Biblical Women - The Woman of Endor

The Woman of Endor : 

The Woman of Endor 1 Samuel 28:3-25

Biblical Women : 

Biblical Women Like so many other women mentioned in the Bible, even though the play a vital role, we don’t know their name, just what they did. The Woman of Endor is such a case. She played a reluctant but compassionate part in the story of Israel’s first King, Saul. In 1 Samuel 28:3 we read of the death of Samuel, Saul’s most trusted advisor, and the fact that Saul had banished mediums and fortune-tellers from Israel.

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Israel was about to enter a battle with their Philistine neighbors but Saul was afraid when he saw the size of their army. What was he to do? In the past he had always turned to Samuel for advice but that was no longer possible. He prayed to the Lord and turned to the other prophets, but this time he didn’t get an answer.

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In desperation he sought the aid of a fortune-teller even though such action were forbidden by God and Saul, himself had banned them from his country. He disguised himself and went by night to enlist her aid. She a woman of the world, was concerned that her nighttime visitor was seeking to entrap her and she would then be killed for performing her illegal trade. When she recognized King Saul she accepted his offer but out of fear.

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The woman then conjures up Samuel but in reality fortune tellers don’t have the power to do such things. How was she able? Because God wanted Saul to have the vision and receive Samuel’s message. Samuel appears to her and she was so surprised that she began to scream. You see, she had never had such and experience in the past.

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When Saul understood that it Samuel he fell to the earth to give him homage. Saul then learns from Samuel that Samuel’s prophesy of the kingdom being taken from Saul and his family will happen tomorrow. The fortune teller now takes pity on Saul and offers him a meal.

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The next day Saul is wounded in battle and rather than be captured and killed by the Philistines he killed himself by falling on his sword. The Philistines would find his body, cut off his head and hang it on the temple of their god. His body would be nailed to a town’s wall as a trophy of their victory.

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Saul’s downfall was that he felt he didn’t need God because he could control his life on his own. In the end he was a terrified man who would die the next day and his heirs with him. The fortune teller had looked into the eyes of the most powerful man in Israel and seen his terror. We are left to assume that the woman went on with her forever changed life. She had become an instrument in God’s plan for Saul and Israel.

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