16.
And when the prophet says of them that seek to familiar spirits, "They shall
pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry; and it shall come to pass, that when
they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their
God, and look upward," Isa. 8:21, he fitly describes the famine predicted in the
following passage:-
Amos 8:11, 12: "Behold, the days come, saith
6
the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander from
sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek
the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."
And when Isaiah adds, "And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble
and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness." verse
22, he speaks of their dreadful anguish in the battle of the great day, and of their
final destruction in the outer darkness. Jude 13.
II. What is the meaning of the terms used in the text?
1. The "familiar spirits" are so called because they associate with men, even
the vicious and the degraded, in the most familiar manner. Their character is
entirely unlike that of the angels of God, in that they form intimate union with
wicked men, and unite with them in the works which God forbids. There is
nothing in their manifestations that inspires awe, veneration, or reverence. But
when the angels have visited men, so awe-inspiring has been their appearance
that even God's most favored servants have fallen upon their faces with terror, or
stood trembling in their presence. And hence the style of address so often used.
Thus, Daniel, the "man greatly beloved," the angel strengthens by saying, "Fear
not, Daniel;" Dan. 10:12; to Zacharias, who was "righteous before God," he says,
"Fear not, Zacharias;" Luke 1:13; to Mary, who had found favor with God, "Fear
not, Mary;" Luke 1:30; to the holy women at the sepulcher, "Fear not, ye;" Matt.
28:5; and to Paul, the most eminent of Christ'
