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Religon Compass 3/5 (2009): 785798, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00167.

The Use of the Hebrew Bible in Early Jewish Magic


Joseph Angel*
Yeshiva University

Abstract

This study seeks to enumerate the extensive and variegated use of the Hebrew Bible in early Jewish magic. The survey focuses mainly on the key Jewish magical corpora from late antiquity and the early Middle Ages Palestinian Amulets, Babylonian magic bowls, assorted magical texts from the Cairo Geniza, and several magical handbooks deriving from Babylonia and other indeterminate locations. The article is divided into three substantive sections. The rst treats numerous methodological pitfalls tied to the use of the terms magic, Jewish magic, and Hebrew Bible. The second and third sections are devoted, respectively, to the two broad formal categories into which magical use of the Hebrew Bible may be divided, citations of biblical verses and biblical historiolae.

Introduction The aim of the present article is to enumerate the various applications of the Hebrew Bible appearing in early Jewish magical writings. These writings are represented, for the most part, by distinct literary corpora dating from the third through the twelfth centuries C.E. and deriving from Palestine, North Africa, and Babylonia. The most important available evidence includes Palestinian amulets, Babylonian magic bowls, assorted magical material from the Cairo Geniza, and extensive magical handbooks such as Sefer ha-Razim, The Sword of Moses, and Havdala de-Rabbi Akiva. In addition to these sources, we will touch upon material dating back to the Second Temple period and earlier, most notably the Dead Sea Scrolls (third century B.C.E. to rst century C.E.) and the Ketef Hinnom amulets (seventh or sixth century B.C.E.). Before turning to the evidence, it is necessary to introduce some key problems related to the sphere of terminology. Terminological Problems
MAGIC

Contemporary historians of religion and culture often point to a paradigm shift characterizing the scholarly understanding of the term magic over the past century. The traditional approach, well represented by J. G. Frazers Golden Bough, viewed magic and religion as distinct and oppositional entities. Magic was seen as an expression of primitive and superstitious thinking that arose prior to religion, while the latter embodied a more mature conception of human interaction with the divine. Over the course of history, humanity increasingly recognized the inherent fallacy of magic and gradually evolved to progressively higher degrees of religion. For Frazer, the culmination of this evolutionary process was represented by the rise of Christianity. This approach undergirded much of the academic study of magic in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
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Indeed, in such research it is common to nd apologies for the selection of such an offensive and backwards topic. The judgmental dichotomy between magic and religion also characterized the most important early scholarship on Jewish magic, which viewed the presence of magical traditions in Jewish texts largely in terms of folk inuence and the contamination of real religion (Blau 1898; Trachtenberg 1939). A subsequent century of research has deemed the clear-cut distinction between magic and religion as articial and prejudiced. Today, scholars recognize that magic often functions as a negative category of social disapproval and coercion, whereby the ruling religious group labels the rituals of another group or class as foreign or illicit. This has led some scholars to the conclusion that the term magic is hopelessly tainted and therefore unsuitable as a category for scientic inquiry (Lesses 1998; Smith 1995; Meyer & Smith 1994; cf. Gager 1992). A more moderate view posits that the category of magic is still useful as long as it is understood as part of religion or as part of the complex system of cultural symbolism of which religion is also a part (Farber 1995; Hammond 1970; Harari 2005; Hoffman 2002; Scha fer 1997; Versnel 1991). Indeed, as Noegel, Walker, and Wheeler note, recent scholarship has preferred to view magical and religious practices as part of a continuum that encompassed both individual and communal forms of piety (Noegel et al. 2003, p. 2). Furthermore, whereas earlier research tended to dene magic by condently imposing its own terms and categories onto distant cultural contexts (what anthropologists term etic interpretation), it is now widely held that such an approach is bound to lead to a distorted view and must be supplemented by a method which seeks to understand magic in the terms and within the symbolic framework of the observed culture (emic interpretation). Despite such advancements, the denition of magic remains far from settled. Several useful treatments of the current debate may be consulted (Harari 2005; Hoffman 2002; Jeffers 2007). For our present purpose, it will not be necessary to adhere to a rigid essentialist denition. Such denitions commonly view magic as the ritual exercise of control over supernatural entities to bring about a desired change in reality (see, e.g., Flint 1991, p. 3). Rather, to avoid overreaching generalizations, we will instead focus on the identication of certain texts as examples of Jewish magic on the basis of formal and thematic features (see below).
JEWISH MAGIC

The study of Jewish magic presents its own special set of problems. For one, while it seems intuitive to identify Jewish magic as magic practiced by Jews or borrowed from Jews and practiced by others, it may be debated whether everything done or produced by a Jew should be considered Jewish. As the Greek magical papyri adequately illustrate, ancient magic was a thoroughly syncretistic affair. This extensive corpus, which contains material ranging from the second century B.C.E. to the fth century C.E., teems with Jewish, Greek, Egyptian, and some Christian elements in what has been described as a trans-cultural magical lingo (Smith 1996, p. 245). Biblical citations, names, and stories, and various epithets for the God of Israel are freely employed alongside pagan elements to achieve the intended results. As van der Horst notes, when one moves from pagan magical texts to Jewish ones, one often does not have the feeling of moving to a different world (van der Horst 2006, p. 272). Practically, it thus becomes quite difcult at times to determine whether a particular text is of Jewish or pagan provenance. In a similar vein, it is occasionally impossible to tell whether a particular text is of Jewish or Christian origin (see, e.g., Daniel & Maltomini 1990, pp. 4952).
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In the hundreds of seemingly magical late antique and medieval documents that are unambiguously identiable as Jewish, a different taxonomical hurdle is encountered. Pentateuchal legislation explicitly condemns a wide range of magical practices and practitioners (Deuteronomy 18:1011; cf. Exodus 22:17; Leviticus 19:26,31; 20:27) and rabbinic literature follows suit (see, e.g., M. Sanh. 6:6; 7:7; Shab. 6:10). Thus, in apparent avoidance of direct conict with biblical or both biblical and rabbinic law, ancient and medieval Jews who wished to employ techniques that might be judged as magical generally avoided the use of the terms magic (kishuf ), magician (mekhashef ), or witch (mekhashefah). Moreover, they of course avoided any precise denition of magic. The unfortunate result is that the available evidence does not allow for an emic denition of early Jewish magic. Rather, any modern study of this phenomenon will by necessity take an etic approach, i.e., as the texts do not do the job themselves, it is left for us to determine which texts are to be included in such a study (Bohak 2008). This is problematic, for Jewish conceptions of magic often differed drastically from one community to the next, and certainly from one historical era to the next. By imposing our own a priori dictionary denition onto the evidence, we are virtually guaranteed to miss important nuances and developments vital to understanding the essentially contextual nature of the category of Jewish magic. Fortunately, largely in recognition of this difculty, the scholarly discourse on Jewish magic has recently witnessed an important shift. Instead of imposing static culture-bound denitions, many scholars now prefer to start with the literary characteristics of the texts themselves (Bohak 2008; Harari 2005). When this is done, it is found that certain genres, such as incantations and handbooks for gaining power and practical goals through rituals, coalesce in distinct literary corpora (Swartz 2006, p. 702). Swartz divides the major themes of these corpora into the following three elements:
(1) The process of adjuration of intermediaries, such as angels or demons; (2) the use of powerful and arcane names of God as the source of the magicians authority; and (3) the use of these techniques for the personal needs of the individual. (Swartz 2006, p. 702)

It has further been noted that these corpora include several common formal elements, such as
a self denition of the text or of the object on which it is written as an adjuration, writ, seal, or amulet[an address to supernatural] powers in the rst person singularuse of accelerating and threatening phrases towards the supernatural powers[and] naming the person on whose behalf the appeal is made by his own name and his mothers name, or, in the case of literature for instruction, with the label so-and-so, the son of so-and-so. (Harari 2005, pp. 11920)

By allowing the specic contours of the literary evidence to determine the identication of early Jewish magical texts, we have a useful and exible point of departure for study. Texts that contain more or less of the above qualities may be described as possessing more or less Jewish magical elements, respectively.
HEBREW BIBLE

Technically, the phrase Hebrew Bible refers to the tripartite collection of sacred Hebrew writings that took nal form only in the late rst or second century C.E. (Ulrich 1999; cf. Beckwith 1988). Thus, while several books in the Hebrew biblical canon, such as those of the Pentateuch, had certainly enjoyed authoritative status among Jews centuries earlier, it is anachronistic to speak of the Hebrew Bible as a collection prior to that point.
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Thus, in connection with Jewish magic dating to the Second Temple period and earlier, we will refrain from speaking of the use of the Bible or biblical verses and stories. Employment of the Hebrew Bible in Early Jewish Magic: Citations and Historiolae Without many exceptions, ancient Jews viewed the Hebrew Bible as the ultimate source of divinely communicated truth and wisdom. It is thus no surprise to nd that early Jewish magic often attempts to harness the divine power assumed to be contained in biblical verses, names, and stories to bring about the desired results. Indeed, this phenomenon continued into the late Middle Ages and persists to this day in modern Jewish magical practice. Applications of the Hebrew Bible in early Jewish magical texts generally may be divided into two broad formal categories, citations of biblical verses and biblical historiolae. The former category includes verbatim and partial, loose, or mistaken quotations of verses, citations with abbreviated, inverted, or otherwise manipulated word order, as well as deliberate midrashic misreadings that manipulate verses for the purposes of a particular incantation or spell. Generally, a specic verse is selected for citation on the basis of one or both of the following two rationales: (1) It contains the name of God or speaks of Gods tremendous power, and thus came to be regarded as a source of divine power itself. (2) It seemed to have a more or less immediate relevance to the situation in which it was employed (Trachtenberg 1939, p. 108). Biblical historiolae may be dened as abbreviations or paraphrases of biblical narratives incorporated into magical spells. The assumption here is generally that there is an analogy between the sacred mythical reality of the Bible and the present situation of the magician (Frankfurter 1995). By invoking a biblical precedent, the magician is able to draw the inherent power of the mythic dimension into his or her own realm to alter reality in accordance with his or her wishes. The following survey is not meant to be exhaustive and seeks only to offer a representative sampling and categorization of the employment of biblical citations and historiolae in early Jewish magical writings. Much material remains to be studied and published, and as more early Jewish magical texts continue to emerge the picture is bound to change. It should also be borne in mind that the available written sources represent only a very small percentage of what actually existed centuries ago. Moreover, since, by all indications, a good deal of magical activity was conducted orally, it left no trace behind at all.
BIBLICAL CITATIONS

Citations and Liturgy Jewish magical texts frequently cite verses that also appear prominently in traditional rabbinic liturgy (Naveh & Shaked 1993, pp. 2231). This seems to indicate that certain magical citations of Scripture are inspired by liturgical usage rather than by the Bible alone. Several texts bear out this assertion. One particular Aramaic magic bowl seeking protection from various types of demons borrows a sequence of several verses (Zechariah 3:2; Psalm 89:53; 106:48; 72:1819; 104:31) from the weekly evening prayers known from the earliest extant Jewish prayer book, the ninth century Seder Amram Gaon (Levene 2003, pp. 714). The magicians selection of these particular verses appears to have been inspired by the fact that the evening prayers (Arvit and Keriat Shema al ha-Mit[t(ah) contain requests for protection from the perils of the night and, according to the Babylonian Talmud, keep demons away (Ber. 5a). Another bowl seeking protection from harmful
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sorcery contains the blessing, Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God While the italicized words derive from Deuteronomy 10:17, it is likely that the magician is here invoking this verse as it is quoted in the rst blessing of the Eighteen Benedictions, the most important daily payer of the synagogue (Levene 2003, p. 12). Other magical texts reveal the liturgical inspiration behind their citation of the Bible more readily. For instance, an Arabic magical recipe meant to instill hatred between individuals discovered in the Cairo Geniza instructs the practitioner to write down portions of the Hallel, a synagogal prayer for festive days consisting of Psalms 113 through 118 (Naveh & Shaked 1993, 150). Another Geniza recipe seeking the cure of an unspecied disease calls for the client to recite the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:49; 11:1321; Numbers 15:3741), a large portion of the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15), and the non-biblical ancient blessing Emet ve-Yatsiv seven times each (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 228). Clearly, the magicians instruction to write and recite these biblical texts is dependent on their prominence in early Jewish liturgical practice. The use of traditional liturgical material in magical texts may be understood as a strategy by which the magician harnesses the power of the religiously sanctioned and legitimizes a magical operation (Shaked 1995, p. 205). That matters of authority and legitimacy concerned Jewish magicians is well illustrated by another magic bowl designed for protection against evil spirits (Levene 2003, p. 116). In this text the evil spirit threatening the client is identied with the demon that attempted to assault Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa in a story preserved in the Babylonian Talmud (Pes. 112b). As in the talmudic story, Hanina is able to subdue the demon, but in the context of the magic bowl, this is accomplished through his recitation of Psalm 104:20, You bring on darkness and it is night, when all the beasts of the forests stir. For the author of the bowl, Haninas recitation of this verse is also efcacious for the present situation. The verse is considered useful precisely because it was deemed effective by an especially powerful rabbinic authority who found himself in an analogous situation. Common Incantatory Citations It is evident that, independent from liturgy, certain verses were commonly employed specically for magical purposes. While early Jewish magic employs an impressive number of such biblical citations covering the gamut of the tripartite canon, a handful of passages enjoy special prominence. Rabbinic literature indicates that one such verse, Exodus 15:26 (I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I the Lord am your healer), was commonly used to bring about healing at least as early as the second century C.E. (M. Sanh. 10:1). The magical use of several other popular passages, such as Zechariah 3:2, Numbers 6:2426, and Psalm 91 may be traced back to the Second Temple period and, in one case, even earlier. It is not difcult to determine why and how these passages were employed from such early times: All of them straightforwardly refer to Gods awesome protective powers and thus were regarded as appropriate words for activating such powers. Their invocation beckoned God to conform to his scriptural promises or attributes. Zechariah 3:2 The most commonly cited verse in early Jewish magic is probably Zechariah 3:2: But the Lord said to the Accuser [Heb. satan], The Lord rebuke you, O Accuser; may the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! For this is a brand plucked from the re. Clearly, it is the assault against Satan in this verse that underscores its use to ward off demons in at least six Babylonian magic bowls (see Isbell 1975, p. 195;
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Naveh & Shaked 1998, pp. 1845) and a Palestinian amulet (Naveh & Shaked 1998, pp. 401). The effectiveness of these words for such purposes is also known to talmudic tradition, which states that if a person must walk by the angel of death, he should turn his face and recite Zechariah 3:2 for protection (b. Ber. 51a). It appears that this verse served an apotropaic function at least as early as the Dead Sea Scrolls. One particular fragment of the Cave 1 Hodayot scroll (1QHa 22:25 (rst century B.C.E.)), paraphrases it in the context of an apotropaic hymn. Numbers 6:2426 (The Priestly Benediction) Two tiny silver scrolls discovered in a burial complex in the Hinnom valley of Jerusalem in 1979 bear inscriptions nearly identical to the famous blessing found in Numbers 6:2426 known as the Priestly Benediction. The nds date to the late seventh or early sixth century B.C.E. and have been identied as amulets that were worn to serve as a constant defense against malevolent forces by invoking the protection of the biblical deity (Barkay et al. 2003). This interpretation of the discovery is in harmony with the special apotropaic powers attributed to the blessing by later Jewish tradition. Indeed, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (post-seventh century C.E.) embellishes upon Numbers 6:24, The Lord bless you and guard you! as follows: May the Lord bless you and guard you in all your endeavor from (the demons of the) darkness and from frightening demons and midday demons and morning demons and destroyers and night demons (Clarke 1995, p. 205). Similarly, Sifre Numbers, a tannaitic exegetical commentary on the book of Numbers (third century C.E.), explains the words and guard you as referring to protection from harmful demons (Horovitz 1971, p. 44; cf. b. Ber. 55b). The use of the Priestly Benediction as a potent magic formula is well documented in both the Palestinian and Babylonian branches of early Jewish magic. A Babylonian Aramaic magic bowl seeking the protection of the household of Ashtar (son of) Mahaduk cites it (Isbell 1975, p. 146), as does an Aramaic healing amulet from the Cairo Geniza for one Bunayna daughter of Yaman (Schiffman & Swartz 1992, pp. 11322). It also appears as an efcacious magical formula in Havdala de-Rabbi Akiva, a magical handbook originating in post-talmudic Babylonia (Scholem 1980 1981, p. 269). Psalm 91 According to talmudic tradition, Psalm 91 is a potent anti-demonic psalm (shir shel pegaim; b. Sheb. 15b; y. Erub. 10:11). It was particularly popular among medieval Jews, who recited it often for a host of magical purposes (Trachtenberg 1939, pp. 1123). The earliest apotropaic use of this text appears in a Qumran manuscript dating to the middle of the rst century C.E. known as Apocryphal Psalms (11Q11; cf. Matthew 4:6). This collection of incantations includes a version of Psalm 91 deliberately reworked so that it might defend more effectively against demons (Eshel 2003, pp. 724; Puech 2000). Psalm 91 is also quoted multiple times in apotropaic Aramaic magic bowls, a Geniza fragment, and Havdala de-Rabbi Akiva. Incantatory Citations and Scriptural Context It is most often the case that there is some easily discernable logical connection between the cited biblical verse and the purpose of the magical spell. For example, an amulet for success in business invokes the power of Deuteronomy 28:8, The Lord will ordain blessings for you upon your barns and upon all your undertakings: He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you (Schiffman & Swartz 1992, pp. 1078). A recipe to smite enemies with fever requires that Deuteronomy 28:22, The Lord will strike you with consumption, fever, and inammation, with scorching heat be written in chicken blood (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 179). In both of these cases the intention of
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the magic is more or less in harmony with the plain sense of Deuteronomy 28, which contains an extensive list of blessings for the righteous and curses for the wicked. Most of the time, however, the magical use of a particular verse implies an understanding more removed from the plain sense of the verse in its original context. For example, a spell meant to nullify harmful magic cites Isaiah 8:10, Hatch a plot it shall be foiled; Agree on action it shall not succeed. For with us is God (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 199). In its original setting, this verse refers to Gods protection of the kingdom of Judah from the military threat of surrounding nations. But in our magical text, the plot and action are understood as harmful spells and incantations, and the verse is addressed to those that cast them. A more extreme departure from the original scriptural context is observed in a recipe for success in business that invokes and adapts Isaiah 10:14, I was able to seize, like a nest, the wealth of peoples (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 237). In its original location this verse is part of a boastful and arrogant speech of the king of Assyria who is destined for destruction. It is striking that the magician had no problem utilizing it as a formula for prosperity. Another instructive example occurs in an incantation for difculty at childbirth that quotes Exodus 11:8:
Then all these courtiers of yours shall come down to me and bow low to me, saying, Come out, you and all the people who follow you! After that I will come out. And he [Moses] came out from before Pharaoh in hot anger.

In its original context, this verse represents Moses description of the results of the tenth plague to Pharaoh and is unrelated to childbirth. While the threefold repetition of the verb come out originally referred either to departure from Egypt or the presence of Pharaoh, in the magical setting, it is utilized to coax out the dilatory baby. This interpretation is conrmed by the repetition, after the cited verse, of the summation: Go out, I shall go out, and he went out (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 149). It appears that this abridgement was thought to possess power of its own, as in another spell meant for extracting a dead fetus from the mothers womb, it is cited without the verse from which it derives (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 177). In rare cases, it is not readily apparent how a selected verse was thought to relate to a spells purpose. For instance, one can only speculate as to why a recipe for opening locks instructs the practitioner to recite the prophet Hoseas menacing oracle to Israel:
Behold, they have gone from destruction with the silver they treasure. Egypt shall hold them fast, Moph shall receive them in burial. Weeds are their heirs; Prickly shrubs occupy their tents. (Hosea 9:6; Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 161)

It is occasionally possible, however, to comprehend the logic behind the selection of a verse that is seemingly unrelated to the magical goal on the basis of extra-biblical Jewish tradition. For example, the amulet for the cure of Bunayna mentioned above quotes Genesis 49:22, Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; its branches run over a wall. On the surface, this verse seems unrelated to the procurement of good health for the client. However, according to talmudic tradition this verse indicates that descendants of Joseph are immune from the evil eye (e.g., b. Ber. 20a). Furthermore, in late Middle Eastern Jewish amulets, it is constantly invoked for protection against the evil eye (Schrire 1966, p. 114). It thus appears that the verses use here is related to this tradition. Manipulated Citations Jewish magicians did not limit themselves to verbatim quotation of Scripture. Biblical verses are very often deliberately manipulated in a variety of ways for a number of different
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purposes. One fairly straightforward and common type of alteration involves grammatical tweaking of or insertion of proper names into a verse to make it t the context of the magical operation. For instance, an amulet to protect one Saida daughter of Sitt al-Ahl appropriately manipulates Psalm 46:8, The God of Jacob is our refuge, to read The God of Jacob is her refuge (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 240). A charm for harming an enemy adapts the prescription of Leviticus 6:6, A perpetual re shall be kept burning upon the altar, it shall never go out, by replacing the words the altar with the name of the victim (Naveh & Shaked 1998, pp. 2335). An Aramaic magic bowl adapts Gods words to Cyrus in Isaiah 45:2, I will shatter bronze doors and cut down iron bars, as follows: By means of Gabriel and Michael and Raphael who shatter bronze doors and cut off iron bars, may they shatter and cut off the evil spirit (Levene 2003, p. 111). Examples of these kinds of adaptations could easily be multiplied. In one notable case, the selection of a particular verse for its magical purpose may hinge on the manipulation of a single letter. An amulet designed to protect the fetus of one Surah daughter of Sarah cites Psalm 116:6, The Lord protects the simpletons; I was brought low and he saved me. This was a popular verse in Jewish anti-abortion spells, but at rst glance the underlying reasoning for this is unclear. Naveh and Shaked suggest that the rationale depends on the pronunciation of the Hebrew word for simpletons, petaim. In late antique Hebrew, the weakening of guttural sounds caused petaim to be pronounced very similarly to the Hebrew word petah9im, meaning openings. The verse was thus understood as describing God as protecting the opening out of which a baby might escape prematurely, i.e., its mothers womb (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 105). The hermeneutical mechanism here is similar to a well-known rabbinic interpretive technique (al tikre), which attaches new meaning to a biblical verse on the basis of a slight change in the vocalization of a Hebrew word. In the above examples, the manipulation of the cited verse seeks to bring it in line with the magical aim. However, this is not always the magicians intention in altering a verse. In fact, a very frequently encountered type of manipulation appears to have less to do with matching the specic goals of the spell and more to do with the incantatory activation of the divine powers assumed to inhere in biblical words. This latter process is often brought about by the creative reordering and combination of the words in a verse. For example, it is common to nd a verse quoted with the word order completely reversed. This often occurs immediately after quotation of the same verse in its original order. For instance, Havdala de-Rabbi Akiva cites Psalm 55:9 (I would soon nd me a refuge from the sweeping wind, from the tempest) verbatim and immediately reverses the words in precise order (Scholem 1980 1981, p. 277; ll. 56). Sometimes, as in an amulet to subdue the tongue of one Abu al-Karam the Christian, the verse appears only in the reversed order (see, e.g., Naveh & Shaked 1993, pp. 168, 2334). Another comparable technique is to list the verse in various permutations of word order. Of course this task is most easily carried out with short verses. A Geniza amulet lists the three Hebrew words of Genesis 49:18 (I wait for your deliverance, O Lord!) in three different orders (Schiffman & Swartz 1992, p. 143). A manuscript of Havdala de-Rabbi Akiva (Oxf. 1539) lists the three words of 2 Samuel 5:16, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet (names of Davids sons born to him in Jerusalem) in all six permutations (Schiffman & Swartz 1992, p. 154). Another technique meant to activate the mysterious powers of a verse involves interweaving it with external words. At times these words can derive from another verse. For example, several magic bowls, a Geniza fragment, and Havdala de-Rabbi Akiva interweave Psalm 91:1(O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the
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protection of Shaddai) with Deuteronomy 6:4 (Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone) by taking one word from one verse and following it with one word from the other (Naveh & Shaked 1998, p. 187; Scholem 1980 1981, p. 272). In other cases, the external words consist of divine or angelic names. For instance, Havdala deRabbi Akiva inserts various angelic names into Psalm 91 (Scholem 1980 1981, p. 251). Bunaynas healing amulet activates or enhances the power of the Priestly Benediction by interweaving it with the twenty-two letter divine name (Schiffman & Swartz 1992, p. 117). Citations and Divine Names The belief that divine names possess great power has characterized Jewish magical practice from its inception. The magicians knowledge and application of such names (both of God and other supernatural beings), whether activated through pronunciation, writing, or incorporation into a larger magical text, was thought to be a vital element in ensuring the success of a magical operation (Bohak 2008, pp. 3057). It is very often the case that these names may be traced back to the Hebrew Bible. For instance, along with the Tetragrammaton, El, Elohim, and Shaddai, one of the most commonly utilized epithets is I am that I am (and variations), which derives from Exodus 3:14. While the main purpose for invoking divine names is simply to harness their immense power, at times there is a discernible connection between the selected name and the aim of the spell. For example, a Geniza amulet summons the God of the armies of Israel (1 Samuel 17:45) to battle and drive out all harmful spirits and every Satan (Naveh & Shaked 1998, p. 223). A recipe for sending out re invokes the name of As the Lord of Hosts Lives (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 179). Apparently, the epithet here derives from Elijahs oath in 1 Kings 18:15. In this chapter, Elijah miraculously causes a re from God to consume a sacrice on Mount Carmel. A further example derives from the amulet for the healing of Bunayna, which appeals to the God who wounds and heals (Schiffman & Swartz 1992, p. 115). In this case, the epithet is a grammatically appropriate reworking of Gods words in Deuteronomy 32:39, I wound and I heal. This example demonstrates that magicians were free to create new divine names on the basis of biblical descriptions of God. Several Aramaic magic bowls cite entire verses as if they are equivalent to divine names. For instance, a bowl for the binding of demons follows the formula in the name of with a complete citation of Zechariah 3:2 (Levene 2003, p. 72; cf. pp. 78, 116). This phenomenon stems from the belief that biblical verses themselves contain hidden divine names and thus could serve in their own right as the name of the power by which the magical aim is accomplished. This belief is well demonstrated by a very popular medieval magic handbook that may contain vestiges of early Jewish magical practice known as Shimmush Tehillim (=The [Magical] Use of the Psalms). The rst line of this work reads: The entire Torah is composed of the names of God, and in consequence it has the property of saving and protecting man (Trachtenberg 1939, p. 109). Another interesting manifestation of this belief is observed in the magical technique known as tsiruf, or joining letters of verses to form potent divine names. A good example of tsiruf appears in a Hebrew amulet from the Geniza asking for protection in childbirth (Schiffman & Swartz 1992, 6978). In this text, the rst letter of each word of verses 1-9a of Psalm 91 are combined to function as a powerful divine name. To date, tsiruf remains unattested in Jewish magical texts from Late Antiquity. It appears to have developed only in the Middle Ages, when it became an important element of kabbalistic practice (Idel 1988, pp. 97103).
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Citations and Physical Use Jewish magical texts often seek to activate the power of biblical verses by means of various forms of physical application. One way in which this was accomplished was by means of exotic props. A recipe to cure a headache calls for a version of Numbers 12:13, O God, please heal her! to be written on a leaf of a reed and applied to the head (Naveh & Shaked 1993, pp. 2201). Another recipe for curing leprosy calls for the practitioner to take a new jar, ll it with water, and recite 2 Kings 5:11 over it seven times. He is then instructed to knead cakes out of frankincense, a virgins urine, and other ingredients. Apparently, the resulting substance was thought to effect an immediate cure (Naveh & Shaked 1993, pp. 2289). Shimmush Tehillim contains several striking recipes of a similar type. For example, for curing a headache or shoulder pain, Psalm 3 is to be recited over olive oil to which salt should later be added. Finally, the aching body part is to be rubbed with the mixture (Fodor 1978). In each of the above cases, the power of biblical words is presumably transferred to a physical object, which is then utilized for healing. A more symbolic physical application of the Bible appears in an anti-demonic Aramaic magic bowl. In the central circle of the bowl there is a drawing of the murderous demoness Lilith (Naveh & Shaked 1998, pl. 3031). She is surrounded by the words of Exodus 15:7, In Your great triumph you break your opponents; you send forth your fury, it consumes them like straw. Here, the physical layout of the verse around the depiction of the demon is meant to conne and control Lilith and the various other demons mentioned in the text. Biblical Purity and Temple Ritual It is worth noting that several early Jewish magical texts show a deep concern for biblical rules of purity and temple ritual. For example, the extensive magical handbook Sefer haRazim (=The Book of the Mysteries) instructs a man who wishes to save a friend from trouble to cleanse himself from impurity and not cohabit with a woman for three days before adjuring the holy angels to do his bidding (Morgan 1983, p. 56). This instruction clearly derives from Exodus 19, where the children of Israel are commanded to purify themselves for three days and to not approach a woman in preparation for the theophany at Sinai (cf. Temple Scroll 45:712). Apparently the assumption here is that divine beings are intolerant of sexual and other types of impurity. To make himself available for his encounter with the holy angels, the practitioner must match their level of purity. This concern is common in early Jewish magical texts and is made explicit in a Geniza text dating to the eleventh century, which provides the following description of the practitioner:
[If he] wanders upon the path of purity, and (if) purity is in his body and purity is in his esh, (and if) he occupies himself with these (divine) namesthen he resembles an angel and a high priest. (In) everything that he does he will not return empty-handed. (Scha fer 1996, p. 555)

Parenthetically, it is interesting to note that a similar notion of purity permeates the theology of the Qumran sect (see, e.g., Dimant 1996). The Geniza text just cited is instructive for another reason; it makes extensive use of the trial of the suspected adulteress found in Numbers 5:1131. According to this biblical passage, this woman is made to drink bitter water consisting of a mixture of holy water, dust from the oor of the tabernacle, and the dissolved scroll on which the priest has written the appropriate curses. Using the biblical verses as a frame, the Geniza text greatly expands on the curse formula and includes a magical adjuration full of divine names. Moreover, as a replacement for the sacral water and tabernacle dust, which were, of
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course, unavailable to the practitioner, the text prescribes the use of running water from a spring and dust from the synagogue. It thus makes the bold claim to continue a biblically mandated practice connected with the temple something the rabbinic movement was loath to do. As Scha fer observes, this allows us to attribute the origins of this text to circles close to thoseresponsible for the Hekhalot literature, which indulges in temple fantasies and is very concerned to locate its mystical and magical exercises in a temple setting (Scha fer 1996, p. 544). Non-Magical Citations Biblical citations and allusions in early Jewish magic do not always have an immediately magical purpose. For example, magical texts commonly introduce an adjuration with liturgical praises and requests for favor couched in verses from the book of Psalms, such as Psalm 119:64, Your steadfast love, O Lord, lls the earth! or Psalm 44:27, Arise and help us, redeem us, as bets your faithfulness (see, e.g., Schiffman & Swartz 1992, p. 112; l. 19; p. 150, l. 19; Naveh & Shaked 1998, p. 223, ll. 12). Such citations are quite distinct from the incantatory uses noted above. In other cases, biblical quotations seem to simply result from the popularity of biblical language and categories in Jewish society. For instance, a recipe for gaining political inuence contains instructions for being heard by a prince and a judge. The phrase a prince and a judge derives from Exodus 2:14, where Moses is asked, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Clearly, the biblical language here is not cited for its magical powers. Rather, it simply provides the categories for the purpose of the magic recipe. Examples of this sort could easily be multiplied.
BIBLICAL HISTORIOLAE

Basic Form The most basic variety of biblical historiola appears in the form, Just as X (=biblical precedent) happened, so Y (=desired result) shall happen. An excellent example is observed in an amulet for one Siahm daughter of Sitt al-Ahl, which reads, Just as they sent the angel of the presence to Daniel, so shall he overcome all people, and the mouths of all people should be shut, as well as the mouth of Musa son of Jala, that he may not harm me (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 211). This text utilizes the power of the story of Daniels salvation from the lions den (Daniel 6) to bring about the protection of the client. More specically, the amulet seems to have Daniel 6:23 in mind, My God has sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions, and they did not hurt me. Another clear example appears in a recipe to achieve sleep, which, in an Aramaic paraphrase following the language of Targum Onkelos, simply recalls Gods action in Genesis 2:21, Blessed is he who caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept; so shall N son of N sleep, Amen Amen Selah (Naveh & Shaked 1998, p. 227). Catenae For increased efcacy, some magical texts successively list several biblical historiolae from different parts of the Bible. As a rule, these relate directly to the theme of the magical aim. For example, the above-mentioned magic recipe to nullify harmful spells turns to the failure of both the plans of the generation of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11) and the plans of the wicked advisor Ahitophel (2 Samuel 17) successively. A curse attached to a codex of the Pentateuch states that anyone who sells or steals this bookshall be under the ban of the God of Hosts and under the ban that Joshua son of Nun imposed on Jericho,
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and under the ban that the ten brothers of Joseph imposed (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 213). In other cases, a biblical historiola will appear in a chain of non-biblical precedents invoking the powers of natural order. For instance, the above-mentioned recipe for instilling hatred between individuals, in addition to summoning the power of the great hatred that Amnon felt for Tamar (2 Samuel 13), alludes to the hatred of a dog in front of a cat andthe hatred of a dog in front of a swine (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 150). A recipe for the subjugation of all people cites the subjugation of the sea before the children of Israel (Exodus 14) as well as that of the sand before the sea, and the sea before God, and human beings before death, and death before God (Naveh & Shaked 1993, p. 201). Physical Activation As with biblical citations, the activation of the power of a biblical precedent sometimes involves the use of exotic props. A good example occurs in a Geniza recipe that alludes to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) to bring about the destruction of an enemy. Over a concoction containing his own urine as well as that of a donkey and a black bull, the client is told to read the following spell seven times:
You are the power of the great God, you are the spirit of the world (with?) which God overturned Sodom and Gomorrahso shall you overturn and uproot and exile NN from his home and from his place.

In this case, the terrible smell of the liquid mixture presumably allows it to be equated with the smelly sulfurous re that rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah in illo tempore (Bohak 2008, p. 313). The recitation of the spell thus draws the power of the mythical biblical substance and infuses the magicians urine mixture with it. Finally, it is worth mentioning a cure for leprosy that appears in The Sword of Moses, another magical handbook from post-talmudic Babylonia. The cure calls for the client to rst recite an adjuration commanding the disease to disappear and then to dip seven times in the river. Lastly, he is to write out the original adjuration on an amulet and wear it on his neck (Gaster & Daiches 1986, p. 37). While no biblical story is explicitly cited here, a vital part of the cure appears to be based on 2 Kings 5, where the Syrian general Naaman is healed from leprosy after dipping in the Jordan River seven times. Thus, in this case, the efcaciousness of the cure draws on the potency of an implied biblical precedent. Conclusion The employment of the Bible in early Jewish magic was a creative and uid process. Indeed, while certain passages were utilized more often than others, there was never a xed list of verses or stories designated for magical purposes. The selection of a particular verse or story depended largely on the needs of the client as well as the magicians ingenuity and depth of scriptural knowledge. We thus nd that the number of biblical verses used in Jewish magic seems to have grown enormously with the centuries, and probably keeps on growing to this day (Bohak 2008, p. 309). In a similar vein, early Jewish magic did not limit itself to one particular manner of utilizing Scripture. Depending on the magicians education and familiarity with the magical arts, he or she had a variety of techniques at his or her disposal to activate the powers inhering in the Bible. With the passage of time new magical technologies were introduced, greatly increasing the tools available to the well-informed magician.
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Magicians and practitioners of early Jewish magic certainly viewed the Hebrew Bible as a source of awesome and mysterious power waiting to be unleashed. However, the ubiquitous and diverse use of Scripture in the magic texts indicates that the Bible was much more than that. As the non-magical uses of the Bible encountered in magical texts make clear (see above, 3.1.8), it also served as a vital source of spiritual inspiration and a familiar and authoritative frame of reference. Short Biography Joseph Angel is Instructor of Bible at Yeshiva University in New York City, where he lectures in Hebrew Bible and classical Jewish history. His research focuses on the literature of the late Second Temple period and the signicant role it plays in the reconstruction of classical Judaism. More particularly, his work examines how the religious and legal perspectives preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls recongure the Hebrew Bible and shed light on the nature of the Qumran community, as well as the development of both rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. Dr Angels forthcoming book, Seeking a Higher Service: Otherworldly and Eschatological Priesthood in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah; Brill), explores pervasive representations of priesthood in the Dead Sea Scrolls as a reection of the religious worldview of the Qumran community and related segments of Second Temple society. He holds a BA in Jewish Studies from the University of Washington and a PhD in Second Temple period history and literature from New York University. Notes
* Correspondence address: Dr Joseph Angel, 500 W. 185th Street, New York, NY 10033, USA. E-mail: jangel@ yu.edu.

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Gaster, M. & Daiches, S. (1986). Three Works of Ancient Jewish Magic. Hastings, UK: Chthonios Books. Hammond, D. (1970). Magic: A Problem in Semantics, American Anthropologist, 72, pp. 134956. Harari, Y. (2005). What is a Magical Text?: Methodological Reections Aimed at Redening Early Jewish Magic. In: S. Shaked (ed.), Ofcina Magica: Essays on the Practice of Magic in Antiquity, pp. 91124. Leiden, Brill. Hoffman, C. (2002). Fiat Magia. In: P. Mirecki and M. Meyer (eds.), Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World, pp. 17994. Leiden, Brill. Horovitz, H. (1971). Sifre DBe Rab. Leipzig: Gustav Fock. van der Horst, P. (2006). The Great Magical Papyrus of Paris (PGM IV) and the Bible. In: P. van der Horst (ed.), Jews and Christians in Their Graeco-Roman Context: Selected Essays on Early Judaism, Samaritanism, Hellenism, and Early Christianity, pp. 26979. Tu bingen, Mohr (Siebeck). Idel, M. (1988). Kabbalah: New Perspectives. London: Yale University Press. Isbell, C. (1975). Corpus of the Aramaic Incantation Bowls. Missoula: Scholars Press. Jeffers, A. (2007). Magic and Divination in Ancient Israel, Religion Compass, 1(6), pp. 68494. Lesses, R. (1998). Ritual Practices to Gain Power: Angels, Incantations, and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism. Harrisburg: Trinity Press. Levene, D. (2003). A Corpus of Magic Bowls: Incantation Texts in Jewish Aramaic From Late Antiquity. London: Kegan Paul. Meyer, M. & Smith, R. (1994). Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. Morgan, M. (1983). Sepher Ha-Razim: The Book of the Mysteries. Chico: Scholars Press. Naveh, J. & Shaked, S. (1993). Magic Spells and Formulae: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. & . (1998). Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity, 3rd edn. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. Noegel, S., Walker, J. & Wheeler, B. (2003). Introduction. In: S. Noegel, J. Walker and B. Wheeler (eds.), Prayer, Magic and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, pp. 117. University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press. a Mart nez, and Puech, E. (2000). Les Psaumes Davidiques du Rituel Dexcorcisme (11Q11). In: D. Falk, F. Garc E. Schuller (eds.), The Sapiential, Liturgical, and Poetical Texts From Qumran, pp. 16081. Leiden, Brill. Scha fer, P. (1996). Jewish Liturgy and Magic. In: H. Cancik, H. Lichtenberger, and P. Scha fer (eds.), Geschichte r Martin Hengel zum 70. Geburtstag, Vol. 1, pp. 54156. Tu Tradition-Reexion: Festschrift fu bingen, Mohr (Siebeck). . (1997). Magic and Religion in Ancient Judaism. In: P. Scha fer and S. Kippenberg (eds.), Envisioning Magic: A Princeton Seminar and Symposium, pp. 1943. Leiden, Brill. Schiffman, L. & Swartz, M. (1992). Hebrew and Aramaic Incantation Texts From the Cairo Genizah. Shefeld: Shefeld Academic Press. Scholem, G. (1980 1981). Havdala de-Rabbi Aqiva A Source for the Tradition of Jewish Magic During the Geonic Period, Tarbiz, 50, pp. 24381 (Heb.). Schrire, T. (1966). Hebrew Amulets: Their Decipherment and Interpretation. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Shaked, S. (1995). Peace Be Upon You, Exalted Angels: On Hekhalot, Liturgy and Incantation Bowls, Jewish Studies Quarterly, 2, pp. 197219. Smith, J. Z. (1995). Trading Places. In: M. Meyer and P. Mirecki (eds.), Ancient Magic and Ritual Power, pp. 1327. Leiden, Brill. Smith, M. (1996). The Jewish Elements in the Magical Papyri. In: S. J. D. Cohen (ed.), Studies in the Cult of Yahweh, Vol. 2, pp. 24256. Leiden, Brill. Swartz, M. (2006). Jewish Magic in Late Antiquity. In: S. Katz (ed.), The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. IV: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period, pp. 699720. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Trachtenberg, J. (1939). Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion. New York: Behrmans Jewish Book House (Reprinted, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, with an introduction by M. Idel). Ulrich, E. (1999). The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. Versnel, H. (1991). Some Reections on the Relationship Magic-Religion, Numen, 38, pp. 17797.

Additional Resources
Jassen, A. & Noegel, S. Jewish Magic Bibliography. [Online]. Retrieved on 25 June 2009 from: http://faculty. washington.edu/snoegel/JewishMagicBibliography.pdf. Polzer, N. (1986). The Bible in the Aramaic Magic Bowls. MA Thesis, McGill University.

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