The Four Incantations in 11Q11 and Literary Patterns
Another document discovered in Qumran Cave 11, 11Q11, illustrates another facet of exorcism and healing in Qumran and its literary patterns. 11Q11 tells of how an evil spirit took possession of a person and caused illness.[264] 11Q11 contains four incantations in Hebrew, the first three of which were unknown before its discovery.
The fourth incantation is a version of Psalm 91.[265] [266] Such a use of the Psalm is later known in the Jerusalem Talmud, ‘Eruvin 26c, and the Babylonian Talmud, Shevuot 15b. Another Psalms scroll (11Q5) discovered in the same cave explains the function of 11Q11. It lists the writings of David. In 11Q5 xxvii 9-10, we read: “canticles to be performed on the possessed ones: four” (ËðÇËÊ D’pUSH bp pib Ë’^1). The number and the function correspond to 11Q11. The four psalms are recited at the bedside in order to exorcise the demon. The possessed ones answered after each incantation (wb) a double amen, for example, the angel “[... Ra]phael has healed [them. Amen! Amen! Selah]” in 11Q11 v 3. The victim is called to confront the demons him- or herself through the power of God. Thus, the verbs “to invoke” (ÊËð) and “to make strong”, “to support” (pin in hifil) yhwh in imperative masculine singular forms are used in 11Q11 ii 8-10. Column v relates that the demon comes during “the night” and what the patient (or an intermediary) must say to it in 11Q11 v 6-8:T^in o[i]bn ’ëð òë³ð³ i[w] ’is p’js î[’^³]ëðë pnrai dtk [d ë³Ü’ë] ëïê ’d
ËðË2 Klbl b[ip] Ë²Ê Klbl ëïê
Who are you, [offspring of] man or of seed of the ho[ly one]s? Your face is a face of [delu]sion and your horns are horns of illu[si]on. You are darkness and not light, [injus]tice and not justice.
Here the demon is described for the first time in Judaism as a horned being, a well-known image applied to Satan in the Middle Ages.
The horn was a symbol of power for the Seleucid rulers32 during the last centuries BC; it may derive from the horns of a bull god, the symbol of its strength. The canonical book of Daniel changed the symbol to one with negative connotations. The last and worst beast in the vision of four beasts in Daniel 7:7-8 had ten horns. The beast represented Antiochos iv Epiphanes who oppressed the region of Judea between 175 and 163.[267] The horns became a symbol of violence, a symbol of evil perpetrated against Israel. Thus, demonic action against people in 11Q11 is related to this negative symbol. The discussion between the patient and the demon at nightfall also contains information about the nature of demons. Its nature is blurred: Is it a human being or an angel? It may be an allusion to the fallen angels, the Watchers, who had sexual relations with women; God punished this prohibited union by allowing evil on earth. Such an allusion is not clear in the preserved passage though. The redactor may have created a numinous picture to suggest that the demon is between the human and God. The words “delusion” and “illusion” to describe the face of the demon and its horns contribute to an evanescent atmosphere. Thus we can only imagine a silhouette and a feeling of fear.But the function of the demon is clear: it brings “darkness” and “injustice”. The creative power of God is also opposed to sin and evil in 11Q11 iii 1-9. The end of the struggle is known in 11Q11 iv 4, because “yhwh will strike you with a [grea]t blo[w] to destroy you” (TT2Nb IBS n[bnt FO]0 HIH’ H33’) and a “powerful angel” (q’pr Ttfbo in 11Q11 iv 5) will be the avenging arm of God. Then yhwh “will bring down” (T[n,_iT’ in 11Q11 iv 7 with the object “you”) the demon to the abyss and the Sheol “by the curse of Ab[addon]” (JH]3NH rbbpn) according to 11Q11 iv 7-10; V 8-11. It is also likely that the possessed one (or more probably an intermediary) invoked “Solomon” (naibw) in 11Q11 ii 2, but the passage is fragmentary. Nevertheless, it is the first attestation of such a context with King Solomon. As we have said previously, many documents and traditions have associated the figure of Solomon with medical and magical powers in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Moreover, the literary genre of these incantations is close to the prayers recited by Tobit and Sara after the expelling of Asmodeus in Tobit 8:4-8. Therefore, it is not surprising to have discovered the book of Tobit in Cave 4 with four manuscripts in Aramaic (4Q196-4Q199) and one copy in Hebrew (4Q200). Thus, 11Q11 documents at the turn of era the diffusion of literary patterns of exorcism and healing within Judaism.