Isaiah 2:6 Occult Forbidden
Isaiah 2:6 For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with influences from the east, and they are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.
The prophet is specific and clear as to what God has done. God has left, rejected, and let go of His people, Israel. We know specifically it is Israel because Israel is the house of Jacob and they are His people. It is stated twice in the introduction of the verse. God has rejected them and He tells us why. God gives us a reason for His action.
BECAUSE Israel is following the customs of other religions from the east. This is a direct act of disobedience to the first commandment. Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me”.
The second violation is they are accused of being “soothsayers”. A soothsayer could also be called a diviner, witch, sorcerer, or fortuneteller. So what is the big deal with this? Leviticus 19:26 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying. God also points this out in more detail in Deuteronomy 18:9-14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations. There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer. Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is about to drive them out from before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things.
God does not deny these things exist. They are real. People who practice these are to be driven out. This will come as a shock to the culture, but God does not approve of Harry Potter. This is not tricky, these practices are not permitted.
…and they strike bargains with the children of foreigners. The last phrase of the verse is unclear to the specific meaning. There are different possibilities according to linguists. One, there is hostility toward foreigners. This does not make much sense due to the fact the Jews have adopted other customs and are worshipping other gods. A second could be there are treaties and alliances with the foreigners in the land. God told the Jews to drive the people out of the land when they entered. The foreigners should not be there. The Jews are to put their trust in God and not in treaties. The context of the verse would suggest the Jews in Isaiah’s time are pretty cozy with the people in the land.
Leave a Reply