ISRAEL PHOTOS III  -- A COLLECTION OF PHOTOS FROM ISRAEL 

WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF SCENES AND SITES PERTINENT TO THE STUDY OF CHRISTIANITY

Casting Out a Demon

At Qumran there were first century parchment and papyri scrolls found. These are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. A scroll from Cave 4 is a record of early Jewish efforts to rebuke a demon. In text 4Q560 "... fever demon, chills demon, chest demon", was commanded to not disturb at night with disturbing dreams, (The Dead Sea Scrolls, M. Wise, © 1996).


Qumran Settlement near the side of the Dead Sea -- 2006

The ancient Persians had Zoroastrian writings about the powers of light and darkness; it was the good God versus the evil leader of the demons.

The idea of a good and bad spirit is preserved in the Bible in the Book of Job; a discourse including a tale of God and Satan debating the loyalty of Job.

In Jesus' day hallucinations, disorderly conduct, physical or neurological disorders, and bad behaviors were attributed to demons. The book of Job described Satan as a spirit of temptation and evil. It is obvious that a demon of shaking and fever was a metaphor for a disease like malaria. Jesus was able to make people well and to rid them of bad conditions. The word Satan was used metaphorically in the Bible.

Matthew 12:27 (WEB) If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

Many of the people rejected Jesus accusing him of being able to cure people with strange mental and physical disorders by being in collusion with the devil. Jesus responded with words to the effect that it was not by the devil that the devil was cast out, for the devil does not cast out its own. Some went to their traditional religious leaders to try to get divine intervention, however Jesus was drawing crowds by the thousands and many were going to him for he had authority instead of pretending to be someone great.

At the Golan Archaeology Museum in Qatzrin there is a Byzantine Period Jewish exorcism prayer in Hebrew on a silver amulet invoking the name of God (Yahu) to drive the fever/shivers (malaria?) and demons from Yaitha; the daughter of Marian. Fever/shivers is a symptom of malaria. The 5th-6th century amulet was found at Horvat Kanaf in the Golan where Judaism flourished under the Christian Byzantine empire.

Matthew 8:14 (WEB) When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and served him. 16 When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick;

In this case fever was a sickness that required healing and not a demon to be driven out.

Parable of the Mustard Seed
     A Mustard Field Along Highway 87-North Shore of Galilee
     Mustard Seeds in the Palm of a Hand
     Mustard Flowers
     Giant Mustard
     Upper Most Seats of the Synagogue
The Fig Tree
     Mt of Olives Fig Tree, April 12-13, 2005
     Fig and Pomegranite Trees Below Siloam in Jerusalem
     Sycomore Fig Tree
The Good Shepherd
The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
     Goat Herder
Camels
Ritual Cleansing
Shechem
     The Olive Harvest of Samaria
     Mt. Ebal
     Olive Tree
Pearl of Great Price
A First Century Synagogue at Gamala
     Overview of Gamala
Modern Galilee Fishing Boats
Kursi
     Caves and/or Tombs
     Steep Slope Near Kursi
Hippos
Feeding the 5,000
     On the Mountain
     Walking on Water
     Ramot-Tzelon area
Mt. Hermon
The Pools of Bethesda in Jerusalem
     Healing Pools
     Crusader Chapel and St. Ann Church
Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem
     Hezekiah's Tunnel
     Overlook to Siloam
Tower of Siloam
A Watch Tower in a Vineyard/Olive Grove
     Grape Vines at Beth Horan
     Towers
Mt. Precipice
     South Face
     Summit
     Over the edge
     Measuring Line
     View of Nazareth from near Megiddo
Nazareth
     The Basilica of the Annunciation
Capernaum
Healing a Paralytic in Capernaum
Bethsaida
Waterskins and Wineskins
The Fish and the Coin
     Barbel
A Denarius
Casting Out a Demon
The Road to Jericho
     Old Roman Road
     Wilderness Above Jericho
     Old Jericho
Western Wall
Gethsemane and the Cave of Gethsemane
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Rolling Stone Tombs - Jerusalem
    Other Rolling Stone Tombs
Tiberias
Solar Power in Israel
Salt of the earth
Chorazin

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OTHER WEB SITES BY DAVID HALL:

Israel Photos VI
Israel Photos V -- Spring 2011
Israel Photos IV -- Pilgrimage

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