É. Apor (ed.): Jubilee Volume of the Oriental Collection, 1951–1976. Papers Presented on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
A. FODOR: The Use of Psalms in Jewish and Christian Arabic Magig
70 According to both К and H, Psalm 7 can be resorted to in imploring protection against one's enemies and when one has to appear before a tribunal. The general content of the Psalm fully supports this application especially in verses 8-11 where the judgement of the righteous by God is clearly pictured. An allusion to the "mouth of babes and sucklings" in verse 2 of Psalm 8 was sufficient for both К and H to find in it an appropriate remedy to silence crying children. This comparison and the search for further parallelisms could be continued but the examples quoted so far by way of illustration are quite enough to enable us to arrive at certain conclusions. First of all, in spite of many common features, no textual concordances can be discovered between К and H, so borrowing on the part of either of the texts seems to be ruled out. The only exception to this may perhaps be found in the comment on Psalm 16 since both К and H describe in very similar terms a procedure aimed at establishing the identity of a thief. What makes this all the more surprising is that, curiously enough, nothing in the text of the Psalms is likely to account for this idea. The various instructions attached to the Psalms are arranged according to the following scheme: The author firstly cites some opening words from the Psalm, then enumerates the results which can be attained with its help, under what circumstances and by the use of what sort of magical practices it is effective. Finally, he usually discloses one of the names given to God hidden in the Psalm, which is instrumental in guaranteeing its effectiveness. In most cases no visible point of contact exists between the real purport of the Psalm and the uses attributed to it unless we consider as such the fact that a general invocation is practically implied in each Psalm. There are some instances, however, where the author is clearly inspired by a certain verse of the Psalm or by a symbol in it or simply by a word, however out of context it may be, and finds therein a way of utilizing the Psalm for his own purposes. These structural components are also present in H and further analogies can be found in the various objects employed in the course of the magic operation. It is especially important to note that neither in К nor in H is the original sacred text in itself regarded as sufficient to produce the required effect. The Hebrew practice resorts to the help of the powerful names disguised in the text; the Arabic procedure is to attribute the necessary executive power mainly to the servants of the Psalms. We may feel justified in describing this process as magic working in a twofold way. Originally some of the Psalms might have played the role of magic incantations [ 11] but now these had to be supplemented with a more sophisticated system of magical operations. Generally speaking, the Hebrew and Arabic instructions accompanying the Psalms are intended as remedies for everyday troubles and ills. These prescriptions may help alleviate real or imaginary diseases such as pains in the body, fever, serpent bites, the harmful effect of the evil eye,vexation by evil spirits etc. , but they can be equally effective for an expectant woman and to help in the observance of religious regulations. But at the same time quite a number of cases
