The Woman of Endor: a story of a witch used by God to deliver an important message

The Woman of Endor or the Witch of Endor is an unusual character in Saul’s story. Her story is brief in 1 Samuel 28. She is immersed in the occult with a reputation of being able to conjure spirits and yet she was kind a motherly. She was a character of compassion and sorrow. She showed King Saul compassion on the eve of his death after her great sorrow of being the one to help deliver a hopeless message to the king. While her role is brief, God used her to deliver a final message to the king. What is her story? Why was it a big deal that Saul sought her out? Why would God allow a witch to deliver his message? 

In the dead of night, a man comes to a woman, begging her to summon a spirit. The woman senses a trap as the king had banished all mediums and outlawed witchcraft. He wants her to summon the spirit of Samuel. It is then she realizes the man in front of her is King Saul. She protests but he insists, assuring her that no harm will come to her for doing as he asked. When Samuel’s spirit appears, she is filled with terror. Saul falls to his face on the floor as Samuel delivers his message. He will die in battle and his sons will die as well. After Samuel’s spirit leaves, the woman feeds Saul. It would become his last meal as Samuel’s message comes true the next day. Saul would fall on his sword and by the end of the day, his sons would be dead as well.

Many ancient peoples, as well as many people today, felt as though they were living in close contact with the spirit world. They relied on divination and fortune telling to communicate with the dead for guidance and knowledge. Right from the start, God told his people to avoid witchcraft in any and all forms. Leviticus 19:31 is clear and firm, “Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.” The story of Saul and the woman of Endor reminds us that there is nothing new to human behavior. We all experience the same desires, temptations and needs. People try to find the answers they desperately want and not necessarily the ones they need to hear. Saul was desperate. He knew the silence from God could only mean one thing but he was willing to break his own decrees to receive a message from God. 

Endor was the land of the Manasseh tribe. A large city on the side of a hill, it became a harbor for refugees who had fallen out of favor with Israel (Bolinger, 2020). The Bible doesn’t specify if the woman truly conjured Samuel. There are many who believe it was a demon and not the spirit of Samuel. Why would God allow the woman to conjure Samuel, when he strictly forbade it? The Bible is not clear as to God’s reasons.  I personally believe God allowed the spirit of Samuel to come forward in order to give Saul his final message, a reason behind his silence. A message, I think, Saul already knew deep in his heart. Saul’s interaction with the woman of Endor could be seen as a story of irony. “He, the destroyer of the necromancers, forsaken by Yhweh himself, repairs to the witch’s house” (Hirsch, no date). 

In conclusion, the heart of the story of Saul and the woman of Endor is fear. Saul was filled with fear that he had been forsaken by God and in one last desperate act, he sought out a medium, despite God’s instructions and his own decrees. Through God’s final message, Saul learns that he had forsaken God first. The woman of Endor was also afraid for her life. If she was caught performing witchcraft, it would mean her life. But Saul was desperate that he would break his own rules. Fear is a very natural, human emotion. It is what we do with our fear that matters. Do we let fear lead us to disobedience like Saul? Or do we focus on our faith in God to overcome our fears? 

References

Bolinger, Hope (October 9, 2020). Who was the Witch of Endor? Christianity. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/who-was-the-witch-of-endor.html. Retrieved September 9, 2021. 

Hirsch, Emil G (no date). Endor, The Witch of. Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5755-endor-the-witch-of. Retrieved September 9, 2021.