1. Words believed to be uttered by a deity, usually through a medium (compare ‘Sibylline Oracles’).
2. In the biblical context, the word of God (2Sa 16:23). 3. In the NT context, the OT is referred to by the Greek term logion (Act 7:38; Rom 3:2; Heb 5:12; 1Pe 4:11; most translate here: words of life, or of God).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
This is the name given to the answer offered by a consulted deity. The Gentiles questioned their idols through fortune-tellers and priests. The supposed answers that they gave are called or. Thus, we read in the prophet Zechariah that the teraphs †have given false or. and the diviners have seen lies† (Zech 10:2). In Pro 16:10 it is said that †œo. there is on the lips of the king †, that is, that the sentences that come out of his mouth as authority must be considered quasi-sacred. It has become customary to call o. to the predictions issued by the prophets of the Bible. †¢Prophecy, Prophet.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
Announcement or divinatory, threatening or imprecatory sentence, which is offered under the purported inspiration of a divinity to whom a rite or sacrifice is offered. It is communicated to a person, at his request or as a spontaneous or unexpected prophetic announcement.
Oracles have been practiced since the earliest times in Eastern religions (Babylon, Egypt, India). The most studied or known were given in the Greek temples to queries from the worshipers (“manteia”, the answer was called)
The best known are the Oracles of the god Apollo in the temple of Delphi, those of Zeus in Epirus and Olympia, those of Asclepius in Epidaurus.
In the prophetic areas of the Bible there is also talk of various oracles: Num. 27.21; Josh. 9.14; Thu. 1.1 and 18.5; 1 Sam. 10.22 and 14.37. The Jewish Law prohibited all divination, magic or sorcery (Deut. 18. 10 and Lev. 19.26); but it authorized the priest to make ritual consultations with Yaweh (Deut. 33. 8; 1 Sam. 9. 9; Num. 12. 6). This indicates that this practice was rooted in the primitive Israelite nucleus.
The means they used to obtain oracles, “the urim and tummim” and the “ephod” that are frequently alluded to in Scripture (Deut. 33.8; Ex. 28.30; 1 Sam. 14. 38-42) are not easy to interpret , but it is almost certain that they were games of chance with polychrome pieces.
It is interesting to contrast that as fortune-telling practices and cultural consultations with the divinity through “luck” developed in the town, superstitions began to disappear. They constituted a sacrilegious activity, except in exceptional cases of war (1 Mc. 3. 48) and with some curses and spells against the adversaries (1 Mac. 7.8). Contributing to this discredit and prohibition were the condemnations of the prophets who presented them as offenses to Yahweh: Ez. 21. 23; You. 4.12. Sat. 13.17.
In the New Testament the position was already clearly contrary. Any sorcery or incantation was regarded as superstition opposed to faith, as noted in Paul’s condemnation of the magician of Cyprus (Acts 13. 10); and, above all, the liberation of the spirit of the fortune teller girl from Philippi, whom Paul exorcised so that her masters took him to jail. (Acts 16. 16.21)
And it is the position that passed to the early Christians, unlike the Jews who probably continued to consult them for centuries.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
The translation “oracle” appears 11 times in °vrv1 in the OT. In all cases it is an erroneous translation of the Heb. shouldused exclusively for the inner sanctuary of *Solomon’s temple (°vrv2 “holy place”). The wrong derivation of dibber‘speak’, rather than of dāḇār in the sense of “being behind”, arises from the translations of Aquila and Symmachus (who used jrēmatistērion, ‘oracle’), and Vg. (oraculum). Undoubtedly, this change was also influenced by the fact that in pagan temples the chambers where the gods made their declarations were designated “oracles” (the oracular sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi was the most famous of all).
In 2 Sam. 16.23 “oracle” (°ci, p. eg) translates the heb. dāḇārand simply refers to the word (thus °vrv2) or expression of God, without specific indication of the way in which it would be achieved (°vrv2 translates the same word as “oracle” in Zac. 10.2, with reference to teraphim); though in this case some infer a reference to *Urim and Thummim (1 Sam. 28.6). In some vs. (e.g. °ci) sometimes “oracle” is used instead of “burden” in the title of certain prophecies, as a translation of Heb. maśśā˒.
In the NT “oracles” (°ci, p. eg; not like that °vrv2) is a translation of gr. lodge, which means divine expressions, and generally refers to the entire OT or a specific part of it. In Acts. 7.38 the reference is to the Decalogue or to the entire content of the Mosaic Law. These oracles are said to “live”, zōnta, that is, they “last” or “remain”. In Ro. 3.2 the reference is to all the written expressions of God through the Old Testament authors, but with special regard to the divine promises made to Israel. The “words of God” in Heb. 5.12 (“oracles” in some vss., as °ci) represent the Christian doctrinal body insofar as it is related to its Old Testament foundation, as well as to the final expression of God through his Son (Heb. 1.1). 1 Pet. 4.11 teaches that the New Testament preacher must speak as one who transmits the oracles of God, choosing his words as carefully as if they were inspired Scripture.
BB Warfield stresses the theological significance of the oracle when he concludes that the lodgeas used in the NT, are “divinely authorized communications before which man feels awe, and to which he humbly bows” (The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, 1948, pp. 403 ).
Bibliography. D. Vetter, “Oracle”, °DTMAT, t
RHM
Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary
(oraculum; pray, speak).
A divine communication given in a special place through specially designated persons; also the place itself. This form of divination was found among various peoples of the ancient world.
Contents
- 1 Babylon and Assyria
- 2 The Hebrews
- 3 Greece and Rome
- 4 Bibliography
Babylon and Assyria
Very old texts present the oracle-priest together with the ashipu (whose role is enchantment, incantation) as an official of one of the two main divisions of the priestly caste. He is the special servant of Shamash and Adad; his office is hereditary (cf. the “sons of Aaron,” “of Zadok”); defects the person or lineage (cf. Lev. 21,23) disqualify him; he is part of a school.
A lengthy initiation and elaborate ritual prepare him for the reception, or exercise, of the barutu. He rises before dawn, bathes, anoints himself with perfumed oil, puts on the sacred vestments After a preliminary sacrifice (usually of a lamb, but of this, as of those of expiation and thanksgiving, we cannot , in our limitations, give details), escorts the petitioner into the presence of the gods, and sits on the judgment seat; Shamash and Adad, the great oracle gods, lords of decision, come to him and give him an infallible answer. All the usual modes of divination (interpretation of dreams, stars, monstrosities, signs in oil, liver, etc.) culminated in oracles; but a great deal of literature of precedent and principle left little initiative to a Baru whose memory was good. We can add a characteristic example of an oracle style (about 680 BC).
“Oh, Shamash, great lord, deign to answer my request in favor of your faithful! Between today, the 3rd day of this month, the month of Aru, until the 11th day of the month of Abu this year, within these hundred days and these hundred nights… within this fixed time span, will they have success in his plans Kashtariti with his troops, or the troops of the Cimmerians… or all the other enemies? Will they take the people of Kishassu by storm, by force, by starvation, by the names of the god and goddess, by friendly talk and conference, or by any other method and stratagem of siege? Will they enter the walls of this city of Kishassu? Will it fall into their hands? You, great divinity know it. Is the taking of this city of Kishassu, by any enemy, from today until the appointed day, ordered and decreed by order and mandate of your great divinity, Oh, Shamash, great lord? Will we see it? Will we hear it?, etc.”
Note the concern to leave the god no way out—all possible contingencies are listed.
Among the nomadic Arabs, the priest is first and foremost a giver of oracles (by means of the shaft of the arrow, cf. Ez. 21,21), although called Kahin the Hebrew KHV. But since in Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic and Ethiopian Kohen means priest, and cannot be related etymologically to “divination”, we must conclude (Lagrange, op. cit., 218) that the Arab oracle dealer is a degenerate priest, (Wellhausen ) that all Semitic priests were originally oracle-mongers.
the Hebrews
The Hebrews were granted the oracles through the Urim and Thummim, which are to be connected with the ephod. The Hebrew APVD (see ephod) was:
- (a) a linen dress worn in ritual circumstances (by the priests, 1 Sam. 22,18, young Samuel, 1 Sam. 2,18; David, 2 Sam. 6,14);
- (b) ‘the’ ephod, described in Exodus 28, peculiar to the high priest; on it was worn the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim;
- (c) an idolatrous image related to the oracle, related to the teraphim (also related to the oracle); the one that Gideon erected weighed 1700 gold shekels ( Jc. 8,27; 17,5; 18,14.20; Hosea 4, etc.) But why was this image called an ephod (a dress)? In Isaiah 30,22, `PVY, the silver covering of idols, is parallel to APDH, their gold sheath. If, then, the Israelites were already familiar with an oracle that operated in intimate relationship with a jeweled ephod, it would have been easy to transfer that name to a richly silver image associated with the oracle. See van Hoonacker, “Levitic Priest” (Louvain, 1899), 372.
The Law orders (Num. 17,18) that the leader of the people will stand before the priest, and offer his request: the priest “will consult for him, according to the judgment of the Urim and Thummim, before Yahveh”. Only the priest wears the ephod before Israel, and…