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The “witch of En-dor” (1 Samuel 28) was a necromancer, i.e., one who feigned to hold converse with the dead. The damsel with “a spirit of divination” (Acts 16:16) was possessed by an evil spirit, or, as the words are literally rendered, “having a spirit, a pithon.” The reference is to the heathen God Apollo, who was regarded as the God of prophecy.

WITNESS More than one witness was required in criminal cases (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). They were the first to execute the sentence on the condemned (Deuteronomy 13:9; 17:7; 1 Kings 21:13; Matthew 27:1; Acts 7:57, 58). False witnesses were liable to punishment (Deuteronomy 19:16-21). It was also an offence to refuse to bear witness (Leviticus 5:1).

WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT (Romans 8:16), the consciousness of the gracious operation of the Spirit on the mind, “a certitude of the Spirit’s presence and work continually asserted within us”, manifested “in his comforting us, his stirring us up to prayer, his reproof of our sins, his drawing us to works of love, to bear testimony before the world,” etc.

WIZARD a pretender to supernatural knowledge and power, “a knowing one,” as the original Hebrew word signifies. Such an one was forbidden on pain of death to practise his deceptions (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; 1 Samuel 28:3; Isaiah 8:19; 19:3).

WOLF Hebrews zeeb, frequently referred to in Scripture as an emblem of treachery and cruelty. Jacob’s prophecy, “Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf” (Genesis 49:27), represents the warlike character of that tribe (see Judges 19-21). Isaiah represents the peace of Messiah’s kingdom by the words, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6). The habits of the wolf are described in Jeremiah 5:6; Habakkuk 1:8; Zephaniah 3:3; Ezekiel 22:27; Matthew 7:15; 10:16; Acts 20:29. Wolves are still sometimes found in Palestine, and are the dread of shepherds, as of old.

WOMAN was “taken out of man” (Genesis 2:23), and therefore the man has the preeminence. “The head of the woman is the man;” but yet honour is to be shown to the wife, “as unto the weaker vessel” (1 Corinthians