Shamanistic features in the Old Testament

Authors

• Arvid Kapelrud

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67025

Keywords:

Shamanism, Shamans, Experience (Religion), Christianity, Bible, Old Testament, Trance, Ecstasy, Israel, Middle East

Abstract

The question whether there are shamanistic features in the O.T. will receive different answers according to the definitions of the term shamanism. There is no reason to doubt that shamanistic practice was found in Canaan in the time of King Saul. This practice went far back in time and was found in Canaan before the invasion of the Israelites. The cult of the dead, which the archaeological diggings in Ras Shamra in Syria have revealed, existed also in Canaan. It was accepted by the Israelites, a fact which is underlined by the way in which the prohibition against all kinds of sorcery and sooth saying is repeated in the 0.T., Lev. XIX: 31, XX: 6, 27, Deut. XVIII: 11, I Sam. XXVIII: 3, Is. VIII: 19.