Metaphor vs. Action: Reinterpreting Vice and Evil Spirits
In the presented sources, a distinction is observed between the concept of “stench” as a property of material things and a metaphorical image that may remind one of the manifestation of vices, and the concept of an evil spirit as an active, even if permitted by God’s allowance, spiritual influence on a person. For example, one text emphasizes that desires, vices, and their corresponding “spirits” can remain in a person just as a room retains a “stench” if it is filled with substances bearing a foul odor: “If you fill it with fragrant substances, then the fragrance remains; if with malodorous ones, then the stench remains.” (source: link txt)At the same time, another source examines the idea of an evil spirit which, having received permission under God’s providence, is capable of overpowering a person—as happened with Saul—and thereby exerts a real influence on the soul.
This differs significantly from the passive effect represented by a “stench”: “Recently I was asked, ‘How is it that an evil spirit was sent by God?’ This is a biblical expression that corresponds to a notion of spirituality... can God send an evil spirit? This indicates that the evil spirit itself has no power without God’s permission...” (source: link txt)Thus, although the analogy with odor may serve as a symbolic image for describing the effect of the presence of vice (or the “spirit of vice”), the concept of stench in itself is not equivalent to that of the evil spirit, which possesses an independent spiritual existence and actively influences a person. They are rather two different aspects: one is a metaphorical characterization of the influence of impurity in the sensory world, and the other is a specific spiritual manifestation discussed in biblical narratives and religious teachings.