On the use of biblical verses in Jewish magic, Satan's own instructions on how to best him, and the Babylonian rabbis. A short thread. 1/14

Jewish (and not Jewish) magic is replete with biblical verses. These are deployed in various ways; sometimes they serve as potent utterances regardless of their meaning, and sometimes the resemblance of the context and meaning of the verse makes it apt for particular purposes. 2/

One of the most widely used verses in late antique Jewish magic is Zechariah 3:2 "The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke (Hebrew: יִגְעַר, Greek: ἐπιτιμήσαι) you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" 3/

The verse was particularly potent and useful because it had a verbal utterance made by God Himself against Satan, who, along with his minions, was understood as the cause of suffering, illness, and misfortune. 4/

Zechariah 3:2 undergirds Jesus' use of "rebuke" in Luke 4: So [Jesus] bent over her and rebuked (ἐπετίμησεν) the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them..demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them... 5/

Similarly, a Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowl (B2963a) reads: "...[This is the name] before which the angel of death is afraid, & when he hears it frightened he flees & is swallowed up: According as it is said: "And Yhwh said to Satan: Yhwh rebuke thee, Satan etc..." 6/

The Babylonian Talmud (b. Qiddushin 81a-b) contains a fascinating story in which Satan coaches someone on the proper and improper ways to curse him, again invoking the verse. According to the story, a man named Pelimo "used to say every day, ‘An arrow in Satan's eyes!" 7/

Pelimo's curse was not based on any biblical verse, and as a result, Satan appears disguised as a pauper and convinces Pelimo to invite him in for a meal. Chaos ensues as Satan feigns his own death, leading the townsmen to accuse Pelimo of murder, and he flees. 8/

Seeing Pelimo suffer, Satan "disclosed his identity and said to him, why have you [always] spoken thus? Then how am I to speak? You should say: ‘The Merciful rebuke Satan (רחמנא נגער ביה שטן)'." Satan clearly instructs Pelimo to recite a slightly modified version of Zech. 3:2. 9/

This is related to another Talmudic story (Sukkah 38a) that warns against Pelimo's original formula: "R.Aha b. Jacob used to wave [the Lulav].. saying, ‘This is an arrow in the eye of Satan’. This is improper since [Satan] might in consequence be provoked against him." 10/

Despite this, Pelimo and R. Aha's formula was widespread, used colloquially in another Talmudic story (Qiddushin 29b-30a): "R. Hisda said: The reason that I am superior to my colleagues is that I wed at 16. Had I wed at 14, I would have said to Satan, An arrow in your eye. 11/

Together, these stories suggest that the original formula used by Pelimo and R. Aha were common, and some Babylonian rabbis were opposed to its use on the grounds that it is dangerous and ineffective. They preferred the use of a biblical verse, common in Jewish magic. 12/

These anecdotes exemplify how the rabbis were informed by & competitors in a marketplace of distinct Jewish ideas & practices intended to ward off demons & other malevolent forces. They are simultaneously informed by & seek to shape magical practice; & they are not all alike. 13/

The rabbis were therefore akin to so many other Jewish (and non-Jewish) ritual experts of their time. Though popularly conceived as insular and segregated from, yet always critiquing, broader society, stories like these help expand our view of the world of the rabbis. 14/end