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Selected Verse: Deuteronomy 18:11 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| De 18:11 |
King James |
Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
A charmer - i. e., one who fascinates and subdues noxious animals or men, such as the famous serpent-charmers of the East Psa 58:4-5.
A consulter with familiar spirits ... a wizard - Compare Lev 19:31 note.
Recromancer - literally, "one who interrogates the dead." The purpose of the text is obviously to group together all the known words belonging to the practices in question. Compare Ch2 33:6. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| A charmer - One that charmeth serpents or other cattle. Or, a fortune - teller, that foretelleth the events of men's lives by the conjunctions of the stars. Spirits - Whom they call upon by certain words or rites. A wizard - Heb. a knowing man, who by any forbidden way's undertakes the revelation of secret things. A necromancer - One that calleth up and enquireth of the dead. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
A charmer - חבר חבר chober chaber, one who uses spells; a peculiar conjunction, as the term implies, of words, or things, tying knots, etc., for the purposes of divination. This was a custom among the heathen, as we learn from the following verses: -
Necte Tribus Nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores:
Necte, Amarylli, modo; et Veneris, dic, vincula necto.
Virg. Ecl. viii., ver. 77.
"Knit with three Knots the fillets, knit them straight;
Then say, these Knots to love I consecrate."
Dryden.
A consulter with familiar spirits - שאל אוב shoel ob, a Pythoness, one who inquires by the means of one spirit to get oracular answers from another of a superior order. See on Lev 19:31 (note).
A wizard - ידעני yiddeoni, a wise one, a knowing one. Wizard was formerly considered as the masculine of witch, both practising divination by similar means. See on Exo 22:13 (note), and Lev 19:31 (note).
Or a necromancer - דרש אל המתים doresh el hammethim, one who seeks from or inquires of the dead. Such as the witch at Endor, who professed to evoke the dead, in order to get them to disclose the secrets of the spiritual world. |
6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
13 If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.
31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.