Leviticus 20:27 "A man or woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death..."

A man or woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death, their blood is upon them. (Leviticus 20:27)

Question:

I saw a movie in which this verse was quoted, and it disturbed me. My mother is very spiritual, attends Unity and has psychic gifts. I would like to understand for myself and how Leviticus 20:27 makes sense. 

Comment:

Leviticus is a compendium of rules and regulations governing a primitive and nomadic tribal people living in a harsh and rigorous time and place. It is full of commands that people be put to death for a variety of reasons, in a variety of ways. The emphasis was on maintaining the safety and integrity of the tribe as it tried to exist among many other tribes. One way to maintain integrity is by rigidly enforcing a set of common beliefs, and forcefully removing anyone whose attitudes or behavior seemed to pose a threat to the norm. 

We all go through Leviticus-like times in our own spiritual journeys. We are just beginning, stumbling forward. We make choices out of fear—fear of God, fear of punishment, fear of others’ disapproval. We believe God to be a distant and angry spiritual being demanding rigid obedience to detailed and specific rules. 

But we grow in spiritual awareness, and our understanding changes. This is what Jesus Christ insisted on throughout his ministry. He constantly violated the letter of the law by healing on the Sabbath, for example. His favorite teaching method was “You have heard it said ... But I say to you.” His point was not that the old laws were wrong, but that it was time to move up to a new consciousness of God as a loving and intimate Presence. The woman caught in adultery in John 8, for example, should have been stoned to death according to the traditional law. Jesus does not overthrow the law, he simply makes the point that none of us in human form is qualified to pass judgment; we all make mistakes and learn valuable lessons as we move through life. He sends the woman off, telling her to “sin no more”—to learn the lesson and make better choices going forward.

As to mediums and wizards, the true spiritual danger lies in making of them the kinds of “false gods” that we are cautioned against in the First Commandment. We don’t really need intercessors. God is as immediately available to each of us as to any one of us. And too many such mediums come to believe that they themselves are the source of their insights, or that they have a special relationship with God. That said, Paul notes in his first letter to the Corinthians that there are many different spiritual gifts, and different people have different gifts. It’s all good, as long as we don’t fall into the trap of believing that our gifts are more special than others. God works through us all in unique and wonderful ways.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed