“Then the woman asked, ‘Whom should I bring up for you?’ He said, ‘Bring up for me Sh’mu’el.’ When the woman saw Sh’mu’el, she let out a shriek. Then the woman said to Sha’ul, ‘Why have you deceived me? You yourself are Sha’ul!’ The king replied, ‘Don’t be afraid. Just tell me what you see.’ The woman said to Sha’ul, ‘I see a god-like being coming up out of the earth.‘”-1 Samuel 28:11-13
There’s a common misconception about the Witch of Endor incident that needs to be corrected.
Most folks assume that when Samuel rose from the dead, he was visible to all present.
I know practically all paintings and illustrations of this event depict that not just the woman, but Saul and all his men saw Samuel.
But that wasn’t the case.
Only the woman was able to see Saul.
Furthermore, the spirit of Samuel appeared of its own volition without any prompting from the woman.
There were no special chants uttered, incense burned, or an occultic ritual performed.
Saul simply told the witch to bring up Samuel and POOF he suddenly appeared.
This went totally against the woman’s normal expectations and her normal practices.
She was used to being in control…
But now some other force was manipulating things.
Saul told the witch to calm down and then asked what she was seeing.
What she said was interesting.
Let’s look at her response in a couple of different translations.
The Complete Jewish Bible says…
“I see a god-like being coming up out of the earth.”
The King James Version says…
“I saw gods ascending out of the earth.”
The NIV says…
“I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth.”
The NIV also adds a footnote saying “ghostly figure” can also be translated to “spirits” or “gods.”
So which translation is correct?
Well homies, as usual, let’s go to the original Hebrew.
The word she used was ELOHIM.
But here’s the thing, depending on the context, the word ELOHIM carries different meanings.
It can be used to refer to YAHWEH Himself.
It can also be used to refer to the underworld spirits the heathen worship.
Although the woman in this story was a Hebrew, given that she was a necromancer, she had completely turned herself over to the heathen ways of the Gentiles.
Thus, the way she thought and behaved was thoroughly pagan.
So I think the King James version of this verse is correct.
I believe she told Saul she saw “gods” emerging from the underworld.
She wasn’t implying anything holy or God-approved had appeared.
She was simply saying a spirit who carried power and authority had arisen.
Alrighty, let’s switch over to the takeaway.
Many people dabble in the occult to gain secret power and control over their lives.
In their lust for the things of the world, they hope to gain all of the money, sex, and power their greedy hearts desire.
So they turn to the dark side to get it.
They think they’ve tapped into a portal that will give them supernatural power to control their lives.
But here’s the thing.
The opposite is true.
They are not in control.
They are BEING controlled.
And they are being controlled by forces they know nothing about.
Just as the witch at Endor suddenly realized some force had taken control of the situation.
So again, that’s one reason to stay away from the occult.
It’s freakin’ dangerous and can destroy your relationship with Adonai.
Finally, there’s one other takeaway I would be remiss not to mention.
As scary and powerful as the dark spirits of the underworld are, if you are a believer, remember you have authority and power over these demons in the name of Yeshua.
To that point, I believe the God of Israel had intervened and was manipulating this terrifying event for His own purposes.
We’ll continue the next time we meet.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“I have given you authority to trample
on snakes and scorpions and to overcome
all the power of the enemy;
nothing will harm you.”
-Luke 10:19
“Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.”
-James 4:7
“You, dear children, are from God
and have overcome them,
because the one who is in you
is greater than the one who is
in the world.”
-1 John 4:4
P.S. Sorry if you were expecting to get an answer to the question I posed yesterday about whether the spirit that arose was really Samuel or a demon masquerading as Samuel. We’ll get into that in due time.
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