5) When Saul saw the Philistine force, his heart trembled with fear. (6) And Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets. (7) Then Saul said to his courtiers, “Find me a woman who has mastered the craft of Ov, so that I can go to her and inquire through her.” And his courtiers told him that there was a woman in En-dor who is a master of Ov. (8) Saul disguised himself; he put on different clothes and set out with two men. They came to the woman by night, and he said, “Please divine for me by a ghost. Bring up for me the one I shall name to you.” (9) But the woman answered him, “You know what Saul has done, how he has banned [the use of] Ov and yid'oni. So why are you laying a trap for me, to get me killed?” (10) Saul swore to her by the LORD: “As the LORD lives, you won’t get into trouble over this.” (11) At that, the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He answered, “Bring up Samuel for me.” (12) Then the woman recognized Samuel,cSome Septuagint mss. read “Saul.” and she shrieked loudly, and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” (13) The king answered her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up from the earth.” (14) “What does he look like?” he asked her. “It is an old man coming up,” she said, “and he is wrapped in a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel; and he bowed low in homage with his face to the ground. (15) Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me and brought me up?” And Saul answered, “I am in great trouble. The Philistines are attacking me and God has turned away from me; He no longer answers me, either by prophets or in dreams. So I have called you to tell me what I am to do.” (16) Samuel said, “Why do you ask me, seeing that the LORD has turned away from you and has become your adversary?. (17) The LORD has done eSome mss. and Septuagint read “to you.”for Himself-e as He foretold through me: The LORD has torn the kingship out of your hands and has given it to your fellow, to David, (18) because you did not obey the LORD and did not execute His wrath upon the Amalekites. That is why the LORD has done this to you today. (19) Further, the LORD will deliver the Israelites who are with you into the hands of the Philistines. Tomorrow your sons and you will be with me; and the LORD will also deliver the Israelite forces into the hands of the Philistines.” (20) At once Saul flung himself prone on the ground, terrified by Samuel’s words. Besides, there was no strength in him, for he had not eaten anything all day and all night. (21) The woman went up to Saul and, seeing how greatly disturbed he was, she said to him, “Your handmaid listened to you; I took my life in my hands and heeded the request you made of me. (22) So now you listen to me: Let me set before you a bit of food. Eat, and then you will have the strength to go on your way.” (23) He refused, saying, “I will not eat.” But when his courtiers as well as the woman urged him, he listened to them; he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. (24) The woman had a stall-fed calf in the house; she hastily slaughtered it, and took flour and kneaded it, and baked some unleavened cakes. (25) She set this before Saul and his courtiers, and they ate. Then they rose and left the same night.

(1) To not ask a yidaaoni: That we not ask a yidaaoni. And this matter is that the sorcerer puts a bone from an animal, the name of which is yidoaa, into his mouth, and that bone speaks through magic. And [regarding] this animal, the name of which is yidoaa, I have seen in a book from the Geonim (early post-Talmudic authorities) that (see Rashi on Mishnah Kilayim 8:5) it grows with a large cord that comes out of the ground, similar to the cord of squash and pumpkins, its form is like the form of a man in everything — in the face, the body, the hands and the feet — and it is connected to the cord from its navel. And no creature can approach for the cord’s length, since it grazes around it like the length of the cord, and it devours all that it can reach. And when they come to hunt it, they shoot arrows into its cord, until it is separated, and [then] it dies immediately. And in Talmud Yerushalmi Kilayim 8:4, they, may their memory be blessed, said in explanation of “For your covenant will be with the rocks of the field” (Job 5:23), “It is a man of the mountain, and it lives from its navel. If its navel is separated, it does not live.”

The Gemara challenges this (a previous statement in the Talmud that the dead do not feel the pain of others): And is it so that the dead do not know of the pain of others? Wasn’t it taught in a baraita: There was an incident involving a pious man who gave a poor man a dinar on the eve of Rosh HaShana during drought years, and his wife mocked him for giving so large a sum at so difficult a time? And in order to escape her incessant mockery, he went and slept in the cemetery. That night in his dream (Ritva, HaKotev, Maharsha), he heard two spirits conversing with each other. One said to the other: My friend, let us roam the world and hear from behind the heavenly curtain [pargod], which separates the Divine Presence from the world, what calamity will befall the world. The other spirit said to her: I cannot go with you, as I am buried in a mat of reeds, but you go, and tell me what you hear. She went, and roamed, and came back. The other spirit said: My friend, what did you hear from behind the heavenly curtain? She replied: I heard that anyone who sows during the first rainy season of this year, hail will fall and strike his crops. Hearing this, the pious man went and sowed his seeds during the second rainy season. Ultimately, the crops of the entire world were stricken by hail and his crops were not stricken. The following year, on the eve of Rosh HaShana, the same pious man went and slept in the cemetery at his own initiative, and again he heard the two spirits conversing with each other. One said to the other: Let us roam the world and hear from behind the heavenly curtain what calamity will befall the world. She said to her: My friend, have I not already told you that I cannot, as I am buried in a mat of reeds? Rather, you go, and tell me what you hear. She went, and roamed, and returned. The other spirit said to her: My friend, what did you hear from behind the curtain? She said to her: I heard that those who sow during the second rainy season blight will strike his crops. That pious man went and sowed during the first rainy season. Since everyone else sowed during the second rainy season, ultimately, the crops of the entire world were blighted and his crops were not blighted. The pious man’s wife said to him: Why is it that last year, the crops of the entire world were stricken and yours were not stricken, and now this year, the crops of the entire world were blighted and yours were not blighted? He related to her the entire story. They said: It was not even a few days later that a quarrel fell between the pious man’s wife and the mother of the young woman who was buried there. The pious man’s wife said to her scornfully: Go and I will show you your daughter, and you will see that she is buried in a mat of reeds. The following year, he again went and slept in the cemetery, and heard the same spirits conversing with each other. One said to the other: My friend, let us roam the world and hear from behind the heavenly curtain what calamity will befall the world. She said to her: My friend, leave me alone, as words that we have privately exchanged between us have already been heard among the living. Apparently, the dead know what transpires in this world. The Gemara responds: This is no proof; perhaps another person, who heard about the conversation of the spirits secondhand, died and he went and told them that they had been overheard. With regard to the deceased’s knowledge of what transpires, come and hear a proof, as it is told: Ze’iri would deposit his dinars with his innkeeper. While he was going and coming to and from the school of Rav, she died, and he did not know where she had put the money. So he went after her to her grave in the cemetery and said to her: Where are the dinars? She replied: Go and get them from beneath the hinge of the door in such and such a place, and tell my mother that she should send me my comb and a tube of eyeshadow with such and such a woman who will die and come here tomorrow. Apparently, the dead know what transpires in this world.

(1) There is a night when the souls come out of their graves, like on the eve of Hoshana Rabba, when they come out and pray. And two people already went and hid themselves in the graveyard and heard that one was calling to her friend: Let us go and pray together! All of the souls came out and prayed and asked for mercy so that death would not be decreed upon the living, and those who will die that they return from their evil ways, and that they die through minor illness, and about every matter of the living and the dead; and about themselves, to quickly remove judgement from upon them and from upon others - and they told their congregation. The next year on the eve of Hoshana Rabba, two others went and only one virgin didn't come out of the grave, who had died last week. They said: Come out! She said: I cannot, because my father was rich and lost his possessions and buried me without clothing. And they heard that some of the souls said we will not gather together because two have already revealed us to many. Rather, each one of us will pray in the grave, so that the living will not hear and tell the nation. And they became angry at the father and took clothing and clothed that virgin. And when a shroud decays it does not hold back the soul for behold despite body's decay the soul rests in the bones although it departs from dead body as is known that (sorcerers) who raise a spirit bring it by means of dust that absorbed from the dead. It happened that one man didn't see his head's shadow on Hoshana Rabbah's night, so he and his loving ones fasted numerous fasts and gave a lot to tzedakah and lived many years after that as is said "Tzedakah saves from death".

(22) But God was incensed at his going; so a messenger of יהוה took a position in his way to oppose him. He was riding on his she-ass, with his two servants alongside,

(1) I was further shown Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of GOD, and the Prosecutor (lit. satan) standing at his right to accuse him. (2) But [the angel of] GOD said to the Prosecutor, “GOD rebukes you, O Prosecutor; GOD who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you! For this is a brand plucked from the fire.”ba brand plucked from the fire Joshua’s grandfather had been executed by the Babylonians (2 Kings 25.18–21) and his father was exiled (Hag. 1.1; 1 Chron. 5.40–41), but he himself has returned. (3) Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments when he stood before the angel. (4) The latter spoke up and said to his attendants, “Take the filthy garments off him!” And he said to him, “See, I have removed your guilt from you, and you shall be clothed in [priestly] robes.” (5) Then heche Heb. “I.” gave the order, “Let a puredpure I.e., ritually pure. diadem be placed on his head.” And they placed the pure diadem on his head and clothed him in [priestly] garments,e they placed the pure diadem on his head and clothed him in [priestly] garments Joshua has now been rendered fit to associate with the heavenly beings (v. 7); cf. Isa. 6.6–8. as the angel of GOD stood by. (6) And the angel of GOD charged Joshua as follows: (7) “Thus said GOD of Hosts: If you walk in My paths and keep My charge, you in turn will rule My House and guard My courts, and I will permit you to move about among these attendants. (8) Hearken well, O High Priest Joshua, you and your fellow priests sitting before you! For those men are a sign thatfyou! For those men are a sign that Or “you—who are men of significance! For.” I am going to bring My servant the Branch.gthe Branch I.e., the future king of David’s line. See 6.12; Jer. 23.5–6; 33.15–16; cf. Isa. 11.1. (9) For mark well this stone that I place before Joshua, a single stone with seven eyes.hwith seven eyes Meaning of Heb. uncertain. The stone apparently symbolizes the God-given power of the future Davidic ruler; see below 4.6–7. I will execute its engraving—declares GOD of Hosts—and I will remove that country’s guilt in a single day. (10) In that day—declares GOD of Hosts—you will be inviting each other to the shade of vines and fig trees.”

(1).A satan arose against Israel and incited David to number Israel. (2) David said to Joab and to the commanders of the army, “Go and count Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan and bring me information as to their number.”

(1) The anger of YHVH. flared up against Israel; and He incited David against them, saying, “Go and number Israel and Judah.”

In another baraita it was taught that Abba Binyamin says: If the eye was given permission to see, no creature would be able to withstand the abundance and ubiquity of the demons and continue to live unaffected by them. Similarly, Abaye said: They are more numerous than we are and they stand over us like mounds of earth surrounding a pit. Rav Huna said: Each and every one of us has a thousand demons to his left and ten thousand to his right. God protects man from these demons, as it says in the verse: “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; they will not approach you” (Psalms 91:7). Summarizing the effects of the demons, Rava said:
The crowding at the kalla, the gatherings for Torah study during Elul and Adar, is from the demons;
those knees that are fatigued even though one did not exert himself is from the demons;
those clothes of the Sages that wear out, despite the fact that they do not engage in physical labor, is from friction with the demons;
those feet that are in pain is from the demons. One who seeks to know that the demons exist should place fine ashes around his bed, and in the morning the demons’ footprints appear like chickens’ footprints, in the ash. One who seeks to see them should take the afterbirth of a firstborn female black cat, born to a firstborn female black cat, burn it in the fire, grind it and place it in his eyes, and he will see them. He must then place the ashes in an iron tube sealed with an iron seal [gushpanka] lest the demons steal it from him, and then seal the opening so he will not be harmed. Rav Beivai bar Abaye performed this procedure, saw the demons, and was harmed. The Sages prayed for mercy on his behalf and he was healed.