The Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 64, No. 1 – Fall 2021
Editor: David S. Dockery
By Michael Heiser. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020, xviii+320pp., $19.99
After his Unseen Realm and Angels, Heiser continues his study of supernatural beings. His recent book, Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness, is built upon his earlier research and explores the subject of demons. Although the subtitle seems to create an impression that this book will provide an overall survey of what the Bible teaches about demons, it actually focuses on the history of these supernatural beings, especially what Heiser calls the three divine rebellions.
The structure of this book is clear and straightforward. There are four sections. The first section discusses the Hebrew terms that the Old Testament uses to describe evil spiritual beings and the Greek translations of these beings in the Septuagint. Although the term for “demons” is missing in the Old Testament, there are a variety of words relevant to these kind of beings. Heiser helpfully categorizes these terms into several groups: those associated with the realm of the dead and its inhabitants, those that denote entities with geographical dominion, and preternatural creatures associated with idolatry and unholy ground. In chapter two, Heiser provides charts for readers to clearly see the Greek translations of those terms in the Septuagint.
Section two is the main body of this book, where Heiser proposes the idea of three divine rebellions: The initial rebellion of an individual figure; the second rebellion described in Genesis 6:1-4; and the third rebellion after the episode of the Tower of Babel. While examining the initial rebellion, Heiser goes beyond Genesis 3 to address Isa 14:12-15 and Ezek 28:1-19. He believes these passages provide more information about Genesis 3 (p. 66). The second rebellion is recorded in Genesis 6:1-4. “The sons of God” took daughters of man as their wives and their descendants were those mighty men. There are various views on who were “the sons of God.” Heiser argues against the Sethite view and the view of polygamous royal marriages but favors the supernatural view that takes “the sons of God” here as supernatural beings. These heavenly beings crossed “the boundary” to mingle with humans and produced an illegitimate species. Heiser believes that this rebellion was the origin of demons. After the descendants of these supernatural beings and daughters of man died, their disembodied spirits became what we call demons or evil spirits. The third rebellion is related to the Tower of Babel, which causes not only the scattering of humanity, but also the allotment of the nations to members of Yahweh’s heavenly council as Deut 32:8-9 describes. Heiser highlights Psalm 82 and interprets this psalm as portraying the corruption of the gods of the nations. After the incident of the Tower of Babel, Yahweh assigned the nations to these heavenly beings. However, instead of ruling with justice, they became corrupt and even turned humanity to idolatry.
In section three, Heiser continues to apply to the New Testament the framework that he draws from his discussion of the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism. He examines the names and titles of the devil, as well as his dominion and destiny, then demons and their destiny. In chapter eleven, Heiser addresses the destiny of the ruling powers, namely, the gods who were allotted to nations at Babel. Through the work of Christ, those powers were delegitimized and Israel and nations are reclaimed. Paul’s language and description indicate this idea. “[W]hen Paul uses terms of geographical dominion in conversation with gentiles, he is not referring to the demons of the Gospels. He is referring to the corrupt gods allotted to the nations as part of God’s punishment of humanity as Babel” (p. 223).
The last section tries to correct some misconceptions based on what has been said earlier in the book. Some questions are well-answered. For example, while answering the question “Can a Christian be demon possessed?” Heiser traces the reasoning behind this idea of ownership. The English phrase “demon possession,” which was used to translate the Greek word daimonizomai creates, the wrong impression of ownership. “The best alternative seems to be simply to transliterate daimonizomai as ‘demonize’” (p. 255).
This book is commendable in several ways. First, with a post-Enlightenment Western context, Heiser acknowledges the ontological existence of supernatural beings such as demons and angels and is willing to devote his time and expertise in Old Testament studies to this realm. While interpreting certain difficult passages such as Gen 6:1-4 and Deut 32:8, he highlights this supernatural perspective, which is often missing in contemporary Christianity. The same perspective is applied to relevant New Testament passages such as Jesus’ temptation, transfiguration, resurrection, and the Great Commission. This approach provides a fresh view for the reader seeking to understand these familiar passages. Second, Heiser starts his discussion from the vocabulary in the Scripture. His exploration of the variety of terms that refer to these supernatural beings in the Old Testament is helpful. Third, Heiser advocates reading the biblical text as a product of its contemporary context(s), especially considering the polytheistic background. Modern interpreters tend to neglect or minimize this aspect. Heiser draws our attention to this important reality.
However, the reader may raise some questions. Heiser seems to rely heavily on Second Temple Judaism in “constructing” the history of demons or rebellious spiritual beings (for example, the story of the watchers). Although he is careful not to present the information from Second Temple Judaism as contradictory to Scripture, Second Temple Judaism seems to provide details to fill in the blank where the Scripture does not speak (at least it does not provide such detail). One cannot help asking, “Without those details from Second Temple Judaism, could the history of demons be understood as Heiser has presented here?” “Should we use extra-biblical documents to illuminate the obscure and difficult biblical passages?” or “Should we stop where the Scripture does not supply further information?” While learning fresh ideas from Heiser, one may need to examine the sources and the approach that lead to the conclusions.
Another question that may be raised is: After the reader has been informed about the discussions of the history of demons, what is next? How does this knowledge help a Christian to make daily decisions apart from knowing that evangelism and missions are supposed to reclaim the nations from the dark powers? What does the Bible surely say about demons? How do we relate this knowledge to Christian life and practice?
