HaDebariym [Deut.] 18, sites a list of what are considered thoebah [destestable, abominable
ways] of the Goyim [Gentiles].
HaDebariym 18, " ' 9 when you are coming in to the land
which YHWH your elohey is giving to
you, you will not learn to do according to the detestable ways
of those goyim. 10 there will not found among you
one who passes his son and his daughter through the fire, a user
of divinations, an observer of clouds, and an enchanter, and a
sorcerer, 11 or a charmer, or one asking of
familiar spirits, and a wizard, or one seeking to the dead. 12 for YHWH detests every one doing
these, and because of these detestable ways is YHWH, your elohey, dispossessing them from your presence.' "
Where this list is specific to those practices that are
primarily of a witchcraft nature, thoebah
is not limited to those practices. Something that needs to be
remembered, or made aware of if one is not, is that many cultures
religious practices also involve aberrant sexual practices, pharmakeia
[root of pharmacy, medication which was involved with witchcraft;
a drug, spell giving potion, poison.], marking or scarring themselves,
etc. The following are the other verses that contain practices
that YHWH has told us not to participate in, that we are to be
set apart to Him.
Wayyiqra [ Leviticus]
18:22-30, "and YHWH spoke to mosheh, saying, 2
'speak to the sons of yisrael and say
to them, "i am YHWH your elohey. 3 like the deeds of the land of mitsrayim which you lived in, you will not do; and like the
deeds of the land of kenaan which i
am bringing you there, you will not do; and in their rules you
will not walk. 4
you will do my judgments and you will keep my rules, to walk in
them; i am YHWH your elohey,
5 and you will keep my rules and my judgments,
which if a man does, he will live by them. i
am YHWH. 6 none of you will draw near to any
relative of his flesh to uncover their nakedness; i
am YHWH. 7 you
will not uncover the nakedness of your father or the nakedness
of your mother; she is your mother; you will not uncover her nakedness. 8 you will not uncover the nakedness
of the ishshah of your father; it is
the nakedness of your father.
9 you will not uncover the nakedness of your
sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother,
born of the beyth, or born away; you
will not uncover their nakedness. 10 you will not uncover the nakedness
of the daughter of your son, or the daughter of your daughter;
you will not uncover their
nakedness, for theirs is your own nakedness.
11 the nakedness of the daughter of the ishshah
of your father, birthed by your father, she is your sister; you
will not uncover her nakedness.
12 you will not uncover the nakedness of a sister
of your father; she is a relative of your father.
13 you will not uncover the nakedness of the
sister of your mother; for she is the relative of your mother.
14 you will not uncover the nakedness of the
brother of your father; you will not draw near to his ishshah;
she is your aunt. 15 you will not uncover the nakedness
of your daughter in thorah; she is your
son's wife; you will not uncover her nakedness.
16 you will not uncover the nakedness of the
ishshah of your brother; it is the nakedness of your brother.
17 you will not uncover the nakedness of an
ishshah and her daughter; you will not
undertake to uncover the daughter of her son, or the daughter of her daughter; they are her relatives;
it is wickedness. 18
and you will not take an ishshah with
her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other
in her lifetime. 19 and you will not draw near to
uncover the nakedness of an ishshah
in her menstrual impurity. 20
and you will not give your semen to the ishshah
of your neighbor by lying with her, for uncleanness with her.
21 and you will not give your seed to pass them
through to molech, nor will you pollute the name of your elohey; i am YHWH. 22 and with a male you will not lie
as one lies with an ishshah; it is a
perversion. 23
and you will not give your semen with any animal, for uncleanness
with it. and an ishshah will not stand before an animal to lie down with it;
it is a shameful mixing. 24
do not defile yourself with all these, for with all these the
goyim have been defiled, which i am
casting out before you; 25 and the land is defiled, and i will visit its iniquity on it; and the land is vomiting
out those living in it; 26
and you, you will keep my rules and my judgments, and will not
do any of all these disgusting acts; neither the native nor the
ger who is staying in your midst.
27 for the men of the land who are before you
have done all these disgusting things, and the land is defiled.
28 do not do these otherwise the land vomit
you out for your defiling it, as it has vomited out the goy that
was before you. 29
for all who do any of these disgusting things, even the nefeshoth who are doing them, will be cut off from the midst
of their people. 30
and you will observe my charge, so as not to do any of the disgusting
customs which were committed before you; and you will not defile
yourselves with them; i am YHWH your elohey." ' "
Wayyiqra 20:13, "
'And a man who lies with a male as one lies with a woman, both
of them have done a detestable thing; they will certainly be put
to death; their blood will be on them.' "
HaDebariym [Deut.] 7:25,26, "
'you will burn the carved
images of their gods with fire; and you will not lust after the
silver and gold on them, nor will you take it to yourself, that
you not be snared by it; for it is an abomination to YHWH.
and you will not bring an abomination into your beyth,
that you not be a cursed thing like it. you will utterly detest
it, and you will utterly hate it; for it is a cursed thing.' "
HaDebariym 12:29-32, "
'when YHWH your god will
cut off the nations from before you, where you are going in to
possess them, and you will possess them, and will live in their
land, 30 take heed to yourself that you
not be snared to follow them after they have been destroyed before
you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, how did
these nations serve their gods? and i
will do so, even i. 31 you
will not do so to YHWH your god; for everything hateful to YHWH,
which he detests, they have done to their gods. for they have
even burned their sons and their daughters in the fire to their
gods. 32 all
the things that i command you, take
heed to do them and you will not add to it, nor take away from
it.' "
HaDebariym 13:1-19,
" 'if a nabiy or a dreamer of dreams
rises among you, and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder which
he spoke to you occurs, saying, "let us go after other elohiym
which you have not known, and let us serve them," 3 you will not listen to the words
of that nabiy, or that dreamer of dreams.
for YHWH your elohey is testing you,
to know if you love YHWH your elohey
with all your heart and with all your nafesh. 4
you will walk after YHWH your elohey,
and you will fear him. and you will observe his commands, and
you will hear his voice, and you will serve him, and you will
cleave to him. 5
and that nabiy or that dreamer of dreams
will die, because he has spoken apostasy against YHWH your elohey, who is bringing you out of the land of mitsrayim, and has redeemed you out of the beyth of slaves, to thrust you out of the way in which YHWH
your elohey has commanded you to walk.
and you will put away evil from among you.
6 if your brother, your mother's son, or your
son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend
who is as your own nafesh, will entice
you secretly, saying, "let us go and serve other elohiym," which you have not known, you and your fathers,
7 of the elohey of the people around you, those near you or far off
from you, from one end of the earth even to the other end of the
earth, 8 you will not consent to him, nor
listen to him, nor will your eye have pity on him, nor will you
spare nor hide him. 9
but killing you will kill him; your hand will be first upon him
to cause him to die, and the hand of all the people last.
10 and you will stone him with stones, and he
will die, for he has sought to thrust you out from YHWH your elohey,
who brought you out of the land of mitsrayim,
out of the beyth of slaves.
11 and all yisrael will hear and fear, and will not again do any such
wicked thing as this among you.
12 if, in one of your cities which YHWH your
elohey is giving you to live in, you
hear one saying, 13
"certain men, sons of beliyal,
have gone out from among you and have drawn away those who live
in their city, saying, 'let us go and serve other elohiym,
which you have not known;' "
14 then you will inquire and make search, and
ask carefully; and, look, if the thing is truly established, that
this detestable thing has been done among you,
15 striking you will strike those who live in
that city by the mouth of the sword, destroying it completely,
and all that is in it, and its livestock, with the mouth of the
sword. 16 and
you will gather all its spoil into the middle of its open place,
and will burn the city with fire, and all its spoil, completely,
before YHWH your elohey. and it will
be a heap forever; it will not be built any more. 17 and not any of the cursed thing
will cleave to your hand, so that YHWH will turn from the fierceness
of his anger, and will give mercies to you, and will love you,
and will multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers,
18 when you listen to the voice of YHWH your
elohey, to observe all his commands
which i am commanding you today, to
do that which is right in the eyes of YHWH your elohey.'
"
HaDebariym 14:3,
" 'you will not eat any abominable thing. 4 these are the animals which you
will eat:' " The
following verse list specific animals that can and cannot be eaten.
They are listed under the Dietary Laws study.
HaDebariym 17:1-
7, " 'you will not sacrifice to YHWH your elohey
an ox or sheep in which there is a blemish, any evil thing, for
it is a hateful thing to YHWH your elohey. 2 when there is found among you,
in one of your gates which YHWH your elohey
is giving to you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in
the sight of YHWH your elohey, in transgressing his beriyth, 3 and has gone and served other elohiym, and worshiped them; or the sun, or the moon, or of
the armies of the heavens, which i have
not commanded; 4
and it has been revealed to you, and you have heard, and searching
have searched; and, look, it is true; and the thing is confirmed,
that this detestable thing has been done in yisrael,
5 then you will bring out to your gates that
man or that woman who has done this evil thing, the man or the
woman; and you will stone them with stones, and they will die.
6 at the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses
will he that is to die be put to death. he will not be put to
death at the mouth of one witness. 7 the hand of the witnesses will
be first on him, to put him to death; and the hand of all the
people last. and you will put away the evil from among you.' "
HaDebariym 20:16-18, " 'but of the cities of these peoples which
YHWH your elohey is giving to you as
an inheritance, you will not keep alive any that breathes. 17 but you will utterly destroy them,
the chiththiy, and the amoriy,
the kenaaniy, and the ferizziy,
the chiwwiy, and the yebusiy,
as YHWH your elohey has commanded you; 18 so that they may not teach you
to do according to all their detestable ways which they have done
for their elohiym; and you would sin against YHWH your elohey.' "
HaDebariym 22:5, "
'there will not be the thing
of a man on a woman, nor will a man put on a woman's garment.
for whoever does these things is detestable to YHWH your elohey.'
"
HaDebariym 25:13-16,
" 'you will not have in your bag a stone and a stone weight,
a great and a small. 14
you will not have in your beyth an ephah and an ephah, a great and
a small. 15
you will have a perfect and just weight; you will have a perfect
and just ephah; so that they prolong
your days in the land which YHWH your elohey
is giving to you. 16
for anyone doing these things is detestable to YHWH your elohey,
everyone doing unrighteously.' "
HaDebariym 27:15, "
'cursed is the man who makes
a carved and molten image, detestable to YHWH, the work of a craftsman's
hands, and who sets it up in a secret place.' "
This concludes those passages that are found in the books
attributed to Mosheh. The remaining
passages, most of which are in the book of Yechezqel,
simply repeating those which have been sited above, at times naming
the specific deities worshipped and the color of cloth that a
carved image was decked with. The important thing to remember
is that we have been called as a set apart people, to observe
the ways of YHWH, not the detestable ways of the Goyim. YHWH is
zealous for us and we need to distinguish between that which is
clean and that which is unclean spiritually.
YHWH does not like to share us with another or that our
devotion go to another. This beriyth
[covenant] that we have made with Him is one requiring diligence
and faithfulness.
While we cannot go throughout our land and root these practices
out, we can root them out of our homes and our lives, that we
be a kehunnah [priesthood], declaring YHWH to the Goyim. We are
to be in the world, but not of it,
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