My Encounter with the King

By: The Witch of Endor

I have made a semi-decent living scamming people out of their money.  I grew up in Israel, where I learned that many of my fellow Israelites would not only mourn the loss of their loved ones but seek them out.  They believe those who passed can give advice on the problems they are having.  Moreover, many would wish to talk to prophets and kings who were long gone!  At a young age, I saw an opportunity to get rich. This led me to seek out potential necromancers that I could work under and learn from.  

It took me a little while, but eventually, I found a pagan fortune teller in Canaan who was on the verge of death, and she was willing to teach me the secrets of the trade.  I was so very excited!  At last, I would learn how to communicate with the dead and bring peace of mind to those struggling and seeking guidance, and could fetch me a pretty penny to boot! 

The old woman started by showing me around her tent, which is where she claimed to commune with the spirits; she showed me her potions and her array of artifacts that were quite unsettling, to say the least.  She told me that these objects helped set the mood and convinced the visitor that they were indeed inside a mystical place. She pulled out a crystal ball and put her hands on it, which prompted a series of convulsions and screams, coupled with the candles in the tent suddenly going out.  To be honest, I was both afraid and nervous; yet at the same time, I was filled with wonder and excitement as to what was going to happen next! 

As quickly as she hit the ground, the old lady got back up and began crackling, “You fell for it too!”

“Ummm...What?” I asked, stunned at the sudden change.

“Spirits aren’t real, silly!  And you can’t talk to the dead either! Whether they have ceased to exist or are sitting pretty in Sheol, you can’t contact them!  Yet there are suckers all around us who are willing to pay big bucks to talk to their beloved. Or maybe seek counsel from past judges and prophets, as if these people would disturb their slumber to speak to fools!” she said laughing. “You were so caught up watching me shake and scream that you didn’t even notice me knock over a bucket of water onto the candles!”

At this moment, I realized that grief, and fear of the future, are powerful.  It will cause one to set reason and rationality aside. People will foolishly throw money at someone if they promise them the ability to talk to the dead. 

And that is why I began my career as a necromancer.

I perfected my craft, and over time I was making more dough than the old hag who taught me ever dreamt of making!  And I was good at it!  My ability to cause the candles to flicker, and act out the experience of being possessed by a spirit, convinced every person I talked to!  It was marvelous!

For the better part of my career, Israel did not have a king.  Instead, it was governed by Judges that swore to uphold God’s laws - which forbid necromancy.  This appeared to be a problem, but I ensured that I was never caught and flourished in this underground practice.

But at some point, Israel appointed a King to be more like the surrounding nations.  I wasn’t quite sure why, as I wasn’t really all that into politics and current events, but I knew that Samuel - the Judge of Israel as the time - had appointed a very tall and good looking man named Saul to take the reigns of Israel’s newly established monarchy. 

My initial reaction was that of overwhelming joy, as all the surrounding nations allowed necromancy and the dark arts.  But alas, Saul sent out the troops to rid the nation of all witches and necromancers.  Perhaps this was a knee-jerk reaction to his failed military campaigns against the neighboring nations, particularly against the Philistines, with whom Israel was at war, in hopes of gaining favor with his God.

So I went into hiding and settled in a Canaanite city named Endor, located just outside Israel's border. 

Then one day, my scamming business took an unpredictable turn, one that still haunts me to this day.

It was late at night, and business had been slow due to King Saul’s enforcement of Mosaic law.  Most people had already rejected the idea of talking to a medium as they believed it was ineffective and, most importantly, sinful. 

But that night, some low and impoverished sap, dressed in raggedy old garments, entered my tent.  He asked to speak to the prophet Samuel, the former Judge of Israel.  Now I hadn’t had any Israelites ask for my services in a while, and since I knew that Saul was crafty and on the lookout for necromancers, I feared that it may have been a trap.

“Surely you know that Saul has outlawed necromancy and that he will severely punish anyone who engages in such activity,” I responded to determine if this was a legit customer or an undercover agent working for the Kingdom of Israel.

“I swear on the name of the God of Israel that no harm shall come to you,” the man said as he put his hand on his heart.

Upon hearing this, I knew that he was not a spy of any kind as Israelites never swear falsely in the name of their Lord; and with that, I proceeded with the sham.  I pulled out my crystal ball and called on Samuel to answer, to make himself known.  I started shaking and threw some plants and herbs into my cauldron and called again for Samuel.  At this point, I usually freeze and pretend to see the spirit.  But this time, things did not go as planned.

Inside my crystal ball, I saw clouds, and as you know, I had never seen anything inside that ball before.  And inside those clouds, I saw a figure begin to rise up as if exiting a bottomless abyss.  I screamed.  To my horror, I was actually seeing a dead man.

My customer exclaimed, “Who is it?! What do you see?!”

“I see an old man, wrapped in a robe, ascending as if he is a god from the underground!"

“That is Samuel!” proclaimed the man.

It dawned on me that a spirit of such caliber would not return just to speak to some lowly peasant; the Lord of Israel himself must have sent him, and he came to see the King.

“You are not a regular citizen, you deceiving liar!”  I screamed this while conveniently ignoring the fact that I myself am a deceiving liar. 

“You are king Saul!”

The King replied assuredly, “Do not be afraid!”

Then the earth began to quake, my table fell over, and the ground opened up as if cracked by the quaking, and the clouds I had seen poured out of the newly created abyss.  Despite all the smoke, we both witnessed the old man arise out of the darkness; Saul consequently got on his knees and bowed his face to the ground.

“Why have you disturbed me, Saul?!” asked Samuel in a thundering voice, which frightened me like never before.

Saul answered, “I am at war with the Philistines, and it looks like the victory will be theirs!  I do not know what to do!  I have pleaded with God for an answer, but it seems that he has turned away from me! He neither answers my prayers through dreams nor through his prophets!  So I thought, ‘who better to summon and get advice from than Samuel?’ That is why I have summoned you!”

“Why are you surprised?  I told you while I was alive that because you disobeyed God’s commands in your dealings with the Amalekites, He was going to take the kingdom from you and give it to David!”  At this point, I looked up and wondered if Samuel was referring to the same David that defeated the Philistine warrior, Goliath, which took me off guard as he is kind of a celebrity in our country, and for him to rule would be wild!

Samuel continued, “Be prepared, as you and your sons are going to see me soon, as God is handing over you, Israel, and it’s army to the Philistines tomorrow!”

All the blood drained from Saul’s face, and he nearly fainted as he fell onto the ground. 

Samuel disappeared, and our surroundings returned to normal, and I thought I should attend to Saul in hopes that I wouldn’t be executed for the unpleasant words given by the dead prophet. 

“My king, I did what you asked as any faithful servant of the king would do, and with that I expect you to follow through on your promises in regards to no harm coming my way.  Moreover, I notice that you appear to be on the brink of death as it is!  Let me feed you. I have some bread in the back!  Once you have eaten and regained your strength, you can be on your way.”

Saul refused my offer and insisted that he was too depressed to eat. But then his servants, who had been waiting outside, chimed in and begged him to eat something.  Saul agreed, so I went out and slaughtered the cow I had in the back and cooked it.  Saul, his servants, and I all ate.  Shortly after, Saul and his servants left, and he seemed to not even remember that I was breaking the law.

I was so grateful that he paid me no attention as he left, and to be quite frank, hearing the news of his future death through Samuel brought me much peace of mind, as there would be nobody to testify as to what I had done wrong!

But gee was I shaken, I couldn’t sleep for weeks; as every time I nodded off, I had nightmares of Samuel arising from the earth’s core.  It horrified me.  I realized that the God of Israel is real and that He is serious with His commands, as the next day Saul did die and David did assume the throne. 

A few weeks later, I gave up necromancy and all manner of sin and devoted my life to the God who miraculously sent Samuel into my home that day.