First:
The extent of the passage from 1 Samuel is 28:1-25
In reading this passage carefully we can make the following assertions:
- It is fear which first informs Saul’s actions (v5).
- The Lord had cut Saul off, and so Saul could not hear from the Lord even though the knowledge of the Lord remained with him (v6).
- Despite the fact that Saul himself had commanded all mediums and necromancers removed from the land (v9) in realising that God was not going to speak to him, he knew that a necromancer would be able to help him communicate with Samuel in death. (v7)
- In defiance of his own commandment, he was obliged to disguise himself so that he would not be recognised (v8)
- Then necromancer identifies that her concern is with her own life with regard to the King (Saul) and was not in recognition of God (v9).
- Saul himself reaffirms his disregard for the commandments of God and shows his spiritual arrogance when he considers setting aside his own punishment as more important than the consequences of disobeying God with regard to consulting with death (v10).
- Saul asks the necromancer to bring up Samuel from the dead (v11).
- The necromancer cries out in fear when she sees Samuel (v12). In the Hebrew this type of crying out is a cry to God Himself, such was the effect of seeing Samuel. At the same time seeing Samuel causes her to realise that if God had permitted this thing, then the only person who could have asked with authority was the king of Israel. Thus she says “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul.”
- Once again Saul reassures the necromancer with regard to his own authority as king of Israel, and then asks “what do you see? (v13). The necromancer could see Samuel. Saul could not see Samuel. Her reply is “I see a divine being coming up out of the earth.” The word divine (Elohim) is the same in meaning which the Lord Jesus spoke to the Jews when He said “If he called them gods (theos) unto whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? (John 10:35-36).
- Because Saul cannot see Samuel he asks “What is his form?” (v14). Having established that the necromancer has indeed brought up Samuel, Saul bowed with his face to the ground.
- Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” (v15).
Narrative to First:
Narrative:
Samuel does not speak to the necromancer, in fact later on it is clear that she cannot hear Samuel speaking. She can see him, but Saul cannot see. Saul can hear Samuel, but the necromancer cannot hear Samuel’s words. Samuel does not even acknowledge the necromancer, not even indirectly. Samuel knows that it takes more than a third eye to bring the dead up, it takes authority as well. And this was the very effect on the necromancer herself. She knew that she was able to see but she also knew that she had no authority of her own, and therefore no true power. Hence having realised that Samuel was indeed come up from the dead, she knew that the man who had asked her was no less a person than the king of Israel. Nothing good comes out of this wrong exercise of authority by Saul. He is essentially rebuked by Samuel and told that the very next day he would be dead. To which Saul becomes so exhausted emotionally that he collapses onto his face. What follows (vv21-25) is a strange mixture of self-preservation and compassion on the part of the necromancer. In finality, although there is no evidence that she took payment for her efforts, it is clear that this event cost her a fatted calf. Perhaps she was celebrating having escaped with her life having witnessed righteous Samuel come up from the dead.
The next day Saul went up into battle, and in desperation of his wounds committed suicide on the battlefield.
Second:
The etymology of the term
The name Endo’r or En’Dor comes from two Hebrew words meaning spring or fountain and dwelling. Ordinarily, therefore, En’Dor would mean the dwelling by the spring or the fountain of the ancient dwelling.
The Hebrew says ְעֵ֥ין דּֽוֹרבּ Eyn-Doʾr, translated Endor. The various roots of these two words seem somewhat strange at first glance but will make a great deal of sense if they are properly exegeted. The root words mean eye - well - surface - appearance - spring and the second word means generation.
Therefore:
Eyn
eye; well; surface; appearance; spring. Doʾr
generation past present and future.
There are eight specific uses of ְעֵ֥יןבּ (Noun), one of which is 1 Samuel 28:7. .עֵינֶ֔יָ There are also many conjugations of the root, one of which is “And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand, the Lord brought you out of Egypt” Exodus 13:9.
The expression “on your forehead” contains the Hebrew Eyn, and a literal meaning would be
between the eyes. The Hebrew is ֵָ֣בֵּ֣ין עֵינֶ֑יךָ in verse nine, and the same expression is repeated in verse sixteen as ָעַל־יָ֣דְכָ֔ה וּלְטוֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֣ין עֵינֶ֑י where we read “So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” Exodus 13:16. In verse nine we read the explanation for why this is commanded.֥ It is so “the law of the Lord may be in your mouth .
Narrative to Second
The distinction that needs to be made to understand the meaning of necromancy as demonstrated by the witch of En'Dor is simply to understand that the instrument she is using to practise her necromancy is the same neurophysiology of the brain structure the priests were warned to guard [between the eyes] by their obedience to Exodus 13:16. The precept is the relationship between spoken utterance and hearing. In short it is characteristically the Shema Yisrael. It is speech and hearing - and that hearing must first be planted in the mind in obedience before it can be spoken - but it also has to be a guard to the relationship between the natural mind and the obedient mind as a visible reminder. If this incident with King Saul had not been a matter of authority (is Saul now numbered amongst the prophets is the exclamation) and "you shall be changed into a different man" [Samuel commanding Saul to obey God's choosing him to be King] - then Samuel could not have become available to his hearing.
As to his hearing he could hear because the means by which he was asking was as a King not as a necromancer and so he was not using his mind to open the veil of hearing - rather exercising prophetic authority as a King of Israel. Had the witch carried this same exercise on behalf of another man than a
King Saul she would have been visited by a demon and then she could have both seen and heard because the demon operates through psychophysical neurology. Only a called prophet can draw back the veil and see mysteries and hear God speak - not a King who is become like another man as Samuel spoke - and has had the priestly Urim and Thummim removed from him along with the services of the prophets. Yet in one of his last Acts when Saul desired to speak with Samuel whilst Samuel was alive King Saul finds himself speaking amongst the prophets - and so the saying "Is Saul reckoned amongst the prophets". You can source the Scripture yourself. That may be pleasing for you.
Seeing as the witch saw is the very meaning in the derivation of the etymology of the place where the witch lived.
The Pineal gland is the general secretory neuroendocrine organ in the centre of the brain that is attributed in occult circles to be the psychophysical umbilicus. The connective brain structure that modulates the sympathetic response to demonic agency - both in the man who is a sorcerer and in the witch who is a necromancer. Shalom
