SAMUEL AND THE WOMAN OF ENDOR.
In all arguments for the continued life and consciousness of the dead, 1
Sam. 28:3-20, usually holds a conspicuous place. In examining this
scripture, we will look at (1) the narrative, (2) the claim that is
based upon it, (3) the character of the actors in the incident, (4) the
facts to be considered, and (5) the conclusions to be drawn.
1. _The narrative._ Samuel was a prophet of God in Israel from 1112 to
1058 before Christ. Saul was king of Israel from 1096 to 1056 before
Christ. Samuel anointed Saul to his office as king, and from time to
time communicated instruction to him from the Lord as his counselor and
adviser. At the time when the incident recorded in 1 Sam. 28:3-20,
occurred, Samuel was dead. There was war between the Israelites and the
Philistines. The Philistines pressed hard upon Israel. They gathered
their forces together in Shunem, and Saul, assembling all Israel to
oppose them, pitched in Gilboa. Dismayed at the mighty array of the
Philistine host, Saul’s heart sunk within him, and he was sore afraid.
In anxiety and trembling, he cast about him for help. He sought the
Lord, but the Lord answered him not. No dream was given, no token by
Urim appeared, no prophet had a word from the mouth of the Lord to meet
the circumstances of his deep distress. He thought of his old-time
friend, the prophet Samuel, to whom he had so often gone, and who had so
often directed his steps in times of doubt and danger. But Samuel was
dead, and how could he consult him?
There was in the land a class of people who claimed to have power to
communicate with the dead. This work, called necromancy (a “_pretended_
communication with the dead”--_Webster_), had been strictly forbidden by
the Lord, Lev. 19:31; 20:27; Deut. 18:9-12, &c. And Saul in obedience to
the command of the Lord, Ex. 22:18, had cut off, so far as they could be
found, all persons of that class out of the land. Yet a few, controlled
wholly by the devil, still practiced, with caution and secrecy, their
hellish orgies.
Whether Saul had ever believed in the reality of this work, or not, we
are not informed. But it is certain that in his present extremity, his
belief gave way to the pretensions of these necromancers, and the evil
thought took possession of him that he could consult in this way with
the prophet Samuel. So he inquired for a woman that had a familiar
spirit, and was told of one at Endor.
Disguising himself, in order that the woman, knowing Saul’s decree
against witchcraft, might not fear to communicate for him, and going
secretly by night, he sought the woman. The woman being assured that no
evil was intended and no punishment should happen to her, asked whom she
should bring up. Saul answered, Bring me up Samuel. And when she saw the
object which her conjuration had evoked, she cried out with fear, and
said to her royal guest, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
He told her to fear not, but tell what she saw. She answered, An old
man, covered with a mantle. “And Saul perceived,” says the narrative,
“that it was Samuel.”
Samuel asked Saul why he had disquieted him to bring him up; and Saul
answered, that he might make known what he should do; for the
Philistines made war upon him, and God was departed from him, and he was
sore distressed. Samuel then asked him why he came to him since God had
departed from him, and had become his enemy. Then he proceeded to tell
him that the kingdom was rent out of his hand because he had failed to
obey the Lord; that the Philistines should triumph in the battle, and
that on the morrow he and his sons should die. This was the finishing
stroke to the already breaking heart of Saul, and, utterly overwhelmed
with his calamities, he fell senseless to the earth.
Such are the essential facts brought to view in the narrative. Let us
now look at what is claimed from them.
2. _The claim._ This can be expressed in few words. It is claimed that
Samuel actually appeared on this occasion, and that therefore the dead
are conscious, or that there is a spirit in man that lives on in
consciousness when the body dies; and, therefore again, the soul is
immortal.
The validity of this claim rests very much on the question whether the
transaction here recorded was wrought by the power of God or by the
devil. If by God, then the representation was a true one; if by the
devil, we may look for deception; for he commenced his work by becoming
the father of all the lies in the world, and continues it by assiduously
circulating them. We will therefore consider,
3. _The character of the actors._ These actors were, first, the woman
that had a familiar spirit; and familiar spirits are spirits of devils.
Compare together Num. 25:1-3; Ps. 106:28; and 1 Cor. 10:20. This work of
dealing with familiar spirits, God had declared to be an abomination to
him, he had expressly forbidden it, and sentenced to death all who
practiced it.
The other chief actor in this scene was Saul. And what was his condition
at this time? He had so long lived in violation of divine instruction
that God had departed from him, and answered him no more by dreams, nor
by Urim, nor by prophets, which were the ways he had himself appointed
to communicate with his people. Query: Would the Lord refuse to
communicate with him in ways of his own appointing, and then come to him
by means the use of which he had expressly forbidden? We see then that
neither of the actors in this scene were persons through whom, or for
whom, we should expect the Lord to work. We will therefore notice
further,
4. _The facts to be considered._
_a._ The wonders wrought on this occasion were all accomplished by the
familiar spirit with whom this woman consorted. There were two things
for this spirit to do: (1) Either to bring up in reality the dead person
that was called for, or (2) to counterfeit the dead man so perfectly
that those who were conversing with the familiar spirit would believe
that they were conversing with their dead friend.
_b._ That it was not Samuel, but the familiar spirit personating Samuel,
that appeared, is evident from the fact that this supposed Samuel,
before holding any communication with Saul, put the woman on her guard,
telling her that her guest was none other than Saul himself. This is
shown by the fact that the woman, as soon as she saw him, cried out with
fear, not because Samuel really appeared contrary to her expectations,
as some have supposed; for she did not cry out, “Samuel has come,
indeed!” but because of what the appearance told her, for she
immediately turned to Saul and said, “Why hast thou deceived me? for
thou art Saul.” This would not be the work of the real Samuel, to put
the woman on her guard, to aid her in her unholy work of incantation.
_c._ According to the claim based on this transaction, it was Samuel’s
immortal soul that appeared on this occasion, but its appearance was,
according to the description of the woman, an old man covered with a
mantle. Do immortal souls go about in this way, in the form of old men
covered with mantles? This renders it still more evident that it was the
familiar spirit, imitating Samuel as he appeared while here upon earth.
_d._ Saul did not see Samuel at all. But does it not read that “Saul
perceived that it was Samuel”? Yes; but perceived how? Not by the sight
of his eyes, but from the woman’s description. The words “saw,” as
applied to the woman, verse 12, and “perceive,” as applied to Saul,
verse 14, are in the Septuagint different words. The woman actually saw
the appearance before her; and here the word (_eido_) εἴδω is used,
which signifies, according to Liddell and Scott, “to see, behold, look
at;” but when it is said that Saul perceived, the word is (_gignosco_)
γιγνώσκω, which signifies, according to the same authority, “to know,
perceive, gain knowledge of, observe, mark, be aware of, see into,
understand,” by an operation of the mind. In harmony with this view, is
Saul’s language to the woman, “What sawest _thou_?” and “What form is he
of?” If any should say that Saul might have seen all that the woman saw
if he had not been prostrate upon the ground, it is sufficient to reply
that it was not till after he asked these questions that he “stooped
with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.” Verse 14. If Samuel had
actually been present, Saul could have seen him as well as the woman.
_e._ The appearance which the woman saw came up out of the earth. Was
that Samuel’s immortal soul? Are these souls in the earth? We supposed
they were in the heavenly glories of the world above.
_f._ Is it said that, as the form came up out of the earth, Samuel had a
resurrection. Then the conscious-soul theory is abandoned. But if this
was a resurrection of Samuel, how could he come up out of the ground
here at Endor, near the sea of Galilee, when he was buried in distant
Ramah, verse 3, near Jerusalem? And if the old man was raised from the
dead, what became of him? Did he go through the pains of a second
dissolution, and enter the grave again? If so, well might he complain to
Saul for disquieting him to bring him up.
_g._ This pretended Samuel told Saul that he and his sons would be with
him the following day. Verse 19. If he was an immortal spirit in glory,
how could Saul, whom God had rejected for his sins, go to be with him
there?
_h._ Another sacred writer mentions this event in Saul’s life, and
assigns it as one of the two reasons why he was given up by the Lord to
die. 1 Chron. 10:13.
5. _Conclusions._ What conclusions are inevitable from the foregoing
facts? It is first of all evident that Samuel was not present on that
occasion either as an immortal spirit from the third Heaven, or as one
resurrected from the dead. For
_a._ It is not consistent to suppose that God, having refused to answer
Saul’s petitions in any legitimate way, would have respect to them when
presented through this forbidden channel.
_b._ It is inconsistent to suppose that an immortal soul from glory
would come up out of the earth, as did the form which the woman evoked
with her hellish incantations.
_c._ It is inconsistent to suppose that Samuel was resurrected bodily
here in Endor, when he was buried in Ramah.
_d._ If he was raised, it must have been by God or the devil. But the
devil cannot raise the dead, and it is evident that God would not, at
least in answer to these agencies, the use of which he had forbidden
under pain of death. God would not thus raise up his servant to talk
with Saul on the devil’s own ground.
_e._ It is incredible that such a man as Samuel, who held witchcraft as
such a heinous sin, 1 Sam. 15:23, should first hold friendly converse
with this abandoned woman in the midst of her incantations, and put her
on her guard, before delivering his message to Saul.
_f._ It is the boldest assumption to suppose that any one, through this
agency of the devil, would have power to summon at will any immortal
soul from glory, or to raise any one from the dead, or that this woman,
through her hellish incantations, would have power to behold the holy
Samuel, while Saul could see nothing.
But is it not said that the woman saw Samuel? Yes; and here is the only
seeming difficulty in all the narrative. We find these four expressions:
“The woman saw Samuel;” verse 12; “And Samuel said to Saul;” verse 15;
“Then said Samuel;” verse 16; and, “because of the words of Samuel.”
Verse 20. And how could it be so written, it is asked, if Samuel was not
there, and the woman did not see him, and he did not say the things here
recorded?
Answer. This is easily explained by a very common law of language.
Consider the circumstances. The woman stood ready to bring up any one
that might be called for. She believed, of course, that they actually
came, just as mediums now-a-days believe the forms they see are those of
their departed friends. Samuel was called for, and this mantled old man
appeared. She supposed it was Samuel; and Saul supposed it was Samuel;
and then, according to the general law of the _language of appearance_,
the narrative proceeds _according to their supposition_. When it says
Samuel, it only means that form that appeared, which they _supposed_ to
be Samuel.
Secondly, the conclusion is apparent that this was only a manifestation
of ancient necromancy, sorcery, witchcraft, or spiritualism; a wholesale
deception palmed off upon his dupes by the devil in disguise. Between
the ancient and modern there is this difference: Then he had to pretend
to bring up the dead from the ground; for the people then believed that
the dead were in the lower regions of the earth: now he brings them down
from the upper spheres; for the prevailing belief now is that those
regions are populous with the conscious spirits of the departed.
Let no one then appeal to the workings of the witch of Endor to prove
the immortality of the soul, unless he is prepared to claim openly that
the Bible is a fiction, that ancient necromancy was a divine practice,
and that modern spiritualism with all its godless blasphemies and its
reeking corruptions is the only reliable oracle of truth and purity.