Reference: Magic, Divination, And Sorcery
Hastings
Magic, divination, sorcery, and witchcraft are all connected with belief in superhuman powers, and are methods whereby men endeavour to obtain from these powers knowledge of the future, or assistance in the affairs of life. Belief in magic and divination is most prevalent in the lower stages of civilization and religion. The arts of the magician and the diviner were founded upon the same logical processes as have issued in the development of modern science; but the limits within which deduction would be valid were disregarded, and the data were frequently imperfect. Accidental coincidence was often confused with causal sequence. (See Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, art. 'Divination'). Magic and divination were derived from attempts at reasoning which were very often erroneous; but from such crude beginnings science has slowly grown.
In their beginning these arts were associated with religion; and diviners and magicians were those thought to be most intimately connected with the Deity, and, owing to their superior knowledge of Him and His ways, best able to learn His secrets or secure His aid. Among the Arabs the priest was originally also the soothsayer; the Heb. k
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But while he was thinking about the matter, [suddenly] an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream [i.e., a supernatural revelation given during sleep], saying, "Joseph, you descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife, for the baby she is carrying is by [the power of] the Holy Spirit.
Now Jesus was born in Bethlehem [a small town] in Judea during the time when Herod [the Great] was king [of Judea]. About that time some astrologer/sages from the east [i.e., Persia] came to Jerusalem, saying,
Then they were warned by God in a [supernatural] dream not to return to Herod, so they left and returned to their own country by a different route.
And when you pray, do not use worthless repetitions like the [unconverted] Gentiles, for they think their lengthy, repetitious wording [in prayer] is more likely to be heard [by God].
And if I drive out evil spirits by [the power of] Beelzebub, by whom do they [i.e., your people] drive them out? So, they become your judges.
Then certain experts in the law of Moses and some Pharisees answered Jesus, saying, "Teacher, we would like to see you perform a [supernatural] sign."
The Pharisees and Sadducees came [and attempted] to test Jesus [by] asking Him to perform a [supernatural] sign from heaven.
But they do all their deeds just to be seen by people. They wear elaborate Scripture texts displayed on their clothing and enlarge [conspicuously] the fringes of their robes.
Then while he was seated in Pilate's courtroom of justice, Pilate's wife sent [word] to him, saying, "You should have nothing to do with that innocent man. For I was very troubled in a dream over him today." [Note: That is, she was troubled over a dream she had before waking up that morning].
Then others, trying to test Him, asked Him to perform a [supernatural] sign from heaven.
Then Jesus returned again to Cana, in Galilee, where He had turned water into wine. There was a government official there whose son was sick at Capernaum [Note: Capernaum was about
But a certain man named Simon, from there in Samaria, who had been amazing the people with his magical powers, was claiming to be someone great.
But [another] magician, named Elymas (which means "the magician") opposed them, trying to discourage the magistrate from hearing about the faith.
At a later time, when we were going to that [same] place of prayer, we met a certain young woman who was dominated by an [evil] spirit, [claiming to be] able to tell people's fortunes. This [claimed] power was the source of considerable income for the girl's slave-owner.
But certain traveling Jews, who practiced exorcism, decided that they too would attempt to speak the name of the Lord over people dominated of evil spirits while saying, "I command you [evil spirits to come out] by [the authority of] Jesus whom Paul preaches."
And a large number of them, who had been involved in occultic practices, brought their books [on the occult] and began burning them publicly. When they calculated the cost [of the books] it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. [Note: The actual amount was approximately years of a farm laborer's pay, or more than
idol worship, occultic practices, hatefulness, dissension, jealousy, angry outbursts, factious spirits, divisiveness, party spirits,
yet now God has reconciled [you] to Himself through the death of Christ's physical body in order to present you holy, without fault and free from just blame before Him [on judgment day].
But evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse [in their behavior], deceiving people and being deceived by them.
And they refused to repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality and their thievery.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look, the Tabernacle of God [i.e., God's presence] is with people and He will live with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be among them {{Some ancient manuscripts add "and will be their God"}}.