This Sunday’s sermon will be on the medium of En-dor so I wrote down a few thoughts about this upcoming sermon. This story is not familiar to most people. Even people who are familiar with it probably have many questions about it. I don’t have time to answer every question. However, if you read the passage you might have questions such as:

• What is a medium or a necromancer?

• Was Samuel in purgatory before he appeared to Saul?

• What is En-dor and is it connected to the Star Wars movie The Battle of Endor? 

• Why doesn’t God answer Saul’s prayer?

I will try and answer these questions one by one.

First, what is a medium or necromancer? A medium or necromancer is basically the same thing: someone who claims to consult with the dead in order to know the future. We even see this in the New Testament. For example, in Acts 16:16-18 it says, “As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling.” Again, in Mark 1:23-25 and 34 there are demons with special knowledge who speak through human beings. Scripture acknowledges that such things exist but strongly condemns their practice. It is a reminder of the supernatural worldview of the Bible. The good news is that Jesus Christ has been exalted above every spirit and authority at his resurrection. A Christian can rest in the Christ’s victory over all these things.

Was Samuel in purgatory before he appeared to Saul? Traditionally, purgatory was thought to be a place where Christians are slowly sanctified through suffering to make them ready for heaven. There is not enough evidence in Scripture to support this belief and there is really no reason to believe it. Some have thought that Old Testament believers go to a kind of “soul-sleep” awaiting Christ’s coming. However, there really isn’t enough Biblical evidence for this either. When Samuel says to Saul “you and your sons will be with me” he probably means “the realm of the dead.” The realm of the dead or Sheol in the Old Testament meant the place that all people go from which there is no return. It does not mean punishment or judgment. It does not mean the quality of life after death, but simply no longer among the living as we know it. Why did God call Samuel back to the earth? All we know is that God had a mission for Him to come up from the grave and continue His mission of proclaiming the Word of God. This ought to remind us of our savior who came up from the grave to proclaim that the true Son of David was reigning!

So what is En-dor? En-dor was (and still is) a small town 7 miles southeast of Nazareth. It does not have major significance in Scripture. The only important thing here is that Saul would have had to travel several miles in order to get there. On a less serious note, the Star Wars movie The Battle for Endor does include the appearance of a witch and seems to be very loosely connected to the story in 1 Samuel.

Why doesn’t God answer Saul’s prayer? God promises to answer prayers made in faith. God actually loves it when we remind Him that we are trusting Him in our prayers and not just desperately asking for the first thing that comes to mind. Saul was not praying in faith at this point and so God did not hear him. Moreover, God had already answered Saul’s question about the Philistines. However, Saul rejected God and God’s answer.