,i; , "ligivethtft JSaais DIVINITY SCHOOL TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY THE S. DEINIOL'S .SERIES I THE INSPIRATION OF PROPHECY The S. Deiniol's Series IN PREPARATION THE POLITICAL RELATIONS OF CHRIST'S MINISTRY; WITH A STUDY OF THE TEMPTA TION. By Stephen Liberty, M.A., Subwarden of S. Deiniol's Library. MR. GLADSTONE'S PLACE IN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. By Stephen Liberty. M.A. THE INSPIRATION OF PROPHECY AN ESSAY IN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REVELATION BY G. C. JOYCE, D.D. WARDEN OF S. DEINIOL'S LIBRARY, AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE BISHOP OF S. ASAPH Hiare^o/ifv els to Ttrtvim r& "A7101' t6 \a\rjaav did ruiv irpoty-qruiv HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE 1910 OXFORD : HORACE HART PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY PREFACE This little book contains the substance of lectures delivered to the members of the Society of Sacred Study in the Dioceses of S. Asaph and Bangor. Within the narrow compass of its few pages there is obviously no pretence to completeness of treatment. I have desired only to make some suggestions for further thought and study. It will probably be admitted in all quarters that in view of recent developments of human thought some modifications need to be introduced into the traditional expression of the doctrine of Inspiration. Such a restatement demands a re-examination of the pertinent facts, and, in order to be satisfactory, must be placed in logical connexion with the first principles of a philosophy of revelation. Into these matters I do not venture to enter, but have restricted myself to the modest preliminary task of attempting to describe some of the phenomena of Inspiration, as observed from the standpoint of the psychology of religion. Recog nizing and accepting the reality and authority of the revelation enshrined in the Bible, I am convinced that the fullest and freest inquiry into the various modes of Inspiration, so far from weakening faith, cannot but serve to increase our reverence for this work of the Holy Spirit among men. CONTENTS chapter page I. Prophecy the chief mode of Inspiration i II. Divination in early Hebrew Religion . 12 III. The Psychology of Divination . . 26 IV. Transition from Divination to Prophecy 46 V. The Prophetic Excitation : its Psycho logical Conditions VI. Prophetic Audition .... VII. Prophetic Vision in Amos and Isaiah 6074 90 VIII. Prophetic Vision in Jeremiah and Ezekiel 106 IX. The Psychology of False Prophecy X. The Gift of Prophecy at Pentecost XI. Tongues and their Interpretation in the Corinthian Church XII. Prophecy in the Corinthian Church XIII. The Spirits of the Prophets 123 138152168 181 CHAPTER I PROPHECY THE CHIEF MODE OF INSPIRATION Of recent years much attention has been paid to the study of the psychology of religion. For the most part the investigation has concerned itself with those interesting but obscure processes whereby religious conviction is transmitted from mind to mind, and establishes itself in the heart of the believer. In other words, the subject of inquiry has been mainly the psychology of conversion. Comparatively speaking, the psychology of Inspiration remains an almost untrodden field. And yet it is one that invites explora tion. Conversion is the appropriation by the individual of spiritual truth already familiar to others, Inspiration the communication of something new to the world at large. If in the one case careful observation of psycho logical phenomena has to some extent revealed the conditions of the crisis in the individual life, in the other also it is possible that a similar method of inquiry may throw some light upon the transmission to man in the first instance of new fragments of divine know ledge. Revelation, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews impresses upon his readers, has been imparted to the fathers in sundry portions and diverse manners. That the process of communication has been marked throughout by an extraordinary variety none will deny. Yet the recognition of this undoubted truth is entirely 2 PROPHECY consistent with the hope that beneath the variety it may be possible to trace the working of some persistent and fixed principles. It is at least conceivable that I ' the study of man's mental capacity for the reception of new religious truth may disclose the presence of some constant factors in religious genius, some uniform peculiarities of religious temperament present in all those who have been selected by the Holy Spirit to be the medium of a revelation. In an inquiry of this kind the main source of informa tion will naturally be the personal records of revelation. From this point of view their multiformity is an immense advantage. In the divine library of the Bible we are provided with the first-hand narratives of a large number of inspired persons, diverse from one another in a hundred ways, yet alike in this, that through each one of them some fragment of spiritual truth was for the first time published to the world. It will be the purpose of our inquiry to search these records with a view to discovering something as to the conditions under which the mind of man has apprehended the Divine message. Prophecy is one of the most important of the dis tinguishing features of revealed religion. The religion of Israel possessed an immeasurable advantage over the faiths of the neighbouring tribes in being the ap pointed sphere of the working of ' men of God '. Again, at a later period in the history of the world the renewal of the gift of prophecy was the outward and visible proof of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The supreme value of the gift lay in the fact that it was the driving power of that onward and upward movement which is the incontrovertible evidence of life. The knowledge of God is like other THE CHIEF MODE OF INSPIRATION 3 knowledge in never remaining stationary. It cannot be transmitted in fixed quantity from one generation to another. There is no escape from the alternative, progress or retrogression, growth or shrinkage, develop ment or decay. And it was through prophecy that the impetus of advance was imparted ; the prophet was the man through whom ' God gave the increase '. He was, in fact, the standing example of the principle that in religion no less than in all matters of practical life men are dependent on the services of others. Mediation is a universal law. Men cannot be all alike the dis coverers of their own religion, any more than they can be the discoverers of their secular knowledge. In both cases they inherit an accumulation from the past, but what they learn from others they verify for them selves in their own experience. Yet something beyond verification there must be on occasions. And if religious and secular knowledge is to increase, there must be from time to time discoveries and revelations. In tracing out the history of religious belief we can cer tainly distinguish certain points where new truth has come in and some addition has been made to the com mon stock. How then has it come ? It would be against all analogy to suppose that the same truth has presented itself simultaneously to a number of different minds. To one man first comes the new thought, the new conception, the new interpretation, in order that by him it may be communicated to his fellows. He is the prophet, the teacher of his generation, the builder who lays another stone on the walls of the temple of wisdom. In some cases while the truth gains currency, the memory of its original promulgator passes into oblivion ; in others, his fame remains an imperishable monument. b 2 4 PROPHECY Whatever interpretation we choose to put upon the fact, it cannot be denied that for a period extending over several centuries the Hebrew religion was carried forward from stage to stage of development by a suc cession of gifted men, themselves the heirs of a great tradition and each adding in his turn his quota of fresh revelation. These men are the conspicuous and eminent examples in whose writings we may expect to find the peculiar features of prophetic inspiration more manifestly present and more easily discoverable than elsewhere. Not that every prophet was ipso facto an author. We know of several who never wrote a line, or whose writings have entirely disappeared. And doubtless there were many others whose very names are now lost to us. Yet even of these forgotten prophets it may be said that some record of their work remains imbedded in the religious history of the Jewish nation. What was the nature of their endow ment we may partially infer from our knowledge of the results which they produced. It is a point worth making, for it will prevent us from falling into the mistake of supposing that the nature of prophetic inspiration can be adequately studied without going outside the limits of the prophetic books. While that literature is, of course, incomparably the most important witness, neither is it the only evidence, nor can it be rightly appreciated except when taken in its historical context. In the development of the national religious life prophecy was a constantly present and constantly active factor, of which the extant prophetic writings are the merest fragmentary survivals. A theory of prophetic inspiration, if it is to be at all satisfactory, must fit not only the data of written prophecy as they lie before us in Scripture, THE CHIEF MODE OF INSPIRATION 5 but account also for those other facts which we gather from allusions in the historical books, or infer from a comparison of the religion of Israel with other religions. For although prophecy in the fullest sense of the word is indeed peculiar to revealed religion, yet is there something analogous to it beyond the pale. There is a wider sense in which prophecy is always present wherever and whenever men are feeling after God. The succession of the prophets is unbroken. As they have been since the world began, so will they continue to the world's end. God has not left Himself without witness. The evidence of natural religion, the rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, the simple joys of the normal human life are before the eyes of all men alike. But there have always been some endowed beyond their fellows with the capacity to see, whose ears are naturally more open to the message, and whose understanding is quicker to comprehend its meaning. So far as they respond to the obligation which the possession of these advantages imposes upon them, they become the prophets of natural religion. And on examination the analogy between their function and that of the inspired prophets of revealed religion is found to be both close and true, notwithstanding the inferiority of their spiritual endowment. And even in this matter the resemblance is more than superficial. In both the particular quality which raises them above their contemporaries is the gift of God, although in the one case only is the action of the Holy Spirit so potent and so comprehensive as to have received the name of revelation. So long as this distinction be neither blurred nor disregarded, it can involve no disparagement of the superiority attaching to Hebrew and Christian prophecy, if we direct our 6 PROPHECY attention to those points which natural and inspired prophecy seem to have in common. And because the natural precedes the spiritual, our most convenient course will be to consider the prophetic faculty first in its lower and simpler manifestations, and afterwards to ask what heights it may reach under the control of the indwelling Spirit of God. That man as man is actually capable of acquiring spiritual knowledge is the great presupposition of all religious belief. It is our human privilege to be able to see beyond the horizon of this world, and, however dimly and indistinctly, to be conscious of contact with spiritual realities. Like every other faculty, this one may in some cases be absent through congenital defect. Prolonged disuse will always bring about its atrophy. On the other hand, constant exercise will ensure an expansion to which no definite limit can be set. Granting the possibility of this continuous upward growth of the spiritual faculty we may reason ably look upon the inspired insight of the prophet as the natural power of spiritual vision raised to a higher intensity, and operating in a realm whither the ordinary man has no access. What can be said in favour of this theory will appear later. It is sufficient at the present moment to point out that upon this assumption there will be an organic relation between the psychology of Inspiration and the psychology of religious belief. The former will not be something altogether apart and distinct, sui generis, with laws and principles of its own, but will exhibit on a larger and more impressive scale the same activities as come into play in the religious life of common men. That in Inspiration there is present another and a peculiar factor, viz. the special influence of the Holy Spirit, is not for a moment denied ; THE CHIEF MODE OF INSPIRATION 7 but our contention is, that this influence is exercised not through some altogether inexplicable interposition, but through the strengthening and the exaltation of those human faculties without which there would be no religion at all among men. If so, we may infer the existence of an analogy between the inspiration of the prophet and the specially vivid consciousness of spiritual things which is distinctive of the saint. The one will illustrate the other. The working of the mind of the prophet will be rendered more intelligible through the comparison which it will be possible to establish with that of the saint. The procedure is justified by the fact that the similarities between the two are not merely accidental but arise from a funda mental identity. In both the same forces are at work acting under the control of the same psychological laws. There is also another class of facts of a very different kind, which in this connexion deserves to be brought under review. Of recent years the study of psychical research has succeeded in establishing important conclusions with regard to the existence in man of faculties extending beyond the limitations of the normal consciousness. To take a single example, the reality of telepathy can no longer be denied in face of the quantity and quality of evidence which can be produced. Nor can we shut our eyes to the fact of some degree of correspondence between these strange psychic operations and some of the phenomena of prophecy. Very possibly the proposal to draw a parallel between prophetic Inspiration and supposed psychical extravagances will not be accepted without demur. Does it not, it will be said, reduce the two things to the same level, explaining away prophecy as a mere psychological occurrence ? But although some 8 PROPHECY hesitation be natural, it is likely to be removed by a little further consideration. In this matter it is of particular importance to remember that the mode by which a given result has been achieved may be dis cussed without prejudice to the further question as to the identity of the agent. Much of the confusion of the controversy about evolution was due to a forget fulness of this distinction. It took more than a few years to establish the sufficiently obvious conclusion that a full belief in the agency of God as Creator was equally consistent with either theory as to the way in which He carried out His design, whether by slow and continuous changes, or by sudden exercises of His power. If this be true of evolution in general, it is true also of the evolution of religion and the evolution of prophecy. Man's religion is none the less a divine revelation though it may be shown to have grown out of the savage and crude superstitions of barbarous tribes. Similarly the hypothesis of the evolution of prophecy out of lower elements neither excludes nor reduces our recognition of the hand of God in the matter. No account of the history of its origin will impair our estimate of its supreme value to the world. If God has made man's body out of humbler forms of life, He may equally well have made the prophet's mind out of humbler psychical elements. If an arboreal creature be man's ancestor in the physical line, why should we fear to recognize the soothsayer and the diviner as the ancestor of the prophet in the line of mental and spiritual development ? No slur or slight will there by be cast upon prophecy. For everything has a right to be judged by what it is in itself in its completed state, not by what it was in some earlier stages of its physical or spiritual existence, still less by what its physical THE CHIEF MODE OF INSPIRATION 9 or spiritual progenitors may have been. Let prophecy be valued on its merits. The justice of its claim to be a divine message to the world is to be decided in accor dance with the evidence of what it has accomplished, not by reference to a history of its origin. What then, it will perhaps be asked, is the purpose to be served by an investigation into the first beginnings of prophecy, and by the attempt to trace its connexion with earlier and cruder spiritual manifestations ? To this question the succeeding pages of this book will, I hope, provide an answer. Here it will be sufficient to say that a study of this kind, without professing to be a royal road to the discovery of the inner meaning of prophecy, may yet contribute something towards the elucidation of what may be called the mechanism of prophecy. Just as men can only speak or hear in virtue of their possession of the requisite mental and physical equipment for these functions, so man can only prophecy in virtue of some corresponding spiritual organization. There must be some means of communi cation between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. There must be something in the nature of a spiritual ear fitted to catch the divine message ; and just as the physical ear has advanced in delicacy of perception and complexity of structure, so we may believe that there has been a corresponding advance in man's capacity for spiritual perception. We believe it possible to trace a development, both in the means of communi cation employed by the Spirit of God and in the measure of man's receptivity. In prophecy this development is completed. Yet there is no absolute break or division. .Vision _and dream and trance continue to be the modes by which the prophetic inspiration is conveyed, and may be made the subject 10 PROPHECY of inquiry in themselves apart from the contents of the message. These psychic experiences are the means of the communication of revelation very much as language is the means of the communication of thought ; and precisely as the study of the growth of language made possible through the science of comparative philology is admittedly a necessary preparation to the exegesis of our sacred books, so some knowledge of the growth and development of the religious con sciousness may render valuable aid in the interpretation of prophecy. References to visions, for example, are very frequent in the prophetic writings. In seeking to arrive at the prophet's meaning, it may be of no small advantage to know something about the mental conditions of abnormal psychic states. The requisite information must be looked for not only in the Bible, but also in secular sources. What has been said will be sufficient to indicate the limits of our inquiry, about which it is necessary to obviate any possibility of misunderstanding. Our study of inspiration will be concerned not with the thing perceived, but with the way of perceiving it." Increase of knowledge with regard to the means of perception will not, we may be sure, shake our confi dence in the objective truth of revelation. It may, however, warn us to be on our guard in certain direc tions against ascribing reality to subjective features belonging to particular presentations of the truth. A simple and obvious analogy may serve to make the point clearer. From our knowledge of the construction of the human eye, we may conclude that it is as an instrument subject to certain limitations andpossibilities of error, but the very possession of this knowledge will increase rather than diminish our confidence in its use. THE CHIEF MODE OF INSPIRATION n It will enable us also to know what measure of necessary precaution to take, and how best to secure the elimina tion of error. We are certainly under no apprehension that knowledge of the mechanism of ordinary vision will undermine our confidence in the reality of what we see. Similarly, we need not fear that* a study of the spiritual means through which the prophet received his revelation will impair our belief in its credibility and authority. The criterion of the truth of a revelation lies not in the particular circumstances with which its original communication was accompanied, but in the sustained appeal which it makes to the heart and reason and conscience of men, in the power which it possesses to answer the obstinate questionings of the soul and to inspire the peace which passes all under standing. It is because the messages transmitted to the world through the prophets have been submitted to this test and have been approved in the result that we confess them to be of a divine origin. CHAPTER II DIVINATION IN EARLY HEBREW RELIGION In order to discover the ultimate antecedents of prophecy we must be prepared to go a long way back in the religious history of the world. In accordance with what has been said already as to the function of pro phecy in natural religion, it may be plausibly contended that since the first appearance of mankind upon the earth there has never been a time when prophecy or something analogous to it has not been doing its bene ficent work. In the wider sense of the word prophecy is coeval with religion, perhaps coeval with man. For indeed the question whether primitive man had or had not a religion is primarily a matter of definition. If nothing may be called a religion except some wide synthesis of ideas as to God and the world, then it is evident that undeveloped man by reason of his inca pacity for sustained and abstract thought cannot be credited with the possession of any such system of belief. On the other hand, the researches of the anthropologists have shown that the savage of to-day, who in these respects is probably not far removed from the position of primitive man, can at all events distinguish between the natural and the supernatural. Obviously in those earliest days the conception of either term in this relation of contrast must have been far other than our own. To primitive man nature was not the system of regular sequences, the stream of events ever flowing in a channel determined by law, EARLY HEBREW RELIGION 13 the vast machine of matter and force, unresting, irresis tible, relentless, which presents itself to the imagination x>f the man of science. As little did his conception of the supernatural tally with that which we derive from our religious teachers. It was not the world of absolute and self-existent being, of eternal verities, of infinite beauty and perfect goodness. Yet incapable as primitive man may have been of entertaining concep tions such as these, he seems to have distinguished sharply enough between the natural, which coming within his ken was subject in a measure to his control, and that other supernatural world of which the powers were veiled, mysterious, overwhelming. Though he did not draw the line between the two where we place it, he drew it nevertheless and drew it clearly. As Professor Jevons x has pointed out, he may have fancied himself capable of bringing the rain, of directing the tempest, and controlling the motions of the sun, yet it was because he conceived these things to be naturally within the compass of human powers, not because he claimed supernatural skill. Confronted (for so it seemed to him) with incalculable caprice in both spheres, he still felt himself able to contend on more or less equal terms with the world of nature, whereas over against that other mysterious supernatural world he was forced to admit not only his ignorance, but his utter helplessness. Highly conjectural as any attempt to construct a theory of the origin of religion must always remain, yet there is much to be said for the view that in this sense of the mystery of the supernatural lay its seed-germ. This hypothesis it is possible to accept while leaving entirely open the many vexed questions to which as yet no answer can be given with 1 Introd. to Hist, of Religion, p. 24. r 14 DIVINATION IN any measure of probability. As to the particular causes which first occasioned this thrill in the presence of a great mystery we are in no position to dogmatize. Was it the overwhelming operations of nature, the storm and tempest, the sunrise and the starry heavens, or was it the perplexing experience of dreams ? Was the feeling aroused in primitive man nothing but an abject terror of the powers which could thwart his plans and slay himself, or was it even from the first a nobler sentiment in which awe mingled with fear ? These are questions of absorbing interest, but they do not immediately concern us. In whatever way they are answered it will still remain true that there is no trace in human history of any period when man did not feel himself to be standing in the presence of the unknown, surrounded by the supernatural. But, according to the mind of primitive man, this supernatural world with all its mystery was not shut off by an insuperable barrier. It was not ' the unknow able '. On the contrary, as far back as we can go, we find indications that men believed some of themselves to be possessed of exceptional powers and privileges, enabling them to cross the threshold of this house of mystery, to mingle with the denizens of the other world, and thereby themselves to obtain the control of supernatural forces. Out of this belief sprang both religion and magic. We need refer only in passing to the outstanding controversy as to the relation which existed between these antagonistic attitudes towards the supernatural. A school of anthropologists, as is well known, maintain the chronological priority of magic to religion. They hold that man began by imagining himself or some favoured members of his tribe to' be able to achieve otherwise impossible ends EARLY HEBREW RELIGION 15 by means of charms and spells and secret rites. Religion they suppose to have arisen when man began to regard such attempts as infringements of the divine preroga tive. In opposition to magic he sought to accomplish the same end by means of enlisting the goodwill of the gods on his behalf through prayer and sacrifice. This derivation of religion from magic has in its favour the appearance of following the natural order in pre senting the higher system as evolved from the lower. On the other hand, it raises difficulties which have never been satisfactorily explained. Once given the belief in magic as a point of departure it may be easy to suggest causes accounting for its gradual transformation into religion. But whence came that original belief, which is the necessary starting point of the theory ? No answer is forthcoming. As a matter of fact, it is no whit more legitimate nor any easier to assume the existence of a primaeval belief in magic than to take f or granted the dim feeling of awe which was the beginning of religion. To assume the evolution of religion out of magic is as much an hypothesis, and in the opinion oi many competent judges, a less probable hypothesis, than to account for magic as the degradation of religion. For our purpose the point to be insisted upon is not the priority of one to the other, but the cardinal fact that very early in their respective careers religion and magic were definitely opposed to one another as respec tively licit and illicit modes of converse with the supernatural powers. The whole course of religion over an immense period of time was governed by the hostility between the two. The one worked in the light, the other in the darkness ; the one publicly claimed recognition and allegiance from the community, the other extended its influence by secret appeals to 16 DIVINATION IN the fears and superstitions of individuals. Doubtless there have been countries where for a period the practice of magic has been so universally condoned in fact, if not approved in theory, as to gain a complete predominance over religion. Yet even in such circumstances the stigma of secrecy has clung to the black art. Its professors have been in the position of pretenders who for the time being have succeeded in placing themselves upon the throne of authority, but are liable at any moment to be overthrown by a counter-revolution in favour of the legitimate claimants. The profound antagonism between religion and magic was largely due to the fact that they were rivals in their offer to supply man with something which he eagerly desired, viz. supernatural knowledge ensuring him success in his schemes, victory in battle, or revenge upon his enemies. Alternative methods were open to the man who sought to avail himself of this superhuman assistance. He could either go openly to the priest of the tribe, avowing his intention and indeed gaining credit for his religious action, or furtively and in secret he might visit the magician. To obtain information at the sanctuary by means of the casting of the sacred lot, or by any one of the infinitely various modes of augury would be an entirely legitimate proceeding, whereas to have recourse to the witch or the necro mancer, though possibly in the opinion of the inquirer a more effective measure, would not be one for which he would expect to receive the approbation of his fellows. Approval of divination and condemnation of magic was the usual verdict of public opinion in the heathen world. In the sharpest possible contrast with this atti tude we find divination and magic bracketed together EARLY HEBREW RELIGION 17 in one common condemnation by the Hebrew writer — Deut. xviii. 10, 11 : ' There shall not be found among you any one . . . that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.' The whole context of the passage is of prime importance on account of the light which it throws on the development of the Hebrew religion. That it indicates a great advance in religious conceptions is evident. The prohibition of divination is meant to prepare the way for the commendation of prophecy, and the whole mind of the writer is profoundly influenced by his sense of the contrast between the respective functions of diviner and prophet . It was essential to the religious life of the nation that the latter should take the place of the former. Like his predecessor he will be a vehicle of supernatural knowledge, but in a different and far higher way. The verses that follow enable us to form a picture of what the writer conceived the true prophet to be, and of the character of the divine communications which he was to transmit to his people. Very significantly the principal characteristic is indicated by a phrase put into the mouth of Moses, ' a prophet like unto me.' How much that meant we cannot properly appreciate until we reflect on the nobility and the dignity of the figure of Moses as depicted in the Book of Deuteronomy. The great lawgiver is more than the founder of a nation and the promulgator of a code ; he is the exponent of the eternal principles of righteousness and the revealer of the divine nature. No prophet could be described as ' like him ' who did not in his degree deal with the same high themes and expound them with a like authority. Whereas the diviner had not risen beyond *• the part of a supernatural adviser, ready to exercise c 18 DIVINATION IN his powers in the interest of a consultant, the prophet is to stand in an altogether different relation to the v/people. He comes forward not primarily in answer to their inquiries, but spontaneously, impelled by the conviction that God has put words into his mouth, and conscious that he is charged with a message which he must needs deliver. Words so spoken are equivalent to a divine command, imposing an obligation which ? cannot be evaded or neglected. Hence the prophet moved on a different plane from the diviner, who aspired only to supply in individual cases the resource of supernatural knowledge. The religion of which the authorized spokesman has become such a prophet as is here described has advanced far along the road of - ethical and spiritual development. To this higher level the religion of Israel had been raised when this passage was written. Whatever may have been the religious standpoint of the multitude, the nobler minds, at all events, had formed a worthy conception of what a divine messenger and a divine communication should be. This point of development was not reached until after many previous stages had been traversed. With the help of the narratives and allusions in the historical books of the Old Testament we are able in some measure to trace the line of advance. The evidence is not abundant in quantity, but it is sufficient to show that the distinction between divination and prophecy, profoundly important as we have seen it to be, was not ^original in the religion of Israel. In the early days of ! the national history divination was a popular and ! approved practice. Prophecy in the later sense of the •- word had not yet come upon the scene. The studies of the last half century have sufficiently established the fact that between the religion of Israel EARLY HEBREW RELIGION 19 and that of the neighbouring tribes there was the closest external resemblance. It is an obvious corollary that the rites and ceremonies of the Israelites will often become intelligible only when illustrated by a com parison with those of the kindred nations. The com mon religion of the Semites was the foundation on which the Spirit of God built up the religion of Israel. It is antecedently probable that in this matter of divination and magic, so characteristic of early religions, the points of resemblance should be particularly close and striking. The expectation is fully borne out on examination. The Hebrew language bears its witness to the fact that the Hebrews and their heathen kinsfolk derived their superstitious practices from a common ancestral tradition. The very words used in these verses to describe the forbidden arts reappear in the cognate Semitic languages with similar meanings attached to them.1 There is evidence to show that from the time when the Israelites established themselves in Palestine they were accustomed to practice divination, and there is every reason to think that the habit was far more ancient, having been inherited by them from pre-Mosaic times. Positive evidence on the point is, however, lacking. The language of the Pentateuch with regard to the actions of the Patriarchs cannot safely be cited, since it reflects more probably the feelings of the time when the narratives were committed to writing than those of the primitive society which it describes. It is, therefore, in the surviving historical books that we must look for our earliest information upon the point in question. In the book of Judges what evidence there is 1 Cf. Driver, Deuteronomy, pp. 223-6 ; W. R. Smith, Journal of Philology, xiii. 273 ff. ; xiv. 113 ff. C 2 20 DIVINATION IN is somewhat indirect, but it points definitely in this direction. Indications are often preserved in the names of places. Thus the reference to the oak of the diviners (D^iyt?), Judges ix. 37, witnesses to the prevalence of a particular kind of divination by means of a sacred tree. The Danites on their way to search for new territory asked Micah's Levite to divine for them (Judges xviii. 5). When the Israelites desired to inflict punishment on the Benjamites they appealed more than once for direction by means of the oracle (xx. 18, 27). It is highly probable that the whole account of this religious war between Benjamin and the rest of Israel is largely the work of a late hand. The numbers of the forces engaged are vastly exaggerated, and the reversals of fortune on consecutive days are prodigious in their suddenness and completeness. But the particular inci dent of recourse to the oracle in war is entirely in keeping with primitive practice. The late redactor to whom the insertion of these verses is most probably due had in this matter a more accurate conception of the probabilities of the case than a modern commentator who writes as follows : ' This way of making war in which the operations are immediately directed by Jahweh through his oracle, and the fighting interspersed with religious exercises, is altogether different from the wars of the Judges in the earlier part of the book. It is not history, it is not legend, but the theocratic idea of a scribe who had never handled a more dangerous weapon than the imaginative pen.' x This criticism is less judicious than it is vigorously expressed. That the furnishing of advice in the critical emergencies of war was one of the chief functions of the oracle can be shown by the evidence of parallel instances in 1 Moore, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, ad loc. EARLY HEBREW RELIGION 21 biblical history which will come under our notice when we turn to the book of Samuel. The practice was indeed so general as to have left traces of itself in many parts of the world and among many races. It will be sufficient to quote a few examples from different sources. The primitive Arabs are said always to have consulted the oracle before commencing a campaign, precisely as the Hebrews are here represented as doing.1 Ezekiel pictures Nebuchadnezzar as determining by divination in the presence of the idol whether he shall advance against Rabbah or Jerusalem (Ezek. xxi. 21). Still later in the history of the world a cultured Athenian general allowed his military operations to be entirely altered in deference to unpropitious omens (Thuc. vii. 50). Such evidence could, if necessary, be multiplied indefinitely. The imagination of the pious scribe who penned the account of the war between Benjamin and the tribes was, at any rate in this particular, true to fact. In the same book of Judges we find references to the Ephod and to the Teraphim. The explanation of these terms is a very obscure question in which cer tainty is unattainable. But there seems reason to suppose that both the words signify images used in connexion with divination. The ephod in Judges viii. 27, xvii, xviii, cannot possibly be the highly ornamental priestly garment described at length in Exod. xxviii, nor the linen ephod as worn by the young Samuel in his ministrations (1 Sam. ii. 18). That it was an image of some sort would seem to follow from the expression in Judges viii. 27, ' he set it up,' and in Judges xvii. 4, 5, where the graven and molten image apparently correspond with the ephod and teraphim. The fact that the sword of Goliath was kept behind 1 Cf. Whitehouse, in Hastings's Bible Dictionary, iv. 198. 22 DIVINATION IN the ephod suggests that the latter was an image standing in front of a wall.1 The ephod with which Abiathar comes to David is evidently the instrument of divina tion (i Sam. xxiii. 9). The narrative of David's escape through the ruse of Michal in putting the teraphim in his bed indicates that it also was an image in human shape, and easily mistaken for the body of a sleeper. Allusions in later books confirm the view that there was a close connexion between the teraphim and divination (Ezek. xxi. 21 ; Zech. x. 2). When we turn to the books of Samuel a convenient point of departure for our investigation is afforded by those texts in which there is a reference to ' inquiring of the Lord ' (1 Sam. x. 22 ; xxii. 10, 13, 15 ; xxiii. 2, 4 ; xxviii. 6 ; xxx. 8 ; 2 Sam. ii. 1 ; v. 19, 23). In every one of these passages the object of the inquiry is to obtain definite direction from the oracle. An alternative or a succession of alternatives is proposed (cf. 1 Sam. xxiii. 10 ff.), to which, by some means not precisely described, an answer is forthcoming either affirmative or negative. Upon the strength of the information thus sought and obtained action is taken and the danger successfully avoided {v. 13). Even more interesting and important is the significant use of the expression ' seek God '. So familiar has the phrase become, and so intimately associated with the rich spiritual connotation which it bears in Deute ronomy, the Prophets, and the Psalms, that our attention cannot but be aroused when we find it used in another context and with a far lower significance. Yet that it had originally a different meaning is plain beyond question. ' Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to seek God he spake thus, Come and let us go to the seer ' 1 Cf. Nowack's Hebrdische Archa'ologie, ii. 21. EARLY HEBREW RELIGION 23 (1 Sam. ix. 9).1 Both in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version the word has been ren dered ' inquire of ' without marginal note. Thus a point of real importance is obscured. Once upon a time the phrase " to seek God ' meant to have recourse to the oracle in order to obtain advice in some practical difficulty. The conception of spiritual effort, of the striving of the soul towards God, had not yet been imported into the words. They belong to an altogether lower level of religious thought, when the presence of God was conceived as connected in some mysterious way with the holy place and with the ministrations of the seer. The remainder of the narrative describing the visit of Saul to Samuel is no less instructive in the light which it throws upon the position of the diviner in early Israel. It is plainly excellent evidence derived from some nearly contem poraneous source ; and it shows how the seer might be consulted on matters entirely private and secular, and how he was entitled to receive a fee from the inquirer. There seems to be little doubt that the references to Urim and Thummim allude to the practice of obtaining a reply from the oracle by the means of casting lots with sacred stones. A reconstructed text of 1 Sam. xiv. 41, based upon the reading of the LXX, points in this direction. ' Why hast thou not answered thy servant this day ? If this iniquity be in me or in my son Jona than, O Lord God of Israel give Urim, but if it be in thy people Israel give Thummim.' 2 Successive castings 1 ?¦n'jN tm';. The higher meaning subsequently attached to the phrase did not exclude the lower. Cf. : Kings xxii. 8 ; Jer. xxi. 2 ; Ezek. xx. i. ' Cf. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel, ad loc. 24 DIVINATION IN of the sacred lot bring home the guilt to the King's son ; and the explanation of the withdrawal of the divine help is forthcoming. It is clear from this and similar passages that the assistance of the oracle was regarded by the worshipper as his due from the God whom he worshipped. And hence it was that Saul, having forfeited the divine aid, conceived himself to bs constrained to adopt illicit means for obtaining this indispensable support. If he had not felt himself help less without this supernatural advice he would never have been guilty of the inconsistency of betaking himself to the witch of Endor after the vigorous measures which he had himself taken in the past against witchcraft. The evidence which we have been considering goes to show that up to the time of Samuel, at least, divination was a common practice among the Hebrews, so common indeed as to be an integral part of their religion. In the seer, such as we have seen him to be, the communi cator not of spiritual instruction but of pressingly needed information, often secular in character, we might have failed to discover the spiritual progenitor of the great religious teachers of succeeding centuries, had not Scripture itself called our attention to the fact. ' He that is now called a prophet was beforetime called a seer ' (i Sam. ix. 9). Presently we shall endeavour to trace the course of the process of transition by which the seer was transformed into the prophet, and with this purpose in mind will return to the consideration of the life of Samuel. For in him who was pre-eminently both seer and prophet we may expect to observe the working of the natural and spiritual forces which effected the transformation. It was not, of course, immediate and complete. Long afterwards certain EARLY HEBREW RELIGION 25 characteristics of the diviner are still recognizable in the prophet. Before, however, proceeding to deal with the development of prophecy, it will be well at this point to attempt an answer to some further questions bearing on the psychology of divination. Any con clusions that it may be possible to reach with regard to the psychology of the seer will provide a definite basis for the further pursuit of the corresponding inquiry into the nature of prophecy. CHAPTER III THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DIVINATION Although the Biblical evidence is sufficient to warrant the assertion that divination was commonly practised among the Hebrews, yet is it necessarily limited in variety and quantity. In the Bible alone we could hardly expect to find materials for the construction of a theory of divination. The number of facts mentioned is too small, the basis of induction too restricted. Can we legitimately enlarge our field of observation by giving admission to evidence derived from the records of heathen divination ? The answer to this question will obviously depend upon the extent and the validity of the analogy which we find to exist between the inspired and the uninspired diviner. Should the points of similarity be confined to the mere external circum stances, the superficiality of the analogy would render it devoid of any real significance. If, on the other hand, the likeness between the two can be shown to be close and striking, embracing not only the outward details but some of the deeper forces at work, then conclusions based upon the facts of heathen divination may properly serve as a guide to the interpretation of similar phenomena among the Hebrews. Doubtless it will be necessary at the same time to take equally careful note of the points of difference, which will be found no less remarkable than the points of likeness. However similar Jewish and heathen divination may have been in their origins and in the earlier stages of THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DIVINATION 27 their development, they certainly issued in very different results. It will therefore be necessary to seek for an explanation, not only of their common features, but also of that difference of spirit, which manifested itself with an ever-increasing clearness. The comparison and contrast which we desire to institute between Jewish and ethnic divination might be widely illustrated from the data collected for the purposes of comparative religion. It will not, however, be necessary for us to deal with the question at length. Even if we confine our attention almost exclusively to the familiar field of classical literature, we shall there find a considerable quantity of evidence bearing on the subject in hand. Rome, indeed, afforded no very favourable soil for any plant of religious growth. The genius of the people had a different bent. And though, like all other nations of antiquity of which we have knowledge, they inherited and continued to practice an elaborate system of divination, yet. early in their history oracles and omens became to them matters of comparatively small interest. In the treatise of Cicero, De Divinatione, we are provided with the means of forming some conception of the ideas current among men of education about this matter at the close of the republican period. If any belief at all was still retained, it was presumably of the kind ascribed in the Dialogue to Quintus, a traditional acceptance of the supposed facts of divination, without any attempt to give a reason for them, or to ascertain why certain signs should be supposed arbitrarily to predict good or bad fortune.1 Belief having so far decayed was bound before long either to disappear entirely or to sink into the crudest 1 ' Hoc sum contentus quod etiam si quomodo quidque fiat ignorem, quid fiat intelligo ' (i. 9). 28 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DIVINATION superstition. Little light is therefore likely to be thrown upon the problem of divination by a litera ture which did not begin to flow in any abundance until after this point of scepticism had been already reached. In Greek literature, on the other hand, it is possible to trace the development of opinion with regard to divination through many stages, beginning with an uncritical credulity and ending with philosophic detach ment. We are enabled to follow the process from first to last ; and the history is the more instructive, because, allowing for the many obvious differences of national character and temperament, the prevalence and influ ence of divination in Greece present some marked resemblances with what we have seen to be the case in Israel. In both countries there was the same general attitude of expectancy, the same unquestioning belief in the possibility of ascertaining facts by superhuman means, the same ready recourse to the oracle in every kind of emergency, and even to some extent the use of identical methods.1 Recent archaeological discovery has provided a quantity of new information with regard both to Semitic and to Greek magic, all tending to illustrate the essential similarity of the two systems. We, however, are concerned not with the subsequent morbid developments, but with that earlier simpler belief in the accessibility of supernatural knowledge to which no stigma attached. A bare enumeration of a few facts, illustrated by references to familiar classical writers, will be sufficiently significant. In Greece and in Israel alike men turn to the oracle in time of war,2 1 Cf. Kohler, Der Prophetismus der Hebraer und die Mantik der Griechen ; Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la Divination dans I' A ntiquiU, 4 vols. * Herod, i. 53. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DIVINATION 29 on occasions of sickness,1 for the solution of ritual questions.2 Divination by lot, which we have seen to be familiar to the Hebrews, was not unknown among the Greeks, though the references to it are not numerous. It is mentioned as in use at Delphi.3 — Dreams are accepted as a special mode of divine communication. In the Old Testament examples are frequent and familiar. The book of Genesis alone provides several instances — the dreams of Jacob, of Joseph, of Pharaoh. Similarly in Homer dreams come with a message from heaven.4 Sometimes they explain themselves ; at other times they require an interpreter. Eurydamas, like Joseph, or like the friend to whom the Midianite related his dream (Judges vii. 14), has this faculty of interpretation (II. v. 149). Dreams that come to sleepers who pass the night within the precincts of the oracle have a peculiar claim to be regarded as significant. Thus Solomon receives his revelation with regard to the future of his reign at Gibeon, where was the ' great high place '. At various places in Greece there were temples to which people resorted with the special intention of there passing the night and obtaining some supernatural communica tion by means of a dream. Such was the temple of Amphiaraus at Oropus. The Lacedaemonian leaders used to sleep at the temple of Pasiphae with similar expectations.5 In the Old Testament we come across references to various other modes of divination for which parallels may be cited from Greek antiquity, such as divination 1 Herod, i. 19. 2 Plato, Legg. bk. vi, p. 759. Cf. Zech. vii. 3. 3 Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la Divination, i. 194. K\ijpofiayrtia, ipnipoftavTeia. ' Koi yap r ovap lie Aids ianv, II. i. 63. E Cicero, De Divin. i. 43. 30 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DIVINATION by means of rods or arrows (Hos. iv. 12),1 by means of water or wine in the bowl (Gen. xliv. 5),2 by means of reference to the spirits of the dead (Lev. xix. 31 ; Isa. viii. 19).3 But, interesting as the comparison might be, we will not pursue it further. For there is no proof that such methods were used by those diviners whom we believe to have been the spiritual progenitors of the prophets. On the contrary, they are only men tioned in the Old Testament with severe condemnation, and are declared to be incompatible with fidelity to the national religion. There is thus a sharp contrast between them and the sacred lot and dream, which, as we have seen, are recognized with approval in early times. Everywhere the most important and most popular method of divination has been the consultation of the specially gifted seer, who claims to be the mouthpiece of his God. His convulsed condition, his loss of normal consciousness, the complete suspension for the time being of the ordinary mental functions, were the salient features which were accepted among the Hebrews no less than among the Greeks as the visible proofs of inspiration. The famous description in the Aeneid paints the distressed condition of the seer at the moment of the supposed divine afflatus : non voltus, non color unus, Non comptae mansere comae ; sed pectus anhelum, Et rabie fera corda tument ; maiorque videri, Nee mortale sonans, adflata est numine quando lam propiore dei. Aen. vi. 47 ff. The prophets whom Saul met, and to whose company he joined himself , under the influence of their infectious 1 pabSoftavrtia. 2 ^euavo/taVTeia, itpo/xavTeia, ' vatpofiavrfia THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DIVINATION 31 enthusiasm exhibited traits of abnormal excitement not altogether unlike those which Virgil attributes to the priestess (1 Sam. xix. 24). That men so affected exhibited symptoms closely resembling those of insanity is evident from both languages. In Hebrew the same word is used to describe both prophecy and frenzy (cf. 1 Sam. xviii. 10) 1; and the prophet who comes to Jehu is referred to as this mad fellow (2 Kings ix. 11). Plato, with an intention half serious, half ironical, comments at some length in the Phaedrus on a supposed connexion between prophecy and madness.2 But supposing it to be granted that the same benefits were expected from divination in Greece as in Israel, and also that externally the diviners of both nations must have closely resembled one another, the question still remains to be asked, whether the resemblance goes deeper than externals. Did ethnic divination actually succeed in doing in some measure for the Greeks what we believe inspired divination to have accomplished for the Hebrews ? Or was the whole system one of fraud from top to bottom ? Rationalism of course refuses all credence in either case. The mere notion of communication through the seer of information un attainable by ordinary means is scouted as an impossi bility not worthy of discussion. All such tales should be dismissed at once as mere idle fables, whether they appear in the Bible or in Herodotus. To the credulous, on the other hand, the element of the marvellous has a profound attraction. They have been as prompt in their acceptance of these narratives as the rationalists have been in their rejection. It is easy to see that sweeping views such as these are dictated by opposite prejudices. And yet both these extreme positions are ' Minn. 2 navriK-q and navmrj, Phaedrus, p. 244. 32 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DIVINATION more easily defensible on logical grounds than the undiscriminating acceptance of all the Biblical accounts of divination, combined with the equally undiscrimi nating rejection of all narratives of the kind in secular literature. It is as necessary to be on our guard against an undue scepticism in these matters as against an excessive credulity. And, indeed, unless one is prepared to do violence to the evidence and to decide the question on entirely a priori grounds, it is impossible to maintain that heathen divination was nothing but an elaborate system of astute trickery. When every possible allow ance has been made for the extreme credulity of the ancient world, and for the prodigious influence of superstition, there yet remains a body of testimony which it would be sheer prejudice to ignore. Obviously the evidence for particular cases will not come up to the standard required by the Society for Psychical Research ; but we must give its due weight to the deliberate conclusions of some of the keenest minds of the ancient world — conclusions, be it remembered, maintained in the face of adverse criticism. Euripides may dismiss the whole hypothesis of divination with a characteristic epigram,1 but the philosophers, who had no lack of opportunity of testing the evidence and detecting fraud, were by no means unanimous in their rejection of the diviner's claims. Moreover, they reached their conclusion in spite of a critical attitude towards popular religion. Naturally Epicurus and Xenophanes adopted a position of complete scepticism, and the Peripatetics maintained a reasonable contempt for omens. But not only was a mystic like Pythagoras a believer in divination, but even Aristotle is reported to have credited the human soul with a certain capacity 1 ftavns apiarot offns dica(