An evil spirit descended on any one going into a cemetery by night.(1) A necromancer is defined as one who fasts and lodges at night amongst tombs in order that the evil spirit may come upon him.(2) Demons, however, take more especial delight in foul and offensive places, and an evil spirit inhabits every private closet in the world.(3) Demons haunt deserted places, ruins, graves, and certain kinds of trees.(4) We find indications of these superstitions throughout the Gospels. The possessed are represented as dwelling among the tombs, and being driven by the unclean spirits into the wilderness, and the demons can find no rest in clean places.(5) Demons also frequented springs and fountains.(6) The episode of the angel who was said to descend at certain seasons and trouble the water of the pool of Bethesda, so that he who first stepped in was cured of whatever disease he had, may be mentioned here in passing, although the passage is not found in some of the older MSS. of the fourth Gospel,(7) and it is argued by some that it is a later interpolation. There were demons who hurt those who did not wash their hands before meat. "Shibta is an evil spirit which sits upon men's hands in the night; and if any touch his food with unwashen hands, that spirit sits upon that food, and there is danger from it."(8) {114} The demon Asmodeus is frequently called the king of the devils,(1) and it was believed that he tempted people to apostatize; he it was who enticed Noah into his drunkenness, and led Solomon into sin.(2) He is represented as alternately ascending to study in the School of the heavenly Jerusalem, and descending to study in the school of the earth.(3) The injury of the human race in every possible way was believed to be the chief delight of evil spirits. The Talmud and other Rabbinical writings are full of references to demoniacal possession, but we need not enter into details upon this point, as the New Testament itself presents sufficient evidence regarding it. Not only one evil spirit could enter into a body, but many took possession of the same individual. There are many instances mentioned in the Gospels, such as Mary Magdalene, "out of whom went seven demons" [--Greek--],4 and the man whose name was Legion, because "many demons" [--Greek--] were entered into him.(5) Demons likewise entered into the bodies of animals, and in the narrative to which we have just referred, the demons, on being expelled from the man, request that they may be allowed to enter into the herd of swine, which being permitted, "the demons went out of {115}