Much of the Old Testament’s recounting of the salvation history of the people of God concerns the disastrous effects of Israelite adoption of the beliefs and practices of the surrounding nations. The people of Israel were to avoid the gods of other nations and any practice that involved the worship of those other gods. The Gentile nations had been put under the jurisdiction of these other gods by God himself as a punishment in response to the rebellion of the nations at the tower of Babel. After disowning the nations at Babel, God called Abram and created his own people anew, confirming his abiding love for the patriarch’s descendants by means of a covenant relationship. As a result, any use of divination to contact one of the foreign gods was viewed as a covenant violation and disloyalty to the true God.
The barrier between God’s people and the disinherited pagans was communicated in various ways in the Law of Moses. Some laws were clearly aimed at prohibiting a mingling of the populations due to fear of idolatry, such as laws forbidding intermarriage between Israelites and the peoples that were to be driven from the land promised to Israel.
“Realm distinction” was also what lay behind laws forbidding human beings from transgressing the boundary between the terrestrial realm of humanity and the non-terrestrial spiritual realm. More properly, there was a realm of embodied living beings (humans, animals) and disembodied beings (God, angels, demons). While it is true that Scripture contains examples where member of each group were permitted entrance into the other realm, human efforts to tap into the “other side” apart from God’s sovereign permission and initiation were forbidden.
The foundational passage in the Old Testament that articulates God’s demand that Israel reject pagan divination is Deuteronomy 18:9-14. There is certainly no doubt that the Old Testament views the practices sketched above very negatively. The condemnations are clear. What isn’t so clear is why God would allow some of these very same divination techniques to be practiced by Israelites (e.g., prophets) who were his faithful servants, or by people God chose to contact. This paper answers this question.
The barrier between God’s people and the disinherited pagans was communicated in various ways in the Law of Moses. Some laws were clearly aimed at prohibiting a mingling of the populations due to fear of idolatry, such as laws forbidding intermarriage between Israelites and the peoples that were to be driven from the land promised to Israel.
“Realm distinction” was also what lay behind laws forbidding human beings from transgressing the boundary between the terrestrial realm of humanity and the non-terrestrial spiritual realm. More properly, there was a realm of embodied living beings (humans, animals) and disembodied beings (God, angels, demons). While it is true that Scripture contains examples where member of each group were permitted entrance into the other realm, human efforts to tap into the “other side” apart from God’s sovereign permission and initiation were forbidden.
The foundational passage in the Old Testament that articulates God’s demand that Israel reject pagan divination is Deuteronomy 18:9-14. There is certainly no doubt that the Old Testament views the practices sketched above very negatively. The condemnations are clear. What isn’t so clear is why God would allow some of these very same divination techniques to be practiced by Israelites (e.g., prophets) who were his faithful servants, or by people God chose to contact. This paper answers this question.
