Ketev Meriri: A non-demon entity
Psalms 91:6 - מִדֶּבֶר בָּאֹפֶל יַהֲלֹךְ מִקֶּטֶב יָשׁוּד צָהֳרָיִם
Psalms 91:6 (English) - ... of Ketev who harasses the afternoon
Rough translation, but so is the case with a language as ancient as Hebrew. In the context of Psalms 91, King David or the Author of the 91th chapter speaks of the dangers men face in the insecure spiritual regions. Whether it's demons, malovelant powers, or something else wicked that acts from within the unseen spheres, the author provides the reader with comforting text, mixing in various subjects, but most of which have to do with security and keeping from harm.
The 91th chapter of Psalms is a stellar biblical choice for people who fear power not of men, but of unknown or unseen entities. It's the kind of prayer you carry around when you ghost-hunt for real.
The last three words in Hebrew talk of something called Ketev. The language seems to suggest it is something, or someone, who "yashud", will, "rob" ( but in biblical Hebrew some verbs get completely twisted in meaning sometimes, in order to convey a very specific idea ). In this context, it seems Ketev will act as a robber. Not really robbing anything, but like a robber it terrorizes an area or a setting, and like a criminal it makes normal people afraid. A troublesome individual who likes fucking up the people who get near it.
It is said this "Ketev" will "rob" the afternoon. So really, the meaning is that this is something that is negatively active during the afternoon. Is it the 2-4pm rule of annoyed elderly people? Who knows.
Ketev The Demon
In Talmudic teachings, the Talmudic scholars related Ketev to a harmful demon.
Midrash Tehilim, a scripture that details the interpretation of Psalms, speaks of this demon chapter 91, third paragraph:
אמר
רב הונא בשם
רבי יוסי: קטב מרירי עשוי קליפין קליפין שערים ושל עין אחד הוא רואה ועינו תוך לבו. ואינו שולט לא בצל ולא בחמה אלא בין צל לחמה... ושליט מארבע שעות ועד תשע שעות. ושולט משבעה-עשר בתמוז ועד תשעה באב. וכל שהוא רואה אותו נופל על פניו.
חזקיה ראה אותו ונפל על פניו.
The Hebrew paragraph calls Ketev` Ketev Meriri. The second word, Meriri, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't show up in the Ketuvim portion of the old testament. Really, it would seem this second word is an addition to the name of a force not well explained in its origin writing, the chapter of Psalms. The Talmudic scholars, and perhaps in a development of hundreds of years preceding their time, the understanding of this Ketev potentially transformed into an understanding that Psalms talked of an entity, a demon allegedly, with now a second word to his name.
Meriri might have to with marir, the adjective of "bitter". Ketev reminds one of Kotev, translation of polar. "ha-kotev-hazphoni" translates to "the north pole".
Bitter polar? Maybe we have bipolar demon?
Funny enough, this demon in particular, at least in Talmudic teachings, is represented as the idea of graduality and the in between. The name of this demon could explain that he exhibits traits of graduality or the extreme polar opposites. Many times in Judaism, demons represent ideas or aesthetic terms. For example, one ancient middle-eastern belief is the negative influence of even numbers towards people in respect to luck. This force is somewhat related to demons.
This next portion only magnifies the perception of demons, and Ketev Meriri, as the couriers of ideas and logic terms.
Ketev Meriri - His Powers and Domain
Let's hover over the writing detailing this Ketev Meriri:
אמר
רב הונא בשם
רבי יוסי: קטב מרירי עשוי קליפין קליפין שערים ושל עין אחד הוא רואה ועינו תוך לבו. ואינו שולט לא בצל ולא בחמה אלא בין צל לחמה... ושליט מארבע שעות ועד תשע שעות. ושולט משבעה-עשר בתמוז ועד תשעה באב. וכל שהוא רואה אותו נופל על פניו.
חזקיה ראה אותו ונפל על פניו.
According to the text (approximately, sometimes Talmudic Hebrew doesn't even make structural sense): Ketev Meriri is made of something like layers, like that of a fruit. Gates, something. The term gates doesn't elaborate, and in old Talmudic fashion, everyone is supposed to make a full sentence worth of logic out of a single noun.
--
Ketev doesn't control neither sun nor shadow, but it does control what it is in between of them.
A possible explanation is outer edges of a shadow, specifically when the shadow is cast as the result of sun blockage. This demon apperantely doesn't deal with artificial light, and presumably we're talking about sunlight and shows during the afternoon, when the sunlight is lesser compared to morning light, but still very much present.
So yes, this demon specifically deals with weak afternoon sunlight getting blocked by objects and casting shadows. I guess if you live underground or on a spaceship you won't run into trouble with Ketev.
--
And he reigns from the forth hour to the ninth hour of the day.
Do note that we are talking about Talmudic hours which are the division of 12 hours from the portion of time set between sunrise to sunset.
So today, it could be from 07:59 AM to 12:53 PM.
This demon has opening hours similar to my salary department.
--
In addition to everything, he specifically works from the 17th of Tamuz, to 9th of Av. An approximate 21-22 days a year.
--
Any man who sees him fall down on his face.
--
King Hezekiah saw him and fell on his face.
So Far...
Mr Ketev Meriri is in charge of somewhere between the sunlight and its consequent shadows of the sun, for about 4 to 5 hours a day, for a bit more than 20 days a year.
Yes. It is THAT specific.
What Does Ketev Meriri ACTUALLY Teach Us?
The Talmudic culture that ranged for multiple centuries after the start of the Christian count, followed by the its predating centuries of multiple cultures in the middle east, has conjured up a violently interesting mixture of beliefs.
We can definitely see that the Babylonian obsessions with demons and psuedo-science mythical systems of understanding have made great impact on the Jewish scholars.
Funny enough, even though Romans and Greeks were involved with the Jews, I can't find direct pieces of their own cultures integrated into the jewish writings.
It appears that Jewish scholars of the eras surrounding Jesus, despite all their differences, made a selective choice of cultures to ingest. The Iraqi/Babylonian beliefs of demons and weird beliefs have cemented themselves in Jewish mythology. Scholars seemed to dig, which I understand given how fascinating and entertaining it is to see weird, oddly specific configuration of celestial/supernatural beings, almost resembling a government office.
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Ketev Meriri is an interesting one. He has taken on the form of a power demon in the eyes of Jews. Not a regular, world-hopping demon like other demons in Judaism.
Ketev doesn't fit quite in with his other demon fellas. While his supposed companions seems to travel the world and engage in random acts, Ketev seems much more organized than them.
It is my firm belief that Ketev Meriri, is NOT a demon, but rather a force of nature, albeit existent only in the supernatural belief system.
My bigger question is why the Jewish scholars decided to lump in a force entity, who is in charge of specific roles, an almost looks like a government employee, with a bunch of demons who don't care about anything?
Ketev is NOT a demon. Sorry to your burst your bubble.
And if someone saw a vision of him they way he was described, as a entity with an eye inside his heart, looking like some hairy ball with many layers to it, it doesn't mean he's a demon.
Quite the contrary, his visual description found in specific, limited writings, present him as an entity responsible of weird occurrences, adapted to serve on specific missions. This is not a malevolent being, it is something else.
It's violent, it's ruthless, but it looks like it's just doing its job, as nasty as that job is.
Demons VS Ketev Meriri
Demons have various skills and abilities. Ketev Meriri does not have those abilities. It wasn't said a demon would cause the death of its observer. Ketev Meriri does not reproduce.
It's an insult to demonology to lump in Ketev with a bunch of careless random demons. Ketev is a force of celestial nature, existent for unknown reasons, while his loser supposed companions are humanoid entities that haven't finished their transition into the human state of a being.
For the love of god and demons, stop calling everything a demon. Just because your mom weighs the same as the whole Pandæmonium, has horn-like objects near her, smells like death, and makes your life a living hell, doesn't mean she's a demon, d-d-does, does it..? I guess?
