ABOMINATIONS OF THE CANAANITES

I

IN introducing the theme of this chapter we return for the moment to Genesis VI, 4, which was under consideration in the two immediately preceding. That verse read,

"There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

We have seen that "giants" is in the Hebrew, "Nephilim," which means the "fallen ones," or the "fallen angels/' identifying them, as we think correctly, with the "sons of God." Others indeed would identify them with the "mighty men," the "men of renown" also mentioned in the verse as the offspring of the marriages of the "sons of God" with the "daughters of men." But for our present purpose it is not essential which application is made as we are chiefly interested in the phrase, "and also, after that."

Some would limit this phrase to the antediluvian age, and interpret it as meaning that after the first irruption of the fallen angels and the warning of God concerning it, others also occurred with like results during the 120 years of respite, until it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth and He determined to destroy him.

Others, however, would say that it had a postdiluvian application, and that the word and the fact for which it stands come to light again in the history of the Canaanities whom Israel dispossessed, as illustrated in Numbers XIII, 33. At that chapter and verse some of the spies whom Moses dispatched to bring a report of the land returned with the story that all the people were men of great stature; "and there we saw the giants (Nephilim) the sons of Anak, which come of the giants (Nephilim); and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

In this instance the same word seems to be used for the "fallen ones" and their offspring both of which were "giants" or "nephilim"; and the circumstance of their presence in that land seems to account for God's command to extirpate the Canaanites much as the greater judgment had fallen upon the whole race at the flood.

II

The above, however, is merely introductory to a consideration of the general teaching of the Old Testament on the subject of Spiritism and its related phenomena following the flood.

To quote the author of The Vital Choice: Endor or Calvary, "the existence of mediums -- individuals who, having discovered that they had certain gifts, made a practice of communicating with the spirit world -- is taken for granted in the Bible, where they are referred to as wizards, witches, necromancers, etc. The details of their methods are not given to any extent, but what we do know about them leads us to suppose that, with the possible exception of automatic writing, there is no material difference in their methods from those now in vogue."

Indeed, even this excepton may be unnecessary. For example, a certain class of the magicians both in Egypt and Babylon were known as "sacred scribes" (Genesis XLI, 8, margin), the root Hebrew word meaning a "style" or pen, and signifying those members of the priestly caste whose magic was somewhat concerned with writing.

Pember thinks they may have been identical with the writing mediums of our day, whom he speaks of as divided into five classes:

(1) Those whose passive hand is moved by the spirit without any mental volition of their own;

(2) Those into whose mind each word is separately insinuated at the moment of its inscription;

(3) Those who write from the dictation of spirit-voices;

(4) Those who copy words and sentences projected before them in letters of light; and

(5) Those in whose presence spirit-hands, visible, or invisible, take up the pen and write the words.

Of course the attitude of the Bible, or rather the attitude of God, for the Bible is the revelation of His mind and will, is that of absolute and unsparing condemnation of all these things, not only because the glory of His Name is involved, but also the highest and eternal welfare of the race which He has created and redeemed.

A few illustrations of this attitude are given:

Take for example, the command at Sinai, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus XXII. 18). This can not be concerned with mere superstition or deception, there must be reality behind it, real and wilful fellowship with the powers of evil, or such a penalty would not follow.

And this suggestion is strengthened by the repetition of the command in Leviticus (XX. 27) "A man also, or a woman, that hath a familar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them."

The Hebrew word for "familiar spirit" is pronounced "ob" or "ohv", and means the same as "necromancer", one who professes to talk with the dead or with Satan. This shows conclusively that the inhabitation of any one with an "ohv" must have been the result of voluntary acquiescence, since God would not thus punish that which was involuntary.

"Wizard" is a different word, but its significance is not essentially dissimilar, viz., a knowing person, one instructed in the art of holding intercourse with demons.

It may be of interest to explain that the word "ohv" originally signified a skin bottle, i.e., a skin filled with wine, and hence inflated and tumid. This tumidity being a characteristic of those in whom a demon or an "ohv" dwelt, the word came to be applied both to the person thus affected and to the spirit that caused it. Parkhurst, in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, quotes a passage in Virgil which describes the swollen and altered form of the Pythoness or demon-possessed woman, and adds, "this shows what the heathen meant in speaking of their diviners being pleni deo, full of the god."

III

We now come to the remarkable passage in the eighteenth of Deuteronomy which gives the title to this chapter. It is part of Moses' farewell to Israel before his departure out of this life, and just prior to their entrance upon Canaan, under Joshua:

"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. 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. Or charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits or a wizard, or a necromancer."

I. Let us study the meaning of these terms:

Passing "through the fire" has been taken by some to mean the worship of Moloch referred to in Leviticus XVIII. 21. Moloch was a god of the Phenicians, whose worship embraced human sacrifice of the most terrible nature, for example, the passing of live infants through the folded arms of the image heated to a white heat.

But that application in the present case is now considered incorrect, and it is thought that the words really mean "a sort of purification by fire, or, a fire baptism, by which the worshippers were consecrated to the god, and supposed to be freed from the fear of a violent death." It was a kind of charm or spell, and hence classed here with sorcery or witchcraft.

Occasion has been taken in the earlier chapters to warn readers against playing with the semblance of these wicked things because of their subtle and alluring power, and another occasion offers itself at this point. It is suggested in a footnote of Pember's, Earth's Earliest Ages (p. 258), where he affirms that this practice is still kept up in parts of Christendom by the midsummer fires of St. John's eve. He quotes a Wesleyan minister as saying that, at Midsummer, on many of the hills of Herefordshire, England, fires were burning, while the peasantry danced around them; and the ceremony was not completed until some of the young people had passed ''through the fire."

A second command is against using "divination", which the Revised Version renders "practising augury." This, however, does not clear up the meaning of the word very much, since "augury" is defined as the art of foretelling by signs or omens, a species of modern fortune-telling in which alas! not a few professing Christians are guilty of indulging.

"An observer of times." The English rendering of this would indicate a diviner by the clouds, but the Hebrew simply suggests such observation as requires the use of the eye in minute inspection, and might apply to the entrails of victims. Pember however finds in it the meaning of a fascinator with the eyes, or in modern language, a mesmerist, one who throws another into a magnetic sleep and obtains oracular sayings from him.

"Enchanter" is not regarded as an accurate translation of the Hebrew, which simply seems to denote quick observation of some kind, either of the eye or ear, and then of divining. The observation may be that of the singing or the flight of birds or other aerial phenomena.

"Witch" or "wizard" is translated elsewhere "sorcerer", and means "to pray", but its application shows that the prayer is directed to false gods or demons.

"Charmer", "consulter with familiar spirits", "wizard", "necromancer", are the words used in verse n, on which Benjamin Wills Newton, another English author, remarks: "Comparing verse n with verse 10, the last-named treats of those kinds of divination in which demons are not immediately addressed, but consulted by the intervention of signs or enchantments, while verse 11 implies a more direct appeal to evil spirits."

Thus the first word "charmer", literally means to bind or join together, and applies to one who by incantations and invocations seeks to bring demons into association with himself. Some séances are opened with the chanting or singing of hymns for this object, which leads Mr. Newton to say, very properly, "let no one who sings hymns in spiritualistic séances and thus invokes demons ever dare to sing unto God, for he is not a worshipper of God, but of Satan."

The remainder of the words in this verse so approximate the others in meaning as to make it unnecessary to enlarge upon them.

IV

II. Let us give attention to the command and the warning that follow the terms used:

"For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

"Thou shall be perfect with the Lord thy God.

"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."

An "abomination" is that which God detests, and which He must cast away or separate from Himself. Just what this meant in the mundane sphere, to the nation of the Canaanites, is revealed in the book of Joshua. But what it meant to them as individuals in the life to come, if unrepentant, who can appreciate or describe?

But if these things were an abomination in God's sight then, must they not be an abomination still? Has there been any change in His nature or in their nature? If He detested and cast them away from Himself then, must He not detest and cast them away from Himself now?

In other words, how can the Spiritist, and his kind, expect God's favor either in this world or that which is to come? Insanity multiplying as one of the results of this unholy intercourse is only symptomatic after all. A casting away from God goes deeper and farther than that.

"Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God." Perfect" in the margin reads, "upright or sincere." God is addressing only His chosen people, those whom He had redeemed from Egypt, and who, amid the thunders and lightnings of Sinai had avowed, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Exodus XIX. 8).

To be "upright or sincere" meant that they should keep that vow, and to keep it was incompatible with the worship and service of demons. Worship and service is something more than a ceremonial or a prayer. It implies trust, submission, obedience. They who seek unto wizards, and necromancers and diviners, do so for counsel and advice, and for information concerning the unknown which influences both character and conduct. In other words, it begets trust and confidence in, and commands submission and obedience to the false gods represented by those unhappy beings.

No wonder it should be written, "As for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do." Israel might so do, but they must suffer for it. If not in all respects as the Canaanites suffered who were not His chosen, yet so as to lead them to "see it to be an evil thing and a bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God" (Jeremiah II. 19).

V

III. The command and the warning is followed by a promise:

"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;

"According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

"And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."

When the law was given Israel at Horeb, by an audible voice, so terrible was the sight that even Moses said, "I exceedingly fear and quake," and the people "entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore" (Heb. XII. 19). "Go thou near," said they to Moses, "and hear all that the Lord our God shall say; and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it" (Deuteronomy V. 27).

God took them at their word, and graciously appointed Moses to be their mediator. And now that he was about to be taken from them ere they crossed the Jordan, a successor had already been announced. Joshua was the prophet from the midst of them like unto Moses whom God had raised up, and unto whom they were to hearken.

They need not fear to follow Joshua just as they had followed Moses, and the secret of their continued blessing, victory and prosperity depended on their obeying the one as they had the other. Whoso would not hearken unto Joshua's words as unto Moses, words which would be put "in his mouth" by God, and which he would speak in His Name, it would be required of him.

Manifestly, Joshua was but the type of all the other prophets and commanders of the people who should follow him, and whom God sent to Israel in the later days, "rising up early and sending them," as is so often repeated in the language of Jeremiah, and to whom alas! they would not listen.

But very especially is Joshua the type of Christ as the New Testament so definitely declares (John I. 17; Acts III. 19-26). And it is this last-mentioned fact that brings the command and the warning, as well as the promise, up to date. Here God brings us face to face with His Son in whose mouth His words are, and concerning whom it comes to us with cumulative force that God will require it of any one who fails to listen to and obey what He says.

But it must not be supposed that Christ's words are limited to the few He spake while present with us in the flesh. Christ is God. The Jesus of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. The Incarnate Word is the inspirer of the written word. Peter tells us distinctly that the prophets who spake of the grace that should come unto us, searched "what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when He testified beforehand" (I Peter I. 10, 11).

Christ's words are the words of the whole Bible, and it is to them we must hearken, and them that we must obey.

How clear, and rich and comfortable they are, satisfying every human need, every yearning and every aspiration! Is it a question of guidance in our daily walk? Is it the supply of our common needs, what we shall eat and drink, and our body, "what we shall put on"? Are we longing for solace and fellowship in sorrow? Are we peering into the darkness for some trace of departed footsteps, straining our ears for some echo of voices that seem forever lost?