Enchantment

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The effect produced by the act; the state of being enchanted; as, to break an enchantment.

(2): ( n.) That which captivates the heart and senses; an influence or power which fascinates or highly delights.

(3): ( n.) The act of enchanting; the production of certain wonderful effects by the aid of demons, or the agency of supposed spirits; the use of magic arts, spells, or charms; incantation.

King James Dictionary

ENCH`ANTMENT, n. The act of producing certain wonderful effects by the invocation or aid of demons, or the agency of certain supposed spirits the use of magic arts, spells or charms incantation.

The magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments.  Exodus 7

1. Irresistible influence overpowering influence of delight.

The warmth of fancy--which holds the heart of a reader under the strongest enchantment.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Leviticus 19:26 (a) This refers to tricks and schemes to alter people's lives in an unnatural and unrighteous way.

 Numbers 24:1 (c) These enchantments are evidently pictures and types of the schemes and plans of Satan which are contrary to the will and way of GOD.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Enchantment . See Magic Divination and Sorcery.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See Divination .)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

en - chant´ment  : The occult arts, either supposedly or pretentiously supernatural, were common to all oriental races. They included enchantment, sorcery, witchcraft, sooth-saying, augury, necromancy, divination in numberless forms, and all kinds of magic article Nine varieties are mentioned in one single passage in the Pentateuch ( Deuteronomy 18:10 ,  Deuteronomy 18:11 ); other varieties in many passages both in the Old Testament and New Testament, e.g.  Leviticus 19:26 ,  Leviticus 19:31;  Isaiah 2:6;  Isaiah 57:3;  Jeremiah 27:9;  Micah 5:12;  Acts 8:9 ,  Acts 8:11;  Acts 13:6 ,  Acts 13:8;  Galatians 5:20;  Revelation 9:21 . The extent of the magic arts (forbidden under Judaism and Christianity) may incidentally be seen from the fact that the Scriptures alone refer to their being practiced in Chaldea ( Daniel 5:11 ), Babylon ( Ezekiel 21:21 ), Assyria ( 2 Kings 17:17 ), Egypt ( Exodus 7:11 ), Canaan ( Leviticus 18:3 ,  Leviticus 18:11;  Leviticus 19:26 ,  Leviticus 19:31 ), Asia (Ephesus,  Acts 19:13 ,  Acts 19:19 ), Greece ( Acts 16:16 ), Arabia also, as "customs from the East," etc. ( Isaiah 2:6 ) indicates. These secret arts were prohibited by the laws of Moses ( Deuteronomy 18:9-12 ), inasmuch as they constituted a peculiar temptation to Israel to apostatize. They were a constant incentive to idolatry, clouded the mind with superstition, tended and were closely allied to imposture ( Matthew 24:24 ). The term "enchantment" is found only in the Old Testament and its Hebrew originals indicate its varieties.

(1) לטים , lāṭı̄m , and להטים , lehāṭı̄m "to wrap up," "muffie," "cover," hence, "clandestine," "secret." It was this hidden element that enabled the magicians of Egypt to impose on the credulity of Pharaoh in imitating or reproducing the miracles of Moses and Aaron; "They ... did in like manner with their enchantments" ( Exodus 7:11 ,  Exodus 7:22 ). Their inability to perform a genuine miracle is shown by  Exodus 8:18 .

(2) נחשׁ , nāḥash , "to hiss," "whisper" referring to the mutterings of sorcerers in their incantations. Used as a derivative noun this Hebrew word means "a serpent." This involves the idea of cunning and subtlety. Although employed in the wider sense of augury or prognostication, its fundamental meaning is divination by serpents. This was the form of enchantment sought by Balaam ( Numbers 24:1 ). Its impotence against the people of God is shown by  Numbers 23:23 m. Shalmaneser forced this forbidden art upon the Israelites whom he carried captive to Assyria (  2 Kings 17:17 ). It was also one of the heathen practices introduced during the apostasy under Ahab, against which Elijah protested (compare  1 Kings 21:20 ).

(3) לחשׁ , lāḥash , "to whisper," "mutter," an onomatopoetic word, like the above, in imitation of the hiss of serpents. It is used of the offensive practice of serpent charming referred to in  Ecclesiastes 10:11 , and as Delitzsch says, in the place cited., "signifies the whispering of formulas of charming." See also  Isaiah 3:3 , "skilful enchanter";  Jeremiah 8:17 , "serpents, cockatrices (the Revised Version (British and American) "adders") ... which will not be charmed";  Psalm 58:4 ,  Psalm 58:5 , "the voice of charmers (the Revised Version, margin "enchanters"), charming never so wisely." Ophiomancy, the art of charming serpents, is still practiced in the East.

(4) חבר , ḥebher , "spell," from חבר , ḥābhar , "to bind," hence, "to bind with spells," "fascinate," "charm," descriptive of a species of magic practiced by binding knots. That this method of imposture, e.g. the use of the magic knot for exorcism and other purposes, was common, is indicated by the monuments of the East. The moral mischief and uselessness of this and other forms of enchantment are clearly shown in  Isaiah 47:9 ,  Isaiah 47:12 . This word is also used of the charming of serpents ( Deuteronomy 18:11;  Psalm 58:5 ).

(5) ענן , ‛ānan , "to cover," "to cloud," hence, "to use covert arts." This form of divination was especially associated with idolatry (so Gesenius, Hebrew Lexicon ). Delitzsch, however, in a note on this word ( Isaiah 2:6 ), doubts the meaning "conceal" and thinks that it signifies rather "to gather auguries from the clouds." He translates it "cloud-interpretive" ( Micah 5:12 ). This view is not generally supported. Rendered "enchanters" ( Jeremiah 27:9 , the Revised Version (British and American) "soothsayers"; so also in  Isaiah 2:6 ). Often translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "practice augury," as in  Leviticus 19:26;  Deuteronomy 18:10 ,  Deuteronomy 18:14;  2 Kings 21:6;  2 Chronicles 33:6; a form of magical art corresponding in many respects to that of the Greek mántis , who uttered oracles in a state of divine frenzy. Septuagint κληδονίζομαι , klēdonı́zomai , i.e. augury through the reading or acceptance of a sign or omen. A kindred form of enchantment is mentioned in the New Testament ( 2 Timothy 3:13; Greek γόητες , góētes , "enchanters," "jugglers," the original indicating that the incantations were uttered in a kind of howl; rendered "seducers" the King James Version, "impostors" the Revised Version (British and American); compare  Revelation 19:20 ). The New Testament records the names of several magicians who belonged to this class of conscious impostors: Simon Magus ( Acts 8:9 ); Bar-Jesus and Elymas ( Acts 13:6 ,  Acts 13:8 ); the slave girl with the spirit of Python ("divination,"  Acts 16:16 ); "vagabond (the Revised Version (British and American) "strolling") Jews, exorcists" ( Acts 19:13; compare  Luke 11:19 ); also the magicians of Moses' day, named Jannes and Jambres ( 2 Timothy 3:8 ).

All these forms of enchantment claimed access through supernatural insight or aid, to the will of the gods and the secrets of the spirit world. In turning away faith and expectation from the living God, they struck a deadly blow at the heart of true religion. From the enchanters of the ancient Orient to the medicine-men of today, all exponents of the "black art" exercise a cruel tyranny over the benighted people, and multitudes of innocent victims perish in body and soul under their subtle impostures. In no respect is the exalted nature of the Hebrew and Christian faiths more clearly seen than in their power to emancipate the human mind and spirit from the mental and moral darkness, the superstition and fear, and the darkening effect of these occult and deadly articles For more detailed study see Divination; Astrology .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

stands in the Authorized Version as the representative of several Hebrews words: usually some form of נָחִשׁ , Nachash ( 2 Kings 17:17;  2 Kings 21:6;  2 Chronicles 33:6;  Leviticus 19:26;  Deuteronomy 18:10;  Numbers 23:23;  Numbers 24:1), literally to whisper a spell, hence to practice divination in general; לָחִשׁ , lachash' ( Ecclesiastes 10:11), of cognate form and signification, especially incantation; לוּט , Lut, literally to Muffle up, hence to use Magic Arts ( Exodus 7:13;  Exodus 7:22;  Exodus 8:7;  Exodus 8:18); עָנִן , anan', literally to Cover with a cloud, hence to practice Sorcery ( Jeremiah 27:9); and חָבִר , Chabar', to Bind, i.e., with a spell, to Charm ( Isaiah 47:9;  Isaiah 47:12). The following are the specific forms which the black art assumed among the Hebrews. (See Amulet); (See Divination).

1. לָטַים , Latim', or לְהָטַים , Lehatim',  Exodus 7:11;  Exodus 7:22;  Exodus 8:7; Sept. Φαρμακίαι (Grotius compares the word with the Greek Λιται ); secret arts, from וּט l, To Coves; though others incorrectly connect it with לִהִט flame, or the glittering blade of a sword, as though it implied a sort of dazzling cheironomy which deceives spectators. Several versions render the word by "whisperings," Insusurrationes, but it seems to be a more general word, and hence is used of the various means (some of them no doubt of a quasi-scientific character) by which the Egyptian Chartummim imposed on the credulity of Pharaoh. (See Magician).

2. פְּשָׁפַים ., Keshaphim'; Sept. Φαρμακείαι , Φάρμακα ( 2 Kings 9:22;  Micah 5:12;  Nahum 3:4); Vulg. Veneficia, Maleficia; "maleficae artes," "praestigiae," "muttered spells." Hence it is sometimes rendered by Ἐπαοιδαί , incantations, as in  Isaiah 47:9;  Isaiah 47:12. The belief in the power of certain formulae was universal in the ancient world. Thus there were Carmina to evoke the tutelary gods out of a city (Macrob. Saturnal, 3:9), others to devote hostile armies (Id.), others to raise the dead (Maimon. De Idol. 11:15; Senec. ( Edip . 547), or bind the gods ( Δεσμοὶ Θεῶν ) and men (AEsch. Fur. 331), and even influence the heavenly bodies (Ovid, Met. 7:207 sq.; 12:263; "Te quoque Luna traho," Virg.  Ecclesiastes 8:1-17; AEn. 4:489 Hor. Epod. 5:45). They were a recognized part of ancient medicine, even among the Jews, who regarded certain sentences of the law as efficacious in healing. The Greeks used them as one of the five chief resources of pharmacy (Pind. Pyth. 3:8, 9; Soph. Aj. 582), especially in obstetrics (Plat. Theaet. page 145) and mental diseases (Galen, De Sanitattuenda, 1:8). Homer mentions them as used to check the flow of blood (Od. 19:456), and Cato even gives a charm to cure a disjointed limb (De Re Rust. 160; comp. Plin. H. N. 28:2). The belief in charms is still all but universal in uncivilized nations; see Lane's Modern AEgypt. 1:300, 306, etc.; 2:177, etc.; Beeckman's Voyage to Borneo, chapter 2; Meroller's Congo (in Pinkerton's Voyages, 16, pages 221, 273); Huc's China, 1:223; 2:326; Taylor's New Zealand, and Livingstone's Africa, passim, etc.; and hundreds of such remedies still exist, and are considered efficacious among the uneducated. (See Incantation).

3. לְחָשַׁים , Lechashim ( Ecclesiastes 10:11), Sept. Ψιθυρισμός , is especially used of the charming of serpents,  Jeremiah 8:17 (comp.  Psalms 58:5;  Sirach 12:13;  Ecclesiastes 10:11; Lucan, 9:891 — a parallel to "cantando rumpituranguis," and "Vipereas rumpo verbis et carmine fauces," Ov. Metam. l.c.). Maimonides (De Idol. 11:2) expressly defines an enchanter as one "who uses strange and meaningless words, by which he imposes on the folly of the credulous. They say, for instance, that if one utter the words before a serpent or scorpion it will do no harm" (Carpzov, Alnot. In Godwynumn, 4:11). An account of the Marsi, who excelled in this art, is given by Augustine (Ad  Genesis 9:28), and of the Psylli by Arnobius (Ad Nat. 2:32); and they are alluded to by a host of other authorities (Pliny, 7:2; 28:6; AElian, H.A. 1:5; Virg, AEn. 7:750; Sil. Ital. 8:495. They were called Ο᾿Φιοδιώκται ). The secret is still understood in the East (Lane, 2:106). (See Charm).

4. The word נְחָשַׁים , Nechashim', is used of the enchantments sought by Balaam ( Numbers 24:1). It properly alludes toophiomancy, but in this place has a General meaning of, endeavoring to gain omens (Sept. Εἰς Συνάντησιν Τοῖς Οἰωνοῖς ). (See Soothsayer).

5. חֶבֶר , Che'Ber, is used for magic ( Isaiah 47:9;  Isaiah 47:12). It means generally the process of acquiring power over some distant object or person; but this word seems also to have been sometimes used expressly of serpent charmers, for R. Sol. Jarchi, on  Deuteronomy 17:11, defines the חוֹבֶר חֶבֶר to be one "who congregates serpents and scorpions into one place." (See Magic).

Any resort to these methods of imposture was strictly forbidden in Scripture ( Leviticus 19:26;  Isaiah 47:9, etc.), but to eradicate the tendency is almost impossible ( 2 Kings 17:17;  2 Chronicles 33:6), and we find it still flourishing at the Christian aera ( Acts 13:6;  Acts 13:8;  Acts 8:9;  Acts 8:11, Γοητεία ;  Galatians 5:20;  Revelation 9:21). (See Witchcraft).

The chief "sacramenta daemoniaca" were a rod, a magic circle, dragon's eggs, certain herbs, or "insane roots," like the henbane, etc. The fancy of poets, both ancient and modern, has been exerted in giving lists of them (Ovid and Hor. l.c); Shakspeare's Macbeth,  Acts 4:1; Kirke White's Gondoline; Southey's Curse of Kehama,  Song of Solomon 4:1-16, etc.). (See Sorcery).