The Bible’s statements about life, death and resurrection are quite clear and consistent: dead people do not live. They are dead. This is the opposite of life. Those who do not see it this way fall back on a rather limited selection of “differently worded” biblical passages, with which the rest of the testimony of Scripture is then supposed to be invalidated. These biblical passages demand special attention if we are to understand Scripture in its own context.
Bible passage
Saul visits a woman in the village of Endor who has a divining spirit and who holds a spiritualist séance with him.
Traditional interpretation
The woman gives a real insight into the realm of the dead. According to this, the dead are not dead, but continue to live blithely. Spiritism? Do not bother me!
Counterargument
This is a spiritualist séance, not a glimpse into a world of the dead.
Justification
Saul had a problem. Samuel, the prophet, had died. Saul could no longer ask him for wisdom and advice. He had driven fortune tellers and necromancers out of the country. But then enemies appear on the border and the king’s heart slips. What to do? Who can help? (1Sam 28:3-5). In this emergency he turns to the Lord, but the Lord does not answer, neither by dreams, nor by casting lots, nor by prophets (1Sam 28:6). Saul needs help. Then he has someone search for them who can question the dead.
Arriving at the spiritualist’s house, Saul wishes Samuel to be conjured up from death. Accordingly, he is looking for an old confidant so that he can ask his questions. In fact, Samuel now appears, but it is said that only the woman saw him. A conversation develops between Saul, the woman and Samuel and Saul receives a dramatic response.
To some, the situation may seem “real.” However, let’s also remember that we are dealing with a medium here. One does not have to question whether a medium sees something, but one should be critical of the interpretation. Samuel was dead and is not raised here. The representation cannot be compared with a resurrection, which it would need however to a new life. Thus, this appearance stands in a strange light. It is primarily Saul himself who concludes that it is Samuel. Saul does not see Samuel! Only the medium sees something. It is the expectation of Saul that this is actually Samuel. However, the fact that the source can also be another, and something else is happening here, must be soberly considered.
Saul merely infers that he is facing Samuel. Only the medium sees the appearance.
The medium does not have the power to raise people from death. Dead people do not live. What is described here is certainly a real experience. At the same time, however, it is not clear that this should actually be Samuel. According to Scripture, this is not possible at all. Strong warnings are repeatedly given against such demonic influences:
“You shall not turn to necromancers and diviners, lest you be defiled by them; I am the LORD your God.”
3Mo 19,31
“When you come into the land that the LORD your God will give you, you shall not learn to do the abominations of these nations, lest anyone be found among you who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or who practices divination, clairvoyance, secret arts, or sorcery, or who performs spells or spirit incantations or divination of signs, or who consults the dead.”
Deut 18:9-14
The dependence should be on God, not on such practices. This story does not explain a state of death, but merely the process at a seance. What is seen, whether the “dead” are, is left to the imagination of the listener.
