ViaCrucis
Confessional Lutheran
- Oct 2, 2011
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It appears to be earlier than the second-temple period.
Leviticus 17:7 They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
The referenced entity appears to be a goat-like demon.
Deuteronomy also references demons:
Deuteronomy 32:16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
18 Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have forgotten the God who fathered you.
The 2nd Temple period is when Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, and with it brought Greek language and culture to the Levant, thus introducing the Hellenistic concept of the daimon--a generalized word for spiritual, divine, or semi-divine beings--to the Jews. So it was within this context that I'm talking about.
The passages in Leviticus 17:7 and Deuteronomy 32:17 are more complicated than that.
Leviticus 17:7 says they shall not offer their sacrifices to the שָׂעִיר (sa'iyr, "he-goat"), while Deuteronomy 32:17 speaks of sacrifices to the שֵּׁדִים (shedim, "lords" from the root shuwd, "to despoil" "to be strong or powerful"). In both cases I think we can be somewhat confident that what is being spoken of here are things of Canaanite religion--spirits, gods, semi-divine things, etc.
The Septuagint renders Leviticus 17:7 as "offer their sacrifices to vanities" i.e. to "vain [gods]" false gods; while in Deuteronomy 32:17 does choose to render shedim as δαιμονίοις (daimoniois), "daimons".
It would therefore be improper to read the passages from Leviticus and Deuteronomy anachronistically; what is being spoken against is the offering of sacrifice to malevolent desert spirits which were believed in by the surrounding pagan Canaanite religion and culture. Where sacrifices were made to appease these malevolent desert inhabitants. Compare with, for example, the djinn of pre-Islamic Arabia, or other near-eastern desert spirits such as the lilitu (a kind of ancient near eastern version of a succubus).
-CryptoLutheran
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