A belief in apparitions was universal among the ancients, especially in the East; and the Israelites, even before the Captivity, notwithstanding the aversion of their religion to demonology (see Crusius [B.], Bibl. Theol. p. 293), had in popular superstition their spectral forms with which they peopled desert regions. SEE AZAZEL. At a later period the specters and evil spirits were confounded together (Tob 8:3; Bar 4:35). The canonical books refer (Isa 34:13) to a female night monster () and goat like savages (), who danced and called to each other (8:21). SEE SATYR.<\/p>\n
In the Targum, and by the rabbins, this popular belief is more fully unfolded as a part of foreign demonology; but much of it may have come down from earlier times. These ghostly beings are classed as night, morning, and mid-day specters (Targum at Son 4:9). The last ( , Sept. at Psa 90:6; , Targum at Son 4:6) appear at noon, when people unconcernedly resign themselves to repose (the siesta; see Philostr. Her. 1, 4); and they are especially dangerous (Aben-Ezra, On Job 3, 5). Morning specters are called in the Targum (Psa 121:6). Among the night specters (comp. Mat 14:26; similar was the Greek Empusa [see the Scholiast on Aristoph. Ran. 295; Volcken, Diatr. p. 132; Bernhardy on Dionys. Perieg. p. 721]) was the Lilith, a beautiful woman who especially waylaid children and killed them (like the Lamias [comp. the Vulg. at Isa 34:14] and Striges of the Romans [Bochart, Hieroz. 3, 831; Meineke on Menander, p. 145; comp. Philostr. Apoll. 4, 25], and the ghouls of the modern Arabians); male infants to the eighth, and female to the twentieth, day after their birth (see Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Judenth. 2, 413 sq., 452; Selden, De Diis Syr. p. 249 sq.). Another spirit inimical to children, particularly to such as do not keep clean hands (Mishna, Joma, 77, 2; Taanith, 20:2), was called (but it does not appear that the Jews used to threaten their children with sprites, as the Romans did with their larvae [Spanheim on Callim. Dian. 69], like modern vulgar bugaboos). See Van Dale, Idol. p. 94 sq.; Doughtsei Analect. 1, 246. SEE SUPERSTITION. <\/p>\n
Specter A belief in apparitions was universal among the ancients, especially in the East; and the Israelites, even before the Captivity, notwithstanding the aversion of their religion to demonology (see Crusius [B.], Bibl. Theol. p. 293), had in popular superstition their spectral forms with which they peopled desert regions. SEE AZAZEL. At a later period … Continue reading “Specter”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encyclopedic-dictionary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/dictionaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}