GENESIS 44:1-17 DIVINATION

Q: Twice Joseph refers to his cup he uses for divination. Isn’t divination considered wicked in the eyes of the Lord?

Q: Twice Joseph refers to his cup he uses for divination. Isn’t divination considered wicked in the eyes of the Lord?

There are two approaches to answering this question. The first is to remember that in testing his brothers, Joseph is putting on an elaborate act in front of them by pretending to be an Egyptian who refuses to eat with foreigners, does not understand their language, and indulges in pagan practices such as divination. The latter pretense is in order to make the supposed theft of the silver cup appear to be even more serious a crime. Thus, Joseph probably never used the cup for divination at all.

The second approach is to realize that divination covered a wide variety of practices designed to either (a) get advice, (b) learn the future, or (c) magically manipulate supernatural forces (see the Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 3, pp. 945-951 for a complete description). The last-named purpose for this practice was always condemned by God. However, the use of divination to achieve the other two aims was only condemned if satanic forces were consulted, as in the case of Saul's consulting the witch of Endor.

We must remember that Saul only went to the witch because God had refused to answer his questions through the accepted practice of using the Urim and Thummin for divination. Another form of divination was through dreams and their interpretation, practices that both Joseph and Daniel were adept at, through God's guidance. As a matter of fact, the king calls Daniel the chief of the diviners in Daniel 4:9.

There are two occasions in the Book of Acts where divination appears, one positive (Acts 1:26) and one negative (Acts 16:16-19). These serve to point up the differences between acceptable and unacceptable practices. The eleven apostles use the casting of lots to determine who will take Judas' place among the Twelve, but only after they have logically and prayerfully eliminated all but two candidates. This is quite similar to the Old Testament use of the Urim and Thummin. By contrast, Paul rejects the testimony of a slave girl whose owners made money from her gift of fortune-telling since the source of her divination was an evil spirit, not God.