Song 3 in the Context of 11Q11
Beside Psalm 91, the very fragmentary text of 11Q11 contains three more compositions (Songs 1-3) that are not found elsewhere. The third composition (11Q11 5.4-6.3) is attributed to David, and, according to its title, is “a charm for the stricken, in yhwh's name” (11Q11 5.4).
The generic term Ihs “charm” clearly refers to a magical song that is used against demonic forces. The title refers also to the time or occasion when the song is to be recited: [qr' bk]l't ’l hsm[ym ’sr] ybw’ ’lyk bly[lh “[Invoke at a]ny time to the heav[ens when] it comes to you during the ni[ght]” (11Q11 5-5)·[216] [217] If we were to read ’l hsm[ym] “to the heav[ens\” as ’lhsm[rym] “at the simmurim”, we would then be able to place the text into a calendrical context.44 The term smrym is mentioned in Ex 12:42 as the vigil before the day of the exodus, a fixed nocturnal point in the calendar. Thus the interpretation of the passage would be “Invoke at any time at the vig[il of Passover when] it comes”[218] [219] [220] [221] [222] [223] This would almost coincide with the day when Song 3 was uttered, as the timing of Passover was determined by the first full moon after the spring equinox?6The song depicts a meeting with a demon who is to be made inoffensive. The first step involves asking the demon “Who are you?”47 This is followed by a description of the demon, which was probably either a horasis, a demonic vision during the night of the vigil, or a nightmare experienced during the night that was prescribed to be spent awake. The demon has human traits (face) and animal characteristics (horns): pnyk pny [s]ww wqrnyk qrny hl[w]m “For your appearance is [nothing,] and your horns are horns of vision” (11Q11 s:?)?8 The fragmentary state of the text does not allow us to form a clear idea of this figure.
It seems that the demon is a phantasma, mentioned not only in visionary literature but also in Jewish amulet texts.49 The demonic illness could either result from the shock caused by seeing such a monstrous figure or from some physical harm caused by its activity?0Looking for the image of the “horned demon”, one finds a demon with animal characteristics on the list of Utukku Lemnutu, among the demons that bring disease (5:124-141). This long list mentions the sheriff-demon as “a goring ox” (5:127-128). This demon, one of the Seven (5:129), is ruthless, a demon who “knows not how to act kindly” (5:130). Its assignment is “eating flesh, causing blood to flow, (then) drinking from the veins” (5:134). Filled with malevolence, the sheriff-demons “do not cease consuming blood” (5:137-138). Another part of the same collection, that describes the characteristics of the evil utukku- demons (6:1-39), mentions the sheriff-demon among the evil utukku together with the evil ghost (6:1-4) and fate-demon (6:11). The sheriff-demon “does not listen”, “has no shame”, and “performs sex crudely” (6:5-7). The bailiff-demon, the evil ghost, and the sheriff-demon, “who do not sleep” (6:79), attack domestic animals and human families, fathers and mothers, together with their children: “They strike down the cattle in the pen, they slaughter the sheepfold” (6:81-82); “They seize the one lying in his wife's room, having taken the son from the nurse-maid's lap. They murder the father and children together, and they spear the mother together with children like fish in the water” (6:83-86). It seems that the sheriff-demon appears to humans in the figure of a horned demon.[224] [225] As already stated, the Mesopotamian background of the Jewish Aramaic texts from Qumran is well known. It would not be surprising, therefore, to find the antecedent of a demon depicted in a Jewish Aramaic incantation in a Mesopotamian demon.52 The Mesopotamian sheriff-demon has many similarities with the mshyt of the Passover tradition, who is told in Exodus to kill the firstborn. The occasion of this attack is Passover night, the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, when yhwh “goes through” (psh) the land to strike the firstborn of Egyptians, but when he sees the blood on the doorframe he will pass over that doorway, and “he will not permit the destroyer (ha-mashtt) to enter the house and strike” (Ex 12:23). The precise nature of “the destroyer” is not revealed in the text. According to Ps 78:49 the name may refer to a “band of destroying angels”. The Passover narrative does not predate the Priestly source (P) in Exodus—thus, it may coincide with the Babylonian exile. The other source in Exodus, J, depersonalises the term mashlt into an action (Imshyt; Ex 12:23). This may lead one to think that the textual development moved from Ex 12:21b-23 to Ex 12:1-14 rather than in the reverse direction. The mshyt in the J source works as a hypostasis of yhwh according to the late Jewish doctrine of angels.[226] [227] [228] [229] [230] As for the nature of the Passover festival, Ex i2:2ib-23 describes it as a blood ritual to be performed by the family in order to protect the family in its house during the night of the ritual, thus placing the family in the situation of the exodus night. The protection of the family is then complemented by the destruction of Israel's enemies.54 In Exodus, Passover is aywm Izkrwn “memorial day”, commemorating deliverence from the mshyt “destroyer”, a festival to yhwh, and a lasting ordinance for the generations to come (Ex 12:14). Passover is highlighted in the book of Jubilees, a rewriting of the narratives of Genesis and Exodus until the giving of the Law on Sinai.55 Beside the striking similarities between the calendar of Jubilees and the calendrical texts from Qumran—the accordance between the 364-day calendars of Jubilees, the Temple Scroll (11QT), and 4QMMT, is well known56—there are further similarities between Jubilees and various literary texts from Qumran. The New Testament alludes to the idea of the demonic attack against the firstborn on Passover night: “By faith he [Moses] kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel” (Heb 11:28). Passover has been celebrated since antiquity by a night vigilance. The Last Supper, a Passover meal, was followed by singing psalms and vigils,[231] although it is not known which psalms were sung. The apotropaic formula preserved in 11Q11 survived, with variations, for over a thousand years. Variants are found in the Sasanian period magic bowls and in a fragmentary magic text from the Cairo Genizah.5[232] The bowl texts were written for women. One of them, MS 2053/7 was written for Mahdukh daughter of Nevandukh, against various demonic harms. The formula occurs at the end of the text, between a double citation of Zech 3:2 (which refers to Satan). The formula is preceded by a reference to the events of the first Passover and reads: “I adjure you who are barred, who are subdued. Your face is the face of a lowly creature, your horn is the horn of animate beings. The Genizah fragment dates to at least one millennium after the Qumran text. It is an amulet that seeks to protect from various harms, preceded by incantations relating to crying infants. The last part of the text lists demons and other causes of sudden fear: “and it c[omes] up[o]n you whether by day or by night, and says to you: Who are you, whether from the seed of man or from the seed of cattle. Your face is the face of old age (?) and your horns are (like) a water-current. You shall come out (?)...”. The bowl texts were written for women while the user of the Genizah text is not known.[233] In all cases the formula stands at the end of the text. MS 2053/7 clearly refers to the Passover tradition, which could be the occasion of its use, whereas the Genizah text is intended for demonic attack, “whether by day or by night”. In the context of the characteristics of the Qumran text and the date for its recital, and the concept of Passover in Jubilees, it can be suggested that Song 3 of 11Q11 is an apotropaic text that was uttered at the spring equinox against a demon that was similar to the mshyt of Exodus, i.e. that may cause the death of members of the household, most probably of children. Some aspects of this are reflected in the magic bowls and the Genizah text, but their purpose appears to have been a general protection for the house and children rather than simply for Passover. The address to the demon in 11Q11 clearly reflects Qumran demonology, whereas the bowls do not mention either the mixed (heavenly and earthly) origin of demons or their relation to darkness and injustice. It is the Genizah text alone that reflects some elements of the Qumran formula in its mention of the questionable origin of the demon: “whether from the seed of man or from the seed of cattle”—there is, however, no mention of a heavenly origin of the demon.