Chapter 1 Introduction
Humans, therefore live in fear of the spirits, both good and evil, for these control their destiny. Humans, for their part, seek to manipulate the gods to do their bidding. Magic and manipulation become the means.1
The overwhelming majority of premodern interpreters read Psalm 91 as an apotropaic hymn believed to possess antidemonical powers.2 ∵
1 Amulet against Demons
Anyone who studies Psalm 91 will come up against the interesting fact that, already in its earliest interpretations, the psalm has been associated with de mons. Psalm 91 had a long tradition of being linked with the ability to ‘ward off’ demons’. This calls for an explanation. miqqeṭeb yāšūd מקטב ישׁוד צהרים ,For instance, the phrase in Psalm 91:6b ṣohorāyīm ‘from the arrow that flies by [noon]day’, is rendered in the Septu agint as ἀπὸ συμπτώματος καὶ δαιμονίου μεσημβρινοῦ ‘from evil and from the demon of the noonday’.3 By means of this hermeneutical move the text of the psalm becomes a means to protect human beings against demonic threat. Jewish tradition observed a distinction between morning demons, afternoon
1 P.G. Hiebert, Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues, Michigan 1994, 206. 2 M. Henze, ‘Psalm 91 in Premodern Interpretation and at Qumran’, in: Biblical Interpretation at Qumran, M. Henze (ed.), Grand Rapids 2005, 169. ,For detailed treatment, cf. M.E. Tate .ושׁד rather than ישׁוד It is likely that the lxx here read 3 Psalms 51–100 (WBC 20), Waco 1990, 446–459; cf. also G.J. Riley, ‘Midday Demon’, in: DDD, 572–573; and for critical discussion of a demonological interpretation of this verse: H. Kaupel, ‘Qui habitat in adjutorio Altissimi’, Theologie und Glaube 16 (1924), 174–179. Although Kaupel holds a demonological interpretation of Psalm 91 to be unjustified, he cannot deny that the translation and reception of the psalm saw influence by the extensive demonology of Greek religiosity and of post-Biblical Jewish views of demons; see also P. Stamatopoulos, ‘A mis translation or a liberal rendering in Ps. 91/90:6 (LXX)?’, via
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004427891_002 2 Chapter 1 demons and evening demons.4 Quite possibly, that distinction influenced the translation choice in the Septuagint.5 Besides this early (demonological) interpretation of Psalm 91:6, we also find references in the Qumran writings to Psalm 91 in a demonic context. A small manuscript was unearthed from Cave 11 at Qumran that has been labelled 11QApocrPs, which preserves three apocryphal psalms or poems from the first century ce, ascribed to David. These three psalms of incantation are followed by an in-house edition of Psalm 91.6 The Davidic writings contain incantation šēdīm, directly calling upon the name שׁדים al formulae against demons, the of God and interrogating the demons. A brief quotation by way of illustration:
Col. I 2. [Of David. Concerning the words of the spell] in the name of [YHWH …] 3 […] of Solomon, and he will invoke [the name of YHWH] 4 [to set him free from every affliction of the sp]irits, of the devils, [Liliths,] 5 [owls and jackals.] These are the devils, and the pri[nce of enm]ity 6 [is Belial,] who [rules] over the abyss [of dark]ness … Col. IV 5 … [When] Beli[al] comes upon you, [you] shall say to him: 6 Who are you, [accursed amongst] men and amongst the seed of the holy ones? Your face is a face 7 of futility, and your horns are horns of a wre[tch]. You are darkness and not light, 8 [s]in and not justice. [against you] the chief of the army. YHWH will [shut] you 9 [in the] deepest She[ol, …].7
The expressions and vocabulary used bear similarities with later magical texts. It is unclear to what extent these texts pertain to the mainstream of thought at the Qumran community.8 The psalms containing spells might have come into
4 Cf. W.H. Worrel, ‘The Demon of Noonday and some related Ideas’, JAOS 38 (1918), 160–166. See for history of reception: D. Scott-Macnab, ‘The Many Faces of the Noonday Demon’, Journal of Early Christian History 8:1 (2018), 22–42. 5 The Greek translations by Aquila and Symmachus accord with the lxx in interpreting Psalm 91 ‘demonically’. On this, cf. Th. Booij, Psalmen, Vol. III (POT), 115–116; and P. Hugger, Jahwe meine Zuflucht: Gestalt und Theologie des 91. Psalms, Münsterschwarzach 1970, 40. 6 11QapocrPs is not the only manuscript; in the so called ‘hymns against demons’ we find for instance in 4Q511 (fragment 8) also a reference to Psalm 91:1. 7 Fl. García Martínez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English, Leiden 19962, 377. 8 See B.H. Reynolds, ‘A Dwelling Place of Demons: Demonology and Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls’, in: Apocalyptic Thinking in Early Judaism: Engaging with John Collins’ The Apocalyptic Imagination, Leiden 2018, 23–54, who describes the developments of Jewish de monology in the Hellenistic period and shows how they have influenced Qumran’s texts.