The Twilight series notwithstanding, vampires have struck fear into the hearts of humans for hundreds of years.
I do not know the exact roots of this vampire mythology. My guess is that vampires, as we know them, do not have their genesis in the Ancient Near East. Nor, I think, did the Bible spark the original image.
However, we do find vampires--of sorts--in the Bible.
We begin in the Book of Revelation (16:4-6)
"The third angel poured his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say,
'You are just, O Holy One, who are and were,
for you have judged these things;
because they shed the blood of saints and prophets
you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!'"
Thus, drinking blood was a punishment for those who killed the saints and martyrs of the Church. Those who were bloodthirsty would also be made to thirst for blood. And in the end of times, bloodsuckers wouldn't just find blood to drink in other living humans, but God would turn rivers and lakes and wells to blood. Perhaps to save his people? In any event, the important part is that drinking blood was a punishment. And why was it a punishment? For that, we must head to the First Testament.
In Leviticus, God warns:
"If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and will cut that person off from the people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood" (17:10-11a).
This law concerned any animal, but especially humans. To drink the lifeblood of a creature was to steal the creatures life, ingesting it and thus mixing it with your own life. Vampires stay young and live forever because they steal the lives of their victims. Hoarding life in this way is stealing from the God of Life. Since God created all things, all life belongs to God. Another danger that can be inferred--with a little imagination--is that if you drink the blood of another creature, you might take on characteristics of their life. I would become more like a cow. If you took on other human consciousnesses, this could constitute being possessed. The main point, however, is that if you eat blood, God will cut you off. Only the damned eat blood.
Proverbs also has a passage that can be considered vampiric.
"...there are those whose teeth are swords,
whose teeth are knives,
to devour the poor from off the earth,
the needy from among mortals.
The leech has two daughters;
'Give, give,' they cry.
Three things are never satisfied;
four never say, "Enough"
Sheol, the barren womb,
the earth ever thirsty for water,
and the fire that never says, 'Enough' (30:14-16)
Although the Wisdom writer is using metaphor, the image is frightening. Human figures roaming the earth who have knives for teeth. The image that pops into my mind is a human being with large fangs. And we are led to believe that these fangs are used for devouring blood, because these same humans are referred to as leeches--bloodsuckers. But the point here is not what we can or cannot eat (i.e. blood of other humans). Rather, all of the human bloodsucker talk is a metaphor for stealing from the poor and taking from the needy. Avarice. Greed. There are some humans that are just never satisfied with what they have, and so they devour the vulnerable in society, take everything from the weak. The assumption in that day was that resources and money were finite. And so, to be rich and hoard goods and money was to drain the poor and needy of their subsistence. These people are likened to Sheol (or Hell), to a barren womb, to dry earth, and to raging fire. These are images of damnation.
Therefore, we can see two interpretations of vampires in the Bible--one literal and one metaphorical, advocating for social justice. Either way, the Bible is clear, vampires are damned.
No comments:
Post a Comment