Witch of Endor
In the Hebrew Bible, the Witch of Endor is a woman Saul consulted to summon the spirit of prophet Samuel in the 28th chapter of the First Book of Samuel in order to receive advice against the Philistines in battle after his prior attempts to consult God through sacred lots and prophets had failed. The witch is absent from the version of that event recounted in the deuterocanonical Book of Sirach.
Later Christian theology found trouble with this passage as it appeared to imply that the witch had summoned the spirit of Samuel and, therefore, necromancy and magic were possible.
Etymology
She is called in Biblical Hebrew אֵשֶׁת בַּעֲלַת־אֹוב בְּעֵין דֹּור, "a woman, possessor of an ’ōḇ at Endor". The word אֹ֖וב ’ōḇ has been suggested by Harry Hoffner to refer to a ritual pit for summoning the dead from the netherworld, based on parallels in other Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures. The word has cognates in other regional languages and the witch of Endor's ritual has parallels in Babylonian and Hittite magical texts as well as the Odyssey. Other suggestions for a definition of ’ōḇ include a familiar spirit, a talisman, wineskin, or a reference to ventriloquism based on the Septuagint translation.The witch also claims to see "elohim arising" from the ground, using the word typically translated as "god" to refer to the spirits of the dead. This is also paralleled by the use of the Akkadian cognate word ilu "god" in a similar fashion.
In the Greek Septuagint, she is called ἐγγαστρίμυθος ἐν Αενδωρ engastrímythos en Aendōr, while the Latin Vulgate as pythonem in Aendor, both terms referencing then-contemporary pagan oracles.
Story
When Samuel dies, he is buried in Ramah. Saul, the current King of Israel, seeks wisdom from God in choosing a course of action against the assembled forces of the Philistines. He receives no answer from dreams, prophets, or the Urim and Thummim. Having driven out all necromancers and magicians from Israel, Saul searches for a witch anonymously and in disguise. His search leads him to a woman of Endor, who claims that she can see the ghost of Samuel rising from the abode of the dead.The voice of the prophet's ghost at first frightens the witch of Endor, and after complaining of being disturbed, berates Saul for disobeying God, and predicts Saul's downfall. The spirit reiterates a pre-mortem prophecy by Samuel, adding that Saul will perish with his whole army in battle the next day. Saul is terrified. The next day, his army is defeated as prophesied, Saul is fatally wounded by the Philistines, and in two different tellings of the event, commits suicide by using his own sword, or asks a youth to strike him down.
Although Saul is depicted as an enemy to witches and diviners, the Witch of Endor comforts Saul when she sees his distress and insists on feeding him before he leaves.
Since this passage states the witch made a loud cry in fear when she saw Samuel's spirit, some interpretreters reject the suggestion that the witch was responsible for summoning Samuel's spirit, instead, this was the work of God. Joyce Baldwin writes that "The Incident does not tell us anything about the veracity of claims to consult the dead on the part of mediums, because the Indications are that this was an extraordinary event for her, and a frightening one because she was not in control."
In the German language-translation by Martin Luther, which is based on Hebrew and Greek texts, a different interpretation is given. It is implied that the woman screams because she realizes that she is talking to the king who recently outlawed all forms of wizardry, but not because she is startled by a spirit .
Interpretations
Judaism
The Yalkut Shimoni identifies the anonymous witch as the mother of Abner. Based upon the witch's claim to have seen something, and Saul having heard a disembodied voice, the Yalkut suggests that necromancers are able to see the spirits of the dead but are unable to hear their speech, while the person for whom the deceased was summoned hears the voice but fails to see anything.Antoine Augustin Calmet briefly mentioned the witch of Endor in his Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, &c. :
Christianity
The Church Fathers and some modern Christian writers have debated the theological issues raised by this text. The story of King Saul and the Witch of Endor would appear at first sight to affirm that it is possible for humans to summon the spirits of the dead by magic.In the Septuagint the woman is described as a "ventriloquist", possibly reflecting the consistent view of the Alexandrian translators concerning "demons... which exist not". However, Josephus appears to find the story completely credible.
King James wrote in his philosophical treatise Daemonologie arguing against the ventriloquist theory, stating that the Devil is permitted at times to put himself in the likeness of the Saints, citing 2 Corinthians 11:14 that Satan can transform himself into an Angel of light. James describes the witch of Endor as "Saul's Pythonese", likening her to Pythia from the Greek mythology of Python and the Oracle. It was the belief of James that the witch of Endor was an avid practitioner of necromancy:
Other medieval glosses to the Bible also suggested that what the witch summoned was not the ghost of Samuel, but a demon taking his shape or an illusion crafted by the witch. Martin Luther, who believed that the dead were unconscious, read that it was "the Devil's ghost", whereas John Calvin read that "it was not the real Samuel, but a spectre."
Spiritualism
have taken the story as evidence of spirit mediumship in ancient times. The story has been cited in debates between Spiritualist apologists and Christian critics. "The woman of Endor was a medium, respectable, honest, law-abiding, and far more Christ-like than" Christian critics of Spiritualism, asserted one Chicago Spiritualist paper in 1875.Calmet states,
Cultural references
- The witch appears as a character in oratorios by Charpentier, In Guilty Night: Saul and the Witch of Endor by Henry Purcell, Saul by George Frideric Handel on the death of Saul, and Le Roi David, in dance music and operas by the afore-mentioned Charpentier and Saul og David.
- A year after the death of his son at Loos, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem called "", about supposed communication with the dead. It concludes,
- The Martha Graham Dance Company premiered The Witch of Endor in 1965 at the 54th Street Theater in New York. A one-act work, it had choreography and costumes by Martha Graham, music by William Schuman, sets by Ming Cho Lee, and lighting by Jean Rosenthal.
- In Endor by Shaul Tchernichovsky, describing King Saul's encounter with the Witch of Endor, is considered a major work of modern Hebrew poetry. Tchernichovsky particularly identified with the character of Saul, perhaps due to his own name, and the poem expresses considerable empathy to this King's tragic fate.
- An episode in the 1932 radio program NBC Mystery Serial written by Carlton E. Morse was called The Witch of Endor, and included a character who said she was a witch; the story was set in "a sparsely populated residential district in the suburbs of San Francisco called Endor Park".
- A ship named the Witch of Endor was also featured in the Horatio Hornblower book "Flying Colours". The cutter, with an armament of 10 guns, was used by Hornblower to escape from France after he was captured.
- The Witch of Endor is a ship in Babylon's Ashes, the sixth book of The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey. She is destroyed early in book six on the orders of Marco Inaros, chief antagonist of the books five and six for mutiny.
- Endora from the hit TV series Bewitched was named after the Witch of Endor to appease Christians who may otherwise have been critical of the program's occult themes.
- Massachusetts playwright Jon Lipsky's 1978 play Beginner's Luck is based on King Saul's encounter with the Witch of Endor in the Bible.
- "Witch of Endor" is the first track on the self-titled 2012 debut album of American occult rock band Bloody Hammers.
- The Witch of Endor is a modern day character in Michael Scott's novel, "The Alchemist: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel." In it, she is described as "not just a witch. She is the original Witch."
- “Lover, Leaver ”, featured as the fifth track on the modern rock band Greta Van Fleet’s 2018 debut album Anthem of the Peaceful Army, references the Biblical tale of the Witch of Endor.
Dramatic representations
- The Witch of Endor was portrayed by Israeli actor Dov Reiser in the 1976 American television film The Story of David.
- The Witch of Endor was portrayed by Belgian actress Lyne Renée in the 2016 American television series Of Kings and Prophets.