Demons dwelling in desert places
In Matthew 12:43, Yeshua says the following enigmatic words:
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.
Yeshua talks about evil spirits (“demons” in popular vernacular) actually dwelling in dry places (i.e. deserts), that is places that are virtually devoid of life-giving water and nourishment, inhospitable to human and much of the animal and plant life. Where on earth did he get this amazing piece of insight into the spirit world intermixing with the physical earthly realm? Certainly, the Bible that Yeshua knew doesn’t talk about it anywhere (aside from a cryptic allusion in Isaiah 34:14 – see bottom of this post*) . I’ll tell you where – this, along with many other teachings of Yeshua, appears to be part of the well-developed extra-Biblical Oral Tradition passed along by Jewish sages, a deep well of tradition and wisdom Yeshua was thoroughly familiar with. This is why I was pleased to recently read the following Chassidic discourse that confirmed to me that the strange (to a sola-scriptura and mystic-phobic person, anyway) words of Yeshua about evil being actually dwelling in a desert may not have been all that surprising to hear for his Jewish listeners. Apparently, at least according to Chassidic thought I am quoting below (and one that I find makes sense to me as well), one of the reasons that Israel carried around Mishkan (Tabernacle/Tent of Meeting) in the desert for 40 years was so that Mishkan’s (and G-d’s) awesome presence and holiness counteracted the evil that accumulated in there over thousands of years and saturated every nook and cranny of that parched place.
This is because the desert is symbolic of spiritual desolation, the utter concealment of G-dliness and the resultant existence of an environment hospitable to impurity and evil. In order to pave the way for the spirit of impurity to be removed from the land in the future, in order for the possibility of evil resulting from the concealment of G-dliness in the realm of Asiya (DM: which means “the World of Action” in Jewish mysticism) to be nullified, some “advance work” was necessary. The spiritual purpose of the Jews’ travel throughout the desert, carrying the Ark of G-d and the Ten Commandments it contained, was to bring holiness even within the very source of impurity and evil, represented by the desert.
This is alluded to by the verse: And it came to pass, that when the Ark traveled on, Moses said, “Rise up, O G-d, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.” (Num. 10:35) The “enemies” of G-d, those who “hate Him”, so to speak, are the forces of spiritual darkness and evil. The travels of the Ark through their domain – the desert – scattered them before G-d. (From the teachings of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi; adapted by Yitzchak Wagshul).
* In my search I found that Isaiah 34:14 contains one chilling reference to these desert-dwelling demons, possibly the same sort of evil spirits that Yeshua talked about:
And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there hath the lamia (DM: that is “night-spirit” or “night-monster” in Jewish mysticism) lain down, and found rest for herself. (Douay-Rheims Bible. DM: Most other translations turn this verse into some natural animal phenomena).
There you have it.
Any thoughts on what Yeshua meant here:
“Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
emphasis on “so shall it also be with this wicked generation”
Sure… he meant (in my opinion) that the wickedness of that specific generation was so great that they themselves were like dry deserts (spiritually speaking, that is they didn’t have access to the so called the waters of life, the spirit and holiness that comes from G-d – see Isaiah 12:3 and John 7:37-38) AND that their (spiritual) house will be left desolate per Matthew 23:38 (that is dry as a desert and perfect for re-occupation by evil). This conforms well to the Jewish view of that same generation that I blogged about earlier.
Sort of like an alcoholic not interested in recovery. You can drag them into rehab and dry them out, but the first minute they’re free and hit the streets, they head for the nearest liquor store.
So how does that generation parallel a possessed man who has come clean, only to be repossessed some time later sevenfold? That generation was wicked (possibly he means that any generation that requires a sign is wicked?), so how does it come cleanly swept in the first place to parallel the parable? What’s the significance of Yeshua mentioning seven in this instance as well?
@James
I like your “alcoholic” analogy. Very fitting.
@benicho
Probably Yeshua meant that the spiritual things that generation was doing were superficial and not long-lasting – that is they would cleanse themselves temporarily (ritually?) and then go right back to their sinful ways. Their clean state didn’t last. It’s very similar to Yeshua supernaturally healing a man but then telling him in John 5:14 “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
I don’t know what the significance of “seven demons” is, but it sure would be interesting to research rabbinic literature to see if there’s anything similar.
“Probably Yeshua meant that the spiritual things that generation was doing were superficial and not long-lasting – that is they would cleanse themselves temporarily (ritually?)”
That’s an interesting thought Gene. Or to add—they were a wicked generation because they required miracles (temporary/not long-lasting), they saw firsthand the miracles and required it for belief because they didn’t perceive or understand the words Yeshua was saying. Since they relied on their eyes to perceive righteousness and didn’t understand they were as a cleanly swept house (temporarily) which would later be destroyed for lack of understanding.
But you’re right, the significance of seven more demons would be interesting to look into.
“they were a wicked generation because they required miracles (temporary/not long-lasting), they saw firsthand the miracles and required it for belief because they didn’t perceive or understand the words Yeshua was saying.”
benicho… perhaps a bit unrelated, but somewhat is: what are we to make of the fact that most of the Jews of that generation probably never even so much as heard of Yeshua, especially considering that majority of Jewry at that time lived in Diaspora and only a fraction in the Land? Perhaps Yeshua was referring to the top leadership only, not to the Jewish people as a whole (which makes more sense considering how much support he had among the regular folks he encountered directly and how many mourned his execution).
Another question: what’s so bad about requiring miracles and signs for faith? There are many examples of that very thing in the Bible, are there not?
I’ve been reading Milton Steinberg’s As a Driven Leaf (fabulous book, by the way..I highly recommend it) and the main character, a Jewish man named Elisha, struggles throughout the book to find something that, in my opinion, he had all along in being a Jew. Yet, he walks away from being a Rabbi, walks away from his wife, his home, and his nation, and takes up with the intellectual elite in Antioch, hoping to find “truth” among them.
The real irony in Elisha’s quest is that he should have known better, having tasted the fruit of the Torah, so to speak, and yet disregarded it, which lead to his ultimate downfall. Perhaps this is somewhat similar to what Yeshua was trying to say about his generation; that they had the Torah of Moses and a covenant relationship with God, and yet at least the religious leaders of the day still did not keep faith.
@Gene
Don’t worry Gene I don’t believe he was speaking to all the Jews at all, I’ll try not to bullrush my way through interpretation so much lol. Personally I believe that Yeshua was speaking to all the people that requested miracles. I also believe that Yeshua knew in advance the intent of the hearts of the men who requested to see miracles and that’s why he likely called them wicked. We also see that miracles didn’t always do so much as some of the Pharisees said that he drove demons out by the power of Beezlebub. Could be why miracles weren’t all that important to Yeshua. I also take into mind the whole conversation Yeshua had with Nicodemus.
“what’s so bad about requiring miracles and signs for faith?”
I’m not sure actually… some people saw and believed. As mentioned above I believe Yeshua knew the intent of their hearts. also take note of what he said to Nicodemus “If I have told you people about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”