Belial: When Wickedness Acquires a Kingdom

What happens when supernatural evil acquires more than a leader? What happens when wickedness acquires a kingdom?In the third installment of Southern Demonology’s four-part exploration of the development of supernatural evil during the Second Temple period, JJ turns to Belial and the remarkable demonology preserved among the Dead Sea Scrolls.Belial did not begin as the proper name of a demon. The Hebrew term beliyya'al originally conveyed ideas such as wickedness, worthlessness, and lawlessness. By the time we reach the sectarian writings associated with Qumran, however, Wickedness has become personified as the ruler of an entire supernatural dominion.Through the Community Rule, the Damascus Document, the War Scroll, the Songs of the Sage, and 11QMelchizedek, we explore a world divided between light and darkness, truth and falsehood, and the lot of God and the lot of Belial. Demons and hostile spirits now occupy a much larger cosmic framework, while human corruption, religious institutions, foreign empires, and even the course of history can become expressions of the same supernatural conflict.We also examine the Three Nets of Belial, the mysterious Treatise of the Two Spirits, the expectation that angels would fight alongside humanity during the final war, and the extraordinary practical consequences of preparing a military camp for the presence of heavenly beings.Belial represents a major development in the history of demonology. Under Mastema, hostile spirits acquired organization and leadership. At Qumran, wickedness acquires dominion.And once evil possesses a kingdom, only one question remains.How does Satan become its ruler?#SouthernDemonology #Belial #DeadSeaScrolls #Qumran #Demonology #AncientDemonology #SecondTempleJudaism #SecondTemplePeriod #AncientJudaism #JewishStudies #BiblicalStudies #Angelology #Demons #WarScroll #CommunityRule #DamascusDocument #SongsOfTheSage #Melchizedek #11QMelchizedek #Mastema #BookOfEnoch #Watchers #AncientReligion #ReligiousHistory #Apocalypticism #SpiritualWarfare #AncientNearEast #SupernaturalHistory #PodcastSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/southerndemonology. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.