Research source

Y Text it also means a Divineress, she must, at any rate, have been a Character very different to be identified…

Date of account: Published 1830
Source: Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft
Reference: Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft · selected passage 38
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

y Text it also means a Divineress, she must, at any rate, have been a Character very different to be identified with it--The original, Chasaph, said to mean a person who dealt in Poisons, often a Traffic of those who dealt with familiar Spirits--But different from the European Witch of the Middle Ages--Thus a Witch is …

Published source text

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Source passage

Source text · mention only

y Text it also means a Divineress, she must, at any rate, have been a Character very different to be identified with it--The original, _Chasaph_, said to mean a person who dealt in Poisons, often a Traffic of those who dealt with familiar Spirits--But different from the European Witch of the Middle Ages--Thus a Witch is not accessary to the Temptation of Job--The Witch of the Hebrews probably did not rank higher than a Divining Woman--Yet it was a Crime deserving the Doom of Death, since it inferred the disowning of Jehovah's Supremacy--Other Texts of Scripture, in like manner, refer to something corresponding more with a Fortune-teller or Divining Woman than what is now called a Witch--Example of the Witch of Endor--Account of her Meeting with Saul--Supposed by some a mere Impostor--By others, a Sorceress powerful enough to raise the Spirit of the Prophet by her own Art--Difficulties attending both Positions--A middle Course adopted, supposing that, as in the Case of Balak, the Almighty had, by Exertion of His Will, substituted Samuel, or a good Spirit in his Character, for the Deception which the Witch intended to produce--Resumption of the Argument, showing that the Witch of Endor signified something very different from the mod

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This is a historical account assembled under the reporting and publishing conventions of its period. It may preserve testimony, hearsay, retelling and editorial interpretation together.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

A modern comparison can identify recurring descriptions and possible explanations, but the account is not treated as independently verified evidence merely because it appeared in print.

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