Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

Dear Uri,

Your question is a good one, and I will give some comments below.

While people have tended to create gods in their own image, with 
characteristics typically human, and then include these gods in their 
Holy Writ (e.g. Gilgamesh and Atrahasis), I see a difference in 
connection with the Tanakh. YHWH is described as being very different 
from other gods. From the point of view of archaeology, there can be no 
doubt that the people among whom the writers of the different parts of 
the Tanakh lived (Israel/Judah), often adopted the customs and beliefs 
of the nations around them. This is also shown in the Tanakh itself.  
For example, the laws in Deuteronomy 18:10-13 against divination, magic, 
spirit mediums, and inquiring about the dead implies that such practices 
were extant around Israel, but should not occur there.

Regarding the view of the dead, I am not aware of any passage in the 
Tanakh which suggests that dead persons have an existence as shadows or 
something similar. Then what about the account in 1 Samuel chapter 28? I 
see two possibilities, 1) the passage implies that dead persons are 
alive and can come back to the living world, and 2) the passage portrays 
a spiritistic séance where things are not real.

I opt for the second possibility, something that would bring this 
passage in line with the view of the dead in the rest of the Tanakh. I 
think we better can understand this account in the light of the account 
in Matthew 17:1-9 in the New Testament.  In this account Moses and 
Elijah were present and spoke with Jesus, so it would be natural to take 
this account as evidence for the view that the dead are living. However, 
in v. 9 we learn that this was a vision (hORAMA) - it was not the real 
Moses and Elijah who had returned from their graves and were present.

In 1 Samuel 28:7 the woman is called B(LT )WB (=spirit medium), and this 
suggests that what happened was a spiritistic séance. In vv. 11-14 we 
learn that Saul did not see the dead Samuel, but the woman did. And 
because of her description Saul understood that it was Samuel. In v. 15 
Samuel speaks to Saul, and this *could* indicate that it was the real 
Samuel. However, since the situation clearly is a spiritistic séance and 
Saul did not see Samuel, the words simply tell us that the man that the 
woman saw, and whom Saul identified as Samuel, spoke. And the words 
would evidently come through the medium.  Moses and Elijah spoke to 
Jesus as well in Matthew, chapter 17, without doing so in a real way.

My conclusion, therefore, is that 1 Samuel, chapter 28 tells us what can 
happen at a spiritistic séance, but it tells us nothing about the 
condition of the dead.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli

University of Oslo



Uri Hurwitz wrote:

>  Dear Rolf,
>   
>    You wrote, inter alia:
>   
>   
>    
> ---------------------------------
>    
>  ....."In Hebrew thought the NP$ dies and and go down to $)WL, to the grave, 
>  
> where there is no life. So any "afterlife" in the sense that man
>  
> continues to live after the body dies, is not found in the Tanakh 
>  
> (including Daniel)."....
>   
>    How do you interpret the bringing forth of the dead Samuel through the witch of Ein
>   Dor in I Samuel 28? Here it appears that lady managed to raise the late 
> prophet both
>   in body and in mind.
>   
>     While this is rather rare in the HB, it seems to indicate belief in survival in the after-
>   life.
>   
>     Best,
>   
>     Uri
>  
>
>
>
>                 
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