Objection:
How do you harmonize your belief in the unconsciousness of man in death with the Bible’s account of the witch of Endor, who brought forth Samuel to talk with King Saul? Clearly you are wrong according to that Biblical account.
Answer:
Saul commanded his servants, “Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor.” 1 Samuel 28:7. They found such a woman at Endor. The woman inquires, “Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he [Saul] said, Bring me up Samuel.” Verse 11. A moment later, the woman declared, “I saw gods ascending out of the earth … An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel.” Verses 13, 14. “And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?… the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” Verses 15–19.
This narrative says nothing about the prophet Samuel’s coming down from heaven for this occasion. Saul uses the words “bring up.” The witch uses the same and similar expressions, “bring up,” ascending out of the earth,” “comes up.” And to Samuel are attributed equivalent words, “bring me up.” If anyone claimed this weird, tragic story, it would be we who believe that when the dead return to this earth they come “up” “out of the earth.” But in seeking evidence regarding the state of man in death, we do not consider it safe to rely on the events and conversations of a devil-infested, God-condemned séance. However, since believers in the immortality of the soul appeal to this séance, we would like to inquire: How do you harmonize all these statements with your belief? You believe that the righteous dead are up in heaven, not down in “the earth.” Can “ascending out of the earth” mean descending out of heaven?
Again, the narrative thus describes “Samuel”: “An old man … covered with a mantle.” Is this the way an immortal spirit would appear? Does it take on a body? If so, where does it obtain the body? If it is answered that there was a resurrection, we would reply that such a confession spoils the whole case, for we believe that the dead may be raised. But we do not believe that the devil has the power to raise the dead, and certainly, God was not at the bidding of this witch, who was under the divine death edict for practicing sorcery. (See Lev. 20:27; Deut. 18:10, 11). Now, the record tells us later that Saul ended his sinful course by committing suicide. (See 1 Sam. 31:4). But “Samuel,” foretelling Saul’s death, declares, “Tomorrow shall thou and thy sons be with me.” Pray tell, where did Samuel dwell if the self-murdered Saul was to be with him? We marvel that those who believe the doctrine of natural immortality ever bring up this Bible story, for by so doing, they “bring up” Samuel from the “earth” when, in their view, he is supposed to be in heaven. And they have the wicked Saul going to “be with” the holy Samuel when this royal suicide is considered, instead, to go to hell.
But why does the story speak of “Samuel” if he was not really there? The record does not say that Saul saw “Samuel;” when the witch cried out, he inquired, “What saw thou?” And a moment later, “What form is he of?” Why wouldn’t Saul have seen him if Samuel had actually been there? Were only the hag’s eyes keen enough to discern “an old man … covered with a mantle”? We read that “Saul perceived that it was Samuel.” The word “perceived” is from a different Hebrew word than “saw.” The meaning is that Saul understood, or concluded, as a result of the description given by the witch, that Samuel was present.
The witch practiced a deception on Saul. She was deceived also by the devil and probably thought she saw Samuel. Saul, in turn, accepted her explanation. The Bible narrative then simply describes this spiritualistic séance regarding the suppositions of the witch and Saul. That is a literary rule known as the language of appearance. When the story says “Samuel,” we may understand it to mean a devil-generated apparition that doubtlessly appeared, which they supposed was Samuel.
