There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer
Moses is preparing Israel to enter Canaan. Before he speaks of the Prophet God will raise up, he lists what the people of that land already did: burning their children, and hunting the future by every kind of magic. Why does God treat this as grounds for driving out whole nations, and what does He give His people instead?
The practices that emptied the land
The list is not random. It names the evils that had brought God's judgment on Canaan.
Leslie M. GrantIn the land of Canaan the evil of the nations had risen to a level God would not bear. Their sin had reached its full measure, so God was judging them before Israel. And God warns Israel not to take up any of the evil practices that brought His judgment.
The judgment does not stop at the practice.
F. W. GrantThe LORD declares plainly that everyone who does these things is an abomination to Him — not just the practices, but the people who practise them. Christianity has not changed this, and dressing these things up under respectable names cannot hold off God's judgment.
Children in the fire
The ESV says the child was burned "as an offering." Older translations read "pass through the fire," and some have leaned on that older wording. One writer will not allow it:
William KellySome have argued from the words "passing through the fire," here and elsewhere, that the children were not really burned. But that looks like a kind-hearted attempt to soften how evil this was. It was the worst, though not the only, way of dishonouring the name of Israel's God. The LORD accepted a sheep or an ox, or even a much smaller offering; Satan, under the names of these idols, demanded their sons.
What horrifies most is that people did this as worship. One writer passes on an old description of the idol:
Leslie M. GrantMolech was a hollow brass body shaped like a man, with an ox's head and hands stretched out to receive. When it had been heated right through, the priests put the baby into its hands, while drums beat to drown the infant's cries, so that the parents would not relent. It seems hard to understand how religious zeal could excuse such wickedness, yet that is how satanic power seduces people.
The many names for prying into the future
Moses gathers up every word his language had for prying into hidden things. One writer numbers seven of them and explains each:
Arno Clemens Gaebelein1. Observer of times: one who predicts good or bad by watching the heavens and events. 2. Enchanter. The Hebrew word is menachesh, linked to nachash, the Hebrew word for serpent. It means one who mutters spells. 3. Witch. 4. Charmer. 5. One who consults familiar spirits. 6. A wizard, who has access to a forbidden wisdom. 7. The necromancer, who questions the dead.
Another writer explains what lay behind several of them:
Leslie M. GrantWitchcraft and fortune-telling were also firmly forbidden. So was the claim to read omens — that is, anything unusual that superstition might load with a hidden meaning. Anyone who claimed the insight to read such signs was the victim of satanic deceit. Sorcery, also forbidden, is the practice of digging into spiritism by using drugs.
Why God calls it an abomination
The ban is not fear of the strange. One writer names the power behind these arts.
W. W. FeredayIn His word — above all in Deuteronomy 18:9-14 — God condemns this evil in every form, without softening it. It is apostasy: a turning away from God and the truth He has revealed. It is dealing with demons, and it ruins everyone who practises it.
God's answer: a Prophet, not a diviner
The chapter does not only forbid. God fills the gap Himself.
F. W. GrantIf the people who claim God's name turn to such things, it is not because God has refused them the joy and blessing of hearing His mind directly. It is because they have turned their back on Him. He would not even wait for the people to call on Him. He would come near to them Himself in the Prophet He would raise up like Moses, and they were to listen to that Prophet.
One writer reads the whole section as God foreseeing that faith would fail:
J. N. DarbyThese rules foresee that the people would lack the faith needed to walk simply with the Lord. Christ is the true and only answer.
The same verse today
One writer applies this to anyone who consults the dead:
C. H. MackintoshWe are fully persuaded of this. When people give themselves to the dreadful business of calling up the spirits of the dead, in any way at all, they are putting themselves into the devil's hands, and he will deceive and fool them with his lies. What do people who hold a perfect revelation from God in their hands want with séances and spirit messages?
Summary
- Full — Canaan's sin had reached its full measure. These practices are why God removed the nations, and He told Israel not to copy them.
- Fire — The Molech rite was child sacrifice dressed as worship. God asked for a sheep; Satan demanded their sons.
- Fortune — The seven terms all chase one thing: hidden knowledge. Reading the sky, muttering spells, charms, familiar spirits, forbidden wisdom, questioning the dead.
- Filth — The verdict falls on the people, not only the acts. This is turning away from God and dealing with demons.
- Fulfilment — God did not leave His people in the dark. He gave a Prophet like Moses, and writers see Christ as the true and only answer, whose word leaves nothing worth seeking from the dead.