Demons

The fragments of the Book of Enoch found among the Dead Sea Scrolls agree to a great extent with Charles’ Book of Enoch which was translated from an entirely different source: texts found in Ethiopia which had been maintained there for many centuries. While they shall not all be cited here, representative of the Enoch literature relating to Genesis 6 events is 4Q202 (or 4QEnb ar), 4QEnochb ar, Col. II, a text which corresponds to 1 Enoch 5:9-6:4 and 6:7-8:1, from TDSS:

“1 [al]l the [d]ays [of their life ...] 2 It happened that wh[en in those days the sons of men increased,] 3 pretty and [attractive daughters were born to them. The Watchers, sons of the sky, saw them and lusted for them] 4 and sa[id to each other: « Let’s go and choose out women from among the daughters of men and sire for ourselves] 5 [sons ». However ...”.

The reconstructions in this translation are corroborated from other scrolls, such as 4Q201 and 4Q204 et al. The offspring which resulted from these unions are later called bastards, for instance in 4Q204, “Exterminate all the spirits of the bastards and the sons of the Watchers”, which seems to have been speaking prophetically.

Source of World's False Religions

To the Greeks, a demon was a spirit-being that was perceived to be a god or goddess. In the New Testament the word is a spirit-being of lesser power and authority than God. The two differing perspectives reflect very well the Biblical assertions concerning the origin of idolatry and false religions. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the Enoch literature it is found that unclean spirits originated with the spirits of bastards, specifically those bastards created by the watchers (fallen angels) when they mixed their seed with other kinds. Paul explains in Colossians chapter 2, and more clearly in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, that these demons are the sources of the world's false religions. Paul says that “whatever the Nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to Yahweh”.

In Psalm 95 verse 5 in the Septuagint, the verse reads “For all the gods of the nations are demons: but the Lord made the heavens.” The King James Version has only idols at that verse. We also see the Greek word for demons at Isaiah 13:21 and 34:14, where the King James Version has satyrs and wild beasts instead.

Existence

That these demons were real spirit-entities was a belief of all of the earliest branches of our race. Today we have a tendency to dispute the existence of such things, and to attempt to explain the unknown by searching for explanations in the natural world as we perceive it to be. Quite often the explanations fall short of the circumstances related by the descriptions of the events in question. While many strange events and apparitions may have a logical explanation in what we may consider to be natural phenomena, there are some that certainly do not, and these accounts are among them. The gospel writers knew the difference between those who had maladies, or diseases, and those who were possessed by demons. In Matthew 8 for example, it is evident that these demons even speak through those people whom they possess.

Notable Events in Scripture

Matthew 4:24 And the report of Him had gone out into all of Suria, and they brought to Him all those being ill with various diseases and those afflicted with trials and those possessed by demons and epileptics and paralytics, and He healed them. 25 And many crowds followed Him from Galilaia and Dekapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and beyond the Jordan.

Recognition of Christ

Matthew 8:29 And behold, they cried out saying “What is with us and with You, O Son of Yahweh? Have You come already, to torment us prematurely?”

The demons recognized who He was, and knew that He was their enemy – obviously we learn from this that even the demons know that it is not the intention of God to convert His enemies.