Email us for help
Loading...
Premium support
Log Out
Our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy have changed. We think you'll like them better this way.
The Greek Word Magos, translates "magician. Sorcerer, Wizard, Enchanter, Astrologer and wise men.” F. F. Bruce explains how the term was used in the ancient world. "The magi were originally a Median priestly caste, but later Greek and Roman times the word was used more generally of practitioner of all sorts of magic or quackery. The latter sense is required here; a Jew, even a renegade Jew (as this man was) could not have been a member the magician priesthood.” Elymas the magician (that was the meaning of his name), - Luke calls him "a Jewish false prophet" (Acts 13.6b). Being Jewish, he knew the truth of Jehovah but had apostatized and immersed himself in Eastern religion. 1. He had abandoned the truth of God. 2. He became a man skilled in lower and uncanny arts a strange powers of the medium priests or magi. 3. He mixed religion with science and magic. Magi enjoyed great influence over both the rulers and masses of the biblical world according to Ramsay. It is certain that the priests of some Eastern religions possessed very considerable knowledge of the powers and processes of nature. They were able to do things that either were, or seemed to be marvelous. . . It is natural that the Magician's knowledge and powers should have made him a striking and interesting personality; and a person like the proconsul, keenly interested in nature and philosophy, would enjoy his society. http://www.patholliday.com