Angels, Demons and all the Hosts

ANGELS, DEMONS AND ALL THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
M. M. NINAN
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idolatrous (comp. II Kings 21. 6; II Chron. 33. 6). Nor is there any doubt expressed as to the
actual potency of magic, and the magician, who may misuse it, is accordingly feared and abhorred
(Micah 5. 11/12; Jer. 27. 9; Ex. 22. 17-23; et al.)”. In the Apocryphal books the magic
and witchcraft is presented in full detail. “According to the Book of Enoch (9. 7), the angels
taught the daughters of men "incantations, exorcisms, and the cutting of roots, and revealed
to them healing plants" (comp. 8. 1 et seq. with 7. 6, 9. 8; 10. 7-8 with 13. 2, 16. 3.). The
heart, liver, and gall are magic agencies, and the blind Tobit recovers his sight when his eyes
are anointed with the gall of a fish (vi. 4 et seq., 8. 2, 11. 10; see Sibyllines, 3. 220 et seq.,
discussed in "Alter Orient," 3. 41; Ascensio Isaiæ,2. 5; Syriac Apoc. Baruch, 50. 1, where the
muttering of the incantations of the Ammonites is mentioned; see Kautzsch, "Apokryphen," 2.
435, note). Noah's book of healing (Jubilees, 10.) was magical in character, as were the writings
of Solomon and Moses, mentioned elsewhere.” (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com.)
When Christianity entered into its active mission they faced these Jewish magicians all over
the world.
By the 5 th C BC rationalism came into prominence and practically destroyed the Vedic religion
by including mental and spiritual realms of existence along with the physical cosmos to create
two atheistic religions – Buddhism and Jainism. They prospered in India until the coming of
Apostle Thomas and Christianity.
While other religions claim ancestry based on oral traditions that cannot be verified, the oldest
religion with documented scripture is Judaism. Though Judaism from its inception of written
scriptures was essentially monotheistic, they accepted the existence of other dimensions
and created beings in all the dimensions. Magic and witchcraft also developed outside of the
temple movement which became prominent especially during the inter-testament period
when revelations were rare. They also had an oral tradition which went parallel to the documented
scriptures which essentially formed part of the commentary of the scriptures. These
were not written down until the 14 th C AD though their existences can be inferred from the
terminologies and references in the Scripture itself. Thus while most of the details of cosmological
structure in Judaism remained oral, they can, to a great extent, be verified from within
the references of the Bible. For obvious reasons, the subject of other dimensions of existence
and the host of creations within those dimensions are not directly dealt with in the Bible.
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