HOSE who seek to maintain that man has an immortal soul often cite the above passage as 'proof' for this teaching. It is believed that since 'Samuel' spoke from the dead, that he must have had an immortal soul. While a superficial study of the passage seems to lend credence to this teaching, careful examination will show that this passage can by no means be used to prove that the soul is immortal.

There are basically only two explanations for the scene described in 1 Samuel 28: either this really was Samuel speaking as a 'departed spirit' or an 'immortal soul', or it was a familiar spirit, or a demon spirit impersonating Samuel.

First, let us examine the option that this really was the departed spirit of Samuel speaking. This creates numerous problems. Notice from the text that God had refused to answer Saul by prophets, dreams, or by the Urim and Thummim. In other words, God had refused to speak to Saul by every legitimate means by which he could inquire of him. This creates a serious difficulty. Did God, as some assert, allow Samuel to speak to Saul on this one occasion in order to deliver his message? This doesn't seem possible, or even logical. If God had refused to answer Saul by legitimate means, then are we to believe that he agreed to send his message by means of a spirit medium, something which was strictly forbidden?

But what are our other options? If God did not allow Samuel to speak, yet this was indeed Samuel, then we must conclude that either the departed spirit of Samuel chose to disobey God and talk through the spirit medium, or Samuel had no choice, and his spirit and soul were at the command of the medium.

But this is by no means the end of our problems. If this indeed was the departed spirit of Samuel speaking from the dead, we must also answer the question of where he was after he died and how to reconcile it with this passage. To those who teach that the soul is immortal, Samuel could only have been in one of two places depending on your particular theology. Either Samuel was in heaven, or Samuel was in the 'paradise compartment' of Hades, or Sheol. Unfortunately for our opponents, neither of these are easily reconciled with the text, although these problems are rarely addressed by those who use this passage to teach the 'immortal soul'.

Option 1:
Samuel was in heaven

According to the text, Samuel was clearly NOT in heaven. Please notice:

Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. I saw gods ascending out of the earth. Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up

If the spirit of Samuel was in heaven, then none of this makes any sense. The woman at Endor clearly stated that what she saw CAME UP OUT OF THE EARTH not down from heaven. Clearly neither Saul, nor the woman believed that Samuel was in heaven.

Option 2:
Samuel was in the 'paradise compartment' of Sheol

We examined in Chapter Six the teaching that Hades or Sheol is divided into two compartments. There was to be a paradise compartment for the righteous also called 'Abraham's Bosom', and the 'hell' compartment for the wicked. We learned how this teaching is built upon disconnected scripture passages taken out of context and how none of them actually teach this theory.

If however Samuel was not in heaven, then for those who believe in the immortality of the soul this is their only other choice. But once again there are many difficulties with such a belief.

First is the problem mentioned above of who gave Samuel the permission to leave and speak to Saul. Strangely, in the one passage that almost all who hold the traditional view of the soul use to teach this 'paradise compartment' theory, we are given no indication that anyone is ever given permission to do this very type of work:

And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.  Luke 16:26-31

Here the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus from the 'paradise compartment' to warn his brothers and the request is denied. Again the problem arises; If God would not answer Saul by legitimate means then are we to believe he would answer him by a practice that is strictly forbidden in scripture?

Second, 'Samuel's' words to Saul concerning his fate also create problems for this theory:

and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me

Did Saul go the 'paradise compartment' too? Most commentators seem to realize that this is a problem and note that Samuel must have meant 'with me in death'. But I have to ask, then why didn't he simply say 'To morrow you and your sons shall die' or 'To morrow you and your sons shall be like me'?

What also strikes me as being very strange is that such a practice today is condemned by almost all Christian groups as demonic without question. For example, let's imagine a young man believes that he needs information from a deceased loved one. He ask God, but he feels God is not answering his prayers. Frustrated, the young man goes to a psychic who vividly describes their dead loved one, and gives him a message from them. The young man, convinced that his dead loved one had indeed spoken to him based on the accuracy of the information given by the 'psychic', goes to his pastor and tells him the story.

What do you think would happen? Immediately the young man would be told that what the psychic saw was not their dead loved one at all but a demon impersonating their dead loved one and that God would never use such a practice to answer their prayer.

While all this is true, I have to ask why then at 1 Samuel 28 do these same people believe that the 'psychic' at Endor actually spoke to Samuel and not a demonic impersonation of him? I believe the answer is obvious. There are so few passages which are used in order to maintain the immortality of the soul that anything is grasped upon in order to prove it, despite the inconstancies it creates.

If those who believe that modern day visions of the deceased are demonic impersonations would apply the same logic to this passage, it would make much more sense.

Satan's work has always been to propagate the very first lie he ever told: 'Ye shall not surely die'. The most deceptive way this can be done is to deceive people into thinking that the dead aren't really dead, and indeed many have been utterly deceived by this. This is why the practice is strictly forbidden.

In the case here, a demon impersonating Samuel appears. The demon gives no information that wasn't already well known. But notice just how great a deception this really is.

The demon impersonating Samuel says:

'Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up'

The Hebrews knew that death was the end. Until the Jews became Hellenized by the influence of Greek philosophy there wasn't any belief in the immortal soul or spirit. Even the demon here knows this and this is why he pretends that he had been sleeping before the woman brought him up. Saul clearly believed that the woman had the power to rouse Samuel out of his sleep in the grave, and so this is exactly what the demon pretended to do

When 'Samuel' said 'to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me' he was also being at least somewhat true to Hebrew doctrine. This was obviously a reference to 'Sheol' which to the Hebrews received the good as well as the bad without the 'compartment' distinction. There was no 'good sheol', and 'bad sheol'; there was just Sheol. The prophecy was that Saul and his sons would be in the same state or condition that Samuel was. The deception was that those who are there weren't REALLY dead, but were still in some way able to communicate with the living.

It's said that the most dangerous type of deception is the one that has some truth mixed in and this is clearly the case here. The Bible is clear concerning the state of the dead. Saul disobeyed God's clear command not to inquire at those who used familiar spirits and was deceived. It's just sad that so many in our day believe the same deception and attempt to use this passage to prove the immortality of the soul.

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