John Kitto Evening Bible Devotions: June 2

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John Kitto Evening Bible Devotions: June 2


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The Parting of the Way

Eze_21:21

The Ammonites appear to have revolted against the Chaldean sway at the same time with the Jews; and when the king of Babylon commenced his march with the purpose of reducing them to obedience, he seems to have been undecided whether to direct his march against Jerusalem or against Rabbah. When, however, he came to “the parting of the way,” to the point where it became necessary to decide in which direction to lead his forces, he resorted to divination to determine the question for him, a favorite resource among the ancients in doubtful contingencies, to save themselves the trouble and responsibility of decision, by casting it upon their gods and their diviners.

It is at this point the prophet sets the great king before us. Appoint a way that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images (teraphim), he looked in the liver.” The result was that he should go against Jerusalem, for “At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting to appoint battering-rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.”

The divination by means of arrows, indicated in this passage, is entitled to particular attention, as that, or something in principle like it, was of remote antiquity and extensive prevalence, and still subsists in some parts of the world. As practised by Nebuchadnezzar, it is to be explained by a reference to the form of divination known to have been in use among the Chaldeans. They marked upon the arrows the names of the places they had in view, or the alternatives they submitted to this determination. They then drew the arrows from the quivers at a venture, and the one that first came forth with one of the marks upon it, was regarded not only as supplying the response required, but as manifesting the will of the gods, and as conveying an assurance of success in the enterprise in view. In this case, for instance, we are to suppose that the name of Jerusalem, or a sign representing that city, was marked upon an arrow, and that of Rabbah upon another; and as the arrow for Jerusalem came forth first, the king and his army forthwith took the road to Jerusalem without any further hesitation.

There were among the ancients various modes of consulting the gods by means of such things as rods and arrows. Some of these are curious in the details, though they all resolve themselves into the same essential process.

The ancient Germans used to cut a branch from a fruit tree into several pieces, and after marking them with certain characters, cast them at hazard upon a white cloth. Then the father of the family, if the business took place in a private house, took up the pieces one after another, and drew omens of the future from the inspection of the marks upon them, or rather, we conclude, from the order or sequence in which the marks were presented. This was, in principle, similar to the modern fortune-telling by cards, which, perhaps, owes its origin to this practice. The Scythians had also modes of divining by branches or twigs from growing trees; and they seem to have been particular as to the species of the trees to which they resorted for this purpose, the willow being held in particular esteem. This is a curious fact as reminding one of the willow “divining rods” of the treasure-seekers and water-finders of two or three hundred years ago. The divination by reeds, rods, branches, or bits of wood, was also common among the Persians and Greeks; and seems, from Hos_4:12 to have found its way among the Israelites: “My people asked counsel of their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them.” This is admitted by Jewish writers, particularly by Maimonides, who, in his treatise on idolatry, says that one who wished to know the future offered some perfumes, and, holding in his hand a rod of myrtle, pronounced certain words. He then stooped down as if to listen to some one underneath, whose answers he could understand in the spirit without the aid of words. And in another place he says, that one who consults his staff leans on it until he knows that of which he inquires.

More exactly parallel to the instance before us is a practice that existed among the Arabs, and was much used by them on public and private occasions, but which has now, we believe, fallen into disuse. They used three unfeathered arrows, upon one of which was written, “Command me, Lord;” upon another, “Forbid (or prevent), Lord;” and the other had nothing written on it. The arrows were put into a bag, from which they were drawn by the inquirer. If the one drawn was the first, it was regarded as an affirmative response; if the second, as a negative; and as no particular significance was attached to the blank arrow, the drawing of it occasioned the recommencement of the operation.

There is another species of divination by arrows, in use among the Turks and Moors, which will be best understood by an actual instance which we find in Purchas, his Pilgrims, in a narrative of the capture of the ship “Jacob,” by Algerine pirates, in 1621. We learn that every large ship of the corsair was provided with a diviner, who was often consulted, and by whom the commander was guided in his determinations. When two large vessels hove in sight, the commander of the ship, in which the narrator was held captive, was afraid to give chase lest they should prove to be Spanish ships of war; it is on occasions of thus kind that the diviners are consulted; “Then they have two arrows and a curtle-axe lying upon a pillow naked; the arrows are one for the Turks, and the other for the Christians. Then the witch readeth [a chapter of the Koran]; and the captain, or some other, taketh the arrows in their hand by the heads; and if the arrow for the Christians cometh over the head of the arrow for the Turks, then do they advance their sails, and will not endure the fight, whatsoever they see; but if the arrow of the Turks is found, on the opening of the hand, upon that of the Christians, then will they stay and encounter with any ship whatsoever.” The writer does not seem to have been aware that it is alleged that during the reading by the diviner, the arrows, however firmly grasped, were moved and agitated by a strong compulsion, over which the man who held them had not the least control.

In the Assyrian sculptures there are several representations of what appears to be acts of divination. It is thought that when the king appears with an arrow in each hand, as sometimes happens, he is divining by arrows.