Necromancy

[Phyllo]

I read an article in Catholic Answers Magazine Sept/Oct 2013 about the perils of superstition and it said that necromancy is wrong which I know to be true.

In 1Sam.28 Saul summons the ghost of the prophet Samuel with the assistance of the which of Endor was a wrong thing to do and condemned by the CCC 2116.

But the Haydock commentary has this to say about 1 Sam.28:14

Ver. 14. Understood that it was Samuel. It is the more common opinion of the holy fathers, and interpreters, that the soul of Samuel appeared indeed; and not, as some have imagined, an evil spirit in his shape. Not that the power of her magic could bring him thither, but that God was pleased for the punishment of Saul, that Samuel himself should denounce unto him the evils that were falling upon him. See Ecclesiasticus xlvi. 23. (Challoner) — The passage is decisive; (Tirinus) he slept and he made known to the king, and shewed him the end of his life, and he lifted up his voice from the earth, in prophecy, &c. Those who have called in question the reality of Samuel’s apparition, seem not to have remembered this passage. (Haydock) — Yet his soul was not united to his body, (Salien) nor was he adduced by the power of the devil, but (Du Hamel) by a just judgment of God, to denounce destruction to the wicked king. (St. Augustine, &c.) (Tirinus) — The woman, beholding Samuel, fled out of the place, to Saul’s companions, and left him alone with the king, ver. 21. — Adored Samuel with an inferior honour, as the friend of God, exalted in glory. (Salien) — That Samuel really appeared, is the more common opinion of the fathers. (St. Augustine, Cura. xv.) (Worthington)

How can I explain to my friend that God allowed the prophecy when they do not acknowledge the book of Ecclesiasticus?

Or am I batting my head against a stone wall?

Thanks

 

[Della]

When I was a member of the Assemblies of God we interpreted this passage as a real visitation from Samuel which God allowed to upbraid Saul for his disobedience. What ecclesial body does your friend belong to that doesn’t accept this commonly held interpretation? You may want to let him/her know that it is commonly held, even by most Protestant Bible scholars.

 

[Phyllo]

When I was a member of the Assemblies of God we interpreted this passage as a real visitation from Samuel which God allowed to upbraid Saul for his disobedience. What ecclesial body does your friend belong to that doesn’t accept this commonly held interpretation? You may want to let him/her know that it is commonly held, even by most Protestant Bible scholars.

Oh I forgot to put that in my original post.

She is a JW so I have a challenge here.

 

[Della]

Oh I forgot to put that in my original post.

She is a JW so I have a challenge here.

You aren’t going to make any headway with her, then, I’m afraid. They reject any interpretation except their own. Better to move on to some other more fundamental issue than get bogged down on questions like this. I am assuming she brought this up because we Catholics believe in the Communion of Saints? If that’s what she’s trying to disprove by using this passage, then you might want to tell her that Jesus himself agrees that the dead are alive. He stated it quite plainly:

Matt.22[31] And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, [32] `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

The synoptic Gospels all quote Jesus saying the same thing.