Did the Ghost of Samuel Rise from the Dead?
Having recently written a series of articles addressing the question: “Did the ghost of Samuel rise from the dead?”, I discovered a video on Youtube by a nice chap on Saul and the Medium of Endor. However, I became a little frustrated at his handling of Scripture, well intentioned as it was. If you want to watch the video, here it is:
Doug neatly encapsulates 7 arguments why Samuel was not the being brought up, which are pretty much the same arguments elsewhere in writing and online which hold that view.
Here are the main arguments against Samuel being brought up by the medium, and strong scriptural rebuttals for each of them.
Objection 1: Taking the witch at her word.
Let’s ignore the fact that this was not a witch in the modern sense of the word. In fact, witch appears in the King James version primarily due to the king’s own deep-seated fear of witches, so there’s some politics playing out in that particular translation.
This objection says that because Saul couldn’t see Samuel, his ghost did not rise from the dead.
We need to ask what the writer was trying to convey, not what we think they were conveying, using our own a priori beliefs. The writer clearly intends to convey that it was Samuel. Whenever a spirit is speaking in Scripture, it is always given its identity by the writer, even the lying spirit sent by God to Ahab’s prophets (1 Kings 22:20-23) was given its identity as a ‘lying spirit’. Why would the writer say it was Samuel if he didn’t intend to convey to the reader that it was Samuel.
As we’ve seen in this series, the context of necromancy when this was written reveals the original hearers believed that raising the dead was possible. Therefore, those to whom the passage was first written would have understood it to be Samuel, not a lying spirit. Why insert eisegesis [1] into this when a plain reading of the text says it was him?
Furthermore, the writer of 1 Chronicles 10:13,14 and the translators of the Septuagint clearly state it’s Samuel:
So Saul died for his transgressions, wherein he transgressed against God, against the word of the Lord, forasmuch as he kept it not, because Saul enquired of a wizard to seek counsel, and Samuel the prophet answered him: and he sought not the Lord: so he slew him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.
1 Chronicles 10:13,14, Septuagint – Brenton translation (1851)
Considering another, deuterocanonical passage in the Septuagint, we again find consensus that it really was Samuel who was summoned from the afterlife and spoke to Saul:
Before the time of his eternal sleep,
Sirach 46:19-20, NRSV
Samuel[e] bore witness before the Lord and his anointed:
‘No property, not so much as a pair of shoes,
have I taken from anyone!’
And no one accused him.
Even after he had fallen asleep, he prophesied
and made known to the king his death,
and lifted up his voice from the ground
in prophecy, to blot out the wickedness of the people.
Are we to challenge such noble translators that were very much closer to the time of Saul and Samuel, and who were immersed in the cultures in which these texts were written, with modern fancies that ghosts don’t exist, therefore it cannot be Samuel who appeared to Saul? Scripture suggests such a position is invalid, unless one ignores the texts themselves.
Objection 2: Can the Devil Resurrect a Prophet?
Firstly this is a clear misunderstanding of the term resurrection – the bringing of a dead body back to life. The accounts of the resurrection of Jesus all took place where people saw Jesus, and were in the locality of his burial place.
In 1 Samuel 28, Samuel’s body didn’t appear, only an apparition to the medium. Saul couldn’t see the body of Samuel, it had been buried at Ramah in Gilead (1 Samuel 25:1), modern day An-Nabi Samwil in the West Bank. Endor is located approximately 100km away in either Tell Qedesh or Tell el-Ajjul. This was no resurrection!
Putting aside the incorrect terminology used, the argument says the devil had no power to bring Samuel up. This makes a big assumption that the devil, not being omnipresent, was present at this encounter. Scripture does not specify that the devil was present, whereas in other scriptures, it clearly does, e.g. Genesis 3 (as the nawkash, which we see confirmed in Revelation 12:9; 20:2) and Matthew 4. This objection is not only technically incorrect in terminology and geography, it’s an argument from silence biblically.
Necromantic practice was outlawed by God, not because it was not possible to achieve. God doesn’t deal with absurdities like outlawing people walking unaided 100ft in the air (a pointless prohibition because it’s not possible). It was outlawed because it involved contacting ‘ôb spirits and inviting them within one’s body. It was outlawed because it worked!
Objection 3: God would not speak to Saul
God wasn’t speaking through Samuel at his apparition. This is Samuel himself saying to Saul what’s going to happen to him. This was no message from God – it’s never prefixed with anything like “The Lord says…”, he uses the past tense which says The Lord said he’d do XYZ, and now it’s going to happen to you as a result of your disobedience.
When Saul says to Samuel: “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.” (v. 15), he’s speaking about the other prophets that are still alive and who he can consult without necromantic practices. He’s tried the living ones, who have come up with nothing from God! That dreams are mentioned too suggests the two are accessible in the present tense. Desperate to hear from God, he feels forced into using a necromancer to contact the one he knows is able to provide a word from God, Samuel.
Indeed, God would not speak to Saul, but this doesn’t mean the ghost of Samuel did not rise from the dead to say what he’d said whilst still alive in 1 Samuel 15.
Objection 4: The Prophecy was Incorrect
This is another straw man argument I’m afraid.
Please read the text, what it says, and what it does not say: “the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”
Nowhere in the words of Samuel is there mention that Saul will be killed by the Philistines. Instead it says he’ll be delivered into the hands of them. This happened as his army was defeated and he took his own life, having been badly wounded by their archers. When the battle was over, the next day, the Philistines went through the battlefield, discovered Saul’s body, and beheaded it, nailing his body to a wall (1 Samuel 31:8-11). Thus “the lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines” was true – it happened. “tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me” – again true, Sheol opened up for Saul and his sons to be with Samuel. “The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.” – also came true.
If you incorrectly read into the prophecy that Saul will be killed by the Philistines, then of course that won’t come true, because it’s not there in the text we are plainly given.
Objection 5: The Message Given was Hopeless
The hope had already gone from Saul when God turned his back on him in 1 Samuel 15 as we’ve seen already. Samuel’s message from God whilst he was still alive in the flesh was not a hope filled message at all if you read that chapter.
The message of hope from Jesus comes over a thousand years later… This is an example of retrojecting the message of hope in Jesus, into a passage which was written and contains the final message of doom from Samuel to Saul.
The prophets often gave messages of doom, not all bright shiny, plastic and generic messages of hope – that’s what distinguishes a true prophet like Micaiah from the false prophets of Ahab – 1 Kings 22. They’re not there to massage the ego of a person or offer hope when the king’s done bad things, they speak words of judgement against them and words of hope when they’ve done good things.
Objection 6: It was not Samuel
Ignoring the incorrect Bible reference used, 1 Cor 10:13,14 (the speaker means 1 Chr 10:13,14), this is no “slam dunk” at all I’m afraid. Following his advice to comparing scripture with scripture, if we look at the Septuagint translation (approx 250BC and was the one in general use at the time of Jesus and the disciples), it clearly says it was Samuel which was raised:
13 So Saul died for his transgressions, wherein he transgressed against God, against the word of the Lord, forasmuch as he kept it not, because Saul enquired of a wizard to seek counsel, and Samuel the prophet answered him: 14 and he sought not the Lord: so he slew him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.
1 Chronicles 10:13,14 – Brenton Septuagint Translation
Moreover, if we look at another book in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, Sirach, we read the following:
19 Before the time of his eternal sleep,
Sirach 46:19,20 (NRSVA)
Samuel[e] bore witness before the Lord and his anointed:
‘No property, not so much as a pair of shoes,
have I taken from anyone!’
And no one accused him.
20 Even after he had fallen asleep [died], he prophesied
and made known to the king his death,
and lifted up his voice from the ground
in prophecy, to blot out the wickedness of the people.
It’s very clear that the Septuagint translators, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (just as the original writer of 1 Samuel 28 did) believed that the ghost of Samuel did rise from the dead.
Even around the time of Jesus, it was accepted that the ghost of Samuel was raised from the grave and spoke to Saul. Here’s what the Jewish ancient historian Josephus makes of it:
“To this his sad end did Saul come, according to the prophecy of Samuel, because he disobeyed the commands of God…”
Josephus Antiquities, Book 6, 378
To say it wasn’t Samuel, goes against the Old Testament writers in three separate places, and against the prevailing wisdom of the day. We should not let our preconceived ideas about the afterlife affect how we interpret Scripture. Let Scripture inform our thinking, even if it challenges what we cherish and believe true!
Objection 7: Demons Deceive Kings
This is an extreme example of mishandling Scripture, called proof-texting. A passage used from Revelation, a genre called apocalyptic literature, is used to read into what happened nearly 2000 years previously. The problem comes when you understand that the passage Revelation 16 describes the bowls of wrath poured out upon the earth. The speaker is saying here that the sixth bowl of wrath had been poured out on the earth before 1 Samuel 28 happened. This completely breaks any timeline from any schools of eschatological interpretation and is a terrible example of eisegesis. It is attempting to read into the text what’s clearly not there, requiring proof-texting from other parts of Scripture in different genres shoehorned in to construct his argument. This would receive a U grade at theological college I’m afraid.
Summary
As we’ve seen, many Bible teachers make strained and questionable attempts to discredit the plain Scripture text which says Samuel really did appeared to the medium at Endor. This is because of their a priori commitment to disbelieving that the dead are able to contact the living. All this whilst ignoring the cognitive conflict that raises when they condemn what therefore should be an impossible task.
Simply accept what the Bible says, the ghost of Samuel did rise from the dead and deliver the message of doom to Saul.
For a detailed behind the scenes look at the context and text of Saul and the Medium of Endor, why not look through our five-part series on this topic.
Please leave any comments or further questions you may have below and we’ll attempt to answer them.
[1] Eisegesis is the taking of our own ideas and attempting to read them into the text to shape the text to fit our ideas. Its the opposite of exegesis, which is letting the text speak to us and shape our ideas of what it says. Exegesis is the good way to study the Bible. Eisegesis leads to all sorts of ideas which often break the text’s original meaning.
Very informative ..thank you.
Wat about Moses and Elijah at Garseme?
Thanks.
I think you mean Moses and Elijah at the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt Hermon). This isn’t a case of necromancy, where the dead are brought up from the underworld in order to give information to the living. Note that Moses and Elijah were speaking with the transfigured Jesus, not to the disciples witnessing this event. It does show the truth in the following verses: Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:26-27:
“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.”
and this was said to Moses originally at the burning bush, when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were long dead physically. This shows that God doesn’t see humans as dead when they physically die, but are alive in the spirit realm (hence Samuel was brought up, and Moses (who had definitely died (Deuteronomy 34:5-8):
Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. 6 He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. 7 Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigour had not abated. 8 The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended..
Note: Elijah was translated into the heavenly realms and didn’t die, but Moses definitely had physically died by the time of the Transfiguration of Jesus.
What is happening in the Transfiguration is exactly the same thing that happened with Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6:15-17:
15 When an attendant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. His servant said, ‘Alas, master! What shall we do?’ 16 He replied, ‘Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.’ 17 Then Elisha prayed: ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.’ So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Both this incident and the transfiguration are examples of humans being given the psychic ability by God to see through the veil between the physical and spiritual realms, and perceive that which is currently hidden to us until we physically die (or are given that gift). After all, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12:
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly,[b] but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Hope this helps you see why Scripture is so very interesting and exciting with respect to the unseen realms which exist all around us, if only we stop to take notice.
Every blessing
Very informative.
Explain further verse 19 – Did saul go in the same place with samuel?
– Also ecclessiastese says the spirit goes back to The creator. Where was the spirit of samuel to be picked up by the witch??
Hi,
At the time of writing that text, the understanding was that everyone went to Sheol upon their physical death. This was the place of the Dead in the underworld, and it wasn’t segregated into places for the righteous and unrighteous at that point. This is the early afterlife beliefs of the Hebrews – all die, all join their ancestors in Sheol, the underworld, and there’s no judgement, and God want in the underworld (God resided in the heavens or on occasion, mountain tops (Sinai and Zion), or above the Ark of the Covenant in the tabernacle). This is why Samuel said Saul would be with him shortly.
It’s important to understand the biblical texts are snapshots of theological understandings at the time they were written, and that they weren’t written to modern day Christians (though the message of God’s love and redemptive plan through Christ is for all people at all times and places).
As to the ghost mistress of Endor being able to summon Samuel, this is standard necromancy, and is why the ghost mistress would have had a spirit of an ‘ôb (an ancestral spirit of the Dead) residing in her, to facilitate communication with the departed and it’s why she sees elohim (Hebrew plural – gods, or divine beings, aka spirits) rising up from the ground (synonymous for the underworld)… her ‘ôb would have gone down and brought Samuel back up. Again, think like an ancient biblical writer at the time and in the context of afterlife understanding at that time… no Christ on the cross, or Harrowing of Hades, or resurrection at that time, so, as Scripture says, “death reigned” at that time, so it’s not an issue for the Lord of Death to be in control of the spirits of the Dead at that time, subsequently beaten by Christ and those spirits later judged righteous set free to enter the heavenly realms.
If this sounds strange, it’s only because we’ve been taught about the afterlife from a modern Christianity perspective, Anne we’ve forgotten the former things which help us unlock the biblical texts as they were originally written to their original readers at that time. I highly recommend my book The Invisible Dimension: Spirit-Beings, Ghosts and the Afterlife by Matthew D Arnold, which is the result of my award-winning biblical Masters thesis. You can read more about it here: https://ghostsghoulsandgod.co.uk/the-invisible-dimension-spirit-beings-ghosts-and-the-afterlife/ and hear me speak about the evolution of the biblical afterlife on podcasts about it here: https://youtu.be/xXu6QXjSg_o and here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2crWEqZuAjVCC1pifsXKc5?si=-ePXWFAWSQq2j3gdjw7MWA
As to the Ecclesiastes text – remember when it was written and the Afterlife beliefs of the writer at the time, then it makes sense.
Read the Bible through the eyes and varied understandings of the original writers and lots of the puzzle pieces we have about the afterlife begin to fit together to show an overall developing plan, from everyone going to Sheol, the afterlife, with no judgement and all in the same place with God not being there, to one of judgement and subsequent segregation in later old testament, but God is now with them..
To one where Christ passed through the same steps the rest of humanity does when we die, coming out the other side onto resurrection life, as per New Testament teachings.
Hope this helps, and thanks for your great question.