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Judaism and Hebrew Scriptures 135
(1934), and Johnny Temple’s “Evil Devil Blues”
(1935). The Devil is mentioned in the titles or
texts of hundreds of blues recordings from the
period, associated variously with terror, humor,
sexual prowess, and difficult or unfaithful women.
Rural African-American musicians were also
aware of the Anglo-Celtic tradition and in fact
often sang songs and ballads they picked up from
their white counterparts, with whom they sometimes
performed in string bands. In Anglo-
American folk music the Devil was a favorite character
even in secular narratives. In “Riddles Wisely
Expounded” and “The False Knight on the Road,”
innocents outwit the Devil. The old comic ballad
“The Farmer’s Curst Wife” has Satan claiming an
old man’s quarrelsome wife, only to bring her back
with the explanation that she is too mean even for
hell. “Tying a Knot in the Devil’s Tail,” a jolly
ballad from the Western frontier, envisions the
encounter of two drunken cowboys with the Devil
“come to gather up your souls”; instead, they hogtie
him and leave him howling and cursing. In the
grim “House Carpenter” the carpenter’s wife is
seduced by a handsome man, then flees with him
only to learn too late that he is the Devil and he is
taking her to hell.
—Jerome Clark
See also Heavy Metal Music; Satan
For Further Reading:
Greenberg, Alan. Love in Vain: The Life and Legend
of Robert Johnson. New York: Dolphin, 1983.
Guralnick, Peter. Searching for Robert Johnson. New
York: Dutton Books, 1989.
Johnson, Robert. The Complete Recordings.
Columbia Records, 1990.
Morganfield, Big Bill. Rising Son. Blind Pig Records,
1999.
Oliver, Paul. The Story of the Blues. Philadelphia, PA:
Chilton Book Company, 1975.
Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues. New York: Viking Press,
1981.
Rudkin, Ethel H. “The Black Dog.” Folklore 49 (June
1938): 111–131.
Spencer, Jon Michael. Blues and Evil. Knoxville:
University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
Wardlow, Gayle Dean. Chasin’ That Devil Music:
Searching for the Blues. San Francisco, CA:
Miller Freeman Books, 1998.
Woods, Barbara Allen. “The Devil in Dog Form.”
Western Folklore 13, no. 4 (October 1954):
229–235.
Judaism and Hebrew Scriptures
I am Enan, the Satan, son of Arman the Demon, son
of the Place of Death, son of Rage, son of Death’s
Shadow, son of Terror, son of Trembling, son of
Destruction, son of Extinction, son of Evil-name, son
of Mocking, son of Plague, son of Deceit, son of
Injury, son of Asmodeus.
From the Book of Delight
Western notions of hell, Satan, and demons represent
a synthesis of influences from different
cultural traditions. The two most significant
sources for this diabolical mythology are Judaism
and Zoroastrianism, though it should be noted
that even the Zoroastrian influence was mediated
to Christianity by Judaism. Judaism’s history
exhibits many different layers of religious development,
some of which are reflected in Hebrew
scriptures (the Christian Old Testament).
As many scholars have pointed out, there are
often ambiguities with respect to notions about
demons and the demonic in early Jewish scriptures.
In particular, it is sometimes difficult to tell
when terms associated with demonic entities are
being used literally, figuratively, or some combination
of the two. The nature of this problem might
best be understood via examples of certain English
expressions, such as “like a man possessed” or “an
evil wind.” Although it is obvious that “like a man
possessed” is a figure of speech, not intended to
imply that the individual is actually possessed, this
expression derives its meaning from a time when
most English speakers believed in demonic
possession. “An evil wind,” on the other hand,
would clearly be figurative when used in the
modern world, but it would have had a more
literal referent in the late Middle Ages. As a third
example, a contemporary person referring to
something or somebody as Satanic could be
intending it literally or figuratively, depending on
the belief system of the speaker. One finds the
same ambiguities in the Hebrew Bible. With this
caveat in mind, there are many references to the
demonic in scriptures.
Like most premodern peoples, various illnesses
and other forms of human misery were attributed
to the actions of demons. Unlike other cultures,
Hebrew demons are portrayed as being under the
control of the high god (Yahweh) in the earliest