Oracle

ORACLE. St. Jerome commonly translates by Oraculum, what in many other Places he calls Propitiatorium. The Hebrew Word Caphoreth¹ comes from the Verb Caphar, which signifies to expiate, to pardon Sins, to cover, to harden any Thing. This Word may be rendered by a Covering; and indeed it was the Cover of the Ark of the Covenant, or of the sacred Chest in which the Laws of the Covenant were shut up. At the two Ends of this Cover were two Cherubims of massy beaten Gold, which stretching out their Wings forwards towards each other, formed a kind of Throne, upon which they conceived the Lord to sit. Hence it comes that they invoked him sometimes by this Name. Qui sedes super Cherubim. And perhaps by translating Caphoreth. by Propitiatory, [or Mercy-Seat] it may be insinuated, that from thence the Lord hears the Vows and Prayers of his People, and pardons them their Sins. And by translating it Oracle they would shew, that ‘twas from thence he manifested his Will and Pleasure, and gave Responses to Moses.

Oracle is also taken for the Sanctuary, or for the Place wherein the Ark of the Covenant was deposited. The Hebrew Word is Dabir, and the Septuagint have preserved this Term². Aquila and Symmachus have rendered it by Chrematisterion, which signifies an Oracle. The Chaldee, the House of Propitiation. But Dabir properly signifies an Oracle.

Oracle is also put for the Oracles of false³ Gods. Ezekiel says⁴, that the King of Babylon coming towards Judea, and finding himself upon a cross Way, consulted his Teraphims, and mingled his Arrows, to know if he should march against Jerusalem, and that the Jews derided him, and look’d upon him as one that in vain consults an Oracle. The Hebrew says literally, as a Man that in vain exercises Divination or Magick. The most famous of all the Oracles of Palestine was that of Baal-zebub King of Ekron, which the Jews themselves often went to consult. There were, also Teraphims, as that of Micah mention’d in Judg. xv. 1, 5. xviii. 14, &c. Judg. vii. 27.the Book of Judges, the Ephod made by Gideon, and the false Gods adored in the Kingdom of Samaria, which had their false Prophets, and consequently their Oracles; whether these Oracles were really delivered by the Assistance of the Devil, or that the Priests and false Prophets imposed upon the People, making them believe they were inspired, though they only spoke by their own seducing Spirit.

Among the Jews we may distinguish several sorts of real Oracles. They had first Oracles that were delivered vivâ voce, as when God spake to Moses Face to Face, Numb. xii. 8.and as one Friend speaks to another. Secondly, Prophetical Dreams sent by God; as the Dreams which God sent to Joseph, and which foretold his future Greatness. Thirdly, Gen. xxxvii. 5, 6.Visions; as when a Prophet in an Extasy, being neither properly asleep or awake, had supernatural Revelations. Fourthly, the Oracle of Urim and Thummim, which were Numb. xii. 6. Joel ii. 28.accompanied with the Ephod or the Pectoral worn by the High Priest, and which God had endued with the Gift of foretelling Things to come. This Manner of enquiring of the Lord was often made use of, from Joshua’s Time to the Erection of the Temple at Jerusalem. Fifthly, after the building of the Temple they generally consulted the Prophets, who were frequent in the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel. From Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who are the last of the Prophets that have any of their Writings remaining, the Jews pretend that God gave them what they call Bathcol, the Daughter of the Voice, which was a supernatural Manifestation of the Will of God, which was performed either by a strong Inspiration or internal Voice, or else by a sensible and external Voice, which was heard by a Number of Persons sufficient to bear Testimony of it. For Example, such was the Voice that was heard at the Baptism of Jesus Christ, saying, This is my beloved Son, &c. John xiv. 16.In the Christian Church the Gifts of Prophecy and Inspiration were very common; and God has permitted, that since the Birth of his Son the greatest Part of the Heathen Oracles are fallen into Contempt, and have been put to silence. Our Saviour has promised to his Church his perpetual Assistance, that the Holy Ghost should not forsake it, and that he would be in the midst of those that should assemble together in his Matt. iii. 17. Matt. xvi. 8.Name. He has said that the Gates of Hell should never prevail against her. Relying upon these Promises, we think the Church is infallible in her Decisions and in her Oracles, concerning the Truth of Points of Faith, as being enlightned and directed by the Holy Ghost .

Much has been wrote upon the Subject of Oracles, for some time last past, and the Learned have been much divided in this Matter. Some have ascribed to Demons all the Oracles of Antiquity; others have imputed them to the Knavery of the Priests, and lastly, others have pretended that there were several kinds of Oracles: Some were Illusions and Tricks of the Devil, others were the Effects of the Juggling and Contrivance of the Priests. The Scripture affords us Examples of all these sorts of Oracles. Balaam at the Instigation of his own Spirit, and urged on by his Avarice, fearing to lose the Recompence that he was promised by Balak King of the Moabites, suggests a diabolical Expedient to this Prince, of making the Israelites to fall into Idolatry and Fornication, by which he assures him of a certain Victory, Numb. xxxi. 16.or at least of a considerable Advantage against the People of God.

1 Kings xxii. 21; &c.Michajah the Son of Imlah, a Prophet of the Lord, says, that he saw the Almighty sitting upon his Throne, and all the Host of Heaven round about him; and the Lord said, who shall tempt Ahab King of Israel, that he may go to War with Ramoth-gilead, and fall in the Battle. One answer’d after one Manner, and another in another. At the same time an evil Spirit presented himself before the Lord, and said, I will seduce him. And the Lord ask’d him how? To which Satan answered, I will go and be a lying Spirit in the Mouth of his Prophets. And the Lord said, Go, and thou shalt prevail. This Dialogue clearly proves these two Things, First that the Devil could do nothing by Deut. xiii. 1.his own Power; and secondly, that with the Permission of God, he could inspire the false Prophets, Sorcerers, and Magicians, and make them deliver false Oracles. The Number of false Prophets was always very great in Israel. The true Prophets of the Lord continually inveighed against them. These Deceivers spoke in the Name of the Lord, though the Lord had not sent them. Moses forewarns that false Prophets and Dreamers should arise in Israel, who would foretell Things to come, and that their Predictions should be verified by the Event. It cannot be doubted, but that among other Nations, Barbarians and Idolaters, the Devil had still a greater Power, and a greater Number of Disciples. It cannot therefore be doubted, but that the Devil uttered many Oracles by their Mouths.

Baal-zebub the God of Ekron was in great Reputation for delivering Oracles, since Ahaziah King of Israel, having had a Fall through the Lattice of his House, and 2 Kings i. 2, 3.being dangerously wounded, sent to consult this false Deity, and to know whether he should recover from his Bruises. But Elijah received a Command from God to meet the Messengers of Ahaziah, and to say to them, Is there no God in Israel, that you must go to consult Baal-zebub the God of Ekron? Therefore thus saith the Lord: You shall not rise again from the Bed on which you lie, but you shall surely die. This was an Oracle of the Lord, by which he prevented that of the Devil.

The Idol Bel, which was worshipped at Babylon⁵ as a living, eating, and drinking God, very probably also gave out Oracles. At least it had been easy to have perswaded the People of this, since they and their King believed, that this Idol eat and drank up every Night what had been offer’d to him the Day before.

We read in Scripture, that some Families of the Tribe of Dan seeking a Settlement out of their own Country, sent out some upon the Discovery, to find a proper Place for them to dwell in. These Messengers Judg. xviii. 5, 6, 7.pass’d by the House of one call’d Micah, who had in his Service a young Levite, to take Care of his Domestick Chapel, and to consult a superstitious Figure that he had made. The young Levite answer’d them boldly; Go in Peace; before the Lord is your Way, wherein ye go. They went and succeeded according to their Wishes. Can we say, that this Levite was inspired of God, and that he pronounced this Oracle from him? This is hardly probable, and it is much more likely, that he made this Answer from himself, or that he was moved by a lying Spirit.

It cannot be denied that the Pagans addres’d themselves to their Idols, to receive Hos. iv. 12. Wisd. xiii. 16, 17.Oracles from them. They had therefore sometimes Responses from them; for can there be any so senseless as to ask, where they know it is absolutely impossible to receive an Answer? The Prophet Hosea reproached the Israelites with consulting their wooden Idols, and acknowledges at the same time, that this Staff returned them an Answer. My People asketh Counsel of their Stocks, and their Staff declareth unto them. They consulted wooden Idols, and made Auguries concerning the future, by mingling certain Arrows or Wands together. See Ezek, xxi. 21. The Author of the Book of Wisdom says, that when a Man had cut down a Tree from the Forest, after he had taken from it wherewithal to warm himself, he makes an Idol of the Remainder, which he is so foolish as to consult about his most important Affairs, and addresses himself to the Trunk of a Tree, which is not capable of hearing him. De substantia sua, & de filiis suis, & de nuptiis, votum faciens inquirit, &c.

Hab. ii. 19. Psal. cxiv. 5. cxxxv. 16.Habakkuk testifies the same thing. Wo unto him that saith to the Wood, Awake; to the dumb Stone, Arise, it shall teach. The Psalmist, in that Passage wherein he says, that Idols have a Mouth, and yet speak not, Ears and yet hear not, &c. proves that the Heathen had the Simplicity to consult them, as if they had been animated and capable of Sense, of Discourse, hearing and answering. For, as was said before, whole Nations would not have addres’d themselves to a Stone, to have received Answers from it, had they not had some Experience, that at sometimes it had given them Answers.

As to the Hebrews, who lived in the midst of these idolatrous People accustomed to receive Oracles, to have Recourse to their Diviners, Magicians, and their Interpreters of Dreams, what Temptation would they not have been under to imitate these Practices, these Impieties and Superstitions, if God had not provided against it, by affording them certain Means of knowing some future Events, in their most urgent Necessities, by having Recourse to the Lord, to his Priests and Prophets. Thus when Moses had forbid the Israelites to consult Magicians, Witches, Enchanters, and Necromancers, he promised to send them a Prophet of their own Nation, who should instruct them, and discover the Truth to Deut. xviii. 10, 11, &c.them. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy Brethren like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.

And these Oracles of Truth had no necessary Connexion either with Time or Place, or any other Circumstance, or with the personal Merit of the Person by whom they were uttered. The High Priest cloath’d with the Ephod and Pectoral gave a true Answer, whatever was the Merit of his Life. Sometime he gave an Answer without knowing clearly himself what was the Subject of the Question he was consulted about. Caiphas pronounces an Oracle relating to Jesus Christ, whom he hated, and whose Destruction he desired, and an Oracle which he understood not himself. For he John xi. 49,50, 51.says, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one Man should die for the People, and that the whole Nation perish not. To which is added, and this spake he not of himself, but being High Priest that Year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that Nation. And when the High Priest Ahimelech was consulted by David, he gave him an Answer though 2 Sam. xxi. 13. xxii. 15. Mic ii. 11.David did not plainly acquaint him with the Occasion of his Journey. Micah says, that the Heads thereof judge for Reward, and the Priests thereof teach for Hire, and the Prophets thereof divine for Money, yet nevertheless the Prophets declared the Truth to them. At the Day of Judgment many will say to Jesus Christ, Lord, Lord, Matt. vii. 22.have we not prophesy’d in thy Name, and in thy Name have cast out Devils, and in thy Name have done many wonderful Works? Yet for all this he will say to them, I never knew you.

The Fathers inform us, that at the coming of the Messiah, all the Oracles of the Heathens were struck dumb. It is plain, that after the preaching of the Gospel, and ever since, the Empire of the Devil is very much contracted and weakened, and that the most famous Oracles are insensibly fallen into Contempt. The Light of Faith has opened the Eyes of the converted Pagans, and the Evidence of the Miracles of the Apostles and first Christians, has brought into Discredit the false Miracles and Impostures of the Priests of the Pagan Deities. But it must be allowed, that this Silence of the Oracles did not happen all at once, and that a good while after our Saviour’s Time there were still Impostors, who gave out pretended Oracles, and the Devil still uttered them in the Temples of their Rev. xiii. 5, 6, 13, 14, 15.Idols. St. John in his Revelations, describing the Persecution of the Church which was to happen under Julian the Apostate, speaks of the Signs, Wonders, and Delusions, which this Deceiver and his Accomplices should produce to the World, to prevail with Men to worship the Image of the Beast, and to entice them to Idolatry.

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