Necromancy is the attempt to contact or inquire of the dead in order to gain hidden knowledge or guidance.
Scripture forbids it by name and calls it an abomination to the Lord.
It is listed with divination, sorcery, and consulting mediums as one of the practices of the nations that Israel was not to learn.
The living God speaks through His Word and His Spirit; His people are not to inquire of the dead on behalf of the living.
When the Lord brought Israel into the land, He warned them not to follow the abominable practices of the nations. Among those practices He named the necromancer and the one who inquires of the dead. Turning to mediums and necromancers makes a person unclean and brings the Lord’s face against them. Isaiah later asked why a people should inquire of the dead on behalf of the living when they could inquire of their God. The tragic example of Saul, who sought a medium at En-dor after the Lord no longer answered him, ends not in help but in judgment. Necromancy promises access to those who have died. In reality it is rebellion against the God of the living, opens the door to deception, and substitutes forbidden inquiry for trust in what the Lord has already spoken. The believer’s path is clear: to the teaching and to the testimony. Inquire of the living God.
- Necromancy is explicitly forbidden in the law of God.
- It is the attempt to obtain knowledge or guidance by contacting the dead.
- Scripture contrasts inquiring of the dead with inquiring of the living God.
- Saul’s visit to the medium at En-dor is recorded as disobedience that led to ruin, not as a model.
- Those who turn to necromancers make themselves unclean and provoke the Lord.
- God is the God of the living; the dead do not become sources of authorized revelation.
- The gospel calls for a complete break with every form of inquiry of the dead.
- Forbidden by Name – The necromancer and the one who inquires of the dead are listed among the abominations.
- Seeking the Dead – An attempt to gain hidden knowledge from those who have died.
- Associated with Mediums – Often practiced through a person who claims to speak with spirits or the dead.
- Uncleanness – Turning to these practices defiles a person before the Lord.
- Contrast with True Inquiry – A people should inquire of their God, not of the dead on behalf of the living.
- Saul’s Example – When the Lord did not answer, Saul turned to a medium and met judgment.
- Call to Renounce – Believers are to have nothing to do with these works of darkness.
- Deuteronomy 18:10-12 – “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.”
- Isaiah 8:19-20 – “And when they say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.”
- Leviticus 19:31 – “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”
- Leviticus 20:6, 27 – “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people… A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death.”
- 1 Samuel 28:7-19 – Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” He went to the woman at En-dor; the episode ends with the announcement of his coming death.
- 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 – “So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.”
- 2 Kings 21:6 – Manasseh “burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.”
- Isaiah 19:3 – “And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers.”
- Luke 16:27-31 – In the parable, the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to warn his brothers; Abraham replies, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them… If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”
- Matthew 22:32 – “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
- Hebrews 9:27 – “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…”
- Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 – “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished…”
- Ephesians 5:11 – “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”
- Isaiah 46:9-10 – “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done…”
- Deuteronomy 18:14 – “For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.”
Necromancy is the attempt to inquire of the dead. God has forbidden it. He is the God of the living, and He has not authorized His people to seek the dead on behalf of the living. When they say, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers,” the answer of Scripture is: should not a people inquire of their God? To the teaching and to the testimony. Saul sought a medium when the Lord no longer answered him, and it ended in death, not in light. Do not turn to the dead for guidance. Do not seek mediums. The Word of God is sufficient. The Lord who declares the end from the beginning still speaks. Inquire of Him. Walk in the light. Have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness.
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