exercise of idolatrous worship was not permitted in their time. The idols, therefore, to which the people sacrificed and burnt incense, might have been the teraphim, which were commonly designed for private use, as household gods; but were also employed for idolatrous and superstitious purposes, particularly for divination, and as oracles.

Yet, as it is generally known, that many of the Jews did cast off their regard for God, and joined in the idolatrous rites of the heathen, it may be proper to say a few words concerning their manner of worship; of which we have some hints in Scripture, besides those which have already been given, when describing the different idols. Thus, they sometimes painted their idols with vermilion, and spotted them with other kinds of paint; made convenient places for them, where they were chained, to prevent their falling, or set them in niches of a wall; and adorned them with silver, gold, and broidered garments, and set meat before them." Not unfrequently did the idolaters join in their feasts, offer sacrifice and incense to them, cut off their hair, like Lavinia in Virgil, and kiss their hand to the sun, in token of veneration. Accord ingly, Job, in allusion to this last kind, says, " If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that

e

a Wisdom xiii. 14, 15.

f

b Ezek. xvi. 17, 18. Baruch vi. 9—15, 27, 30.

⚫ Ezek. viii. 6, 11, 15; xxii. 9.

d

d Ezek. vi. 13.

e Jer. vii. 29.

f Æneid, vii. 391.

8 Ch. xxxi. 26, 27, 28.

a

is above." This custom of kissing the hand is confirmed by several later heathen authors. For Lucian, Пeg ogxnows, mentions the Greeks, in his time, "worshipping the sun, by kissing their hand, and then thinking their adoration complete." Minutius Felix, cap. 2, remarks, that when the heathen Cæcilius observed the statue of Serapis, "he, according to the custom of the superstitious vulgar, moving his hand to his mouth, kissed it with his lips." And Apuleius, who lived in the second century, when speaking of one Æmilian, who was probably a Christian, says, " If he passes by a temple, he thinks it wicked to move his hand to his lips, as a sign of adoration." We have several other of these practices in Is. lxvi. 3, where, in speaking of the idolatrous Israelites, God thus describes his detestation of their conduct: "He that killeth an ox, (in sacrifice to me,) is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, is as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol."

But, besides the ordinary rites of idol worship, there were some that might be called extraordinary, because practised at their solemn festivals. Thus, they had their religious processions, when the image of their idol was carried either on men's shoulders," or on the backs of animals, or drawn in a car, like the Juggernaut of the Hindoos; and when religious dances were exhibited in honour of these idols, like David when

• Apol. p. 496.

с

d Picart, Cerem. and Relig. Customs of all Nations, vol. iii. p. 87, 88, 120, 160, 177, 234. Eng. edit. fol.

he danced before the ark. They cried also aloud, and cut themselves with knives and lances: like the priests of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, who are described by Lactantius as cutting their shoulders, and as running like madmen with drawn swords. They often glutted the cruelty of their deities with human victims, and even with their own children: like the king of Moab in 2 Kings iii. 27. And many, to testify their adherence to their favourite idol, marked the hand, or some other part of the body, with its name or ensign. Hence the mark of the beast in Rev. xix. 20, xx. 4, and the determined resolution of the faithful to adhere to the true God in Is. xliv. 5: "One shall say I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand (or rather inscribe his hand) to the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.”

Amidst such perversion of the worship of the true God, and inclination to the worship of idols, it was not to be wondered at, that the divine patience was exhausted; and that he sent them into captivity, that they might experience the difference between his service, and that of their despotic conquerors. In 2 Kings, xvii. 6-18, we have an affecting vindication of the divine conduct, in the punishing of this highly favoured, but rebellious people.

a 2 Sam. vi. 14.

b 1 Kings xviii. 26, 28.

c Lib. i. cap. 21. See also Lucan, Pharsal. lib. i. vers. 565.

d See an excellent Essay on the Universality of Human Sacrifices in Magee on Atonement and Sacrifice, vol. i. Illustrations, No. 5.

SECT. III.

The various Kinds of Divination.

Magic; applying to wise men ; divining by the cup; sorcery; witchcraft; enchantment; the observing of times; cloud-mongers; consulting familiar spirits, or Aubs; wizzards; charming; necromancy; divination; astrology; stargazing; dreams; rhabdomancy, or consulting by staves; making bright the arrows; consulting by images; looking into the liver; soothsaying.

IN perusing the Scriptures, one is struck with the various kinds of divination, which are mention, ed; and feels a desire to be informed of some particulars concerning them. The following observations are intended to gratify such a curiosity.

Magic is very early spoken of. Pharaoh sent for the magicians of Egypt, to interpret his dreams." The original word Herethemim is differently rendered by the Septuagint; for sometimes they translate it yα, interpreters, or explainers of things secret; sometimes odos, enchanters; and sometimes paguazo, conjurors by drugs. Nor do the Greek Hexaplar versions, or the Vulgate, by their translations, throw any more light upon the strict and proper sense of the word; which may, as Parkhurst thinks, be best considered as a compound of Hereth, a pen, or instrument to draw with, and on tem, to perfect, or accomplish; and so denote those who were perfect in drawing the sacred, astrological, and hieroglyphical figures or characters, and by means of them pretended to

a Gen. xli. 8.

extraordinary feats, among which was the interpretation of dreams. In short, they seem to have been such persons, as Josephus" calls goygappaTEK, sacred scribes, or professors of sacred learning; one of whom, he tells us, foretold Moses' birth to the king of Egypt, for they were eminent, he adds, for predicting futurities.

The wise men were often resorted to for the purpose of divination. They pretended, as their name Ekemim imports, to wisdom in the magical arts; and are uniformly called copo by the Septuagint. By their wisdom they were supposed able to interpret dreams, and work miracles. Hence Pharaoh called them to counteract the miracles of Moses.d

C

Divining by the cup is commonly understood to be alluded to in Gen. xliv. 4, 5, where Joseph's steward says to his brethren, to his brethren, "Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this it (meaning Joseph's cup) in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? Ye have done evil in so doing" viz. in stealing it from him. The question, therefore, here is, How Joseph could divine by the cup, which he had caused to be put secretly in the sack's mouth? Some have ascribed it to the magical figures, which were engraven on it; and others to the appearance of the liquor when poured into it, or to its known effect in elevating the spirits but the most natural explanation is that which is given by Parkhurst, (verb ) and which removes every idea of divination. His words are, "Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh, and b Antiq. ii. 9.

a Exod. vii. 11, 22.

e Gen. xli. 8. Dan. ii. 27.

Exod. vii. 11.