• Jacob Chanikuzhy

Can a witch bring a dead man back? In 1 Samuel 28, there is a strange story of a medium, at Endor, making the dead prophet Samuel appear to Saul. King Saul was terror-stricken when he heard about the war preparations of the Philistines against him. He tried to seek the will of Yahweh. But Yahweh refused to respond to his queries. Saul understood that Yahweh had forsaken him. Prophet Samuel who revealed to him God’s will on several occasions, is already dead. Hence, King Saul looked for a medium who could bring prophet Samuel from the land of the dead. However, King Saul had already banned such occult practices and witchcraft in his kingdom. But his servants informed him that there was a witch at Endor and Saul went there in disguise. He demanded that she bring the prophet Samuel. Subsequently, the spirit of the prophet Samuel appeared and predicted that Saul would lose the war and that he would be a dead man the next day.
Now, the question is whether it was really the spirit of prophet Samuel that appeared. Some think in the affirmative, and others in the negative. A third group holds that, like some other stories in the Bible, it is just a literary construct, and such a thing has never historically happened. A modern explanation is that King Saul had a hallucination.
Those who think that it was really the prophet Samuel who appeared do not see any problem with the incident because, according to them, it was not because of any occult activities of the witch that Samuel appeared. 1 Samuel 28 does not describe any activities of the witch to bring Samuel from his place of rest. Prophet Samuel appeared all of a sudden. Moreover, she was frightened to see Samuel when he appeared. Hence, they think that it was God himself who brought Samuel to Saul.
Others find it difficult to digest the idea that God used the house of a witch and the background of occult practices to reveal his will. They also think it unlikely that God, after having refused to reveal his will through divinely sanctioned means, has now sent a prophet from Sheol. Hence, they explain that what appeared as Samuel was a demon in disguise.
It is perplexing to think that one who appeared as Samuel was a demon because the demon seems to be on the side of God, just like the prophet Samuel. The devil affirms that God has forsaken him, upbraids Saul for disobeying God, and reiterates the words of doom already spoken by Samuel while he was on earth. How can a demon condemn Saul for not obeying the Lord? Herein lies the great treachery of the devil. Sometimes the devil appears to be on the side of God just to make us feel forsaken by God, terrify us about the consequences of sin, fill us with fear, take away all traces of hope, sink us in despair, and finally make us dead even before we really die. This is what happened to Saul after the encounter with the devil. Saul became totally devastated and powerless. Saul, who was at times possessed by evil spirit during his life, now became a pure possession of the devil on the eve of his death.
The whole story illustrates the depth of evil and misery, king Saul, the king of Israel, the chosen and anointed one of Yahweh, sank due to his unchecked ego, greed, selfishness, Godlessness, and jealousy and hatred towards David. The story of Saul warns everyone that being anointed does not warrant anyone any immunity from the deception of the devil in disguise. The devil might appear in the attire of a prophet and might preach about God, admonish about obedience, and threaten about the aftermath of disobedience. He will never utter a word about the possibility of reconciling with God, David, and even with his own son Jonathan. Nor will the demon in disguise give any message of hope, peace, or empowerment. Because what he eventually intends is to destroy. “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10,10). Those aligned with the devil do the same. The litmus test to check whether one who comes in God’s name and attire is a true prophet of God or a pseudo prophet in alliance with the devil is to find whether one’s words and actions bring forth and strengthen faith, hope, love, and life, or pure destruction of all that makes life equal to death.