Ghosts in the Bible & the Origin of Demons

The universe works on laws. Even with quantum mechanics and it’s subatomic peculiarities, physicists are finding that there are laws in place. In the macrocosmic world, we have the law of entropy, thermodynamics, gravity, causality, etc. Why is there not a law regarding what happens after death? If the universe works on laws, and God created the universe, then, God must have put laws in place regarding what happens to us after death. We are going to move forward with that premise and look at the biblical record of ghosts.

To start, let’s see what the Bible says about death in general…

Hebrews 9:27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

2 Samuel 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

Psalm 13:3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

John 11:11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."

Where are the dead located?

Revelation 20:5, 12, 13 5(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.

The Hebrew name for the place known as Hades is Sheol. Sheol is the grave. The Bible clearly states that the greater part of humanity will sleep in the grave until resurrection for judgment.

Now, let’s look at the first possible mention of a ghost in the Bible, and see how it may have come about.

Genesis 4:8-10 8Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”d And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

New American Standard Bible
4:10 He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.

King James Bible
4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.


Notice how it said that the “Voice” of your brother’s blood cried out to me from the ground. This was the first murder. The murder resulted in the spilling of Abel’s blood. Why would spilt blood have a voice?The book of Hebrews says that “by faith” Abel still speaks, though he is dead. Ordinarily I would take that to mean that his story still speaks to us today. However, since Genesis states that the voice of his blood cries out, it leads me to believe that it is to be understood in a more literal way.


Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.


Blood is used for atonement of sins. When a serious sin like murder takes place, the blood calls out for “amends or reparation” for the sin of murder. This of course, is not completely covered in the text, but it seems to be a reasonable interpretation. As we can see, murder could cause a ghost or revenant to stay behind as a marker of murder. This “shade” of a person’s lifeblood would only be a piece of the person who was killed, and would call out for reparation or judgment on the killer as most real ghosts do. The soul of the person would sleep in the grave, but this piece would remain behind as a marker.


Here is the second instance of a ghost in the Bible. It’s interesting to note the contrast between the two.

1 Samuel 28:7-15 7Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, (seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, a necromancer ) so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Endor,” they said. 8So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” 9But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?” 10Saul swore to her by the LORD, “As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this.” 11Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said. 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”

Why did she cry out upon seeing Samuel?? She used a familiar spirit or possibly a demon to provide her services to people. She knew that Saul had outlawed such things, because God had commanded it. She was not expecting to call up the REAL Samuel. Her familiar would have impersonated Samuel, but this was actually the spirit of Samuel. When the actual spirit of Samuel arose from sleep in the grave, she knew it was only through the power of God that this took place, hence this must be King Saul visiting her. Notice that she had not even done anything, and Samuel’s spirit was there. Samuel died of a natural death, so there was nothing of his life left to have a voice above ground. So, only God could awaken Samuel’s spirit and have it speak to Saul.

28:13-15 13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” The woman said, “I see a spirit coming up out of the ground.” 14“What does he look like?” he asked. “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 15Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”

Note that Samuel died a natural death. Where was his spirit called from?
The ground or grave (Hades/Sheol). He stated that he was disturbed or in other words awoken. Lazarus died a natural death and was said to be asleep. Abel died from murder, and his blood cried out from where it was spilt. This would indicate that when you die a natural death, you sleep in the grave until resurrection. If you are murdered, some part of you stays behind to cry out for atonement (amends/reparation).


We’ve talked about the two instances where human spirits or “ghosts” are mentioned in the bible. There is a 3rd, but the reason why it does not fit into the category of real ghosts, is because these ones were never fully human. I am talking about the Nephilim. The half human, half angelic offspring of the Fallen Angels(watchers) spoken of in Genesis chapter 6.


Genesis 6:4 4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.


The original Nephilim died in the flood, but the Fallen Angels(watchers) continued their work and procreated more as we can see in Numbers.


Numbers 13:32, 33 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak/Anakim are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.

The Philistine giant Goliath, whom David later encountered, was supposedly a descendant of the Anakim.

2 Samuel 5:22 Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;


There is a word in the Old Testament used to refer to the tribes of Nephilim living after the flood killed off the first ones. They were called Rephaim. Rephaim means “the dead ones” or “the walking dead”. If the Nephilim were not fully human, they may not have gone to the resting place that humans are assigned to. Instead, they may roam the Earth, looking to inhabit a body again. Why would a group of living people be called the “walking dead”? It’s possible that these ones could easily inhabit (or possess) bodies which were not entirely human, using it like a new vessel. It could be that when these hybrids come about, they are an empty shell waiting to be filled with the spirits of the dead offspring of the Fallen Angels(watchers).

According to the Bible(2 Peter 2:4) and the Book of Enoch(which is quoted in Jude1:14, 15) the fallen angels who begat the Nephilim were cast into Tartarus/Gehenna, a place of 'total darkness'. However, the Book of Jubilees also states that God allowed ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to remain after the flood, as demons, to try to lead the human race astray (through idolatry, the occult, etc.) until the final Judgment.

Could this be the origin of Demons? We know from Revelation (12:4) that Satan turned one third of heaven to his side during his rebellion. Even with the Fallen Angels (watchers) in the abyss awaiting judgment for procreating with humans, there would be a multitude of additional Fallen Angels(diabolicals)who did not procreate but who are here on Satan’s side. These ones would certainly be taking part in the invisible war of good versus evil, as well as leading the daily spiritual harassment of mankind in general.

The others would be the spirits of the Watcher’s offspring. Animalistic, malevolent, cruel, and ruthless, just as they were in life…. which is the reason God caused the Flood. Angels don’t need bodies, they have spirit bodies. Demons (Rephaim) need a body. They are truly disembodied spirits. Without one they feel as if they are wandering in a desert without rest. Jesus makes it clear in Matthew:


Matthew 12:43-45 When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, "I will return to the house I left." When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.

I hope I have given you something to think about. Some of this is conjecture, but I have done my best to back all of it up with scripture. If you are a Christian, the Bible is the ultimate source of truth. We would do well to heed God’s words contained within it’s pages.