Bible Discussion Thread

Today , while doing housework and listening to Tom Petty , I have been thinking about the so called witch of Endor . Here are my thoughts for what they are worth :

Isaiah Ch66 v1-5 and 2nd Thessalonians Ch2 v1-12 .

The Bible is the Word of God and good for our spiritual development , it does mostly deal with very human beings , weak , fearful and vulnerable flesh . This woman ( I don't believe in witches ,hence my two quotes at the begining of this post ) is faced with her king and a couple of his men / body guards ?/ soldiers? My guess is that she was quite scared . Saul promises her that she won't die ,how strong is her faith in that promise ? I think she was a crafty person , weighing up the effect of her words on people very carefully , in the past and in this instance . She may well have been aware that God had departed from Saul and he wasn't going to be king for much longer , she may have heard rumours that the Philistines were very strong and expected to defeat Israel . What should she say ? If she tells Saul that he shall live and be victorious and that's not what happens , if Saul dies will his men honour his promise to let her live ? Might they not come to kill her for her lie / false prophecy ?

If she says Saul will die and Israel will be defeated and the opposite happens she might be mocked but they may not feel the need to kill her . She chooses wisely I think . There's no mention of any man in her house who might try to protect her and we shouldn't underestimate what some one who is very scared might do or say to save their lives , we are only human . I often wonder how Bathsheba felt , powerless to resist her king who she knew had been appointed by God ? Most women are physically weaker than most men and even today men take advantage of that fact . We have laws to protect us now but in Old Testament times ? It seems even David didn't take notice and apply the laws of that time . Think of poor Tamar .