We continue on in Chapter 20 with the list of penalties that are to be imposed when an Israelite breaks any of the laws the Lord has already provided to them in Leviticus. Yesterday we learned the death penalty is to be imposed if someone sacrifices a child to Molek, that detestable false god of the tribes of Canaan. Today we're going to look at the penalties for taking up certain other occult practices.
The Lord says, "I will set My face against anyone who turns to spiritists and mediums to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people." (Leviticus 20:6) The Lord issued a prohibition against such behavior in Leviticus 19:31: "Do not turn to mediums and spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God." If a person disobeys Leviticus 19:31, the Lord says He will turn His face against them---He will not bless them while they are living in this manner. He will also "cut them off" (excommunicate them) from the congregation of Israel. It sounds as if the excommunication is something the Lord accomplishes on His own but He doesn't describe how He intends to separate the offender from the body of believers. It could be that He means He expects the people to expel a practicer of the occult from their midst unless or until the person repents, but the text does not specifically describe how the person's excommunication comes about. I feel it's clear why the Lord wants them excommunicated, because their behavior will begin to affect others if they are allowed to continue mingling closely with believers. Pagan rituals would begin to be blended with the worship of the Lord or some people would forsake the Lord entirely and give in to the lure of the sin and depravity of pagan worship.
The Lord says a person who engages in occult practices is prostituting themselves. They are being unfaithful to their God. They've gone out prowling for some other way to get their spiritual needs met, like someone going outside of their marital relationship to get their sexual needs met. A number of times in the Old Testament we'll find the Lord referring to Israel's idolatry as prostitution and as adultery because when any citizen of Israel is unfaithful to the Lord, he or she is breaking the vows of their covenant relationship with the Lord, and the Lord compares this to a person breaking his or her covenant vows of marriage.
Next the Lord reminds the people that they are to be different from the heathen cultures around them. They are the Lord's people and their mode of living should reflect this. "Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep My decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy." (Leviticus 20:7-8) You and I, as believers, should be living in such a way that our relationship with the Lord is reflected in our actions and attitudes. If we claim to be a Christian but no one around us can see any evidence of this in our lives, they'll either conclude we're a fraud or that there is no power and victory in living for Christ. If we look and talk and behave like unbelievers, what is there about us that would make an unbeliever ask us about Christ? What is there about us that would draw anyone to Christ? When anyone observes us going about our lives, they should see the fruits of the Holy Spirit displayed in us, which are: "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control". (Galatians 5:22-23a)
"Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head." (Leviticus 20:9) The Lord has already said several times in the Bible that a person is to respect his mother and father. It's even one of the ten commandments. But the form of cursing involved in verse 9 is probably not just the use of foul language toward one's parents, according to many Bible scholars, but likely refers to speaking the words of a spell or hex over their parents. Verbally cursing one's parents with bad words is something the people of God should never do, but I think verse 9 has to do with the Israelite's future move into Canaan where people practice all sorts of witchcraft, including the use of elaborate spells that call upon the forces of darkness to avenge them upon someone they feel has wronged them. This type of curse might involve words intended to condemn the other person's soul to outer darkness or that bring illness or death upon the person. If an adult Israelite should take up occult magic and speak an ugly spell like this over one or both of his parents, the Lord says that person is to be put to death. That person feels a deadly hatred toward his parent. He would love to see his parent dead or in hell. In that sense he is breaking the commandment that says, "You shall not kill," for the Lord Jesus said that murder begins in the heart with hatred and that anyone who hates another person is a murderer in his heart and is in danger of being judged by God. (Matthew 5:21-22a)
We've talked about the fruits produced by a person who lives for the Lord, but what fruits does a person produce when they live for themselves (for the flesh, for sin)? Their fruits are those ugly things we find the Lord prohibiting in the book of Leviticus, things such as "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like." (Galatians 5:19-21a) In tomorrow's study we'll continue moving through Chapter 20 and studying more of the penalties imposed for committing acts such as those that are mentioned in Galatians 5.
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