Demonic and the feminine in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Tupá Guerra Guimarães da Silva

Abstract
The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the biggest archaeological findings of the 20th
century, and the full corpus has only recently been published. This group of over
900 texts deals with a wide variety of themes, many of them still underexplored.
Among these texts it is possible to find references to evil forces and/or evil
creatures.
The representation of evil in this context is plural and diverse. The popular term
“demon” is not the best approach to the complex panorama presented. This paper
proposes to examine the relation between feminine and evil creatures in the Dead
Sea Scrolls more closely. My analysis will focus on a selection of primary
evidence, with particular attention to the Community Rule and the Damascus
Document.

Key Words: Dead Sea Scrolls, Feminine, Evil, Demonic.

*****

1. The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) are one of the biggest archaeological findings of
the 20th century, and the full corpus has only recently been published. This group
of over 900 texts deals with a wide variety of themes. The enormity of this
discovery has not been yet fully realized, and a great deal of work remains to be
done. Among these texts, it is possible to find references to evil forces and/or evil
creatures.
The representation of evil in this context is plural and diverse. The popular term
demon is not the best approach to the complex panorama presented. This paper
proposes to examine the relation between feminine and evil beings in the Dead Sea
Scrolls more closely. I will first discuss the term demon and whether it can be
applied or not for the context. In the second part I will explore broadly how evil
beings appear in the DSS and finally I will ask if these representations are
associated with the feminine.
This paper will not address to the problem of feminine influence on Jewish
history or the different views of woman in the Judaism's of the Second Temple
Period. My focus is to understand if the evil beings portrayed in the DSS are
gendered or related with the feminine. In the development of this piece is probable
that some of the aspects of this enquire will not be addressed in the depth they
should be, however I must point that this is an initial report on the subject and an
ongoing project.
2 Demonic and the feminine in the Dead Sea Scrolls
__________________________________________________________________
2. Demon?
Demons are a particularly difficult term to work with, especially for the popular
meaning and signification that the word implies. The mention of the term usually
brings to the mind of a person educated in the 20th century, in an occidental system
of beliefs, a figure of condensed evil, capable of possessing human bodies to act
according to the demon’s will or even with the ability of convincing people to do
evil things. One possible, and current, representation of a demon is a humanoid,
usually male, with red skin and horns.1 Literary fiction, films and comics offer
plenty of examples of this type of representations in a variety of ways. Conscious
of the popularity of this picture I consider important to start this paper with a
discussion of terminology.
Terminology is a feature that often shapes the way someone is going to look at
the evidence. In the words of Bohak ‘the terminology we use might pre-condition
our analysis of the texts and cultures we study.’2 Knowing that the way a
researcher looks at the evidence defines the way that this evidence is interpreted.
The word demon is a problematic one, with an extensive variety of meanings
over the centuries. The term comes from the Greek word δαἰµων, and its
etymology is uncertain. In the texts from Ancient Greece demon does not refer to a
single type of phenomenon. In Hesiod, demon is used to speak about the soul of the
deceased,3 and in philosophical texts, like Plato,4 demon can refer to a being that
intermediates between gods and humans. The term was not necessarily related to
evil beings, but the association with bad actions was common5.
Petersen6 mentions that in late antiquity the Greek term daemon is extended to
include concepts from other cultures.7 This demonstrates how recognizing demons
in cultures that do not have this concept is a very old problem. Frequently demon is
a category of beings applied to any cultural context without a discussion if the term
is really applicable to this context,8 which can lead the interpretation to an
unrealistic view of different mythologies.
Via the Greek and Roman worlds the term demon was to became very
important for Christian literature, and from there it spread in the occidental world.
Demons and exorcism are concepts present in the New Testament. As I
commented before, these are concepts wide spread in popular belief still today,
with high appeal in the industry of entertainment.
This variety of meanings makes it very difficult to define a single view for the
question, a problem also noted by Lars Albinus9 who explains that the term demon
had so many different meanings that it is impossible to define it in one exclusive
way. Considering the difficulty of the concept, Petersen suggests that a possible
approach is to treat the notion of demon as a cross-cultural analytical concept. The
author also outlines that ‘In other words the perennial use of the concept- whether
in the ancient Greek tradition, the Roman, Jewish, and Christian adoption of that
tradition or the modern religio-historical category does not depend on a particular
meaning attributed to the concept.’10 He is suggesting, therefore, that one term does
 Tupá Guerra Guimarães da Silva 3
__________________________________________________________________
not need to be fully understood to be used by a group or population, and the term
‘demon’ is not different in this particular aspect.
Summarizing, Petersen proposes that demon can be used as a broad concept:
‘The concept of demon has proven to be a particularly apt category in cases in
which humans have negotiated, philosophized, theologized and reflected upon the
relationship between the human and the transhuman world whether that world be
ascribed a negative or a positive value.’11 This definition is useful in approaching
what could be considered demon in the context of the DSS.
However, working with demon as a category as defined by Petersen does not
solve all the problems related to this terminology. The texts from Qumran depict
more than one type of being that are a point of contact between the ‘human and
transhuman world’, but nevertheless different from the Greek beings that many
times had an ambiguous role, being evil and good at the same time.
One of the most common Hebrew terms in the Scrolls for defining a being that
is a point of contact between the two worlds12 is ‫( רוח‬ruah).13 The term ‫ רוח‬does not
exclusively define demon and can also mean God’s spirit, Man’s spirit, Angels,
breath and wind. In some cases it is possible to define the meaning by syntactical
analysis, although the meanings of angel and demon have the same grammatical
pattern.14 Alexander prefers to define ruah when referring to angel or demon as
referring to a non-corporeal normally invisible being.15 Alexander’s definition of
demon is related to this last referred explanation of ruah, but going a little further:
a demon is a ‘non-corporeal being which is neither human nor angelic, but which
causes harm and mischief to humans in a variety of ways’.16
Considering the exposed problems and because there is a necessity of using a
generic term to refer to my object of research, I will follow Alexander and use evil
being as a generic term. Again, this is not a definitive way to refer to the object, but
rather a useful heuristic tool at this stage of my work.

3. Interrelations between the feminine and Evil Beings in the DSS

The texts that traditionally are identified to have connection with this kind of
evil being in the DSS are: The Community Rule (1QS), The Damascus Document
(CD), Apocryphal Psalms (1Q11), 4QExorcism ar (4Q560), Songs of the Sage
(4Q510-511), Hodayot (1QHª), 4QIncantation (4Q444), Plea for Deliverance
(11QPSª), Jubilees, Enoch and Tobit. This group of texts17 is composed of a variety
of subjects, were produced in different periods and not necessarily by the same
group of people. Because of the short space for this paper I will not elaborate much
in each of them, but is fundamental to point that not all of them where complete
and many of them are unique for the DSS. More specifically only CD, Jubilees,
Enoch and Tobit have copies from other places than the ones from Qumran.
Among the questions raised by this vast corpus the participation of women or
the feminine in general had little attention. Just recently it started to be more
explored for the scholars.18 The possibility of woman as part of the community that
4 Demonic and the feminine in the Dead Sea Scrolls
__________________________________________________________________
could be related to the Scrolls had received little attention in the fifties and in the
subsequent years from the discovery. This was heavily influenced by the opinion
that this community was in fact the Essenes mentioned by Josephus, and for this
reason composed exclusively by celibatarian men. Another aspect that was
underexplored is some different readings that the DSS brought to texts that where
already knew. The debate about feminine presence is still very incipient and much
work is yet to be done. However, as stated before, this paper will not discuss the
historical feminine presence at the Dead Sea or in the ancient Jewish society.
There is more than one form to refer to evil beings in the DSS, with ruah
usually referred to be the more generic one. The term appears more than 130 times
in the scrolls and it meaning varies accordingly with Sekki in five greater groups
(God’s spirit, Man’s spirit, Angels/Demons,19 breath, wind), each group comprises
more subtle meanings, and they very rarely overlap.20 Each meaning of ruah
follows a different pattern within the same group. For the group of good/bad spirits
the gender of the substantive can be either masculine or feminine. From the texts
that we have today is noticeable a predominance of ruah as masculine to
denominate either evil or good beings (31 times) versus only 20 occurrences in the
feminine.21 Sekki notes that the feminine use is more rare and most of the times
interchangeable for a masculine form of the same word.
According to Alexander demons are genderless in the DSS22. The evidence that
ruah is not necessarily masculine or feminine when referring to an good or evil
being is an argument in favor of this statement. The other terms used to refer to
evil beings are masculine (howlers, yelpers) with one exception: Lilith.
Lilith appears twice in the Scrolls in 4Q510 and in 4Q511, probably in a
parallel passage. Even that usually the term is clearly associated with a feminine
evil being, the texts where it appear is very fragmentary and is difficult to propose
a definitively argument only based on it. To Alexander it is a borrowed term and
the gender of it was not important for the understanding of the text.23 Lilith is
probably part of a list of threatening agents, including howlers and yelpers. There
is no further mention of Lilith or any relation created from this list and the
feminine.
In combination with the philological arguments, the texts do not mention any
kind of procreation related to the evil beings, as noted by Alexander.24 One
possible explanation for how they had been created is represented in Jubilees and
Enoch (both texts founded between the DSS). From this point of view, the evil
beings are the offspring of the angels with the daughters of the man. There are a
limited number of them and they do not procreate or increase their population. The
inability of procreating is an evidence of the lack of gender in the evil beings from
the DSS.
The only text from the DSS that clearly states a relationship between the
feminine and an evil being is The Book of Tobit. It tells the story of Tobit, a pious
Jew living in exile with his wife Hannah and son Tobiah. In old age Tobit is
 Tupá Guerra Guimarães da Silva 5
__________________________________________________________________
blinded, his family is lacking the means to survive and he prays to die. While
praying he remembers a sum of money that has been kept by a friend at Media. At
the same time a relative of Tobit, Sarah, also prays for death because her seven
husbands have been killed by a demon in the wedding night. Tobit sends his son to
recover the amount of money, and God sends the angel Raphael, in disguise, to
accompany Tobiah on his journey and to help Sarah.
In this case the demon itself has a male name (Asmodeus) and is jealous of
Sarah, what can be interpreted as he being a male. It is important to notice that the
influence of this evil being is only influencing the story of Sarah and is not related
to the beginning of the book. Due the limited space of this paper I will not debate
Tobit in profundity, but is important to note that the demon in this text is a male
that has some interest on Sarah and kills the men that marry her on the first night of
the wedding.25 The interesting part is that in the text she is clearly good and
deserves the help of God to be protected from the evil.

4. Conclusion
In a generic overview it is possible to say, prematurely, that the texts from the
DSS do not establish a clear relationship between the evil beings and the feminine.
The philological analyses indicates that many times the gender of the words could
be understood as masculine or feminine, but this interchangeable characteristic per
si it is not enough ground to consider either of the sides as the more accurate one.
On this ground is possible that evil beings where considered male entities by the
readers of the Second Temple Period. However, this statement underestimate the
complexity of the panorama presented here and should be accepted only with
extreme reservation. In a similar way with the angels, the evil beings are also not
part of the human realm. Their origin is, in most of the explanations developed in
the period, not similar to the humans. The evil beings are different from the
humans and being so can be not connected with human laws and physiology. With
that in mind is possible that the evil beings by itself where considered genderless.
In all the examples with the exception of Tobit (where the evil being is a male)
and the term Lilith from the Songs of the Sage, which can be a reference to a
feminine evil being or just a borrowed term that is used as genderless.
Unfortunately, none of the presuppositions can be proved due the fragmentary state
of the text where it appears. Considering the content of the Book of Tobit is clear
that women where related in some way with evil or demonic, but this relationship
need to be investigated in a more profound way.

Notes
6 Demonic and the feminine in the Dead Sea Scrolls
__________________________________________________________________

1
There are many other possible representations of demons including an image of
highly seductive female.
2
Bohak, Gideon. ‘Review of Die Dämonen—Demons: Die Dämonologie Der
Israelitisch-Jüdischen Und Frühchristlichen Literatur Im Kontext Ihrer Umwelt.
The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature in Context of
Their Environment.’ Journal for the Study of Judaism, no. 1 (2006): 125.
3
Op. 121-126
4
Symp. 202d-e
5
Odyssey 4. 2073-79
6
Petersen, Anders K. ‘The Notion of Demon: Open Question to a Diffuse
Concept’ in: Demons: The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian
Literature in Context of their Environment [=Die Dämonen: dieDämonologie der
israelitisch-jüdischen und frühchristlichen Literatur im Kontext ihrer Umwelt]
Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, (2004): 23-41.
7
Philo, De Gigantibus 6 employs the word demons as a synonym to angels.
Petersen, ‘The Notion of Demon’, 21-24.
8
Scholars, such as Bennie H. Reynolds III, are currently grappling with is the
appropriate terminology to refer to the different types of evil beings attested in
cultures that do not have this concept, such as ancient Judaism.
9
Cf. Petersen, ‘The Notion of Demon’, 25.
10
Petersen, ‘The Notion of Demon’, 25.
11
Petersen, ‘The Notion of Demon’, 39.
12
Human and transhuman.
13
For detailed analysis to the term ‫ רוח‬at the Dead Sea Scrolls see Sekki, Arthur
Everett. The Meaning of Ruah at Qumran. SBL Dissertation Series. Atlanta,
Georgia: Scholars Press 1989.
14
Both demon and angel as meanings for ruah are marked by the gender
masculine, which marks a personalization of the term. See Sekki, The Meaning of
Ruah at Qumran, 187 and 222.
15
Accordingly to Alexander demons are distinct from angels, even from the fallen
ones. Alexander, Philip S., ‘The Demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, in The
Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment, ed. by Peter W.
Flint and James C. VanderKam. Brill: 1999, 332.
16
Alexander, ‘The Demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, 332-353.
17
I am categorizing these texts as a group because of the fact that they have been
discovered among the DSS. By calling them group I do not want to imply that they
always had a connexion in the period they were produced and stored
18
For a basic literature on the question of woman at Qumran Schuller, Eileen M.
‘Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls.’ In Methods of Investigation of the Dead Sea
Scrolls and the Khirbet Qumran Site, 115-31. New York: New York Academy of
Sciences, 1994. Also, Schuller. ‘Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Research in the
 Tupá Guerra Guimarães da Silva 7
__________________________________________________________________

Past Decade and Future Directions.’ In Dead Sea Scrolls and Contemporary
Culture, 571-88. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2011. Ilan, Tal. ‘Women in Qumran and the
Dead Sea Scrolls.’ Oxford Handbooks Online. 27 Mar. 2015.
19
Sekki classifies them as angels/demons, however in light of the exposed in the
first part of this paper I will keep it as good/bad spirits.
20
Sekki, ‘The meaning of Ruah’ 185.
21
Sekki, ‘The meaning of Ruah’ 188.
22
Alexander, ‘The Demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, 336.
23
Alexander, ‘The Demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, 336.
24
Alexander, ‘The Demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, 336.
25
For more information on the complex of the danger in the first night of the
weeding see Guerra G. da S, Tupá, ‘The Fear of the First Night: Analysis of the
Complex of the Nuptial Interdictions in the Book of Tobit’ (Master Thesis,
Universidade de Brasília (port.), 2012).

Bibliography
Alexander, P. S., ‘The Demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, in The Dead Sea
Scrolls After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment. Edited by P. W. Flint and
J. C. VanderKam. Brill, 1999

__________, ‘Wrestling against Wickedness in High Places: Magic in the

Worldview of the Qumran Community.’ Pages 318-337 in The Scrolls and the
Scriptures. Edited by S. Porter. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.

Bohak, G. ‘Jewish Myth in Pagan Magic in Antiquity.’ Pages 97-122 in Myths in

Judaism: History, Thought, Literature. Edited by Gruenwald and M. Idel.
Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center, 2004.

__________, Ancient Jewish Magic: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2008.

__________, ‘Prolegomena to the Study of the Jewish Magical Tradition.’

Currents in Biblical Research 8 (2009): 107-150.

__________, Review of Demons: The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early

Christian Literature in Context of their Environment [=Die Dämonen: die
Dämonologie der israelitisch-jüdischen und frühchristlichen Literatur im Kontext
ihrer Umwelt]. Journal for the Study of Judaism (2006).
8 Demonic and the feminine in the Dead Sea Scrolls
__________________________________________________________________

Brand, M., Evil Within and Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature As
Portrayed in Second Temple Literature. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
2013.

Dimant, D. ’Between Qumran Sectarian and Non-Sectarian Texts: The Case of

Belial and Mastema.’ Pages 235-256 in The Dead Sea Scrolls and Contemporary
Culture. Edited by A. D. Roitman, L. H. Schiffman and S. Tzoref. Leiden/Boston:
BRILL, 2011.

Eshel, E. ‘Demonology in Palestine during the Second Temple Period’ Ph.D. diss.,
Hebrew University (Heb.), 1999.

__________’Genres of Magical Texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls.’ Pages 395-415 in

Demons: The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature in
Context of their Environment [=Die Dämonen: die Dämonologie der israelitisch-
jüdischen und frühchristlichen Literatur im Kontext ihrer Umwelt]. Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2004.

Eshel, E, and Harlow, D. C. ‘Demons and Exorcism.’ Pages 530-532 in The

Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism. Edited by J. J. Collins and D. C. Harlow.
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010.

Guerra G. da S, T,. ‘The Fear of the First Night: Analysis of the Complex of the
Nuptial Interdictions in the Book of Tobit.’ Master Thesis, Universidade de
Brasília (port.), 2012.

Gordon H. G,. The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk Story. Londres: David
Nutt, 1908.

Hempel, C,. Damascus Texts. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000.

__________ The Qumran Rule Texts in Context: Collected Studies. Mohr Siebeck,
2013.

Ilan, Tal. ‘Women in Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.’ Oxford Handbooks
Online. 27 Mar. 2015.

Jeffers, A. Magic and Divination in Ancient Palestine and Syria. Leiden/New

York/Koeln: Brill, 1996.
 Tupá Guerra Guimarães da Silva 9
__________________________________________________________________

Lange, A., ‘The Essene Position on Magic and Divination,’ Pages 377-435 in
Legal Texts and Legal Issues: Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the
International Organization for Qumran Studies. Edited by M. Bernstein, F. García
Martínez and J. Kampen. Leiden/New York/Köln: Brill, 1997.

Metso, S,. The Serekh Texts. T.& T.Clark Ltd: Bloomsbury, 2007.

Penney, Douglas L., and Michael O. Wise, ‘By the Power of Beelzebub: An
Aramaic Incantation Formula from Qumran (4Q560).’ Pages 627-650 in Journal of
Biblical Literature, 113 (1994).

Petersen, Anders K. ‘The Notion of Demon: Open Question to a Diffuse Concept’

Pages 23-41 in Demons: The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian
Literature in Context of their Environment [=Die Dämonen: die Dämonologie der
israelitisch-jüdischen und frühchristlichen Literatur im Kontext ihrer Umwelt].
Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.

Sekki, A. E., The Meaning of Ruah at Qumran. SBL Dissertation Series 110.
Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989.

Schuller, Eileen M. ‘Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls.’ In Methods of Investigation

of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Khirbet Qumran Site, 115-31. New York: New
York Academy of Sciences, 1994.

__________. ‘Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Research in the Past Decade and
Future Directions.’ In Dead Sea Scrolls and Contemporary Culture, 571-88.
Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2011.

Sperling, S. D. ‘Belial’ in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Pages

321-327. Edited by Toorn, K. van der, Bob Becking, and Pieter Willem van der
Horst. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999).

Steudel, A,. ‘God and Belial’ Pages 332-340 in The Dead Sea Scrolls. Fifty Years
After Their Discovery Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20-25, 1997.
Edited by L. Schiffman; E. Tov; J. C. VanderKam. Jerusalem: 2000.
Swartz, M. D. Scholastic Magic: Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.

Tov, Emanuel, Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in
the Judean Desert. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009.
10 Demonic and the feminine in the Dead Sea Scrolls
__________________________________________________________________

Xeravits, G. (ed.), Dualism in Qumran. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.