II. DIVINATION,

Definition.
Divination is the art of obtaining special information from spiritual beings.
Dj\ E. B. Tylor ' and Dr. F. B. Jevons2 make a distinc- tion between divination due to supernatural agency and such as is not, but may be called natural. All divination, however, conforms to the definition g^en above. If the changes through which the lock of a person's hair passes indicate the .varying conditions of the person whose lock it is, this is due to the belief actual or implied that some superior power deigns to make the former phenomena significant of the latter. Or if, to adduce Tylor's instance, a tree planted at the birth of a child is held by its flourishing or otherwise to reveal the course of the child's life, it is because some superior intelligence is pleased by the vicissitudes of the tree to tell the tale of the human life. u Omens," says W. Robertson Smith, M are not blind tokens ; the animals know what they tell to man." 3
1 " Encyc. Brit.," 9 (" Divination ").
2 Clark's " Bible Dictionary " (« Divination *')-
3 " Religion of the Semites," p. 424.
DIVINATION 73
DlVfNAf ION AND BlBLICAL PROPHECY.
It is exceedingly difficult, if indeed possible, to indicate the boundary line between divination and prophecy; In both the same general principle obtains — intercourse on the part of man with the spiritual world in order to obtain special knowledge. In divination this know- ledge is usually got by observing certain omens or signs ; but this is by no means always the case, since sometimes the beings consulted " possessed " the soothsayer, just as spiritualistic mediums claim to be li possessed." The diviner and the modern " medium " profess alike to be channels through which spiritual beings speak.1 Divina- tion, as practised in this last method, does not differ from Biblical prophecy of the lowest kind — that of the ecstatic state, as distinguished from the higher species of prophecy which, in Riehmfs happy phrase, is (( psychologically mediated." 2
The ■ word " prophecy " is mostly employed of corn^ mjunications from God in the Old and New Testament sense. Of necessity, therefore, it stands upon higher ground than divination in the usual heathen sense of the word. But the ordinary theological distinction is: unjust and opposed to Semitic etymology.3 When the Israelites resorted to magic and divination,4 it was in the belief that Yah we sanctioned and controlled these practices and accepted them as. legitimate. The diviner among Arabs, Greeks, and Romans was often as sincere as Isaiah or Jeremiah, and who will deny that to him, as
* See Dr. Granger's " Worship of the Romans,"*p. 174.
* "Messianic Prophecy," p. 45 et passim.
3 See Hofmann's " Weissagung und Erfiillung," i. p. 12. ICf. Deut, xviii. io, 11.
74 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEMONOLOGY1
well as to the Old Testament seer, God spake in very truth ? l Belief in the special mission and authority of the Israelitish prophet does not carry with it the implication that the diviners or prophets of other nations and of other religions were impostors. W. Robertson Smith2 and others3 have shown that the religion of the Old Testament has many elements which are common to other Semitic religions, and even to non-Semitic religions.
Methods.
There were among the ancient Greeks, Romans, Arabs> etc., modes of divining which were apparently unknown to the Hebrews of the Old Testament : e.g. by observa-* tion of the flights and cries of birds, inspection of the entrails of animals, etc. Dr. Granger's " Worship of the Romans," p. 173 fif. (Freytag, " Einleitung," p. 159 ff.)
Yet there are many signs or omens mentioned in the Old Testament which are either similar to or identical with those made use of among other nations. -•
1. Belomancy was practised among the Arabs,4 and also among the Chaldeans.5 The Israelites were also sometimes addicted to this ; the monotheistic prophets indeed forbade it, but it probably existed uncondemned in earlier times. The " wood " and " staff " in Hosea iv. 12, stand for the same thing, the "first denoting the material, and the second the form, into
1 See Briggs* " Messianic Prophecy," p. 4 f. Cf. per contra, Orelli, 11 Old Testament Prophecy," p. 24.
2 H Religion of the Semites."
3 See Cobb's "Origenes Judaic* "; Schultz's "Old Tcstamcit Theology," i. p. 250 fT.
4 Wellhausen, " Reste," 132.
5 Lenormant, " La Divination," chs. ii. and iv. Sayce, "T. S. Bibl. Arch.," iii. 145.
DIVINATION 75
which it was made. There is no doubt that we are to understand the same kind of divination as that practised by the Babylonian king.1
2. The Babylonian king is represented in the Ezekiel passage just quoted as looking at the liver, that is the liver of an animal offered in sacrifice, with a view, to divination. Animals were often sacrificed in order to propitiate the god or gods consulted, so that the special intimations sought might be granted. , We have an example of this in the history of Balaam, Num. xxiii. I, 2, 14*
3.' t( Sortilege n or divination by lot was a very common method of .divining among the Arabs3 and Romans4 The " Urim and Thummim " were simply two stones puf into the pocket attached to the high priestrs ephod ; on them were written some such words as " yes " and " no/' Whichever stone was taken out, the. alternative; word, upon it was looked upon as the divine decision. ! Probably whenever we have the phrase 3, bitU) (u to -\ inquire of," see 1 Sam. xiv. 37, xxiii. 2, etc.), we] are to understand the appeal to the priest made by ^Urim and Thummim. n Cf. Jonah i. 7 ff., where we read that the mariners cast lots to find out on account
i'
of whom the storm was. No condemnation is expressed in the Biblical narrative.
4. We have other signs recognized in the Old Testa- ment, as in Judges vi. 36 (Gideon's fleece), and in 1 Sam. xiv. 8 ff. (Jonathan decides whether or not he is to
1 See Ezek. xxi. 23 ff,, where we read of arrows being used. Cf. the two Greek words fieAonavrda and ^ajSSojtcwTeia.
2 Well. "Reste," p. 133.
3 Well. "Reste," ii. 134 f.
4 Smith, "Diet, of Antiq.," art. "Sortes^
7
attack the Philistines by the words which he may happen to hear them speak).
5. Of astrological beliefs and practices the early Israelites seem to have been quite ignorant. In the Old Testament there is no passage older than the Exile that shows acquaintance with such beliefs and practices. Deutero-Isaiah (xlvii. 13) has these words : " Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels ; let now the astrologers,1 the stargazers, the monthly prognosticated, stand up and save thee from the things that shall come .upon thee."
In Jeremiah x. 3 the people are warned against the way of the heathen, lest they be terrified by signs in the sky, as were the Assyrians and Babylonians. The prophet's words are these: "Thus saith Yahwe, learn not the \vay of the nations and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven : for the nations are dismayed at them." The whole section (x. 1 — 16) of which this forms a part, is probably the work of the Redactor of Jeremiah (so Cheyne, Pulpit Commentary), and was addressed to Israel in Babylon, warning them against the idolatrous practices carried on around them*
These two Exilic passages support the belief that it was during the residence in Babylon that the Hebrews came for the first time into contact with astrological usages. When we come to 'the Book of Daniel astrology is countenanced. The Book was written in the first half of the second century B.C., and reflects the prevailing thought of the Palestinian Jews at the time of its com- position. Daniel — the ideal Jew — is made head of the wise
1 0*0$ >-Qn, ''divider* of the heavens ;" LXX. acrpo\6yoi rod ovpavov.
DIVINATION' 77
'men ! iti Babylon (ii. 48), i.e. of all the diviners, whether or not they divine by stars. In iv. 6 we are told that he was made chief of the "learned ones1*3 (khartummayya), a term which, like "wise men," in- cludes all the diviners and magicians,3 That astrologers are embraced appears from v. 11, where this generic terflu stands first, the other words following by way of explanation.
Note also the approval with which, in Matt, iu, the conduct of the -wise men, who were guided by celestial omens, is regarded.
6. The most important of all the modes of divination 'which link the Hebrews with other nations is that by dreams. In fact, dream divination among the Hebrews differs hardly if at all from that which obtained among the Greeks and other nations of antiquity. It is supposed that the dream is introduced from outwards into the human soul in order to convey some intimation. Jacob may have sufficient reason for making good his escape from Laban, but he will not take the decisive step without a direct ^revelation, which revelation comes to him in a dream ^Gen. xxxi. 10 — 13). His resolution becomes objective as a dream. In other cases the divine communication is such as exceeds the power of human reason to discover ; :nstances are the dreams of Abimelech (Gen, xx, 3, 6, 7), and especially those of Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 5, xl. 3, xli. 1 f.). Other noteworthy instances of diviilely seiic dreams are Gen. xxviii. 12 ff., xxi. 24 ; Judges vii. 13 ; 1 Kings iii. 5 f. ; Matt. i. 20, ii. 12 ff., xxvii. 19. E is specially fond of relating dreams.
The author of the speeches of Elihu also attaches
1 myarr 2 Njasrin * 3 supra, P. 42 5]
7$ MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEMONOLOGY
great importance to dreams as a channel of divine communications (Job xxxii. 14-^16). It would seem that among many other resuscitations of primitive beliefs that of the symbolic character of dreams must be reckoned (cf. the dream-visions of Enoch, chs. 83 — 90, and the dreams in the Book of Daniel, also Josephus, B. J. ii. 7,4; iii. 8, 13);
Naturally enough in the decay of genuine prophecy men looked about for artificial means of seeing future events. But the great prophets never refer to their dreams, and it is even a question how far all the visions of which they speak are to be taken literally.
Hebrew Terms used in Connection with Divination;
The words which have to do with necromancy will be dealt with last of all, as they relate to divination by means of consultation with the dead.
(1) DD£ (qesem) is the first and most important word to be considered. Though joining issue with Drs. W. R. Smith and Wellhausen as to its primary sense, there is no denying the fact that the connotation of the word is mostly got from divination. I It is, in fact, the most general word for divination, and probably includes the rest. In Deut. xviii. 10 it stands before ]3tyO (me- lonen) and *)l#3p (mekashshef), because including them, though W. R. Smith says it has the distinct sense of obtaining an oracle by drawing lots. In Ezek. xxi. 26' the word means casting lots by means of arrows, or perhaps mere rods. But in 1 Sam. xxviii. 8, Saul is made to ask the Witch of Endor to divine ODIDp; Qeri, by an over-refinement reads VpDp) for him by means of the
DIVINATION 79
It has been before remarked that the LXX. translators use for Dplp (qosem) the quite general word fxdvns.
In Hosea iv. 12 we seem to read of divination by arrows or rods, \$ apparently meaning the material, and b$ft the form. Certainly those are wrong who see in W the mt^N, for the reference is to some mode of ob- taining an oracle, and not to worship.1 It is almost certain tha* rabdomancy or belomancy is what Hosea refers to, and what Ezekiel (xxi. 21 ff.) describes. If, as seems likely, DDp is a general word, it would of course include the reference in Hosea. Taking it in its nar- rower sense, which R. Smith thinks original, it would be identical with what Hosea speaks of.
(2) ptyO (me'onen). Opinions differ widely as to the etymology and exact import of this word. (See Delitzsch £>n Isa. ii. 6.)
(i.) It has been said to be poel of a root py having
the same meaning as p3 and ]J3 (tf) " to cover." The "D would then be " one who practises hidden or occult arts." But this meaning of ]ty has no support in actual
usage.
(ii.) More frequently and more plausibly it has been regarded as a denominative from py " cloud"; ptyp (or in its apocopated form ]jfy) denoting one of two alternatives: either (a) one who observes the clouds with a view to obtaining an oracle. The ancients, we know, divined from the stars (see Daniel), the lightning (Iliad, ii. 353 ; Cicero, De Divin., i. 18 ; Pliny, ii. 43, 53), and also from the shapes made by the ever-shifting clouds (Joseph., Wars, vi. 5, 3). Or (b) the ]}tyO may be one
1 Wellh. "Die Klein. Proph.," p. xo8 f.
8q MAGIC, DIVINATION, AJsfD DEMONOLOGtf
who brings clouds and storms (cf. Gen. ix. 14, " When I cloud clouds/* i.e. bring clouds). That storms were believed to be raised by incantation is quite certain.1
The acceptation of this etymology and explanation would cause the word to rank With magical terms, and not with terms for divination. But there is nothing in the passages where the word is found to suggest that IJltyD has anything to do with the sky ; and . it tells against it that the Hebrews seemed never greatly in danger of believing in astrology or practising it.
(iii.) By others "0 has been made a denominative from }^, and so fjty is made to signify " to glance upon, to smite (with the evil eye)." This also would make the term a magical one.
But there is no other instance of such a form from a ry nbun ; and the Targum rejects this, for it renders by ]2g " to practise sorcery," unless, indeed, it only transcribes the Hebrew word.
The LXX. represents the verb by olwtfcaOai, as in Num. xxiv. 1 it translates D*#TO by olwoL But this says little, as 01W09, though meaning strictly "a* lone flying bird," came to be used among the Greeks for any omen. Examples of the practice of divining from the flight of birds are to be found in primitive Arabia.2
The word ljltyD is usually translated by " observers", (Judges ix. 37, A.V. marg. " regarders ") of times, A.V./ or " augurs/' R.V. (Deut. xviii. 10, 14 ; Lev. xix. 26 ; 2 Ki. xxi. 6). In Isa. ii. 6 and Micah v. 12, A.V, and R.V. " soothsayers " (so also Jer. £xvii.' 9, R.V., where
1 See Bernstein's "Syriac Chrestornathy," p. Ill* line 9 f., and WustenfelcTs " Kaswini," i. p. 221, line 10 n. * See Wellh. Reste, p. 202 f.
DJVINATION 8f
A.V. has " enchanter "). Once the fern. sing, form of the word is Englished (both versions) by sorceress. An oak near Shechem, famotis in divination, bears the name " Oak of Meo'nim " (Jud. ix. 37).
W. R. Smith follows Ewald1 in tracing the word to the Semitic radix that exists in the Arabic to emit a hoarse, nasal sound. The 7D they regard as one who speaks in a whispering, low tone.
In favom of the last explanation is the fact that low, nasal speaking attaches to several 6ther terms used for magic and divination.
Apart from Fleischer's derivation of *]t03 from low, subdued speaking is implied in the Greek yorjrr^ (see p. 71) and cVa0cu>, and in Isa. viii. 19 the /VQU* and the D\$T are called whisperers (DN2j£3^£n), while in Isa, xxix. 4 it is said of Ariel, M And thou shalt be brought down . . . and thy speech shall be low, out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as an '6b (2i^) : and thy speech shall whisper (^S!^ JV) out °f the ground;"
3. ttfm. The vferb'ttfTO is translated in the LXX. oiiovL&fiatj which means, first to take omens from the flight and screams of birds, and then generally to forecast.
The Peshito version of Lev. xix. 26 adds to {Z&^l
(Heb. 1#njr\) the words jaas ZcuaO,. "by winged
creatures " as an explanation, but this is due to LXX. influence.
In the Old Testament this mode of divination was' practised on heights, as by Balaam, Num. xxiii. 3 \ pouring water into a cup was one of the ways by which
1 "Die Lehre der Bibd von pott," i. 234} cf. also Driver oti Deut- xviii. 10. 2 Supra% p. 48.
82 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEMONOLOGY
it was done, as by Joseph, Gen, xliv/57 15. As regards the last, the practice referred to ..was that of putting water into a cup made of gold or of some other material. Then some precious stone was thrown in ; the rings formed on the surface were believed to predict the future. This is called in Greek KvXiKojjLavrtLa or vSpo/jLavraa (English, hydromancy). It was much practised in Egypt. (See authorities quoted by Dillman in loco.) For a parallel French superstition, see J. B. Thiers, " Traite des Superstitions/' Paris, 1697, i. p.\ 187 ff.
Among the Arameans, omens of the D^TO kinds were taken from the flight and criesrof birds, from cries of beasts, from the conduct of fire, atmospheric changes — rain, etc. — and from the heavenly bodies. W. R. Smith l concludes, therefore, that this word includes all omens from natural signs. But he is too resolved to make words in Deut. xviii. 10, 11 have each a distinct sense. The author of Deut. and the people he wrote for were far from having that; feeling of exactness which animates modern scholars.
In my treatment of liillb I have already given my opinion' that both itfpb and ltfTW are denominatives from the noun V)11) (? and ] interchanging).
Omens were certainly taken from the movements of serpents in early times.2 Now just as in Greek oWo?,! from denoting an omen from the flight of birds, came to mean any kind of omen, so ttfnj acquired from the narrow sense* of divining from serpents, that of divining from any sign (so Boch, Hiero, i. 20 — 21).
It is not at all impossible that the verb— still regarded as a denominative — means to hiss as a serpent, then to whisper. This would connect it with the many other
} Jour. Phil. xiv.;ii4 f. J Sec Baud. " Studien," i. 157 ff.
DIVINATION 83
magical and divinatory words which have such a connota- tion.1 It would-also confirm my belief that the magical is the priAary signification of both #r6 (iakhash) and tt>na (nakhash).'
4. ]H?J) (gazerin) (emphatic form NJ^tJ)) occurs in &e sense of diviner in Aramaic only, and nowhere except in the Book of Daniel (ii. 27, iv. 4 [Eng. iv. 7], v, 7, 1 1, E. W. soothsayers). The verb meatis " to cut, to determine " (cf. W. R. Smith's derivation of DDp [qasam] M to decide" from first meaning " to cut") ; JT1T3 (gazera) "decree" also occurs lathis book. The LXX. transcribes THW (gazerin) without attempting to translate. As these diviners are placed iiji Babylon, it is probable that astrologers are meant, though this is uncertain, perhaps the word is to be understood like DDp (qesem), in a general sense. The Arabic root y^ (gazara) means to slaughter, and it may be that the yyz originally offered a sacrifice in connec* tion with their art. ' The Vulgate is probably wrong in rendering by ".hajiuspices"; such omens are but once spoken of in the Bible (Ezek. xxi. 21)— a singular fact when one remembers how they bulk in other religions. In this one mention of this mode of divination it is a Babylonian, not a Hebrew practice.
5. *)#Ni (ashshaf) (Aram. *)#&, ashaf) occurs in the Hebrew (i. 20, ii. 2) and Aramaic part (ii. 10) of Daniel, and nowhere else. As to its etymology, Praetorius, Fried. Delitzsch,2 and Tallq.3 agree that it is a Babylonian loan- word meaning magician, and especially exorcist. Th$ verb in Assyrian is asipu, the noun agent being essipu. Delitzsch gives asapu and asipu (without dag.) respectively.
i See supra 81 and often. 3 " Proleg.," p. 141.
3 "Assyr. Besch.," p. 20 and p. 158.
84 MAGIC, DIVINATION, AND DEMONOLOGY
Accepting this, and remembering that the Book of Daniel, though written in Palestine about the middle of the second century B.C., is yet accommodated to the mode of thought and expression prevalent in Babylon, there is no good reason for doubting that the Hebrew and Aramaic word in Daniel has the same meaning as the Babylonian.
The LXX. renders P3.$N (ashshaphin) by fidyoi} which to the Greek translators probably meant the same as the Assyrian word just given. Bevan (Com. on Daniel) is inclined to think that syite*, 1U and other terms found in " Daniel " were employed interchange- ably, a supposition which is very unlikely to be correct.
6. D^TtiG (kasdaim). This word stands correctly for the inhabitants of Babylon and its dependencies. It has this meaning from the establishment of the Neo- Babylonian Kingdom (see Jer. iii. 4, xxxii. 45; Hab. i. 6; Ezek. xxiii. 14, 15 ; Isa. xxiii. 13 ; xlviii. 14).
But in the Book of Daniel1 the word seems to be synonymous with the caste of wise men. This sense the word got after the destruction of the Babylonian empire, and it is found in classical writers, to whom the only Chaldeans known were those belonging to this caste.
7. 13 (Gad) and \M3 (Meni). These are names of deities that were consulted with the view of securing a prosperous future. They were believed to be able to shape and to predict the future, so that they have a sig- nificance for divination ; and as both are named in the Old Testament, it is well to take some notice of them.
In Gen.xxx. 11 the Qeri reads correctly 1J) K2, "good
lvi. 4 ; ii> 10; v. 7, 11.
i
DIVINATION 5TS
luck comes " ; so, too, the Pesh. and Targum. The