Deuteronomy 18:11

11 Don't put a spell on anyone. Don't get messages from those who have died. Don't talk to the spirits of the dead. Don't get advice from the dead.

Deuteronomy 18:11 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 18:11

Or a charmer
That pretends to cure diseases by charms, or a charmer of serpents; according to Jarchi, one that gathers together serpents and scorpions, and other animals, into one place; with which agree the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem,

``which bind serpents and scorpions, and all kind of creeping things;''

but, according to Aben Ezra, one that says certain words to gather demons together:

or a consulter with familiar spirits;
or the inquirer of "Ob", or the bottle, which the Jews interpret of Python, or one that has the spirit of Python; see ( Acts 16:16 ) , a ventriloquist, one that spoke or seemed to speak out of his belly, or from under his armpits; so it is said in the Misnah F8 of Ob, this is Python, one that speaks out of his arm holes; agreeably to which, Jarchi says, this is that sort of witchcraft which is called Python, and he speaks from his arm holes, and brings up the dead thither: of Baal Ob, or the master of the bottle, say some Jewish writers, one way he uses is, he takes the skull of a dead man, the flesh of which is consumed from it, and he hides it and burns incense to it, and mutters words by it, and hears from it, as if from a dead man F11: or a wizard: a knowing one, as the word signifies, such an one as we call a cunning man; (See Gill on Leviticus 19:31)

or a necromancer that inquiries of the dead,
or seeks instruction from them, as the Targum of Jerusalem. Aben Ezra describes him as one that goes to burying grounds, and takes the bone of a dead man, and because of his wild imagination there appears to him the likeness of forms; or as Maimonides F12, better still, he is one that fasts and sleeps in graveyards, and utters words; and, according to his imagination, sees future things in dreams.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 7.
F11 Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
F12 In ib.

Deuteronomy 18:11 In-Context

9 You will enter the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you do, don't copy the practices of the nations that are there. The LORD hates those practices.
10 Here are things you must not do. Don't sacrifice your children in the fire to other gods. Don't practice any kind of evil magic at all. Don't use magic to try to explain the meaning of warnings in the sky or of any other signs. Don't take part in worshiping evil powers.
11 Don't put a spell on anyone. Don't get messages from those who have died. Don't talk to the spirits of the dead. Don't get advice from the dead.
12 The LORD your God hates it when anyone does those things. The nations that are in the land he's giving you practice the things he hates. So he will drive out those nations to make room for you.
13 You must be without blame in the sight of the LORD your God.
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