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diff --git a/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst b/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst deleted file mode 100644 index 1e52fcb..0000000 --- a/faith/thou_shalt_not_suffer_witch_live.rst +++ /dev/null @@ -1,412 +0,0 @@ -Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live -##################################### - -:date: 2020-09-01T18:08:30 -:status: draft -:category: faith -:tags: sermon, english, Bible - -There are some verses which are usually important for every -Christian. Everyone of us has one verses like John 3:16 NET (“For -this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only -Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but -have eternal life”), or John 1:12 NET (“But to all who have -received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right -to become God’s children”). Then there are verses which we really -don’t know what to do with (e.g., just for fun Exodus 35:2b NET -“Anyone who does work on [Sabbath] will be put to death.”, -Leviticus 25:44 NET “As for your male and female slaves who may -belong to you—you may buy male and female slaves from the nations -all around you.” so only Austrian slaves, but I cannot import -them from Africa, even if they are a way more affordable?), but -then there are verses which nobody disputes but they are for most -of us not part of The Bible Verseparade. I expect most of my -readers to be Muggles, so I don’t think Exodus 22:18 KJV (“Thou -shalt not suffer a witch to live.”) is up there in those most -important Biblical verses of your life. - -However, I think that even for us, Muggles, this verse can bring -an important lesson, and this is not the one I hear usually when -it comes to be the subject of a Christian talk. - -First of all, let me add here disclaimer: whatever I say in the -following paragraphs should not be understood as approval of -occult in any shape or form. Even if I claim this verse to be -more complicated and less useful that it usually is thought to -be, I still fully believe that Bible stands clearly against any -form of occult, divination or wiccan practices. Not only they are -usually sin against the First Commandment, but they are quite -certainly always a sin against the Eleventh One (“Thou shall not -be stupid.”). Discussion of occult is not subject of this -article. - -Let me start with a short historian’s exercise. Czech polymath, -universal artist, overall genius, and gynaecologist amateur, Jára -Cimrman, sternly urged great men of history to consider the day -when they accomplish their great achievement and think about -future students who will have to learn about it in their history -classes. We can commend the Czech king and German emperor -Charles IV. for founding the Prague university now named after -him in year 1348, because everybody knows that all great events -of Czech history are supposed to happen in the year ending with -48, but April 7th is completely unconscionable date, when he -could wait just two weeks, and he would be at least found the -university on Easter (April 17th 1348). On the other hand, we -should really appreciate action of the pope Leo III who made -Charlemagne the first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire on the -Christmas Day of year 800. - -Year 800 AD is good interesting point in the history for couple -of reasons. First of all, what do you know about that year in the -history (of course, you know that Holy Roman Empire was founded, -but something else). What happened here in the area of the -current Czechia? - -No, Saint Wenceslaus lived hundred years later (died most likely -in year 935). And no, Great Moravia and Saint Cyril and Methodius -came to our lands fifty years later (that is truly the beginning -of the history of these lands). And for comparison from other -countries with better documented history, no, Alfred the Great is -fifty years later as well. For Czech lands we really know almost -nothing. Some German chronicles barely mentioned that the area -exists, and there are some rumours about Charlemagne going -through Bohemia around 805, but that’s basically all we know -about this place in that time from the historical record. - -The only point I want to illustrate by these paragraphs is that -year 800 AD is long time ago. Really long time ago. - -When we have established this point, we can start to work with -year 800 AD. First idea is really brief: when we think what -happened eight hundred years ago (1222), we considered such event -to happen really long time ago, so long time ago, that anything -is hardly known about it. Well, Christianity was that old in that -year. Because it was long time ago from our point of view, it -doesn’t mean it wasn’t long time from the beginning of the Church -as well. - -Next comment is by Chesterton: we have tendency to always -view history as something which happened in past, and we are the -glorious (or not-so-glorious) culmination of past events. What if -we are not the end of history, what if we are just the beginning? -What if thousands years later, people will sing heroic songs -about our deeds, and discuss whether somebody so unbelievable as -Presidents Nelson Mandela or Václav Havel truly existed or if -they were just a myth? Just a food for thought. - -Second note is substantially longer. We can use those twelve -hundred years which separate us (roughly) from that year as -a measure with which we can consider the flow of time. One step -from us is year 800 AD, second step is 800 AD - 1200 = 400 BC. It -is one year from the death of Socrates, and it is roughly what -could be declared the beginning of the Classical Antiquity. -I heard this example originally from a historical podcast about -philosophy, where they wanted to stress that although the history -of that era is compressed in our high-school history textbooks to -few chapters, and just after the chapter on Socrates, Plato, and -Aristotle, the next chapter is about the Golden Roman era, Jesus, -and Seneca. Except there was four hundred years between those two -points in time, like from us to Descartes (to keep ourselves in -the history of philosophy; and yes, exactly four hundred years -ago, in 1620, Descartes was one of the French mercenaries who -fought and was wounded on the Protestant side in the Battle of -White Mountain next to Prague, which started the Thirty-years -War). We are missing the true depth of the various eras in our -history. - -However, year 400 BC may be the beginning of the Classical -Antiquity, but in the biblical history it is still too late. All -canonical history of the Old Testament already happened, Jews -were back from the Babylonian captivity, and even the majority of -the Old Testament itself was already written. Therefore, if we -want to get to the beginning of the Biblical time, we need to -take our historical measure and make one more step. 400 BC - 1200 -= 1600 BC (exact years, or even centuries, are not that -important, chronology of that era is really vague and uncertain). -And somewhere there we finally get to the times the Old Testament -writes about. That is how really far away we are. - -What I wanted to say by this example is to emphasize how -incredibly distant were people living in the Biblical times from -us. We usually don’t have any problems to accept that most of us -know almost nothing about this era outside of the Biblical -narrative, so I don’t think it is so outrageous to be cautious -about our understanding of the Biblical text from those times. - -Let us return back to witches in the Old Testament. There are -surprisingly few verses explicitly dealing with witchcraft. Most -important are four verses (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:26, 20:27, -and Deuteronomy 18:10-11). Let us start with the last one (YLT -with Hebrew words used for the key terms in the verse): - - There is not found in thee one causing his son and his - daughter to \`abar ba-'esh (H5674, H784), a user of - qosem qesamim (H7080), a me’onen (H6049), and a menakhesh - (H5172), and a [practices] mekhashef (H3784), // and - a châbar (H2266) cheber (H2267), and one wə·šō·’êl ’ō·wḇ - yidde'oni (H7592 H178 H3049), doresh el ha-metim - (H1875 H4191). - -Young’s Literal Translation gives us this: - - There is not found in thee one causing his son and his - daughter to pass over into fire, a user of divinations, an - observer of clouds, and an enchanter, and a sorcerer, // and - a charmer, and one asking at a familiar spirit, and a wizard, - and one seeking unto the dead. - -NET Bible this: - - There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his - son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, - an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, one who casts - spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the - occult, or a necromancer. - -Without even looking at the English translations, it is obvious -that this is some kind of list of technical terms. Whole -interpretation of these two verses stands and falls with the -exact translation of these terms. - -Before we start working on these verses, let me present here one -completely hypothetical example. Let us imagine, that after this -verse about magic, there is another one, which reads: - - You shall not permit bunja’h to live. - -Whole translation of the verse again hinges on the understanding -of the term bunja’h (completely made-up word just for the purpose -of this example). Unfortunately, this word is never ever -mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, and we don’t know anything -about it even from other ancient Hebrew literature (i.e., it is -true *hapax legomenon*). - -Imagine Saint Jerome sitting over the text racking his brain over -this verse. In the end he dives into books about the Hebrew -language, asks neighbouring rabbis for help, and then they -conclude that by using languages of other ancient Near East -nations it could be said that the word is based on roots of words -“man” and “knife”, so it could be literally translated as -something like “a man with a knife”. Jerome puts that in his -translation project (later to be called Vulgate) and whole -history of the Latin Christianity is then marred with the -persecution of cooks and butchers. They have to live outside of -the normal society in the neighbourhood of tanners, hangmen, and -knackers, and in the difficult times and time of crisis they are -frequently victims of pogroms. - -Poor Jerome didn’t know, that “a man with a knife” was in the -ancient Palestine a slang expression for the assassin, who killed -his victims with a knife. - -That’s an illustration how difficult is our situation and on the -other hand, how important is to get the translation right, to -fully understand it. And just to make it clear, there are over -400 true hapax legomenon in the Hebrew Bible alone. For example, -“gopher wood” from Genesis 6:14 has not been found anywhere else, -so we really don’t know what the Noah’s ark was really made from -(the idea it was cypress which is a common translation is just -because it was the wood ships were usually made from, but there -is no evidence it was really so; what if the biblical author -wanted to emphasize something by Noah building a ship from some -unusual wood?). - -Back to our verse in Deuteronomy. - - There is not found in thee one causing his son and his - daughter to \`abar ba-'esh (H5674, H784), a user of - qosem qesamim (H7080), a me’onen (H6049), and a menakhesh - (H5172), and a [practices] mekhashef (H3784), // and a châbar - cheber (H2266 H2267), and shâ'al ob (H7592 H178), and - a yidde'oni (H3049), and one doresh el ha-metim (H1875 - H4191). - -Understating of some of these terms is rather straightforward. -The context is the interdict on the pagan practices of -divination, so *qosem qesamim* is literally “distributes -distributions”, and according to the commentaries to the Czech -study Bible, it means some kind of divination by observing either -spread lots or arrows shot in front of the diviner. Another -commentaries (NET Bible) claims it is just a generic term for any -diviner who predicts future from observing various omens and -signs. However, it is obvious it is some kind of divination, -although we are not completely certain how exactly it worked. - -*menakhesh* has complicated meaning. According to some it is just -a generic term for any divination by observing signs and omens -(Strong’s Dictionary). According to other (Czech Bible commentary -and Wikipedia) this word derives from the word for snake, and as -a verb it literally translates to hissing. It could mean either -some kind of whispering or murmuring incantation, or it may -signifies a snake charmer. - -*yidde'oni* means “consults a medium or familiar spirit”, and -these mean just what the literal translation suggests. - -*\`abar ba-'esh* means literally “pass over into fire” and it is -understood to be just repetition of the interdict on the human -sacrifice, here probably specifically the sacrifice of children -to the Canaanite god Moloch. - -*doresh el ha-metim* is slightly more complicated. Literally it -means “inquires of the dead” (or “(one who) questions corpses”), -which most English versions of the Bible translate as -“necromancy”, but my Czech commentary suggests a diviner lying in -a grave waiting for the vision there. - -*me’onen* has rather obscure meaning. The literal -translation is something like “conjure clouds”, which if it is -meant to be some kind of magic, sounds to me more like some -weather modifying, but if it is in the context of divination the -commentaries claimed it to be aeromancy (divination from the -shape of clouds), which is documented from the late ancient Rome -(5th century CE) and it is thought to have been performed by the -ancient Babylonian priests. Given how accessible clouds usually -are, I have no problems to imagine that some kind of divination -from them could exist, but surprisingly it is not something which -was widespread, there are really just few mentions of it in whole -Ancient literature. On the other hand, NET Bible commentary -explains that it is not about clouds, but about conjuring spirits -and apparitions. Rashi’s commentary mentions, that The Sages -said, that this referred to those who “catch the eyes” [i.e., -they deceived public by creating optical illusions]. - -*mekhashef* is translated as “sorcery”, but this meaning is far -from certain and obvious. (khashef and khesh come from the same -root, which means snake) - -*châbar cheber* means literally “join joinings”, which is not -clear at all. Rashi means that this is “One who collects snakes, -scorpions or other creatures into one place.” The second word -means either spells and charms, or something collected together, -association, shared household, company of priests. Czech -commentary to the Ecumenical translation suggests even -a relationship with bindings in Matthew 18:18. - -The overall meaning I was trying to convey in this whole analysis -was twofold. First of all, it seems to me obvious that my -suspicion was confirmed. Interpretations of these verses relies -heavily on our understanding of the specialized terminology of -a profession we have really little knowledge about. - -I really do not want to question erudition of all those biblical -scholars, but just judging from the huge range of those possible -explanation of each of these words, it seems obvious to me that -we really don’t want know very firmly what exactly was meant when -those verses were written. There are some things which are -certain: whole divination is suspicious, sacrificing your -children is condemnable, necromancy is bad as well (see 1Sa 28 -about Saul and the Medium of Endor, which surprisingly confirms -that necromancy is biblically deemed possible and evil), but it -is hard to interpret these verses as a condemnation of Harry -Potter summoning his glasses in the morning. - -The second point is simple as well. Especially with translations -to our native languages, the Biblical text looks simple, certain -and self-explanatory (what is complicated on the text “Thou shalt -not suffer a witch to live.”?). Unfortunately, that process of -translation could hide quite easily plenty of uncertainty and -even the translator’s hidden agenda. I am not saying that the -Holy Bible is impossible to understand and mysterious, we could -get some rather firm conclusions even from this obscure text, and -there are many conclusions which we can claim with even more -certainty (murder, rape, idol-worshipping are all bad ideas, help -to poor and thankful heart are good), but that certainty is not -uniform for whole range of the Biblical message. - -The last comment which comes to my mind seems also simple: there -is no such as “simple meaning of the biblical text”, every verse -of the Holy Scripture must be interpreted to be useful and that -interpretation could cover whole range from non-problematic to -complicated and uncertain. - -.. note:: how much magic there is in the Bible mentioned and not - disputed (examples below) - -.. https://netbible.org/bible/Deuteronomy+18 - https://biblehub.com/parallel/deuteronomy/18-10.htm - https://biblehub.com/parallel/exodus/22-18.htm - https://studybible.info/strongs/H2267 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft_and_divination_in_the_Hebrew_Bible - https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9982/showrashi/true/jewish/Chapter-18.htm#lt=both - https://biblickyslovnik.pleva.info/ - ----- - -My overall feeling is that this is mostly about divination, -predicting future, not much about for example healing magic. -Which is no surprise, because until way into the Enlightenment -the difference between the medical science and medical magic was -really ambiguous (or perhaps, a way longer). - ---- - -Another poorly translated verse: - -https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g402 - -Many of them also which used curious arts G4021 brought their -books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted -the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. -(KJV) - -Large numbers of those who had practiced magic G4021 collected -their books and burned them up in the presence of everyone. When -the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty -thousand silver coins. (NET) - -Acts 19:19 - -The same word G4021 is then used in 1. Timothy 5:13: - -And besides that, going around from house to house they learn to -be lazy, and they are not only lazy, but also gossips and -busybodies, talking about things they should not. - -(nothing nice, but it doesn’t seem like a witchcraft to me). - -Those are only two occurrences of the word in NT (and it is never -used in LXX). - ---- - -I have to admit - - -Jiftah a jeho dcera (Soudců 11 a 12 kaptiola) je příkladem lidské -oběti a čistého černokněžnictví. - -* https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/12822/what-is-the-meaning-of-sorceress-in-exodus-2218 -* https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/thou-shalt-not-suffer-a-witch-to-live-a-murderous-mistranslation-1.5443682 -* https://archive.org/details/witchcraftinmidd0000russ - -.. [#] https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QaT1tVK0uZIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false - ----- - -Before I (finally) get to them, let me add one more side track: -while looking for these verses, and studying them, I have met -[#]_ quite couple of mentions of actions or practices described -in the Bible (both Old and New Testament), which looked to me -very much like occult practices and which would today be strongly -prohibited by all Bible-loving churches. Bible just notices them, -but neither condemns them, nor even comments on their -(un-)righteousness: - -* Joseph’s silver cup used for divination, Numbers 5:12-31, Urim - & Thummim, Elisha cursing small boy who calls him “badly”, - lots, Daniel was supervisor of “the magicians, astrologers, - Chaldeans and soothsayers” (Daniel 5:11). In the New Testament - Paul’s declaration in Acts 13:6-12 looks uncomfortably like - a curse, and Acts 5:9 perhaps too (this one is more - explainable). - -.. [#] Mostly from http://www.religioustolerance.org/divin_bibl.htm - ----- - -https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/India.html - -India is mentioned twice in the Bible (Esther 1:1 and 8:9) and -transcribed as Hodu (הדי), which is something related from -“handle snake” or “snake charm”. |