Demon possession in the old testament?

I got curious the other day, wondering if I could find any accounts of someone being possessed in the old testament, but came up emty. I have to assume it was happening, does anyone know of any reference to it before Mathew? There's accounts of sorcery multiple times and other demonic things. Are there accounts of possesion I don't know about?

‘Possessed’ is a loaded term that will obfuscate the issue. Saul was constantly troubled by an unclean spirit. Ahab and Jezebel were both influenced by unclean spirits. Most of the kings of Israel and those of other nations were likewise influenced.

On the subject more generally, I would encourage you to read Michael S. Heiser’s The Unclean Realm.

This very informative page (<= link .) ends by saying:

There are no "demons" in the Old Testament, with what that word implies
in modern popular English, only idols that are rejected as "no-gods."

1 Samuel 16:14,And the Spirit of יהוה turned aside from Sha’ul, and an evil spirit from יהוה troubled him."

Also the sons of Elohim who went astray are considered demons in modern language, Hebrew they would mainly be called them evil or unclean spirits,
(rah or rahhaw) רָעָה רַע
(tawmay טָמֵא)


Genesis 6:4, “The Nephilim (#H5303) were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of Elohim came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, the men of name.”

The new testament did not go into effect until the time of Christ's death, so, technically, all of the accounts of demonization in the gospels occurred under the old testament.

There is also this to consider:

Matthew 12:24-28

"But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you."

Apparently, there were others who were seeking to cast out devils besides Jesus, so there must have been demonized people prior to the time that the new testament actually went into effect.

Leviticus 19:4
Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.

Actually the idols are interchangably used with demons because it is demons who inspire those idol worshipping actions.

Psalm 106:36-38, “And served their idols, And they became a snare to them. And they slaughtered their sons And their daughters to demons, And they shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and daughters, Whom they slaughtered to the idols of Kena‛an; And the land was defiled with blood.”

שֵׁד shed (shade) n-m.
a doemon (as malignant).

1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amĕn.”

Leviticus, speaks of one of the Rebellious Watcher/Angels/Demon and uses specific Same Name as Enoch uses in his Tradition:
AZAZEL

From Book of Enoch:
Azazel is the rebellious angel at the head of a heavenly plot to take over the earth. The First Book of Enoch retells the story cited in Genesis (6, 1–4) of the angels who had relations with the daughters of men. The offspring of their unnatural union were the nefilim—giants of renown who filled the earth.

From the Torah/the LAW:
Azazel is one of the leaders of the rebellious Watchers in the time preceding the Flood; he taught men the art of warfare, of making swords, knives, shields, and coats of mail, and taught women the art of deception by ornamenting the body, dyeing the hair, and painting the face and the eyebrows, and also revealed .

And here are some Verses with God addressing Moses about AZAZEL:

Leviticus 16:
8 and he shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for יהוה and the other marked for Azazel.

9 Aaron shall bring forward the goat designated by lot for יהוה, which he is to offer as a sin offering;

10 while the goat designated by lot for Azazel shall be left standing alive before יהוה, to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness for Azazel.



In Ancient Hebrew Tradition, the Demon LILITH is specifically mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 34:
Wildcats shall meet hyenas,
Demons shall greet each other;
There too the lilith shall repose
And find herself a resting place.


Deuteronomy tells us of People who sacrificed to Demons:

32:
They sacrificed to demons, no-gods,
gods they had never known


There's other examples, but as you plainly can read, Demons, were common knowledge at least since Enoch, Genesis Chapter 6.

There are numerous references to devil's, but off the top of my head, "possession" I'd have to give more thought. We do have instances of the devil influencing Eve. He spake to her. He usually does through others like his prophets. He also somehow motivated Job's wife to get her husband to curse God and wanting him to die. It doesn't say how exactly that happened, but there are many that influence, motivate, instigate, manipulate and tempt people.

There were cultures that practiced detestable sins like sodomy, cannibalism of their children they sacrificed to the devils aka demons. God actually hated the people who committed such abominations, contrary to contemporary false doctrine. Whether or not those who committed such actions were demon possessed or not, God held them accountable and established just punishments and judgements against the people.....not just the sins.

1 Enoch is made up of 5 different scrolls, they should have never complied them, the 1st 36 chapters are from the only reliable scroll, as jusde literally quotes from it

Enoch 2:1-2 Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done, and committed against him.

Jude 1:14-15 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

again onlt 1 scroll of 5 is reliable and inspired

There were many sources that the Bible quoted.
That does not mean that the entirety of those sources were inspired by God. Wherever the Bible does quote sources however is completely accurate and preserved accurately.

Paul actually quoted greek philosiphers, so you are correct, but who cannonized the Bible? and what makes the scroll I mentioned un-inspired? Nothing in it contradicts the proven Torah, Prophets or Writings. Yet there are altered version of every manuscript known that do and have need altered, so I suppose it dependeds on your method of confirming one who speaks in the name of YHWH

Here's an interview with Pastor David Berzins about the topic of >Angels<

A sizeable portion of the time is spent on the fallen ones. I found it worth listening to 2 or 3 times.
As to your topic, there are at least three good reasons why I believe that demon possession occured in the OT.

1. There's continuity of the time of the old and New testament. What occured in the OT would be true of the NT and vice versa, unless there is a specific statement to the contrary in the NT.

2. The satanic spiritual gifts were strongly forbidden by God. He forbade any practice which people employed for trying to predict the future, receive supernatural power, or revelation outside of Himself and His word.
Examples would be practices like soothsaying, astrology, witchcraft, and like.
Although there would naturally be charliton's who are con artists, the practices involved fallen spirits.

3. There are no doctrines that teach that demon possession would not occur. The reason that there were so many cast out of people by Jesus, I suspect is because there was such intense concentration of demonic activity in the region that He was in. Satan would naturally summon his evil forces against God's Son. We see much possession in the gospel of Mark.

4. I was just reminded of the voice that came from an ex girlfriend who was possessed.
It was described in Isaiah 8:19, which is an Old Testament proof text for demon possession. The Lord reminded me of the following....

"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? "

It's too late to go into details explaining this verse. What it is basically saying is that which I already described in #2.
I believe that wizards peep and mutter as is often the voices that are heard from the vocal cords of those possessed. That best describes the strange voice that came from Mary as it manifested.

Good night

I was about 25 when I first got a bible and started reading it, I read the old testament first, and when I got to the new testament there were all these accounts about demons and I was flabbergasted I had no idea demons were in the bible I thought it was just myths and some strange notions like the Norse god legends etc, one of the first critical questions I had for myself was where and why did demons start appearing in the gospel accounts.

As for the accounts like Saul, I have had a downcast spirit before, what I mean is sometimes with life I get a bit down in spirit and sometimes I get high spirited, I dont mean I'm being affected by outside spirits but I'm relating to others the state of my spirit/mind as I see myself as a spiritual being.

I find it interesting people try to convince others of demonic activity in the OT.

Continue reading the Bible from cover to cover and you'll eventually find it so interesting that you'll wonder how on earth you missed it. 🙂

Interesting! Well I only have to read a few chapters in the NT and it is there in a plain explicit sense that no other context can be possible other than demonic activity is real. But and as you say I would have to read the OT over and over to maybe find a possible mention, In other words if its hard to find!! maybe I would need to make up my mind that its there before I could find it?

I re came hereto say,
LOL
opps
I love GOD Much

Start with Pro 8:13
It will help.

The Bible is Actually a Collection of Works.<

It is not a Story book to be Read Cover from Cover.

Go ahead do it, you Remember what it said?

Only when I continue reading it from cover to cover. Like anyone, I forget much, so I have a routine to read it daily. There are commands and examples that tell God's people to read it night and day.

Most do not read it that way but choose to Sunday mornings as they follow along with their pastor as he teaches, get a devotional booklet, or read a string of verses as they get the motivation. Those are necessary, but so is a regular schedule just like eating meals.