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Bible Dictionaries
Enchanter
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or 'Ashshâph (אַשָּׁף, Strong's #825), “enchanter.” Cognates of this word appear in Akkadian, Syriac, and biblical Aramaic (6 times). The noun appears only twice in biblical Hebrew, and only in the Book of Daniel.
The vocation of ashipu is known from earliest times in the Akkadian (Old Babylonian) society. It is not clear whether the ashipu was an assistant to a particular order of Babylonian priests (mashmashu) or an order parallel in function to the mashmashu order. In either case, the ashipu offered incantations to deliver a person from evil magical forces (demons). The sick often underwent actual surgery while the incantations were spoken.
In the Bible, 'ashshâph first occurs in Dan. 1:20: “And as for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters (NASB, “conjurers”) who were in his realm.”
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Enchanter'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/e/enchanter.html. 1940.
