Bans In Religious Matters: Warnings Against Pagan Practises (Leviticus 19:26-29).
There now follow in the name of Yahweh a number of provisions banning various aspects connected with ‘other-worldly' practises which were forbidden. They were to look to Yahweh and Yahweh alone, and He was against these things. They were contrary to what He was.
“You (p) shall not eat anything with the blood: neither shall you (p) use enchantments, nor practise divination.”
As has already been noted nothing must be eaten with its blood. The blood must be drained out (Leviticus 17:10-14). They must not seek to eat the life principle of the animal, for that is the practise of bestial men. This repetition brings home the vital importance of the pronouncement. It was a reminder of the strength of the prohibition. Its mention in this list may also suggest it was a particular idolatrous trait. It was anti-Yahweh.
Nor were they to use enchantments or practise sorcery or divination. All magic was forbidden. Divination was a means of discovering what the ‘portents' pointed to in the making of ‘right' choices, especially with regard to the future. But they were to leave their futures in the hand of God, not look to superstitious and evil practises. Both forbidden things would result in going out of their spheres.
This makes clear to us today that all contact with the supernatural and the occult apart from prayer and worship to God are totally forbidden and can only lead men into harm. They are firmly and strongly forbidden, and we disobey at our peril.
“You (p) shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shall you (s) mar the corners of your beard.”
These were either idolatrous or magical practises. They were forbidden. Compare Leviticus 21:5. They were not to be tempted to follow the ways of the idolatrous ‘world' outside. Again it would be going outside their sphere into the realms of the gods or of magic.
“You (p) shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print (p) any marks on you. I am Yahweh.”
“Cuttings in the flesh” for the dead were pagan mourning practise and were also forbidden (Deuteronomy 14:1-2). To follow them was to enter the sphere of the dead. Tattoos were a forbidden mark of ownership. The invisible God needed no visible marks of ownership, and they were not to mark themselves as belonging to anyone else. Thus tattoos were also totally banned. And this because God was Yahweh. (Even today our tattoos reveal what we are and whether we put first God or the world).
"Do not profane your daughter, to make her a prostitute, lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.”
The main thought here is against prostitution as a whole, but making her a religious prostitute may have been a way of trying to make it seem respectable. However, for a man to make his daughter a prostitute so that he could profit by it was to be seen as obscene, whatever the circumstances, and if permitted would be the first beginnings of a downward slide for Israel. Men should have a higher regard for their daughters. Sexual relations on this basis were forbidden. Even though extreme poverty often did mean that fathers succumbed in this way, they did so contrary to God's law, and had to face their shame.
If the thought was of making her a cult prostitute, that would be no better. They were not to even consider following such Canaanite practises and sex in that way had no part in the religion of Yahweh. This was thus also strictly forbidden.