Therefore hearken ye not to your prophets. — The almost exhaustive list of the names given to the men who claimed the power of prevision, may have had its ground in the fact that each of the five names was characteristic of this or that among the five nations to whom the message was sent. Of the names themselves, the prominent idea in “prophet” is that of full-flowing utterance; in “diviners,” that of casting lots, as in Ezekiel 21:21; in “dreamers,” what the English word indicates; in enchanters, that of practising “veiled” or “secret” arts (Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10); in “sorcerers,” that of muttered and whispered spells (Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 47:9; 2 Kings 9:22). It is clear that the five nations of the confederacy were sustained in their rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar by a unanimity of prediction from men of all these classes like that which lured Ahab to his destruction (1 Kings 22:22). Every oracle was tuned, as it were, in favour of the policy of resistance.

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