Qui observat auguria). In Gen. xliv. 5, 15, this somewhat general word is used of divining by the cup; the Greek KoNLKogavrEia. Primitively this was the drinking cup which contained the libation to the gods (Potter). This divination prevailed more in the East and in Egypt. The LXX. Koval', used to designate Joseph's cup, resembles both the Arabic UJ and the Hindu kundi, sacred chalice (Schleusner, Lex . V. T. s .y. ; Kit to, B ib. Illus. i. One of the Assyrian kings, in the sculptures from Nimroud, holds a divining cup in his right hand. The famous cup of Djemscheed which is the constant theme of the poetry and mythology of Persia, was said to have been discovered full of the elixir of im mortality, while digging to lay the foundation of Per sepolis. It possessed the property of representing the whole world in its concavity, and all things good and bad then going on it. Homer describes Nestor's cup in similar manner ; and Alexander the Great had a mystic cup of a like kind. In the storming of Ser ingapatam the unfortunate Tippoo Saib retired to gaze on his divining cup ; after standing a while absorbed, he returned to the fight and soon fell. The great magitien' Merlin's cup is described (Spenser's Faerie &eerie, 111. 2. 19) 'Like to the world itselfe, it scene d a world of glas.' In Nor den's Travels in Egypt, and Capt. Cook's voyages, the use of divining cups in modern Nubia and at Tongataboo, one of the Friendly Islands, is men tioned. The orientals ascribe much of Solomon's wisdom to his possession of a sacred cup, a Clam schid, or vase of the sun. (D'Herbelot, s. v. Giam ; Occult Sciences, 317.) The supposed virtues of the divining cup in the East probably suggested the language of, e.g., Psalm xvi. The Lord is the portion of rny cup ;' xxiii. cup runneth over,' etc. (Bonomi's Nineveh, etc., p. 306.) But the versions of the LXX. and Vulgate give quite a different turn to our t:imn, and point to that part of the augurial art which consisted of omens from birds [6pinOop.avrela, olievicrybs, bpvtOoatcortici)]. The Syriac and Arabic versions favour this view au.
gurari ab animali alato]. Birds in their flight ovet the earth were supposed to observe men's secret actions, and to be cognisant of accidents, etc. [Cfr. Eccl. x. 20]. Aristophanes (Birds) says, ()Oath oThe r6v Tap lAdv, AXje If TEl etp' lipvis, none but some bird perhaps knours of my treasure: so that the birds assume prerogatives of deity ; eap.cv I' 15,uiv'A,u,uwp, AEX002., Acoothvi, OdOos 'Ar6XXwv, we are as good as oracles and gods to you, etc. The notes, the flight, and the feeding of birds were the main phenomena. [Augur, ab avium garritu ; auspex auspicium a6 avibus speciendis ; Bochart, ed. Leusd. H. 19.] Homer is full of this divination, IL dr. 3 to ; Od. 6. 16o, et passim. So the Latin classics, see Servius, Virg. lEn. iii. 361 (` ayes oscines, prapetes') ; also Cicero, Fam. vi. 6, 13 ; De Divin. ii. 72, etc., and Liv. x. 40 (tritudium solistimum). For qualities of various birds, see Potter, xv. and Occult Sciences 142, 143. This divination was much in vogue in the East also ; so Cicero (de Div.) 'Arabes avium significationibus plurimum obtemperant.' So Philostratus ( Vit.
Apollon. i. 14) speaks of this, as r6p ' Apiptou rpbrop. Porphyrius (De Abstin. Animal. iii.) says "Apari'es lucoUovae. Rabbinical doctors dis cover az,rug among king Solomon's attainments, in such passages as Eccl. x. 20, and I Kings iv. 30.
Rashi comments nInvn )1:b] 0D71, learned in the tongue of birds ; So Kimchi and the Midbar Rabba, xix. The root rim has the primary sense of a low hissing, whispering sound ; from this arises the derivative uin] a serpent, of frequent occurrence in 0. T. Gesenius, Thes. 875 ; Lex, by Robinson, 665, and Furst, Hcbr. Worterb. 31, prefer to de rive from the primary sense [q. d. divinare vel augurari as general terms] ; but Bochart, H. 21, 22, peremptorily derives from the second ary sense of the serpent, and discovers in this divination called 60Louarreta. Fiirst admits this as `tolerable' (nicht unpassend). Classical instances of Ophioniancy occur in Iliad B. 308 ; zErieid, v. 84 ; Cicero, De Div. i. 18, 36 ; Valer. Maxim. i. 6, 8; Terent. Phorm. iv. 4, 26 ; Clem. Alex. Strom. vii.; Horat. farm. ill. 27, 5. [Ac cording to Hesychius, s. v. olceubs, and Suidas, s. v. oluivio-ruch, omens from serpents as well as from birds formed a usual branch of the augur's art ; hence probably the general phrase employed in the LXX. and other versions.] Serpent-charming, re ferred to in Psalm lviii. 5, and Jer. viii. 17, is a part of this divination. Frequent mention of this art also occurs in both ancient and modern writers. (See Kalisch on Exod. vii. 12, who [after Winer, R-w-buch, ii. 719] refers to rElian, Hist. Anion. xvii. 5 ; Sil. Italic. iii. 300 ; Strabo, xii. 814 ; Gellius, Noct. Attic. xvi. 11; Travels, 354; Niebuhr, Travels, i. 189 ; Bochart. Hieroz. iii. 162 ' • Descrip tion de /Egypte, viii. 108 ; xviii. 1, 333. [In I. 159 there is a description of the feats of some Cairo jugglers with the serpent Hale]; .Quatremere, stir l'Egypte, i. 202 ; M11.12011, Travels, 226 j Hengstenberg, Mos. and Egypt, ; Lane, Mod. Egypt, ii. 23o). The serpent was the symbol of health and healing (Anguis Aesculapius, ruin. xxiv. 4. 22); Moses' brazen serpent (Numb. xxi. 9), which was aUpPoXov (Wisdom xvi. 6, comp. John iii. 14), was at length made an object of idolatrous worship. Hezekiah, to destroy thr charm, reduced its name to its mere material tm'inn e.;rD=Intm), 2 Kings xviii. 4.
(e.) (LXX. OccAteatc6s ; Vulg. Maleficus).
This word has always a bad sense in O. T. in the twelve instances in which the verb [always and the noun are used. The Syriac, however, (kasap), bears the good sense of prayer and public service to God, Micro, Netroviryed in Acts iv. 31 ; xiii. 2. The Arabic, (kashaf) suggests the meaning of the missing Kal to reveal.' In Exod. vii. t i this word describes (in plur.) the magicians of Pharaoh, who are also there called sages, and in vii. 22 (Cfr. Gen. xli. 8, 24), the leperypaAnarcis (Clem. Al. vi. 633), or saa-ed scribes of Egypt. This latter title identifies these with the Magi, or sacerdotes, of the Chalda2an court (see Dan. ii. to, 27). The prophet was himself made by the king of Babylon, rscrn 21, master of the magicians' (Dan. v. t t). The arts of these diviners Exod. vii. ix, rni9, ver.