Tim Chaffey

King Saul, a Witch, and an Elohim—Part Two

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Tim ChaffeyDecember 8, 2014

The Witch of En Dor by William Blake

Who or what appeared at En Dor when King Saul asked a medium to call for Samuel? In the first article I posted on this subject, I discussed the two primary views held by Christians: the spirit was either a satanic impostor or God actually sent Samuel’s spirit to pronounce judgment on the disobedient king.

Many Christians favor the idea that an evil spirit simply impersonated Samuel, but the text seems to say otherwise. The narrative calls the entity “Samuel” five different times and gives no indication that we should look for another meaning. Also, the words that the spirit spoke were completely true—Saul and his sons did die that day. This post will explore other passages that help us properly interpret 1 Samuel 28, and we’ll also clear up some confusion about one of the most important words in the Bible.

Do Other Passages Provide Clues to the Proper Interpretation?

King Saul had previously disobeyed a command from the Lord to completely destroy the Amalekites and their cattle. After Samuel pronounced judgment on the king for his unfaithfulness we are told that they went their separate ways—Samuel to Rama and Saul to Gibeah. Then the author tells us that “Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death” (1 Samuel 15:35).

In both English and Hebrew, it is ambiguous if the “his death” refers to Samuel’s death or Saul’s death. The NET Bible translates the passage as referring to Samuel’s death: “Until the day he died Samuel did not see Saul again” (1 Samuel 15:35), but there are problems with this rendering. The NASB and ESV remain ambiguous about whose death is referenced, but they did not translate the preposition “to.” For example, the NASB states that “Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death” (1 Samuel 15:35). As we’ll see, this minor textual decision strongly impacts one’s interpretation.

There are at least two reasons why “his death” in 1 Samuel 15:35 should be viewed as a reference to King Saul’s death. First, if the NASB’s rendering is accurate (that Samuel did not see Saul again until the day one of them died), then it creates a contradiction in the text. In 1 Samuel 19:18, David fled from Saul to Samuel in Ramah. After sending messengers to capture David, Saul himself came to Ramah. The Spirit of God came upon Saul and he “prophesied before Samuel” (v. 24). So Samuel did see Saul again, but the prophet did not go to see Saul again until the incident at En Dor—Saul came to him. The translation of the preposition “to” makes a huge difference in 1 Samuel 15:35.

One concern about this interpretation has to do with how it could be said that Samuel’s spirit went to Saul, particularly when it was the medium who summoned him. I believe there is a reasonable solution. Samuel’s spirit still had to travel some “distance” from wherever he was (Sheol or heaven?) to where Saul was. Samuel asked, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” and the medium said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” Both of these statements imply that the spirit was traveling from somewhere else to arrive there. Daniel 10 may also shed some light on the subject. The angel that spoke to Daniel had to travel to get to the prophet, but he was held up by the prince of Persia for 21 days (Daniel 10:13). Again, this implies some degree of movement to go from the spiritual realm to the physical world. Since they are not omnipresent, spirits are localized entities, thus they must move if they are to go from one place to another.

A classic depiction of Saul’s infamous visit to the medium at En Dor from Sadducismus Triumphatus by Joseph Glanvill.

The second reason we should view “his death” as a reference to Saul is found in 1 Samuel 25. In the brief record of Samuel’s death, there is no indication at all that Saul was present. After being told that Saul went home (Gibeah) sometime earlier, the text states, “Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah” (1 Samuel 25:1). It seems highly unlikely that, in his final day, the dying prophet would make a trip to Gibeah to see Saul. Even if Saul should be included in “the Israelites” who gathered and lamented for Samuel, this did not happen until after Samuel had died.

Based on these passages in 1 Samuel 19 and 25, we can be fairly confident that “his death” in 1 Samuel 15:35 refers to the king’s death. That being the case, it lends good support to the interpretation that it really was the spirit of Samuel that appeared at En Dor. The prophet then announced that the king would be with him (i.e. the king would die) later that day. So we see that other passages help us understand that 1 Samuel 15:35 tells us Samuel did not go to see Saul until the day that Saul died.

An Elohim?

Perhaps the greatest cause of confusion in this passage has to do with the word that is used by the medium when she describes what she saw.

And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?”
And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.” (1 Samuel 28:13)

The word translated as “spirit” in this verse is ’elohim. Roughly ninety percent of the time this word is used in the Old Testament—over 2000 times—it refers to the one true God, a fact which has led to much misunderstanding. ’Elohim is not God’s name; it is better understood as a title or a description for God whose name is Yahweh.

So what does ’elohim refer to the other ten percent of the time it is used? It can refer to angels.

For you have made him a little lower than the angels (’elohim), and You have crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:5)

Some Bibles, such as the NASB, translate this verse to say that man was made “a little lower than God.” While the word certainly can refer to God, it does not on this occasion. Hebrews 2:7 quotes this verse and uses the Greek word for angels, which is how the Septuagint translated it too.

’Elohim is also used to refer to demons.

They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods (’elohim) they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear. (Deuteronomy 32:17, italics in original)

The NKJV quoted above makes a curious formatting error here. It italicizes words that are not in the Hebrew but are added when necessary for a sentence to make sense. The problem here is that the first time gods is italicized, the Hebrew word is there. And that word is ’elohim.

In six verses, ’elohim is used as part of the term “sons of God” (bene ha ’elohim). These “sons of God” are a class of heavenly beings who rejoiced at creation (Job 38:7), met with God regularly (Job 1:6; 2:1), rebelled and married women (Genesis 6:2, 4), and were apparently charged with overseeing the Gentile nations (Deuteronomy 32:8, ESV).

In the majority of cases where ’elohim does not refer to the one true God, it is used in reference to the false gods worshiped by the nations. For example, Deuteronomy 6:14 states, “You shall not go after other gods (’elohim)…” This type of command is found many times in Deuteronomy. ’Elohim is also used this way in the first of the Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other gods [’elohim] before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

So what did the spirit of Samuel have in common with these other uses of the word? Put another way, how could God, the spirit of Samuel, false gods, angels, and the sons of God all be called ’elohim? I can think of only one shared attribute: they are all residents of the spiritual realm, or more accurately, the spiritual realm is their primary place of operation.

If this is accurate, then we need to realize that ’elohim is not God’s personal name (as the Mormons teach), but a title for Him. His personal name is Yahweh (YHWH). Yahweh is an ’elohim but no other ’elohim is Yahweh. He is unique, and He created all of the other ’elohim.

Understanding this important truth clears up some of the confusion about what took place in 1 Samuel 28. Yes, an ’elohim truly did appear to the medium and Saul, but it was not a god. While the term can refer to a demonic being it can also refer to the spirit of a deceased person since they primarily inhabit the spiritual realm. As such, we can be fairly certain that it was the spirit of Samuel who was permitted to pronounce judgment upon the rebellious king of Israel.

Conclusion

Much more could be said about this intriguing passage, but there are no compelling reasons to reject the straightforward understanding of the text—that Samuel really did appear to pronounce judgment on Saul.

I believe those who think that Satan or a demon appeared rather than Samuel are allowing their theological views to override the meaning of the text. Of course, our theology will always influence how we interpret a passage, but we must be careful not to let our ideas get in the way of rightly dividing the word of truth.

King Saul, a Witch, and an Elohim—Part One

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Tim ChaffeyDecember 8, 2014

The Spirit of Samuel and King Saul at En Dor by Casper Luiken (1712).

One of the strangest accounts in Scripture appears in 1 Samuel 28. On the night before his death, Israel’s first king, Saul, made an infamous visit to a medium in hopes of contacting the deceased prophet Samuel. What happened during their encounter has been the source of some contention among interpreters.

King Saul fought many battles, and it was customary for him to seek the Lord’s favor prior to a conflict. This is not to say that he was a faithful king, but he had previously wanted to hear from God before going to war (1 Samuel 13:12 and 15:1). And now that Samuel had passed away, Saul was quite fearful about what the following day’s battle against the Philistines would bring.

The mediums and spiritists had already been kicked out of the land (1 Samuel 28:3), but Saul still wanted to hear what Samuel had to say. So Saul and some of his men went to En Dor to ask a medium to contact Samuel for him—an action strictly forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:10–12. What happened next has been debated for centuries.

A “spirit” (1 Samuel 28:13) appeared and told Saul that he would die the next day. But was it really Samuel who appeared or was it an evil spirit impersonating Samuel?

A Satanic Impostor?

Matthew Henry’s comments represent the beliefs of many Christians on this issue. He confidently stated that Satan came “in disguise, in the disguise of Samuel’s mantle” ((Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 432.))

For Henry, this is an open-and-shut case. He wrote, “That it could not be the soul of Samuel himself they might easily apprehend when it ascended out of the earth, for the spirit of a man, much more of a good man, goes upward, Eccl. 3:21.” ((Ibid. Italics in original.)) And since Satan is said to be able to transform himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), Henry believed that it is quite obvious that Satan was given permission to appear to Saul.

John Gill wrote in no uncertain terms that “this was a diabolical spectre, or apparition, or the devil, that appeared in the form and shape of Samuel, and mimicked him.” ((John Gill, Commentary of the Whole Bible, 1 Samuel 28:14.)) Gill’s main argument against the apparition being Samuel himself is that the Lord’s prophet would not have been at the beck and call of a witch.

This opinion is also shared in the Pulpit Commentary, and it has been quite popular among Christians in general. But does it really handle the text properly?

An Appearance of Samuel

As with any debated passage, it is important to carefully consider what the text actually states. In this strange encounter, we are told by the writer in very plain language that it was Samuel who appeared to Saul. Consider each of the following verses, and notice that they are not spoken by Saul or the medium, but are part of the narration. In other words, it is the author of 1 Samuel 28 who is telling us that Samuel appeared.

“When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice.” (v. 12)

“And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down.” (v. 14)

“Now Samuel said to Saul, ‘Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?’” (v. 15)

“Then Samuel said: ‘So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy?’” (v. 16)

“Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, and was dreadfully afraid because of the words of Samuel.” (v. 20)

Five times the narrator tells us that it was Samuel. The author gives no indication in the text that this is not really Samuel. It does not say, “Now the spirit impersonating Samuel said to Saul…” or anything of the sort. The text simply tells us that Samuel appeared and delivered a message to Saul.

Accurate Prophecy

Indeed, the straightforward meaning of the text is that it actually was Samuel who appeared to Saul. While this alone makes a strong case for the position, it is not the only evidence. What Saul was told by the “spirit” also came to pass.

Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. (1 Samuel 28:18–19)

On the following day, Saul and his sons were slain by the Philistines (1 Samuel 31:6), just as Samuel had foretold. The Israelite army was also defeated, as prophesied by the apparition (1 Samuel 31:1, 7).

My Th.M. thesis on the sons of God and the Nephilim addresses the meaning of ‘elohim at length. It is available in print or for Kindle.

If this were an evil impostor who appeared, then we would need to conclude that this entity told the truth and accurately foretold the future. Granted, it was the very near future, and many could have guessed the outcome of the battle. Even Saul feared for his life, which is why he sought out the medium in the first place (1 Samuel 28:5). Nevertheless, Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies who “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44). Why should we think that in this passage Satan shows up and speaks the truth?

Taking the text at face value makes far more sense, and this would mean that Samuel appeared to Saul. This type of action is almost certainly not a normal ability for a deceased human, so it seems as if God made an exception here and sent His prophet to deliver a message of judgment to the wayward king of Israel.

Conclusion to Part 1

I’m only halfway through the investigation of this passage. In the next post on this subject, I’ll cover some other passages that shed some light on the correct interpretation of this strange encounter. Also, this account provides an opportunity to clear up an important misunderstanding many Christians have about the Hebrew word ’elohim. Here’s a hint: that’s the word translated as “spirit” in this passage.

Thanks for reading!