Scripture Daily

Context No. 1887 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 20:6-10: in context

6“‘The person that turns to those who are mediums and wizards, to play the prostitute after them, I will even set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people. 7“‘Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God. 8You shall keep my statutes, and do them. I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 9“‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon himself. 10“‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Among the laws of holiness, God speaks against turning to mediums and those who consult the dead: the person who turns to mediums and wizards, to prostitute himself after them, I will set my face against, and cut him off from his people. And he calls his people to holiness: sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am the LORD who sanctifies you. The passage goes on to name other grave sins; but it begins with the warning against seeking out the occult, the turning to spiritual powers other than God.

The sin God names first here is one we might think belongs only to an ancient world: turning to mediums, to those who claim knowledge from spirits or the dead, seeking guidance, knowledge, or power from spiritual sources other than God. God sets his face against it, and the reason is not hard to see. To turn to mediums, horoscopes, the occult, or any spiritual power other than God for guidance and help is to turn away from God to substitutes, to seek from forbidden sources what should be sought from him alone. It is a kind of spiritual unfaithfulness. And though the forms change, the temptation is far from ancient. In our own day, people turn to horoscopes, to fortune-tellers, to various occult practices, to spiritual sources of guidance and power that are not God, seeking to know the future, to gain control, to find direction, from anywhere but the one place they should seek it. The passage warns against this, not because guidance and help are wrong to seek, but because they are to be sought from God, not from spiritual powers that are not his. When Israel was tempted to consult the dead and the mediums, Isaiah asked, should not a people consult their God? That is the point. We are made to seek our guidance, our comfort, our knowledge of what is to come, from God, in prayer and in his word, not from occult sources that promise these things apart from him. To dabble in such things is to turn from God to substitutes, and God sets his face against it. The call is to seek God alone for what we need to know and for the help we need, to bring our questions about the future and our need for guidance to him, rather than to the horoscope, the medium, or the occult. Should not a people consult their God? He is the one to whom we are to turn, and turning to other spiritual powers in his place is a turning away from him.

Do I ever turn to horoscopes, fortune-telling, the occult, or other spiritual sources for guidance, knowledge, or a sense of control, seeking from forbidden substitutes what should be sought from God, and can I heed the warning against turning to mediums, seeking God alone for the guidance and help I need, bringing my questions to him rather than to sources that are not his?

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