Homilies on 1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms) — Homily 2: On the Witch of Endor
This is the one complete Greek homily on 1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) that survives — an exposition of 1 Samuel 28:3–25, the story of Saul and the medium of En-dor. Against certain brethren who deny it, Origen argues at length that the real Samuel was truly raised and that, like all the prophets before Christ, he had descended into Hades to foretell Christ's coming and to build up the souls waiting there. The source is E. Klostermann, GCS 6 (Origenes Werke III, 1901). One key rendering to note: the Greek word ἐγγαστρίμυθος (the medium; rendered "belly-myther" in FOTC 97) is here rendered "witch of Endor." Released into the public domain.Of Origen, on the First Book of Kingdoms.
[§1] The passages that were read out are many, and since one must speak by way of abridgement, there are four passages. There was read the sequel to the matters concerning Nabal the Carmelite. Then after this the narrative concerning David's being hidden among the Ziphites and being slandered by them, and how Saul came wishing to take David and, having come, watched for an opportunity; and how David came upon Saul and took, while Saul slept and those guarding him slept, "the spear and the jar of water," and after this brought a rebuke against those who had been entrusted with guarding him but had fallen asleep. Then next was the third narrative, that David fled "to [Achish son of] Ammach king of Gath," and how much favor David found with him after his many deeds of valor — to whom Achish says, "I will make you chief of my bodyguard." Next to these was the notorious narrative concerning the witch of Endor and concerning Samuel, that the witch of Endor seemed to have brought up Samuel, and Samuel prophesies to Saul. There being four passages, each of which has not a few matters in it — matters able to occupy those capable of examining them not for the hours of one service only but of several — let the bishop propose whichever of the four he wishes, that we may occupy ourselves with it. "Let the matters concerning the witch of Endor," he says, "be examined."[§2] Some narratives do not touch us, but some are necessary for our hope. I have spoken of "narratives" in this way, since we have not yet arrived at the matters of the spiritual interpretation — matters useful to everyone who knows how to interpret spiritually or to hear things being so interpreted. [Of the things of the narrative, then, some are useful] to all, but some not to all. For instance, by way of example: the narrative concerning Lot and his daughters — whether it has anything useful according to the spiritual interpretation, God knows, and he to whom God grants to examine those words; but if [you take it] according to the narrative, you might well inquire: for what benefit is there to me from the narrative concerning Lot and his daughters? Likewise, what benefit to me is the narrative of Judah and Tamar and the things concerning her, if it is told simply [as history]? Since, however, the narrative concerning Saul and the witch of Endor touches everyone, it is a necessary truth according to reason. For who, when released from this life, wishes to be under the authority of a demon, so that a witch of Endor might bring up — not just any random one of the believers, but Samuel the prophet? Concerning Samuel God says through Jeremiah: "Not even if Moses and Samuel stood before my face, not even to these would I hearken"; concerning him the prophet says in the hymns: "Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he hearkened to them; in a pillar of cloud he spoke to them"; and elsewhere: "If Moses and Samuel stand and pray," and so forth. If, then, so great a man [was] under the earth and the witch of Endor brought him up, does a demon have authority over a prophetic soul? What shall we say? These things are written: are they true, or are they not true? To say that they are not true urges toward unbelief (it will come down upon the heads of those who say it); but to say they are true furnishes us with inquiry and perplexity.
[§3] And indeed we know some of our own brethren who have looked askance at the Scripture and say: I do not believe the witch of Endor. The witch of Endor says she saw Samuel — she lies. Samuel was not brought up; Samuel does not speak. But just as there are certain false prophets who say, "Thus says the Lord," when "the Lord has not spoken," so also this demon lies, promising to bring up the one whom Saul commanded. For "whom shall I bring up?" it says; "Bring me up Samuel." [And] these things are said by those who assert that this narrative is not true: Samuel in Hades? Samuel brought up by a witch of Endor — the choice one of the prophets, the one dedicated to God from his birth, the one said before his birth that he would be in the temple, the one who, as soon as he was weaned, put on an ephod and was clothed with a double cloak and became a priest of the Lord, the one to whom, while he was still a child, the Lord gave oracles, speaking to him? Samuel in Hades? Samuel among those below — he who succeeded Eli when Eli was condemned by Providence on account of his children's sins and transgressions? Samuel in Hades — he whom God heard in the time of the wheat harvest, and gave rain to come from heaven? Samuel in Hades — he who spoke so boldly, [asking] whether he had taken the desired possession of anyone? He took not the calf, he took not the ox; he judged and condemned the people while remaining poor; never did he desire to take anything from so great and so numerous a people. Why should Samuel be in Hades? Do you see what follows for Samuel [being] in Hades? Samuel in Hades? Why not also Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in Hades? Samuel in Hades? Why not also Moses, who is yoked with Samuel according to what is said: "Not even if Moses and Samuel stand, not even to those would I hearken"? Samuel in Hades? Why not also Jeremiah in Hades, to whom it is said: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you"? In Hades also Isaiah, in Hades also Jeremiah, in Hades all the prophets, in Hades.
[§4] These things, then, he will say who does not wish to accept the contest — [namely, the one who denies] that it is truly Samuel who was brought up. But since one must be fair-minded in listening to the Scriptures, now that the [objector's] argument has plausibly thundered against us and is truly able to trouble and shake us, let us see whether the Scripture has ever been rightly understood by the one who does not accept this, or whether he sets out from plausible premises but says things contrary to what is written. For what are the things written? "And the woman said: Whom shall I bring up to you?" Whose is the voice that says, "the woman said"? Is it the person of the Holy Spirit, from whom the Scripture is believed to have been written, or the person of some other? For the narrative voice everywhere (as those who have busied themselves with all sorts of discourses know) is the person of the writer; and the writer of these words is believed to be not a human being — the writer is the Holy Spirit who moved the human beings. Therefore it is the Holy Spirit who says: "And the woman said: Whom shall I bring up to you? And he said: Bring me up Samuel." Who is it that says, "And the woman saw Samuel, and the woman cried out with a loud voice, saying"? We will say to that one who has thundered so much against us and said countless things — that Samuel was not in Hades: "the woman saw Samuel" — the narrative voice said this — "and the woman cried out with a loud voice and said to Saul: Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul. And the king said to her: What is it? Do not fear. What have you seen? And the woman said to Saul: I saw gods coming up out of the earth. And he said to her: What is their form? And she said to him: An aged man coming up, and he is clothed with a double cloak, an ephod." It says that she saw also the priestly garment. But I know that the one on the opposing side of the argument says: "No wonder; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. It is no great thing, then, if his servants too are transformed as servants of righteousness." But what is it that "the woman saw"? "Samuel." And why is it not said: the woman saw a demon that pretended to be Samuel? But it is written that "Saul knew that it was Samuel." [If it had not been Samuel, it ought to have been written: and Saul thought that it was Samuel; but as it is, it is written: "Saul knew" — and no one knows that which does not exist; therefore "Saul knew that it was Samuel."] "And he fell upon his face to the ground and did obeisance." Then again the voice of the Scripture: "And Samuel said to Saul: Why have you provoked me by bringing me up?" "Said" (says the Scripture, which one must believe) — "Samuel said: Why have you provoked me by bringing me up?" Then to this Saul answers: "The foreigners war mightily against me, and God has departed from me and has answered me no more, neither by the hand of the prophets nor in dreams; I called for you to show me what I should do." Again the Scripture did not speak otherwise, but [says] that Samuel himself said: "And why have you questioned me? For the Lord has departed from you." Does he speak truly or falsely when he says: "The Lord has departed from you and has become [an adversary] against you and has made for himself another, in the manner that he spoke by my hand, and he will rend the kingdom from your hand" — and [is it really] a demon [that] prophesies concerning the kingdom of Israel? What does the opposing argument say? See how great a contest there is in the word of God, needing also hearers able to hear holy words, great and ineffable, concerning the departure [from this life] — while the former matters are still perplexing and the latter are not yet clear.
[§5] But the argument is still under examination. And I say that both the narrative and the examination concerning it are necessary, so that we may see what awaits us after our departure. "He has spoken by my hand, and the Lord will rend the kingdom from your hand and give it to your neighbor, to David." But a demon cannot know the kingdom of David that was appointed by the Lord. "Because you did not hearken to the voice of the Lord, you did not execute the anger of his wrath upon Amalek." Are these not the words of God? Are they not true? For truly Saul did not do the will of the Lord, but "preserved the king of Amalek alive," for which also, before his death and at his departure, Samuel reproached Saul: "And on account of this word the Lord has done this to you on this day; and the Lord will give Israel also into the hand of the foreigners." Can a demon prophesy about the whole people of God — that the Lord is about to hand over Israel? "The Lord will also hand over the camp of Israel into the hand of the foreigners. But hasten, Saul: tomorrow both you and your sons [shall be] with me." And can a demon know this — concerning a king anointed together with a prophet — that tomorrow Saul was about to depart from life, and his sons with him? "Tomorrow you and your sons [shall be] with me."
[§6] These things, then, [show] that the things written are not false, and that it is Samuel who has come up. What, then, does a witch of Endor do here? What does a witch of Endor do concerning the bringing up of the soul of the righteous man? That man fled, the one who spoke the first argument (so that he might not seem to have a contest over the many other things sought regarding the passage), and says: It is not Samuel; the demon lies, since the Scripture cannot lie. But the words of the Scripture are not from the person of the demon, but from the person of the Scripture itself: "And the woman saw Samuel," "Saul said" . . . . . . the things spoken by Samuel. How, then, will the matters concerning the witch of Endor appear, once the things regarding the passage are resolved? I inquire of the one who spoke the former things (Samuel in Hades? and the rest), and let him answer to what is asked: Who is greater, Samuel or Jesus Christ? Who is greater, the prophets or Jesus Christ? Who is greater, Abraham or Jesus Christ? Here no one of those who have once come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, proclaimed beforehand by the prophets, will dare to say that Christ is not greater than the prophets. When, then, you have confessed that Jesus Christ is greater — was Christ in Hades, or did he not come to be there? Is not the saying in the Psalms true, interpreted by the apostles in their Acts concerning the Savior's having descended into Hades? It is written that there is borne upon him the saying in the fifteenth Psalm: "For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption." Then [is] Jesus Christ in Hades, but you fear to say that yes, even there he descends to prophesy and to come to the other souls? Then after this, if he answers that Christ has descended into Hades, I will say: Christ has descended into Hades to do what? To conquer, or to be conquered by death? And he has gone down into those regions not as a slave of those there, but as a master, to wrestle — as we said earlier when expounding the twenty-first Psalm: "Many calves surrounded me, fat bulls encircled me; they opened their mouth upon me, as a ravening and roaring lion. My bones were scattered." We remember, if indeed we remember the sacred writings; for I remember them being said with reference to the twenty-first Psalm. Therefore the Savior descended to save; did he descend there proclaimed beforehand by the prophets, or not? Was he here proclaimed beforehand by the prophets, but elsewhere descends not through prophets? Moses too proclaims him as about to sojourn among the race of human beings, so that it is well said by our Lord and Savior: "If you had believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote concerning me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" And Christ has sojourned in this life, and Christ is proclaimed beforehand as sojourning in this life. But if Moses prophesies him here, do you not wish that he had also descended there, to prophesy that Christ would come? What then? Moses [yes], but the prophets after him not? And Samuel not? What is absurd about physicians going down to those who are sick? And what is absurd about the chief physician also going down to those who are sick? Those were many physicians, but my Lord and Savior is the chief physician; for indeed the inward longing, which cannot be healed by others, he himself heals; that which "could not be healed by any" of the physicians, Christ Jesus heals. Do not fear, do not be amazed: Jesus has come to be in Hades, and the prophets before him, and they proclaim beforehand the coming of Christ.
[§7] Then I wish to say also something else from the Scripture itself. Samuel comes up — and what does the woman tell Saul she has seen? She does not say she saw a human being; she cowered before this one whom she saw. Whom does she see? "I," she says, "saw gods, gods coming up from the earth." And perhaps Samuel did not come up alone even then to prophesy to Saul; but it is likely — just as here "with the holy you will be holy, and with the innocent man you will be innocent, and with the chosen you will be chosen," and here there are associations of holy ones with holy ones, and not of holy ones with sinners (and if ever there is an association of the holy with sinners, it is for the sake of saving the sinners also) — so perhaps also, as Samuel was coming up, there came up together with him either holy souls of other prophets, or angels were there who had come up together with the spirits. Perhaps you will inquire whether angels were [set] over their spirits? The prophet says: "The angel who speaks in me." And every place is filled with those who need salvation, and "all are ministering spirits sent forth for service on account of those who are about to inherit salvation." Why do you fear to say that every place needs Jesus Christ? He who needs Christ needs the prophets; for he does not need Christ [only] and yet not need those who prepare the coming and sojourn of Christ. And John — than whom no one among those born of women was greater, according to the testimony of our Savior, who says, "Among those born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist" — do not fear to say that he too descended into Hades, proclaiming beforehand my Lord, that he might announce him as about to descend. For this reason, when he was in prison and knew the departure that lay upon him, he sent two of his disciples and inquired — not, "Are you the coming one?" (for he knew), but, "Are you the coming one, or do we look for another?" He had seen his glory, he had spoken much about his marvelousness, he had borne witness to him first: "The one coming after me has come to be before me"; he had seen his glory, "glory as of an only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Having seen such great things concerning Christ, does he hesitate to believe? Does he doubt and not say: Tell him, Are you the Christ? For now some, not understanding the things said, say: John, so great a man, did not know Christ, but the Holy Spirit had departed from him. And yet he did know this one, to whom he bore witness before his birth and over whom he leaped for joy, when Mary too came to him, as his mother testified to him, saying: "For behold, as the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the babe leaped for joy in my womb." This John, then, who leaped for joy before his birth, who said, "This is he concerning whom I said, The one coming after me has come to be before me," and, "He who sent me said to me, Upon whomever you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the Son of God" — this one, they say, no longer knew Jesus Christ? For in the womb he knew him. But through excess of glory he did something similar to what Peter did. What similar thing? This one [Peter] knew something great concerning Christ. Who am I? "Whom do men say that I am?" And he answered: this and that. But you, what [do you say]? "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"; for which he is also blessed, because "flesh and blood did not reveal it" to him, "but the Father who is in the heavens." Since, then, he had heard great things concerning Christ and supposed great things and did not accept the divine cry made to him — "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and it shall be accomplished," and, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the chief priests and elders, and be killed, and on the third day rise" — he says, "God be merciful to you, Lord." He knew great things concerning Christ; he was unwilling to accept the lowlier things concerning him. Understand John, too, as someone such as this for me. He was in prison, knowing great things concerning Christ; he had seen the heavens opened, he had seen the Holy Spirit descending from heaven upon the Savior and remaining upon him; and having seen such great glory, he doubted, and perhaps disbelieved, whether the one so glorious would descend even to Hades and even to the abyss. For this reason he said: "Are you the coming one, or do we look for another?"
[§8] I have not digressed, nor have I forgotten the matter at hand; but this is what we wish to establish: that if all the prophets of Christ descended into Hades before Christ, as forerunners of Christ, so also Samuel descended there — not simply, but as a holy one. Wherever the holy one may be, he is holy. Is Christ no longer Christ, because he was once in Hades? Was he no longer the Son of God, because he came to be in the region below, "that every knee should bow in the name of Jesus Christ, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth"? Thus Christ was Christ even when he was below; and, so to speak, though being in the region below, in purpose he was above. So also the prophets and Samuel: even if they descend where the souls below are, they can be below in place, but they are not below in purpose. And I inquire: did they prophesy the things above the heavens? Yet I cannot grant to a demon such great power, that it prophesies concerning Saul and the people of God, and prophesies concerning the kingdom of David that he is about to reign. Those who say these things will come to know the truths regarding the passage; they will not find how to establish that a holy one would [not] come, for the salvation of those who are sick, into the place of those who are sick. Let physicians go into the places of the wounded soldiers, and let them enter where the stenches of their wounds are; this is what the physicians' love of humankind prompts. In this way the Word has prompted the Savior and the prophets both to come here and to descend into Hades.
[§9] And this too must be added to the argument: that [if] Samuel was a prophet, and when he departed the Holy Spirit left him, and prophecy left him, then the apostle does not speak truly who says: "Now I prophesy in part, and I know in part; but when the perfect comes, then that which is in part shall be done away." Therefore the perfect is after this life. And if Isaiah prophesied anything, he prophesied in part, with all boldness; but the things here are testified of David as [pointing] to the perfection of prophecy. Samuel, then, did not cast away the prophetic grace. And [to show] that he did not cast it away: did he use it in such a way — like those who speak in tongues — as to say, "My spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful"? And yet the one who speaks in a tongue does not build up the church; for Paul says that the one who prophesies builds up the church, saying in these very words: "But the one who prophesies builds up the church." Now if "the one who prophesies builds up the church," and Samuel had the prophetic grace (for he had not lost it, since he had not sinned; for only he loses the prophetic grace who, after prophesying, has done things unworthy of the Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit forsakes him and flees from his governing faculty — which David too feared then, after his sin, and said: "And take not your Holy Spirit from me") — if, therefore, the Holy Spirit prophesies, and Samuel was a prophet, and "the one who prophesies builds up the church," whom does he build up? Does he prophesy to heaven? To whom? To angels, who have no need? "[They have no need,] those who are strong, of physicians, but those who are sick." Some need his prophecy; for the prophetic grace is not idle — no gift of those [given] in the Holy [Spirit] is idle. Of the prophetic grace, then, the souls of those who sleep had need ([that] I may dare even to say it). But here Israel had need of the prophet; and the one who sleeps also, the one released from life, had need of the prophets, that again the prophets might proclaim to him the coming of Christ. Besides, before the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ it was impossible for anyone to pass where the tree of life is; it was impossible to pass those appointed to guard the way of the tree of life: "He stationed the Cherubim and the flaming sword that turns, to guard the way of the tree of life." Who was able to make a way? Who was able to make anyone pass through the flaming sword? Just as it belonged to no one to make a way through the sea except to God and to the pillar of fire, the pillar of light from God; just as it belonged to no one to make a way through the Jordan except to Joshua (that Joshua was a type of the true God) — so through the flaming sword Samuel was not able to pass, nor Abraham. For this reason Abraham too is seen by the one being punished, and "being in torments, the rich man, lifting up his eyes, sees Abraham," even though "he sees from afar," yet he sees, "and Lazarus in his bosom." They awaited, then, the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ — both patriarchs and prophets and all — that this one might open the way. "I am the way," "I am the door." There is a way to the tree of life, so that it may come to pass: "If you pass through fire, the flame shall not burn you." What fire? "He stationed the Cherubim and the flaming sword that turns, to guard the way of the tree of life." So for this reason the blessed ones waited there, carrying out a dispensation and not being able to come where the tree of life is, where the paradise of God is, where God is husbandman, where the blessed and chosen and holy ones of God are.
[§10] There is, then, no stumbling block regarding the passage, but all things have been wondrously written and understood by those to whom God may reveal them. But we who have come at the consummation of the ages have something more. What more? If we depart from here, having become good and noble, not bringing with us the burdens of sin, we too shall pass through "the flaming sword," and shall not descend into the region where those who slept before his coming awaited Christ; rather we shall pass through, in no way harmed by the flaming sword. "And each one's work, of what sort it is, the fire itself will test. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." We shall pass through, then; and we have something more, and we cannot, having lived well, depart badly. The ancients did not say — nor the patriarchs, nor the prophets — what we can say, if we live well: "For it is better to depart and to be with Christ." Therefore, having thus something more and much gain in having come at the consummation of the ages, we first receive the denarius; for hear the parable, that "beginning, he gave the denarius from the last; but the first thought that they would receive something more." You, then, who are first, having come last, receive the wages from the householder in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.