Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

On Friday 07 February 2003 11:51, Charles David Isbell wrote:
> Let me try one more time.  Dave, I don't want to "get around" what the text
> says.  The text I read tells me that an illegal person practicing an banned
> profession had no clue that the giant standing in front of her could only
> be Saul, which surely makes one wonder how psychic she truly was, non? 

The text says Saul disguised himself.  There's no reason not to conclude that 
he disguised his height, as well.  It's easy enough to do simply by walking 
funny.  I've done it myself.

> When she was persuaded to ply her trade despite her illegal status, 28.12
> tells us that the woman cried out with a loud voice. What is it that
> terrifies her?  It might be the vision of Samuel, but linguistically it is
> just as possible, and I believe more contextually plausible, that she is
> frightened to realize that she has just plied her trade in the presence of
> the very king who had proscribed her entire profession.  

Linguistically, I have to disagree.  It's a simple waw-consecutive chain: she 
saw Samuel.  She cried out with a loud voice.  It is only then that she turns 
on Saul, and there is no linguistic indicator in the text to suggest that his 
identity was the reason she was scared out of her wits.

See on this point,
> Alter's short discussion in THE DAVID STORY, where he suggests that she
> knows her visitor is Saul because, "it is only for the king that the
> prophet Samuel would have thus risen from the underworld in full-body
> image" (p. 174). Either way, it doesn't matter to the next point, which is
> that after 28.12 says she saw Samuel, Saul asks her what she sees, and her
> answer is "I have seen elohim coming up from the earth" (28.13).  The old
> KJV may have been the most honest of all in rendering elohim here as
> "gods."  Modern translators dance around a bit, as a quick check will show
> anyone
> interested.  But the Hebrew text has the plural form (olim as the verb of
> elohim!

As the Psalms show, Elohim can mean several different things.  Keil & 
Delitzsch suggest "celestial being," i.e. something beyond an ordinary 
corporeal human.  In any event, her use of Elohim should make it clear that 
she is not claiming she saw nothing more than a reincarnation of Samuel in 
his regular old body.

-- 
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur