Fortune Telling
C Critical Issues Commentar y I C
A BIBLICALLY BASED COMMENTARY ON ISSUES THAT IMPACT YOU MAY /J UNE 2004 ISSUE NUMBER 82
THE DANGERS OF DIVINATION
B Y B O B D E W A AY "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things 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 witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:9-11)
THE NATURE AND HISTORY OF DIVINATION Old Testament scholar Eugene H. Merrill gives a general definition of divination: “The phrase ‘practicers of divination’ refers generally to the whole complex of means of gaining insight from the gods regardless of any particular technique.”2 Here is another definition: “[The] practice of making decisions or foretelling the future by means of reading signs and omens.”3 All pagan societies, ancient and modern, practiced divination. They knew they lived in a world of spirit beings and “gods,” and needed ways to gain information about the spirits that they believed created good or bad fate. Various techniques were developed to gain this knowledge. There is no logical limit to the varieties of techniques that might work. These techniques persist because they do work to some extent and the spirits are all too willing to provide their deceptive information. There are general categories of divination that were popular in the ancient world. One of the most prevalent ones was reading anomalies in nature. The ancients believed that the gods were behind the events of nature. When extraordinary events occurred, the ancients saw the possibility of learning from the gods. “These anomalies were understood as allowances by the gods in order to communicate a message to humans (as more direct forms of communication were not normally
A BIBLICALLY BASED COMMENTARY ON ISSUES THAT IMPACT YOU MAY /J UNE 2004 ISSUE NUMBER 82
THE DANGERS OF DIVINATION
B Y B O B D E W A AY "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things 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 witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:9-11)
THE NATURE AND HISTORY OF DIVINATION Old Testament scholar Eugene H. Merrill gives a general definition of divination: “The phrase ‘practicers of divination’ refers generally to the whole complex of means of gaining insight from the gods regardless of any particular technique.”2 Here is another definition: “[The] practice of making decisions or foretelling the future by means of reading signs and omens.”3 All pagan societies, ancient and modern, practiced divination. They knew they lived in a world of spirit beings and “gods,” and needed ways to gain information about the spirits that they believed created good or bad fate. Various techniques were developed to gain this knowledge. There is no logical limit to the varieties of techniques that might work. These techniques persist because they do work to some extent and the spirits are all too willing to provide their deceptive information. There are general categories of divination that were popular in the ancient world. One of the most prevalent ones was reading anomalies in nature. The ancients believed that the gods were behind the events of nature. When extraordinary events occurred, the ancients saw the possibility of learning from the gods. “These anomalies were understood as allowances by the gods in order to communicate a message to humans (as more direct forms of communication were not normally