QUESTION:
I do see where the Bible quotes many lines blasting Witchcraft (Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live).
ANSWER:
Dear Wiccan ~Lissa,
In reference to the words you quoted about killing witches; they come from the book known as Leviticus in the King James version of the Old Testament. The word that is translated "witch" is actually a variation on Diviner, Witch, Wizard or Medium. It really is two words: "ob" and "yiddeoni".
A yiddeoni can be a familiar spirit, spiritist or spiritists. A familiar is an attendant spirit, often taking animal form. There are numerous Biblical examples of both Hebrew and Gentile Kings seeking the power and advise of these individuals. The are never spoken of lightly.
An ob is an old word for a bottle (made from animal skin) or a necromancer, medium, mediums or spirit. Sometimes it just means wineskin.
In other words ~Lissa, in the Old Testament, a witch is a skin bottle for a familiar spirit. This isn't as unusual as it sounds because the ancient Hebrew word for body is skin tent. Just like they lived in during their nomadic period. In fact the New Testament says, "And the Word of God (or Jesus) tabernacled among us". Or you could say, "...pitched His skin tent in the midst of the rest of us. This word use is the same in the oldest Greek versions that have been found of both the old and the new testaments.
But! witches are not older than satan. satan appears in the first verses of Job, the oldest book in the Bible. In The Book of Job satan appears as a "ben-elohim" or "God's Children". check it out, (Job 1:6) "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them." Heavy man, very heavy.
You also wrote: >Contrary to what you would have the populace believe, we Wiccans do >not worship Satan, as we don't believe in Satan. Satan would be a >Christian-Judeo concept that was thought up LONG after Wicca was founded.
I'm still reading Wiccan stuff as I find time and have found the writings under the Grail Knights' link rather interesting. There is a woman named Rosemary who says she is a neo-pagan witch but calls the Wiccans fake Renaissance Pleasure Fair types. Also there was another piece (I don't recall where) on how novice witches could possibly cause a lot of trouble by not being able to control things they conjured up called, "deities". ~Lissa! What are these "deities" ?
Anyway, what you wrote stirred my curiosity so I checked out was whether or not you were right about how old the concept of satan was. This is what I learned. Plus I included a lovely part of a discourse on wisdom that I thought you might enjoy. It is from the Oldest Old Testament Books. The Book of Job. Job has long been considered to have been written very early because, among other things, it has no references to Moses' law and is therefore older.
Job was probably written not long after Noah's account of a world wide flood. Perhaps Job was written about the time of Abraham and that could have been 2200-1800 BC. Presumably Moses compiled the Pentateuch about 1440 BC during the Exodus, but he could have had source documents in hand, we don't really know. The one thing we do know for certain is that there is a monument to one of secular histories biggest disappointments in Israel. The copper scroll of Isaiah on display in the museum of the Dead Sea scrolls. It shows us that the Bible is the most accurate of all books. There are no errors in our Bible version. Not one, after way more than 2000 years. Isaiah lived in about 750 BC.C. The point is if Moses had some early stuff to draw from, it was good stuff.
~Lissa, I would think that you, as a practitioner of such an old and supernatural craft, would not have much trouble believing that there are powers that could preserve old books perfectly.
Welcome to a bit of Job, A very old book:
JOB 28:1-28
"Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where they refine gold. Iron is taken from the dust and from rock copper is smelted. Man puts an end to darkness and to the farthest limit he searches out The rock in gloom and deep shadow. He sinks a shaft far from habitation, forgotten by the foot. They hang and swing to and fro far from men. The earth, from it comes food and underneath it is turned up as fire. Its rocks are the source of sapphires and its dust contains gold. The path no bird of prey knows nor has the falcon's eye caught sight of it. The proud beasts have not trodden it nor has the fierce lion passed over it. He puts his hand on the flint. He overturns the mountains at the base. He hews out channels through the rocks and his eye sees anything precious. He dams up the streams from flowing and what is hidden he brings out to the light". (Job 28:1-11) "But where can wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, 'It is not in me'. And the sea says, 'It is not with me.' Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it nor can silver be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold or glass cannot equal it nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold. Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned and the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it nor can it be valued in pure gold". (Job 28:12-19)
"Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the sky. Abaddon and Death say, 'With our ears we have heard a report of it.' God understands its way and He knows its place. For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When He imparted weight to the wind and meted out the waters by measure, when He set a limit for the rain and a course for the thunderbolt, then He saw it and declared it. He established it and also searched it out. To man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding.'" (Job 28:20-28)
Ted Wise(tedwise@shafafa.com)
PS What are those "deities"?
15 December 1997