Where did all the demons come from in Matthew 9:32, 33 and the rest of the NT?

Question

In the OT sickness and such is never ascribed to demons. There are no exorcisms or people "possessed by demons". In fact, even the Satan is only treated as a personal entity a few times. And YHVH's angels are not named as individuals except in a couple of places.

But in the NT, especially the gospels, demons are everywhere and are busily doing all kinds of mischief. For example:

Mat 9:32 As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. Mat 9:33 And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel." Mat 9:34 But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the prince of demons."

What did the original writer of this passage mean by 'demons', and how was it understood by the original readers? What is the history of this idea? Did they think something happened so that now the world is full of demons? Or did some intertestamental writing catch hold so that demonic activity was now thought a given?

Personally I'm inclined to think that it is the scrolls of Enoch that have made demons an NT commonplace but I'd like to hear if anyone has an alternate suggestion.

In particular I'd like to hear thoughts on the origin of the idea of a "ruler of demons" and other authority structures in "the dark side".

Answer 1

Demons, whether good or bad but usually bad, existed in many ancient cultures.The Jewish writings of the Apocalyptic period did expand on the notion of demons, with the Book of Enoch introducing the Watcher angels. The Hebrew word that came to mean 'demons' (shedim) occurs in Deuteronomy 32:17 and Psalm 106:37, but only as false gods to whom sacrifices were made. There are indications that, in popular Hebrew mythology, various diseases and ailments were ascribed to demons. To cure such diseases, it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, at which Wikipedia says the Essenes excelled. What is largely absent is the belief that demons actually take over and possess people.

It is in the New Testament that we learn about demon possession. Jeffrey B. Russell says in The Prince of Darkness, page 45, the essential function of Satan in the New Testament is to obstruct the kingdom of God as long and as thoroughly as he can, with possession as one of his favourite weapons. Ordinarily the demons, Satan's servants, do the actual possessing, though in the Johannine literature Satan does it himself.

Mark's Gospel introduces almost a cult of demon possession, in order to demonstrate the power of Jesus to be able to exorcise them. In Mark chapter 5, Jesus exorcises a whole legion of demons from an unfortunate man. In return, the demons invariably tell us something that proves that Jesus is the Son of God, as in Mark 3:11:

Mark 3:11: And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

The evidence is that belief that demons could enter a person and cause disease was part of the informal culture of the Jews long before the gospels were written, but the Christian notion of demon possession came to the fore with Mark's Gospel, followed in turn by Matthew, Luke and John. Regardless of whether Mark's reports were strictly historical or were simply embellishments of existing tradition, they demonstrated the power of Jesus over demons, who in turn readily acknowledged him as Son of God.