As anyone
who truly studies religion knows, The Bible is not the be-all and
end-all of Hebraic thought; it is merely the primer. Judaism is
much, much more than The Bible, some of it written down for
thousands of years, some of it preserved in ‘the oral
tradition’ until written down some time later. But all of it is
part of Judaism. It is from all these sources that we get our
knowledge of demons and a wilderness.
Demons are
often described as belonging to the wilderness and we even have
prayers and rituals surrounding them. The term “scapegoat”
comes from a very ancient and holy Jewish ritual. During Yom
Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, the sins of the people are
symbolically placed upon the goat’s head, after which the goat
is sent into the wilderness.
The
wilderness itself is a designation that is surrounded by ancient
Jewish teachings. And this whole concept of wilderness, as well as
demons, may be an undercurrent of what we see happening today.
For various reasons, some being political, not all Jewish
teachings and writings were included in the portion of The Bible
that comes after the Torah (the first five books, also known as
the Pentateuch). And yet, it is from some of these teachings and
writings that we get our deeper knowledge of Judaism. The Book of
Enoch is one such work and some of its teachings are echoed in The
Midrashim and other places. (1, 2)
The Book of
Enoch, parts of which were found with the Dead Sea scrolls, goes
into much greater detail regarding the story surrounding the
fallen angels, who are mentioned in Genesis. According to the book
of Enoch, there were two main fallen angels: Shemhazai (aka
Semjaza aka Samiaza aka Shamhazi) and Azazel (aka Aziel aka
Aza’el, aka Azael aka Asa'el). Shemhazai was the leader of the
fallen angels and Azazel taught humans how to make war and
weapons. (1, 2, 3)
Curiously,
both have been referred to by the nickname “Aza” at various
times and places. (3) Perhaps even more curiously, what we
English-speakers designate as the area known as “Gaza” is
called “Aza” by the Israelis and people who live in the Middle
East.
Back in
ancient times there were thriving cities, usually with
wildernesses between them. There were no paved roads or
urban/suburban sprawl. This scenario held true for that area we
know as Gaza/Aza; although the original specific site for it is
still uncertain, it is known to have been in the general area. (4)
In the Book
of Enoch, we are told that as punishment for his sins, the fallen
angel of war, Azazel, was thrown into a pit in the "Wilderness
of Dudael," and left there to await Final Judgment. Although no
one knows to where the name "Dudael" refers, "Dudael" also
means "Great Desert" and "Fiery Caldron." Furthermore,
there is one place in Israel that fits that description: the
Negev, which has one of its borders on … Gaza/Aza.
So how do
places come by their names? Oftentimes they are given names relating to important people, events, history, and the like.
Is it mere coincidence that Gaza/Aza has the same name as one of
the leaders of the fallen angels?
But there is
more.
Sometimes
these "demons of the wilderness" to whom the scapegoat is
sent are referred to as earth-bound evil spirits, having the
warlike attributes of their progenitors -- the abominations
created by the fallen angels while also taking human form. (5)
Either way, original demons or earth-bound spirits, these
embodiments of evil have certain characteristics, bizarrely echoed
by the inhabitants of Gaza/Aza today.
The current
occupiers of most of Gaza/Aza today are the Arabs/Moslems. But
they are not the descendants of the original inhabitants. Gaza/Aza
is mentioned 18 times in The Bible as part of the Jewish homeland.
The Israelites had been in Gaza before the time of Samson (Judges,
16:1) and were still in possession of it in the time of Solomon
(Kings I:4:1). (6) However, just as what happened in Judea and
Samaria, Gaza/Aza had its Jews expelled, and has been occupied by
numerous invaders and foreign civilizations.
Gaza/Aza was
part of the Jewish homeland long before Islam sprang into being.
Archeologists have documented remains of a Roman-period synagogue
in Gaza which includes Judaic inscriptions on a column located
today in the major mosque of Gaza/Aza. This writing is a
Hebrew-Greek inscription complete with Jewish motifs that mention
Hananiah, the son of Jacob. It has been dated to the second or
third centuries -- long before Mohammed lived. And as late as 1839
the Ottoman census of Jerusalem demonstrated that Jews were still
living in Gaza/Aza. (6)
Therefore,
it is obvious by the historic and archaeological evidence, that
the Arabs/Moslems are invaders who took the land by conquest and
war. And war is one of the characteristics of that fallen angel
Azazel and his demons or evil spirit followers.
Then come
some of the other characteristics of demons. They are known to be
the embodiment of evil, perpetrating lies, manipulating mankind
and causing pain, strife, terror and destruction. With this in
mind, let us look at the behaviors of the current Arab/Moslem
occupiers of Gaza/Aza.
Do they lie
about who they are? Yes. There has never been a country known as
"Palestine," nor an Arab/Moslem people known as "Palestinians"
until Yasser Arafat and his supporters stole that designation from
the Jews in the early 1960s. One of their own leaders bragged
about this in an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw. Zahir
Muhsein, Executive Committee Member of the PLO, stated the
following:
“The
Palestinian people does not exist.
The creation
of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle
against the state of Israel for our Arab unity.
In reality
today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians,
Syrians and Lebanese.
Only for
political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the
existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests
demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian
people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical
reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders,
cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I
can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem.
However, the
moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait
even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan." (7)
Then, as
true to demonic characteristics, there are the unrelenting lies
meant to foment hatred and genocide. The official government of
these Arab/Moslem occupiers promotes The Protocols of the Elders
of Zion as factual, claims that Jews poison their
(Arab/Moslem)
food, water, and candy, and put bombs in their children’s toys.
Next are the
traits attributed to Azazel: those of war, violence and terror.
The Arabs/Moslems occupying Jewish Gaza/Aza have perfected the
homicide/genocide bombing, specifically targeting women, children,
and the elderly, to spread horror, fear and death and to destroy
future generations of Jews.
Coupled with
these warlike traits of Azazel are the demonic traits of the utter
disregard for life, even of their own offspring. They have camps
for young children to brainwash them into aspiring
homicide/genocide bombers. (8) And like ravening beasts, they will
literally tear apart, from limb to limb, any Jew who ventures into
their area, passing around the body parts as in some Satanic
ritual of cannibalism. (9)
The
incidents of unrelenting violence and war, often including the
bizarre and perverse, are much too numerous to detail except to
say that they number in the tens of thousands in the past five
years alone.
Regarding
the wilderness aspect of these current Arab/Moslem occupiers of
historical Jewish Gaza/Aza, here too is truth. They have been the
recipients of billions upon billions of aid dollars and yet choose
to remain in a wilderness of their own making. They use their
world record-setting welfare dollars for anything except improving
their lives and living conditions. Whatever is given to them they
systematically destroy, including ancient and historical buildings
and sites. Recently, they even drove out the free medical services
provided to them by the Red Cross.
So when The
Bible and other teachings tell of "demons of the wilderness,"
it has become obvious that they aren't speaking in parables but in
truths for today -- and warnings for the future of Israel and all
humankind.
Endnotes
(1)
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(2)
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(3)
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(4)
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(5)
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(7)
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(9)
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Copyright ©
2005 by Beth Goodtree.
Beth
Goodtree covers Middle East politics and national interests. She
is a regular contributor to JewishIndy,
where this first appeared. Author's email.
Author's website.
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