Reference: Magic
American
In the Bible, all the superstitious ceremonies of magicians, sorcerers, enchanters, necromancers, spiritualists, exorcists, astrologers, soothsayers, interpreters of dreams, fortune-tellers, casters of nativities, etc., which are all forbidden by the law of God, whether practiced to hurt or to benefit mankind. It was also forbidden to consult magicians on pain of death, Le 19:31; 20:6. See ENCHANTMENTS and SORCERERS.
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Ye shall not turn to necromancers, and to wizards ye shall not seek, to be defiled by them: I Jehovah your God.
And the soul which shall turn to necromancers and to wizards, to commit fornication after them, and I gave my face against that soul and I cut him off from the midst of his people.
Easton
The Jews seem early to have consulted the teraphim (q.v.) for oracular answers (Jg 18:5-6; Zec 10:2). There is a remarkable illustration of this divining by teraphim in Eze 21:19-22. We read also of the divining cup of Joseph (Ge 44:5). The magicians of Egypt are frequently referred to in the history of the Exodus. Magic was an inherent part of the ancient Egyptian religion, and entered largely into their daily life.
All magical arts were distinctly prohibited under penalty of death in the Mosaic law. The Jews were commanded not to learn the "abomination" of the people of the Promised Land (Le 19:31; De 18:9-14). The history of Saul's consulting the witch of Endor (1Sa 28:3-20) gives no warrant for attributing supernatural power to magicians. From the first the witch is here only a bystander. The practice of magic lingered among the people till after the Captivity, when they gradually abandoned it.
It is not much referred to in the New Testament. The Magi mentioned in Mt 2:1-12 were not magicians in the ordinary sense of the word. They belonged to a religious caste, the followers of Zoroaster, the astrologers of the East. Simon, a magician, was found by Philip at Samaria (Ac 8:9-24); and Paul and Barnabas encountered Elymas, a Jewish sorcerer, at Paphos (Ac 13:6-12). At Ephesus there was a great destruction of magical books (Ac 19:18-19).
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Is it not this which my lord will drink in it, and divining he will divine in it? ye were evil in which ye did.
Ye shall not turn to necromancers, and to wizards ye shall not seek, to be defiled by them: I Jehovah your God.
When thou comest to the land which Jehovah thy God gave to thee,. thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found in thee him causing his son or his daughter to pass through in fire, divining divinations, practicing magic, and taking omens and a sorcerer, read more. And charming a spell, and asking of a necromancer, and a wizard, and seeking to the dead. For every one doing these things is an abomination to Jehovah And on account of these abominations, Jehovah thy God destroys them from thy face. Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God. For these nations which thou shalt possess them, they will hear to those practicing magic, and to those divining: and thou, not thus, gave Jehovah thy God to thee.
And they will say to him, Ask now of God, and we shall know whether our way shall prosper which we go upon it. And the priest will say to them, Go for peace: before Jehovah, your way which ye shall go in it.
And Samuel died, and all Israel will lament for him; and they will bury him in Ramah, and in his city. And Saul took away the necromancers and the wizards from the land. And the rovers will gather together, and will come and encamp in Shunem: and Saul will gather together all Israel, and they will encamp in Gilboa. read more. And Saul will see the camp of the rovers, and he will fearr and his heart will tremble greatly. And Saul will ask through Jehovah, and Jehovah answered him not, also in dreams, also in Lights, also in the prophets. And Saul will say to his servants, Seek out for me a woman, mistress of necromancy, and I will go to her and inquire of her. And his servants will say to him, Behold, a woman mistress of necromancy in the Fountain of Dor. And Saul will disguise himself, and will put on other garments, and will go, and two men with him, and he will come to the woman by night: and he will say, Divine to me now, by necromancy, and bring up to me whom I say to thee. And the woman will say to him, Behold, thou knewest what Saul did who cut off the necromancers, and the wizards, from the land; wherefore art thou laying snares for my soul to kill me? And Saul will swear to her by Jehovah, saying, Jehovah lives, if iniquity shall pierce thee upon this word. And the woman will say, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he will say, Bring up to me Samuel And the woman will see Samuel, and she will cry out, with a great voice: and the woman will say to Saul, saying, Why didst thou deceive me? and thou Saul. And the king will say to her, Thou shalt not fear: What sawest thou? And the woman will say to Saul, I saw gods coming up out of the earth. And he will say to her, What his form? And she will say, An old man coming up, and he covered with an upper garment. And Saul knew that he Samuel, and he will bow his face to the earth and worship him. And Samuel will say to Saul, Why didst thou disturb me to bring me up? And Saul will say, Distress to me greatly: and the rovers warring against me, and God departed from me, and he answered me no more, also by the hand of the prophets, also by dreams: and I will call to thee to make known to me what I shall do. And Samuel will say, Why wilt thou ask of me, and Jehovah departed from thee and he will be thine enemy? And Jehovah will do for him as he spake by my hand, and Jehovah will rend the kingdom from thy hand and give it to thy neighbor, to David. As thou heardst not to the voice of Jehovah, and didst not the anger of his wrath against Amalek, for this, Jehovah did this word to thee this day. And Jehovah will give also Israel with thee into the hand of the rovers; and to-morrow thou and thy sons with me, also the camp of Israel Jehovah will give into the hand of the rovers. And Saul will hasten and fall with the fulness of his stature to the earth, and he will fear greatly from the words of Samuel: also strength was not in him, for he ate not bread all the day and all the night
And thou son of man, set to thee two ways for the sword of the king of Babel to come: from one land shall come forth they two, and form thou a hand, form upon the head of the way of the city. Thou shalt set the way for the sword to come to Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. read more. For the king of Babel stood at the mother of the way in the head of the two ways, to divine a divination; he shook with the arrows, he asked in the family gods, he looked in the liver. In his right hand was the divination of Jerusalem, to set battering-rams, to open the mouth in breaking in pieces, to lift up the voice with a loud noise, to set battering-rams against the gates, to throw up a mound, to build a watch-tower.
For the family gods spake vanity, and the diviners saw falsehood, and they will speak dreams of falsehood they will comfort in vain: for this, they removed as a flock, they were afflicted for there was no shepherd.
And Jesus born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold the magi from the sunrisings arrived in Jerusalem, saying: Where is he born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the sunrising, and have come to worship him. read more. And Herod the king having heard, was stirred up, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born. And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus has it been written by the prophet: And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, by no means art thou least among the leaders of Judah for out of thee shall come forth the leader, who shall feed my people. Then Herod having secretly called for the magi, searched thoroughly from them the time of the star appearing. And having sent them to Bethlehem, he said, Having gone, examine thoroughly concerning the child; and when ye should find, announce ye to me, so that I also, having gone, will worship him. And they having heard the king went forth; and, behold the star they saw in the sunrising, it led before them, till having come, it stood above where the young child was. And seeing the star, they rejoiced with great joy exceedingly. And having come into the house, they found the young child with Mary his mother, and having fallen, they worshipped him; and having opened their treasures they brought forward to him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And having received intimation of the divine will in a dream not to turn back to Herod, by another way they went back to their own country.
And a certain man, Simon by name, was before in the city using magic, and astonishing the nation of Samaria, saying himself to be somebody great: To whom attended from little to great, saying, This is the great power of God. read more. And they attended to him, because for a sufficient time they were astonished by magics. And when they believed Philip announcing the good news of the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were immersed, both men and women. And Simon also himself believed: and having been immersed, he was persovering with Philip, beholding the signs and great powers having been, they were astonished. And the sent in Jerusalem having heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John: Who, having gone down, prayed for them, that they receive the Holy Spirit (For not yet was it fallen upon any of them: only they were immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then put they hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And Simon having seen that by putting on of hands of the sent the Holy Spirit is given, he brought money to them, Saying, Give me also this power, that upon whomsoever I put hands, he might receive the Holy Spirit. And Peter said to him, May thy silver be for ruin with thee, for thou thoughtest the gift of God to be purchased for money. No portion is to thee, nor lot, in this word: for thy heart is not upright before God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray to God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart be remitted to thee. For I see thee being in the bile of bitterness, and bond of iniquity. And Simon having answered, said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that nothing which ye have spoken come upon me.
And having passed through the island to Paphos, they found a certain magician, a false prophet, a Jew, the name to him Barjesus: Who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paul, an intelligent man; he having called Barnabas and Saul, sought anxiously to hear the word of God. read more. And Elymas the magician withstood them, (for so was his name interpreted,) seeking to turn the proconsul from the faith. And Saul, (also Paul,) filled with the Holy Spirit, and looking intently upon him, said, O, full of deceit, and all dexterity, son of the devil, enemy of all justice, Wilt thou cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun till the time. And immediately fell upon him mist and darkness; and going about he sought leading by hand. Then the proconsul having seen that done, he believed, being struck with amazement at the teaching of the Lord.
And many of them having believed came, acknowledging and proclaiming their deeds. And sufficient of them having done unnecessary things, having brought books together, burned before all: and computed their prices, and found fifty thousand of silver.