{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">And now, since we have touched upon the subject of the\r\nprophets, what we are about to advance will be useful not\r\nonly to the Jews, who believe that they spake by divine\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_436\">436</span>inspiration, but also to the more candid among the Greeks.\r\nTo these we say that we must necessarily admit that the\r\nJews had prophets, if they were to be kept together under\r\nthat system of law which had been given them, and were\r\nto believe in the Creator of the world, as they had learned,\r\nand to be without pretexts, so far as the law was concerned,\r\nfor apostatizing to the polytheism of the heathen. And we\r\nestablish this necessity in the following manner. “For the\r\nnations,” as it is written in the law of the Jews itself, “shall\r\nhearken unto observers of times, and diviners;”<a id=\"r1181\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1181\"><sup>[1181]</sup></a> but to that\r\npeople it is said: “But as for thee, the Lord thy God hath\r\nnot suffered thee so to do.”<a id=\"r1182\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1182\"><sup>[1182]</sup></a> And to this is subjoined the\r\npromise: “A prophet shall the Lord thy God raise up unto\r\nthee from among thy brethren.”<a id=\"r1183\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1183\"><sup>[1183]</sup></a> Since, therefore, the\r\nheathen employ modes of divination either by oracles or by\r\nomens, or by birds, or by ventriloquists, or by those who\r\nprofess the art of sacrifice, or by Chaldean genealogists—all\r\nwhich practices were forbidden to the Jews—this people, if\r\nthey had no means of attaining a knowledge of futurity,\r\nbeing led by the passion common to humanity of ascertaining\r\nthe future, would have despised their own prophets, as not\r\nhaving in them any particle of divinity; and would not have\r\naccepted any prophet after Moses, nor committed their words\r\nto writing, but would have spontaneously betaken themselves\r\nto the divining usages of the heathen, or attempted to establish\r\nsome such practices amongst themselves. There is therefore\r\nno absurdity in their prophets having uttered predictions\r\neven about events of no importance, to soothe those who\r\ndesire such things, as when Samuel prophesies regarding three\r\nshe-asses which were lost,<a id=\"r1184\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1184\"><sup>[1184]</sup></a> or when mention is made in the\r\nthird book of Kings respecting the sickness of a king’s son.<a id=\"r1185\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1185\"><sup>[1185]</sup></a>\r\nAnd why should not those who desired to obtain auguries\r\nfrom idols be severely rebuked by the administrators of the\r\nlaw among the Jews?—as Elijah is found rebuking Ahaziah,\r\nand saying, “Is it because there is not a God in Israel that\r\nye go to inquire of Baalzebub, god of Ekron?<a id=\"r1186\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1186\"><sup>[1186]</sup></a>”</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN CONTRA CELSUM.","ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. BOOK I.","Chapter XXXVI."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-434"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d06df15dfca2c4c367480a3a9a78471c0aa5e072b69af74ec066cabf7d74bc91","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"DEU","chapter":18,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Deut. xviii. 14","verse":14,"verse_end":14}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f1181","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1869 English translation; translator died 1889. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f1181","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1181\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1181\">1181</a>. </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> <abbr title=\"Deuteronomy\">Deut.</abbr> <abbr title=\"eighteen\">xviii.</abbr> 14.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f1181","text_sha256":"1743a322d057791259f6a158974f6ed3510ce7192fc1035f0039d798d42ce5b1","verified":false,"work_id":null}