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Witch of Endor

5 Episodes

The Witch of Endor is the woman in 1 Samuel 28 whom Saul consults to summon the dead prophet Samuel after divine communication has failed him. The figure is better understood as a medium or necromancer than a witch in the later popular sense, and the story preserves a worldview in which the dead remain accessible, knowledgeable, and socially significant.

Redirected from: Necromancer of Endor

Why this topic matters

Witch of Endor comes up on the show because the story opens a window into ancient Israelite ideas about the dead, divination, and the limits of later labels like “witchcraft.” Discussions tagged here usually stress that Saul’s visit only makes sense in a world where consulting the dead was intelligible and, in some settings, expected rather than obviously fictional.

The figure also matters as a case study in translation and framing. Calling her a witch imports assumptions about spellcasting and moral panic that the Hebrew text does not require, while the episode itself centers on necromancy, ancestor veneration, and the politics of deciding which kinds of supernatural access count as legitimate.

Where to start

Start here for the best in-depth listening on Witch of Endor: featured segments, featured episodes, and the episode with the most mentions.

Quotes from the Data

“The Hebrew phrase here is eshet baalat ov, which means the woman mistress of ov. And ov is a word for ghosts or the deceased or something like that.”

Dan McClellan Episode 40

“None of those words appear anywhere in this chapter at all. Because a witch uses poisons and potions and casts spells. This person is doing none of that. This person is consulting the dead. So they are a medium or a necromancer.”

Dan McClellan Episode 40

“The necromancer says, I see Elohim, I see deity rising up from the underworld. And Saul asks, you know, what is its form? And, and basically Samuel's coming there to say, you should have let me sleep.”

Dan McClellan Episode 15

“The Bible represents consulting with the deceased as, as working as doing exactly what they're. So throughout the ancient world, everybody just seemed to presuppose that, yeah, there's magic out there, there's witchcraft works. It's all, it all works. It's just a matter of trying to suggest that when we do it, it's with the person on the other end of the line is righteous.”

Dan McClellan Episode 73

Top episodes

Ranked by mentions of Witch of Endor across the transcript. Start with the top mention above, then keep going here.

All episodes

Every episode currently tagged with Witch of Endor.