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Acts describes healing as the defeat of a harmful evil spirit, following a pattern found in Jubilees where spirits similarly cause illness and Noah learns and applies healing knowledge from heaven.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 10:12
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
11 And we did according to all His words: we bound all the malignant evil ones in the place of condemnation and we left a tenth part of them that they might be subject before Satan on the earth. 12 And we explained to Noah all the medicines of their diseases, together with their seductions, how he might heal them with herbs of the earth. 13 And Noah wrote down all things in a book as we instructed him concerning every kind of medicine. Thus the evil spirits were precluded from (hurting) the sons of Noah. 14 And he gave all that he had written to Shem, his eldest son; for he loved him exceedingly above all his sons.
Date: 170–125 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Acts 19:12
New Testament
11 God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, 12 so that when even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body were brought to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. 13 But some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by evil spirits, saying, “I sternly warn you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 (Now seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.) 15 But the evil spirit replied to them, “I know about Jesus and I am acquainted with Paul, but who are you?”
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... this violent activity is reminiscent of the giants’ warlike activity (1 Enoch 7:4–5; 9:9). Here the object of their violence is the human race (verse 12). The imagery is probably metaphorical, although, as Burkitt notes, it fits descriptions of demoniacal seizures. The last verb is also problematic ... Causing illnesses is an activity of the demons in Jubilees 10:12–13. Compare also Luke 7:21; 8:2; Acts 19:12–16, all of “evil spirits.” As a parallel to the paradox of the spirits’ hunger, thirst, and fasting, Charles cites the example of the Jinns ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 274.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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