57 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
57 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
"WITCH" as defined in the Bible:
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Please give the Greek and/or Aramaic word used
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that was translated in the King James Version
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as "Witch." Then let us translate it fully.
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You will find it means "a poisoner of wells."
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WRONG! You will find no such thing. (It seems that I have to correct
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THIS error about once every six months.)
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HEBREW: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance shows seven references to the
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words "witch," "witchcraft," and "witchcrafts." It identifies three
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words as receiving that translation.
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Two of them are the same root word: kashaph and kesheph. Strong's
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observes that the proper translation for kashaph is "to whisper" as in
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to whisper or mutter a spell. If they are correct, then perhaps the
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best possible modern translations would be "enchanter" and
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"enchantments" (from "chant"). In this context, Exodus 22:18 would
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read, "Thou shalt not permit an enchanter to live."
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The remaining word is used only once, and that is qecem, which Strong's
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identifies as derived from qacem, which means to determine by drawing
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lots. They give the translation, based on this, as being "divination"
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as in to read random elements such as tarot cards. By this context, I
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Samuel 15:23 would read, "For rebellion is as the sin of divination."
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GREEK: According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, the word "witch"
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does not appear in the KJV New Testament; the word "witchcraft" appears
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once in Galations 5:20. In that verse the Greek given is indeed the
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much-mistranslated word pharmakeia. Strong's gives its derivation as
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being from pharmakeus, which means potion. The word pharmakeus does not
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appear anywhere in Greek literature to refer to "poison" except--and
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there only if you really stretch it--in the trial of Paracelsus, the
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father of modern medicine.
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In early Greek thought, a physik was an herbal remedy, and was
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perscribed by physicians, or respected doctors. (Yes, early Greek
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doctors were exclusively herbalists.) A conflicting school of thought
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claimed that pharmakeoi, or potions derived from non-living matter,
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might also have effect in some diseases. So in Galations 5:20, Paul is
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telling us that those who use chemical potions (such as aspirin or
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Tylenol) to cure diseases or disease symptoms are accursed of God.
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In conclusion: the Greek New Testament nowhere refers to anything
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resembling the modern religion or practices of Witchcraft. (Although it
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is interesting to note that the first 11 apostles practiced something
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roughly like qacem to pick a 12th--and if the later accounts are to be
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read correctly, came up with a wrong answer.) The Hebrew Old Testament,
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on the other hand, contains many unambiguous prohibitions of magical
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practices, including (but not limited to) chanting of spells and
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divination from random elements.
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(Reference: James Strong ed., _Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the
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Bible_, 1894, as published by Abingdon Press, 1975.)
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-Brad Hicks
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