"Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live" - A Biblical License To Kill?
How a Bible Mistranslation Slaughtered Thousands
This is a story of how a butchered Bible mistranslation powered the torture and murder of over 80,000 people (mostly women) who were accused of crimes of witchcraft, and the resultant stain on humanity's soul born of hateful ignorance, blind terror gone mad and unchecked brute force, all in the name of God.
We might not be having this conversation if this weren't still an issue today. Though modern law no longer allows for the burning of humans for crimes of witchcraft, the burning of witches still takes place in the hearts and hopes of fearful people who are unwilling to examine their own shadow and meet and deal with the demons that dwell in their own consciousness.
Hence this discussion.
As a practicing Witch, and especially because I’m a Christian Witch, I’ve heard this scripture thrown at me more times than I care to remember, from unlearned Christians who know no better.
Let us set the record straight.
The oft quoted scripture under examination here is Exodus 22:18 (Exodus 22:17 in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Catholic Bible):
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
When I speak of 'unlearned Christians' I am referring to those who take all they hear from the pulpit or the religion at face value without a modicum of research, healthy inquiry or critical thinking.
I am not writing for or to them.
As for the loving and learned Christians who recognize the errors of the Bible and would never use a blasphemous mistranslation wrought by hate-mongers to justify cruelty nor would they secretly harbor death wishes against any of God's children, you are most welcome here and appreciated. I see you.
As for the former type, once they ignorantly state said scripture, they act as if they've made a point and the matter is final. I feel compassion for these people. They truly believe that God would commission the killing of witches. They've been gullibly taken in and hold stridently to what they've been told without so much as a shred of evidence or proof, denying their right to engage in healthy questioning of religious dogma with the aim of getting to the truth.
The mistranslated word in question from the original Hebrew language of the Bible scripture at Exodus 22:18 is:
MEKHASHEPHA
This word has been erroneously translated as “witch.” More on this coming up.
The word “mekhashepha” has questionable meaning. It’s not conclusively settled in the minds of scholars that the use of the word “witch” is the most accurate translation of the original meaning.
Before going deeper into this cryptic word, the cultural climate of the writing of the book of Exodus, who wrote the book of Exodus and who it was written for, let's examine the meaning of the word “witch” in a modern context.
Today's witch can be:
a healer
a teacher, guide, way shower or wisdom keeper
a practicer of the magical arts to heal or hex, bless or curse, create or destroy, slow down or speed up, move or make still, grow or thwart, make smooth or make hard, etc.
one who is gifted with powers that are not easily understandable, i.e. psychic abilities (in the church this is called the gift of prophecy and is recognized as being from God), the ability to commune with spirits (dead people, angels, demons, earth based spirits, nature spirits, spirits of homes, spirits of animals, spirits of locales, etc.), clarity (i.e. claircognizance - clear knowing, clairvoyance - clear seeing, clairsentience - clear feeling, clairaudience - clear hearing), the ability to control weather, natural forces and elements (just like Christ), and many more.
an herbologist who uses plants, herbs, flowers, essences and trees to heal, create and transform (aka a green witch)
a practitioner of earth based magic, or folk magic, commonly called upon for their ability to heal the sick, comfort those who are ailing (emotionally and mentally) cast out evil spirits and negative energies and entities, cleanse homes and offices and other spaces, bless pregnancies for safe and auspicious outcomes and baby blessings, divine the future (to benefit those who have this information), to create amulets, talismans and mojo bags, to perform candle magic and crystal magic and more
a Creatrix - one who acknowledges, owns and uses the creative power from Source to consciously and intentionally bring about change/transformation and/or something entirely new using energetic and/or magical means. A Creatrix can also destroy.
an intentional energy mover and wielder
an oracle or diviner who can read and understand the meaning of Tarot, bones, turtle shells, tea leaves, etc.
an astrologer who knows the stars, planets, constellations and uses this information to read self and others, create birth charts, perform magic according to cosmic cycles, etc.
a spell crafter and caster who uses the power and energy of words to heal, create, destroy, reorganize, transform, etc.
more than I can state here and still include every witch on the planet
From the foregoing one thing is blatantly clear: the word witch is varied, multi-layered, diversely applied and wide in scope. I don't think there's one pat definition for the word 'witch' (and trust me, I've looked high and low, even wrote a book about it HERE). Having such a definition would make things easier, but we're not here to have it easy. We're here to get to the truth.
Who Wrote the Book of Exodus?
In short, humans did, as is so of the rest of the Bible. Fair warning, I do not consider the Bible to be the infallible word of God. I've done too much research to be in that camp. I do, however, love the Bible, read it and consider it to be a book of:
Mysticism
Magick (with a 'k' as a spiritual practice as distinguished from magic as a stage performance)
Astrology
Numerology
Gematria
Allegory
Metaphysics
Psychics
Valuable guidance on how to live
Story illustrations of how not to live
A cryptic book that reveals much deeper secrets if probed
More than I can know at this juncture
For me, above all, the Bible is a book of ENERGY. A quote from a fave Kabbalah teacher, David Ghiyam:
“The Bible is a non-religious manual of energy, explaining the DNA of energy and how energy works.”
Growing up in the Christian faith meant I was told that Moses wrote the book of Exodus, along with the books of Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. We now know this is not so.
With regard to the writers (yes writers, as in plural) of Exodus, Wikipedia states:
“Traditionally ascribed to Moses himself, modern scholars see its initial composition as a product of the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), based on earlier written sources and oral traditions, with final revisions in the Persian post-exilic period (5th century BCE).”
The book of Exodus was compiled by writers in captivity in Babylon during the 6th century BCE. These writers had a perplexing question before them:
What had Israel done to warrant such devastation and desolation? They were in captivity, yet again, and suffering. Why?
This was the question of the day, and a valid one. The captivity they found themselves in was akin to a modern day person finding themselves in a horrific and inescapable bind, yet again.
These are moments that force us into deep self-reflection for pain relieving answers and permanent solutions. I can relate.
The conclusion the ones who were doing this deep pondering came to about why they were in such dire straights, again, was that they must have veered off the path of pleasing God, and culpable of heavy transgressions. The nation must have been woefully wrong in their practices that they offended God to such a great degree that they were experiencing the harshest of punishments for their repeated, errant actions.
I can appreciate coming to this conclusion. This may not be the same conclusion anyone in the situation would have arrived at, yet humans are complex.
What followed this conclusion is fascinating: a full scale clean up campaign. One of the first things to go was God's wife Asherah (for more on the deliberate killing of God’s wife, read the book When God Had a Wife, one of my favorite tomes for its deep research).
The God of Israel was Yahweh. Though I respect everyone's God, Yahweh is not my God.
I view Yahweh as a punishing, demanding, jealous God, diametrically opposed to the loving, kind and compassionate God of the New Testament whom Yeshua (Jesus) speaks of and bids his followers to love with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength.
These are clearly two different Gods (there's a blog post and matching podcast episode here: The Perplexing Issue of 2 Gods in the Bible).
So who wrote Exodus? Captives who were deep in reflection over their miserable state.
Who did they write it for? The nation of Israel. I'm not of the nation of Israel, so I don’t view the Hebrew scriptures having a direct bearing or me, nor are they binding upon me, though I'm happy to glean wisdom from any source.
It's important to note that the book of Exodus was written for the nation of Israel, and not for the whole world, and reflected the nation's struggles, cosmology, God, worship and ways of living. I love the Jewish faith, and appreciate the wisdom of Judaism and Kabbalah (it's mystical component). Yet I'm not Jewish, nor am I an Israelite.
The whole world, and especially the Christian world, is not under the edicts of the Hebrew Bible. I realize this is a revolutionary idea. So I'll take this moment to remind us that the Bible is not a novel to be read from Genesis to Revelation, but a collection of books cobbled together in a centuries long, arduous process beginning with Jewish rabbis and scholars and ending with Christians. The process came to a conclusion in the middle to the end of the 4th century CE giving us the Bible canon of 66 books we currently have. Of the 66 books that were selected for official entry into the Bible canon, there are a host of books that became forbidden. Often referred to as the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, you can read them HERE. (FYI, I'm the kind of girl that if you tell me a book is forbidden, I head straight for it.)
It’s also wise for us to ponder the idea that being a Christian means being a follower of Christ and not of a religion, or a book, no matter how efficacious and widely read the book may be.
Context
If there's one thing I know for sure, the Bible is far too complex, deep and cryptic to read without CONTEXT. If we're to garner a deep understanding of the Bible, we would have to ask penetrating questions regarding scope, culture, people, customs, ways of worship, place in history, word meanings at the time, translations, locations and more.
One who reads the Bible without considering CONTEXT is easily lost and subject to the errant diatribes of control mongers who would pounce upon any opportunity to control and manipulate the masses through fear and ignorance.
Qualifying questions to ask and answer when reading the Bible and conducting your own unbiased research:
Who wrote this? Not as in who my church says wrote this. Who really wrote this? These are often different. Moses did not write the first 5 books of the Bible as Christians have been told, because it is unlikely Moses existed in the way we've been taught about him, though he is based on a historical figure (a Pharaoh of Egypt named Akhenaten which I speak of in the Forbidden Knowledge video about it HERE).
When was this written? Accurate dating of the writing of Bible books can differ wildly from the standard Christian story about the penning of the Bible books. History and archeology are helpful tools. While I do not require science in any form to justify my spirituality, I love history, archeology and the sciences. They've led me to a deeper appreciation of the Bible as a magickal and metaphysical manual.
Who was it written for? Who were the surrounding nations/people? What were their customs? Everything in the Bible wasn't written for you and me. It was written for specific purposes, to specific groups of people, at specific periods in time, to address specific issues. Studying these helps us understand more about the issues the ancients faced and how they resolved them. Many of their issues are our issues today.
What was happening in the world when this was written? What was the cultural climate? If you read a book from the nineteenth century and another book from the twenty first century, they'll be oceans apart. Why? In the nineteenth century we didn't have the internet, social media, mobile phones, space travel and a myriad of other technologies we use daily and take for granted. We as humans have 'recency bias' or the habit of projecting the current or most recent happenings onto the ancient past. This is a mental trap when reading the Bible.
What did this word mean thousands of years ago? What does it mean now? The word mekhashepha does not mean “witch” as we shall soon see.
What do unbiased Bible scholars and experts say? While it’s easy to find more of the Christian party line from purveyors of apologetics, we’re seeking truth, not more dogma. Researching unbiased sources is a door opener to wisdom.
Any other questions that arise for you when reading the Bible.
Mekhashepha
With that pretty long preamble, let’s look more deeply at the word ‘mekhashepha’ which has been mistranslated ‘witch.’
One possibility is that we don’t know what the word means. According to the article titled Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: A Murderous Mistranslation?
The original Hebrew word used in Exodus, translated as "witch," is mekhashepha. But what that word actually meant when Exodus was written thousands of years ago, we cannot know, leaving us with only modern interpretations.
The article makes a salient point:
Not everybody agrees that the biblical reference in Exodus is to 'witches' as we understand them.
I concur.
Another possibility with regard to this cryptic word is that it refers to those who enchant or speak spells. This arises from the interpretation of the root word ‘kashaph’ to mean “muttterings” as in a person who mutters mystically or speaks incantations.
Yet another possibility, more closer to accuracy in my humble opinion, is to interpret the root word “kashaph” into “to cut” as in herbs to make potions.
This would align with the Septuagint, which translates the word “mekhashepha” into “pharmakeia.”
While Ann Jeffers, Biblical Studies lecturer at Heythrop College translates “pharmakeia” to “herbalist” Reginald Scott translates it into “poisoiner” is his book The Discoverie of Witchcraft.
We can credit Reginald Scott for speaking against the Roman Catholic Church. He blamed them for the slaughter of the poor, aged and ‘simple’ who were most often accused of witchcraft. His position was that witchcraft was a ruse and the practice of charlatans. He gave it no credence, even while holding beliefs of his own that I would coin magickal, such as the belief in the power of the unicorn’s horn to heal, and the power of precious stones derived from the planets.
I’m in no position to judge his superstitions. I have a healthy collection of my own. At least he called the witch hunts for what they truly were: irrational and not Christian.
I concur.
A deep dive into the word mekhashepha reveals a clearer picture: we are not speaking of the idea most people hold in their minds when the word witch is used in its modern form.
No need to kill the witches.
I really enjoyed this article. You gave some good food for thought. More than bringing context to the word/topic, it helps open the door to understanding how many ancient texts and writings may have been misunderstood. Thank you.
Thank you. This message was very clear. I appreciate you making it easy to understand.