I find this whole scenario rather perplexing. Quick recap. Samuel is dead, Saul is facing the Phillistines and things look grim. Saul's erratic/rebellious behavior has alienated him from Yah. No Samuel, No Yah, so Saul consults a medium-the Witch of Endor. According to the NIV, she conjurs/summons up Samuel who is then distressed at being disturbed. Then Samuel tells Saul he's toast. Saul fights the Phillistines and Saul is indeed toast.
Sounds simple enough at first glance, but closer analysis proves puzzling to me.
First of all, was it really Samuel who appeared to Saul? If it was, this leads to even more perplextion. Divination was a serious bust. Would Yah actually allow Samuel to be a party to this sort of thing and thus indirectly be a party Himself? When the rich knucklehead asked Abraham if he could return from Sheol and inform his brothers of the fate that awaited them if they did'nt repent, Abe said no.
Ok then, lets say it was'nt Samuel. Then who/what was it? Satan? A demon? Can demons, (spirits), actually become visible? If so, why don't they do so more often? This would save all the fortune teller/spiritist types the hassle of smoke and mirrors and lend credibility to their craft and thus divination. It seems to me that Satan would'nt pass up the opportunity to do this sort of thing if he could.
If I recollect accurately, (always a dangerous assumption, hahaha), I can't think of anywhere in scrip where spirits, other than angels, became visible to humans.
So then, what gives? Have I misread the passage? I always thought that the witch was surprised that the apparition actually appeared and became frightened. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps she was frightened only of Saul, (afraid he'd execute her for being a spiritist), yet she later fixes him some chow after being reassured by Saul she was in no danger from him, (why did'nt Saul reassure her in the first place instead of going to the trouble of the disguise?).
That being the case, did the witch perform some sort of sleight of hand thing and decieve Saul into believing he was seeing an apparition? One that talked? A visible AND audio sleight of hand? Pretty good trick if so.
This leads to yet another conundrum. The apparition told Saul he was gonna die, and the Israeli troops defeated. Did Saul believe the apparition? If so, then it appears Saul committed suicide as well as not taking steps to avoid the deaths of his sons. Had I been Saul, I would've said, "Hey David, you take over". Then I would've grabbed my sons and headed to the hills in the opposite direction from the Phillistines.
I dunno. Like I said, it's a puzzlement to me.
Edited by user Saturday, October 13, 2007 10:44:56 AM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
