Deuteronomy 18:14
For these nations,
which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners:
but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
a. NLT: The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and
fortune-tellers, but the LORD your God forbids you to do such things.”
b. NIV: The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice
sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted
you to do so.
c. YLT: for these nations whom thou art possessing, unto observers of
clouds, and unto diviners, do hearken; and thou -- not so hath Jehovah thy God
suffered thee.
d. Amplified Bible: For these nations which you
shall dispossess listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners and fortune-tellers,
but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.
e. Septuagint: For all these nations whose [land] thou shalt inherit,
they will listen to omens and divinations; but the Lord thy God has not
permitted thee so [to do].
f. Stone Edition Chumash: For these nations that you are possessing—they hearken
to astrologers and diviners; but as for you—not so has HASHEM, your God, given
for you.
1. “For these
nations, which thou shalt possess…”
a. for these nations [1471 * gowy
(shortened) goy] [Strong: apparently from the same root as 1465 (in
the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile; also (figuratively)
a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts:--Gentile, heathen, nation, people.]
b. which thou shalt possess [3423
* yarash or yaresh] [Strong: a primitive root; to occupy (by driving out
previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication, to seize, to
rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin:--cast out, consume,
destroy, disinherit, dispossess, drive(-ing) out, enjoy, expel, X without fail,
(give to, leave for) inherit(-ance, -or) + magistrate, be (make) poor, come to
poverty, (give to, make to) possess, get (have) in (take) possession, seize
upon, succeed, X utterly.]
2. “…hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners…”
a. hearkened [8085 * shama`]
[Strong: a primitive root; to hear intelligently (often with implication of
attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.):--X attentively, call
(gather) together, X carefully, X certainly, consent, consider, be content,
declare, X diligently, discern, give ear, (cause to, let, make to) hear(-ken,
tell), X indeed, listen, make (a) noise, (be) obedient, obey, perceive, (make
a) proclaim(-ation), publish, regard, report, shew (forth), (make a) sound, X
surely, tell, understand, whosoever (heareth), witness.]
b. observers of times [6049 * ‘anan][Gesenius: to make appear,
produce, bring (clouds), to practise soothsaying, conjure, to observe times,
practice soothsaying or spiritism or magic or augury or witchcraft, soothsayer,
enchanter, sorceress, diviner, fortuneteller, barbarian,] [Strong: a primitive
root; to cover; used only as a denominative from 6051, to cloud over;
figuratively, to act covertly, i.e. practise magic:--X bring, enchanter,
Meonemin, observe(-r of) times, soothsayer, sorcerer.]
c. diviners [7080 * qacam] [Strong: a primitive root; properly, to
distribute, i.e. determine by lot or magical scroll; by implication, to
divine:--divine(-r, -ation), prudent, soothsayer, use (divination).]
3. “…but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered
thee so to do.”
a. the LORD [3068 * Yhovah] [Strong: from 1961;
(the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah,
the Lord.]
b. thy God [430 * 'elohiym] [Strong: plural of 433; gods in the
ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the
article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to
magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:--angels, X exceeding, God
(gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.]
c. hath not suffered thee to do so [5414 * nathan] [Strong: a primitive
root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make,
etc.):--add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, X avenge, X be ((healed)),
bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider,
count, + cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, X doubtless, X without
fail, fasten, frame, X get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), X have, X
indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), + lie, lift up,
make, + O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, X pull
, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth),
shew, shoot forth (up), + sing, + slander, strike, (sub-)mit, suffer, X surely,
X take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, + weep, + willingly, + withdraw, + would
(to) God, yield.]
1). All the Canaanite nations that
Israel dispossessed engaged in demonic, occult practices.
a). Leviticus 18:24-30 Defile not
ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled
which I cast out before you:
18:25 And the land is defiled:
therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth
out her inhabitants.
18:26 Ye shall therefore keep my
statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations;
neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
18:27 (For all these abominations
have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
18:28 That the land spue not you
out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
18:29 For whosoever shall commit
any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off
from among their people.
18:30 Therefore shall ye keep mine
ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were
committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am
the Lord your God.
2). Every one of these practices
are routine themes in Halloween celebrations. The origins of Halloween are
somewhat commonly known.
a). Answers in Genesis: In the
early 1900s, the migrating Irish and Scots brought Halloween traditions to the
United States. Over time, Halloween catapulted into mainstream culture. The
holiday, though, has roots reaching much further back. Some researchers claim
that the holiday can be traced back about 2,000 years to the Celts of Europe,
who occupied parts of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France. It
was a pagan festival called “Samhain” (pronounced “sow-in”) that celebrated
more or less the honor of the dead and involved the offering of large
sacrifices of crops and animals. Although no original written accounts of this
festival exist today from the ancient Celts, there is some reference to it in
Roman records from when the Romans conquered Celtic lands around AD 43. Under
Roman rule, the day of Samhain was influenced by Roman festivals of the time.
The first was called “Pomona,” which was a type of harvest festival, and the
next was “Feralia,” the Roman day of the dead. Interestingly, both Feralia and
Samhain were festivals of the dead and celebrated at the end of October. answersingenesis.org/holidays/halloween-history-and-the-bible/
b). John McArthur: The name
"Halloween" comes from the All Saints Day celebration of the early
Christian church, a day set aside for the solemn remembrance of the martyrs.
All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints Day, began the time of
remembrance. "All Hallows Eve" was eventually contracted to
"Hallow-e'en," which became "Halloween." As Christianity
moved through Europe it collided with indigenous pagan cultures and confronted
established customs. Pagan holidays and festivals were so entrenched that new
converts found them to be a stumbling block to their faith. To deal with the
problem, the organized church would commonly move a distinctively Christian
holiday to a spot on the calendar that would directly challenge a pagan
holiday. The intent was to counter pagan influences and provide a Christian
alternative. But most often the church only succeeded in
"Christianizing" a pagan ritual—the ritual was still pagan, but mixed
with Christian symbolism. That's what happened to All Saints Eve—it was the
original Halloween alternative! The Celtic people of Europe and Britain were
pagan Druids whose major celebrations were marked by the seasons. At the end of
the year in northern Europe, people made preparations to ensure winter survival
by harvesting the crops and culling the herds, slaughtering animals that
wouldn't make it. Life slowed down as winter brought darkness (shortened days
and longer nights), fallow ground, and death. The imagery of death, symbolized
by skeletons, skulls, and the color black, remains prominent in today's
Halloween celebrations. The pagan Samhain festival (pronounced "sow"
"en") celebrated the final harvest, death, and the onset of winter,
for three days—October 31 to November 2. The Celts believed the curtain
dividing the living and the dead lifted during Samhain to allow the spirits of
the dead to walk among the living—ghosts haunting the earth. Some embraced the
season of haunting by engaging in occult practices such as divination and
communication with the dead. They sought "divine" spirits (demons)
and the spirits of their ancestors regarding weather forecasts for the coming
year, crop expectations, and even romantic prospects. Bobbing for apples was
one practice the pagans used to divine the spiritual world's
"blessings" on a couple's romance. For others the focus on death,
occultism, divination, and the thought of spirits returning to haunt the
living, fueled ignorant superstitions and fears. They believed spirits were
earthbound until they received a proper sendoff with treats—possessions,
wealth, food, and drink. Spirits who were not suitably "treated"
would "trick" those who had neglected them. The fear of haunting only
multiplied if that spirit had been offended during its natural lifetime… Halloween didn't
become an American holiday until the immigration of the working classes from
the British Isles in the late nineteenth century. While early immigrants may
have believed the superstitious traditions, it was the mischievous aspects of
the holiday that attracted American young people. Younger generations borrowed
or adapted many customs without reference to their pagan origins. http://www.gty.org/resources/articles/A123/christians-and-halloween
c). Christian Broadcasting
Network: The origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition and have to do with
observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. In what is
now Britain and France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they
believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans,
who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits
themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil
spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween
practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions. http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/onlinediscipleship/halloween/halloween_watt05.aspx
3). As America removes the
Christian foundations from our nation’s schools, courts and culture, an ignorant
and unbelieving populace emerges searching for spiritual meaning.
a). In her article, Halloween’s Pagan Themes Fill West’s Faith
Vacuum, Amity Shlaes writes,
“But as much as we’d like it to be, Halloween isn’t secular. It is pagan.
There’s nothing else to call a set of ceremonies in which people utter magical
phrases, flirt with the night and evoke the dead… Necromancy is a regular part
of Halloween games. Zombie masks are one of this year’s top- sellers. As
grouchy theologians used to point out, the origin of Halloween was most likely
Samhain, an ancient Celtic holiday on which the dead, in some accounts,
supposedly returned to visit.” She goes on to write, There’s a reason for the
pull of the pagan. In the U.S., we’ve been vigorously scrubbing our schools and
other public spaces of traces of monotheistic religion for many decades now.
Such scrubbing leaves a vacuum. The great self-deception of modern life is that
nothing will be pulled into that vacuum. Half a century ago, the psychologist
Carl Jung noted the heightened interest in UFOs, and concluded that the
paranormal was “modern myth,” a replacement for religion.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-20/halloween-s-pagan-themes-fill-west-s-faith-vacuum-amity-shlaes.html
4). Final thoughts: During the same time America's Christian heritage was
being removed from our cultural landscape by many Supreme Court decisions, many
of the forbidden practices that God's word clearly spelled out to Israel in
Deuteronomy and Leviticus that were common among the Canaanites, were becoming
constitutionally protected behaviors in America. Ms. Shlaes was correct in
saying such scrubbing does leave a vacuum and that vacuum was filled with those
same Canaanite practices. Abortion, i.e., child sacrifice, became
constitutionally protected in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. Men lying with men as with
women became acceptable in stages over the last 50 years with the cap stones of
Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 and Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. All these behaviors
were Canaanite in their origin and as America continues to scrub away its
Judeo-Christian heritage, it will become more and more Canannite, including the
rising popularity of Halloween practices, many of which are Canaanite in their
origin according to Deuteronomy 18:9-14.
