Matthew's report that Jesus was taken to Egypt as an infant was used by hostile sources to explain his knowledge of magic; according to a rabbinical story, he came back tattooed with spells.[48] It is also pointed out that in rabbinical tradition that Jesus was mad, which was often associated with people of great power (dynamis). The Gospels speak of the "descent of the spirit," the pagans of "possession by a daemon," and both are possibly explaining the same mystical phenomena. It has even been suggested that Jesus' claim to be "the Son of God" is a formula used in magical rites by the operator who identifies himself closely with the supernatural power that he invokes.[49