The Witch of Endor reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Witch of Endor

In the Hebrew Bible, the Witch of Endor of First book of Samuel, chapter 28:4-25 was a witch, a woman "who possesses a talisman," through which she called up the ghost of the recently deceased prophet Samuel, at the demand of King Saul of Israel. After Samuel's death and burial with due mourning ceremonies in Ramah, Saul had driven all necromancers and magicians from Isreal. Then, in a bitter irony, Saul sought out the witch, anonymously and in disguise, only after he received no answer from Yahweh from dreams, prophets or the Urim and Thummim as to his best course of action against the assembled forces of the Philistines. The prophet's ghost offered no advice but predicted Saul's downfall as king.

The Witch of Endor may be seen as a survival of archaic Canaanite religion, similar to a sibyl.

Saul sinned further in consulting this woman; the practice of necromancy was forbidden by the Torah.

Christian glosses

The Church Fathers and some modern Christian writers have debated the theological issues raised by this text, however. If you take the Bible literally, it would appear to affirm that it is or was possible for humans to summon the spirits of the blessed dead by magic. Medieval glosses naturally suggested that what the witch actually summoned was not the ghost of Samuel, but a demon taking his shape. Nothing in the text of the story suggests this interpretation, however.

External links

• Saul and the Witch of Endor: text inKJV
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Witch of Endor; the tale deftly retold and set in context

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