Commentary - Deuteronomy 18:9-14

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, Moses stands on the cusp of the Promised Land and delivers a foundational charge to the people of Israel. As they prepare to enter a world saturated with pagan depravity, God lays down a crucial boundary line. This is not about dietary rules or ceremonial washings; this is about the source of truth and power. The central command is a negative one: do not learn the ways of the nations you are about to dispossess. A list of their occultic and demonic practices is provided, not as an exhaustive catalogue, but as a representative sampling of their spiritual filth. The reason for this prohibition is twofold. First, these practices are an abomination to Yahweh, a deep offense to His holy character. Second, these very practices are the reason God is judging the Canaanites and giving their land to Israel. The passage concludes with a positive command to be blameless, wholehearted, before God, and a final reminder of the great antithesis. They listen to soothsayers, but God has provided a better way for you. This section serves as the dark backdrop for the glorious promise that follows, the promise of a true prophet.

Outline

Context In Deuteronomy

This passage is strategically placed. Moses has just finished outlining the provisions for the priests and Levites (Deut. 18:1-8), who are the guardians and teachers of God's true revelation, the Law. Immediately after our text, Moses will announce the coming of a prophet like himself (Deut. 18:15-19), who will be God's mouthpiece. This prohibition against false and demonic sources of information is therefore sandwiched between God's provision of true sources of information. God does not simply forbid something without providing a righteous alternative. He is establishing the office of the prophet. He tells Israel, "Do not go to the demonic whisperers and the necromancers for information. I will speak to you Myself, through my appointed servants." This highlights the sin of divination for what it is: a profound act of unbelief and a rejection of God's gracious self-disclosure.

Key Issues

The Antithesis of Revelation

At the heart of this passage is a fundamental question of epistemology: where do you get your truth? The Canaanites had their sources, a tangled web of superstition, demonic contact, and attempts to manipulate the spiritual world. They listened to diviners and soothsayers. God's people were to be utterly different. Their source of truth was to be Yahweh alone, speaking through His ordained means, His law and His prophets. This is not a matter of preferring one religious flavor over another. It is a matter of light versus darkness, truth versus the lie, God versus demons. Every attempt to seek knowledge or power outside of God's revealed will is an act of spiritual adultery. It is a declaration that God is not enough, that His word is insufficient, and that we need to supplement it with information from the enemy's camp. This antithesis is absolute and continues to this day. The world has its gurus, its experts, its talking heads, its algorithms. The Church has the Word of God.

Commentary

9 When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations.

The command is given at a point of transition. "When you enter the land" is a critical juncture. This is not just a change in geography; it is a moment of immense spiritual danger. The land is a gift from Yahweh, but it is currently occupied by squatters whose lease is up. And the reason their lease is up is because of their spiritual filth, their "abominations." The command is not simply "do not do," but "you shall not learn to imitate." This goes deeper. Sin begins as an education. You learn the worldview, you adopt the mindset, and then the actions follow. The danger for Israel was not that they would wake up one morning and decide to build a temple to Molech out of the blue. The danger was that they would live next to the Canaanites, see their practices, hear their justifications, and slowly, subtly, begin to think like them. An abomination is something that is viscerally disgusting to God. It is not just a minor infraction. It is a stench in His nostrils. Israel was being warned not to acquire a taste for the things that God loathes.

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices soothsaying or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, 11 or one who is an enchanter or a medium or a spiritist or one who inquires of the dead.

Here Moses gets specific. This is a representative list of the occult, not an exhaustive one. It begins with the most horrific: making a child "pass through the fire." This refers to the worship of Molech, a pagan deity to whom the people of the land sacrificed their children. This is the absolute inversion of God's command to be fruitful and multiply. It is the worship of death itself, sacrificing the future on the altar of a demon. The rest of the list deals with various forms of illicit revelation and power. Divination, soothsaying, interpreting omens, sorcery, enchanting, consulting mediums and spiritists, and inquiring of the dead are all attempts to bypass God. They are attempts to get information about the future, to manipulate circumstances, or to contact the spirit world through forbidden channels. This is the sin of the Garden all over again. Man wants to be as God, knowing good and evil on his own terms. He wants a back door into the control room of the universe. All these practices are a rejection of God's sovereignty and an invitation to demonic influence.

12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and because of these abominations Yahweh your God will dispossess them from before you.

Now we get the reason. There are two parts, and they are intertwined. First, the person who does these things becomes an abomination himself. The sin defines the sinner. You become what you worship. If you traffic with demons, you become demonic. Second, this is the explicit legal ground for the conquest of Canaan. God is not being arbitrary. The Canaanites are not being dispossessed because of their ethnicity or for some geopolitical reason. They are being judged. Their cup of iniquity is full, and Israel is the sword of God's judgment. This is a crucial point. The conquest was a massive, divine act of justice against a culture that had given itself over entirely to death and depravity. And embedded within this statement of another nation's judgment is a severe warning to Israel. If you learn to imitate their abominations, you will eventually share in their dispossession. God plays no favorites when it comes to sin.

13 You shall be blameless before Yahweh your God.

After the long list of what not to do, here is the positive command, stated simply and profoundly. The word for "blameless" is tamim. It means whole, complete, sound, having integrity. It is the word used to describe a sacrificial animal without blemish. This is a call to total, unadulterated, single-minded devotion to Yahweh. You cannot dabble in the occult on Saturday and then show up for worship on the Sabbath. You cannot hedge your bets, with one foot in God's camp and the other in the world of the spiritists. God demands your whole heart. To be blameless is to have an undivided loyalty. Your worship must be pure, your source of truth must be singular, and your trust must be in Yahweh alone.

14 For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice soothsaying and to diviners, but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do so.

The passage concludes by restating the great antithesis. "Those nations" have their information sources. They live in a world of shadows and whispers, guided by demonic lies. "But as for you..." This is the dividing line of all of human history. There are those who belong to the world, and there are those who belong to God. God has not "allowed" you to do this. This is not a restriction that deprives you. It is a protection that blesses you. A father does not allow his toddler to play with knives or drink poison. God, in His love, forbids His people from trafficking with that which would destroy them. He has a better way. He is about to tell them that He will send them a prophet, a true source of revelation. He will not leave them in the dark. He will speak to them. This prohibition, therefore, is not an empty legalism; it is the necessary precursor to the grace of true revelation in Jesus Christ, the ultimate Prophet.

Key Words

Toevah, "Abomination"

The Hebrew word toevah signifies something that is utterly detestable and repulsive to God, particularly in a religious or moral sense. It is not just something that is wrong, but something that is intrinsically foul and offensive to God's holy nature. It is frequently used to describe idolatry, sexual perversion, and, as we see here, occult practices. When the Bible calls something an abomination, it is the strongest possible term of condemnation.

Tamim, "Blameless"

The word tamim means complete, whole, sound, or perfect. When used of a sacrificial animal, it means without physical defect. When used of a person's character, as it is here, it refers to integrity and sincerity of heart. It describes a person whose devotion to God is undivided. It is not a claim to sinless perfection, but rather a description of a heart that is wholly oriented toward God, without duplicity or compromise.

Application

The modern Christian lives in a world as saturated with pagan thought as ancient Canaan was, though the forms have changed. The spirit of divination is alive and well. It can be found in the blatant occultism of tarot cards, Ouija boards, and horoscopes that litter the checkout aisles. But it also takes more subtle, secular forms. We are tempted to put our trust in algorithms, in political polling, in economic forecasts, and in the pronouncements of "experts" as our ultimate source of truth and security. We are tempted to listen to the spirit of the age instead of the Spirit of God.

The command to us is the same as it was to Israel. Do not learn to imitate the abominations of the nations. Do not seek wisdom, guidance, or power from forbidden sources. Be blameless, be wholehearted, before the Lord your God. Our culture traffics in death, fear, and manipulation. We are called to be a people of life, faith, and truth. We have no need to inquire of the dead, for our Lord has conquered death. We have no need to consult diviners, for God has given us His completed Word and His indwelling Spirit. The fundamental choice remains: will we listen to the cacophony of the world's soothsayers, or will we listen to the voice of our Father?