Leviticus 19:31

“Regard not them that have familiar spirits, etc.] The word used signifies “bottles”, and that sort of diviners here intended go by this name, either because what they sat on when they divined was in the form of a bottle, or they divined by one, or they were swelled and inflated as bottles when they delivered out their answers, or spoke as out of a bottle or hollow place; hence they are called masters or mistresses of the bottle: they seem to be the same with the ventriloquists, and so the Septuagint version here calls them; such whose voice seemed to come out of their bellies, and even the lower parts of them; and such was the Pythian prophetess at Delphos, and very probably the maid in the…”

“Regard not them that have familiar spirits--The Hebrew word, rendered "familiar spirit," signifies the belly, and sometimes a leathern bottle, from its similarity to the belly. It was applied in the sense of this passage to ventriloquists, who pretended to have communication with the invisible world. The Hebrews were strictly forbidden to consult them as the vain but high pretensions of those impostors were derogatory to the honor of God and subversive of their covenant relations with Him as His people. neither seek after wizards--fortunetellers, who pretended, as the Hebrew word indicates, to prognosticate by palmistry (or an inspection of the lines of the hand) the future fate of those who…”

“The devotion of faith, which would manifest itself in obedience to the commandment to keep God’s Sabbaths and to reverence His sanctuary Leviticus 19:30, is the true preservative against the superstition which is forbidden in this verse. The people whose God was Yahweh were not to indulge those wayward feelings of their human nature which are gratified in magical arts and pretensions. Compare Isaiah 8:19. Familiar spirits - literally, “bottles”. This application of the word is supposed to have been suggested by the tricks of ventriloquists, within whose bodies (as vessels or bottles) it was fancied that spirits used to speak. In other cases, the word is used for the familiar spirit which a…”

“Wizards - Them that have entered into covenant with the devil, by whose help they foretel many things to come, and acquaint men with secret things. See Lev 20:27; Deu 18:11; Sa1 28:3, Sa1 28:7, Sa1 28:9; Kg2 21:6. Leviticus 19:32”

“19:31 mediums: Cp. 1 Sam 28:7-25. • The Hebrew term for consult the spirits (yidde‘oni) is derived from a root meaning “to know.” It describes those who claim to have special occult knowledge and use it to communicate with the dead.”

“Lev 19:26, Lev 20:6, Lev 20:7, Lev 20:27; Exo 22:18; Deu 18:10-14; Sa1 28:3, Sa1 28:7-9; Kg2 17:17; Kg2 21:6; Ch1 10:13; Ch2 33:6; Isa 8:19, Isa 29:4, Isa 47:13; Act 8:11; Act 13:6-8, Act 16:16-18, Act 19:19, Act 19:20; Gal 5:20; Rev 21:8 Leviticus 19:32”