RR Parshah Shoftim Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9 By Jeffrey Freeman
Shabbat Shalom,
This week’s Parshah is Shoftim (Judges) Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9.
The name Shoftim comes from Deuteronomy 16:18 Judges (Shoftim) and officers you are to appoint within all your gates…
This portion covers appointing judges and officers, forbids idolatry, sorcery and child sacrifice, difficult judicial cases are to be sent to the Levitical priests and judges, Kings of Israel will be subject to Torah, a prophet like Moses is prophesied, cities of refuge are discussed, property boundary laws are identified, requirement for two or three witnesses for legal testimony, warfare regulations, and unsolved murder requirements.
Let’s take a deeper look into God’s commandment forbidding dabbling in the occult.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or a fortune-teller, soothsayer, omen reader, or sorcerer, or anyone who casts spells, or a medium, a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to ADONAI…
Focus on abomination. Who or what is an abomination to ADONAI? The person who is practicing occult activities! It is not the occult activity that ADONAI considers an abomination, it is the person doing it.
An abomination is something greatly disliked, abhorred, having an intense aversion, or loathed. Not exactly the best trait for ADONAI to attach to someone.
Note too that ADONAI doesn’t say that these occult practices don’t have power or that they are not real.
Deuteronomy 18:14 For these nations that you are about to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and fortune tellers, but as for you, ADONAI your God will not allow you to do so.
We are simply told that occult practices are not for us, even though there is power in them…dark power.
1 Samuel 28 gives us the account of King Saul consulting with the medium at Endor who raised the spirit of the Prophet Samuel. The medium did indeed raise the spirit of Samuel, and the spirit did communicate with Saul, although the message wasn’t good for Saul. But the point is that the medium was able to communicate with the dead.
So, occult practices can work. But they are not for us.
Isaiah 8:18-19 Here I am with the children that ADONAI has given me…then they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living?
Seeking to commune with spirits that your Fathers did not know, to quote a familiar and oft repeated Biblical phrase, is no different than what Yeshua told us in Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will stick by one and look down on the other.
But wait, you say, there is no way that I would ever do anything with the occult. Really? Here are some common superstitions or practices linked to the occult or pagan practices that many Christians do without even thinking about their origins.
Knocking on wood because something bad didn’t happen. This comes from the pagan beliefs in protective tree spirits.
Tossing spilled salt over your left shoulder. Used to blind the evil spirit lurking behind you.
Reading your horoscope. The name comes from the Greek hora (time) and skopos (keeper). Among other things, these ancient “timekeepers” used celestial observations to divine future events and to read omens.
The last example will catch most of us. Saying “bless you” after someone sneezes. This comes from the ancient belief that when a person sneezes, they are expelling evil spirits. Saying “bless you” serves to protect that person and others nearby from those evil entities.
“Three, yea even four” situations as the Prophet Amos might say.
The evil one works by trickery and stealth. He worms his way into our lives by making us believe that things based in evil are harmless and perhaps even desirable or fun. Just remember in Genesis 3 the evil one was able to fool two people who were in God’s purpose-built garden and were physically communing with ADONAI. The evil one is a master of deception. This parshah reminds us to be mindful of everything we allow into our lives. Even seemingly innocent things may have their roots in evil practices.
Joshua 24:15 …choose for yourself whom you will serve…But for me and my house, we will worship ADONAI.
Shabbat Shalom
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sat15-Aug 2026 2nd of Elul, 5786 Parashat Shoftim
De 20:10-21:9Isa 51:12-52:121 Pet 1:3-13
This week’s Parshah is Shoftim (Judges) Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9.
The name Shoftim comes from Deuteronomy 16:18 Judges (Shoftim) and officers you are to appoint within all your gates…
This portion covers appointing judges and officers, forbids idolatry, sorcery and child sacrifice, difficult judicial cases are to be sent to the Levitical priests and judges, Kings of Israel will be subject to Torah, a prophet like Moses is prophesied, cities of refuge are discussed, property boundary laws are identified, requirement for two or three witnesses for legal testimony, warfare regulations, and unsolved murder requirements.
Let’s take a deeper look into God’s commandment forbidding dabbling in the occult.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or a fortune-teller, soothsayer, omen reader, or sorcerer, or anyone who casts spells, or a medium, a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to ADONAI…
Focus on abomination. Who or what is an abomination to ADONAI? The person who is practicing occult activities! It is not the occult activity that ADONAI considers an abomination, it is the person doing it.
An abomination is something greatly disliked, abhorred, having an intense aversion, or loathed. Not exactly the best trait for ADONAI to attach to someone.
Note too that ADONAI doesn’t say that these occult practices don’t have power or that they are not real.
Deuteronomy 18:14 For these nations that you are about to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and fortune tellers, but as for you, ADONAI your God will not allow you to do so.
We are simply told that occult practices are not for us, even though there is power in them…dark power.
1 Samuel 28 gives us the account of King Saul consulting with the medium at Endor who raised the spirit of the Prophet Samuel. The medium did indeed raise the spirit of Samuel, and the spirit did communicate with Saul, although the message wasn’t good for Saul. But the point is that the medium was able to communicate with the dead.
So, occult practices can work. But they are not for us.
Isaiah 8:18-19 Here I am with the children that ADONAI has given me…then they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living?
Seeking to commune with spirits that your Fathers did not know, to quote a familiar and oft repeated Biblical phrase, is no different than what Yeshua told us in Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will stick by one and look down on the other.
But wait, you say, there is no way that I would ever do anything with the occult. Really? Here are some common superstitions or practices linked to the occult or pagan practices that many Christians do without even thinking about their origins.
Knocking on wood because something bad didn’t happen. This comes from the pagan beliefs in protective tree spirits.
Tossing spilled salt over your left shoulder. Used to blind the evil spirit lurking behind you.
Reading your horoscope. The name comes from the Greek hora (time) and skopos (keeper). Among other things, these ancient “timekeepers” used celestial observations to divine future events and to read omens.
The last example will catch most of us. Saying “bless you” after someone sneezes. This comes from the ancient belief that when a person sneezes, they are expelling evil spirits. Saying “bless you” serves to protect that person and others nearby from those evil entities.
“Three, yea even four” situations as the Prophet Amos might say.
The evil one works by trickery and stealth. He worms his way into our lives by making us believe that things based in evil are harmless and perhaps even desirable or fun. Just remember in Genesis 3 the evil one was able to fool two people who were in God’s purpose-built garden and were physically communing with ADONAI. The evil one is a master of deception. This parshah reminds us to be mindful of everything we allow into our lives. Even seemingly innocent things may have their roots in evil practices.
Joshua 24:15 …choose for yourself whom you will serve…But for me and my house, we will worship ADONAI.
Shabbat Shalom
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sat15-Aug 2026 2nd of Elul, 5786 Parashat Shoftim
De 20:10-21:9Isa 51:12-52:121 Pet 1:3-13
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