[425] Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 15.
[426] It appears that the idea of the devil is first brought into clear relief in the Book of Wisdom, where it is said: “By the envy of the devil death came into the world” (ii, 25). The Hebrew demonology is usually said to be of Iranian origin, but it may just as likely have sprung from a Turanian source, either directly or through their Semitic kin in Babylonia.
[427] Job, ii, 7.
[428] Set, called Typhon by the Greeks, the embodiment of physical and moral evil, was regarded as the Egyptian god of death. Plagues were attributed to him.
[429] The plague maiden of Teutonic folk-lore is somewhat like Dibbara. See Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology (translation), p. 1185.
[430] Chaldean Account of Genesis, vol. viii.
[431] Psalms, xci, 6.
[432] 2 Sam., xxiv, 13 et seq., and 2 Kings, xix, 35.
[433] The wife of Hea, the queen of the gods, Davkina, was a health goddess. In an inscription Marduk is sent to a dying man, and it is further said:—
“Sprinkle holy water over him.