Commentary - Leviticus 20:6-8

Bird's-eye view

This brief but potent passage from the Holiness Code in Leviticus lays out the stark contrast between two spiritual realities, two opposing allegiances. On the one hand, we have the dark and fraudulent world of the occult, and on the other, the holy fellowship of the covenant God. The Lord here is not giving arbitrary rules about spooky behavior; He is defending the integrity of His covenant relationship with Israel. To turn to mediums and spiritists is not a simple mistake or a curious dabbling in the unknown; it is defined here as spiritual harlotry, a profound act of infidelity against Yahweh, the divine husband. The penalty for this treason is severe: God Himself will set His face against the offender and execute the ultimate covenant sanction, which is excommunication. The positive command that follows is the necessary antidote. Instead of seeking guidance from the dead, Israel is to consecrate herself to the living God. This holiness is both a command they must obey ("set yourselves apart") and a divine gift they receive ("I am Yahweh who makes you holy"). It is a beautiful picture of the synergy between God's sovereign grace and man's required responsibility in the work of sanctification.

The foundation for this entire section is the character and identity of God. Three times in three verses, He declares His name and nature: "I am Yahweh your God," "I am Yahweh," and "I am Yahweh who makes you holy." The prohibition against necromancy and the command for holiness are not rooted in a generic moral code but in the personal reality of who their covenant Lord is. He is the source of all life and truth, so seeking answers from the dead is an insult to Him. He is the one who sanctifies, so pursuing holiness is simply living in accordance with the reality He has established. This passage, therefore, is a foundational lesson on worship, allegiance, and the nature of true spirituality.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

Leviticus 20 is a chapter detailing the penalties for various sins, many of which were outlined in chapter 18. While chapter 18 listed the prohibitions, chapter 20 attaches the sanctions. This is standard covenantal form: law followed by curses. This section is part of the larger "Holiness Code" (Leviticus 17-26), which emphasizes how Israel is to live as a people set apart for Yahweh, distinct from the pagan nations surrounding them. The immediate context includes prohibitions against child sacrifice to Molech (20:1-5), a particularly grotesque form of idolatry. The sin of turning to mediums and spiritists is placed right alongside it, indicating that God sees them as flowing from the same poisoned well of rebellion. Both are attempts to traffic with spiritual powers other than Yahweh. Both are a rejection of God's sufficiency. The chapter as a whole demonstrates that holiness is not merely a matter of private devotion; it has profound social and judicial implications. A holy nation must purge evil from its midst, and these penalties are the means by which that purging was to be accomplished.

Key Issues

Covenant Allegiance or Spiritual Harlotry

At the heart of the covenant is the principle of exclusive loyalty. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He entered into a marriage covenant with her at Sinai. The first and greatest commandment is that Israel is to have no other gods before Him. Every form of idolatry, therefore, is not just breaking a rule; it is an act of spiritual adultery. The language used here, "to play the harlot after them," is graphic and intentional. It frames the sin in relational, covenantal terms. To consult a medium is to cheat on God. It is to seek comfort, guidance, or information from a source that is not your divine husband.

This is not a quaint, ancient superstition. The desire to bypass God and get a "spiritual" fix from another source is a permanent feature of the fallen human heart. Whether it is a modern psychic, a Ouija board, a horoscope, or some New Age guru, the principle is the same. It is an attempt to gain access to spiritual knowledge or power apart from God's ordained means of revelation, which are His Word and prayer. God has spoken, and His Word is sufficient. To turn to other voices is to declare His voice inadequate. It is an act of profound unfaithfulness, and as this passage shows, God takes such infidelity with the utmost seriousness.

Verse by Verse Commentary

6 ‘As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

The verse begins by identifying the offender: "the person who turns." This is a deliberate act of the will. It is not an accidental stumble but a reorienting of one's trust and attention. The objects of this turning are "mediums and to spiritists," those who claim to communicate with the dead. The Bible is clear that these practices are fraudulent and demonic. The information they provide, if any, comes from lying spirits, not from departed loved ones. God then defines the action in covenantal terms: it is "to play the harlot after them." The person is prostituting himself spiritually, giving the loyalty and trust that belong to God alone to these forbidden sources.

The penalty has two parts, and both are terrifying because they are executed by God Himself. First, "I will also set My face against that person." This is the opposite of the Aaronic blessing, where God is asked to make His face shine upon His people (Num 6:25). For God to set His face against you is for Him to fix His holy, omnipotent, and wrathful attention upon you. It is a posture of active hostility. Second, He "will cut him off from among his people." This is the sanction of excommunication. In the Old Covenant, this could mean death or exile, but the core of it is removal from the covenant community, from the place of worship, fellowship, and blessing. The one who commits spiritual adultery is to be put out of the house.

7 Therefore, you shall set yourselves apart as holy and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God.

The word "therefore" connects this command directly to the preceding warning. Because spiritual harlotry results in being cut off by God, you must therefore do the opposite. The command is twofold. First, "set yourselves apart as holy." This is the verb form, qadash, from which we get the word for holy. It is an action they are to perform. Consecrate yourselves. Make a conscious decision to be different from the surrounding pagan cultures who engage in these dark arts. This is the human responsibility side of the equation. They must actively separate themselves from defilement.

The second part of the command is "and be holy." This speaks to a state of being. The action of setting oneself apart should result in a character that is holy. Your doing must flow from your being. And the reason for this command is not arbitrary. It is grounded in the very nature of their relationship with God: "for I am Yahweh your God." He is their God, and they are His people. His character must define their character. Because He is holy, they must be holy. Their identity is wrapped up in His. To be unholy is to live a lie about who their God is.

8 And you shall keep My statutes and do them; I am Yahweh who makes you holy.

This verse continues the thought, explaining how they are to "be holy." Holiness is not an abstract feeling; it has concrete, practical expression. "You shall keep My statutes and do them." Obedience to God's revealed law is the shape that holiness takes in our lives. To "keep" them means to guard them, to treasure them. To "do" them means to put them into practice. There is no holiness apart from obedience.

But just as we might begin to think that this holiness is all up to us, a product of our diligent rule-keeping, the verse concludes with a stunning declaration of grace. "I am Yahweh who makes you holy." The Hebrew is Yahweh Mekaddishkem, the Lord who sanctifies you. Here we see the beautiful paradox of sanctification. We are commanded to be holy, and yet God is the one who makes us holy. Our effort is required, but His grace is effective. We are to set ourselves apart, but He is the one who ultimately accomplishes the setting apart. Our obedience does not earn our holiness; rather, our obedience is the fruit of the holiness He is already working in us. He gives the command, and then He gives the grace to fulfill the command. This is the foundation of all true Christian living.

Application

The modern, secular world dismisses talk of spiritists and mediums as primitive superstition. The modern, sentimental church often dismisses the severity of God's warnings as Old Testament harshness. Both are dead wrong. The temptation to seek spiritual guidance and power from sources other than the triune God is as potent today as it was in ancient Canaan. We have simply dressed it up in new clothes. We turn to self-help gurus, political ideologies, therapeutic techniques, and a thousand other things to give us the meaning, purpose, and deliverance that can only be found in Christ.

This passage calls us to a radical, exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. He is our only prophet, priest, and king. His Word is our only infallible rule for faith and life. To "turn to" any other source for ultimate truth is to play the harlot. We must take seriously the call to consecrate ourselves, to actively purge our lives, our homes, and our hearts of any allegiance that rivals our devotion to Him. This means examining the books we read, the shows we watch, the podcasts we listen to, and the counselors we trust. Are these things helping us to keep God's statutes, or are they subtly turning our hearts away from Him?

But the ultimate application is one of profound comfort and assurance. We are commanded to be holy, but we are not left to achieve it on our own. Our God is "Yahweh who makes you holy." Our sanctification is His project. When we fail, as we often do, we do not despair. We confess our sin and we look to Christ, who is our sanctification (1 Cor 1:30). He perfectly kept all of God's statutes. He never once turned to a rival power. And through faith in Him, His perfect holiness is credited to us, and the Holy Spirit is given to us to progressively make us in practice what we already are in Christ. Our job is to walk in that reality, to keep His statutes and do them, trusting all the while that it is He who is at work in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure.