Necromancy and Cleromancy in 1 and 2 Samuel

Scholarship in recent decades has enriched one's understanding of the worship of ancestors and related rituals surrounding death in Israel's popular religion. However, the Bible's only uncontested example of nemocracy contains several unexplained features and for obvious reasons, cont...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Catholic Biblical quarterly 2004-04, Vol.66 (2), p.199-213
Main Author: ARNOLD, BILL T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bible
Cleromancy
Death & dying
Divination
Divinity
Exegesis & hermeneutics
Exegesis and biblical criticism
Historical books
History and sciences of religions
I Samual
Jewish rituals
Narratives
Necromancy
Old Testament
Prophecies
Prophets
Religion
Rituals
Saul, King of Israel
Theology
Torah
Written narratives
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Summary:Scholarship in recent decades has enriched one's understanding of the worship of ancestors and related rituals surrounding death in Israel's popular religion. However, the Bible's only uncontested example of nemocracy contains several unexplained features and for obvious reasons, continues to raise fascinating issues. In this study, Arnold proposes that the Deuteronomistic historian used the account of Saul's necromantic inquiry at Endor rhetorically as a means of characterizing the ill-fated king and has elsewhere used Israel's legitimate means of divination-by means of casting lots, or clemorancy-as a contrastive literary device to prepare for this characterization of Saul.
ISSN:0008-7912
2163-2529