(334) Do not allow anyone practicing witchcraft to live. “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” (Exodus 22:18) The Hebrew word translated “sorceress” is actually a verb, kasap, meaning to practice magic or sorcery, to use supernatural (i.e., demonic) powers. Listed among King Manasseh’s many sins was kasap: “he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists.” (II Chronicles 33:6) Notice God’s instruction here: it’s not to disavow the use of sorcery. That’s taken care of elsewhere. Rather, it’s to make sure that no one who practices such things survives. Manasseh reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem and yet no one bothered to invoke Exodus 22:18. This means all of Judah was guilty under the law for not dealing with Manasseh’s sin.

It is also instructive to see the kind of things Yahweh promises to lump in with practicing sorcery when it comes time for judgment: “And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers (kasap), against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien—because they do not fear Me, says Yahweh of hosts.” (Malachi 3:5) One way or another, he’s just touched on Commandments 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Sorcery is not only placing “another god” before Yahweh, it’s also the very essence of what it is to regard the name of Yahweh as worthlessness—which is what the Third Commandment is all about.

My understanding is that the penal phase of this instruction was for the governance of theocratic Israel, although there likely are applications for one devoted to the God of Israel in not seeking magic solutions to our troubles. I can also see where Judah's crime might be in tolerating Manasseh's activities rather than for not explicating killing him, as the king seems to define the community, not be exiled from it.

Hmm .. are you suggesting that the kingdom of Judah should have killed Manasseh?

I don't believe that's a fair reading. Witness David's dealings with Saul. The Lord had rejected Saul as king over Israel, but David would still not harm a hair of his head, because he was the Lord's anointed. Flee from him, yes. Cut off a piece of his garment while he was sleeping ,yes. Go to the Philistine cities and serve as a mercenary in their equivalent of the Foreign Legion, yes. But not kill the king. That was in God's hands.

Nor do we see any prophet save one ever ordering the people to slay the king. And that was not a general insurrection -- it was a specific commission to a specific individual (Jehu).

The way it seems to have worked in the OT is that when kings went wrong, the prophets were sent to them to call them back to the path of righteousness. If they didn't listen, God would commission a particular individual (usually a foreign adversary, like the Babylonians or the Philistines) to kill him and remove him from his place. But there is no mechanism in the OT for rebellion against the king, even a wicked one. Which makes perfect sense. If people were permitted to kill the king every time the king went wrong, no king could sit on his throne for long without having some madman trying to kill him and claiming religious justification for it.

Bottom line: Unless a prophet like Elisha specifically anoints you to kill the king, you don't have the right to do so; it's murder. Elijah didn't try to kill Ahab, after all.

I'm glad that kasap means 'demonic' rather than 'supernatural', because if it just meant 'supernatural', then Elijah and Jesus would be subject to execution as well, and that's an absurd reading. So it's not supernatural power that's forbidden -- it's exercise of supernatural power from some other source than YHWH. Which makes sense. If YWHW has sworn to provide all the supernatural things you need, going to some other spirit is very like adultery.

Respectfully,

Well, Theophilus, I'm afraid I must completely and wholeheartedly disagree with your commentator.

1) Saul may not have been practicing literal kasaph for most of his reign, but what he did was every bit as bad in God's eyes. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft" (1 Samuel 15:23), remember?

2) Saul ended his reign practicing kasaph. He consulted the witch of Endor, remember? Almost the very last act of his life? God wouldn't answer him by Urim or by prophets, so he turned to witchcraft for his answers.

3) What about Jeroboam? He instituted the sin of the golden calf and led Isreal into idolatry (1 Kings 12), among the single greatest sins ever committed by a king of Isreal, yet God did not command the Isrealites to kill Jeroboam. Instead, he raised up a prophet to rebuke him (1 Kings 13) and later brought judgement on him and his family at the hands of the house of Baasha.

4) What about Ahab? I mentioned that in the previous post. Elijah rebuked Ahab, but he neither attempted to murder him nor did he command others to do so. He commanded that the priests of Baal should die at Mount Carmel, but he did not raise his hand against Ahab, who was present at the time (1 Kings 18).

5) What about Jehoram? He was a son of the line of David, and he brought to Judah all the detestable practices of the house of Ahab. And he murdered his own brothers. Yet again no man laid a hand on him, nor is anyone condemned for not doing so. Instead, God speaking through Elijah cursed him, and he died of a lingering painful disease (2 Chronicles 21:4-21), "to no one's regret".

6) What about Ahaz, the son of Hezekiah, who was king in the time of the prophet Isaiah? He also sacrificed his son in the fire ... what does the Bible say ...




2 Kings 16:3-4.

Ahaz was king during the time of the prophet Isaiah, and in fact Isaiah speaking to Ahaz is recorded in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 7).

There are 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah. It's one of the longest prophetic books in the OT. There is much blessing and much cursing, and many prophetic visions. But at no time does Isaiah attempt to murder Ahaz, nor does he command others to do so.

=====

Shall I go on?

Reading through this brief survey, it seems to me that kings who led Judah or Isreal astray through idolatry or mediums or spiritism or sorcery were the rule rather than the exception. But that still doesn't give the people of Judah or Isreal the right to kill the king. That is murder and treason, *unless* God specifically authorizes the task, as he authorized Jehu to kill Joram and the family of Ahab. It's a duty that God could appoint men to, but no man should simply take upon himself.

I distrust the doctrine that teaches otherwise -- that men have the right to kill other men simply because they see them doing evil. We are not the appointed judges of our fellow men, and God may lead them to repentence. I am worried that following too far down that road leads us to murderous fundamentalists stabbing people to death in their beds "in the name of God". It's happened before. And that is so far from the Spirit I have come to know and commune with it might as well be in another solar system.

IMO, the appropriate response to Manasseh was to refuse to bow down to his idols, and to refuse to carry out his commands to murder the innocent. To play Elijah, rebuking his madness. At the last need, relieve him of his office and confine him to quarters, the way a ship's captain might be relieved due to insanity. I understand something like that happened in the time of King Uzziah, when he came down with leprosy (2 chronicles 26:21). King in name only, he lived in quarantine while Jotham his son ruled the kingdom. Something very like that could perhaps have been done with Manasseh, except that the "disease" in this case isn't leprosy, but being Too Evil To Live.

Instead, we are told



2 Kings 21:16.

And again in 2 Kings 24:



Manasseh didn't do that alone. IMO, the reason judgement fell on Judah was because Judah was with Manasseh, body and soul, and they did not repent of his deeds even in the time of Josiah (Jeremiah 3:6-10). They played along with a good king, but were quick to turn to evil when Josiah left the scene.

Manasseh may have led the nation into evil, but the nation followed him. God sent them prophets to follow, to turn away from wickedness, but they chose to follow Manasseh into sin rather than Jeremiah and those like him into righteousness. IMO, that is why judgement fell on the entire nation rather than on the man only , as happened in the time of Jehoram.

Respectfully,

I've always been a slow writer: either I'm lazy or extremely thoughtful---I'll let you guys decide :-)
kp