Medium of Endor

1 Samuel 28:7-25

  • 1 Samuel 28:7-14 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants said to him, “There is a medium at Endor.” So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes and went there, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night. And he said, “Consult a spirit for me, and bring up for me the one whom I name to you.” The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?” But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He answered, “Bring up Samuel for me.” When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” The king said to her, “Have no fear; what do you see?” The woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being[a] coming up out of the ground.” He said to her, “What is his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe.” So Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and did obeisance.

“The Sorceress of Endor” by D. Martynov, 1857. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. 

After the prophet Samuel dies, King Saul tries and fails to talk with God. Desperate to hear from the Lord before going to battle with the Philistines, King Saul disguises himself and seeks out a woman in Endor who can summon ghosts. 

At first, the woman refuses. She is wise to do so; King Saul has “cut off mediums and wizards from the land” (1 Sam 28:9). But the disguised Saul promises no harm will come to the woman. She summons Samuel’s ghost and realizes her patron is King Saul himself. Samuel’s ghost bears terrible news: God has turned away from Saul in favor of David. Saul and his sons will die in battle against the Philistines.

After Samuel’s ghost tells him he will die, King Saul falls, afraid and exhausted. The woman implores Saul to eat and prepares what will be his final meal. Though she tells Saul she’ll bring him “a morsel of bread,” she slaughters a fatted calf for him and bakes unleavened cakes (1 Sam 28:24).

Saul and his servants eat. Their strength is restored, and they leave. The ghost summoned by the woman is proven correct. Saul dies in battle. Scripture does not say what happens to the woman in Endor. 

  • The woman in this story is commonly known as the witch of Endor. But is she a witch?  In 1 Sam 28:7, she’s called an ov. The NRSVUE translates ov as “medium.” While we don’t know all the activities of an ov, we know from this story that one activity is communicating with the dead.

  • Samuel’s ghost is brought up from Sheol, the underworld that houses all of the dead, good and bad alike. 

  • Curiously, the woman prepares a feast for King Saul rather than a “morsel of bread” (1 Sam 28:22). “Why did she provide a meal for this man who deceived her? Perhaps she responded out of fear, cultural convention, royal protocol, genuine kindness, or as a means to an end to get the royal entourage to leave. Maybe this meal indicates a quality of forgiveness that overrides her anger at Saul’s deceit” (“The Woman at Endor” by  Allie McMurry and Lisa M. Wolfe).