In Part 1, we established the limits of human binah: our God-given ability to discern, reason, compare, and draw conclusions. While binah is a gift, it is not infallible. We also established that humanity’s greatest problem is not merely ignorance, but guilt. We do not simply need better reasoning- we need a heavenly kopher , a ransom, that can satisfy divine justice where every human defense ultimately fails.
Now we can turn to another area where human reasoning, tradition and speculation have often overshadowed what Scripture actually says. Much of what people believe about the devil, demons, fallen angels and spiritual warfare comes from centuries of blended traditions, popular theology, medieval literature and modern entertainment, rather than from Scripture itself.
A common tradition claims that the devil had already been cast out of heaven before the events of Eden, often appealing to the idea that he attempted to “usurp God” and led a rebellion or war against Him. However, Scripture never gives such an account. The passages primarily used address earthly kings, using poetic and prophetic language while simultaneously reflecting the spiritual powers operating behind those earthly rulers. (Examples the “princes” in Daniel 10:13-21, 12:1)
Although humanity often has a tendency to assimilate all forms of evil into one singular figure, Scripture repeatedly makes distinctions between these beings, their roles, their judgments, and their actions.
The Eden Insurrection, the Prosecutor & Heavenly Orders
In Genesis 3, we’re introduced to the nachash, commonly translated “serpent,”. But, the Hebrew carries a broader range. The word has a three-fold meaning: serpent, the act of practicing divination or “whispering spells”, and a “shining/ bronze one”, referring to how bronze looks when it glows in the fire. The text presents a being of elevated status who approaches humanity in deception.
After tempting humanity into rebellion, God pronounces judgment on the nachash– it is stripped of its former rank, cursed above every beast of the field, condemned to crawl upon its belly, and to eat dust all the days of its life. The curse signifies humiliation and disgrace before all creation.
Many believe this creature to be the devil himself- but the serpent is not ha’ satan, nor is it described to be one of his agents.
The Hebrew word satan simply means “opponent,” or “accuser.” It is a title describing a judicial function- not a personal name. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the word satan can even refer to human adversaries or angels sent to oppose someone, depending on the context. In 1 Samuel, for example, the Philistine commanders refuse to let David fight alongside them, fearing he would turn on them:
But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and they said, “Return this man… Do not let him go down to battle lest in the battle he become a satan to us…”
– 1 Samuel 29:4
The actual role of ha’ satan is more that of a heaven- appointed prosecutor. This becomes especially clear in Job 1-2 and Zechariah 3. In both accounts, he appears in the heavenly court among the Ben Elohim– the sons of God. Ha’ satan brings accusations and testing on whether God’s servants remain faithful. His authority is limited and always subject to God’s permission. He cannot act outside the boundaries established by the Judge of all the earth.
Mini Study: Debunking the Myths Surrounding the Enemy
Because we know ha’satan cannot function outside the legal boundary of Heavenly Law, and because he holds an elevated courtroom position, we can conclude that the nachash, which openly slanders God and is cursed, is not working in the same framework.
That brings us to another widely held misunderstanding: that the “hosts” of heaven do not have free will.
We’re unsure of exactly where this idea comes from- perhaps borrowed from other religions like Islamic belief- and super imposed into our own. Regardless of the source, Scripture denies this claim:
Angels both, not having kept their own domain, but having left their own dwelling unto the Great Day of Judgement, He keeps in eternal chains under darkness.
– Jude 1:6
This is a summary from the “non-canonical” Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 12:1-10), speaking about the “watchers”; (We know this because Jude actually directly quotes from it in verses 14-15). In the Book of Enoch, Genesis 6:2 is interpreted and expanded to give us the identity of the Ben Elohim who mated with human women.
Because of this cross-contamination of heavenly and earthly orders, the resulting monstrosity of the Nephilim triggered a rapid acceleration of wickedness (Genesis 6:4-5). God issued a definitive decree of judgment, yet He still gave humanity 120 years to repent while Noah built the ark (Genesis 6:3).
However, the physical destruction of the Flood did not end the rebellion against God; it merely transformed its state. In Ancient Second Temple thought, when the physical bodies of the Nephilim perished in the waters, their disembodied, hybrid spirits remained trapped on the earth. These are the the hostile “demons” and evil spirits of the biblical world. While the rebel ben Elohim are locked in eternal chains under darkness, their non-physical offspring continue to function as a corrupting, adversarial order, wandering the earth to deceive humanity until the final judgment.
Understanding “Demons” in the Old Testament
It is a common misunderstanding that demons operate in the Old Testament in the same way they do in the New Testament. However, the Hebrew Scriptures contain no accounts of demonic possession resembling what we encounter in the Gospels. Instead, they primarily describe ruach ra’ah (“evil spirits”) which are sent by God within His sovereign rule to discipline His servants. For example in 1 Samuel, the ruach ra’ah comes upon Saul as a consequence of his repeated disobedience and rejection of YHVH’s command. Later, the harmful spirit comes upon Saul again, and in his jealousy and paranoia he attempts to kill David.
The ruach ra’ah is not God tempting Saul to sin; rather, it becomes an instrument of judgment against a heart already corrupted by rebellion. God remains sovereign even over rebellious spirits, using them to test, discipline, or punish according to His purposes, while Saul remains responsible for his own hatred and actions.
The Shedim
Another term that is often translated as “demons” in Scripture is the Hebrew word shedim. However, these are not presented in the same category as the ruach ra’ah. The shedim are connected with the spiritual rulers associated with the nations and later the false worship systems that developed after humanity’s rebellion.
From the beginning, Scripture uses the language of heavenly government:
In Genesis 1, God creates the sun, moon, and kokabim (stars), and appoints them as signs and markers of times and seasons. Later, Scripture reveals that these heavenly bodies also became associated with spiritual authorities. In Judges, kokabim are portrayed as heavenly participants in battle:
“The kokabim fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against Sisera.”
– Judges 5:20
In Deuteronomy, before entering the promised land, Moses warns Yisrael not to turn toward these created heavenly hosts in worship:
“And beware lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and kokabim, all the host of heaven, you are drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that YHVH your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.”
– Deuteronomy 4:19
How do we know that this allotted “host of heaven” is the exact same corporate order known as the shedim? The answer lies in the legal vocabulary of the Torah itself. When Moses revisits this at the end of his life, he explicitly identifies these cosmic governors by name, exposing their connection to spiritual treason:
But grew fat Yeshurun and kicked- you grew fat and thick and became gorged. And he forsook the God who made him, and treated with contempt the Rock of his salvation.
They provoked Him to jealousy with strange and foreign abominations. They sacrificed to shedim, to not- God, to gods they did not know, to new and new arrived, whom your fathers did not fear.
– Deuteronomy 32:15-17
Yeshurun; noted as a pet name for Yisrael, literally meaning “Upright One”. However, Moses is relaying the events that came out of the Tower of Babel “scattering”, a time when the patriarch of Yisrael- Avraham- did not even exist yet.
The Tower of Babel Disinheritance
The Tower of Babel is often treated as little more than the story of confusing languages, yet Moses reveals that it marked one of the most significant turning points in biblical history.
In Genesis 10–11, humanity refused YHVH’s command to fill the earth. Instead, under Nimrod’s leadership, the nations united in rebellion, building a ziggurat to make a name for themselves. In response, YHVH confused their languages and scattered them into (seventy) nations.
When Moses later recounts this event in Deuteronomy 32, he deliberately uses the Hebrew word pharad (“to divide”/ “to separate”), echoing the language in Genesis 10 where Noah’s descendants were niphradu (“divided”/ “separated”) into their lands, languages, and nations (Genesis 10:5, 32). Moses uses this to tie the message in Deuteronomy 32 back to the events of Babel, showing that this was far more than a geographical dispersion- It was a judicial separation.
Moses contrasts the faithfulness of God with the corruption of humanity and the nations. He begins by declaring that the corruption does not originate with YHVH. He is the faithful Rock, but humanity has become corrupted and rebellious:
They have dealt corruptly with Him; they are no longer His children because of their defect; they are a crooked and twisted generation. Is this how you repay YHVH, foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, your Creator, who made you and established you?
Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will explain to you.
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the Ben Elohim.”
– Deuteronomy 32:5–8
Moses specifically notes the nations are no longer God’s children- because of humanity’s rebellion at Babel, God disinherited all the nations. He gave them over to the governance of lesser heavenly beings- the Ben Elohim– and then later chose Yisrael (from Avraham) as His own personal portion (Deuteronomy 32:9).
These Ben Elohim were originally appointed as administrative lords to guide the nations. However, the heavenly orders abused their free will and corrupted their assignment. Instead of directing the nations’ gaze back to the Creator, they succumbed to pride and demanded that worship be directed toward themselves.
“They sacrificed to shedim that were not God, to elohim they had never known, to new and near arrivals, whom your fathers did not fear.”
– Deuteronomy 32:17
The Face of Idolotry
Now we can understand that the shedim and the idolatry associated with them represent more than imaginary figures or arbitrary tests. Scripture connects them with the spiritual beings behind the false “gods” of the nations- heaven appointed rulers who accepted the worship that rightfully belonged to YHVH.
The shedim appear as different deities throughout time and culture, but their purposes are always the same- to disrupt, distract and corrupt humanity:
At the pinnacle of idolatry were the high-ranking “sun gods” who claimed dominion over the sun, sky and land territories. They demanded absolute allegiance, often fueled by extreme terror and blood sacrifice to maintain their cosmic “order.”
Verses like Psalm 106:37 makes the connection even clearer: “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the shedim.”
- Baal: In Canaanite culture, he was the storm god and lord of the sky, demanding human devotion to ensure rain and economic survival
- Moloch: The Ammonite deity whose worship demanded the ultimate horrific sacrifice- burning children alive in his fires to secure political and military favor
- Ra: In Egypt, the supreme solar deity who legitimized the Pharaoh’s divine right to rule
- Zeus: later this same spiritual order transitioned into the Greco-Roman world with another “king of the gods”
Beneath or alongside the solar lords was an order of female “moon gods” who claimed dominion over the moon, the cycles of time, agriculture and human reproduction. They corrupted humanity by twisting the sacred act of life into ritualistic sexual deviance and temple prostitution.
- Asherah / Ashtoreth: The Canaanite consort of Baal, tied to sacred poles and groves, who governed fertility and agricultural harvest
- Ishtar / Inanna: The Mesopotamian “queen of heaven” (Jeremiah 7:18), associated with the evening star and the moon, who ruled over both passionate love and brutal warfare
- Artemis / Diana: In the classical world, the goddess of fertility, nature, and the moon, whose massive temple complex in Ephesus held a chokehold over the economy of Asia Minor
The lesser entities became the local nymphs, household gods, planetary deities (like Mars, Mercury, and Venus), and regional spirits of rivers and mountains. While the high solar gods ruled the macro-politics of empires, these lesser gods governed the daily superstitious fears of the common people.
The shedim were an entire spiritual ecosystem. Every culture gave them different names- whether Egyptian, Canaanite, or Greek- but they were all the exact same rogue, ben Elohim, using their distinct cultural masks to enslave humanity under a vast network of false worship.
The Commander in Chief Arrives
For over a millennium, the shedim held the nations in an iron grip. Beneath this macro-level canopy, the lower order of ruach ra’ah served as ground-level enforcers. Over centuries of hiding behind this pagan infrastructure, these disembodied spirits evolved into a desperate infantry force, digging into human society to maintain the spiritual blindness that kept the shedim in power.
Crucially, this long spiritual occupation was never a sign that God had lost control. Because God is perfectly fair, righteous, and just, He operates strictly within the framework of His own cosmic law and Torah. He had legally disinherited the rebellious nations at Babel, handing them over to these celestial governors. Therefore He could not simply break His own decree or use lawless, brute force to violently overthrow them; to do so would compromise His perfect justice. Instead, the shedim were legally allowed to rule within their allotted boundaries until the precise timeline of their “lease” expired (Isaiah 24:21-23; Pslam 82)
This legal framework is precisely why the demons in Matthew 8:29 scream, “Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” The rebellious orders knew the cosmic calendar. They understood the exact legal boundaries of their lease and expected to hold their territory until the final, great Day of Judgment.
The arrival of Yeshua Messiah in the flesh acted as a cosmic war cry that forced these hidden evil spirits out of the shadows. The rampant possession (daimonizomai) in the Gospels was actually a violent, panicked reaction to His military advance. Messiah did not come to negotiate with the shedim and evil spirits, but to utterly disarm them and execute a divine jailbreak.
Much more than a docile and peaceful lamb, our King came with a multi-phase military conquest designed to break a deeply entrenched cosmic siege.
Important Geography:
Something that a lot of modern readers tend to miss is the geography of Messiah’s ministry; if you don’t understand the context, His mission seems random and confusing. In actuality, the plan was direct, confrontational and wholly on purpose to provoke the enemy.
In Deuteronomy 2-3, Moses details 4 tribes/powers who have been overthrown: the Emim, the Zamzummim, King Sihon of the Ammorites, and King Og of Bashan. These are giant clans, remnants of Nephilim blood that had to be cleared out of the land before the Yisrealites could take their place.
Deuteronomy 2:10-11 describes the Emim as “great, numerous, and as tall as the Anakim. Also considered Rephaim, like the Anakim, but the Moabites called them Emim”.
Rephaim, from the root raphah meaning to sink or fade; Biblically used to describe the “shades” in Sheol- the underworld. In poetic books like Job, “The rephaim tremble beneath the waters” (Job 26:5). In Isaiah 14:9, it refers to those who have “sunken” into Sheol, losing their physical vitality and fading into the realm of the dead.
In Deuteronomy 2:20-21, the land given to the sons of Lot is also said to have rephaim, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, “a great and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim.” Moses goes on to say that YHVH has destoryed them and the Ammonites settled in their place.
King Sihon of Heshbon, who did not allow the Yisrealites to pass and hardened his heart against them is also given over to them in a battle at Jahaz. (Deuteronomy 2:24-34). Later, the prophet Amos describes the people in the same way- with “height like the height of cedar trees.” (Amos 2:9)
The last power named is King Og of Bashan, called the last remnant of the rephaim (Deuteronomy 3:11). Bashan was literally known as the “Land of the Giants” and “Place of the Serpent”. It sits in the valley at the base of Mt Hermon, the same place where the “watchers” descended according to Second Temple era literature.
With this foundation laid, we can read Messiah’s ministry as a triumphant military campaign into enemy territory.
Phase 1 – The Southern Border Declaration of War
Yeshua begins His offensive campaign at the Jordan River, the southern border of Bashan, the historic territory of the last defeated giant clan. His immersion is more than a symbolic cleansing; it is a public declaration of war on enemy frontlines as the heavens open and the Spirit of God descends.
Immediately afterward, Yeshua enters the wilderness to confront the Prosecutor- the satan– directly. By answering every temptation with Scripture in its proper context, He rejects the enemy’s distortions, breaks the legal leverage of sin over Him, and demonstrates His authority over the fallen order.
Phase 2 – The Galilean Campaign
With the Prosecutor outwitted, Yeshua launches a direct strike against the corrupt religious system in Jerusalem taking advantage of the poor; He overturns the tables in the Temple courts and exposes the compromised earthly structures which are violating Torah.
He then establishes His base of operations in Galilee. At the Capernaum synagogue, an unclean spirit recognizes Him and cries, “Have You come to destroy us?” Yeshua silences and expels it, demonstrating His authority over the spiritual realm. The King then commissions His twelve apostles, granting them authority to cast out unclean spirits and advance the Kingdom message throughout the land.
Phase 3 – The Assault on the Eastern Strongholds
Crossing the Sea of Galilee, Yeshua demonstrates authority over the chaos of the waters- In the biblical worldview, open water was the ultimate symbol of the tehom– the primordial deep, the dark abyss and the chaotic domain where cosmic monsters and rebellious spiritual forces held sway. (Genesis 1:2)
When a violent storm threatens to capsize the vessel, it is a desperate counter-attack by spiritual orders attempting to swallow the King. Yeshua meets this aggression with authority. Rising to the bow, He aggressively rebukes the wind and commands the sea, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39)
The Greek word Yeshua used here is pephimoso, which literally means “be muzzled.” This is the exact, technical binding language He uses to exorcise evil spirits. By speaking to the chaotic waters as if addressing a demonic entity, Yeshua shows that even the abyss is completely subject to His command.
The plateau east of the Sea of Galiliee is known as the Decapolis. When Yeshua and His men sail to Gadara in Matthew 8, they land in the literal backyard of King Og’s ancient kingdom to confront a massive “Legion” of spirits which are torturing humans. The spirits beg not to be sent to the abyss (Luke 8:31) and instead to be given over to a herd of 2000 pigs- pigs being the ultimate symbolism of spiritual abomination. But the malice of the legion drives the pigs to madness and they drown themselves, returning the spirits to the depths anyway.
Yeshua then extended His authority beyond Yisrael’s borders, delivering a Syrophoenician woman’s daughter near Tyre and Sidon- the heartland of Baal worship- without even entering the house. He then delivers Miriam of Magdala from a severe 7 layered spiritual oppression. His authority has no boundary limits and no spirit can stand against Him.
Phase 4 – The Northern Summit Offensive
The campaign advances to Caesarea Philippi, at the base of Mount Hermon, the region associated with the watchers’ rebellion. Standing at the pagan cavern known as the “Gates of Hades”, He issues a battle cry:
I also now say to you because you are Petros; Namely on this rock I will build My assembly, and the Gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever if you might bind on the earth will be bound in the heavens, and whatever if you might loose on the earth will be loosed in the heavens.
– Matthew 16:18-19
Standard theology has misinterpreted “this rock” as Peter’s person or personal faith. Viewed through a cosmic military lens, the location changes everything: Yeshua was standing at the geographic headquarters of the fallen heavenly orders. The “rock” was the massive limestone cliff of Mount Hermon- the foundational monument of heavenly high treason.
Yeshua’s declaration was an offensive military order, not a defensive promise. Gates are defensive structures, meant to keep things out and keep things in. By declaring that the gates of Hades (the Greek equivalent to Sheol) would not prevail, Yeshua stated that the fortified strongholds of the shedim would fail to withstand the oncoming assault of His advancing assembly.
In biblical legal terminology, to “bind” means to forbid or declare legally prohibited, and to “loose” means to permit or declare legally free.
Just as the ben Elohim had trapped humanity under the legal authority of sin, Yeshua gives His field commanders the official authority to cancel the legal claims of the adversary, evil spirits and shedim. By binding the power of these rebellious orders and loosing human captives from their contracts, the disciples were legally dismantling the enemy’s jurisdiction on the ground.
Later, Yeshua and His inner circle ascend the mountain, He pulls back the veil of His humanity, revealing His glory, exposing His true identity directly in the face of enemy headquarters. Then He convenes with Moses and Elijah- To understand why, we have to look at their roles in the Spiritual War:
- Moses was the legal deliverer who directly dismantled the shedim of Egypt through the ten plagues, and who recorded the dis-inheritance of the nations at Babel and the whole of Torah
- Elijah was the prophetic zealot who waged direct warfare against the high Canaanite shedim, systematically mocking and executing the prophets of Baal and Asherah at Mount Carmel
By summoning these two specific figures to the summit, Yeshua was seeking council of cosmic veterans who had spent their earthly lives fighting the very same rebellious orders. Surrounded by the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah), Messiah stood on the enemy’s peak to declare that the legal and prophetic timeline for the shedim’s eviction had officially begun.
With the cosmic war laid bare, Yisrael’s role shifts from a mere ethnic identity to a specialized frontline military outpost. In Part 3 we use this foundation to further understand that The Torah was never given as a burden of rules, but a set of supernatural protocols designed to insulate Gods people from the spiritual contamination of the shedim. By guarding these precise legal boundaries for life, Yisrael was meant to function as a nation of priests and a light to the disinherited nations, demonstrating exactly how the Creator intends all of humanity to live, and establishing the blueprint for how God’s people carry His light today.
Read Next: Part 3- The Birth of a Nation
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