The Witch of Endor and the Limits of Demons

A runner, having stripped off his clothes, left the army. When he arrived at her at night with two men, he approached her with such requests, saying, 'Prophesy to me through the belly-speaker and bring up for me'—he says—'whomever I may tell you.' Truly, if Saul was seen to prophesy through the belly-speaker, someone might say his voices were true. But is there anyone unaware that he was driven by wild passions by a demon, turned toward unlawful divination and diabolical myth-working?

For is not God more trustworthy, having cast the words into the mouth of Balaam (Numbers 22:28), but having permitted Moses to write explicitly in Numbers: 'For there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel' (Numbers 23:23)? If such things are to be forbidden, such as these secret abominations and causes of the enemy's idolatry, how could the witness be worthy, having used these most impious things when tempted? But these things, having repeated them a little later more perfectly, we shall say; yet we must return again to the history of the letter.

As the woman saw the irrational Saul, pretending not to know the ruler, she was more distressed as if it would be better for her to know what terrible things Saul was doing regarding these matters, saying, 'How he has destroyed the belly-speakers and those crying out from the earth.' Because of this, she said she would ensnare his soul unto death. And since, having been convinced by an oath, he confirmed that he would not support any trickery, the woman, immediately being emboldened by her sin, answers more boldly from somewhere: 'Whom shall I bring up to you?'

what sort of woman was this evil-demon old woman, so that she might promise to bring up Samuel from the dead? And indeed, if it is necessary to say the things exceeding their worth, she was not able to bring up a prophetic soul even if she could have, nor even any of those who succeed, nor at all, not even an ant or a flea. For the demons do not have authority over spirits and souls, but God, the Lord of all things together; so that only through divine giving can souls pass from Hadesed up again.

But the elegant Origenes, desiring to surround the church with a dance of idolatrous instruments and necromantic findings, is refuted by the divine letter. For the scripture's voice cries out clearly, as the woman said, 'Whom shall I bring up to you?' (1 Sam 28:13); on the contrary, this man, turning it around, said the face of the text spoke these things of the Holy Spirit.

Then he was so led astray, being seduced, that he did not hesitate to treat the words of the one possessed with holy respect; but blaspheming more nakedly with the tongue, he attributes the whole matter to the Holy Spirit, attempting to insult the listeners by name as untrustworthy.

The woman indeed spoke, as I said, and as having authority to bring the dead up, she cries out: 'Whom,' she says, 'shall I bring up to you?' (1 Sam 28:13); and when the one divining said that Samuel had been raised, she immediately brings forth: 'And the woman saw Samuel,' she said, 'and she cried out with a great voice and said' (1 Sam 28:14) to the ruler, 'Why have you perturbed me? And you are Saul' (1 Sam 28:15). How then the king said to her, 'Do not fear' and added, 'What have you seen?' (1 Sam 28:15); immediately the pythomist countered again, saying: 'I have seen gods ascending from the earth' (1 Sam 28:15). And since the ruler also asked the last thing, 'What did you know?', she immediately again responded with the words, 'A righteous man ascending from the earth, and this one, having been cast down, is double' (1 Sam 28:15). Why then does the divine scripture forbid this? 'And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed down with his face to the earth and worshiped him' (1 Sam 28:20). It appears, therefore, that nowhere at all does the interpretation of the divine letter declare that Samuel was brought up by the medium; but she previously, through the demon erupting from her, speaks that it is necessary to bring him up; then she is seen approaching gods ascending, and through deception she gave the signs of the man into a trance, but the one misinterpreting says 'Saul knew' (1 Sam 28:20) from which he heard that this one is Samuel.

If it is necessary to believe either that Saul, the demonized one, had a grasp of true knowledge, or a demon swelling with pride and promising to bring the souls of the righteous from Hades, let us judge for ourselves how much of a reputation these and such things would bring, which even the mightiest of men, EuTropius, would avoid. For much, as it seems, is the error of Origenes regarding the truth, even though our Lord Jesus has spoken clearly concerning the devil, 'He was a murderer from the beginning, and in the truth he was not found' (John 8:44).

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