It's OK when we're doing it (TM)

A review of "The Old Testament Response to Pagan Divination" 

This is a rather weak tract by Michael Heiser, in which he essentially argues that divination is OK if sanctioned by Yahweh and the Scripture, and not OK if anybody else does it. Well, that's what they all say, aint it?

If read carefully, the “Old Testament” does contain divinatory (or “magical”) practices . Joseph used scrying and dream-interpretation, Laban used an unknown form of divination to discern the will of God concerning Jacob, the temple priests used the famed Urim and Thummim (probably lots), and the mysterious terebinth at Shechem was also known as “The Fortune-Teller's Oak”. What was strictly forbidden was divination to contact *other* gods than Yahweh, i.e. the gods (or “gods”) of the pagan nations. Heiser also claims that the initiative in the Bible belongs to God himself, not to the person doing the divination. Thus, the prophets are chosen, not self-made.

But this is a weak argument, since Laban presumably used divination on his own behalf to discern God's will. Since the Bible doesn't condemn this, Heiser has to say that God permitted it. Conversely, prophets in pagan religions were frequently chosen rather than self-made, for instance shamans. So in the end Heiser simply tells us that it's not magic if we're doing it ™, even though it is magic.