The oldest and most authentic record from which we can derive our
ideas on the subject of necromancy and witchcraft, unquestionably is
the Bible. The Egyptians and Chaldeans were early distinguished for
their supposed proficiency in magic, in the production of supernatural
phenomena, and in penetrating into the secrets of future time. The
first appearance of men thus extraordinarily gifted, or advancing
pretensions of this sort, recorded in Scripture, is on occasion of
Pharoah's dream of the seven years of plenty, and seven years of
famine. At that period the king "sent and called for all the magicians
of Egypt and all the wise men; but they could not interpret the
dream," [5] which Joseph afterwards expounded.
Their second appearance was upon a most memorable occasion, when Moses
and Aaron, armed with miraculous powers, came to a subsequent king of
Egypt, to demand from him that their countrymen might be permitted to
depart to another tract of the world. They produced a miracle as the
evidence of their divine mission: and the king, who was also named
Pharoah, "called before him the wise men and the sorcerers of Egypt,
who with their enchantments did in like manner" as Moses had done;
till, after some experiments in which they were apparently successful,
they at length were compelled to allow themselves overcome, and fairly
to confess to their master, "This is the finger of God!" [6]
The spirit of the Jewish history loudly affirms, that the Creator of
heaven and earth had adopted this nation for his chosen people, and
therefore demanded their exclusive homage, and that they should
acknowledge no other God. It is on this principle that it is made one
of his early commands to them, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to
live." [7] And elsewhere the meaning of this prohibition is more fully
explained: "There shall not be found among you any one that useth
divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a
charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a
necromancer: [8] these shall surely be put to death; they shall stone
them with stones." [9]
The character of an enchanter is elsewhere more fully illustrated in
the case of Balaam, the soothsayer, who was sent for by Balak, the
king of Moab, that he might "curse the people of Israel. The
messengers of the king came to Balaam with the rewards of divination
in their hand;" [10] but the soothsayer was restrained from his
purpose by the God of the Jews, and, where he came to curse, was
compelled to bless. He therefore "did not go, as at other times, to
seek for enchantments," [11] but took up his discourse, and began,
saying, "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is
there any divination against Israel!" [12]
Another example of necromantic power or pretension is to be found in
the story of Saul and the witch of Endor. Saul, the first king of the
Jews, being rejected by God, and obtaining "no answer to his
enquiries, either by dreams, or by prophets, said to his servants,
seek me a woman that has a familiar spirit. And his servants, said,
Lo, there is a woman that has a familiar spirit at Endor." Saul
accordingly had recourse to her. But, previously to this time, in
conformity to the law of God, he "had cut off those that had familiar
spirits, and the wizards out of the land;" and the woman therefore was
terrified at his present application. Saul re-assured her; and in
consequence the woman consented to call up the person he should name.
Saul demanded of her to bring up the ghost of Samuel. The ghost,
whether by her enchantments or through divine interposition we are not
told, appeared, and prophesied to Saul, that he and his son should
fall in battle on the succeeding day, [13] which accordingly came to
pass.
Manasseh, a subsequent king in Jerusalem, "observed times, and used
enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards, and so
provoked God to anger." [14]
It appears plainly from the same authority, that there were good
spirits and evil spirits, "The Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab,
that he may go up, and fall before Ramoth Gilead? And there came a
spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him: I
will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.
And the Lord said, Thou shall persuade him." [15]
In like manner, we are told, "Satan stood up against Israel, and
provoked David to number the people; and God was displeased with the
thing, and smote Israel, so that there fell of the people seventy
thousand men." [16]
Satan also, in the Book of Job, presented himself before the Lord
among the Sons of God, and asked and obtained leave to try the
faithfulness of Job by "putting forth his hand," and despoiling the
patriarch of "all that he had."
Taking these things into consideration, there can be no reasonable
doubt, though the devil and Satan are not mentioned in the story, that
the serpent who in so crafty a way beguiled Eve, was in reality no
other than the malevolent enemy of mankind under that disguise.
We are in the same manner informed of the oracles of the false Gods;
and an example occurs of a king of Samaria, who fell sick, and who
"sent messengers, and said to them, Go, and enquire of Baalzebub, the
God of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease." At which
proceeding the God of the Jews was displeased, and sent Elijah to the
messengers to say, "Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that
you go to enquire of Baalzebub, the God of Ekron? Because the king has
done this, he shall not recover; he shall surely die." [17]
The appearance of the Wise Men of the East again occurs in considerable
detail in the Prophecy of Daniel, though they are only brought forward
there, as discoverers of hidden things, and interpreters of dreams.
Twice, on occasion of dreams that troubled him, Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, "commanded to be called to him the magicians, and the
astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans" of his kingdom, and
each time with similar success. They confessed their incapacity; and
Daniel, the prophet of the Jews, expounded to the king that in which
they had failed. Nebuchadnezzar in consequence promoted Daniel to be
master of the magicians. A similar scene occurred in the court of
Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, in the case of the hand-writing
on the wall.
It is probable that the Jews considered the Gods of the nations around
them as so many of the fallen angels, or spirits of hell, since, among
other arguments, the coincidence of the name of Beelzebub, the prince
of devils, [18] with Baalzebub, the God of Ekron, could scarcely have
fallen out by chance.
It seemed necessary to enter into these particulars, as they occur in
the oldest and most authentic records from which we can derive our
ideas on the subject of necromancy, witchcraft, and the claims that
were set up in ancient times to the exercise of magcial power. Among
these examples there is only one, that of the contention for
superiority between Moses and the Wise Men of Egypt in which we are
presented with their pretensions to a visible exhibition of
supernatural effects.