Omen

An omen (also called portent or presage) is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. People in ancient times believed that omens bring a divine message from their gods. An omen (also called portent or presage) is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. People in ancient times believed that omens bring a divine message from their gods. These omens include natural phenomena, for example an eclipse, abnormal births of animals and humans and behavior of the sacrificial lamb on its way to the slaughter. They had specialists, the diviners, to interpret these omens. They would also use an artificial method, for example, a clay model of a sheep liver, to communicate with their gods in times of crisis. They would expect a binary answer, either yes or no answer, favorable or unfavorable. They did these to predict what would happen in the future and to take action to avoid disaster. Though the word 'omen' is usually devoid of reference to the change's nature, hence being possibly either 'good' or 'bad,' the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word 'ominous'. The origin of the word is unknown, although it may be connected with the Latin word audire, meaning 'to hear.' The oldest source for this practice in the Ancient Near East came from Mesopos practice attested at the first half of the 2nd millennium BC and it was vigorously pursued by the Asian kings, Esarhaddon and his son, Ashurbanipal in the 20th century BC. Omens were interpreted by several methods—e.g., liver divination, lecanomancy, and libanomancy. Hepatoscopy—observing irregularities and abnormalities of the entrails of a sacrificial sheep—was used in many royal services. Astrological omens were popular in Assyria in the 7th century BC. Diviners gained influence by interpreting omens and advising the king, Esarhaddon (681-669 BC), how to avoid some terrible fate. Sometimes the Assyrian king hid for a while after he put a substitute king on the throne. The court expected that the substitute king would take the evil consequences of an omen. When they believed the danger was over, they executed the substitute king and the true king resumed the throne. The observations of omens were recorded into series. Some of them dated back to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, and these were arranged as conditional statement later (if such and such is the case, then such and such is the result). This belief of omens later spread out around the Near East and beyond when clay models of sheep livers use for the diviners to learn the craft were found in Boghazkoi, Ugarit, Megiddo, and Hazor. Such practice was found in Israel as well. Compared to Israel, they used the methods listed above except, hepatoscopy. According to the Bible, God did not answer King Saul through dreams, or Urim and Thummim, or prophets, before his final confrontation with the Philistines. Thus, showed that they have a similar belief and practice with their prophets, and dreams, and similar tool as Urim and Thummim.