Deuteronomy 18:10 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

That maketh his son or daughter pass through the fire By a superstitious dedicating, or a cruel sacrificing of them, see on Leviticus 18:21. That useth divination Of which there were many sorts, as is implied in the original expressions here: קסם קסמים, kosem kesamim, divining divinations, or with divinations. The meaning undoubtedly is, That seeketh to know or foretel things secret, or to come, by unlawful arts and practices. An observer of times Superstitiously pronouncing some days lucky and others unlucky: or, an observer of the clouds, or heavens; for the word מעונן, megnonen, here used, may be derived from ענן, gnanan, a cloud; and then it means, That divineth by the motion or figure of the clouds, the appearance or passage of meteors, by thunder, lightning, by the stars, the flying or chattering of birds, and the like. Or, deriving the word from עין, gnain, an eye, qui præstigiis utitur, a juggler, one who causes things to assume a false appearance, practises illusions on people's fancies, or deceives them by sleight of hand. An enchanter Or a conjecturer, that endeavours, or pretends, to discover hidden things by a superstitious use of words or ceremonies, by observation of water or smoke, or tiny contingencies. Or, as the original word seems to be derived from נחשׁ, nachash, a serpent, it means one that divines by means of serpents, of which kind of diviners we have many instances in the heathen poets, particularly Homer and Virgil. A witch Supposed to be in covenant with the devil, and by his help to delude people's senses, or hurt their persons, their cattle, or other property, through the use of evil arts. The same Hebrew word is translated witch also, Exodus 22:18, where it is evidently intended to be taken in the same sense as here. But, Exodus 7:11; Daniel 2:2, and Malachi 3:5, where it occurs in the plural number, it is translated sorcerers, and interpreted by Aben Ezra of those who change and transform natural things so as to deceive the eyes of the beholders. Le Clerc translates the word, hariolus, soothsayer, because it is joined in the Scriptures with other species of divination.