Isaiah 65-66 - Indepthbible.org

28(...continued)ped in a robe’...(verse 14). The account of Saul’s nocturnal visit to the ba(al-ath )obh , femalemaster of a deceased spirit] is told in artistic literary style. But still there can be no doubt that thisdocument accurately reflects the practice of necromancy in ancient Israel.” (Harry Hoffner, TheologicalDictionary of the Old Testament I, pp. 130-34)Leviticus 19:31 also prohibits relying on ~ynIë[oD>YIh;, commonly translated by “familiarspirits,” with the implication that they are “knowing,” or “wise,” acquainted with the secrets of theunseen world of the dead. Elsewhere In the Hebrew Bible see:Leviticus 20:6, YHWH states, “And the person who shall turn to the communicators with thedead, and to the ones intimate with the unseen world, to practice prostitution after them;and I will set my face against that person”;Leviticus 20:27, “And a man, or a woman that will be among them--a communicator with thedead, or one intimate with the unseen world, they shall surely be put to death; with thestone(s) they shall stone them. Their blood is upon them.”;Deuteronomy 18:10-11, “There shall not be found among you anyone who causes his son or hisdaughter to pass through the fire (as an offering), anyone who practices divination or tellsfortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer orone who inquires of the dead.” (adapted from English Standard 2007);1 Samuel 28:3, 9, the witch of Endor and Saul; see above;2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6, Manasseh’s practices;2 Kings 23:24, Josiah gets rid of all these practices;Isaiah 8:19, “And when they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirpand mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead onbehalf of the living?” (New English Standard, 2007).We take it that the ynIë[oD>Y, yidde(oni (singular) is one form of the )obh. But whereas)obh has a much broader meaning, including the pit, the spirits inhabiting the underworld, and thenecromancer, the yidde(oni is much more explicit--being a name for the spirit that inhabits theunderworld and that is called up, but nothing more.All of this, of course, is very strange to our modern secular, “western” eyes and ears. Butin order to understand Isaiah’s language, as well as that of Leviticus 19 in a genuine way, wemust think our way back into that ancient world-view, so saturated with magic and the rituals ofthe fertility religions. We believe that it is just this type of magical rituals, designed to communicatewith the dead, and obtain oracles, that is being described by Isaiah 65-66.What do you think? How do you explain all of these strange elements and practices ofancient Near Eastern rituals?40