Category Archives: Bible

Witches in the Hebrew Bible

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[This was originally posted October 31, 2005]

This last week I was copying an article in the Festschrift for John F.A. Sawyer (Words Remembered, Texts Renewed, JSOT 195, Sheffield 1995), and came across an interesting chapter on witches in the Hebrew Bible by Graham Harvey (pp. 113-134). This piqued my interest and I thought, considering that today is Halloween, I would blog a bit on the subject of witches in the Hebrew Bible.

You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby!

Witches have come a long way in popular culture. Shakespeare’s characterization of witches in Macbeth as old wrinkly hags that dance naked around a pot of boiling potion is still found in the stereotypical Halloween costumes and in the portrayal of the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz.

But there is also a more attractive characterization of the witch in film and television. For instance, Elizabeth Montgomery’s Samantha in Bewitched did not fit the stereotype, nor did Nicole Kidman in the recent remake. And, of course, the stereotype was dashed to pieces with the Harry Potter books. Hermione Granger does not look like a witch, she looks just like a young girl.

Of course, this raises the question of where did this stereotypical image of the witch as an old Hag with warts and frogs come from? Well, first of all, it did NOT come from the Bible.

Witches and Witchcraft in the Hebrew Bible

One of the first things that you realize when broaching the subject of witches in the Hebrew Bible, is how little we actually know!

If you look for the word “witch” in the NRSV, you would look in vain. The word “witchcraft” is only found in Lev 19:26 to translate תעוננו. The NIV is similar in that the term “witch” is not found, but you do find the term “witchcraft” five times to translate words from the root כסף (Deut 18:10; 2 Kings 9:22; 2 Chron 33:6; Mic 5:12; Nah 3:4). The picture is again somewhat different if you look at the KJV, which adds Exod 22:17 (“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”; once again from כסף) and 1 Sam 15:23 (translating קס×? “divination”) to the examples from the NIV.

One of the key passages about witchcraft in the Hebrew Bible — or at least a passage that brings together a series of terms relating to magic is Deut 18:9-14.

9 When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. 10 No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You must remain completely loyal to the Lord your God. 14 Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so (NRSV).

The terms employed include the following:

  • “One who practices divination” (קס×? קסמי×?). This term is used primarily for the practices of non-Israelites who tell the future or prophesy by various means. Some take this to be a more general term that describes the whole complex of magical and divinatory practices in ancient Israel.
  • “Soothsayer” (מעונן). Someone who can interpret signs or looks for omens.
  • “Augur” (מנחש×?). To seek and give omens, foretell. Could be some sort of divination related to snakes.
  • “Sorcerer” (מכש×?×£). This term is probably closest to the idea of magic and witchcraft.
  • “One who casts spells” (חבר חבר). This would be a charmer or the like.
  • “One who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead (ש×?ל ×?וב֙ וידעני ודרש×? ×?ל־המתי×?). These terms appear to be related to the practice of necromancy, i.e., divination by inquiring of the dead.

Most of these terms occur infrequently and are very difficult to unpack in a meaningful way. Even the concept of magic in the Hebrew Bible is had to define. ABD uses “the term ‘magic’ will be used here to refer to methods associated with the gaining of suprahuman knowledge and power or with influencing suprahuman powers.” The majority of places where these terms are used are clearly negative, though there are some more neutral occurrences. It appears that many of these terms are used to characterize illegitimate practices relating to telling (or perhaps changing) the future by those who do not worship Yahweh.

No matter how you understand some of these terms, what is clear is that these terms do not tell us anything about what these people looked like. So where does our image of witches come from?

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

More recognizable images of witches from English literature like MacBeth are derived from classical Roman authors and mediaeval sources.

For instance, the Roman poet Lucan (39-65 AD) describes a “witch” that fits our modern stereotypes in book six of his Pharsalia (also known as “The Civil War”):

To her no home
Beneath a sheltering roof her direful head
Thus to lay down were crime: deserted tombs
Her dwelling-place, from which, darling of hell,
610 She dragged the dead. Nor life nor gods forbad
But that she knew the secret homes of Styx
And learned to hear the whispered voice of ghosts
At dread mysterious meetings. (35) Never sun
Shed his pure light upon that haggard cheek
Pale with the pallor of the shades, nor looked
Upon those locks unkempt that crowned her brow.
In starless nights of tempest crept the Hag
Out from her tomb to seize the levin bolt;
Treading the harvest with accursed foot
620 She burned the fruitful growth, and with her breath
Poisoned the air else pure. No prayer she breathed
Nor supplication to the gods for help

Horace has a number of similar descriptions of witches in his Epodes. He describes the “hideous looks of all these hags” one of which has “interwoven her hair and uncombed head with little vipers” and who make potions out of disgusting materials. It is descriptions like these that inspired Shakespeare, not the Bible.

Of course, the best portrayal of a witch in popular culture is found in Monty Python’s The Quest for the Holy Grail! (See it here)

UPDATE (2006): You will want to check out a post by Menachem Mendel on witches (he also notes the following brief article: Witches in the Bible and Talmud). Phil Harland also relates an ancient ghost story here.

Smithsonian Bible Exhibit in the News

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The Hamilton Spectator has an interesting article from Washington Post reporter Allan Cooperman on the Bible exhibit underway at the Smithsonian. The article, “A True Testament to Change: How Much was Altered in the Bible’s Evolution?“, highlights some of the manuscripts on display in the exhibition, “In the Beginning: Bibles Before the Year 1000.”

This exhibition includes a whole host of fascinating finds, including fragments of a Dead Sea Scroll, Cheaster Beatty papyri, some leaves from Codex Sinaiticus, among other manuscripts. I am looking forward to viewing the exhibit in person when I am at SBL.

In regards to the news article, there are some choice quotes from Bart Ehrman about the implications of the transmission history of the Bible and certain views of the Scripture’s authority. Here’s an excerpt:

These are documents with the proven power to shake faith. That’s what happened to Bart Ehrman, author of the 2005 bestseller, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed The Bible And Why.

Ehrman was a born-again Christian from Kansas when he entered Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute at age 18. After three decades of comparing ancient manuscripts in their original languages to try to determine the earliest, most authentic text of the New Testament, he is now an agnostic.

“I thought God had inspired the words inerrantly. But when I examined the historical texts, I realized the words had not been preserved inerrantly, and it would have been no greater miracle to preserve them than to inspire them in the first place,” said Ehrman, now chairman of religious studies at the University of North Carolina.

I think that Ehrman raises an interesting question about the relationship of the transmission of the biblical text to some particular views of the inspiration of the original text. The article continues:

But if these fading papyrus leaves and purple parchments inscribed with silver ink can shake faith, that does not mean they must [italics added].

Brown, who pulled the exhibition together in association with Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, sits on the governing board of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. “That’s a pretty good tip-off,” she said, that she is a member in good standing of the Church of England.

“There’s nothing here that’s going to shape or challenge people’s beliefs, except on one point,” she said. “It will challenge the belief that the Bible originated in the form we have today, rather than being the result of the very complex process of a lot of people of faith using scriptures to help them live God-focused lives.”

“We didn’t start out with this,” she said, producing a red Gideon’s Bible from her Washington hotel room.

All in all it looks like a great exhibit.

UPDATE: Stephen Carlson has a list of all the manuscripts showing at the exhibit (well, almost all, he neglects to list some of the Hebrew manuscripts — but what can you expect from a NT scholar! :-)).  His list makes me even more eager for the exhibit!


Food in the Bible and the Ancient Near East

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Ever feel like making our self a bowl of “red stuff” or wondering what the typical ancient Israelite or first century Jew ate for dinner? Haaretz.com has an article entitled “The land of milk … and molasses?” by Yahil Zaban that discusses food in Bible times.

The actual article draws from a book published a couple years ago: Miriam Feinberg Vamosh, Food at the Time of the Bible: From Adam’s Apple to the Last Supper (Abingdon, 2004; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com).

Here is an excerpt from the article:

“Food at the Time of the Bible” studies the various mentions of food in the Bible, the New Testament, the Mishnah and the Talmud, and offers readers a different perspective on the history of the Land of Israel. Author Miriam Feinberg Vamosh compares historical sources, looks at archaeological findings and tracks down communities that have preserved old culinary traditions that date back to antiquity. In so doing, she paints a tangible and human portrait of the past, dashing some of the myths we have grown up with, along the way.

….

That is probably why the author has provided an array of biblical-style recipes. Prepare “Jael’s Labane” and feel Sisera’s death on the tip of your tongue. Eat “Song of Songs Cake” (“before adding nuts, chop dates in a food processor”) and feel the refreshment in your belly. Anyone who wants to nibble the delicacies that graced King Solomon’s table is invited to whip up some “Solomon’s Chicken Kebabs” spiced with coriander, garlic and cumin. Most of the recipes are pseudo-biblical, of course, and you will need modern kitchen appliances to prepare them, but the spices and ingredients were all available in biblical Israel. Tomatoes and potatoes, which entered our lexicon after the discovery of America, are not on the menu.

The recipes in the book thus combine historical research and contemporary culinary know-how. Some of them are a little bizarre, like “Pharaoh’s Melokhia Soup” (taken from an inscription in an ancient Egyptian tomb), but most are characterized by the book’s sober approach to biblical cuisine. The author discusses the spiritual significance of food customs in the Bible, and delves deeply into the metaphoric use of cooking and eating terms. But the symbolism of food, in her view, is anchored in the reality of biblical life.

A case in point is Ezekiel 24, where the prophesied destruction of Jerusalem is described in culinary terms. The city is likened to a pot, and the sinning Israelites to chunks of meat. The grim prophecy alludes to the cooking customs of the time. God, in his anger, turns up the fire under the pot and orders Ezekiel to add some bones. The author overdoes it, perhaps, with her recipe for “Ezekiel’s Lamb Stew,” but with a little substitution – lamb, onions and carrots, instead of Israelites – readers can enjoy an old Jerusalem favorite.

This work appears to be a bit more popular than academic, though it look interesting.

I have long had an interest in ancient cuisine, which is probably due to the fact that I used to cook at a French restaurant and have always enjoyed cooking.

Food in the Ancient Near East

In this regard another book on this subject which includes a number of ancient recipes is Jean Bottéro, Texts culinaires Mésopotamiens / Mesopotamian Culinary Texts (Eisenbrauns, 1995; Buy from Eisenbrauns).

This volume provides reconstructions and translations of the Yale Culinary Tablets. Most of the book is in French, but there is one chapter in English that includes actual recipes. Recipes include “Gazelle broth,” “Goat’s kid broth,” “Green wheat in porridge” (they sure liked their broth!).

It should be noted that these Mesopotamian recipes do not reflect the typical meals of your average Joe or Jane Babylonian — they are “restricted to the kitchens of the mighty and, perhaps, to the kitchens of the gods” (Bottéro, 16). They are fascinating nonetheless.

I have been thinking for quite a while that I need to prepare one of these dishes and feed it to unsuspecting students. Hmmm… perhaps the “Spleen broth” would do the trick!


Kugel on Jacob

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kugel_ladder.gifJames Kugel’s new book, The Ladder of Jacob: Ancient Interpretations of the Biblical Story of Jacob and His Children (Princeton University Press, 2006; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com) is reviewed in today’s New York Sun.

Here is an excerpt of the review:

This is Mr. Kugel’s 10th book on scriptural hermeneutics and perhaps his most fascinating; for here he takes on the appalling family of Jacob in all its mingled squalor and grandeur. As he puts it, “‘Dysfunctional’ is probably the first word an observer would use to describe such a family in modern times.” That seems an understatement. And yet, the five episodes he considers touch on virtually every aspect of the human predicament.

One interesting result of his approach is that we steadily see how differently earlier readers interpreted a text. Genesis 28 contains the famous dream-vision that Jacob had on the way to Haran: “He had a dream; a ladder was stuck into the ground and its top reached up to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on it. And the Lord was standing over him and He said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land upon which you are lying I am giving to you and your descendants.” This passage had never struck me as problematic. But it bothered ancient readers. What was the point of the ladder? Couldn’t God have spoken directly to Jacob? And why, after he heard the voice of the Lord, did Jacob grow frightened and say, “How fearsome is this place!” Wasn’t God’s message with its promise of covenant reassuring?

The ladder itself called forth highly creative speculation. For Philo it represented the “ups and downs” of human experience. Others were intrigued by the statement that the angels were “going up and down” on it. If they were going up, they must have begun from the ground. What were the angels doing on the ground in the first place? Some suggested that they had been on a previous mission; but if so, why had they stayed so long before ascending again? One puzzle bred others. The text was a mere seed, the commentaries that sprouted from it a vast bramble that somehow, over centuries, came to cohere.

….

Whether discussing Reuben’s sin with Bilhah or the priesthood of Levi or Judah and Tamar, Mr. Kugel moves easily from moral dilemmas to textual enigmas; his book thus serves as a guide to interpretation as well. He analyzes motifs and explains such hermeneutic devices as “notariqon,” a method for explaining ambiguous words by breaking them down into their hidden components (as if we would gloss the word “hearth” by saying that it was composed of “heart” and “earth”). As he notes, exegesis itself became a kind of Jacob’s ladder over the centuries, with rungs capable of spanning the lowest and the highest in one swoop. His own book has that laddered quality. Maybe the point isn’t to reach the top of the ladder but to keep that angelic procession going up and going down to the end of time.

Here is an outline of the chapters from the publisher’s website:

  • Chapter One: Jacob and the Bible’s Ancient Interpreters
  • Chapter Two: The Ladder of Jacob
  • Chapter Three: The Rape of Dinah, and Simeon and Levi’s Revenge
  • Chapter Four: Reuben’s Sin with Bilhah
  • Chapter Five: How Levi Came to Be a Priest
  • Chapter Six: Judah and the Trial of Tamar
  • Chapter Seven: A Prayer about Jacob and Israel from the Dead Sea Scrolls

The book looks quite facinating — so much so I may adopt it for my Genesis course next semester (any other suggestions are welcome!).

Interestingly, the front cover is almost identical to another great book on the Jacob narrative: Frederick Beuchner’s The Son of Laughter: A Novel (HarperSanFrancisco, 1994; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com).

(HT PaleoJudaica)