The 28th
chapter of 1 Samuel is an intriguing story of a distraught king, a female
outlaw, and a disturbed spirit called forth from beyond the grave. The drama that
unfolds is a tale of elaborate mysteries. The story has elicited research and debates within
Biblical studies across the centuries, resulting in very few conclusions as to
what exactly is going on in this passage. The story offers a brief glimpse of an
enigmatic practice known as necromancy, a means of prophecy by way of talking
with the dead. Divination and consulting the dead were denounced throughout the
Bible as terrible sins. This biblical aggression
towards the practice is so heated that it has led some to believe it was common
in ancient Israel, despite the lack of archaeological and literary evidence. This article explores the possible basis for
the 1 Samuel 28 necromancy story and to give context to an ancient practice
shrouded in mystery.
The story finds itself wedged in the
middle of the history of the very first king of Israel: Saul. King Saul is distressed over David, the young man
who quickly rose from shepherd to war hero.
Saul believes David may overthrow him and this fear leads him to try (unsuccessfully)
to kill David. But Saul’s unfounded anxiety
about David is not his only problem and Saul is also about to meet his enemies,
the Philistines, on the battlefield again. At this point, Saul is frantic and all the
traditional means of communication with God have been severed. Neither prophets, dreams, nor divination was
of any use. Desperate for guidance, he
decides to visit a woman who was known for raising spirits of the dead. He had banished all mediums and wizards from the
land, but King Saul found one in Endor and went to seek her out. The woman conjured up the angry spirit of
Samuel, the king’s former prophet.
Despite Samuel’s outrage about being summoned from the grave, he speaks
to Saul and tells him that God will no longer communicate with him. Saul’s kingship will be taken from him
because he failed to completely destroy the Amalekites after his victory over
them, as he was commanded by God to do. Saul
had gone to great and immoral lengths to seek Samuel’s wisdom, but this was not
new information; Samuel had told him this before the prophet passed away. Samuel’s ghost then informed Saul that he and
his army will be defeated by the Philistines on the following day. The
supernatural event left Saul shattered. Tired and hungry, the medium took care
of the king and his men who then leave her the following morning to face their fate:
death on the battlefield.
THE STAGE
The dating of this necromancy
narrative (often called the “witch of Endor story”) is thought by some to have
been written before 750 B.C.E along with the rest of 1 Samuel. However, in his book Israel’s Beneficent Dead, Brian B. Schmidt contends that the witch
of Endor story (specifically verses 3-25 in 1 Samuel 28) is a later record
added to 1 Samuel, probably after the Deuteronomistic writings. One of the points he offers as evidence for
this is that 1 Samuel 29:1 picks up the story where 1 Samuel 28:2 leaves off,
making the witch of Endor story a disturbance in the narrative. Additionally, necromancy only appears in
Mesopotamian texts by the mid-first millennium, making an earlier date less
likely. Also, in his contribution to Ancient Magic and Ritual Power, Prof. Schmidt
again provides a detailed argument for his post-Deuteronomistic dating and
places 1 Samuel around the mid-first millennium B.C.E. Brian Schmidt also postulates that necromancy
in the Bible only began with the reign of Manasseh, after the Assyrian invasion
of Judah. Although condemnation of
necromancy occurs in First Isaiah (traditionally thought to have been written before
Judah became an Assyrian vassal), Schmidt contends that these were redactional
edits from a later time. Schmidt’s dating
of the passages could mean that earlier condemnation of necromancy was added
into the Deuteronomic Theology to give a foundation for judgment against
Manasseh’s activities, which included worshipping foreign gods, practicing
divination, and working with familiar spirits and wizards, or ʾôb weyiddĕʿonîm, a term discussed below
relating to necromancy. See 2 Kings 21:6
for a list of Manasseh’s iniquities.
In the book of Joshua, Endor is one
of the cities which the Israelites were unable to take over completely. It is possible that this lingering Canaanite
culture in Endor is why the medium in 1 Samuel 28 is located there. “Canaanite” is a generic term used in the
Bible to describe the people who were in the land before the Israelites came on
the scene. The indigenous people of the area were assigned that name by
Biblical writers. Canaanite religion and
various forms of divination, including necromancy, were expressly prohibited in
the Deuteronomic Theology of the Hebrew Bible. (A list of prohibited divination techniques
can be found in Deuteronomy 18:9-14.)
Linking Saul’s ritual at Endor with this
remnant of Canaanite culture may have been deliberate in the text. In the chapters immediately preceding 28, the
book sets up distinct and moral reasons why the kingship was being stripped
away from Saul. The summoning of Samuel
is the climax of Saul’s iniquities and it is fitting it occurs in a place believed
by Biblical writers to have had sacrilegious roots. However, it is interesting to
note that there have been no records found in Syria or Palestine which
collaborate the Bible’s accusation of necromancy in the indigenous populations
from the late 2nd to the mid-1st millennium B.C.E.
THE PLAYERS
This
necromancy story is mysterious on multiple levels. On the surface it would appear that the
conjuring of Samuel involves three parties – Saul, the medium, and Samuel. However,
on further inspection we can see that perhaps there were four – Saul, the
medium, Samuel, and a summoned god to aid the medium in conjuring Samuel. This
possibility arises when one looks at specific Hebrew words and phrases which
stir up questions.
One of the mysteries found in this
passage is in the title of the woman in Endor: ‘ēšet̠ bā’alat̠ ʾôb.
In Deuteronomy 18, šōʾēl ʾôb weyiddĕʿonî (literally “an inquirer of an ʾôb or a yiddĕʿonî”) is listed among the condemned divinatory practices,
along with dōrēš el-hammētîm –“necromancer,
one who calls up the dead”. The word yiddĕʿonî” has an unclear meaning. When it appears in the Hebrew Bible it is
always associated with ʾôb, but
researchers are not sure of the relationship between the two words. Yiddĕʿonî” appears to possibly come from
the root ydʾ (to know), but scholars
are unsure whether the term yiddĕʿonî
(“one who knows”) refers to the summoned spirit or the medium. Like yiddĕʿonî, scholars have not been able
to come to a definitive translation of the word ʾôb. Depending on the
various contexts it appears in, ʾôb
could mean “spirit, ancestral spirit, a person controlled by a spirit, a bag of
skin, the pit from which spirits are called up, a ghost, [or] a demon”. It is
interesting to note that in 1 Samuel 28:7 the witch is not called either a šōʾēl ʾôb weyiddĕʿonî or a dōrēš el-hammētîm, but an ‘ēšet̠ bā’alat̠ ʾôb. Brian Schmidt translates the woman’s title in
verse seven as “a woman, controller of One-who-returns”; however, in The New
Oxford Annotated Bible it is simply translated as “medium”. Another
possible translation is “a woman of a master of a ghost”. The word ‘ēšet̠
is the construct form of “woman” and bā’alat̠
is the feminine construct form of “master”. This would imply that a third entity was
involved, the controller or master, separate from the woman and the conjured
spirit. This would be a fitting corollary to the common ancient Mesopotamian
practice of eliciting the help of a deity to conjure a spirit of the dead. In
Neo-Assyrian texts, incantations were used to call forth gods to request them
to summon the deceased from the netherworld. There are other correlations between the Endor
story and other ancient Mesopotamian necromantic rituals. For instance, in
verse 14 Saul requests a description (an identification) of the spirit seen by
the medium. This might correlate to first millennium Mesopotamian necromancy in
which only the conjurer could see the spirit.
Verse 13 also creates some
interesting debates in interpretation and translations. In it, the woman says she sees ‘elôhîm coming from out of
the ground. The word ‘elôhîm in the Bible can
literally be translated as “gods” but it is often used to designate the one God
(also known as YHWH). When used in the
monotheistic sense, its connecting verbs are in the singular. In verse 13 of
chapter 28, ‘elôhîm is
used with a plural verb when the medium says there are ‘elôhîm coming up out of the earth. In
the very next verse, Saul asks “What is his appearance?” and the medium tells
him of one old man in a robe. In verse 15, Saul uses ‘elôhîm with a singular verb to say that God has turned
away from him. The jumping back and
forth between singular and plural raises questions as to what is going on here
and what is really meant by ‘elôhîm
rising up out of the ground. According to some interpreters, the ancient
Hebrews knew the spirits of the dead as ‘elôhîm,
a form of deified ancestor. If this
theory is correct, then it is entirely plausible to envision the medium
conjuring forth a host of the dead. Immediately though, her and Saul focus on
their intended target, ignoring the rest. However, Brian Schmidt gives a
logical argument that the ‘elôhîm
in verse 13 could be summoned gods used help conjure up the deceased, as
mentioned above.
To delve deeper into the idea that
gods were summoned to aid in necromancy, we can look at what we know of the Neo-Assyrian
and Canaanite religions. Little is known
about necromancy in the ancient Near East due to the lack of physical remains
of texts and inscriptions on the subject, but some primary texts have been
found.
In the Neo-Assyrian Empire which existed
from around the 9th century into the 7th century B.C.E. divination was very important and used
frequently. During the mid to late 1st
millennium, the use of necromancy seems to have increased; very little has been
found regarding necromancy prior to this time.
In some of the necromancy
incantations, the sun god Shamash was summoned in order to conjure up the
deceased. He was believed to have been able to bring
down recently deceased souls from above and the long dead up from below. In addition to being the sun god, Shamash was
also a god of justice.
For a long time, most of what we
knew about Canaanite religion came from hearsay through the Bible and small
nuggets of discoveries. However, in more recent times with the finding
of the city of Ugarit in Ras Shamra we have learned a lot more. The Israelites seemed to have taken some of
their funerary practices from the Canaanites. For instance, feeding and
consulting the dead were apart of ancient Canaanite religion and are referenced
in the Bible. As Mark Smith says in his book The Early History of God, “Concern for
the dead and belief in the dead’s powers derived from Israel’s earliest
Canaanite heritage, as reflected in the Ugaritic texts.” Additionally,
both the Hebrew Bible and the Ugarit texts share an affinity that there were
only male diviners but prophets could be either male or female.
In Canaanite mythology, the god
Shemesh, like the Assyrian god Shamash, is not only the sun god but also the
god of justice. He has a female counterpart named Shapash. In a
fascinating corollary to the Neo-Assyian incantations, the Ugarit texts tell a
story about this sun-goddess Shapash being called upon by ‘Anath, Baal’s
sister, to help her to raise Baal from the Nether-World. Note
that in the woman’s title in 1 Samuel 28 bā’alat̠
(“master of”) is feminine. It might be
plausible that this feminine master is a lingering remnant of the Ugarit
tradition in which a goddess is the retriever from the Nether-World.
The correlations between the Ugarit,
Neo-Assyrian, and Bible texts do not align perfectly, however. For instance, in the Ugarit traditions, the
practitioners were only males whereas the necromancer in 1 Samuel is a woman. Additionally,
there is a discrepancy between linking the ‘elôhîm
with the Shamash and Shapash traditions in that sun deities never actually
entered into the Nether-World and therefore would not be called to rise out of
it like the ‘elôhîm in 1
Samuel 28. However, it is not hard the fathom each culture
defining a shared practice it their own unique ways.
SHEOL
1 Samuel 28 says the ‘elôhîm were rising out of
the earth (ʿōlîm min-hāʼāreș), but it would seem there has to be a deeper context for what
that specifically means. While one could imagine Samuel’s physical body being
re-animated, the idea of a physical ascension of the ‘elôhîm - whether “gods” or deified deceased humans -
does not make sense. There needs to be a supernatural ascent going on in this
scene. That Samuel was forcibly taken
from the afterlife may be a confusing point in the story, but it should be understood
that ancient Israel did not have the same perception of the afterlife as the
majority of the modern world. The people of ancient Israel did not believe in a
heaven or a hell the way it is understood today. They believed that after death
souls continued to exist in a place called Sheol. But this nether region was a place of little
action, where souls dwelled without much substance or purpose. It
was a place where originally in the biblical text YHWH did not have authority
and where people could no longer praise Him; the dead slept eternally. Over
time, the representation of Sheol changed slightly in scripture. Around the 8th
century, YHWH’s authority was canonically extended into Sheol within biblical
literature. It was not until the 2nd century
BCE that Biblical writers began to develop a positive view of the afterlife. Before
that time, rewards and punishments did not exist beyond the grave. Some
scholars believe that Sheol derives from the verb sha’al, “to ask,” which may relate to the practice of speaking with
the spirits of the deceased. However, others believe the word simply
describes “the deepest part of the earth”. Either way, the ancient Israelite view of the
afterlife makes it more plausible for Samuel to be aroused from a passive,
sleep-like existence rather than to be forcibly torn out of Heaven.
EPILOGUE
The story of Saul, the necromancer, and the chthonic Samuel lingers in an aura of spiritual mysteries and
academic questions. However, as seen
from this brief introduction, the story is not without context. Necromancy as portrayed in the Bible cannot
be proven to have been practiced and even more so whether such an endeavor was
ever truly successful. However, there
are enough common threads throughout the ancient Near East to say that it was
not just a fairy tale arbitrarily placed in the middle of biblical
history. For at least some of the people
of the ancient Near East, ghosts were real and they could be pulled from the ether
to speak and to guide us, and to warn us when our past failings are about to
call in their debts.
For more on ancient Hebrew magic, click here
REFERENCES:
- Baab,
Otto J. The Theology of the Old
Testament. New York: Abingdon Press, 1949.
- Black, Jeremy
and Anthony Green, Gods, Demons, and
Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. Austin, Texas:
University of Texas, 2011.
- Blenkinsopp,
Joseph. A History of Prophecy in Israel. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.
- Coogan,
Michael D. The Old Testament: A
Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew
Scriptures. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Gaster,
Theodor H. “The Religion of the Canaanites” Pages 113-143 in Ancient Religions. Edited by Vergilius
Ferm. New York: The Philosophical Library, 1950.
- Harris,
Stephen L. Understanding the Bible, 8th
Edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2011.
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Joanne K. “Magic (OT)” in The Anchor
Bible Dictionary Vol. 4. Edited
by David N. Freedman. New York:
Doubleday, 1992.
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Hennie J. Women in Ugarit and Israel:
Their Social and Religious Position in the
Context of the Ancient Near East. Boston, MA: Brill, 2003.
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Steven L., ed. 1 Samuel. Pages 399-444 in The
New Oxford Annotated Bible, 4th Edition. Edited by Michael D.
Coogan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
- Oppenheim,
A. Leo. “Assyro-Babylonian Religion” Pages 65-79 in Ancient
Religions. Edited by Vergilius
Ferm. New York: The Philosophical Library, 1950.
- Schmidt,
Brian B. Israel’s Beneficent Dead. Winona
Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1996.
- Schmidt, Brian B. “Chapter Seven – The “witch” of En-Dor, 1 Samuel 28, and Ancient Near Eastern Necromancy.” Pages 111-130 in Ancient Magic and Ritual Power. Edited
by Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki. Boston,
MA: Brill, 2001.
- Smith,
Mark. The Early History of God: Yahweh
and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.
B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002.
- Paton,
Lewis Bayles. “The Hebrew Idea of the Future Life: IV. Yahweh’s Relation to the Dead in the Earliest Hebrew
Religion.” The Biblical World Vol.
35, No. 4 (1910): 346-258.
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