Witches, Sorcerers and Practitioners of Magic in the Tanakh

As a continuation from my previous article on the subject of the perceptions of magic exhibited by the Torah. (1) I shall now consider the perceptions and attitudes exhibited in the Tanakh (sometimes called the 'Jewish Bible') towards witchcraft, sorcery and the practice of magic.

To recap slightly: I have argued in the aforementioned article and another which I have written on the infamous 'Malleus Maleficarum' (or the 'Hammer of Witches') (2) that the origin of the witch-hunts that so scarred and traumatized the European landscape from the fourteenth till the eighteenth centuries as well as the intellectual belief in the reality of witchcraft that necessitated and justified them is to be found among the jews and Judaism.

Who - as I have shown - were the first to practice witch hunting (as it is mentioned in the Mishnah) and further that the basis of the charge of witchcraft is to be found in the Torah and Tanakh of Judaism, which became in modified form the Old Testament of Christianity. It is no coincidence that if you look at the major texts of theory on the subject of witchcraft then one is apt to primarily find references to the issue as related by the Old Testament and not the New Testament (although this does mention the subject of witches on several occasions) as it is in the Old Testament that we find the ideas about what a witch or sorcerer is as well as what punishments are prescribed for their practices.

If one is to blame Christianity for the witch hunts - which is justifiable to a point - then one should also blame jews and Judaism in equal or greater measure precisely because it was from jews and Judaism that Christianity got its ideas about witches and the practitioners of magic (as well as that they were to be actively rooted out and executed) as well being those to who Christians could look to in order to provide historical justification for the witch hunts.

Once we realise this then we can quickly see that the common claim that is made about Christianity being the primary agent responsible for the witch hunts is in reality not even half the story. This is because this leaves out the fact that the witch hunts were primarily about settling local differences (usually of a personal or economic nature) by involving outside authorities (3) and that they were motivated by jewish religious ideas and historical precedents. This doesn't negate the responsibility of Christianity for the witch hunts, but rather stresses that the witch hunts are multi-causal rather than mono-causal in nature.

To understand this we need but look at what the Tanakh has to say on the matter of the practice of magic. But before I do that I should briefly note that I will not here discuss the Witch of Endor in the first book of Samuel and her non-appearance in the book of Sirach, which I have covered in a separate article.

Now getting back to the subject at hand. The mentions of witchcraft, sorcery and the practice of magic in the Tanakh inform us that these practices were regarded as being directly associated with paganism. Thus warranting the command in the book of Exodus to kill all witches/sorceresses (4) as well as the more specific admonition in the book of Leviticus to stone them to death. (5) This is because - as both the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy tell us - (6) the use of magic is a tell-tale sign of paganism for the jews and therefore the offending party or individual is breaking the Decalogue commandment not to worship any god but Yahweh.

This theme is continued in the Tanakh when we see it written that:

'And when Jo'ram saw Je'hu, he said, “Is it peace, Je'hu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as harlotries and the sorceries of your mother Jez'ebel are so many?' (7)

'And they burned their sons and daughters as offerings, and used divination and sorcery, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.' (8)

'And he burned his son as an offering, and practised soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.' (9)

'And he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and practised soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.' (10)

'And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,

And I will confound their plans;

And they will consult idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the wizards' (11)

In these passages we can see that the references to the practitioners of magic - be they soothsayers, sorcerers or magicians - are always associated with the worship of idols or the breaking of the commandment in the Decalogue referring to the fact that they jews had contracted to only worship one god: Yahweh. Deviating from this path was always an invitation in the Tanakh's view to the practice of magic precisely because magic was what the jews did not practice (as it was forbidden by Yahweh), while just about every other religion - both near and far - did practice it in various forms.

This made the jews fairly unique in the ancient world in that they almost totally rejected magic and associated it with apostasy as well as idolatry and recommended - in a prefiguring of the witch hunts - that it be brutally suppressed with fire and sword with the practitioners being executed (summarily or otherwise).

The reason for this brutal attitude towards the practitioners of magic is rather aptly demonstrated by the other passages dealing with magic in the Tanakh, which tell us that:

'[He (referring to Yahweh) – KR] who frustrates the omens of liars,

And makes fools of diviners,

Who turns wise men back,

And makes their knowledge foolish' (12)

'Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries,

With which you have laboured from your youth;

Perhaps you may be able to succeed,

Perhaps you may inspire terror.

You are wearied of your many counsels;

Let them stand forth and save you,

Those who divide the heavens,

Who gaze at the stars,

Who are the new moons predict what shall befall you' (13)

'So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, 'You shall not serve the King of Babylon.' For it is a lie which they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish.' (14)

'Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery which the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnez'zar what will be in the latter days.' (15)

'And I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

And you shall have no more soothsayers' (16)

Now in all the above mentions of the practitioners of magic: we can see that there is a common theme in that Yahweh is telling all those who will listen that he is omnipotent and as proof of his power he can confound the practitioners of magic.

However pause to think about that a moment: Yahweh is here proudly boasting that he can mislead or simply cut off the power of the practitioners of magic. The problem is that this necessarily suggests that Yahweh is deeply uncomfortable with the idea of magic, because magic by dint of its existence challenges his claims to omnipotence. Yet the supposedly omnipotent Yahweh doesn't really seem to know what to do about the practice of magic or more precisely how to stop it, because he simply boasts repeatedly that he can stop it if he chose to rather than actually putting his money where his mouth is and stopping it.

This boasting sounds hollow by any account and is akin to the school bully boasting he can take on a professional cage fighter, while secretly being deeply scared of said fighter. Yahweh's words also suggest that the power of magic does not emanate from him, but rather from another source (probably another deity or series of deities).

This is particularly shown in the book of Jeremiah when Yahweh states that the magicians are lying to the Israelites and that Yahweh's oracles are the only true ones. This is necessarily suggested by the idea that the practitioners of magic are engaging in alternate prophesy, which tells us that they are channelling the prophesy of another being (or beings) other than Yahweh with which Yahweh is competing (i.e., they are prophesying and probably proselytizing for other gods and religions). In other words if the Israelites listen to the practitioners of magic then the Israelites will be rejected by Yahweh, but the other god(s) may accept them into their fold (hence Yahweh's boastful and vengeful ultimatum to the jews).

A similar point is demonstrated in the book of Micah when we are told Yahweh can stop the abilities of the soothsayers, which again necessarily implies that the power of soothsayers to divine the future (i.e., divination) is real and comes from a separate source (i.e., another deity or group of deities). Yahweh's claim that he can stop this at any time is indicative of the belief among the jews that Yahweh was omnipotent and thus had the ability to override the powers and wishes of other gods who the Decalogue implied necessarily existed as (lesser) beings in their own right.

This shows us the deep-seated fear and dare I say it inferiority complex of Yahweh in relation to the practice of magic, which is the apparent driving force behind Yahweh's draconian pronouncements on the subject of its practitioners.

After all if Yahweh is omnipotent then what does he have to fear in the practice of magic since he can allegedly stop it at any time?

However if Yahweh were not omnipotent then fearing magic and its practitioners would make a lot of sense precisely because they are the embodiment of the challenge of other deities to Yahweh's claim to omnipotence. Thus it makes sense to dress up the fear of being proved to be a lesser being as the prosecution of evil individuals who Yahweh would squash like bugs, but rather wishes his chosen people to murder them for him so that they can prove their loyalty.

This neatly avoids Yahweh having to step in and prove his omnipotence by overriding their magical abilities and thus potentially coming a cropper due to being exposed as being a weaker godling than he had made the Israelites believe.

This deep-seated fear of the exposure of Yahweh's commensurate lack of omnipotence is neatly shown in a passage from the book of Ezekiel, which states that:

'Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people, and keep other souls alive for your profit? You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death persons who should not die and keeping alive persons who should not live, by your lies to my people, who listen to lies.

“Wherefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls, and I will tear them from your arms; and I will let the souls that you hunt go free like birds.”' (17)

In the above text we can see that Yahweh is complaining to the Israelites about women who make magic bands (i.e., bracelets) which they wear on their arms and also presumably make magic bands for others. This Yahweh believes is part of a devilish conspiracy against him, because he is paranoid about the fact that the magic bands will take away souls from him (i.e., reduce his worshippers) and thus lessen him. Yahweh clearly associates the manufacture and sale of these magic bands as being aligned to the power of other deities who are stealing his worshippers by seducing them with magic by corrupting women who then corrupt others.

Yahweh brushes aside the issue that the women making the magic bands are doing so to get enough to eat (hence his comments about them being paid in handfuls of barley and pieces of bread) and more or less declares war on these unfortunates (suggesting some kind of physical retribution and probably death sentences complete with summary execution). Since he believes that these women have reduced his power over his worshippers by the use of magic (from other deities) to keep people alive that Yahweh wants to die and killing those that Yahweh wants to live.

We can see from this that Yahweh all but admits here that he is not omnipotent and is in fact less powerful than the source of power of the practitioners of magic (as he cannot override their abilities): hence his fear of it. Thus his draconian strictures against the practitioners derive from a deep-seated fear of being exposed as the weak and impotent god that he is by the exercise of powers deriving from a deity (or deities) more powerful than himself.

This then is the origin of the witch hunt and ideas about why witches must be hunted down and exterminated at all costs: Yahweh and his covenanted people the jews were afraid of being exposed for the blustering impotent cowards that they were (and still are).

How many men and women died to protect their dirty little secret?

Too many.

References

(1) This is available at the following address: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/witchcraft-sorcery-and-the-practice

(2) This is available at the following address: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/the-malleus-maleficarum-witches-and

(3) On this see Lyndal Roper, 2004, 'Witch Craze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany', 1st Edition, Yale University Press: New Haven

(4) Ex. 22:18 (RSV)

(5) Lev. 20:27 (RSV)

(6) Ibid., 19:31; Deut. 18:10-14 (RSV)

(7) 2 Kings 9:22 (RSV)

(8) Ibid., 17:17

(9) Ibid., 21:6

(10) 2 Chron. 33:6 (RSV)

(11) Is. 19:3 (RSV)

(12) Ibid., 44:25

(13) Ibid., 47:12-13

(14) Jer. 27:9-10 (RSV)

(15) Dan. 2:27-28 (RSV)

(16) Mic. 5:12 (RSV)

(17) Ezek. 13:18-20 (RSV)