Ba.3.23 Baruch
3:20- Young men have seen light, and dwelt upon the earth- but the way of knowledge have they not known,
21- Nor understood the paths thereof, nor laid hold of it- their children were far off from that way.
22- It hath not been heard of in Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman.
23- The Agarenes [HAGARENES See also AGAR]. that seek wisdom upon earth, the merchants of Meran and of Theman, the authors of fables, and searchers out of understanding;
none of these have known the way of wisdom, or remember her paths.
24- O Israel, how great is the house of God! and how large is the place of his possession!
25- Great, and hath none end; high, and unmeasurable.
26- There were the
giants
famous from the beginning,
........that were of so great stature, and so expert in war.
27- Those did not the
Lord choose,
........ neither gave he the way of knowledge
unto them-
28- But they were destroyed, because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness.
29- Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her (Wisdom, Sophia), and brought her down from the clouds?
30- Who hath gone over the sea, and found her, and will bring her for pure gold?
31- No man knoweth her way, nor thinketh of her path.
mutholog-ikos , ê, on,
A. poetical, inventive, Pl.Phd. 61b.
Plato, Phaedo 61b] before making sure that I had done what I ought, by obeying the dream and composing verses. So first I composed a hymn to the god whose festival it was; and after the god, considering that a poet, if he is really to be a poet, must compose myths and not speeches, since I was not a maker of myths, I took the myths of Aesop, which I had at hand and knew, and turned into verse the first I came upon. So tell Evenus that, Cebes, and bid him farewell, and tell him, if he is wise, to come after me as quickly as he can.
mtholog-ia , hê,
A. romance, fiction, ib.394b, al.; hoi logoi kai hai m. Id.Hp.Ma.298a
2. legend, Corn.ND8.
II. story-telling, Pl. Lg.752a, Plu.2.133e (pl.).
[In 614, the last Persian emperor of the dynasty of Sassanides, Chosroes II, takes Jerusalem from the ruler of Byzance. He hands its administration onto the Jew, but they are so violent towards Christians that he has to remove it from their hands. In 630, the capital is taken again by Heraklios, the ruler of Byzance, to be lost a second time in 638. Meanwhile, the Jews had enrolled more and more Arabic tribes of mercenary and taken them on their side by having them believe the myth that they were descendant of Ishmael and thus that it was then their duty to reconquer Jerusalem, which had become in their new understanding their own holy land. Before, the Arabic tribes had nothing to do with this city. There were two groups, Ishmaelians and Agarenes, the latter were supposed to descend from Ishmael's mother and Abraham second wife, Agar. According to the historians specialists of this period, there has been a confusion of words, between hegirian, that is the migrants, and agarenes, Agar's descendants. These "migration" which was in fact of Arabic tribes into Syria and the West of Persia was interpreted much later as the one from Mecca to Medina, two towns which just did not exist in the 7h or 8th century according to historians.
The group of Agarenes gave birth to the Shiites, while the Ishmaelians gave birth to the Sunnis Muslims : Ismaelian and Mussalman have indeed the same etymology.] They had been distinct right from the beginning, so the story of the early schism between the two is again another myth.
AGARENES
ag-a-renz':
Baruch 3:23 the King James Version. In the Old Testament the word is HAGARENES (which see).
See also AGAR.
ClPlatoRep3.html
And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. Luke 8:27
When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. Luke 8:28
(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) Luke 8:29
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. Luke 8:30
The demons requested that they not be sent back into the abyss and Jesus accomodated them. They wanted to enter a herd of swine and Jesus obeyed their wish BUT then sent the swine into the abyss.
The king of Babylon was a type of Lucifer who was the harp-playing prostitute in lyre and was also in the garden of Eden. The imagry is of anyone who sees God's power but then tries to overpower God:
And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. Daniel 5:21
ClPlatoRep3.html
Soothsaying.html
Sophists.
See Isaiah65.html
Isaiah66.html
Is.65:4
who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat;
Is.65:4
who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat;
Josephus Saul/David
http://www.godrules.net/library/flavius/flaviusb6c8.htm
Demons re Josephus http://www.godrules.net/library/topics/topic527.htm
FatChrysTheodLetter1.html
After so great a fall is there again a way of return? and after so great a disease is health possible? and after so great a madness is there again a hope of soundness of mind?
The king has deprived himself beforehand of all hope, first of all by having ignored Him who created him; and conducted him to this honour, although he had many evidences of His power and forethought to recount which occurred both in his own case and in the case of his forefathers;
but after this again when he had received distinct tokens of God's wisdom and foreknowledge, and had seen magic, and astronomy and the theatre of the whole satanic system of jugglery overthrown, he exhibited deeds yet worse than the former.
For things which the wise magi, the Gazarenes, could not explain, but confessed that they were beyond human nature, these a captive youth having caused to be solved for him,
so moved him by that miracle that he not only himself believed, but also became to the whole world a clear herald and teacher of this doctrine. 11
Gergesenes.html
Sorcery.html
Strabo Geography [10.3.9] "But I must now investigate how it comes about that so many names have been used of one and the same thing, and the theological element contained in their history.
Now this is common both to the Greeks and to the barbarians,
to perform their sacred rites in connection with the relaxation of a festival,
these rites being performed sometimes with religious frenzy, sometimes without it;
sometimes with music, sometimes not; and sometimes in secret, sometimes openly.
And it is in accordance with the dictates of nature that this should be so, for, in the
first place, the relaxation draws the mind away from human occupations and turns the real mind towards that which is divine; and,
secondly, the religious frenzy seems to afford a kind of divine inspiration and to be very like that of the soothsayer; and,
thirdly, the secrecy with which the sacred rites are concealed induces reverence for the divine, since it imitates the nature of the divine,
which is to avoid being perceived by our human senses; and,
fourthly, music, which includes dancing as well as rhythm and melody,
at the same time, by the delight it affords and by its artistic beauty,
brings us in touch with the divine, and this for the following reason;
for although it has been well said that human beings then act most like the gods when they are doing good to others,
yet one might better say, when they are happy; and such happiness consists of rejoicing, celebrating festivals, pursuing philosophy, and engaging in music;
Mark 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.
A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica John Lightfoot 1602-1675)
Into the country of the Gadarenes.] So also Luke: But Matthew, into the country of the Gergesenes. And, which ought not to be passed over without observation, Mark and Luke, who call it the country of the Gadarenes, make mention only of one possessed person; but Matthew, who calls it the country of the Gergesenes, speaks of two. We know what is here said by commentators to reconcile the evangelists. We fetch their reconciliation from the very distinction of the words which the evangelists use, and that from those conclusions:
I. We say the region of the Gergesenes was of broader extent and signification than the region of the Gadarenes was, and that the region of the Gadarenes was included within it. For whether it were called so from the old Gergashite family of the Canaanites, or from the muddy and clayey nature of the soil, which was called Gergishta by the Jews, which we rather believe; it was of wider extension than the country of the Gadarenes; which denoted only one city, and the smaller country about it, and that belonged to Gadara. But this country comprehended within it the country of Gadara, of Hippo, and of Magdala, if not others also.
II. We say Gadara was a city of heathens, (hence it is less marvel if there were swine among them) which we prove also elsewhere, when we treat of the region of Decapolis.
III. We say there were two possessed persons according to Matthew, one a Gadarene, another coming from some other place than the country of
Gadara, namely, from some place in the country of the Gergesenes.
---
Gadarenes', Girgesenes', Gerasenes'
(These three names are used indiscriminately to designate the place where Jesus healed two demoniacs. The first two are in the Authorized Version. (Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26) In Gerasenes in place of Gadarenes. The miracle referred to took place, without doubt, near the town of Gergesa, the modern Kersa , close by the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and hence in the country of Gergesenes. But as Gergesa was a small village, and little known, the evangelists, who wrote for more distant readers, spoke of the event as taking place in the country of the Gadarenes, so named from its largest city, Gadara; and this country included the country of the Gergesenes as a state includes a county. The Gerasenes were the people of the district of which Gerasa was the capital. This city was better known than Gadara or Gergesa; indeed in the Roman age no city of Palestine was better known. "It became one of the proudest cities of Syria." It was situated some 30 miles southeast of Gadara, on the borders of Peraea and a little north of the river Jabbok. It is now called Jerash and is a deserted ruin. The district of the Gerasenes probably included that of the Gadarenes; so that the demoniac of Gergesa belonged to the country of the Gadarenes and also to that of the Gerasenes, as the same person may, with equal truth, be said to live in the city or the state, or in the United States. For those near by the local name would be used; but in writing to a distant people, as the Greeks and Romans, the more comprehensive and general name would be given. --ED.)
GADARENES Gerasenes
woman harp for Satan FathAphrahatDemon.html
FathClStromataI.html
FatChrysTheodLetter1.html
After so great a fall is there again a way of return? and after so great a disease is health possible? and after so great a madness is there again a hope of soundness of mind?
The king has deprived himself beforehand of all hope,
first of all by having ignored Him who created him; and conducted him to this honour, although he had many evidences of His power and forethought to recount which occurred both in his own case and in the case of his forefathers;
but after this again when he had received distinct tokens of God's wisdom and foreknowledge, and had seen magic, and astronomy and the theatre of the whole satanic system of jugglery overthrown, he exhibited deeds yet worse than the former.
For things which the wise magi, the Gazarenes, could not explain, but confessed that they were beyond human nature, these a captive youth having caused to be solved for him,
so moved him by that miracle that he not only himself believed, but also became to the whole world a clear herald and teacher of this doctrine. (See Daniel 2)
Magi=LordGod2.html
Get the manic, mantic, prophet, ecstasy words for getting a message from God.
When possessed by demons best gifts.
And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. Matt 8:28
And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? Matt 8: 29
And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. Matt 8: 30
So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. Matt 8: 31
BabSumer2.html
The Sumerians had both good and wicked demons. The people, their temples, and their houses were protected by the good demons, whereas the bad demons were restless spirits of the dead, living in tombs, in darkness, and in the desert, from which they would come forth and bring revenge upon the earth.45
Of the bad demons the most feared were the seven Udugs who were greedy and relentless in their pursuit. They did believe that through incantations and the magic practiced by the priesthood they would able to overcome the Udugs. 46
magi and music
http://www.ehsbr.org/faculty/houghtonj/academics/religion/ctwc/JUSTIN.HTM
Gazarenes
From FathClStromata1.html also check Magi
Chapter III.-Against the Sophists.
There is a great crowd of this description: some of them, enslaved to pleasures and willing to disbelieve, laugh at the truth which is worthy of all reverence, making sport of its barbarousness. Some others, exalting themselves, endeavour to discover calumnious objections to our words, furnishing captious questions, hunters out of paltry sayings, practisers of miserable artifices, wranglers, dealers in knotty points, as that Abderite says:-
- "For mortals' tongues are glib, and on them are many speeches; And a wide range for words of all sorts in this place and that."
And-
"Of whatever sort the word you have spoken, of the same sort you must hear."
Inflated with this art of theirs, the wretched Sophists, babbling away in their own jargon; toiling their whole life about the division of names and the nature of the composition and conjunction of sentences, show themselves greater chatterers than turtle-doves; scratching and tickling, not in a manly way, in my opinion, the ears of those who wish to be tickled.
"A river of silly words-not a dropping; "
just as in old shoes, when all the rest is worn and is falling to pieces, and the tongue alone remains. The Athenian Solon most excellently enlarges, and writes:-
- "Look to the tongue, and to the words of the gazing man,
- But you look on no work that has been done;
- But each one of you walks in the steps of a fox,
- And in all of you is an empty mind."
This, I think, is signified by the utterance of the Saviour, "The foxes have holes, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head. " [Matt. viii. 20; Luke ix. 58.]
For on the believer alone, who is separated entirely from the rest,
who by the Scripture are called wild beasts, rests the head of the universe, the kind and gentle Word, "who taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
For the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain; " [Job v. 13; 1 Cor. iii. 19, 20; Ps. xciv. 11.] the Scripture calling those the wise (sofou/j) who are skilled in words and arts, sophists (sofista/j) Whence the Greeks also applied the denominative appellation of wise and sophists to those who were versed in anything Cratinus accordingly, having in the Archilochii enumerated the poets, said:-
- "Such a hive of sophists have ye examined."
- And similarly Iophon, the comic poet, in Flute-playing Satyrs, says:-
- "For there entered
- A band of sophists, all equipped."
Of these and the like, who devote their attention to empty words, the divine Scripture most excellently says,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." [ Isa. xxix. 14; 1 Cor. i. 19.]
Chapter IV.-Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God.
Homer calls an artificer wise; and of Margites, if that is his work, he thus writes:-
- "Him, then, the Gods made neither a delver nor a ploughman,
- Nor in any other respect wise; but he missed every art."
Hesiod further said the musician Linus was "skilled in all manner of wisdom; "and does not hesitate to call a mariner wise, seeing he writes:-
"Having no wisdom in navigation."dd
The problem with trying to make the spirits come is that they often "steal" in and bring a legion of demons to occupy a suitable "house." In the end, the one who went looking for a new message from God through a NACHASH (the serpent in the garden) or LACHASH which was speaking in tongues or the use of drugs or music to welcome the spirits or to control them was often totally taken over.
The Gazarene who was demon possessed
These people were like the musical "prophesiers" used by Jezebel to try to defeat the quiet Word of God. They sang, danced, played instruments, and in the end when they could not work magic they cut themselves. Zechariah prophesied that when Messiah came anyone who claimed to be such a prophet would be killed by his parents.
When coming into the region of the Gadarenes
And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. Luke 8:27
When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. Luke 8:28
(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) Luke 8:29
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. Luke 8:30
The demons requested that they not be sent back into the abyss and Jesus accomodated them. They wanted to enter a herd of swine and Jesus obeyed their wish BUT then sent the swine into the abyss.
The king of Babylon was a type of Lucifer who was the harp-playing prostitute in lyre and was also in the garden of Eden. The imagry is of anyone who sees God's power but then tries to overpower God:
And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. Daniel 5:21
Enchanters, n. are musical praise leaders
1. Charmer, magician, sorcerer, necromancer.
"May it not happen, may it not come to pass, although you craftily conceal it, that the one should take the other's place, deluding, mocking, deceiving, and presenting the appearance of the deity invoked."
"If the magi, who are so much akin to soothsayers, relate, in their incantations,
pretended gods steal in frequently instead of those invoked; that some of these, moreover, are spirits of grosser substance,
who pretend that they are gods, and delude the ignorant by their lies and deceit." (Arnobius Against the Heathen, Ante-Nicene, VI, p. 479).
swept house
girl
Therefore, we see the Gazarene demons in the book of Daniel where they were employed as a professional priesthood to give the king advice and interpret dreams. They were much like the false Hebrew prophets who used music, drugs and signs which they then interpreted for the king.
AND in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Dainiel 2:1
Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. Daniel 2: 2
The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the kings matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. Daniel 2: 10
Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; Dan 2:27
And Daniel the prophet says, "The mystery which the king asks,
it is not in the power of the wise, the Magi, the diviners, the Gazarenes, to tell the king; but it is God in heaven who revealeth it." [Dan. ii. 27, 28.]
Ver. 27. Daniel answered in the presence of the king,.... Boldly, and without fear: and said, the secret which the king hath demanded: so he calls it, to show that it was something divine, which came from God,
and could only be revealed by him, and was not to be found out by any art of man:
cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers show unto the king;
this he premises to the revelation of the secret, not only to observe the unreasonableness of the king's demand upon them, and the injustice of putting men to death for it; but that the discovery of the whole might appear to be truly divine, and God might have all the glory; it being what no class of men whatever could ever have made known unto him.
The last word, rendered "soothsayers" {u}, is not used before; the Septuagint version leaves it untranslated, and calls them Gazarenes; and so Saadiah says, it is the name of a nation or people so called; but Jarchi takes them to be a sort of men that had confederacy with devils: the word signifies such that "cut" into parts, as the soothsayers, who cut up creatures, and looked into their entrails, and by them made their judgment of events; or as the astrologers, who cut and divide the heavens into parts, and by them divide future things; or determine, as Jacchiades says, what shall befall men; for the word is used also in the sense of determining or decreeing; hence, Saadiah says, some interpret it of princes, who by their words determine the affairs of kingdoms: by some it is rendered "fatalists" {w}, who declare to men what their fate will be; but neither of these could show this secret to the king.
THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1
Echeo (g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Lu.21:25
Brass: Chalkos (g 5475) khal-kos'; perh. from 5465 through the idea of hollowing out as a vessel (this metal being chiefly used for that purpose); copper (the substance, or some implement or coin made of it): - brass, money.
This word is related to the Chaldeans -- to say Chaldean was to say soothsayer or astrologer:
Chaldaios (g5466)khal-dah'-yos; prob. of Heb. or. [3778]; a Chaldoean (i.e. Kasdi), or native or the region of the lower Euphrates: - Chaldaean.
Kasday (h3779) kas-dah'ee; corresp. to 3778; a Chald an or inhab. of Chalda; by impl. a Magian or professional astrologer: - Chaldean.
In Chapter three, the king and officials:
Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Daniel 3:3
Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, Daniel 3: 4
That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: Daniel 3: 5
And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Daniel 3: 6
Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Daniel 3: 7
However, the Chaldeans or astrologers saw that some of the Hebrews did not bow when the musical instruments were played--even as Jesus refused to sing and dance when the Jews piped:
Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. Daniel 3: 8
The Chaldeans were the magians or astrologers.
Kasday (h3779) kas-dah'ee; corresp. to 3778; a Chald an or inhab. of Chalda; by impl. a Magian or professional astrologer: - Chaldean.
As brass or copper was associated with the "serpent" in the garden, the tongue speakers (Lachash is equivalent to Nachash or the serpent) were sounding brass to Paul.
THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1
Echeo (g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Lu.21:25
Brass: Chalkos (g 5475) khal-kos'; perh. from 5465 through the idea of hollowing out as a vessel (this metal being chiefly used for that purpose); copper (the substance, or some implement or coin made of it): - brass, money.
This word is related to the Chaldeans -- to say Chaldean was to say soothsayer or astrologer:
Chaldaios (g5466)khal-dah'-yos; prob. of Heb. or. [3778]; a Chaldoean (i.e. Kasdi), or native or the region of the lower Euphrates: - Chaldaean.
Kasday (h3779) kas-dah'ee; corresp. to 3778; a Chald an or inhab. of Chalda; by impl. a Magian or professional astrologer: - Chaldean.
Nebel (h5035) neh'-bel; or nebel nay'-bel; from 5034; a skin- bag for liquids (from collapsing when empty); hence a vase (as similar in shape when full); also a lyre (as having a body of like form): - bottle, pitcher, psaltery, vessel, viol
Nabel (h5034) naw-bale'; a prim. root; to wilt; gen. to fall away, fail, faint; fig. to be foolish or (mor.) wicked; causat. to despise, disgrace: - disgrace, dishonour, lightly esteem, fade (away, - ing), fall (down, -ling, off), do foolishly, come to nought, * surely, make vile, wither..
The Familiar Spirit of the witch of Endor had a similar meaning including "speaking in tongues and of the world or out of the ground."
Owb (h178) obe; from the same as 1 (appar. through the idea of prattling a father's name); prop. a mumble, i. e. a water-skin (from its hollow sound); hence a necromancer (ventriloquist, as from a jar): - bottle, familiar spirit.
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Is.29:4
Cymbal: Kumbalon (g2950) koom'-bal-on; from a der. of the base of 2949; a "cymbal" (as hollow): - cymbal.
O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. Daniel 4:9
Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. Daniel 4:10
The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: Daniel 4:11
Dodona: ancient sanctuary of the chief Greek god, Zeus, in Epirus, Greece; the ceremonies held there had many remarkable and abnormal features. The earliest mention of it is in the Iliad (xvi, 234), where its priests are called the Selloi (or Helloi) and are described as "of unwashen feet, sleeping on the ground." The description suggests worshipers or servants of an earth goddess or of some chthonian power with whom they kept in continual contact, day and night. Homer (Odyssey, xiv, 327) was also the first to mention the oracle at Dodona. A tree (or trees) was reputed to give oracles, presumably through the rustling of its leaves and other sounds. Herodotus, but no earlier writer, mentions priestesses, whom he describes as the givers of the oracles, doubtless under some kind of inspiration from the god.
A further peculiarity of Dodona was the "bronze," a large gong set vibrating at every breeze by a scourge held in the hand of a figure standing over it;
the persistent ringing passed into a Greek proverbial phrase--Khalkos Dodones ("Brass of Dodona")--
for a continuous talker who has nothing to say.
Daniel 5:1 BELSHAZZAR the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
Daniel 5:2 Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, might drink therein.
Daniel 5:3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank in them.
Daniel 5:4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
Daniel 5:5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a mans hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the kings palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Daniel 5:6 Then the kings countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Daniel 5:7
The wise men (magi) nor the others could "divine" an answer. The wise men were the magian.
Chakkiym (h2445) khak-keem'; from a root corresp. to 2449; wise, i. e. a Magian: - wise.
The queen called the king's attention to Daniel:
There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; Daniel 5:11
"The necromancer or soothsayer gained their power through magical incantations. The sound of brass, pipe or string imitated the music of the seven heavenly spheres. As a result,
the gods were forced to give material and sensual blessings." Enuma Elish III.101; IV. 1-26, 91 and other Near Eastern Manuscripts.
Ashshaph (h825) ash-shawf'; from an unused root (prob. mean. to lisp, i. e. practise enchantment); a conjurer: - astrologer.
The Soothsayer was a "Gazarene":
Gezar (h1505) ghez-ar'; corresp. to 1504; to quarry; determine: - cut out, soothsayer.
Gazar (h1504) gaw-zar'; a prim. root; to cut down or off; (fig.) to destroy, divide, exclude or decide: - cut down (off), decree, divided, snatch.
Before the true writing prophets who opposed the superstitious paganism especially as adopted by Israel, they were previously know as seers or star GAZERS.
Chozeh (h2374) kho-zeh'; act. part. of 2372; a beholder in vision; also a compact (as looked upon with approval): - agreement, prophet, see that, seer, [star-] gazer.
Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them. Joshua 13:22
Anan (h6049) aw-nan'; a prim. root; to cover; used only as denom. from 6051, to cloud over; fig. to act covertly, i. e. practise magic: - * bring, enchanter, Meonemin, observe (-r of) times, soothsayer, sorcerer.
"We even have a mention at a later date of a similar custom in connection with the cult in Jerusalem, where certain Levites, called me'oreim, 'arousers,' sang (every morning?) this verse from Ps 44:23: "Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever."
"The Hithpa'el of nb', in the ancient texts, refers to ecstasy and delirium rather than to the emission of a 'prophecy,' 1 Sam. 10:5; 18:10; 19:20f). (de Vaux, p. 243)
The Talmud tells us that John Hyrcanus suppressed the practice because it recalled too readily a pagan custom." (de Vaux, p. 247).
After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: 1 Sam 10:5
And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned (perverted) into another man. 1 Sam 10:6
"The priest stands on the threshold (of the temple) and awakens the god calling to him in the Egyptian language." This is how Arnobius mocks the ritual of Isis:' Why these revels you sing each morning to awaken him, accompanying your songs on the flute? Do the gods go to sleep, then, that they need to be awakened?' At Delphi the Thyads went to waken the young Dionysus, just as at Rhodes Bacchus woke gently from his sleep to the sound of the hydraulic organ." (de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 246).
"From (the Ugaritic text) come references to a class of Temple personnel designated by the term serim, who exercised functions similar to those of the Hebrew singers during the monarchy and later times. Some of the servants of David who were designated in 1 Kings 4:31 by (a) term meaning 'aboriginal' or 'native sons,' and who possessed Canaanite names such as Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, were engaged in various forms of musical activity. As such they were described by the phrase 'sons of Mahol,' a Hebrew term closely related to (the Greek), used of a semi-circular area in which the Greek chorus danced, and meaning 'members of the orchestral guild.' A further reflection of this musical interest became apparent when Megiddo was excavated and the treasure room of the royal palace was uncovered. From this area was recovered a plaque inlaid with ivory, depicting a royal personage seated on a throne. He was drinking from a small bowl, and was being entertained by a court musician who stood before him plucking the strings of a lyre." (Harrison, R. K., Introduction to the Old Testament, Eerdmans, p. 335, see p. 411).
"In an inscription from Cyprus, in one from Rhodes and in several from around the district of Carthage, there are references to important personages who bear the title Mqm'lm which we can translate as 'arouser of the god.'" (de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 247).
(The me'oreim term is associated with the "resounding gong" and the "clanging cymbal" of 1 Cor. 13-- me'onem "means to emit a hoarse nasal sound such as was customary in reciting the prescribed formula" or charm.
"Peckham 1987:84-87: the association of Astarte with the dying god, Eshmun, may well be related to child sacrifice, as Peckham; Robertson 1982:329. Given the parallel to Genesis 22, the tradition of Kronos sacrificing his only son as a part of the Phoenician cult looks to be related to the thriving business of infant sacrifice in Phoenician culture.
The mourning ritual connected with Astarte in KAI 37 and elsewhere, and the tradition of "raising the god" (mqm 'lm), identified as Astarte's bridegroom in KAI 44:2, in Phoenician epigraphs (c.f. the Eqron epigraph, lmqm, in the seventh c., where other indications of Phoenician influence are present), suggest the importance of the cycle through the underworld in this cult
Peckham, J. B. 1987 Phoenicia and the Religion of Israel: The Epigraphic Evidence. Pp. 79-99 in Ancient Israelite Religion. Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross, ed. P. D. Miller, P. D. Hanson and S. D. McBride.Philadelphia: Fortress.
The "serpent" in the garden was not a snake but a soothsayer or enchanter:
Nachash (h5175) naw-khawsh'; from 5172; a snake (from its hiss): - serpent.
Nachash (h5172) naw-khash'; a prim. root; prop. to hiss, i. e. whisper a (magic) spell; gen. to prognosticate: - * certainly, divine, enchanter, (use) * enchantment, learn by experience, * indeed, diligently observe.
However, in the example of sweeping the house clean of demons only to have many more come back in, those who practiced musical sorcery to get a MESSAGE from the demons often had a legion of demons just move in.
Enchanters, n. are musical praise leaders
1. Charmer, magician, sorcerer, necromancer.
"May it not happen, may it not come to pass, although you craftily conceal it, that the one should take the other's place, deluding, mocking, deceiving, and presenting the appearance of the deity invoked."
"If the magi, who are so much akin to soothsayers, relate, in their incantations,
pretended gods steal in frequently instead of those invoked; that some of these, moreover, are spirits of grosser substance,
who pretend that they are gods, and delude the ignorant by their lies and deceit." (Arnobius Against the Heathen, Ante-Nicene, VI, p. 479).
The king, a lucifer figure like the king of Tyre, was lifted up with pride
But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: Daniel 5:20
And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. Daniel 5:21
And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; Daniel 5:22
But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified. Daniel 5:23
Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?" Da.3:15
Chapter XV.-The Greek Philosophy in Great Part Derived from the Barbarians.
These are the times of the oldest wise men and philosophers among the Greeks. And that the most of them were barbarians by extraction, and were trained among barbarians, what need is there to say? Pythagoras is shown to have been either a Tuscan or a Tyrian. And Antisthenes was a Phrygian.
And Orpheus was an Odrysian or a Thracian. The most, too, show Homer to have been an Egyptian. Thales was a Phoenician by birth, and was said to have consorted with the prophets of the Egyptians; as also Pythagoras did with the same persons, by whom he was circumcised, that he might enter the adytum and learn from the Egyptians the mystic philosophy.
He held converse with the chief of the Chaldeans and the Magi; and he gave a hint of the church, now so called, in the common hall 164 which he maintained.
Aphrahat Letter of an Inquirer. FathAphrahatDemon.html
19. Now thus is faith; when a man believes in God the Lord of all, Who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that is in them; and He made Adam in His image; and He gave the Law to Moses; He sent of His Spirit upon the prophets; He sent moreover His Christ into the world. Furthermore that a man should believe in the resurrection of the dead; and should furthermore also believe in the sacrament of baptism.
This is the faith of the Church of God. And (it is necessary) that a man should separate himself
from the observance of hours and Sabbaths and moons and seasons, and divinations and sorceries and Chaldaean arts and magic,
from fornication and from festive music, from vain doctrines,
which are instruments of the Evil One, from the blandishment of honeyed words, from blasphemy and from adultery. And that a man should not bear false witness, and that a man should not speak with double tongue. These then are the works of the faith which is based on the true Stone which is Christ, on Whom the whole building is reared up