Casting out demon ministry in OT

Hi Mike,

Your question got me curious so I did a search in my library for "Old Testament" NEAR exorcism and I got two hits that I found interesting and thought I'd share them:

"Despite the widespread practice of divination in the ancient Near East as well as possible evidences among the Israelites, the Old Testament contains no explicit references to exorcism. David’s ministry to Saul, who was tormented by an “evil spirit” (1 Sam. 16:14–23; cf. 18:10; 19:9), involved relief of the king’s melancholia through music rather than magical formulae. Although some would see the substitutionary function of the scapegoat in carrying off the people’s sins as a form of exorcism (Lev. 16:20–22), the earliest reference to the practice is Raphael’s instruction for purifying Tobias’ marriage chamber (Tob. 6:7, 16–17; cf. 8:3). In the intertestamental period, exorcism is attested at Qumrân (e.g., 1QapGen 20:28–29; 11QPsa 19:15–16). Numerous Aramaic incantation bowls employing varieties of the ineffable name Yahweh indicate continued use of exorcistic practices among the Babylonian Jews of the sixth-seventh centuries A.D". - Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 366.

"Now we looked at this last time. And I said, and I’m just going to repeat it so you kind of have it in your mind, there’s no instruction in the Old Testament regarding exorcism of demons. There’s not even a specific encounter with a demon-possessed person in the Old Testament. There are a couple of occasions, 1 Samuel 16, 1 Kings 22, where evil spirits are mentioned and there is that remarkable account in Genesis 6 where fallen angels, demons, called there the sons of God, come down and dwell in men as an evidence of the wretchedness of the pre-Flood society. They were indeed a demon-possessed people, but it’s spoken of in a very general and collective way. We don’t really have an account in the Old Testament of an individual demon-possessed person or of the way those people behaved, nor of any exorcism in dealing with them. And so that is to say we don’t know a lot about demon possession from the Old Testament."  - John F. MacArthur Jr., John MacArthur Sermon Archive (Panorama City, CA: Grace to You, 2014).

For your other question, while not yet available in Logos (but available from a website whose name rhymes with "smamazon"), I found In the Name of Jesus: Exorcism among Early Christians by Graham Twelftree to be very informative about the history of exorcism.

I don't think there was such "ministry" in the O.T. In the N.T. during the ministry of Jesus and early stages of the church it existed, but it was part of the miracles, signs and wonders that confirmed the Word. I don't believe that ministry is active today, since the Word has already been confirmed. I do think is a fascinating topic and the factbook comes in handy, depending on the size of your library. The book "The Unseen Realm" has some interesting thoughts on the 1 Samuel verse that you cited. I highly recommend that book along with its abridged version "Supernatural" -- Good luck with your search.

DAL