10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. (Deuteronomy 18:10-11 KJV)
Patrick/Lowth/Whitby/Lowman Commentary
There shall not be found among you So as to be tolerated.
That maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, This was the most abominable idolatry practiced in that country whither they were going, who consecrated their children in this manner to Moloch, or the sun, of which I have said sufficient, Le 18:21. Therefore I shall only add here that this wicked custom seems to have flowed from this country of the Phoenicians and Tyrians unto the Carthaginians; who were guilty of the impiety of sacrificing their children, as they did also here unto Moloch Le 20:2-3, which spread itself, in a manner, over all the world, as many have shown; particularly Joh. Geusius, in his treatise De Victimis Humanis, par. 1. cap. 11, and it was found among the Americans, when that new world was discovered (see also par. 2. cap. 5).
Or that useth divination, Of which there were many sorts; and one was, by raking into the bowels of their sacrifices, particularly of human sacrifices; by the observation of which they pretended to foretell things, as many authors testify. Yea, they offered little children on purpose, that thereby they might make their auguries, as the same Geusius hath observed in that book (cap. 21). Unto which, perhaps, there is a peculiar respect in this place; for I find most of the things here mentioned, joined in other places with “making their children pass through the fire,” particularly 2Ki 21:6; 2Ch 33:6. And the prophet Ezekiel seems to intimate, that hereby they divined, when he charges the Israelites with this crime, Eze 20:26,31. For he adds, “Shall I be inquired by you, O house of Israel,” who have inquired, that is, by making your children pass through the fire?
But it must be confessed, that the Hebrew words kosem kosemiin (which we translate “useth divination”), are by many thought to have a peculiar respect unto such as used to divine by casting or drawing of lots. And the word, as our learned Dr. Castell observes, is so used in the Arabian language for “distribution of lots.” Which sort of divination was much in use among the Greeks and Romans; and had been so, it is very likely, in more ancient times among the eastern nations: for nothing is more known than the Sortes Praenestinae and Pativinae among the Romans; and the Dodonaeae, and Dindymenae, and many others, among the Greeks, particularly that at Bura in Achaia, where there was a cave in which was the image of Hercules; before which they, who resorted thither to inquire directions in any case, or the success of any affair, used to fall down, and say their prayers, and after that to throw four dice upon the table, and by the letters or marks upon which they fell, the divination was made; as Pausanias describes it in his Achaica. In other places they used them in a different manner, and the ancient Arabians divined by arrows, as our famous Dr. Pocock has shown in his notes upon Gregor. Abulfaragus’s book, concerning the Original and Manners of the Arabians, p. 327, 328, &c. where he describes the manner of it, and shows that it was performed before some idol, and therefore was strictly forbidden, by Mahomet in his Alcoran, as a diabolical invention. In which he seems to have imitated Moses who may be thought here to forbid such kind of divination; which was in use among the eastern people in the days of the prophet Ezekiel, Eze 21:21, where we find the same word kosem, which that learned author thinks is illustrated by that Arabian custom.
It is to be noted, also, that they used to divine by a dead man’s skull, as our Dr. Windet hath observed out of the Sanhedrin (cap. 7), and Maimonides.
Which custom the Greeks likewise followed; for Palladius relates how Macarius inquired, “at a dry skull,” &c. (see Windet, in his book De Vitae Functorum Statu, sect. 1).
Several sorts of such kind of persons there were among the Edomites, Moabites, and other nations near Judea, who, in the days of Jeremiah, deceived the people with their divinations, prophecies, dreams, enchantments, and sorceries, as we learn from Jer 27:3,9.
An observer of times, or an enchanter, Of these I have said enough upon Le 20:26.
A witch, This word signifies worse than any of the former, viz. one that doeth mischief unto men or beasts by evil arts: concerning which see upon Ex 22:18. Unto which I shall here add, that the Jewish nation have been extremely addicted to witchcraft, and some of their famous rabbins have been suspected of it (see J. Wagenseil upon Sota, p. 529).
A charmer, There are various conjectures about the meaning of the Hebrew words chober chaber; which importing something of society or conjunction, some translate fortune-teller, who by the conjunction of the planets pretends to predict future things; others, one that hath society with evil spirits, which is mentioned afterward in another word. Job Ludolphus seems to me to have given the plainest account of the words, which he translates congregans congregationem, “gathering together a company.” For it was an ancient way of enchantment, to bring various kinds of beasts into one place, which the rabbins distinguish into the “great congregation,” and the “little congregation:” the great was, when they assembled together a great company of the larger sort of beasts; and the less, when they gathered together as great a company of the smaller, such as serpents, scorpions, and the like: but we cannot be certain of this; though Telezius tells us, it is in use at this day in the eastern countries. For so he describes the election of the king of Gingir, that he stood compassed about with lions, tigers, leopards, and dragons, which, by magical arts, were gathered together as his guard and courtiers (see Ludolphi Comment, in Hist. Ethiop. cap. 16. n. 116).
But the common interpretation which the Jews give of chober chaber is, that he is one who uses strange words, which have no signification; but he pretends are powerful to charm a serpent (for instance), that it shall not sting, or to preserve from any other harm. So Maimonides in Avoda Zara. cap, 11. And to this sort of superstition the world was so addicted, that this precept of Moses could not bring the Jews quite off from it; but, when they threw away other charms, they used the words of Scripture instead of them; pretending, for instance, to cure wounds by reading that verse in the law, Ex 15:26. “I will put none of these diseases upon thee,” &c. So we find they themselves acknowledge in Sanhedrin, cap, 2. sect. I. And Maimonides saith, in the forenamed treatise, this is forbidden by Moses in this place, as much as any other kind of charm; “for the words of the law are turned hereby to another use than God intended in them; which was not for healing the body, but curing the soul.” And I see no reason why it should not be thought as great a crime to use the Schem Hamphorash (as they call the name Jehovah) to such purposes; and yet the Jews are so stupid as to imagine Moses wrought all his miracles by the virtue of it. Maimonides, indeed, was so sober as to reject this common conceit, condemning those who think there was a power in the very letters and pronunciation of the word (hib. 1. More Nevochim, cap. 62).
A consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, Of these two see what I have noted, Le 19:31; 20:6.
A necromancer. In the Hebrew, “one that seeks to, or inquires of, the dead.” It is not easy to tell wherein this differs from one that had a familiar spirit, as we translate it. For the woman whom Saul consulted, who had a spirit, called Oboth, inquired also after this manner; their spirit, it seems, teaching such persons to call for the dead to appear to them: but some, perhaps, had not such a spirit, who notwithstanding consulted the dead, by going to their graves in the night, and there lying down, and mattering certain words with a low voice, that they might have communion with them by dreams, or by their appearing to them: unto which the prophet Isaiah is thought to allude, Isa 8:19; 29:4. Maimonides, in Avoda Zara, cap. 11. sect. 15, thus describes a necromancer: he is one, who, having afflicted himself with fasting, goes to the burying-place, and there lies down, and falls asleep; and then the dead appear to him, and tell him what he desires. Such are they also who put on a certain kind of garment, speak some uncouth words, and make a fume, and then lie down alone, that the dead whom they desire may come to them, and discourse with them in their sleep. To the same purpose Aben Ezra. To this the gentiles were very prone; and it was thought so high an attainment to come to this knowledge, that Julian the apostate, who was ambitious to be acquainted with all the heathen mysteries, secretly practiced this (not available), in the most retired part of his palace, cutting up the bodies of virgins and boys to bring up the dead to him; which was far more impious than what the Talmudists say (in the title Beracoth), that such kind of people were wont to burn the secundine of a black cat, when she had her first kittens, and beating it very small, put some of the powder upon their eye, whereupon demons appeared to them (see Greg. Nazianz. in his invectives against Julian, p. 91, and St. Chrysostom, in his oration upon St. Babylas). I shall only add, that this was not only privately practiced among the gentiles, but there were also public places to which men resorted to consult the dead, particularly at Thesprotis, near to the river Acheron, where Herodotus, lib. 5. mentions a (not available); and Plutarch (to name no more) mentions another at Heraclea, which Pausanias, in his distress, went to consult, as he relates in the life of Cimon.