1 Samuel 28:5-19, The Witch of Endor

The night before Saul and his sons died on the Mountains of Gilboa, Saul sought out a “medium” when the LORD did not answer him (28:6).  The “witch” lived in Endor, located at the eastern base of Mt. Tabor.  The Philistines had gathered at Shunem (27:4; a couple miles west of Endor) while the Israelites were camped on or at the base of the mountains of Gilboa, south, across the Jezreel Valley (27:4).

The story of the witch of Endor raises at least one question as to what actually happened?  Did Samuel actually come back from the dead?  Did God, who in the Law of Moses banned the use of mediums by Israel, make use of one here?  Here are three answers to that question; we believe the last makes the most sense.

1)    The witch was a ventriloquist and faked it all. (This view has no ground Biblically on which to stand.)

2)    What is recorded actually happened but the witch is in league with the devil and it was not really Samuel but rather a demon.

a)    Reasons for this view:

i)      The woman says she saw him come up out of the earth, v13. (But Ecclesiastes 3:21 says the souls of men go up and not down.)

ii)   They say a witch cannot disturb a good man.

iii)            This woman was working with the devil, that is obvious.

iv) If it was Samuel he would have told Saul to repent.

3)    The thing that happened is exactly as recorded, period.  Samuel actually appeared.  Why?

a)    Because that is how it is recorded (v12: “the woman saw Samuel”; v15: “Samuel said to Saul”).

b)    Saul bows down to the earth (v14, Saul wouldn’t worship a demon).

c)    The woman is also scared (v5,12).

d)    The Jewish and Greek translators agree with this.

e)    The thing prophesies Saul’s death.  Demons don’t know the future that well.

f)     The most terrible fact about all this is that Saul did not repent.  And God did not respond to Saul.

Lately, in our studies, there have been several battles fought in the area of the Valley of Jezreel.  The battles involving Deborah and Barak, Gideon, and now Saul and the Philistines were there.  You may wonder why the Philistines, whose territory was along the southern coast of Israel, would travel to this area in the north-central part of Israel.  We can’t be sure about the “why” but we can talk about the “how.”  Jezreel was a crossroads of several major highways so getting there was not difficult.

In the end, God did speak to Saul through Samuel, using a medium for His purposes.  This is not strange, that God has access even to the demons for his purposes.  One of Saul’s debilitating problems was the presence of an evil spirit from the LORD (16:14).  God glorified Himself through Satan in the story of Job.  Jesus ruled the evil spirits when He was in His earthly ministry. 

 

Here's a repeat photo of Mt. Tabor. But notice the village that graces this southeastern base of the mountain.  That is modern Ein Dor (Spring of Dor).  The Biblical site of Endor is not certain.  It could be here but more archaeologists consider one of a couple of sites across the Jezreel Valley (south) from here to be more likely.