OVERVIEW: During the eventful 135-year-period of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, Israel was transformed from a loose grouping of tribes led by judges into a united nation under a king. Three men stood as titans above all others during this time: Samuel, who ministered from 1105 to 1030 B.C.; Saul, who reigned as king from 1052 to 1011; and David, who reigned from 1011 to 970. One commentator of Scripture (Lundbom, p. 368) has ranked Samuel—who anointed Israel’s first two kings—up there with Moses and Jeremiah—being a span of at least 700 years—in the category of “Israel’s primary covenant mediators.”
Finally, as an even more impressive assertion regarding Samuel’s stature among all OT prophets, Jeremiah wrote that, in effect, God places Samuel in the same category as Moses, as seen in Jer 15:1 (“even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before me”). There are five relevant passages in the two books of Samuel with two of them being ranked 4.
Section A: Saul and the spirit medium of Endor
The main purpose of this section is to provide a broader range of interpretive possibilities of King Saul’s visit with the spirit medium of Endor (1 Sam 28:1-25). This analysis attempts to show how other interpretations of this story could be possible or even likely. Click here (foot-quote number 1) to read what one expert (Johnston) wrote very briefly about this account of “calling up the dead” by a forbidden medium being so rare in Scripture.
Reaching an interpretation that includes this broader range of possibilities may require involving the NT and its passages that refer to the appearance of Moses and Elijah to Jesus. This investigation does not defend the view that it is obvious from this story about Saul that the spirit of a deceased human can be contacted by a medium, and thus supposedly proving the innate immortality thesis that everyone born is conscious right after death.
The goal here is not to provide a verse-by-verse interpretation of it as a thorough exegesis (due to its twenty-plus verses), but rather my objective is more narrow (as a topical commentary): to identify (1) various interpretations on who was speaking through the medium (four options), and (2) possible reasons for holding to two of these interpretations.
1) The four options for identifying who was speaking to him are (1) the deceased Samuel as a disembodied spirit, (2) the deceased Samuel who had been physically resurrected back to life (to become conscious again), (3) an evil spirit, or demon, impersonating Samuel, and (4) the medium herself was deceptive without using a demon or Samuel (which is much less likely).
The specific verses that can be identified in 1 Samuel 28 as representative of this objective are vv. 3 and 15 as follows: “Now Samuel had died … then Samuel said to Saul” (1 Sam 28:3,15, NRSV).
The traditional and still-common understanding of death would have no issue with this pair of verses above since the popular view of who was speaking to Saul is Samuel (prior to his bodily resurrection). However, there are many parts of Scripture that have led many people to question this assumption, to doubt that Plato was right about innate immortality of the soul, and to reject the belief as unbiblical that everyone born has already obtained immortality and eternal life (i.e., a life that never ends) prior to divine judgment of their lives.
Hence, identifying the grounds that support options 1 and 4 (the most and least popular) are not identified in this analysis for reasons stated above. Therefore, the two remaining options consist of either a resurrected Samuel as a special prophet speaking to the king one last time (thus being a God-controlled event), or alternatively, a demon was speaking through the witch as the person advising Saul instead of Samuel (thus it was a Satan-controlled event).
It is recommended that the 28th chapter of First Samuel be read, if needed, since so little of this account is quoted or described in full below.
2) Saul’s acts of reverence toward Samuel, or who he thought was him, are seen twice, first in v. 14 (upon Samuel’s appearance to the medium) and then in v. 20 (right after the oracle was spoken), which show that Saul actually heard the message. Therefore, this historical event (a point which has not been in much dispute among academics) consisted of an unusual conversation involving Saul and someone else. Who was on the other end of this conversation; that is, was it Samuel as the text says it was, or instead, was it the devil?
There are some biblical experts who believe that God was in control of this meeting between Saul and the medium. In his commentary titled, The First Book of Samuel, Tsumura writes that “we have to assume that God permitted the witch to call Samuel up in this case even though he might not normally have allowed it” (Tsumura, 627). This particular commentary was published by Eerdmans (in 2007), and bestcommentaries.com has given it a five-star rating with it being one of only 15 commentaries that have this highest rating out of 112 listed there for First and/or Second Samuel.
Those who disagree with the view that it was a God-controlled event insist that it was instead controlled by Satan given that the grounds for the divine prohibition of calling up the dead is that the deceased person is actually a deceptive evil spirit. We cannot assume that the spirit of the dead person called up by any medium actually is who we suppose it is since evil spirits are commonly deceptive. It is not unnatural to assume that some demon was talking to Saul through the medium since this practice of calling up the dead was so common in the region, including in Canaan and Israel (since King Saul removed many mediums from Israel).
Click here (fq-2) to read what some experts (Klein, and Omanson & Ellington) have written regarding Saul’s actions against mediums and a brief description of mediums and “necromancers.”
Leviticus 19 and 20 prohibit necromancy and say death is the penalty for trying to contact the dead. Deuteronomy, of course, repeats this law of God, as seen below.
“Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists” (Lev 19:31, NIV). “Don’t turn to worthless gods” (Lev 19:4, GW).
“A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death” (Lev 20:27, NKJV). “I will be your enemy if you go to someone who claims to speak with the dead, and I will destroy you from among my people” (Lev 20:6, CEV).
“There shall not be found among you anyone who … tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord” (Deut 18:10-12, ESV).
There are good reasons for God’s ban on mediums that strongly suggest there is demonic deception involved. Click here (fq-3) to read what one expert (Nelson) says about this.
3) Some interpreters of this “Saul in Endor” story cast doubt on it actually involving Samuel, based on the prediction that says Saul will die “tomorrow” in battle against the gathered Philistine army. The idea is that there is much material following ch. 28 until Saul actually dies (as seen in 1 Sam 31:2-4), consisting of two full chapters.
However, there is a good explanation for this observation. 1 Samuel 28 follows, chronologically, ch. 30 rather than preceding it based on clear indications in the text, and the Endor story was embedded there by the writer for rhetorical affect. Click here (fq-4) to read what two experts (Tsumura and Johnston) have written about this point.
4) One piece of biblical evidence some physicalists/mortalists use in support of the demonic activity option is the previous rejection of Saul by God, and God’s silence toward the king prior his visit in Endor.
The following biblical texts attest to this fact: 1 Sam 16:7 says that God told Samuel that Saul has been rejected by God. The prophet told the king three times during one visit that God has rejected him (1 Sam 15:23,26,28). In the next chapter we read that “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul” (1 Sam 16:14, KJV). 1 Sam 18:12 repeats God’s rejection of Saul. And again: “He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him in dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets” 1 Sam 28:6, CSB).
At the séance, Saul said that “God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do” (1 Sam 28:15, NKJV). Click here (fq-5) to read what some experts (Klein and Omanson & Ellington) have written about this.
On the view that Satan, rather than God, had directed this conversation toward Saul, this biblical evidence above may suggest to some physicalists/mortalists—who deny it could have been a deceased Samuel (since his soul/mind died with the body)—that God could not have been involved. The logic is that since God had stopped answering Saul, God would not have spoken to him in Endor. The assumption here is that the non-communication between God and Saul had to be permanent and would not be temporary silence (even if it was just one more time).
However, the contents of the message (in 1 Sam 28:16-19) does not consist of any advice for the king, as he requested (“I [Saul] have called you [Samuel], that you may make known to me what I will do [regarding the upcoming battle against the mighty Philistines]” 1 Sam 28:15, MLV). Rather, it is nearly entirely a judgment (and explanation of Saul’s sin), and a final, more detailed, prophecy of his punishment (i.e., death for him and his sons the next day).
Therefore, the Lord’s silence toward him, God’s departure from the king, and YHWH’s rejection of Saul may not be enough for us to conclude that God would not, and could not (to be consistent), announce to Saul, through intermediaries, his judgment and punishment as a final word to the man who God had regretted making king over Israel (1 Sam 15:35). In other words, the divine refusal to provide any further assistance to the human is not a reliable indicator that Yahweh God would not later declare a detailed verdict in one last communication from heaven, and in any manner desired.
5) One expert has written that in response to the claim that God would not use the forbidden practice of necromancy to talk to Saul is that necromancy was not used, but rather just the situation. Click here (fq-6) to read what some experts (Johnston, Tsumura, and Omanson & Ellington) have written about this.
6) I suppose among physicalists/mortalists today, the interpretation of this passage as being a deceptive demon, rather than Samuel, is perhaps more common than the other three possibilities. However, there are clues in Scripture that can give them another interpretative option other than saying that all references to the great prophet Samuel (throughout 1 Sam 28) actually are references to the false prophet Satan (or his demons).
The name “Samuel” appears six times in this chapter, but what’s more important is that three of those are as follows: “Then Samuel said” (v. 15), “Samuel said,” (v. 16), and “the words of Samuel” (v. 20). These are probably intentional clues placed there by the author that cannot be discarded, but rather may be good indicators pointing to the actual identity of the person who provided Saul very bad news (as Samuel had previously done before his death).
Option 2 (which is “the deceased Samuel who had been bodily resurrected back to life”) implies that Scripture is being truthful when it says three times it was Samuel who spoke. The biblical writer chose to not say, “it was supposedly Samuel who said” to be inerrant in the case that it was a disguised demon speaking instead.
An explanation for option 2 (special resurrection) is that it may have been referring to Samuel as a real person (in a physical body within the unseen realm) among a small number of people selected by God for service beyond this world until the new Jerusalem appears on a restored earth. That is, people like Moses may be presently inhabiting the unknown world following a special resurrection (regarding its timing) of being physically resurrected back to life. The implication of this option is not necessarily inconsistent with Scripture as interpreted by many OT scholars and by physicalists/mortalists who reject immortality of the soul as being intrinsic at birth.
7) There is another significant clue in the text at v. 12 regarding something that surprised the medium: “When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” (1 Sam 28:12, NASB).
Some commentators have asserted that the sudden perception of her danger, due to the disguised Saul, together with Samuel’s apparition, was undoubtedly the cause of the “terror” which the medium expressed. Click here (fq-7) to read what one expert (Lange) says about this point.
Another commentator describes the medium’s outcry in v. 12 upon seeing something within her séance device (such as a forerunner to the crystal ball) using the words, “unexpected” and “extraordinary.” He suggests that what happened to the medium involved a power stronger than her divining powers. Click here (fq-8) to read what this expert (Tsumura) says about this point.
Another expert (Klein), in his commentary of 1 Samuel, has agreed with Tsumura’s opinion that what she saw might not have acted like the evil spirits she was accustomed to seeing. What is noteworthy about this commentary is that it is part of the highly-esteemed Word Biblical Commentary series, that Bruce M. Metzger served as the general editor, and this quote comes from the second edition (in 2000).
Klein writes that she expected a ghost, but instead saw a divine being based on the Hebrew inclusion in v. 13 of the word, elohim (often translated as God, or god, but it is sometimes more expansive in its meaning to include other spirit beings). The vast majority of Bible versions say either “divine being” or “a god” in 1 Sam 28:13. However, the KJV says “gods” in this verse, as does the Wycliffe Bible from 1382, and seven other versions, at least, show it in the plural. These translations of elohim into divine beings or gods is based on this Hebrew word being plural in the original manuscript. Since elohim was written there instead of Heb. ruach (meaning spirit) or another word for the spirit (or shade) of a deceased human, the medium may have seen a vision of someone from the unseen realm. The “divine being” portrayed to the medium may have been an angel, and acted as an escort for the one talking with Saul. It cannot be ruled out that the plural term was used because there appeared two persons: one may have been the resurrected Samuel and the other may have been an angel who identified his companion as Samuel. Click here (fq-9) to read what appears in Klein’s Word commentary as well as one other expert (Auld).
In the fifth century, Bishop Theodoret of Cyrus refused to believe that either the medium or an evil spirit had conjured up Samuel. Instead, he asserted that the appearance of God’s great prophet was due to the power of God. He defended the view that the implication of God speaking through a forbidden medium (but still involving Samuel) by referring to an Ezekiel passage where God had also spoken through an enemy. He also wrote that the basic view of the entire OT is that a return of the dead to the land of the living is not possible. Click here (fq-10) to read how the expert, Lange, uses a quote of this early Christian leader, Theodoret, to explain this point.
On the question of whether an evil spirit was involved as an imposter of Samuel, or instead, Samuel himself as a God-controlled event, the next quote shows that another commentator, Beuken (through Tsumura), believed that it was certainly Samuel, in his view. Regarding whether the details of the prophecy itself in ch. 28 should cause an interpreter to choose Samuel, my opinion is that this aspect of the story is debatable due to 1 Sam 28:4-5 (which any evil spirit would be able to predict defeat for Israel). However, I personally lean toward the view that option 2 (Samuel resurrected) is certainly possible, and perhaps likely. Click here (fq-11) to read what they, plus one other commentator (Auld), have written.
8) The NT story of the transfiguration at the mountaintop (Luke 9:28-37) may relate directly to interpreting Samuel’s appearance to the medium. The likelihood of option 2 (Samuel resurrected) depends on one’s interpretation of what actually happened when Jesus, Peter, John, and James together saw Moses and Elijah. One of the three gospel versions of this story has added an important clue: Jesus was holding a conversation with Moses and Elijah while the apostles were fully asleep.
If the three apostles saw Moses and Elijah with their physical eyes (rather than with their mind’s eye), then one explanation (from a physicalist/mortalist) would be that Samuel may be in the same eschatological category as both Moses and Elijah (similar to Jeremiah placing Samuel in the same category with Moses in Jer 15:1 (“even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before me”).
A sufficient exegesis of the three accounts of the transfiguration in the NT, in addition to Peter’s comments of this same extraordinary event in 2 Peter 1:16-18 (“it was not a cleverly devised tale … on the holy mountain”) would take into account the different Greek words for “that which was seen” as described next.
One important observation is that Luke used the same Greek word that Matthew used for the Transfiguration, “ὅραμα” or “horama” (G3705)—meaning “a mystical vision”—a dozen times in Acts when the context clearly shows the use of the mind’s eye, rather than physical eyes, was in view. And Luke did not use this particular word in his gospel when describing the transfiguration.
It would seem superfluous to the biblical account to add this detail if it was true that the apostles saw them only with their mind’s eye. Rather than it being symbolic or irrelevant, it seems more likely the conversation between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah was intentionally added to his account by Luke for the reason that it should cause the reader or interpreter to realize that Moses and Elijah were real, alive, and physically present and not just a mystical vision shared by all three men.
If someone accepts the possibility that Moses and Elijah were real then, and are experiencing life after death among a small number of extraordinary prophets who have been specially resurrected ahead of time, then that person could also accept the real possibility, or likelihood, that Samuel was mentioned in Jer 15:1 (“even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before me”) for the reason that he joined Moses and Elijah in the unseen world.
Details of Elijah’s death, and life after death (seen at 2 Kings 2:1,11, Mal 4:5, and other NT verses) may also be relevant in that Samuel may have been similarly treated by God after his own death. If these biblical references to Elijah, Samuel, and Moses (as it affects their possibly unusual status) are relevant to this story about Saul and the medium, then it would become a “special case” among the answers to our main overall question of what happens to the soul when people die.
That is, the two categories implicit in this question above (the fate of good and bad people) have been added a third category of people who are very appealing to God, resulting in the following (which refers to the old Western movie, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”: good people, bad people, and people who are especially beautiful to God. This smaller group are those who received God’s eschatological favor without waiting for the day of the Lord, and they experienced a special bodily resurrection into the unseen realm to presumably help carry out God’s purposes relating to the new heavens and new earth. This outcome was predicted by Malachi where he quotes God as saying: “I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Mal 4:5).
Therefore, after considering option 2 (Samuel resurrected), the other options, in my opinion, may be deficient, including an evil spirit talking through the medium of Endor, which is typically what actually happens everywhere, except probably not in this case, located on the periphery of ancient Israel, as indicated by the medium’s shocking discovery.
Section B: Death and resurrection barely described
1) The first of two verses to be examined in Section B is ranked 4 (while the remaining passages in First and Second Samuel are ranked 3).
“The Lord kills and restores to life; he sends people to the world of the dead and brings them back again” (1 Sam 2:6, GNT).
The mother of Samuel, Hannah, spoke this poetic verse about death—and likely about resurrection too—in Hannah’s Prayer (or Hannah’s Song of Praise and Thanksgiving) when she dedicated her very young son to the house of the Lord and to the care of Eli the priest. A portion of it clarifies Deut 32:39 (“There is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and I who give life”) by extending “give life” to also mean “makes alive and raises up from Sheol.” The idiomatic phrases, “going down to Sheol” and “coming up from Sheol” refer to the realm or resting-place of the heart-mind of a dead person. The world of the dead was probably seen at this point in history by some as not a final destination, due to the explicit raising up of people from Sheol to make alive again. Click here (fq-12) to read what some experts (Omanson & Ellington) have written regarding the best translation of Sheol (e.g., “the grave” is not recommended).
Hannah’s Prayer consists of ten verses, yet it is the last half, and starting with 1 Sam 2:6, our subject verse, as the beginning of “the most important component” of the prayer/song. Click here (fq-13) to read what one expert (Bergen) has written about this part of Hannah’s Song.
Hannah was asserting here that YHWH God holds absolute authority over Sheol compared to other ancient Near East customs such as the Ugaritic funeral cult and its sun goddess Shapshu. Click here (fq-14) to read what one expert (Tsumura) has written about this point.
The Hebrew verb, hayah, is typically translated as “makes alive” or “gives life” in the usual sense of “bringing back to life” after dying, as opposed to having birth and giving life. This passage cannot be rated higher (as a 5) because of the unlikely, but still uncertain, possibility that hayah takes a very different meaning compared to these two. This word could perhaps mean “preserves alive” in the context of symbolically “raising up” not from death, but from the verge of death. This idea is seen in Ps 71:20, for example, where it talks about God reviving a person from their many troubles, and uplifting the down-trodden (without any use of the word, Sheol there (in any Bible translation), or any reference to literal death in this verse or its context). Click here (fq-15) to read what one expert (Harris) has written about this point under the subhead, 1 Samuel 2:6.
Death versus life, and poverty versus wealth, describe the power of God in this Prayer. If YHWH can truly raise a dead person back to life from Sheol, then he is surely able to feed the hungry. Click here (fq-16) to read what one expert (Cartledge) has written about this point.
Another commentator on this pericope writes that God has the right, and he acts on that right, to “actually dispose” of any person he wants because they are his creation. Click here (fq-17) to read what this expert (Clarkson) says about this point.
Tertullian’s comments on the phrase, “the Lord kills and brings to life,” show that he interpreted it as definitely referring to a sequence of events: death and then life. Click here (fq-18) to read what this expert and church father has written.
The meaning of 1 Sam 2:6b (“He brings down to Sheol and raises up”) has been disputed somewhat regarding whether it contrasts death with life, or alternatively, sickness with health in the case of a rescue from the brink of death. However, this seems to be a strained interpretation with little support given that v. 6a (“The Lord kills and brings to life”) clearly contrasts only death with life in this poetic structure that ties the two together (using the pronoun, he). Click here (fq-19) to read what one expert (Youngblood) says about this point.
2) The next verse to be considered also appears in Hannah’s Prayer: “He guards the steps of his faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness, for a person does not prevail by his own strength” (1 Sam 2:9, CSB).
What does Hannah refer to with “darkness;” is it this world, the next world, or something in between the two? Some commentators hold that it refers to the gloom at death that can overcome a wicked person, even extending the symbolism of darkness to the netherworld of the dead. Click here (fq-20) to read what one expert (Tsumura) says about this point.
The translation of 1 Sam 2:9 that appears in the highly-esteemed Word Biblical Commentary series uses the phrase, “the wicked are made silent in dark death.” This shows that the Hebrew word entailing the sense of “darkness” is translated by Klein as pointing to death by the phrase, “dark death.” But more than that, the immediate context of “dark” in this version shows that what is dark for the person makes its appearance at death (and continuing after this point in time), rather than just prior to death.
The meaning of 1 Sam 2:9 likely has nothing to do with a wicked person’s deathbed and muted silence in the room. Rather, this Word translation sees in the Hebrew language a pointing to the condition right after death. This is suggested by his phrase, “made silent,” in its context. For some people, it can take actual death to make them finally silent, especially if they are devious and wicked. The use of “silent” and “silenced” can be seen in many English translations of this verse. Alternatively, “cut off” may appear in 1 Sam 2:9 (nine versions at BibleGateway.com) and “perish,” “die,” or “disappear” (with ten versions there) also are used instead of “silent.” The EXB puts “disappear” in brackets immediately after “silenced” which may indicate that the Hebrew term in the text can be taken to mean the person was forced to “shut up” precisely due to the person no longer having the capability to interact with people. And so, the phrase used in the EXB, “will be silenced [disappear] in darkness” likely refers to the darkness of death causing the person to no longer speak wickedness or insults because they are unable to talk in Sheol. Click here (fq-21) to read how one expert (Auld) interprets this middle part of 1 Sam 2:9.
As v. 9 is interpreted as a higher level description of being “cut off or silenced in darkness” (i.e., in God’s realm versus this world), it is necessary to keep in mind the context of both v. 8 and v. 10, regarding the ability of God to shatter those who contend with him since YHWH God is the sovereign creator, and especially with Hannah’s reference to divine judgment. Being “held silent in a literally dark place” or “cut off within a darkened place” can point to God’s preparation of the kingdom of God, rather than merely to a darkened deathbed. Click here (fq-22) to read what some experts (Keil & Delitzsch) have written about this point.
There are other commentators who interpret what happens to wicked ones “in darkness” in 1 Sam 2:9 as referring to the gravedom of Sheol, and not to this world. Click here (fq-23) to read what these experts (Youngblood and Omanson & Ellington) have written.
Section C: Death is a rest with your ancestors in Sheol
1) Second Samuel uses the unusual phrase, “rest with your ancestors,” in the context of literal death, as does Gen 47:30 (or “lie down with your ancestors”). However, it is only in Samuel that the writer presents it as a quote of God. “The word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, “Go and say to My servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: …” (2 Sam 7:4-5, NASB). Chapter 7 of Second Samuel continues, saying: “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors” (2 Sam 7:12, NIV).
The usual expression though is to “sleep with your ancestors (or fathers, after dying)” especially in Kings and 2 Chronicles. See the following previous sections of this OT study on this expression that not only refers to death, but it also describes the nature of death. Genesis: Sections B and C; Numbers: Sections A and B; and Deuteronomy: Section F. The deceased person is metaphorically lying down, resting, or sleeping during actual death in the company of their ancestors.
2) Second Samuel uses the Hebrew word, Sheol, only once (as does First Samuel as seen above). This example from 2 Sam 22:5-6 does not add much to the several descriptions of Sheol cumulatively, starting in Genesis with Jacob. What the books of Samuel tell us though about the world of the dead is that King David, in addition to Hannah, both knew what Sheol is. What it is not is hell, death, or the grave, as shown by Scripture. See Genesis: Section C, Leviticus: Section C, Numbers: Section B, and Deuteronomy: Section H in this OT study for discussions about the Bible’s descriptions of Sheol.
“Death, like ocean waves, surrounded me, and I was almost swallowed by its flooding waters” (2 Sam 22:5, CEV). “The cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me” (2 Sam 22:6, NRSV).
3) Knowing that it was David who wrote the word Sheol that appears in 2 Sam 22:6 (from above), as shown in 2 Sam 22:1 (“David spoke the words of this song”), David’s response to losing a child to illness (2 Sam 12:18-19) can be better understood. In 2 Sam 12:15b-23, in which the NASB gives the heading, “Loss of a Child,” we see David’s response to the news that his young boy was dead. The unusual claim seen in the last verse (of these nine verses of chapter 12) is emphasized by the writer of Second Samuel (by placing it at the end). One of the main points of this section is seen at 2 Sam 12:23 where it asserts that David “will go to him,” the deceased child. What does this mean?
In the previous verse, v. 22, David is described as fasting during the boy’s severe illness with the hope that God will respond graciously and heal the child. “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Sam 12:23, NASB). David is saying to his servants (v. 21) that when he dies eventually, he will be in Sheol with his deceased boy. So, death is a rest in Sheol not only with your ancestors, but with both the young and the old.
Ω Ω Ω
This concludes my study on First and Second Samuel. Regarding Bible versions used here, all eight of the primary translations appear here (NIV, NRSV, GNT, NASB, NKJV, KJV, CSB, and MLV) with NIV, NRSV, NASB, NKJV, and CSB used twice. Three other versions are employed, GW, CEV, and ESV, from the secondary list of Bible versions, which are used only once.
Quoted Passages in 1 & 2 Samuel (5 total / 2 highly rated verses):
Rating of 5:
None
Rating of 4:
1 Sam 28:1-25
1 Sam 2:6
Rating of 3:
1 Sam 2:9
2 Sam 7:12
2 Sam 12:23
2 Sam 22:5-6
Rating of 2:
1 Sam 15:6,9
1 Sam 15:18
1 Sam 16:7
1 Sam 25:29
1 Sam 28:3
2 Sam 1:14
2 Sam 12:13-14
2 Sam 14:14
2 Sam 23:2-3
Quoted Passages Not in 1 & 2 Samuel:
Lev 19:4
Lev 19:31
Lev 20:6
Lev 20:27
Deut 18:10-12
Deut 32:39
Jer 15:1
Ezek 14:4,7
2 Peter 1:16-18
Footnoted Quotes from Expert Commentators of Scripture:
SEE WHAT SOME EXPERTS HAVE WRITTEN (foot-quote number 1): “The tragic story of Saul consulting the spirit of the dead Samuel is the only Old Testament account of necromancy” (Johnston, 154). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 2: (1) “A ‘medium’ was someone who called up the spirit of a dead person. NJB renders it by the technical term “necromancers,” that is, people who consult the spirits of the dead in order to reveal the future or to influence future events” (Omanson & Ellington, 570). (2) “In desperation Saul sought to learn the future by necromancy even though he himself had prohibited such practices” (Klein, 273). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 3: “These verses [in Deuteronomy 18] seek to restrict attempts to learn about the divine will, the future, and hidden mysteries. They also serve as a rhetorical prelude to the command to listen to the divinely chosen prophet (v. 15). Israel should rely on true prophets and not utilize other sources of information. … To seek out these channels would be to deny that Yahweh has provided a sufficient way to find out such information through the legitimate prophet and to assert that there are effective powers outside the sphere of Yahweh’s activity, especially in the realm of the dead” (Nelson, 232-234). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 4: (1) “In this chapter [ch. 28], the Philistines are already at Shunem in Jezreel [see 1 Sam 28:4] … however, at the beginning of the next chapter, ch. 29, the Philistine forces are assembled at Aphek in the Sharon, far south of the plain of Jezreel, and go up to Jezreel only in v. 11. … seems to show a sophisticated use of the technique of narrative discourse … ‘dischronologized,’ that is, put chronologically out of order (see W. Martin, “Dischronologized Narrative in the Old Testament,” VTS 17, 1969, 179-86) … The narrator’s concern is mainly on … Saul and David, and not on the geographical positions of the armies” (Tsumura, 615). (2) “The account has been place here to heighten the tensions of both David’s predicament and of Saul’s fate, and to contrast the rival leaders’ treatment of the Amalekites and their standing before Yahweh” (Johnston, 154). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 5: (1) “In desperation Saul sought to learn the future by necromancy even though he himself had prohibited such practices and even though the dead spirit he sought was his old nemesis, Samuel. … He risked his life by going to see a woman who lived behind the enemy lines, and he placed her life in danger as well. He listened to her and to his servants, but he did not listen to the voice of Yahweh” (Klein, 273). (2) “Samuel began his oracle to Saul by complaining about being disturbed from his grave (cf. Isa 14:9). The grave ought to be a place where a person could rest in peace (cf. Job 3:13-19). Saul defended his request by mentioning the distress associated with the forthcoming Philistine war and by complaining that God had departed from him and would not answer him (cf. vv. 5-6). … Samuel responded with his second “why” (v 16; cf. v. 15). Why should Saul expect any divine answer since he was God-forsaken?” (Klein, 272). (3) “Being brought back from the world of the dead is considered a serious interference with the normal course of events. So Samuel asks why such a thing should be done. Saul responds that this course of action was his only hope, since God had abandoned him and would not answer him” (Omanson & Ellington, 577). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 6: (1) “Through this séance Saul only learns that his rejection has come to a head (tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me in v. 19). … Something very unusual even from the perspective of the female necromancer occurred through God’s power. The situation, rather than the practice of necromancy, was used for God’s purpose to declare his judgment on Saul” (Tsumura, 616-617). (2) “The account presents necromancy as futile: the message Samuel gives Saul simply seals his fate” (Johnston, 158). (3) “‘Shall be with me’: that is, they will die and go to Sheol. This prophecy is fulfilled in 31:6” (Omanson & Ellington, 579). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 7: “According to this [v. 12] the cause of her outcry was the sight of the apparition of Samuel. The following words: And the woman said to Saul, Why hast thou deceived me, for thou art Saul? indicate that the woman at the same time recognized Saul in the Unknown; this discovery naturally reminded her of her danger as violator of the king’s prohibition. She thinks herself deceived, tricked and given over to death. There is hardly any doubt, therefore, that this sudden perception of her danger, together with Samuel’s apparition, was the cause of the terror which was expressed in her outcry” (Lange, under the heading, “1 Samuel 28:1-25, Saul’s Downfall in War with the Philistines,” and under the sub-heading, “Exegetical and Critical.) Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 8: “There is a [grammatical] break between the two sentences [in Hebrew]. This suggests that something about Samuel’s appearance surprised the woman. Something unexpected might have happened outside her control after Saul asked her to bring up Samuel. One might surmise that some unknown thing happened before she shouted in a loud voice (v. 12a) and before she turned in Saul again in v. 12b. This was certainly an extraordinary event for her. It may be that the ordinary divining powers were not employed this time. Or rather a power stronger than her divining powers might have been at work in bringing up the spirit of Samuel (See P.D. Miscall, 1 Samuel (1986), 168; also L.J. Wood, The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament (1976), 139). Even if the spirit was brought up by her actions, it might not have appeared or acted like the spirits of the dead … which she was comfortable handling as a necromancer” (Tsumura, 623-624). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 9: (1) “Perhaps, as Beuken suggests, Samuel beats the woman at her own game by coming up as a prophet of the living God before she could conjure up a dead ghost. In any case, when the woman saw Samuel, she screamed and immediately recognized Saul. … “What do you see?” he asked. The woman expected an ancestral spirit or a ghost, but she saw a divine being (v 13). These gods were coming up from the underworld” (Klein, 271). (2) “Samuel refuses to be an alternative to Yahweh, who has already made his position clear (v. 16). There is no space between Yahweh and himself that can be exploited” (Auld, 328). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 10: “Theodoret (393-457), rejecting the view (suggested by the words of the narrative and frequent with the Talmudists) that Samuel’s spirit was really evoked by the conjurations of the woman—held that, before the woman employed her arts, the appearance of Samuel was produced by God’s power, and that God’s voice itself was heard in those words against Saul. He says [in AD 453]: “It is thence clear that the very God of all beings, having fashioned Samuel’s form as He wished, uttered the judgment, the witch not having been able to do this, but God gave the decree even through enemies” (in “Quaestiones”). Appealing for proof that God speaks through enemies, to the example of Balaam and to Ezek 14:4,7 (where it is said of idolaters ‘when they come to the prophet, I will answer them after my manner’), he explicitly affirms that the words ascribed to Samuel were a divine utterance spoken through the mouth of the woman who was acting against God’s command. … Support would thus be given to the superstitious opinion that departed spirits may be summoned, while the fundamental view of the Old Testament everywhere is that a return of the dead to the land of the living is not possible (see 2 Sam 12:23; Job 7:9)” (Lange, under the heading, “1 Samuel 28:1-25, and under the sub-heading, “Historical and Theological,” section 1). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 11: (1) “A king or commander seeking a divine oracle before a battle would hope for positive encouragement: the classic “ Do not be afraid.” Saul receives the very opposite: his great fear (v. 5) returns. … As for the portrayal of her professional competence, the Samuel she summons up speaks exactly like the narrator’s Samuel. Except for the prediction at the end of his speech that Saul and his sons will join him tomorrow and that the camp of Israel will by then be in Philistine hands, everything else is repeated from earlier utterances before his death” (Auld, 329). (2) “We are not told how Samuel appeared, but, as Beuken holds, there is no question that it is Samuel himself who speaks here. In his speech in vv. 16-19 Samuel uses the divine name, Yahweh, seven times, while Saul said “ God” once [and without using the more intimate name, YHWH]. The author certainly intends us to believe it is really Samuel” (Tsumura, 627). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 12: “Sheol was considered by the Israelites to be a dark place beneath the earth where dead people, good and evil of all nations, went after their death (see Gen 37.35; 42.38). Since this is a term that will have no meaning for many readers if transliterated into the receptor language, translators may wish to say something like “the world of the dead” (GNT, CEV), “the abode [or, dwelling place] of the dead,” or “the underworld” (REB margin). But care should be taken not to give the impression that this is a reference to the local cemetery. For this reason “the grave” (NIV, NCV) is not recommended” (Omanson & Ellington, 57). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 13: “2:6-10 This section, which is linguistically marked as the most important component of the prayer, contains an extended list of contrastive actions the Lord performs in his dealings with humans. … Linguistic marking is seen in the employment of a divine figure, in this case Yahweh, as the subject of eighteen different verbs in a section containing only fifty-eight words. Though comparative statistics presently are unavailable, it is accurate to say that these verses contain one of the Hebrew Bible’s highest concentrations of verbs with Yahweh as the subject. Linguistic peak-marking is seen also in the employment of five mentions of Yahweh’s name, as well as the mention of the highest-ranking social position in Israelite society, that of “king” /”messiah” (Bergen, p. 76 and fn. 35). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 14: “In the ancient Near East the sun god(dess) is considered to be the psychopompe, the guide of the dead, in the death cult. For example, in the Ugaritic funeral cult, the newly dead king Niqmaddu was sent to the netherworld with the assistance of the sun goddess Shapshu. However, Yahweh the creator of heaven and earth, that is, the creator of the sun (see Psalm 19), is the Lord of “the quick and the dead” who brings men down to or up from Sheol. He holds absolute authority over the world of the dead as well as of the living” (Tsumura, 147). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 15: “Illness, for example, may be viewed as death and recovery as resurrection (Ps 71:20). On this view Hannah is lauding Yahweh’s ability to rescue those endangered by death (Ps 30:3 and Jonah 2:6) rather than revive those overcome by death” (Harris, 51-52). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 16: “The ‘reversal of fortune’ theme continues in vv. 6-8. Death and life, poverty and wealth, abasement and exaltation are all within the power of Yahweh. God’s power to cause death and give life is most impressive. If Yahweh truly can bring the dead back from Sheol, then surely he is also capable Sheol of feeding the hungry and exalting the downtrodden” (Cartledge, 47). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 17: “God has the right to dispose of all as he wills, and does actually dispose of any things and persons as he thinks is good. He has jus praesenter disponendi, “the right of present disposal,” which is properly dominion or property. He gives possession and ejects, puts in and throws out, lifts up and casts down, whom and when he will. …Why does God thus dispose of all? Because all is his own” (Clarkson, quoted in Cooper & Lohrmann, 13). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 18: “2:6 The Lord Kills and Brings to Life – Resurrection of the Flesh. Tertullian: Certainly his making alive is to take place after he has killed. As, therefore, it is by death that he kills, it is by the resurrection that he will make alive. Now it is the flesh which is killed by death; the flesh, therefore, will be revived by the resurrection. Surely if killing means taking away life from the flesh, and its opposite, reviving, amounts to restoring life to the flesh, it must needs be that the flesh rise again, to which the life, which has been taken away by killing, has to be restored by vivification” (Tertullian, 28, quoted in Franke, 204). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 19: “Verse 6a contrasts death with life, and possibly the second half does too (so McCarter, 1 Samuel). However, the second half may refer rather to rescue from the brink of death after a serious illness and therefore contrast sickness with health. Deuteronomy 32:39 and 2 Kings 5:7 have the same two sets of contrasts (death/life, sickness/health)” (Youngblood, 581). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 20: “Darkness here refers to the nether gloom which engulfs the wicked at death and which may be experienced already in this life (Ps. 35:6)” (Tsumura, 148). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 21: “Just as she is quite naturally herself there, so too her song, while it could be sung by many a worshiper, fits perfectly the situation of the long barren who has now borne many, and of the hungry who has now eaten— and, no less, the situation of the elite priests who have lorded it over worshipers but will have their comeuppance” (Auld, 39). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 22: “In the words [in v. 2:10], ‘The Lord will judge the ends of the earth,’ … or the whole world, Hannah’s prayer rises up to a prophetic glance at the consummation of the kingdom of God” (Keil & Delitzsch, 384). Click here to go back.
Foot-quote 23: (1) “The final destiny of the ungodly, however, is the silence of Sheol, the grave, the netherworld, where all is darkness (Job 10:21-22; 17:13; 18:18; Ps 88:12; Prov 20:20; cf. also Matt 8:12; for further details, cf. Ronald F. Youngblood, “Qoheleth’s ‘Dark House’ [Eccl 12:5],” JETS 29, 4 [1986]: 397-410)” (Youngblood, 581). (2) “‘In darkness’ refers to death in Sheol (see Job 10:21-22; 15:22; 17:13)” (Omanson & Ellington, 60). Click here to go back.