Familiar-spirits
Short answer: Leviticus 19:31 says, "'Don't turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Don't seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God." The verse forbids two things: turning to spirit mediums and actively seeking them out. The word often translated familiar spirits refers to a spirit of divination consulted through a medium, not to ghosts or a harmless curiosity. The command rests on God's identity. Because Yahweh is Israel's God, his people must not look to the dead, the occult, or any rival source of guidance. Leviticus 20:6 adds that God himself will set his face against the person who turns to mediums and will cut that person off from the people. Deuteronomy 18:9-14 places such practices among the abominations of the surrounding nations.
What the phrase familiar spirits actually means
In the older English of the King James Version, the Hebrew term is rendered familiar spirit. The word carries the sense of a spirit known, familiar, or controlled, one that a medium consults and that speaks through or alongside the medium. This is why modern translations often say mediums or those who consult the dead. It is not a general word for ghosts or for the memory of a departed loved one. It is technical vocabulary for the practice of necromancy, attempting to get information or guidance from the realm of the dead.
That distinction matters because it keeps the command from becoming a vague fear of anything spooky. Leviticus 19:31, in the World English Bible, says plainly, "'Don't turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Don't seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God." The prohibition names a practitioner and the act of seeking that practitioner. The concern is a real religious practice with a real spiritual claim behind it.
The pairing of mediums and wizards in the passage shows the practice was pervasive enough that Israel's law had to name it more than once. The same pairing appears in Leviticus 20:6 and in 1 Samuel 28:3, where Saul is said to have sent away those who had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. This was not a fringe issue in Israel's world. It was a normal part of the surrounding religious culture, and God treated it as a direct challenge to covenant loyalty.
Why Leviticus 19:31 grounds the command in God's identity
The last line of the verse is the reason the command carries weight. God does not say, be careful because these practices do not work. He says, "I am Yahweh your God." The prohibition is anchored in who God is and who his people are. Israel did not belong to the nations around them, and they did not belong to the spirits those nations consulted. They belonged to Yahweh, and he had spoken to them.
That is why the verse uses the language of defilement. Turning to a medium was not merely a mistake or a harmless pastime; it made a person unclean. A holy God cannot be approached with divided allegiance. The same covenant logic runs through Leviticus 20:6, where the person who turns to mediums is described as playing the prostitute after them. Spiritual unfaithfulness is pictured in terms of adultery, because the issue is where the heart goes for help.
Read together with Leviticus 20:6, the passage presents two halves of one truth. The law forbids seeking the medium; God himself promises to set his face against the person who does it. Human obedience and divine judgment are woven together. The command is not a piece of ancient superstition that a modern reader can dismiss. It is a test of whether a people will trust the God who speaks or chase spirits that do not.
The nations imitated and Israel commanded not to learn
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 sets the same prohibition in a wider frame. Moses tells Israel that when they enter the land, they must not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. The practices listed there include passing a child through the fire, divination, soothsaying, sorcery, charms, consulting mediums, and asking the dead for counsel. The reason given is that these practices are detestable to God, and because of them he is driving the nations out ahead of Israel.
The word learn is important. These were not unavoidable temptations lurking in the background; they were skills a person studied, developed, and copied. Israel was to be distinct, not because they were culturally superior, but because Yahweh had chosen them and revealed himself to them. The surrounding nations sought their gods through techniques. Israel received God's word through prophets and priests, and God expected them to be content with that.
Deuteronomy 18 also promises that God will raise up a prophet like Moses. The contrast is deliberate. The nations grope after spiritual guidance through mediums and diviners; Israel will have a prophet who speaks God's words. The prohibition of familiar spirits is therefore not a rejection of all spiritual interest. It is a redirecting of that interest toward the one channel God has provided.
1 Samuel 28 and the tragedy of seeking a medium
The clearest example in Scripture is Saul. First Samuel 28:3 states that Samuel was dead and buried, and that Saul had sent away those who had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. Yet later, when the Philistines gathered against him and God did not answer by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets, Saul asked his servants to find him a woman who had a familiar spirit. He came to her by night and asked her to bring up the one he would name.
Several things stand out. First, Saul had previously removed the mediums, so his later action was deliberate disobedience, not ignorance. Second, he went disguised and at night, which suggests he knew the practice was wrong. Third, God had already stopped answering him, and instead of repenting he sought a rival channel. The narrative does not celebrate the result. It records it as the final unraveling of a king who had already turned away from Yahweh.
1 Chronicles 10:13-14 gives the inspired interpretation. It says Saul died for his trespass against Yahweh, because of Yahweh's word which he did not keep, and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire, and did not inquire of Yahweh. The sin was twofold: rejecting God's word and consulting a medium. The account is not a template for contacting the dead. It is a warning about what happens when a person insists on guidance from somewhere other than God.
Isaiah's question: should the living consult the dead?
Isaiah 8:19-20 portrays people advising others to consult those who have familiar spirits and the wizards, who chirp and who mutter. The prophet's response is a rhetorical question: shouldn't a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? The implied answer is obvious. The living have a living God. Going to the dead for counsel is a reversal of the created order and a practical denial of God's sufficiency.
The next phrase in Isaiah is a standard of testing: to the law and to the testimony. If a claimed message does not match God's revealed word, it has no light in it. This gives readers a practical criterion. Any spiritual guidance that requires a medium, a charm, or a technique for contacting the dead stands outside the testimony God has already given. The question is not whether a practice feels spiritual. The question is whether it agrees with what God has spoken.
Notice also the description of the medium's voice, chirping and muttering. It is small, obscure, and hard to understand. God's word, by contrast, is clear enough to be taught, memorized, and obeyed. The contrast is not between the supernatural and the natural. It is between vague whispers from an illicit source and a clear word from Yahweh. Isaiah's readers are called to stop chasing the whisper and return to the testimony.
Why this is not mere ancient superstition
Some readers assume the laws about mediums exist only because ancient people were gullible. The Bible's own account is different. The practices are treated as real spiritual activity, which is precisely why they are forbidden. Deuteronomy 18 calls them abominations, not illusions. Leviticus 20:6 says God himself will act against the person who turns to them. The seriousness of the language assumes that something is actually happening and that it competes with trust in God.
At the same time, the Bible never commands believers to investigate the spirit realm to test its power. It commands them to trust God's word and to refuse rival sources of guidance. Curiosity is not a neutral position. The verse uses the word defiled. Contact with these practices is not presented as a neutral experiment that leaves a person unchanged. It shapes allegiance, and God cares about allegiance.
This does not mean every cultural practice associated with superstition is equally dangerous, and faithful Christians have differed over how to apply these laws today. Some see a direct prohibition of all mediumship and necromancy. Others extend the principle to fortune-telling, tarot, and similar practices. The common ground across those readings is that God's people must not seek guidance from spirits or the dead. The passage is clear on that point even where applications vary.
How this applies to grief, curiosity, and fear
Many people are drawn to mediums not out of rebellion but out of grief. They want one more conversation with someone they lost. The Bible does not mock that ache. It redirects it. The living are not left without comfort. God speaks, and he has given his people promises, community, and hope in resurrection. Paul later tells the Thessalonians not to grieve as those who have no hope, which assumes grief is real but not final.
Others are drawn by curiosity or fear. They want to know the future, or they feel a strange fascination with the occult. Leviticus 19:31 addresses that too, with the words don't seek them out. The command covers the search, not only the consultation. There is a difference between encountering such things in a culture and actively pursuing them. The verse forbids the pursuit.
Practically, this means Christians can be honest about the pull these things have without pretending it is harmless. If someone is already involved, the biblical pattern is repentance and turning back to God, not despair. Saul's story ends in tragedy, but it is told so that others will not repeat it. The invitation throughout Scripture is to bring fear and grief to God rather than to spirits that cannot save.
Biblical fidelity check
What this passage establishes is clear. Leviticus 19:31 forbids turning to mediums and wizards and actively seeking them out. Leviticus 20:6 declares that God will set his face against the person who does so. Deuteronomy 18:9-14 places these practices among the abominations of the nations. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 interprets Saul's death as partly the result of consulting a familiar spirit instead of Yahweh. Isaiah 8:19-20 insists that the living should consult their God, not the dead. These texts establish a consistent prohibition and a consistent reason: covenant loyalty to Yahweh.
What the passage does not establish is a detailed manual for detecting, testing, or engaging with spirits, and it does not describe the mechanics of how a medium operates. It also does not say that every unexplained spiritual experience is demonic, nor does it give a formula for deliverance. A common misreading is to treat the prohibition as if it applied only to ancient Canaanites or to ritual specialists, leaving modern spirit consultation untouched. That misreading fails because the reason given is God's unchanging identity. Another misreading turns Saul's account into a successful example of contacting the dead. The text does not present it as a model but as a trespass that contributed to his death.
Other passages that speak to Leviticus 19:31
Several related studies help place this command in its larger biblical setting. The account of Saul's downfall is traced in 1 Chronicles 10: Saul's Death and the Kingdom Given to David, where the chronicler names consulting a familiar spirit as part of Saul's trespass. The rise of David, whose reign follows Saul's failure, is treated in 1 Chronicles 11: David Anointed King and His Mighty Men and in 1 Chronicles 12: David's Mighty Men and the United Kingdom. For the wider context of the books that record Israel's kings, see 1 Chronicles 1: Adam to Edom's Chiefs. Read together, these passages show how seriously Scripture treats the difference between trusting God and seeking other spiritual sources.
Frequently asked questions
Does Leviticus 19:31 forbid all contact with the dead, including grief?
The verse forbids turning to mediums and wizards and seeking them out. It does not forbid mourning, remembering, or loving the memory of someone who has died. Grief is not the sin; the sin is seeking guidance or contact through an illicit spiritual practice. Scripture elsewhere assumes believers will grieve, but with hope. The command targets the practice of consulting spirits, not the ordinary sorrow of loss. Christians can bring their grief to God, who is described throughout Scripture as near to the brokenhearted.
What is the difference between a familiar spirit and the Holy Spirit?
They are not two versions of the same thing. The familiar spirit in these texts is a spirit consulted through a medium, associated with the dead and with divination. The Holy Spirit is God himself, given to believers to teach, convict, comfort, and guide, and he works through God's revealed word. The Bible never presents them as interchangeable or as competing options of equal value. One is forbidden; the other is the promised presence of God with his people.
Was Saul saved even though he consulted a medium?
Scripture does not tell us Saul's final eternal state, and it is wise not to claim more than the text says. What it does say is that Saul died for his trespass against Yahweh, because he did not keep Yahweh's word, and because he asked counsel of one with a familiar spirit instead of inquiring of Yahweh. His end is recorded as a tragedy and a warning. The passage calls readers to repentance and to trust God's word, not to speculation about another person's soul.
