1

Deut. 18:9-11:
911 The people of Israel must not learn to follow the abominable practices. The verb b:, learn, has to do
with forbidden customs: the magic and the oracles of the inhabitants of the land (18:1011) and the Canaanite
cultic practice (20:18; see G. Braulik, Theology of Deuteronomy [1994] 195). The list reads as though it was
intended to include all known designations of occult activities.
Scholars debate what it means to pass ones son or daughter through the fire. Mayes noted that a reference
to child sacrifice would be out of place here, for the context is concerned solely with forms of divination
([1981] 280). Tigay says, Modern scholarship has not been able to resolve the question of whether
Deuteronomy 18:10 refers to a lethal or a nonlethal practice. Because of this, we cannot say whether or how
passing children through fire is related to the dedication of the first-born, to Canaanite child sacrifice, or to the
worship of Molech ([1996] 465).
One who practices divination (obop oop) includes hepatoscopy (the art of reading the liver from a
sacrificial animal), belomancy (use of arrows shaken from a quiver), necromancy (consulting spirits of the
dead), and also false prophecy (Ezek 21:28 [Eng. 29]; Jer 14:14). The term soothsayer( ::yb) cannot be
defined with any certainty, since all conjectures are based on etymology. For instance, Ibn Ezra derived the term
from anan, cloud, and suggested that it refers to those who draw omens from the appearance and
movements of clouds (Tigay [1996] 173). The term rendered omen reader (c:b) seems to refer to
divination based on mixing liquids, such as oil and water (oleomancy), which may also be the manner in which
Josephs silver goblet was used in matters of divination (Gen 44:5). A sorcerer ( qcob) refers to a
practioner of black magic in Exod 22:17, where it is a capital offense. The phrase n n, translated as a
caster of magic spells, appears in Ps 58:6 (Eng. 5), where it refers to magic of some sort used against
venomous snakes. Finkelstein (JBL 75 [1956] 32831) suggests the meaning muttering a spell and compares
the Akkadian h abaru, be noisy. For a different view see M. Held, Studies in Biblical Lexicography in the
Light of Akkadian, EI 16 (1982) 7879. One who asks of a ghost (n: :c) refers to the practice of
necromancy. A common interpretation of the term n:is that of a hole in the ground through which offerings
and requests for information were made to the dead. A medium (:y) is sometimes translated as familiar
spirit, the ghost of a deceased person. It always appears with the term n:, and may function simply as an
adjective to the term n: :cto describe a ghost [Page 409] functioning as a medium. In the story of King
Saul and the witch of Endor, ghosts of the dead ascend from the depths of the earth and are seen by the
medium. The phrase one who inquires from the dead (onbn: c) probably means one who performs
necromancy by any other means than the two previous terms mentioned (Tigay [1996] 173, following
Ramban).
1
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
EI Ere Israel
1
Duane L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1-21:9, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 6A, Word,
Incorporated, Dallas, 2002, pp. 408-409.