Was it Samuel or Not?

Some have understood 1 Samuel 28 to be teaching an intermediate state as well as an afterlife. One theologian wrote concerning this passage,

“In the Old Testament account of King Saul wrongly appealing to the witch of Endor to call upon Samuel to come back from the afterlife, the medium was terrified when God actually sent Samuel. Interestingly, Samuel remembered what Saul had done before Samuel died, and he was aware of what had happened since he died. Though God could have briefed Samuel on all this, it seems likely the prophet knew simply because those in Heaven are aware of what happens on Earth.”[1]

Though Alcorn surely doesn’t speak for everybody, this is the common understanding of this passage by many. But to quote a Bible researcher,

“This account is even less helpful to dualists such as Cooper, despite his view that ‘Samuel’ is “the very person who was once alive” [quoting J. W. Cooper in Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting], for ‘Samuel’ is not described as a nephesh but as elohim by the witch. Saul is told he will die and join ‘Samuel’ the next day. ‘If that were true, it would mean that God’s prophets and apostate kings share the same living quarters after death.’ [quoting S. Bacchiocchi’s Immortality or Resurrection?] Saul convinced himself it was Samuel and the being appeared (to the witch only) as Samuel, but clearly “The dead Samuel may have been impersonated by a demon”, [quoting B. F. Atkins’s Life and Immortality] whence elohim (a godlike one). This text is certainly no proof of any afterlife, but eloquent testimony to the impersonation skills of demons.”[2]

The above conclusion isn’t that far-fetched once we understand that the woman was a “medium” denoted by the Hebrew “אוֹב” which meaning “is connected to the occult practice of necromancy or consulting the dead. It is used to signify a conjurer who professes to call up the dead by means of magic, especially to give revelation about future uncertainties.”^[3]

Given the spiritual and magical involvement these necromancers or mediums dealt with, is Alcorn’s conclusion that “God actually sent Samuel” viable?

---

[1] Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), p. 69. (emphasis and underlining mine)

[2] David Jakubovic, “Bible Truths on the Soul and Hell” in ‘Your Word is Truth’: Essays in Celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Aurora: Stoops Manufacturing, 2007 reprint), p. 175.

^[3] Warren Baker, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2003) S. 23