The Demonic Virus and Qumran Studies: Some Preventative Measures1

Abstract

The era of the Second Temple was a magical time. A wealth of indirect evidence proves that, on the popular level, magic was often of greater practical significance than were many aspects of the Law of Moses. The intensity of the unseen spiritual battle to which the common man might easily fall victim appears in Rabbi Huna's well-known exegesis of Ps. 91:7, Everyone among us has a thousand demons on his left hand and ten thousand at his right. Against these invisible legions of demons, magic offered a tangible, material defense whose potential benefits a prudent individual could not afford to ignore. Thus an understanding of magic is indispensable for a proper appraisal of Jewish civilization in these years.2

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