You Asked: How Do You Explain the Witch of Endor?

Editors' Note: Send your theological, biblical, and practical ministry questions to ask@thegospelcoalition.org along with your full name, city, and state. We'll pass them along to The Gospel Coalition's Council members and other friends for an answer we can share.

Stephen T. from Rochester, New York, asks:

1 Samuel 28, on the witch from Endor, raises a number of questions. What do you do with this text?

1. Is the spirit the witch summons actually Samuel? Or a demon acting like Samuel (1 Sam. 28:14-15)?
2. Where is Samuel coming from---especially since he says Saul and his sons "shall be with me" (1 Sam. 28:19)?
3. The Bible paints very different pictures of Samuel, Saul, and Jonathan. Yet Samuel seems to say they will all be in the same place (Sheol?). Should we assume anything about Saul's salvation from this? (1 Sam. 28:19)

We posed this question to Dale Ralph Davis, former pastor of Woodland Presbyterian Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson. He is the author of many helpful books, including an expository study of Judges, 1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart, and The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts.  Continue at Dale Ralph Davis