divination

When it comes to judging those who practice divination or witchcraft, God’s word is clear: Witchcraft constitutes an attempt to be (like) God, therefore is punishable by death.

“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.”(1Sa 15:23)

“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” (Exo 22:18)

“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” (Lev 20:27)

Technorati Tags: bible study, divination, witchcraft

Although you might shake your head and say, “Noo, of course witchcraft doesn’t work, it’s fairytale stuff”, the bible is of a different “opinion” here.

Nowhere in the bible is there an indication that witchcraft, sorcery, divination, soothsaying, fortune telling and the like is just a fancy imagination of the people practicing it. We find Pharaoh’s magicians performing miracles by their “secret arts” (Exo 7:11), we find kings relying on the help of enchanters and the like to interpret their dreams, even if their powers are obviously limited (Dan 2:2), we find a girl in Acts whose owner profits from her gift of fortune telling (Act 16:16), and many more examples. The most prominent is probably King Saul consulting the witch of En-dor, a woman with a familiar spirit, a medium, to talk to the prophet Samuel after his death (1 Sam 28), for which he later on is condemned (see also 1 Chro 10:13). This witch wakes Samuel up, who seems anything but amused by the disturbance. There is no question of whether or not her secret art worked.

If you look at the Hebrew word translated “divination” or “witchcraft”, you find that it can even be used in a positive way:

H7081
qesem
From H7080; a lot; also divination (including its fee), oracle: – (reward of) divination, divine sentence, witchcraft.
1) divination, witchcraft
1a) of the nations, Balaam
1b) of false prophets
1c) in a good sense (king’s lips as oracles)

Technorati Tags: bible study, divination, witchcraft

“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” (1Sa 15:23)

A topic worth pursuing… The bible is full of references to witchcraft and sorcerers, familiar spirits and divination, necromancy and fortune tellers.

“When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.” (Deu 18:9-14)

But modern day perception of witchcraft, shaped by medieval ideas and pop culture alike, seems to be far off topic. The bible is clear about what witchcraft is, whether or not it “works”, and what our attitude towards both the craft and the people using it should be.

“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” (Lev 20:27)

Stay tuned for a more detailed analysis.

Technorati Tags: bible study, witchcraft , divination