VII. Books Of Magic And Magical Spells

VII. BOOKS OF MAGIC AND MAGICAL SPELLS
By way of appendix to the above we may here mention further a class of literary productions which lie on the extreme confines of Jewish literature and which serve to show that the superstition that had sprung from the soil of the heathen nature-religions also continued to flourish with no little vigour among the people of Israel: we refer to the books of magic and magic spells. In the ancient world these represented the popular arts of healing. As even in our own day Christians are often met with who prefer the quack doctor to the skilled physician so in the ancient world at least in that part of it that was under the influence of the East there was often a tendency to have recourse to the magician and the exorcist rather than to the regular doctor in every sort of ailment. It is interesting in this connection to hear for example what Celsus says about the Egyptians (in Origen Contra Cels. viii. 58): “That some (higher) being or other controls things of even the most trifling nature may be learnt from what is alleged by the Egyptians who tell us that thirty-six (or as others affirm a good many more) demons or divinities of the air have allotted among themselves the human body which is supposed to be divided into a corresponding number of parts and that each has taken one of these parts under his own peculiar charge. And they know the names of the demons in their native tongue such as Chnumen and Chachumen and Knat and Sikat and Biu and Eru and Erebui and Ramanor and Reinanoor or whatever else they may be called. By invoking these they cure the ailments of the different members of the body.” What Celsus here alleges with respect to the Egyptians is confirmed mutatis mutandis by hundreds of testimonies in regard to the rest of the ancient world as well. Magic and exorcism and that above all for curative purposes were uncommonly popular and prevalent throughout the entire Roman Empire. Nor did the Jewish people form an exception. We know from the Old and New Testaments as well as from Josephus how extensively the various forms of magic prevailed also among them. In later times Solomon was regarded as being above all the author of this art (on the strength of 1 Kings 5:12-13). Josephus informs us that this monarch composed and bequeathed to posterity certain incantations by means of which demons could be restrained and so effectually expelled that they would never re-enter the man again. By way of showing the efficacy of those incantations he tells a very amusing story about a Jew of the name of Eleazar who on one occasion and in presence of Vespasian and his sons and several Roman officers drew out a demon through the demoniac’s nose by holding a magic ring under this organ and repeating at the same time the incantations of Solomon forbade him ever to enter again. At length to prove that the demon was actually expelled he ordered this latter to overturn a vessel of water that was near at hand which order was at once complied with (Joseph. Antt. viii. 2. 5). From the way in which Josephus speaks of the Solomonic incantations we feel constrained to assume that they must have been embodied in special books. Origen distinctly alleges as much. Those books survived although only after having undergone a variety of adaptations till far on into the Middle Ages. We still hear of one of the name of Aaron being at the court of Manuel Comnenus and who was in possession of a βίβλον Σολομώντειον by means of which whole legions of demons could be exorcised. This literature also found its way into Christian circles. The Decretum Gelasii knows of a Contradictio Salomonis while a Christian Testamentum Salomonis is still extant. And it is through popular Christian works of this sort that the knowledge of the efficacy of Solomon’s magic spells has come down to more modern times and found its way into Goethe’s Faust (the exorcising of the poodle: “Für solche halbe Hüllenbrut 1st Salomonis Schlüssel gut”).
Official Judaism did not of course quite approve of those books of magic although the Babylonian Talmud itself is full of superstition. According to a tradition which is found both in the Mishna and in certain Byzantine writers (Suidas Glycas) we learn that the pious king Hezekiah ordered the suppression of Solomon’s “Book of Cures” because the people trusted it so much that they neglected to pray to God.
On the subject of magic in the ancient world generally an abundant store of material is to be found in Georgii’s art. “Magia” in Pauly’s Real-Encyc. der class. Alterthumswissensch. iv. 1377-1418. On the same among the Jews see the article “Zauberei” in the Bible dictionaries of Winer Schenkel and Riehm. On this subject in Talmudic Judaism again see Brecher Das Transcendentale Magie und magische Heilarten im Talmud Wien 1850. Joel Der Aberglaube und die Stellung des Judenthums zu demselben 1st part Breslau 1881.
On Solomon see Fabricius Codex pseudepigr. Vet. Test. i. 1032-1063. The Crypta ubi Salomon daemones torquebat were still seen at Jerusalem by the pilgrim of Bordeaux in the fourth century A.D. (Tobler Palaestinae descriptiones 1869 p. 3).
Joseph. Antt. viii. 2. 5: Ἐπῳδάς τε συνταξάμενος αἶς παρηγορεῖται τὰ νοσήματα τρόπους ἐξορκώσεων κατέλιπεν οἷς ἐνδούμενα τὰ δαιμόνια ὡς μηκέτʼ ἐπανελθεῖν ἐκδιώκουσι κ.τ.λ. (here follows the story about Eleazar referred to above).
Origen Ad. Matth. xxvi. 63 (de la Rue iii. 910; Lommatzsch. v. 7): Quaeret aliquis si convenit vel daemones adjurare; et qui respicit ad multos qui talia facere ausi sunt dicet non sine ratione fieri hoc. Qui autem adspicit Jesum imperantem daemonibus sed etiam potestatem dantem discipulis suis super omnia daemonia et ut infirmitates sanarent dicet quoniam non est secundum potestatem datam a Salvatore adjurare daemonia; Judaicum est enim. Hoc etsi aliquando a nostris tale aliquid fiat simile fit ei quod a Salomone scriptis adjurationibus solent daemones adjurari. Sed ipsi qui utuntur adjurationibus illis aliquoties nec idoneis constitutis libris utuntur; quibusdam autem et de Hebraeo acceptis adjurant daemonia.
On the βίβλον Σολομώντειον of Aaron in the time of Manuel Comnenus see the passage from Nicetas Choniates quoted in Fabricus Cod. pseudepigr. i. 1037 sq.
Decretum Gelasii (in Credner Zur Gesch. des Kanons p. 224) § 61: Scriptura quae appellatur Contradictio Salomonis apocr. Ibid. § 62: Philacteria omnia quae non angelorum ut illi confingunt sed daemonum magis conscripta sunt nominibus apocr.
The Christian Testamentum Salomonis was published by Fleck Wissenschaftl. Reise durch Deutschland Italien etc. vol. ii. 3 (1837) pp. 111-140. Also in Fürst’s Orient vols. v. and vii. A German translation was contributed by Bornemann (Zeitschr. für die histor. Theol. 1844 iii. pp. 9-56). Comp. also Bornemann Conjectanea in Salomonis Testamentum (Biblische Studien von Geistlichen des Königr. Sachsen second year 1843 pp. 45-60 for fourth year 1846 pp. 28-69). With regard to the date of its composition comp. the passage from Leontius as given in Fabricius Cod. pseudepigr. i. 1063 sq. In how strange a manner Jewieh-Christian and heathen elements were all mixed up with each other may be seen for example from two Greek manuscripts containing magical treatises which were published by Parthey (Transactions of the Berlin Academy 1865).
Mishna Pesachim iv. 9: “Hezekiah concealed the book of cures (גנז ספר רפואות) and the learned approved of this.” Comp. the commentary of Maimonides on this in Surenhusius’s Mishna ii. 150 where it is expressly stated that the tradition had in view Solomon’s Book of Cures. Suidas (Lex. under Ἐζεκίας): Ἦν Σολομῶνι βίβλος ἰαμάτων πάθους παντός ἐγκεκολαμμένη τῇ τοῦ ναοῦ φλιᾷ. Ταύτην ἐξεκόλαψεν Ἐζεκίας οὐ προσέχοντος τοῦ λαοῦ τῷ θεῷ διὰ τὸ τὰς θεραπείας τῶν παθῶν ἐνθένδε τοὺς πάσχοντας αὐτοὺς κομίζεσθαι περιορῶντας αἰτεῖν τὸν θεόν. Glycas in Fabricius Cod. pseudepigr. i. 1042 sq.