think hard, think well

Our family is working through the book of Samuel in our morning devotions. Even having studied this book extensively–taught OT Narrative Lit several times, and written two books and several articles that touch on the subject–I’m struck once again by how intricate and nuanced the stories are. I have other topics I’m writing on at the moment, but I hope to come back and write an article on the laws (economic, ritual purity, vows, etc.) that are presumed behind the book of Samuel.

For yesterday’s reading, we looked at 1 Samuel 28, in which Saul consults the medium at En-dor (not this Endor) in advance of his battle with the Philistines, which turns out to be his downfall. There are many interesting aspects to this passage.

I had a student last year who wrote a paper on 1 Samuel 28 in South Asian context. It was a very interesting paper, informed by his Christian community’s encounters with spiritualists and mediums. One of the things that we discovered as he was doing his research, as that historic Christian interpreters have been divided on the question of what exactly the medium (and possibly Saul) actually witnessed when she conjured Samuel’s elohim.