4. There is another Text in Jeremy which is commonly rendered thus: For behold I will send serpents, cockatrices among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord. But it may be as fitly read, To whom there is no hissing, and they shall bite you. And whether way soever it be read, the sense is good; that is, their enemies shall be so fierce and cruel, that no words can stay or appease their fury; or that they shall be so sly and cunning, that they shall destroy you, before they speak, or give you warning: And whether way soever it be, there is a pronoun in the Hebrew which is superfluous, a thing that is usual in that language.
5. But if in both places it be taken for charming, yet will it not prove the being and existence of such a kind of Witch, as we have denied and confuted; nor doth it shew any fit appellation for such a one.
Psal. 104. 4.
Malach. 4. 1.
12. Moreover there is another word as much mistaken, and as falsly translated as any of the rest, and that is לָהַט, Inflammatus est, flammescebat, and is understood a shining brightness, as in the Psalm: Who maketh his Angels spirits: his ministers flaming fire. And in another place, & inflammabit eos dies veniens; The day cometh that shall burn as an oven. From whence we may note these things.
Gen. 3. 24.
Nahum 3. 3.
1. From this root doth come לַהַט Flamma, Metaphorically (as Schindlerus saith) a polished and shining piece of Metal, as a Sword or the like. But Avenarius tells us, it is, Flamma rutilans, lamina fulgens & vibrans; as, And he placed at the East of the garden of Eden, Cherubims, and a flaming or bright shining sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. And in another place, The horseman lifteth up the bright sword, and the glittering spear. Both places plainly shewing that it signifieth Metal so polished, that when it is shaken in the light, or shining of the Sun, and moved quickly, it doth then glitter like a red and shining flame.
2. There is also the word לאט Involvit, velavit, arcanum, and the like which the vulgar Latin do attribute to Pharaohs Magicians, when our translation saith, And they did in like manner with their inchantments: It is & fecerunt similiter per sua arcana, thinking the word there had been derived from לאט arcanum, when it is from לַהַט, Flamma, lamina; a polisht and bright piece of Metal.
3. In all the places of Exodus where mention is made of the Magicians, that they did in like manner with their inchantments, the word is בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶם which if truly rendered, is this: And they did in like manner with their bright, glittering lamens, or plates of Metal. And how the Translators could hale it by head and shoulder to signifie Inchantment, cannot be conjectured; but because the Magicians are there called, sapientes & præstigiatores, Wise Men and Juglers, they vainly thought that they wrought by a secret compact with the Devil, and so all must be done by their imaginary Witchcraft and inchantment, when it is plain that what they did was by natural Magick, and sleight of hand, and not by Diabolical Magick at all. But let them shew us any one place in all the Old Testament, where any of the derivatives from this root, are translated Inchantments, but only in these places of Exodus, and we will yield the whole cause.