Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

Chapter 8 - Divination, Magic and Miscellaneous
The texts in this section represent a cross section of the remaining unpublished corpus. Some present
an interesting glimpse into everyday life 2,000 years ago. Though astrology, amulets, magic and the
like were frowned upon by the Rabbis and in theory forbidden, it is clear from other sources too that
they played some role in the day-today life of the people. The material we have here bears this out.
How widespread this was or how serious people really were about these things is difficult to assess.
In Graeco-Roman antiquity, astrology and divination counted among their devotees the best minds of
the age. The foremost philosophical school in Rome, the Stoics, were astrology's strongest advocates.
Among Jews, too, astrological ideas had penetrated to the very heart of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Josephus informs us that the seven branches of the menorah there symbolize the seven planets then
known (among which were counted the sun and the moon). He adds that the twelve loaves of the
bread of the Presence embody the signs of the zodiac. Some Jewish writers of the period, such as
Artapanus and Pseudo-Eupolemus, went so far as to ascribe the discovery of astrology to the patriarch
Abraham. Likewise 1 Enoch makes Enoch himself the discoverer and revealer of this kind of
knowledge. Thus it should come as no surprise that among the texts from Qumran one finds a number
of astrological writings.
Amulets too were certainly widespread despite the ban on them, though these do not differ in kind
from Jewish phylacteries which were and still are widely used. There is one reference to amulets
playing a role, albeit negative, among warriors in the Maccabean period (2 Macc. 12:40). Magical
incantation bowls and items of this kind from this period and later also seem to have been widespread.
Magical incantations sought to prevent various calamities. Magical incantations against evil spirits
were certainly a very significant part of popular religion in Graeco-Roman antiquity. Everyone
believed in such spirits, and it was thought prudent to take steps to ensure one's protection. For a slight
fee the local magician or scribe would write out a spell or two, often on a bowl, less frequently (so our
meagre evidence indicates) on a piece of leather or metal that could be rolled up and kept in a
protective case. The inscribed object would then be buried under one's house or somehow affixed at
an appropriate location, perhaps near the door. Sometimes people would keep these items indoors.
Texts such as the Brontologion and the Physiognomic ones represented here are almost unique from
this era and milieu. This fact alone probably testifies to the somewhat limited nature of their use, but it
is surprising that they existed at all among what otherwise seem to be zealous holy warriors. This
shows that they must have played a role in the everyday life of the people, as indeed they did in the
Roman Empire generally, and as they do today. Like astrological systems, the genres represented by
these texts sought to divine the future, the first by searching the Heavens and the astrological signs for
thunder and rain; the second by inspecting a person's physical characteristics. It is not clear whether
the interests they illustrate were proscribed at Qumran to the extent that they were in Rabbinic circles,
though their existence seems to testify that they were not. In this regard, one should note Qumran's
interest in 'Secret Mysteries', 'Eternal Secrets', discourses in cryptic script and other tendencies
towards esoterica. The kinds of astrological designations present in the Brontologion are also present
in Ibn Gabirol's work of medieval Jewish mysticism, The Crown of the Kingdom.