10/11/2007
Ezekiel 13:18 - 20 (HCSB)
18and say: This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the women who sew magic bands on the wrist of every hand and who make veils for the heads of people of every height in order to ensnare lives. Will you ensnare the lives of My people but preserve your own? 19You profane Me in front of My people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread; you kill those who should not die and spare those who should not live, when you lie to My people, who listen to lies. 20“Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: I am against your magic bands that you ensnare people with like birds, and I will tear them from your arms. I will free the people you have ensnared like birds.
In this passage, God continues to give an oracle to Ezekiel to pass on to the people. There were among the Israelites in exile, women who were practicing a type of voodoo. They would sew charms of different things on the sleeves of their garments. And with them, they practiced a form of magic.
Remember that Plato believed that the “reality” of an object was in its essence rather than its substance. This sort of pantheistic idea is the same as the use of charms. By having a charm that represented rain, for instance, the wearer believed that they controlled the essence of rain and could therefore, by magic, control the weather. Likewise, by creating a charm representing their enemies, they believed, and proclaimed (for a price) that Israel’s foes would withdraw from Jerusalem.
Of course, we know that the Bible forbids magic because it removes God from the position of omnipotence in our lives. We are to rely on Him for our needs and providence. When we pretend to control any part of our lives without His assistance, we effectively set up and worship a false god.
Let us learn to rely on our sovereign God as the keeper and sustainer of our lives. Charms are nothing more than trinkets that hold no special power. God alone rules all things.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2007 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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