1 Samuel 28:3-20
3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. 4 The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.” 8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.” 9 The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?” 10 But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” 11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.” 13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.” 14 He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage. 15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.” 16 And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.” 20 Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.
Why it is Puzzling:
In Deuteronomy 18:9-14 and Isaiah 8:19, God has said that inquiring of the dead is an abomination to Him and that God’s people should inquire of Him and not of the dead. And yet in this passage, we read of Saul who went ahead with a disobedient plan and yet the plan worked smoothly. One would have thought that since Saul was acting in disobedience, negative things should happen like Saul being deceived by evil spirits or that the seance failed to work but yet it seems Samuel really appeared and the appearance and statements from Samuel appear really legit. Therefore, this seem to imply that seance is truly able to bring dead people back to life. We tend to think that it is only trickery or demonic manifestation that would happen during a seance, so how do we reconcile the fact that Samuel really showed up?.
Alternative interpretation #1:
One way to reconcile this dilemma is to view the seance as merely a fraud. That the “Samuel” being called up is a fake; just an illusion from the witch or merely a demonic deception. That would nicely fit our understanding of such practices being deception from evil spirits or cheap tricks. However, the Bible narrates it like it is true. If we take this to be untrue, then how can we take other parts of biblical narratives to be true and be consistent about what we take to be true and untrue? Also in v12, the witch seemed to be in shock and only realised who Saul was after seeing the real Samuel. If she orchestrated everything, why would she be in shock and receive this sudden revelation?
Alternative interpretation #2:
The other way of interpreting this is to acknowledge that it is indeed Samuel (as the Scriptures say it is), but accomplished not through the witch but through God (which explains her startled reaction and fear when she realizes this particular manifestation is somehow very different from what she was usually familiar with). By taking this stand, we can consistently take Biblical narratives as true stories. So if an account is told as a true account, we take it as true. This offers a consistent way of reading the Bible.
Arguments against such an interpretation:
This is the only account of a seance done in the Bible. If such a seance legitimately brought back the actual dead and delivered the very message of God, then wouldn’t this account encourage God’s people to do the same thing as a last resort when they are desperately in need of God’s directions? This may cause God’s people to think that seances are effective in conjuring the dead or that witches or mediums genuinely speak with the spirits of dead individuals.
Solution:
One way to look at this is to view this account as God bringing about states of affairs that did not conform to His revealed will (in His word) in order to achieve some wise purpose. We have an example of this in the story of Samson.
Judges 14:1-4
1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” 3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
Deuteronomy 7:3
You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,
We know from the Scriptures that God expressly forbid His people to marry outside of the covenant community (Deut. 7:3). Yet from this account of Samson marrying a Philistine woman, we see that “this was from the Lord” because God has a higher purpose in confronting the Philistines. So here we have God Himself orchestrating the forbidden union where Samson marries outside of the covenant community.
Therefore, just as God’s people cannot take this extraordinary example and then use it to justify interfaith marriage, similarly, one cannot take Samuel’s one-off, exceptional appearance as justification for communication with the dead, be it via God or via pagan mediums. The fact is that both Samson’s and Saul’s actions were both acts of disobedience. God’s reasoning for forbidding necromancy is that: one ought to be looking to God and His word rather than other sources for guidance. To do otherwise is idolatry.