◄ Deuteronomy 18:14 ►
Though these nations, which you will dispossess, listen to conjurers and diviners, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.
Study Bible
Though these nations, which you will dispossess,

Israel was preparing to enter the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The removal of the Canaanite peoples fulfilled God’s covenant promise concerning the land (Genesis 15:18–21) and carried out His judgment on generations of entrenched idolatry, sexual immorality, and child sacrifice (Leviticus 18:24–25; Deuteronomy 9:4–5). God’s judgment was not based on Israel’s righteousness, for Israel also stood accountable to the same holy standard.

Exo 23:23-24 For My angel will go before you, and bring you into the land…
Deu 7:1-2 When the LORD your God brings you into the land…
Jos 23:7 So you are not to associate with these nations that remain…

listen to conjurers and diviners,

The peoples of Canaan sought direction, power, and knowledge of the future through occult practitioners rather than submitting to the living God. Divination, sorcery, consulting spirits, and related practices attempted to obtain hidden knowledge apart from God’s revealed word. Such practices opened the way to spiritual deception and were inseparable from the idolatry God commanded Israel to reject.

Isa 8:19-20 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists…
1Sa 28:6-7 He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him…
2Ki 17:17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire…

the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.

Israel was to be distinct from the nations by seeking wisdom, protection, and direction from the LORD alone. God did not leave His people without guidance; He gave them His law and promised to raise up a prophet like Moses through whom He would speak (Deuteronomy 18:15–18). Jesus Christ is the final and fullest revelation of God, calling His people to trust God’s word rather than pursue counterfeit spiritual guidance (Hebrews 1:1–2).

Deu 12:31 You must not worship the LORD your God in this way,…
Lev 19:31 You must not turn to mediums or spiritists;…
Lev 19:26 You must not eat anything with blood still in it.…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Nations to be Dispossessed
These are the pagan nations inhabiting the Promised Land before the Israelites' conquest. They practiced divination and sorcery, which were common in their religious and cultural practices.

2. Conjurers and Diviners
Individuals in ancient cultures who claimed to communicate with the spiritual realm to predict the future or gain hidden knowledge. These practices were prevalent among the nations surrounding Israel.

3. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant God of Israel, who commands His people to avoid the practices of divination and sorcery, emphasizing His sovereignty and the need for His people to trust in Him alone.

4. Israelites
The chosen people of God, who are being instructed by Moses in Deuteronomy to live according to God's laws as they prepare to enter the Promised Land.

5. Moses
The leader and prophet of Israel, delivering God's laws and instructions to the Israelites in the book of Deuteronomy.
Teaching Points
Trust in God's Sovereignty
God alone is sovereign and knows the future. Believers are called to trust in His plans and timing rather than seeking forbidden knowledge.

Avoidance of Occult Practices
Christians are to avoid any form of occult practices, including modern equivalents like astrology or psychic readings, as these are contrary to God's commands.

Seek Guidance from Scripture
The Bible is the primary source of guidance for believers. Regular study and meditation on God's Word help us discern His will.

The Role of the Holy Spirit
Believers have the Holy Spirit, who guides and teaches us in truth. We should rely on the Spirit's leading rather than seeking supernatural guidance from other sources.

Cultural Discernment
In a world where occult practices are often normalized, Christians must exercise discernment and uphold biblical standards in their choices and influences.
Bible Study Questions
1. What are some modern practices that might be considered equivalent to the "conjurers and diviners" mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:14, and how can Christians avoid them?

2. How does trusting in God's sovereignty help us resist the temptation to seek forbidden knowledge or guidance?

3. In what ways can we ensure that we are seeking guidance from Scripture and the Holy Spirit in our daily lives?

4. How does the account of Saul and the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28) serve as a warning for us today?

5. What practical steps can we take to discern and reject cultural influences that contradict biblical teachings on seeking guidance?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Leviticus 19:31
This verse also prohibits turning to mediums and spiritists, reinforcing the command in Deuteronomy 18:14.

1 Samuel 28
The account of Saul consulting the witch of Endor illustrates the consequences of seeking guidance from forbidden sources rather than from God.

Isaiah 8:19-20
Isaiah warns against consulting mediums and spiritists, urging the people to seek guidance from God and His word instead.

Acts 16:16-18
The account of Paul casting out a spirit of divination from a slave girl, demonstrating the power of God over such practices.
Sermons
Divination ForbiddenR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 18:9-14
Gross Superstition the Alternative of True ReligionD. Davies Deuteronomy 18:9-14
Heathen Abominations AvoidedJ. Wolfendale.Deuteronomy 18:9-14
MagicJ. Orr Deuteronomy 18:9-14
Magical Arts and DivinationH. Cowles, D. D.Deuteronomy 18:9-14
The Deterring Power of Divine GraceH. Melvill, B. D.Deuteronomy 18:9-14
People
Levi, Levites, Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Horeb
Topics
Allowed, Arts, Attention, Auguries, Augury, Clouds, Dispossess, Divination, Diviners, Hearken, Hearkened, Heed, Listen, Nations, Observers, Permitted, Possess, Possessing, Practice, Practise, Readers, Secret, Signs, Soothsayers, Sorcery, Suffered, Taking, Using, Witchcraft
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 18:14

     5779   advice

Deuteronomy 18:10-14

     4132   demons, malevolence

Library
Prophets and the Prophet
'When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Moses the Type of Christ.
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken."--Deut. xviii. 15. The history of Moses is valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards God, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our Saviour Christ. No prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till Christ came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled--"The Lord thy God," says Moses, "shall …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

Appendix xiv. The Law in Messianic Times.
THE question as to the Rabbinic views in regard to the binding character of the Law, and its imposition on the Gentiles, in Messianic times, although, strictly speaking, not forming part of this history, is of such vital importance in connection with recent controversies as to demand special consideration. In the text to which this Appendix refers it has been indicated, that a new legislation was expected in Messianic days. The ultimate basis of this expectancy must be sought in the Old Testament …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Christ's Prophetic Office
'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet,' &c. Deut 18:85. Having spoken of the person of Christ, we are next to speak of the offices of Christ. These are Prophetic, Priestly, and Regal. 'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet.' Enunciatur hic locus de Christo. It is spoken of Christ.' There are several names given to Christ as a Prophet. He is called the Counsellor' in Isa 9:9. In uno Christo Angelus foederis completur [The Messenger of the Covenant appears in Christ alone]. …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Inheritance
Gerhard Ter Steegen Deut. xviii. 1, 2 Am I not enough, Mine own? enough, Mine own, for thee? Hath the world its palace towers, Garden glades of magic flowers, Where thou fain wouldst be? Fair things and false are there, False things but fair. All shalt thou find at last, Only in Me. Am I not enough, Mine own? I, for ever and alone, I, needing thee? …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Meditations of the True Manner of Practising Piety on the Sabbath-Day.
Almighty God will have himself worshipped, not only in a private manner by private persons and families, but also in a more public sort, of all the godly joined together in a visible church; that by this means he may be known not only to be the God and Lord of every Singular person, but also of the creatures of the whole universal world. Question--But why do not we Christians under the New, keep the Sabbath on the same seventh day on which it was kept under the Old Testament? I answer--Because our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

God's Last Arrow
'Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them.'--Mark xii. 6. Reference to Isaiah v. There are differences in detail here which need not trouble us. Isaiah's parable is a review of the theocratic history of Israel, and clearly the messengers are the prophets; here Christ speaks of Himself and His own mission to Israel, and goes on to tell of His death as already accomplished. I. The Son who follows and surpasses the servants. (a) Our Lord here places Himself in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The First Disciples
John i. 19 TO ii. 12 97. After the withdrawal of Jesus into the wilderness, John the Baptist continued his ministry of preaching and baptizing, moving northward up the Jordan valley to Bethany, on the eastern side of the river, near one of the fords below the Sea of Galilee (John i. 28). Here Galilee, doubtless, contributed more to his audience than Judea. It is certain that some from the borders of the lake were at this time among his constant attendants: Andrew and Simon of Bethsaida, John the …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

Humility is the Root of Charity, and Meekness the Fruit of Both. ...
Humility is the root of charity, and meekness the fruit of both. There is no solid and pure ground of love to others, except the rubbish of self-love be first cast out of the soul; and when that superfluity of naughtiness is cast out, then charity hath a solid and deep foundation: "The end of the command is charity out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5. It is only such a purified heart, cleansed from that poison and contagion of pride and self-estimation, that can send out such a sweet and wholesome …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Twofold Testimony of John - the First Sabbath of Jesus's Ministry - the First Sunday - the First Disciples.
THE forty days, which had passed since Jesus had first come to him, must have been to the Baptist a time of soul-quickening, of unfolding understanding, and of ripened decision. We see it in his more emphasised testimony to the Christ; in his fuller comprehension of those prophecies which had formed the warrant and substance of his Mission; but specially in the yet more entire self-abnegation, which led him to take up a still lowlier position, and acquiescingly to realise that his task of heralding …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Not that Light, but a Witness.
(John I. 8.) "Nothing resting in its own completeness Can have worth or beauty; but alone Because it leads and tends to farther sweetness, Fuller, higher, deeper than its own. "Spring's real glory dwells not in the meaning, Gracious though it be, of her blue hours; But is hidden in her tender leaning To the summer's richer wealth of flowers." A. A. PROCTOR. Resentment of the Sanhedrim--The Baptist's Credentials--Spiritual Vision--"Behold the Lamb of God"--The Baptism of the Spirit The baptism and …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

Messiah's Entrance into Jerusalem
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. -- And He shall speak peace unto the heathen. T he narrowness and littleness of the mind of fallen man are sufficiently conspicuous in the idea he forms of magnificence and grandeur. The pageantry and parade of a Roman triumph, or of an eastern monarch, as described in history, exhibit him to us …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

More Particularly, in what Respect Christ is Called the Truth.
But for further explaining of this matter, we would see more particularly, in what respects it is, that he is called the truth; and this will make way to our use-making of him. So, First, He is the Truth, in opposition to the shadows and types of him, under the law. Hence, as "the law," the whole Levitical and typical dispensation, "came by Moses, so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i. 17. They were all shadows of him, and he is the substance and body of them all, Col. ii. 17; and this …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Messianic Prophecies in the Pentateuch.
In the Messianic prophecies contained in Genesis we cannot fail to perceive a remarkable progress in clearness and definiteness. The first Messianic prediction, which was uttered immediately after the fall of Adam, is also the most indefinite. Opposed to the awful threatening there stands the consolatory promise, that the dominion of sin, and of the evil arising from sin, shall not last for ever, but that the seed of the woman shall, at some future time, overthrow their dreaded conqueror. With the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

First Withdrawal from Herod's Territory and Return.
(Spring, a.d. 29.) Subdivision B. Feeding the Five Thousand. ^A Matt. XIV. 13-21; ^B Mark VI. 33-44; ^C Luke IX. 11-17; ^D John VI. 2-14. ^c 11 But { ^a and} the multitudes heard thereof [heard of Jesus and his disciples crossing the lake], ^b 33 And they saw them going, and ^c perceiving it, ^b many knew them, ^d 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs which he did on them that were sick. ^b and they ran together there on foot from all the cities, and outwent them. ^a …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Plan for the Coming of Jesus.
God's Darling, Psalms 8:5-8.--the plan for the new man--the Hebrew picture by itself--difference between God's plan and actual events--one purpose through breaking plans--the original plan--a starting point--getting inside. Fastening a Tether inside: the longest way around--the pedigree--the start. First Touches on the Canvas: the first touch, Genesis 3:15.--three groups of prediction--first group: to Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3; to Isaac, Genesis 26:1-5; to Jacob, Genesis 28:10-15; through Jacob, …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Balaam's Prophecy. (Numb. xxiv. 17-19. )
Carried by the Spirit into the far distant future, Balaam sees here how a star goeth out of Jacob and a sceptre riseth out of Israel, and how this sceptre smiteth Moab, by whose enmity the Seer had been brought from a distant region for the destruction of Israel. And not Moab only shall be smitten, but its southern neighbour, Edom, too shall be subdued, whose hatred against Israel had already been prefigured in its ancestor, and had now begun to display Itself; and In general, all the enemies of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

In the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.
(October, a.d. 29.) ^D John VII. 11-52. ^d 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? [It was now eighteen months since Jesus had visited Jerusalem, at which time he had healed the impotent man at Bethesda. His fame and prolonged obscurity made his enemies anxious for him to again expose himself in their midst. John here used the word "Jews" as a designation for the Jerusalemites, who, as enemies of Christ, were to be distinguished from the multitudes who were in doubt …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

John's First Testimony to Jesus.
(Bethany Beyond Jordan, February, a.d. 27.) ^D John I. 19-34. ^d 19 And this is the witness of John [John had been sent to testify, "and" this is the matter of his testimony], when the Jews [The term "Jews" is used seventy times by John to describe the ruling classes of Judæa] sent unto him [In thus sending an embassy they honored John more than they ever honored Christ. They looked upon John as a priest and Judæan, but upon Jesus as a carpenter and Galilæan. It is probable that …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Formation of the Old Testament Canon
[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

The Angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch, and the Book of Joshua.
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself, filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was committed the direction …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

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