9. After the Captivity, it is probable that the Jews gradually abandoned the practice of magic. Zechariah speaks indeed of the deceit of teraphim and diviners (x, 2), and foretells a time when the very names of idols should be forgotten, and false prophets have virtually ceased (xiii, 1-4), yet in neither case does it seem cer- tain that he is alluding to the usages of his own day.
10. In the Apocr^^oha we find indications that in the later centuries preceding the Cln-istian ssia magic was no longer practiced by the educated Jews. In the Wis- dom of Solomon, the writer, speaking of the Egyptian magicians, treats their art as an imposture (xvii, 7), The book of Tobit is an exceptional case. If we hold that it was written in Persia or a neighboring countrj', and, with Ewald, date its composition not long after the fall of the Persian empire, it is obvious that it relates to a different state of society from that of the Jews of Egypt and Palestine. If, however, it was written in Palestine about the time of the Maccabees, as others suppose, we must stUl recoUect that it refers rather to the supersti- tions of the common people than to those of the learned. In either case its pretensions make it unsafe to follow as indicating the opinions of the time at which it was writ- ten. It professes to relate to a period of which its writer could have known little, and borrows its idea of super- natural agency from Scripture, adding as much as was judged safe of current superstition.
11. In the N. Test, we read very little of magic. The coming of magi to worship Christ is indeed related (Matt, ii, 1-12), but we have no warrant for supposing that they were magicians from their name, which the A. V. not unreasonabl}' renders " wise men." See Magi. Our Lord is not said to have been opposed by magicians, and the apostles and other early teachers of the Gospel seem to have rarely encountered them. Philip the dea- con, when he preached at Samaria, found there Simon, a famous magician, commonly known as Simon Magus, who had had great power over the people ; but he is not said to have been able to Avork wonders, nor, had it been so, is it likely that he would have soon been ad- mitted into the Church (Acts viii, 9-24). When Bar- nabas and Paul were at Paphos, as they preached to the proconsul Sergius Pauliis, Elymas, a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet (rnni (h'Ona jiayov xpiyei'SoTrpocpi'jTrjv) withstood them, and was struck blind for a time at the word of Paul (xiii, G-12). At Ephesus, certain Jewish exorcists signally failing, both Jews and Greeks were afraid, and abandoned their practice of magical arts. "And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds. Jlany of them also which used
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curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all: and they counted the price of them, and found [it] fifty thousand [pieces] of silver" (xix, 18, 1I>). Here both Jews and Greeks seem to have been greatly addicted to magic, even after they had nominally joined the Church. See Ephesus. In all these cases it appears that though the practicers were generally or always Jews, the field of their success was with (icutiles, showing that among tlic Jews in general, or the educated class, the art had fallen into disrepute. Here, as before, there is no evidence of any real effect produced b}' the magicians, ^\'e have already noticed the remarkable case of the " damsel having a spirit of divination" {txovtrav nvevfia wv^uiva) "which brought her masters much gain by foretelling" (nuvTivoi.ikvi]), from whom Paul cast out tlie sjMrit of divination (xvi, 16-18). This is a matter belonging to another subject than that of magic. See Prophecv.
Our examination of the various notices of magic in the Bible gives us this general result : They do not, as far as we can understand, once state positively that any but illusive results were produced by magical rites. They therefore afford no evidence that man can gain supernatural powers to use at his will. This conse- quence goes some way towards showing that we may conclude that there is no such thing as real magic ; for, although it is dangerous to reason on negative evidence, yet in a case of this kind it is especially strong. Had any but illusions been worked by magicians, surely the Scriptures woidd not have passed over a fact of so much importance, and one which would have rendered the prohibition of these arts far more necessary. The gen- eral belief of mankind in magic, or things akin to it, is of no -worth, since the holding of such current supersti- tion in some of its branches, if we push it to its legiti- mate consequences, would lead to the rejection of faith in God's goveniment of the world, and the adoption of a creed far below that of Plato.
From the conclusion at which we have arrived, that there is no evidence in the Bible of real results having been >vorked by supernatural agency used by magicians, we may draw this important inference that the absence of any proof of the same in profane literature, ancient or modern, in no way militates against the credibility of the miracles recorded in Scripture.