Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood, х `al (H5921) hadaam (H1818)] - upon the blood. This phrase may be understood as prohibiting the use of flesh with any of the blood remaining in it; and in this respect the precept will not be a mere repetition of that in Leviticus 17:10 (see the notes on that passage: cf. Deuteronomy 12:23; 1 Samuel 14:32-33; Ezekiel 33:25). [The Septuagint has here, mee esthete api toon oreoon.]
Neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times, х tªnachashuw (H6049)]. This verb signfies to mutter or utter a low hissing sound like a serpent, as sorcerers were accustomed to do; and hence, some consider that the reference is to [ofiomanteia, or] divination by serpents (Bochart, 'Hieroz.,' 2:, p. 21).
But the word is frequently used in a wider sense to signify auguries in general (Genesis 30:27; Genesis 44:5). Augurs drew omens from the flight and feeding of birds, as well as from serpents [and in this sense the Septuagint took the word, rendering it by oiooneisthe] (see Rosenmuller's 'Scholia,' in hoc loco).
х tª`owneenuw (H5172)] The verb signifies to cloud, or to gather clouded; and hence, some render the words, 'ye shall not observe clouds.' A study of the appearance and motion of the clouds was a common way of prognosticating good or bad fortune. There are doubts, however, whether that is meant here.
Jewish writers derive the verb rather from х `ayin (H5869)], the eye, and suppose the reference is to witchcraft with the evil eye. [The Septuagint renders it here, ornithoskopeesesthe, inspect birds; but in Deuteronomy 18:10, and other passages, that version translates it kleedonizesthe, deriving divination from a word or voice.] Such absurd but deep rooted superstitions often put a stop to the prosecution of serious and important transactions; but they were forbidden especially as implying a want of faith in the being, or of reliance on the providence, of God.