Regard not them that have familiar spirits— The word האבת haobot, rendered familiar spirits, signifies conjurers, pythos; persons, says Parkhurst, who pretended to give prophetic answers, when inspired and inflated by the light and air. Virgil has described a prophetess of this kind, AEneid 6 ver. 46, &c.
——Ait, Deus, &c. "The virgin cries, the god, behold the god! And straight her visage and her colour change; Her hair's dishevell'd, and her heaving breast, And lab'ring heart, are swoll'n with sacred rage: Larger she seems, her voice no mortal sound, As the inspiring god near and more near Seizes her soul."——
This shews what the heathens meant when they spoke of their diviners being? pleni deo, full of the god: and it is evident from Acts 16:18 that the devil was sometimes permitted to take advantage of these pretendedly divine inspirations, so as really to seize and actuate the bodies of such pretenders. The learned reader, who would see more concerning this sort of diviners, may consult Leonis Allatii syntagma de engastrimutho. The word rendered wizards, comes from the verb ידע iadang, to know; and signifies those who pretended to a superior degree of knowledge in future events. See Exodus 22:18 and Leviticus 6:27.
Note; 1. Let the vain and sinful customs prohibited above admonish us of the folly and sin of fortune-telling, applying to gypsies, conjurers, &c. amulets, charms, &c. fearing cross days, or cross knives and forks, or spilt salt, and such kinds of fooleries, which are a disgrace to human nature. Shall the dregs of paganism enter amidst the profession of Christianity? To have any dependance on these alilem, (nothings,) is still, in some degree, to have fellowship with devils. 2. Though we have renounced the gods of the heathen, we must remember, that he who deludes the unwary, and sacrifices injured beauty to his own vile lusts, is the votary of these unclean spirits.