Long-time Bible readers and inexperienced role-players attracted to Testament because of its biblical milieu may find the prevalence of magic in Testament to be odd or even offensive. After all, wizards and sorcerers aren’t featured in the Bible as heroic characters, as they sometimes are in fantasy novels (even those of Christian believers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen Lawhead). To be sure, the Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures gave plenty of attention to magic, and esteemed those who practiced it beneficently, but the biblical writers do not agree. Indeed, the Torah condemns the use of magic (see Deuteronomy 18:10–12). So what are all these spellcasters—even including Israelite characters—doing in Testament?

Arcane Magic vs. Divine Miracle

Testament is a setting for the d20 fantasy role-playing game system. The d20 system distinguishes between “arcane magic,” which involved the mystical manipulation of nature, and “divine magic,” in which the power of a god operates in a worshiper to work wonders. Although the d20 system refers to the agents of both kinds of “magic” as “spellcasters,” and allows them to produce similar phenomena, the distinction is nevertheless conceptually important for evaluating Testament’s treatment of magic.

The biblical lawgivers and prophets condemned the practice of arcane magic in Israel.Testament recognizes this, of course; see p. 186. Deuteronomy 18:10–12 categorically prohibits augury, soothsaying, divination, sorcery, spellcasting, and necromancy. However, the preaching of the prophets reveals that some Israelites nevertheless sought to practice some forms of arcane magic. Isaiah 3:3 includes diviners, expert enchanters, and possibly skilled magicians (or skilled artisans) among the list of community leaders that Yahweh will cut off from Judah and Jerusalem (the other leaders are warriors, soldiers, judges, prophets, elders, captains of fifty-men units, dignitaries, and counselors). Ezekiel 13:17–21 condemns certain women who use woven bands to “hunt for human lives.” Isaiah likewise opposes necromancy (which is, strictly speaking, the attempt to get information from the dead; see Isaiah 8:19–20). King Saul is (in)famous for consulting a necromancer (often inaccurately called a “witch”) on the eve of his final battle against the Philistines—a necromancer who was apparently successful in calling up Samuel’s ghost. A basic principle of biblical studies is, “If somebody in the Bible is against something, then somebody else must be doing it.” The biblical writers’ and prophets’ opposition to the use of arcane magic among Yahweh’s worshipers indicates its practice, even prevalence, at certain times in Israelite history. “In spite of prohibitions in the OT against magical practice, then, it appears that the practice of ritual power was as evident among the Hebrews as among other people in the ancient Near East" (Meyer, 845).

Of course, the Bible also mentions non-Israelite magic-workers, such as Pharaoh’s magicians in the book of Exodus. These magicians are able to duplicate a number of Moses’ “signs,” although they are finally convinced that Moses’s god is greater than their own magic when transforms gnats to dust and they cannot copy it. Characteristically, Deutero-Isaiah mocks Babylonian reliance on astrologically-keyed magic (Isaiah 47:9–13), asserting (rightly, as it turned out) that the Babylonian astrologers would not be able to protect Babylon from the Persian onslaught.

On the other hand, though, the Bible features a number (actually a rather small number, in the grand scheme of things) of wonder-workers whose miraculous actions surely qualify as what the d20 system calls “divine magic.” Moses famously transforms his staff into a serpent, and back again; Aaron later does the same thing in Pharaoh’s court (Exodus 4:1–5; 7:9–13). Elijah declared that it would not rain until he announced rain (1 Kings 17:1). The prophet Elisha in particular is associated with a significant number of wonders ranging from the banal to the bizarre. The only thing that distinguishes these miracles from magic is the source of the power that enabled them. Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and so on performed their wonders by the power of the God of Israel. Such wonders were celebrated by the biblical writers. Had similar effects been generated by power from a non-divine source, however, the biblical writers and the wonder-workers themselves would probably have opposed them as abhorrent sorceries.

In short, the distinction between magic and miracle really boils down to the source of power. “‘[W]e’ practice religion and perform miracles; ‘they” practice magic and engage in sorcery” (Meyer, 844). The d20 distinction between arcane magic and divine magic parallels this precisely.

Putting Miracles into d20 Terms

Personally, I don’t really like the terminology of “casting spells” when it comes to Israelite miracle-workers, because of the Torah’s condemnation of those who cast spells. However, I also understand that the game terminology stems from a legitimate need to have a unified vocabulary and resolution system for what happens when sorcerers call upon arcane power sources and when priests or miracle-workers call upon divine power sources. As a matter of game design, it’s considerably simpler to have a single system that covers both magic and miracle, and the d20 system accomplishes this by subdividing magic into the arcane and the divine.

Frankly, the translation works pretty well for at least some of the biblical wonder-working figures. Elisha’s exploits particularly illustrate the point. Below are the d20 “translations” of some of Elisha’s miracles. Compare them to the biblical versions.

• 2 Kings 2:19–22. Elisha casts purify food and drink. (Remember: If this vocabulary seems just too weird to you, replace it with “Elijah does a purify food and drink miracle.’) Since he purifies a whole well of water, he’s affecting the water at a pretty high level. He even uses verbal, somatic, and material components (d20 only calls for verbal and somatic).
• 2 Kings 2:23–24. This has got to be one of the most disturbing texts in the Elisha narrative, if not the whole Bible. Morality aside, Elisha casts
  summon nature’s ally like a 5th-level Druid. (Maybe he co-opted the Levite Priest’s ability to ask God for the boon of casting a spell not normally on the Cleric list.)
• 2 Kings 3:13–20. Elisha casts either control water (raising it from unnoticed springs) or create water—and a whole lot of it.
• 2 Kings 4:1–7. Elisha casts everflow, a Cleric spell unique to the Testament setting and no doubt inspired by this very story.
• 2 Kings 4:18–37. Elisha casts raise dead.
• 2 Kings 4:38–41. Elisha again casts purify food and drink, again using a material component.
• 2 Kings 4:42–44. Elisha casts create food and drink.
• 2 Kings 5. Elisha firsts casts remove disease on Naaman, then contagion
  (causing leprosy) on Gehazi.
• 2 Kings 6:1–7. Elisha casts levitate (or some other spell I haven’t identified) on a submerged axe-head.

These examples ought to be sufficient to show how the d20 spellcasting system really does a pretty good job of translating miracles into game terms. Of course, in all these cases with Elisha, the biblical writer’s assumption is that the power to do these things resides in the Lord of Israel, not in Elisha. Nevertheless, Elisha seems able to call upon the Lord’s power at will, sometimes for rather banal effects (like recovering the axe-head) or even self-serving ones (like summoning the bear).

Multiplying Miracles

While miracles (or “divine magic” in Testament) feature prominently in a number of biblical stories, they are not quite as prevalent as some casual Bible readers may suppose. Long stretches of biblical narrative pass without any reference to miracles at all. In fact, in the Hebrew Bible, miracles appear chiefly in the stories about Moses (in the books of Exodus and Numbers), Joshua (in the book of Joshua, and here there are only a couple), and Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17–2 Kings 13). Outside of these particular texts, miracles are actually rather rare. Miracles astound because they are not everyday occurrences. According to the biblical tradition, ordinary Levites did not work miracles, nor did the majority of prophets.

In a Testament campaign, occurrences of miracles(“divine magic”) and (“arcane”)magic will probably be much more frequent than in the biblical stories. Testament provides many options for the introduction of miracles. Levites, prophets, and even psalmists “cast spells” in Testament. The proliferation of spells and casters in Testament stretches the biblical understanding of these social roles rather far.

Magical Items

Testament’s implementation of magical items also departs rather strikingly from its biblical source material. The Bible almost never presents specific objects as having inherent magical or miraculous powers, though there are a few. In Moses’ day, a bronze serpent serves as a healing talisman (Numbers 21:4–9; see Testament’s writeup, p. 114).Elijah’s mantles eems to“absorb” some of Elijah’s miracle-working power when Elijah ascends to heaven and the mantle is passed on to Elisha (2 Kings 2:6–14). Elisha’s own bones resurrect a dead man (2 Kings 13:21; see Testament, p. 114).

Perhaps thanks in part to Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford, the most famous biblical “magical item” is the ark of the covenant. In the Bible, the ark of the covenant serves as a symbolic throne for God’s presence among the Israelites. The Israelites apparently believed that the presence of the ark with their armies would guarantee victory (1 Samuel 4:3–9), although such victory was not always forthcoming(1 Samuel 4:10–11). When captured by the Philistines, however, the ark apparently caused them great trouble and distress (1 Samuel 5–6), so much so that they sent it back to Israel. Testament implements the ark soberly, giving it the property of causing damage to those who touch it (see 2 Samuel 6:1–9), but not allowing it to serve as a kind of laser cannon for Israelite armies. (Testament even follows the biblical tradition with regard to the ark’s contents, including placing Aaron’s staff inside, though it seems unlikely that a grown man’s staff could fit into a 3.6-foot long box.)

Outside of the Bible, plenty of evidence suggests that ancient Israelites believed in the efficacy of at least certain types of magical objects. Archaeologists have recovered a number of objects apparently used as magical charms against the influence of demons or diseases. Such objects are known, for example, from the Israelite houses in Lachishin the eighth century BCE (the time of prophets like Hosea and Amos).

Bibliography

Meyer, Marvin. 2000. “Magic.” In Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.