Seeing as how this is the Halloween season, I thought it appropriate to talk about the topic of Necromancy, or the ability to contact the dead. Naturally, most Christians' response to this is that it is impossible, and that the act of contacting the dead is demonic, and that the dead being spoken to are just demons.The basic questions that I will be looking to answer are: whether or not Necromancy occurs in the Biblical text, whether it is condemned by God, whether it was used by God, and whether the Bible rejects the power and existence of spirits or ghosts.
I think that if we look at Deuteronomy 18:9-13, it seems pretty obvious where God stands on this issue of necromancy.
9 When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. 13You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.
This insinuates that the Canaanites did indeed practice these types of detestable acts and that the Israelites were not to imitate them in this. Suffice it to say that there is evidence within the Ugaritic texts for the practice of necromancy/consulting the dead (KTU 1.124; 1.161). Now, there are two different views on this commandment. One is that the practice of necromancy among the others in the list is by nature an abhorrent practice according to normative Yahwistic religion. The second option is that these practices were a form of inquiry that competed with prophecy. Either way, it seems that God did not want people to consult the dead for advice.
However, there is one instance in the Bible where necromancy was used and it seems that God used the event to speak. I am referring, of course, to Saul and the witch of Endor. Later sources even interpret this as prophecy (Ben Sira 46:20) Here is the text (1 Samuel 28):
3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah.
(This sounds an awful lot like the beginning to Dickens "A Christmas Carol" to me, which reads: "Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. .")
Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all the Israelites and set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 7 Saul then said to his attendants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her." "There is one in Endor," they said.
8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. "Consult a spirit for me," he said, "and bring up for me the one I name."
9 But the woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?"
10 Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this."
11 Then the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" "Bring up Samuel," he said.
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"
13 The king said to her, "Don't be afraid. What do you see?" The woman said, "I see a spirit coming up out of the ground."
14 "What does he look like?" he asked. "An old man wearing a robe is coming up," she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
15 Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" "I am in great distress," Saul said. "The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do."
16 Samuel said, "Why do you consult me, now that the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy? 17 The LORD has done what he predicted through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today. 19 The LORD will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines."
It is this passage that we are going to analyze for this post, as it is the most explicit example of necromancy being used by God to deliver his message. There are a wide range of options of interpretation for this passage. Was it by God's power that the woman raised Samuel or was it by her magical/demonic abilities that he was raised? Was the spirit really Samuel, or some other spirit that was allowed to take his form? Or maybe the woman never did see Samuel but was deliberately trying to deceive Saul. It is my opinion that the text should be taken somewhat at face value. By whose power Samuel was raised is not really an issue for what we are looking at today. My concern is the fact that he was raised - displaying that necromancy, in the Bible, was seen as having legitimate power and could indeed be used for consulting the dead.
Why would Saul choose to have Samuel brought up to speak to him? Saul had sought answers to his problem via the normal acceptable yahwistic practices such as prophets, urim, and dreams. However, after receiving no advice through these means, Saul turns to necromancy. But again, why Samuel? Some suggest that it is an issue of legitimacy of kingship. It was Samuel that anointed Saul in the first place, and he could again give him advice and provide legitimacy to his kingship. While his kingship is not the direct cause of him going to the necromancer, it is definitely a major theme in this passage. Samuel in his oracle even addresses this issue in the negative.
An extra-biblical example of necromancy being used in association with the legitimization of kingship is found in a letter to king Esarhaddon dated 672 B.C.E. The question was sought regarding whether or not Ashurbanipal should have been awarded the position of crown prince. The question is answered in the affirmative by consulting Esarhaddon's recently deceased wife Esharra-hamat.
(The crown prince) explained (it as follows): "The gods Ashur and Shamash ordained me to be the crown prince of Assyria because of her (=the dead queen's) truthfulness." And her ghost blesses him in the same degree as he has revered the ghost: "May his descendants rule over Assyria!" (As it is said), fear of the gods creates kindness, fear of the infernal gods returns life. Let the (king, my) lord give order.
We can see that the practice of necromancy to legitimize kingship was indeed used in the Ancient Near East. This could be one of the reasons why Saul has called upon Samuel. Another reason simply could be that Samuel was a prophet during Saul's time who helped guide him, and Saul, having been left in a prophetic node, is seeking the person who has helped him in the past. In all likelihood, both of these reasons probably play a part in the choice of Samuel.
What is also interesting about this passage is that it is apparent that Saul cannot see the apparition; only the woman who is performing the ritual can. This is consistent with Mesopotamian necromantic rituals. Mesopotamian necromancer texts describe how a magic ointment must be smeared on the necromancer's face in order to allow them to see the spirit of the dead. "One must rub (ointment) on one's face and then one is able to look at the ghost and he will speak." Thus it would seem that necromancy had some semblance of congruence throughout Mesopotamia, including Israel, in regard to the methodology of bringing up the dead.
There is more evidence for this which involves a lot of tedious language analysis regarding the term 'lohim,' referring to what the woman sees coming up from the ground. Without going into the details, this could refer to the god or gods which fetch the spirit up from the netherworld, and not to the spirit of Samuel himself. This again would be consistent with other Ancient Near Eastern texts surrounding this subject.
Thus in a very short amount of time (much shorter than usual), we can come to our conclusions and answer the questions we put forth at the beginning of the post. Does necromancy occur in the Biblical text? Why, yes it does, as we have seen. Next question. Is necromancy condemned by God? Yes it is, but the reason behind this is in question (competition with prophecy, or simply abhorrent). Was necromancy used by God? The answer is 'yes'. It is apparent from 1 Samuel 28 that God used the practice of necromancy to deliver a message to Saul. Lastly, does the Bible reject the existence and power of the spirits of the dead. The answer is 'no'. Although in many places the Bible condemns the practice, it most certainly does not say that the ability to communicate with the dead does not exist, nor does it deny the existence of spirits. In fact, we saw an example of that very power being used with success in the Saul account.
So, do you believe in ghosts? If you believe in the Bible then your answer to this question must ultimately be 'yes'. This is an example of one of those uncomfortable aspects of the Bible that doesn't exactly mesh with most Christians' actual belief system. I was basically brought up to believe that there are no such thing as ghosts or spirits but only demons masquerading as such. For example, Ouija boards do not consult the dead, but consult demons who masquerade as the spirits of the dead. Although this may be true, the Bible would not necessarily say that these are demons, but that they may very well be spirits of the dead.
Of course, I'm not recommending that you go out and consult a medium to talk to your deceased ancestors, as this is obviously not condoned by the Bible. Rather, what I am suggesting is that possibly our ideas about the spirit world as we know it (such as the non-existence of ghosts and the ability to contact them) are not entirely supported by the Biblical text. There is so much that we can't possibly know about the after-life and the spirit world that one can't make blanket statements about these things (such as 'ghosts are just demons'). For example, I know some people find great comfort in the thought that a deceased loved one is still keeping an eye on them and helping to watch over them. I personally would never say that their deceased loved one is not still watching out for them, as I could never prove otherwise.
This is kind of a different subject, but being Halloween, I thought it appropriate. If you want your child to have a spooky costume that's biblical, dress him/her up as the ghost of Samuel rising up from the bowels of Sheol!
Happy Halloween!
No comments:
Post a Comment