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The Witch of Endor (), according to the Hebrew Bible, was consulted by Saul to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel. Saul wished to receive advice on defeating the Philistines in battle after prior attempts to consult God through Cleromancy and other means had failed. However, what was summoned (whether the actual ghost of Samuel or a spirit impersonating him) delivered a prophecy of doom against Saul and his army, who were defeated. This event occurs in 1 Samuel 28:3–25 and is also mentioned in the deuterocanonical Book of Sirach.
Other suggestions for a definition of ov include a Familiar, a talisman, or a wineskin, in reference to ventriloquism.
In the Septuagint, she is called the engastrímuthos ("belly-talker", an Ancient Greek term for a spirit medium) of Aendōr (). The Latin Vulgate has Pythia in Aendor, both terms referencing then-contemporary pagan .
The medium says that she sees "elohim arising" from the ground, using the word typically translated as "god(s)" to refer to the spirit of the dead. This is also paralleled by the use of the Akkadian cognate word ilu "god" in a similar fashion.
The woman then summons a spirit, and when it appears, she works out who Saul is and screams, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!" Saul assures her again that no harm will come to her, then asks what she sees. She says she sees " elohim rising" (plural noun and verb). Then, Saul asks what "he" (singular) looks like, and she describes an old man wrapped in a robe. Saul bows down to the spirit despite being unable to see it himself.
The spirit complains of being disturbed, berates Saul for disobeying God, and predicts Saul's downfall. The living Samuel had previously said Saul would have his kingship removed, but this spirit adds Israel's army will be defeated, and Saul and his sons will be "with me" tomorrow. Saul collapses in terror; the woman comforts him and prepares him a meal of a fatted calf to restore his strength.
The following day, the Israelite army is defeated as prophesied: Saul is wounded by the Philistines and commits suicide by falling on his sword. Later, a young hoping to impress David will falsely claim he delivered the death blow, and David will execute him. In 1 Chronicles, it is stated Saul's death was partly punishment for seeking advice from a medium rather than from God.
The Yalkut Shimoni (11th century) identifies the anonymous witch as the mother of Abner.Yalḳ, Sam. 140, from Pirḳe R. El. Based upon the witch's claim to have seen something, and Saul having heard a disembodied voice, the Yalkut suggests that necromancers can see the spirits of the dead but are unable to hear their speech, while the person for whom the deceased was summoned hears the voice but fails to see anything.
According to Antoine Augustin Calmet, writing in the 18th century: (2025). 9781533145680, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781533145680
King James, in his philosophical treatise Daemonologie (1597), rejected the theory that the witch was performing an act of ventriloquism, but also denied that she had truly summoned the spirit of Samuel. He wrote that the Devil is permitted at times to take on the likeness of the saints, citing 2 Corinthians 11:14, which says that "Satan can transform himself into an Angel of light". James describes the witch of Endor as "Saul's Pythonese", likening her to the ancient Greek oracle Pythia. He asserts the reality of witchcraft, arguing that if such things were not possible, they would not be prohibited in Scripture:
Other medieval glosses to the Bible also suggested that what the witch summoned was not the ghost of Samuel, but a demon taking his shape or an illusion crafted by the witch. Martin Luther, who believed that the dead were unconscious, read that it was "the Devil's ghost", whereas John Calvin read that "it was not the real Samuel, but a spectre."
Antoine Augustin Calmet briefly mentions the witch of Endor in his Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, &c. (1759), among other scriptural proofs of "the reality of magic." He acknowledges that this interpretation is disputed and says that he will deduce nothing from the passage "except that this woman passed for a witch, and that Saul esteemed her such."
Since this passage states the witch made a loud cry in fear when she saw Samuel's spirit, some interpreters reject the suggestion that the witch was responsible for summoning Samuel's spirit, claiming instead it was the work of God. Joyce Baldwin (1989) writes that:
Grenville Kent summarises the two main historical interpretations: one, that Samuel really appeared, either bodily or in resurrected form; and two, that Samuel was impersonated by a demon in order to destroy Saul. He argues that the latter view matches the text.
The witch also appears in Mors Saulis et Jonathae by Charpentier (c. 1682), Saul by George Frideric Handel (1738), Die Könige in Israel by Ferdinand Ries (1837), and Le Roi David by Arthur Honegger (1921). Notable operas featuring the character include David et Jonathas by Charpentier (1688) and Saul og David by Carl Nielsen (1902). In 1965, the Martha Graham Dance Company premiered The Witch of Endor, a one act ballet with music by William Schuman; this was subsequently reworked into a short piece by American composer Moondog (Louis Hardin) for his 1969 self-titled album.
Poetic works retelling the story include Confessio Amantis, the 14th Century poem by John Gower in Book 4 Sloth (line 1935);
"" by Lord Byron, published in his 1815 collection Hebrew Melodies, and "In Endor" by Shaul Tchernichovsky (1893), a major work of modern Hebrew poetry which paints Saul as a sympathetic figure. Rudyard Kipling, a year after the death of his son at the Battle of Loos, wrote a poem called "", using the story to criticise contemporary mediums.
In literature another early example appears in Geoffrey Chaucer Canterbury Tales as part of the Friar's Tale. This was believed to be written around 1390, and has the line "...and speke as renably and faire and wel, as to the Phitonissa dide Samuel." This uses the term now rendered as pythoness, for a female soothsayer.
In theatre, the witch of Endor figures in Laurence Housman's 1944 play Samuel the Kingmaker, and has a central role in Howard Nemerov's 1961 play Endor. The character has been portrayed cinematically by Israeli actor Dov Reiser in the 1976 television film The Story of David, and by Belgian actress Lyne Renée in the 2016 series Of Kings and Prophets.
The character of Endora, the mother of the heroine Samantha on the television show Bewitched, may be named for the Witch of Endor.
The Witch of Endor is a name occasionally given to ships, both real and in fiction, such as in the Horatio Hornblower novels and the Sci Fi series The Expanse.
In music, the Witch of Endor is mentioned in the last verse of the song "Lover, Leaver" by Greta Van Fleet.
The Witch of Endor is also a plot point in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott.
the incident does not tell us anything about the veracity of claims to consult the dead on the part of mediums, because the indications of are that this was an extraordinary event for her, and a frightening one, because she was not in control.
Spiritualism
Spiritualists have taken the story as evidence of spirit mediumship in ancient times. The story has been cited in debates between Spiritualist apologists and Christian critics. "The woman of Endor was a medium, respectable, honest, law-abiding, and far more Christ-like than Christian critics of Spiritualism," asserted one Chicago Spiritualist paper in 1875.
Cultural references
The story of Saul's consultation with the witch of Endor has frequently been set to music, with many works expanding on the character of the witch. One early example is In guiltie night, an oratorio written by Robert Ramsey in the 1630s, which formed the basis of a better-known work of the same title by Henry Purcell in 1691.
(1990). 9780852295113 ISBN 9780852295113
Further reading
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