Why are witches not allowed to live?
What is the historical reasoning and by whom was this law written?
Exodus 22:18
KJV - 18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
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Asked May 10 2013
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Anna Ferguson
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Singapore Moses
✿ No spiritualist medium was permitted to live in Israel. ✿ Each one found was to be put to death (Lev. 19:31; 20:27; Dt. 18:9-14). This is why the witch of Endor was afraid of Saul (1Sam. 28:3,7-25). ✿ Witchcraft was like the sin of rebellion (1Sam. 15:23; 2Ki. 9:22; 2Chr. 33:6; Nah. 3:4; Gal. 5:20). Witches claimed to reveal hidden secrets by contact with God and the invisible world (Isa. 8:19). They seduced the people to turn them from God; thus they were to be killed (Dt. 13).
Anonymous
Have you seen a witch at work? You would know why if you saw them work. They are of the dark and as you know light and darkness cannot co-exist. I wonder why you are asking this question.
Kenneth Heck
According to the Mosaic Law,witches are to be put to death because they are breaking the first commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Witches are real and generally have some connection with spirits not of God which enable them to unnaturally influence events. The stronger the connection the stronger their witchcraft will be. They constitute a real threat to the welfare of the congregation, and normally are not able to repent of their sin, since getting totally rid of the unclean spirit may not be possible, even by inflicting serious injury to the witch. So, death is the only option. Reading further at Ex. 22:20 corroborates the witch verse: "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed." This may actually include his wife, children, livestock, and personal possessions in addition to himself. The Christian religion itself will not, if ever, have laws of this kind until Christ returns in his second coming as Judge and Lawgiver for the Kingdom of God on earth. All laws penalizing witchcraft in Christian countries today don't technically derive their authority from the New Testament, but from the Old Testament, or common law, Roman law, etc.
Ron Papile
One purpose of the Law was to point people to Christ. One way Old Testament Scripture told about Christ is through the Law: If you break this Law, you are worthy of death. If you practice witchcraft, you are worthy of death because it often undermines the true faith, and it can cause an eternal spiritual death, and it physically caused Christ’s death. Many say, “it would be so much easier to witness to folks, today, if the Old Testament was a bit more forgiving:” Many new Christians have a problem with all sins being equal and many “minor” sins holding the sentence of death (James 2:10). Remember, all sins are equal, and all sins had to be paid for with Christ’s blood. There are several verses that most people skim over that explains this principle best: Numbers 35:31 “Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.” It basically says. You can take no satisfaction (Compensation for injury or loss) for a murderer other than death. What it says, without saying it is: If someone commits a sin, other than murder, you don’t have to execute them. The witch text is simply pointing to the future death of Christ who will die for all sins.
Bruce Morgan
Many who call themselves 'witches' or 'mediums' are aware they have no real abilities, but intend to deceive the credulous and vulnerable in order to make a comfortable living. They are con artists and frauds. The witch/medium that Saul consulted was shocked when God actually allowed the genuine spirit of Samuel to appear to them (1 Sam 28:12)! In all cases they claim to have control over the spirit world, and God is Lord of both Heaven and Earth, and nobody else (Deut 4:39; Exodus 34:14).
Jack Gutknecht
Good question! Witch Occurs only in Exodus 22:18 (“Never let a witch live" --God's Word translation [GW]., as the rendering of mekhashshepheh, the feminine form of the word, meaning 'enchantress' (RSV, 'sorceress'), and in Deuteronomy 18:10, as the rendering of mekhashshepheth, the masculine form of the word, meaning "enchanter." From Wiersbe says it's sorcery. " What today is looked upon as a harmless diversion was in Moses’ day rightly identified as a dangerous demonic practice. The Jews were commanded to stay away from everything that was associated with the occult (Lev. 20:6; Deut. 18:10, 14; 1 Sam. 28; Isa. 47:12–14). Galatians 5:20 associates witchcraft with idolatry." But I like best the verse found in Easton's Bible Dictionary/witchcraft, 2 Kings 9:22-- Easton’s Bible Dictionary, " 2 Kings 9:22 22 When Joram saw Jehu he asked, "Have you come in peace, Jehu?" "How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?" Witchcraft : (1 Samuel 15:23; 2 Kings 9:22; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Micah 5:12; Nahum 3:4; Galatians 5:20). In the popular sense of the word, no mention is made either of witches or of witchcraft in Scripture. The "witch of En-dor" (1 Samuel 28) was a necromancer, i.e., one who feigned to hold converse with the dead. The damsel with "a spirit of divination" (Acts 16:16) was possessed by an evil spirit, or, as the words are literally rendered, "having a spirit, a pithon." The reference is to the heathen god Apollo, who was regarded as the god of prophecy. "The topic of divination involves false prophets (Deut. 18:10, 14; Micah 3:6, 7, 11), of necromancers (1 Sam. 28:8), of the Philistine priests and diviners (1 Sam. 6:2), of Balaam (Josh. 13:22). Three kinds of divination are mentioned in Ezek. 21:21, by arrows, consulting with images (the teraphim), and by examining the entrails of animals sacrificed. The practice of this art seems to have been encouraged in ancient Egypt. Diviners also abounded among the aborigines of Canaan and the Philistines (Isa. 2:6; 1 Sam. 28). At a later period multitudes of magicians poured from Chaldea and Arabia into the land of Israel, and pursued their occupations (Isa. 8:19; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chr. 33:6). This superstition widely spread, and in the time of the apostles there were 'vagabond Jews, exorcists' (Acts 19:13), and men like Simon Magus (Acts 8:9), Bar-jesus (Ac 13:6, 8), and other jugglers and impostors (Ac 19:19; 2 Tim. 3:13). Every species and degree of this superstition was strictly forbidden by the law of Moses (Ex. 22:18; Lev. 19:26, 31; 20:27; Deut. 18:10, 11). "Illegitimate necromancy is uniformly forbidden in the Old Testament (see Lev 19:31; Dt 18:11; Isa 8:19; 19:3), probably on account of its connection with ancestor worship." --T. Witton Davies Anna, the law was written by God through Moses. But I don't think we should kill witches today. Try to win them to Christ because He died to save them as He died to save you! Witchcraft is as the sin of rebellion, but didn't you and I rebel against Christ before and until we accepted Him personally as our Master and Savior? Sin is either active rebellion or passive indifference.
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