Good afternoon! (or whenever you read this)

I know I missed an episode last week (October 8), and I hated to do it, but I just got way too busy with life. My weekends are pretty packed in October, but thankfully, I was able to get an episode put together for Wednesday, October 15.

In case you missed it, you can check it out here:

Video Bible Study: Zechariah’s 1st Night Vision

I also released a teaching last weekend on the first of Zechariah the prophet’s eight night visions.

And it couldn’t have come on a better week, as this one relates to some current events going on right now in Israel.

This vision from Zechariah 1 was about the man among the myrtle trees- you can listen to it right here if you’d like (this is part of the God and His Prophets podcast):

Rabbit Trail: Why Are Demons Called Unclean Spirits?

In this week’s Weird Stuff in the Bible episode, we reviewed theories on why some animals were forbidden as “unclean” in the Old Testament Mosaic law. The Israelites were banned from consuming these animals. One of the theories I gave the most credence to was The Mixture Theory. This posits that the unclean animals of the land/sky/sea were forbidden because they had characteristics that transgressed their domain.

For example, an eel lacks the fins/scales that are “natural” to a sea creature. Eels have skin, more like a land-dweller, though they live in water. So these creatures transgress a boundary, and therefore, they are unclean. Scavenger birds such as vultures graze for food along the ground like a land-dweller, so they transgress their boundaries and are forbidden for that reason as well.

This may sound arbitrary, but it’s in alignment with many laws in the Old Testament where God sets boundaries and bans things that cross those boundaries for the sake of being different, or holy.

Leviticus 19:19 - You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

A recurring principle of uncleanness is the blurring of God-given boundaries- the mixing of categories meant to be distinct.

And this gives us a clue as to why as to why demons would eventually get the name “unclean spirits.”

The Unclean Spirits of the New Testament

Mark 1:23-26 - And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.

If you remember from an episode I did last year called The Origin of Demons (click here to catch up on it), the word “demon” is probably not a synonym for “fallen angel.” Despite this being the popular contemporary teaching, the Bible never says that the demons are fallen angels.

So where did demons come from, then? Ancient sources from that time- like the Book of Enoch- claim that they are the spirits of the dead Nephilim (most of whom perished in Noah’s flood).

Why are they called unclean? They, too, represent an unholy mixture- a combination of two things of different types. The Nephilim, or giants, were produced by the sexual union of the spiritual Sons of God with the human daughters of men. A boundary was transgressed. Therefore, the giants were corrupted in their very flesh, the offspring of a forbidden union.

After death, this mixture is what caused these shades to be declared “unclean spirits” in the time period of the New Testament.

I hope you enjoyed an episode on the Mosaic Law, because I want to do one or two more in the coming weeks.

And coming soon after that, we’ll be celebrating our second anniversary of this podcast with an exciting interview from a man who has much experience in setting people free from unclean spirits.

Have an epic week- and a weird Wednesday!

-Luke