בח־קול, _daughter of the voice_. By this name the Jewish
writers distinguish what they called a revelation from God, after verbal
prophecy had ceased in Israel; that is, after the prophets Haggai,
Zechariah, and Malachi. The generality of their traditions and customs
are founded on this Bath-Kol. They pretend that God revealed them to
their elders, not by prophecy, but by the _daughter of the voice_. The
Bath-Kol, as Dr. Prideaux shows, was a fantastical way of divination,
invented by the Jews, like the _Sortes Virgilianæ_ [divination by the
works of Virgil] among the Heathen. For, as with them, the words first
opened upon in the works of that poet, was the oracle whereby they
prognosticated those future events which they desired to be informed of;
so with the Jews when they appealed to Bath-Kol, the next words which
they should hear drop from any one’s mouth were taken as the desired
oracle. With some it is probable that Bath-Kol, _the daughter of the
voice_, was only an elegant personification of _tradition_. Others,
however, more bold, said that it was a voice from heaven, sometimes
attended by a clap of thunder.
writers distinguish what they called a revelation from God, after verbal
prophecy had ceased in Israel; that is, after the prophets Haggai,
Zechariah, and Malachi. The generality of their traditions and customs
are founded on this Bath-Kol. They pretend that God revealed them to
their elders, not by prophecy, but by the _daughter of the voice_. The
Bath-Kol, as Dr. Prideaux shows, was a fantastical way of divination,
invented by the Jews, like the _Sortes Virgilianæ_ [divination by the
works of Virgil] among the Heathen. For, as with them, the words first
opened upon in the works of that poet, was the oracle whereby they
prognosticated those future events which they desired to be informed of;
so with the Jews when they appealed to Bath-Kol, the next words which
they should hear drop from any one’s mouth were taken as the desired
oracle. With some it is probable that Bath-Kol, _the daughter of the
voice_, was only an elegant personification of _tradition_. Others,
however, more bold, said that it was a voice from heaven, sometimes
attended by a clap of thunder.