Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

Saul, Samuel and the witch of Endor
1 Samuel 28:3,7-8,14-16

"The problems raised by the account of Saul's encounter with the witch of Endor in 1 Samuel 28 are legion!".^F1 Amongst the problems are the Bible's disapproval of all forms of spiritism, necromancy, witchcraft - the penalty for involvement usually being death (Deuteronomy 18:9-12; Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26,31; 20:6,27; Jeremiah 27:9-10). This said, the Bible is not entirely clear as to whether the practice of necromancy, contacting the dead, is actually possible, permissibility aside. Can one, hypothetically speaking, contact the dead, even if told not to? Or, is all spiritism simply contacting deceiving spirits masquerading as the dead.

The first issue, then, is one of where do the dead go and do they have any consciousness there? [On this see my related passage studies on the nature of the afterlife and also Hebrew word studies on soul, spirit, ghost and sheol].

She'ôl (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek) is the abode of the dead, good and bad alike, until the resurrection. 1 Samuel 2:6 describes God as the one who "kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave (she'ôl) and brings up".

In she'ôl man is neither described as spirit, soul or body. Man's spirit returns to God (Ecclesiastes 12:7) and his body returns to the earth (Genesis 3:19; Psalm 104:29; 146:4), his soul ceases to be animated by God's spirit or breath in us. We become silent shadows best described as "asleep". Certainly, we are "silent" and "forgetful" according to Psalms 6:5; 30:9; 88:10-12; 94:17; 115:17. If, silent, then how can we, dead Old Testament prophet or not, speak from the grave?

If we cannot contact the dead, or even if we could they are described as silent and forgetful, then who conjured up the apparition of Saul, - Satan or God?

God is certainly all-powerful and able to resurrect us from "sleep" (she'ôl) on the day of resurrection. He was also able to make Moses and Elijah seem to "appear" from the dead in the transfiguration accounts in the gospels. Perhaps, he sent a "spirit", even a truthful one - made to look like Samuel, just as he had sent a "lying spirit" in the time of the prophet Micaiah (1 Kings 22:22).

The woman is described as one having a "familiar spirit" or עוּב 'ôbh in Hebrew (Strong's #178) which may derive from the same root as the word "father" and imply the idea of an "ancestral spirit". Necromancy and clairvoyancy were certainly practiced though banned, indeed Saul had supposedly expelled them all (1 Samuel 28:3), so finding a medium would have been difficult, regardless of how common they once might have been.

Whatever the source of the apparition and the woman's "power", clearly this was an out of the ordinary occurrence for even the "witch" was shocked (1 Samuel 28:12-13) when she saw the god-like appearance of Samuel coming up. "God" is indeed the word that the woman uses, 'elôhîm, the usual word for God himself or for angels, mighty men and beings. Baldwin comments, "the incident does not tell us anything about the veracity of claims to consult the dead on the part of mediums, because the indications are that this was an extraordinary event for her, and a frightening one because she was not in control".^F2

The Apocrypha written before the time of Christ records this incident and describes it thus:

"[Samuel] after he died prophesied and made known to the king [Saul] his end, and lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy..."
(Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 46:20)

Clearly, by the time of the Apocrypha - some 800 years later, they believed that the "spirit" that prophesied from the grave during the séance was Samuel himself, and that the prophecy, as it turned out to be, was indeed a true one. By this time, however, Judaism, especially Hellenistic Judaism, had been influenced by Greek thought and the unorthodox belief in the immortality of the soul and hence the possibility of real rather than demonic necromancy.

After the time of the Apocrypha the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus also recorded the incident in his Antiquities of the Jews (6.14.2f.) and again accepts the spirit-speaker as being Samuel himself.

In the early Christian centuries the church writer, Clement, or another using his name, wrote the Recognitions of Clement in which was recorded the following comments on necromancy:

"If, however, you seem to see anything, what religion or what piety can arise to you from things unlawful and implores? For they say that transactions of this sort are hateful to the Divinity, and that God sets Himself in opposition to those who trouble souls after their release from the body." (book 1, chapter 5)

The Biblical context shows that God had refused to answer Saul by dreams or prophets (1 Samuel 28:6) and that he then turned to a medium. Can we really think that if God would not answer by the prophets that He should instead answer by a medium through an illegal, if not impossible, act? Some have argued that this must be the case since the "spirit" spoke the truth and the prophecy came true. But we should remember that in the New Testament evil spirits sometimes spoke the truth, e.g., the Philippian slave girl who predicted the future and revealed Paul's nature and mission, truthfully, but annoyingly (Acts 16:16-18).

"And when they say to you, "Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter," should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:19-20)

Whatever the problems raised by this account one thing is certain that it was listed as one of Saul's major sins and listed as bringing about the loss of his kingdom and his death (1 Chronicles 10:13-14) — so, "kids, don't try this at home"!

FOOTNOTES:
F1: Kaiser, Hard Sayings of the Bible, IVP, 1996, p.217
F2: Baldwin, J., 1 and 2 Samuel, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, IVP, 1988, p.159

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