Black Market Intelligence
Introduction: The Enduring Allure of the Occult
We live in an age that prides itself on its scientific enlightenment and its sophisticated secularism. We have, we are told, moved beyond the superstitions of our primitive ancestors. And yet, if you scratch the thin veneer of our modernity, you find the same old pagan heart, beating just as anxiously as it ever did. The horoscopes have not disappeared from the newspapers; they have migrated to smartphone apps. Tarot card readings are not the domain of back-alley mystics but are now a chic form of self-care for urban professionals. Our entertainment is saturated with sorcery, witchcraft, and communication with the dead, presented not as a dire warning but as a power fantasy.
The human heart craves knowledge and control, especially over the future. And when man rejects the true and living God, he does not become a rationalist. He becomes a spiritualist. He will not cease to worship; he will simply trade the throne room of heaven for the séance room. He rejects the clear, spoken Word of God and turns instead to the whispers, the omens, the patterns in the tea leaves, and the mutterings of demons. He wants intelligence, but he wants it from the black market. He wants a peek behind the curtain of God's providence without having to deal with the God of providence.
This passage in Deuteronomy is not, therefore, a quaint historical artifact detailing the strange customs of the Canaanites. It is a live grenade thrown into the middle of our contemporary playground. It is a warning that is as relevant in the twenty-first century as it was in the Bronze Age. God is telling His people, then and now, that there are two and only two sources of information about reality: God's authorized revelation or the devil's bootleg operation. To dabble in the latter is not just foolish; it is an abomination. It is cosmic treason.
The Text
"When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. 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, or one who is an enchanter or a medium or a spiritist or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and because of these abominations Yahweh your God will dispossess them from before you. You shall be blameless before Yahweh your God. 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."
(Deuteronomy 18:9-14 LSB)
The Quarantine of a Kingdom (v. 9)
The instruction begins with the context of inheritance and the great danger that comes with it.
"When you enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations." (Deuteronomy 18:9)
God is giving Israel a gift, the Promised Land. But this gift comes with a grave responsibility. The land is good, but the culture currently occupying it is toxic. It is a spiritual plague zone. Therefore, the first order of business is to establish a strict quarantine. Notice the verb: "you shall not learn." This is important. These abominations are not something you just stumble into. They are a curriculum. They are taught, practiced, and passed down. Culture is a pedagogy; it always teaches. The question is never whether you are being discipled, but only by whom.
The Canaanite culture was a liturgy of death, demonism, and degradation. God is commanding His people not to become students of this foul religion. They are not to be curious dabblers. They are not to attempt a syncretistic blend, taking the "best" of Canaanite spirituality and mixing it with Yahweh worship. This is a command for total cultural antithesis. You are entering this land not to assimilate to it, but to conquer and cleanse it. You are to be a holy nation, distinct in every way from the nations you are displacing.
A Catalogue of Cosmic Treason (vv. 10-11)
Moses then provides a representative list of the specific practices that are forbidden.
"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, or one who is an enchanter or a medium or a spiritist or one who inquires of the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:10-11 LSB)
This list can be broken down into two main categories. First, there is the ultimate perversion of worship: child sacrifice. Making a son or daughter "pass through the fire" was a rite associated with the god Molech. It was the absolute pinnacle of pagan devotion, giving your most precious gift, your own child, to a bloodthirsty demon in exchange for some perceived blessing. We must not sanitize this. And we must not imagine we are above it. Our nation's sanitized, clinical, and legal practice of abortion is nothing less than industrial-scale child sacrifice on the altars of personal convenience and sexual autonomy.
The second category is a cluster of related sins all centered on seeking forbidden knowledge and power. Divination, soothsaying, sorcery, consulting mediums, and necromancy are all attempts to bypass God. They are efforts to hack into the spiritual realm to get information that God has not revealed, or to manipulate reality in ways that God has not ordained. This is an act of profound unbelief. It is like a wife who, instead of speaking to her husband, hires a private detective to follow him. It is an act of deep suspicion and hostility toward God. It says, "God, your Word is not sufficient. Your providence is not trustworthy. I need another source. I need an edge." This is the very heart of the sin of Saul, which Samuel equated with rebellion and idolatry (1 Sam. 15:23).
The Divine Verdict and the Reason for Judgment (v. 12)
God is not arbitrary. He provides the reason for this strict prohibition and, in doing so, reveals the basis for His judgment on the Canaanites.
"For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and because of these abominations Yahweh your God will dispossess them from before you." (Deuteronomy 18:12 LSB)
The word "abomination" is one of the strongest words of moral revulsion in the entire Old Testament. It means something is utterly detestable, repugnant, and foul in God's sight. These practices are not minor infractions. They are a stench in the nostrils of a holy God. They pollute the land and corrupt the people.
And this provides the legal basis for the conquest of Canaan. Israel is not simply engaged in a land grab. They are God's appointed executioners. The Canaanites' cup of iniquity is full, and God is now bringing judgment. This is a sobering reality. It means that if Israel turns around and begins to "learn" and practice these same abominations, they will eventually come under the same judgment. The land will vomit them out just as it is vomiting out the Canaanites (Lev. 18:28). God plays no favorites when it comes to sin.
The Call to Undivided Loyalty (vv. 13-14)
The prohibition is now contrasted with the positive command, which gets to the heart of covenant faithfulness.
"You shall be blameless before Yahweh your God. 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." (Deuteronomy 18:13-14 LSB)
The command to be "blameless" is the Hebrew word tamim. It means to be whole, complete, sound, having integrity. It is the same word used to describe a sacrificial animal without blemish. It means you are to be all in. Your loyalty to God must be undivided. You cannot serve God and Molech. You cannot consult both the prophet of Yahweh and the local medium. To do so is to be a spiritual adulterer, a person of divided mind, unstable in all your ways.
The contrast is stark and simple. "Those nations... listen to... diviners." That is their source of truth. That is where they go for guidance, for hope, for a sense of control. Their entire civilization is built on this black market of demonic intelligence. "But as for you," God says, the situation is entirely different. You have a different King. You have a different source of information. God has not left you in the dark to grope for answers from the spirit world. He is a speaking God.
And this is the glorious point that the very next verse makes. God is about to promise them a Prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:15). You do not need to inquire of the dead, because you will have a living Prophet who speaks the very words of God. This points us directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate Prophet, the final Word from God (Heb. 1:1-2). The reason we are not allowed to dabble in the occult is not because God is trying to keep us from something good. It is because He has given us something infinitely better: Himself.
Conclusion: Christ, Our Sufficiency
The temptation to seek out black market intelligence has not gone away. It has simply put on modern clothes. Whether it is the crude paganism of astrology and tarot, or the sophisticated paganism of trusting in godless economic models to predict the future, the root is the same. It is a failure to trust the sovereign God and a refusal to be content with His revealed Word.
We want to know the future. We want to be in control. But the Christian life is a life of faith, not a life of sight. We walk by faith in the God who holds the future, not by sight of a future we have divined for ourselves.
The answer to the allure of the occult is not simply to say no. The answer is a resounding yes to Christ. Why would we consult the dead when we can speak to the one who conquered death? Why would we seek guidance from the stars when we can be led by the one who made the stars? Why would we trust in charms and spells when we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit?
The call to be tamim, to be blameless, is ultimately fulfilled only in Christ. By our own efforts, we are all spiritual adulterers, constantly seeking other sources of comfort and control. But in Christ, we are washed clean. His perfect, blameless life is credited to our account. Therefore, let us repent of our dabbling in the abominations of this world, whether overt or subtle. Let us turn away from the black market of forbidden knowledge and cling to the one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His Word is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. He is sufficient.