(a 'retraction of earlier comment that witches were burnt to fulfil his god's plan)

Sincere apologies. I confused Leviticus 20:27

'A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.'

with Leviticus 20:14

'If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is immorality; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no immorality in your midst.'

The latter verse demonstrates the reason I gave for the OT capital punishment laws, whose purpose was to preserve a faithful remnant through which the Saviour, promised in Genesis 3, was born.