Darkness and deception: Saul and the Witch of En-Dor[31]
Saul’s visit to the witch, or ‘spirit-mistress’, of En-Dor is a case study in destructive spirituality. Saul wants a necromantic divination (1 Samuel 28:8) and asks the woman to ‘Bring up Samuel…’ (verse 11). It was common for kings in the Ancient Near East to seek oracular consultations ahead of major battles. Texts from Ugarit show that people believed it was possible to summon up a particular person.[32] They also describe the spirits of the dead as ‘shades’, implying some human form appears.[33] The medium sees an ‘elohim coming up out of the earth’ (verse 13), viz. ‘a being which is not of a human character’,[34] what we would call a spirit or a ghost. The necromantic consultation is effective. The spirit of Samuel communicates with Saul and provides him with information (verses 16–19), including new information regarding David (verse 17).[35] There is no denial in Scripture of the possibility of accessing the spirit world.
In Saul’s day, the legitimate modes for inquiry, by a king, were ‘by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets’ (verse 6). However, Saul’s behaviour has closed these channels down. As far as we can tell, he has not had a prophet since Samuel’s departure in chapter 15; no dreams (post chapter 25); no priestly assistance (post the slaughter and flight of the sons of Eli in chapter 22) and no oracular devices to consult (post the ephod being carried to David in chapter 23).[36] It is because Saul has no intimacy with God that he turns to necromancy. In fact, 1 Chronicles 10:13–14 explicitly characterises Saul’s turning to necromancy as ‘breaking faith’ with God. He puts on ‘other garments’ (1 Samuel 28:8), where the Hebrew word for ‘garments’ has the same root as the word for ‘treachery’.[37] Saul is spiritually dead – so only the dead can speak to him.
Yet Saul is unable to manipulate Samuel for his own ends.[38] Even here, in a witch’s kitchen, God is presented as being in charge. Samuel condemns the ritual (verses 15–16) and comes with his own message from YHWH.[39] Samuel brings the name of God (YHWH) into his speech seven times (though Saul does not call God by his name once; verse 15b).[40] Samuel also reorders Saul’s priorities: ‘the issue of greatest importance is Saul’s loss of God’s support, and Samuel addresses it first, not last.’[41] His words are the culmination of his denunciation of Saul in 1 Samuel 13:13–14 and 15:22–29. The text shows how communicating with the spirit world outside God’s authority is dangerous and destructive. God becomes Saul’s ‘enemy’ (1 Samuel 28:16) and even the witch herself identifies the exercise with the words ‘trap’, ‘snare’ and ‘death’ (verse 9).[42] Saul’s motivation is the fear of death (verse 5; and cf. the Zambian witchcraft exhibition noted above); yet the practice of witchcraft provides no succour, and no deliverance.
Comments