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Easton's Bible Dictionary
The Jews seem early to have consulted the teraphim (q.v.)
for oracular answers ( Judges 18:5 , 18:6 ; Zechariah 10:2 ). There is a remarkable
illustration of this divining by teraphim in Ezekiel 21:19 - 22 . We read also
of the divining cup of Joseph ( Genesis 44:5 ). The magicians of Egypt are frequently
referred to in the history of the Exodus. Magic was an inherent part of the ancient
Egyptian religion, and entered largely into their daily life.
All magical arts were distinctly prohibited under penalty of death in the Mosaic
law. The Jews were commanded not to learn the "abomination" of the people of the
Promised Land ( Leviticus 19:31 ; Deuteronomy 18:9 - 14 ). The history of Saul's
consulting the witch of Endor ( 1 Samuel 28:3 - 20 ) gives no warrant for attributing
supernatural power to magicians. From the first the witch is here only a bystander.
The practice of magic lingered among the people till after the Captivity, when
they gradually abandoned it.
It is not much referred to in the New Testament. The Magi mentioned in Matthew
2:1 - 12 were not magicians in the ordinary sense of the word. They belonged to
a religious caste, the followers of Zoroaster, the astrologers of the East. Simon,
a magician, was found by Philip at Samaria ( Acts 8:9 - 24 ); and Paul and Barnabas
encountered Elymas, a Jewish sorcerer, at Paphos ( Acts 13:6 - 12 ). At Ephesus
there was a great destruction of magical books ( Acts 19:18 , 19:19 ).
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(FROM MAGIC, MAGICIANS) Magic is "the science or practice
of evoking spirits, or educing the occult powers of nature to produce effects
apparently supernatural." It formed an essential element in many ancient religions,
especially among the Persians, Chaldeans and Egyptians. The Hebrews had no magic
of their own. It was so strictly forbidden by the law that it could never afterward
have had any: recognized existence, save in times of general heresy or apostasy
and the same was doubtless the case in the patriarchal ages. The magical practices
which obtained among the Hebrews were therefore borrowed from the nations around.
From the first entrance into the land of promise until the destruction of Jerusalem
we have constant glimpses of magic practiced in secret, or resorted to not alone
by the common but also as the great. It is a distinctive characteristic of the
Bible that from first to last it warrants no such trust or dread.
Laban attached great value to, and was in the habit of consulting, images. ( Genesis
31:30 , 31:32 ) During the plagues in Egypt the magicians appear. ( Exodus 7:11
; 8:18 , 8:19 ) Balaam also practiced magic. ( Numbers 22:7 ) Saul consulted the
witch of Endor. An examination of the various notices of magic in the Bible gives
this general result: They do not, act far as can be understood, once state positively
that any but illusive results were produced by magical rites. (Even the magicians
of Egypt could imitate the plagues sent through Moses only so long as they had
previous notice and time to prepare. The time Moses sent the plague unannounced
the magicians failed; they "did so with their enchantments," but in vain. So in
the case of the witch of Endor. Samuel appearance was apparently unexpected by
her; he did not come through the enchantments. --Ed.) The Scriptures therefore
afford no evidence that man can gain supernatural powers to use at his will. This
consequence goes some way toward showing that we may conclude that there is no
such thing se real magic; for although it is dangerous to reason on negative evidence,
yet in a case of this kind it is especially strong. [DIVINATION]
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
(FROM MAGIC, MAGICIAN) maj'-ik, ma-jish'-an:
The word comes from a Greek adjective (magike) with which the noun techne, "art,"
is understood. The full phrase is "magical art" (The Wisdom of Solomon 17:10).
But the Greek word is derived from the magi or Zarathustran (Zoroastrian) priests.
Magic is therefore historically the art practiced in Persia by the recognized
priests of the country. It is impossible in the present article, owing to exigencies
of space, to give a full account of this important subject and of the leading
views of it which have been put forth. The main purpose of the following treatment
will be to consider the subject from the Biblical standpoint.
I. DEFINITION
In its modern accepted sense magic may be described as the art of bringing about
results beyond man's own power by superhuman agencies. In the wide sense of this
definition divination is only a species of magic, i.e. magic used as a means of
securing secret knowledge, especially a knowledge of the future. Divination and
magic bear a similar relation to prophecy and miracle respectively, the first
and third implying special knowledge, the second and fourth special power. But
divination has to do generally with omens, and it is better for this and other
reasons to notice the two subjects--magic and divination--apart as is done in
the present work.
II. DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT
There are two kinds of magic:
1. Magic as Impersonal:
In the first, magic is a species of crude science, for the underlying hypothesis
is that there are forces in the world which can be utilized on certain conditions,
incantations, magical acts, drugs, etc. The magician in this case connects what
on a very slender induction he considers to be causes and effects, mainly on the
principle of post hoc ergo propter hoc. He may not know much of the causal agency;
it is enough for him to know that by performing some act or reciting some formula
(see CHARM) or carrying some object (see AMULET) he can secure some desired end.
Frazer (Golden Bough(2), I, 61) says: "Magic is a kind of savage logic, an elementary
species of reasoning based on similarity, contiguity and contrast." But why does
the savage draw conclusions from association of ideas? There must be an implied
belief in the uniformly of Nature or in the controlling power of intelligent beings.
2. Magic as Personal:
In personal magic, living, intelligent, spiritual beings are made the real agents
which men by incantations, etc., influence and even control. The magical acts
may in an advanced stage include sacrifice, the incantations become prayer.
Impersonal magic is regarded by most anthropologists, including E.B. Tylor and
J. Frazer, as more primitive than the second and as a lower form of it. This conclusion
rests on an assumption that human culture is always progressive, that the movement
is uniformly onward and upward. But this law does not always hold. The religion
of Israel as taught in the 8th century BC stands on a higher level ethically and
intellectually than that taught in the writings of Haggai, Zechariah and Eccelesiastes
centuries later. Among the ancient Indians, the Rig Veda occupies much loftier
ground than the much later Atharva Veda. |
III. MAGIC AND RELIGION
Personal magic in its higher forms shades off into religion, and very commonly
the two exist together. It is the practice to speak of sacrifice and prayer as
constituting elements of the ancient and modern religions of India. But it is
doubtful whether either of these has the same connotation that it bears in the
Jewish and Christian Scriptures. J. Frazer (Golden Bough(2), I, 67) says that
where the operation of spirits is assumed (and "these cases are exceptional"),
magic is "tinged and alloyed with religion." Such an assumption is, he admits,
often made and the present writer thinks it is generally made, for even the operation
of the laws of association implies it. But Frazer concludes from various considerations
that "though magic is .... found to fuse and amalgamate with religion in many
ages and in many lands, there are some grounds for thinking that this fusion is
not primitive." It is of course personal magic to which religion stands in closest
relations. As soon as man comes to see in the beings by whose power marvels are
wrought, personalities capable of emotions like himself and susceptible to persuasion,
his magical art becomes an intelligent effort to propitiate these superior beings
and his incantations become hymns and prayers. In all religions, Jewish, Moslem,
Christian or pagan, when the act or prayer as such is held to produce certain
results or to secure certain desired boons, we have to do with a species of magic.
The word "religion" is inapplicable, unless it includes the idea of personal faith
in a God or gods whose favor depends on moral acts and on ritual acts only in
so far as they have a voluntary and ethical character. If it be granted that magic,
the lower, precedes religion, the higher, this does not necessarily negative the
validity of the religious concept. Mature knowledge is preceded by elementary
impressions and beliefs which are subjective without objective correspondences.
But this higher knowledge is none the less valid for its antecedents. If it can
be proved that the Christian or any other religion has become what it is by gradual
ascent from animism, magic, etc., its validity is not by this destroyed or even
impaired. Religion must be judged according to its own proper evidence. But see
II, end.
IV. MAGIC IN THE BIBLE
1. Hostility to Magic:
The general remarks made on the Bible and divination in DIVINATION, V, have an
equal application to the attitude of the Bible toward magic. This attitude is
distinctly hostile, as it could not but be in documents professing to inculcate
the teaching of the ethical and spiritual religion of Israel (see Deuteronomy
18:10 ; 2 Kings 21:6 ; 2 Chronicles 33:6 , etc.). Yet it is equally clear that
the actual power of magic is acknowledged as clearly as its illegitimacy is pointed
out. In P's account of the plagues (Exodus 7 - 11) it is assumed that the magicians
of Egypt had real power to perform superhuman feats. They throw their rods and
they become serpents; they turn the waters of the Nile into blood. It is only
when they try to produce gnats that they fail, though Aaron had succeeded by Yahweh's
power in doing this and thus showed that Yahweh's power was greatest. But that
the magicians had power that was real and great is not so much as called in question.
2. Potency of Magical Words:
Among the ancient Semites (Arabs, Assyrians, Hebrews, etc.) there was a strong
belief in the potency of the magical words of blessing and of curse. The mere
utterance of such words was regarded as enough to secure their realization. That
the narrator of Numbers 22 - 24 (Jahwist) ascribed to Balaam magical power is
clear from the narrative, else why should Yahweh be represented as transferring
Balaam's service to the cause of Israel? We have other Biblical references to
the power of the spoken word of blessing in Genesis 12:3 ; Exodus 12:32 ; Judges
17:2 ; 2 Samuel 21:3 , and of curse in Genesis 27:29 ; Judges 5:23 ; Job 3:8 (compare
the so-called Imprecatory Psalms, and see Century Bible, "Psalms," volume II,
216). On the prevalence of the belief among the Arabs, see the important work
of Goldziher, Abhandlungen zur arabischen Philologie, Theil I, 23.
3. Influence of Charms:
In Genesis 30:14 (Jahwist) we have an example of the belief in the power of plants
(here mandrakes) to stir up and strengthen sexual love, and we read in Arabic
literature of the very same superstition in connection with what is called Yabruch,
almost certainly the same plant. Indeed one of the commonest forms in which magic
appears is as a love-charm, and as this kind of magic was often exercised by women,
magic and adultery are frequently named together in the Old Testament (see 2 Kings
9:22 ; Nahum 3:4 ; Malachi 3:5 ; and compare Exodus 22:18 (17), where the sorceress
(the King James Version "witch") is to be condemned to death). We have an instance
of what is called sympathetic magic (for a description of which see Jevons, Introduction
to History of Religion, 28, and Frazer, Golden Bough(2), I, 49) in Genesis 30:37.
Jacob placed before the sheep and goats that came to drink water peeled rods,
so that the pregnant ones might bring forth young that were spotted and striped.
The teraphim mentioned in Genesis 31:19 and put away with wizards during the drastic
reforms of Josiah (2 Kings 23:24; compare Zechariah 10:2) were household objects
supposed capable of warding off evil of every kind. The Babylonians and Assyrians
had a similar custom. We read of an Assyrian magician that he had statues of the
gods Lugalgira and Alamu put on each side of the main entrance to his house, and
in consequence he felt perfectly impregnable against evil spirits (see Tallquist,
Assyrian. Beach, 22).
In Isaiah 3:2 the qocem ("magician" or "diviner") is named along with the knight
warrior, the judge, prophet and elder, among the stays and supports of the nation;
no disapproval is expressed or implied with regard to any of them. Yet it is not
to be denied that in its essential features pure Yahwism, which enforced personal
faith in a pure spiritual being, was radically opposed to all magical beliefs
and practices. The fact that the Hebrews stood apart as believers in an ethical
and spiritual religion from the Semitic and other peoples by which they were surrounded
suggests that they were Divinely guided, for in other respects--art, philosophy,
etc.--this same Hebrew nation held a lower place than many contemporary nations.
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V. MAGICAL TERMS USED IN THE BIBLE
Many terms employed in the Old Testament in reference to divination have also
a magical import. See DIVINATION, VII. For a fuller discussion of Biblical terms
connected with both subjects, reference may be made to T. Witton Davies, Magic,
Divination and Demonology among the Hebrews and Their Neighbours, 44 iff, 78;
see also articles "Divination" and "Magic" in EB, by the present writer.
1. Divination:
Here a few brief statements are all that can be attempted. Qecem, usually rendered
"divination" (see Numbers 23:23), has primarily a magical reference (Fleischer),
though both Wellhausen (Reste des arabischen Heidenthums 2, 133, note 5) and W.
Robertson Smith (Jour. Phil., XIII, 278) hold that its first use was in connection
with divination. The Arabic verb ("to exorcise") and noun ("an oath") have magical
meanings. But it must be admitted that the secondary meaning ("divination") has
almost driven out the other. See under I, where it is held that at bottom magic
and divination are one.
2. Sorcery:
The verb kashaph, the Revised Version (British and American) "to practice sorcery,"
comes, as Fleischer held, from a root denoting "to have a dark appearance," to
look gloomy, to be distressed, then as a suppliant to seek relief by magical means.
The corresponding nouns kashshaph and mekashsheph are rendered "sorcerer" in English
Versions of the Bible.
3. Enchantment:
Lachash, English Versions of the Bible "enchantment," etc. (see Isaiah 3:3, nebhon
lachash, the Revised Version (British and American) "the skillful enchanter"),
is connected etymologically with nachash, "a serpent,"' the "n" and "l" often
interchanging in Semitic Lachash is, therefore, as might have been expected from
this etymology, used specifically of serpent charming (see Jeremiah 8:17 ; Ecclesiastes
10:11; compare melachesh in Psalms 58:5 (6), English Versions of the Bible "charmer").
4. Amulets:
Chebher occurs in the plural only (Isaiah 47:9 , 12 , English Versions of the
Bible, "enchantments"). It comes from a root meaning "to bind," and it denotes
probably amulets of some kind carried on the person to ward off evil. It seems
therefore to be the Biblical equivalent of the Talmudic qemia`, literally, equals
"something bound" from qama`, "to bind."
5. Incantation:
Shichar (Isaiah 47:11) seems to have an etymological connection with the principal
Arabic word for "magic" (sichrun), and is explained by the great majority of recent
commentators following J.H. Michaelis (Hitzig, Ewald, Dillmann, Whitehouse in
Century Bible, etc.) as meaning "to charm away" (by incantations). So also Targum,
Rashi, J H and Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmudim, and Midrashic Literature,
Michaelis, Eichhorn, etc.
6. Repeated Utterances:
The verb battologeo in Matthew 6:7 (equals "say not the same thing over and over
again") refers to the superstition that the repeated utterance of a word will
secure one's wish. In India today it is thought that if an ascetic says in one
month the name of Radha, Krishna, or Ro 100,000 times, he cannot fail to obtain
what he wants (see 1 Kings 18:26). See REPETITIONS.
7. Impostors:
The term goetes, the Revised Version (British and American) "impostors," the King
James Version "seducers," is used of a class of magicians who uttered certain
magical formulas in a deep, low voice (compare the verb goao, which = "to sigh,"
"to utter low moaning tones"). Herodotus (ii.33) says that there were persons
of the kind in Egypt, and they are mentioned also by Euripides and Plato.
8. Witchcraft:
Paul in Galatians 5:20 classes with uncleanness, idolatry, etc., what he calls
pharmakeia, the King James Version "witchcraft" the Revised Version (British and
American) "sorcery." The word has reference first of all to drugs used in exercising
the magical article Note the name Simon Magus, which = Simon the magician (Acts
8:9), and Bar-Jesus, whom Luke calls a magician (magos, English Versions of the
Bible, "sorcerer") and to whom he gives also the proper name Elymas, which is
really the Arabic `alim = "learned," and so one skillful in the magical article.
See also under AMULET; CHARM; DEMONOLOGY; WITCHCRAFT. |
LITERATURE
A Very full bibliography of the subject will be found in T. Witton Davies, Magic,
Divination and Demonology among the Hebrews and Their Neighbours, xi through xvi.
See also the literature under DIVINATION and in addition to the literature cited
in the course of the foregoing article, note the following: A. Lehmann, Aberglaube
und Zauberei2, 1908; A.C. Haddon, Magic and Fetishism, 1906; Blau, Das altjudische
Zauberwesen, 1898; Smith, "Witchcraft in the Old Testament," Biblical Soc., 1902,
23-35; W.R. Halliday, Greek Divination; A Study of Its Methods and Principles,
London, Macmillan (important) and the valuable article on "Magic" by Northwest
Thomas in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, and also the relevant articles in the Bible
dictionaries.
T. Witton Davies
Tags:
art, bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, magic, magic vs miracle, magician, magike, occult, supernatural
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