DIVINATION
832
DIVINATION
confounded (xii, 12). The conjectore of Aben Ezra, that it was " their skill in the secrets of physical sci- ence" (quoted in Carpzor, ApparcUuA, p. 648), such as is attributed to the Etrurian /u/^uratorM by Humboldt (^Kosmosy 1. c.)v which enabled them to sustain their impious contest, is not unreasonable. The names of two of these chartummim (or D'^BISS^) are given by Paul, 2 Tim. iii, 8. (For Talmudic traditions about these, see Buxtorf; Lex. Ted, col. 945 ; comp. Pliny, HUt. Not. XXX, 1, who associates Jamnes and Jotape$ with Moses at Jews; Apuleius, ApoL 108 [ed. Casaub.], who mentions Motes^ Jasmety etc., as inter magot ceU- hratif Numenius Pythag. in Eusebius, Pnep, Ewmg, ix, 8, who mentions *\awr\z ^ox 'lafijSpiic Aiyvurioi and Movaaios 6 'lovdaios. The Moslems call these magicians Sadur and Gadur; D'Herbelot, s. v. Mou- sa ; and Sale, Koran, p. 237 ; Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr, p. 893 ; RosenmUller, on Exod, 1. c). How they pro- duced the wonders which hardened the heart of Pha^ raoh, whether by mechanical or chemical means, ot by mere legerdemain, or by dsBmoniacal assistance (as supposed by the Others, and Josephus, Ani. ii, 5), we can only conjecture. The N. T. gives us the names of other diviners also — in this respect differing observ- ably from the reserve of the O. T. — e. g. of Simon Magus (Acts viii, 9, fmyevutv) ; of Baijesus or Elymas (Acts xiii, 6, 8, 6 fidyof:) ; the sons of Sceva (Acts xix, 18, 14, i^opKiffToi), We have alluded to the supposed acientific basis of the arts of these t3'^BlS3?3, or D'^QSn, or D'^^Id^n (fbr the identity of these, see Kalisch, on Exod. p. 114 ; and Keil and Delitzsch^s Bibl. Commen- tary i, 357). The term under consideration might no doubt involve the use of divining-rods for the purpose of finding water (aqufelidum), etc., dependent on phys- ical laws only partially understood (Mayo's Pop, Su- perttkions). See Magician.
By Umbreit, on Job, and Deyling (Oluerv. Sacr. iii, 129), the words Dl^ '^!?'^'?«3D, "the blackness of the day," in Job iii, 5, are taken to mean certain '* tncantO' tions which darken the day," practised by magidans (some think them also indicated in the 8th verse by the words oS'^-^'nnix, "that curse the day") who were able, as the superstitious imagined, to change the brightest day into the darkest midnight. Popular ignorance has tdways connected magical power with scientific skill. The foretelling of the rise and setting of sun, moon, and stars, and the prediction of eclipses, used to invest astronomers of old with a marveUous reputation (Virgil, ^n, iv, 489; Ovid, MetamJxii, 263; Horace, Epod. v, 45 ; Tibull. i, 2, 42. So Shakspeare, Temp.Y, 1). In Exod. xxii, 18, the femmine HBlSSa, m€kashsk^)hah\ occurs (also translated a toUch in the A. v.). In the Theocratic system, where women as well as men were endued with supernatural gifts (such as Deborah, Hannah, Huldah), female pretenders were to be found — indeed, according to Maimonides (Aforeh Neb. iii, 37), and Babyl. Gemara (Scmhed, in Ugolini Thes, XXV, 776), they were more rife even than males. Their divination is referred to in Ezek. xiii, 23, and de- scribed ver. 17-22 (comp. Triumphii Dissert, de puhiUis et peplis propheiiss. in Tkes, Nov. ad Crii. Sacr. i, 972, and Ephrem Syrus, in RosenmUller inAoc., who sup- poses the '* pillows" to be amulets for omnation fitted to their sleeves). See Witch.
5. The next phrase in the Mosaic catalogue of for- bidden divination is (Deut xviii, 11) "nah, chdber\ "a charmer'* (Sept hrad^tav; Vulg. inamtator). The root chabar' denotes binding, or joining together, Gre. senlus (by Robinson, p. 293) refers to a species of magic which was practised by binding magic knots (comp. Gordian knot). Carpzov {Apparatus, p. 644) quotes Rabbinical authority, and Bochart (Hieroz. ii, ^ 6), for a kind of divination which drew together nox- ' creatures (serpentes and scorpiones) for purposes
of sorcery; and in Psa. Iviii, 6, the very plmeWt us is applied to serpent cActrmers, (See ahmt, ^ 8.) Gaulmin (in Carpzov) roentiooa itffftoc £a».i if the very gods might be botmd by magic aiti. h Sept. version suggests our spdlimnd. "^cSii kind of incantation per sermones vel rerba," mti ^ ner. Hence the frequent allnsioos to sndi t dm s poetry. The refrain in the chonu of the Fan* i^ chylus, Eumen, 296, 818, 827), airovd (a speH-fc^k i imitated by Byron (^Ifca^fred, i, 1). So Miltrai {(^ 852) ; Jonson's witch (in the Sad Shfpkeri) » u "to rivet charms;" comp. Beauro. and Fletcte (!V Loyal Subject, ii, 2). This last quotation dincb h t. the best explanatbn of divination by ^211 lb ik b binding together; the ring has always been npM as the B3rmbol of such conjunction (comp. r itfijiii^ in the marriage service of the Church of Eoglud). Ii the phenomena of dadylonumey {icunvXo^amt< divination by ring (Potter, ii, 18; Smedkr.Os^ Sciences, p. 87-40, 348), we fakve the motttaudZs- tration of the subject before ns. Josephus (A^ m 2, 6), among the attributes of king Solonrao's liediB, ascribes to him much magical BkiU, and, iritlt tk ns, necromancy and spells, and goes on to spediy a a- stance of exorcism by virtue of Solomon's mspi nr. D'Herbelot (s. v. Giam, already quoted) etib Jeseti the Solomon of Persia; and, according to Kisca: (Reise, p. 88), Solomon ia ordinarily regarded a M»- lem countries as the great master of divinataa. Sn Charmer.