Daily Reflection

Demon is the English transliteration of a Greek term (daimon) originally referring to any one of numerous, vaguely defined spirit beings either good or bad. In the NT they are understood as evil spirits, opposed to God and God’s people.  In the KJV (King James Version), the term is regularly translated “devil,” a word that appears in the RSV (Revised Standard Version) only as the translation of a different Greek term meaning “accuser” or “slanderer” (diabolos). It is used as a virtual synonym for “Satan.”
In world religions, belief in evil spirits is virtually universal, whether ghosts or the dead, especially of the evil dead, demons, or other natural spirits, etc. Belief in a supreme spirit of evil is almost as universal. Demon-possession and the practice of exorcism are less universal but widespread.  In the ancient world, there was widespread belief in spiritual powers or beings that existed in addition to the well-known gods and goddesses. These beings were not understood as necessarily evil, though some might be. The idea that many or even all such beings were allied with the forces of darkness and wickedness only came into focus, probably under the influence of Persian thought, during the intertestamental period of Judaism.  
In the ancient Judaism, belief in the existence of evil spirits or demons was neither well-developed nor particularly important (Deut 32:17; Ps109:6; Isa 13:21, 34:14; 1Sam 16:14, etc). By contrast, the notion of a master evil spirit appeared very late and largely and as a result of Jewish contact with other Near-Eastern religions. Concepts of both demons and the devil subsequently entered Christian belief from a late Judaism in which they had acquired central importance in reaction to conquest, persecution, and apocalyptic speculation.
Scripturally, there are traces of the belief in harmful spirits in the OT writings (cf: Gen 6:1-4; Lev 16:6-10, 26; Job 6:4; Ps 91:5; Isa 34:14), but little was made of this idea in Hebrew thought until the late post-exilic period. Then the belief developed that there existed not only numerous evil spirits or demons but also a leader for these evil forces. This leader came to be known in Jewish thought by several titles, though the most common designation was Satan (the Greek title “the devil” was then used as virtual synonym for Satan (cf: John 8:44). As a result of this kind of thinking, the idea developed that there were armies of demons, under the leadership of Satan or the devil, doing battle with God and God’s allies.
In some of the NT writings, the place of the demons began to give way to the centrality of the leader of the demonic forces, namely, Satan or the devil. By the time of Christ, exorcism – the ritual expulsion of the demon or the liberation of the possessed person from its external control – had acquired a prominent place in Jewish religious practice. In the NT, Jesus is known as one who characteristically exorcises demons (cf: Matt 8:28-34, 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-27, 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39, 11:14-23). In the fourth gospel, there are no references to demon possession or exorcism. The devil has become the instigator of evil (cf: John 13:2). Finally, the idea that there are evil forces in the world that manifest themselves in various ways still remains valid.