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 as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
And when you pray, do not use empty repetitions as the Gentiles do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you."
Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
But they do all their works to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and the tassels of their garments long.
While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered greatly today in a dream because of him."
Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.
So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was sick.
Now there was a man named Simon, who had formerly practiced magic in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination. She brought her owners much profit by fortune-telling.
But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."
And a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach
while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
nor did they repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. And he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them;