Deuteronomy 18:10

There shall not be found with thee Deuteronomy 17:2.

that maketh his son … to pass through the fire See on Deuteronomy 12:31: the want of a conjunction following this clause (so also Sam. and LXX except in some codd.) is remarkable, and raises a doubt as to the originality of the clause.

On the following terms see W. R. Smith, Journal of Philology, xiii. 273 ff., xiv. 113 ff.: -The Forms of Divination and Magic in Dt. xviii. 10, 11"; Wellhausen, Reste des arab. Heidentums2, 135 153; Driver, Deut.223 226; T. W. Davies -Divination" and -Magic," in E.B.; F. B. Jevons -Divination," Hastings" D.B., to all of which the references below are directed.

one that useth divination Heb. kôsem kesamîm. From its root and certain Ar. forms which = -to divide" or -allot," the vb appears to have meant originally to divine by the lot(disputed by Davies, E.B.2900), e.g. by arrows as described in Ezekiel 21:21 ff. (Ezekiel 21:26 ff.); practised by the Babylonians (Lenormant, Chald. Magic, 238 n. 2), and Arabs (Korân, Deuteronomy 5:4, where it is forbidden; Sale, Prelimin. Discourse, Sec. v.). Elsewhere in O.T. it has a wider sense, e.g. 1 Samuel 28:8. LXX here μαντευόμενος μαντείαν.

one that practiseth augury Better, soothsayer. LXX κληδονιζόμενος. Heb. me-ônen, which used to be derived from -anan, -cloud," as if cloud-gazer, and is by Wellh. supposed to spring from the root-meaning of -anan, -to appear" or -intervene" (cp. Ar. -ann), as if dealing in phenomena. But the word is probably onomatopoetic, hummingor crooning(W. R. Smith); cp. Ar. ghanna, and Judges 9:37, the oak of the me-ônenîm, a whispering, oracular tree. Condemned also in Isaiah 2:6, as Philistine, Micah 5:12; Jeremiah 27:9.

or an enchanter Better, augur or observer of omens. LXX οἰωνιζόμενος. That this is the meaning of the Heb. menaḥeshappears from the story of Balaam, Numbers 24:1 (where for enchantmentsread omens), from Genesis 44:15, of Joseph's divination With his cup (hydromancy; cp. for Babylonia Zimmern in KAT3 [141], 533 f., and for the Arabs, Doughty ii. 188), the use of the vb in Genesis 30:27; 1 Kings 20:33, to observe, and its meaning in Syriac, -divination from natural signs." Others take it as onomatopoetic, -to hiss," or connect it with naḥash, serpent. On divination on the sand, see Doughty i. 162.

[141] Die Keilinschriften und das AIte Testament, 3rd edition (1903), by H. Zimmern and H. Winckler.

or a sorcerer Heb. mekashsheph. For this and keshaphîm, see Exodus 7:11; Exodus 22:18 (17) (E's law against the sorceress, see Dri."s note), Micah 5:11; Nahum 3:4; Jeremiah 27:9; Malachi 3:5; 2 Chronicles 33:6 (of Manasseh) and Isaiah 47:9; Isaiah 47:12; Daniel 2:2 (both of Babylon). W. R. Smith, comparing the Ar. form, suggests that keshaphîmwere -herbs or other drugs shredded into a magic brew" (in Micah 5:12, they are held in the hand); cp. the LXX φάρμακα, -magical potions." But the original meaning of the Ar. kispuis (Zimmern, Schrader's KAT3 [142], 605) spittle or foam from the mouth by which a man might be bewitched; cp. Ḫammurabi, § 2.

[142] Die Keilinschriften und das AIte Testament, 3rd edition (1903), by H. Zimmern and H. Winckler.