about six miles north of Jerusalem. The ingratitude and transgressions of Saul had incurred the divine judgments: the Philistines were gathering their hosts against him; and he, in his dismay, felt himself forsaken by the Lord. He obtained no answers to his inquiries with respect to the approaching battle, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.' Overcome with fear and anxiety, he stole away, by night, to Endor, about seventy miles north of Jerusalem, where was a woman that, in the language of the day, had a familiar spirit ;' and he said to her, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whom I shall name unto thee:' that is, bring him up from beneath. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up Samuel.' Now, Saul cannot have referred to Samuel's dead body, since he knew that that was buried at Ramah, nearly seventy miles distant. He supposed the personal existence of the prophet still to survive, in some state, and in such a place, moreover, as that, in order to bring him to the scene of consultation, it was necessary to bring him up, or through the earth. And the language of the woman, which was no doubt accommodated to the prevalent notions, recognizes this idea: having cried with a loud voice, as at the sight of an apparition, she said to Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? and she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived, [not saw, but understood, for such is the force of the Hebrew verb,] that it was Samuel,' &c. The dead, then, were supposed on these occasions, to arise, like gods, out of the earth, probably from Sheol, certainly not from their graves. It seems, too, that they were thought to retain, like the manes of the Greek and Roman nacrology, and the ghosts of modern superstition, somewhat of the appearance that identified them while living. The narrative proceeds: 'And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?' Account how we may for the pretended address of the prophet, we should remember, that whether we ascribe it to Saul's imagination, agitated as he was, or to the artifice of the woman, it must, at all events, have been conformed to the popular notions, so that we may take it as a faithful index of them. Now, it is remarkable that Samuel is made to represent himself as having been disquieted by the summons which brought him up into the world of the living. He had reposed in Sheol, at rest and in silence, till the voice of enchantment roused him from his heavy languor: an idea which comports with those of the Scandinavian mythology, as described in Gray's Descent of Odin.18 A knowledge of futurity was indeed attributed to the slumbering prophet; but if we may indulge a conjecture, it was supposed to remain inert, as in the case of the northern spirits, till evoked by the magician. Samuel is next represented as foretelling the result of the approaching combat: the Lord also will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines; and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me,' 19-probably in Sheol; not, at any rate, in the grave; for their bodies were left, the next day, on mount Gilboa, where they fell, and were afterwards. burnt, and their bones buried at Jabesh-gilead, 20 beyond the Jordan, about fifty miles from Ramah. Such are the particulars in this narrative; and such the ideas it discovers concerning the state of the dead. 1056 B. C.-975 B. C. - David and Solomon make frequent mention of Sheol; often, indeed, without defining their views of it, though the general tenor of their allusions shows that they regarded it as the common receptacle of all the dead, of what character soever: What man,' says David, 'what man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol?' that is, all that live, must die, and be confined in Sheol. In several cases, it 19 Facing to the northern clime, Thrice he traced the Runic rhyme, The thrilling voice that wakes the dead; Slowly breathed a sullen sound: 21 [Prophetess.] What call unknown, what charms presume To break the quiet of the tomb? Who thus afflicts my troubled sprite, And drags me from the realms of night? Long on these mouldering bones have beat The winter's snow, the summer's heat, Let me, let me sleep again. Who is he, with voice unblest, The drenching dews, the driving rain! That calls me from the bed of rest?' &c. Descent of Odin. 191 Sam. xxviii. 3- 19. 21 Ps. lxxxix. 48. 201 Sam. xxxi. 8, 12, 13. 2 Sam. ii. 4, 5. is difficult to determine whether it denotes the subterraneau world, or merely the sepulchre; and those who are acquainted with the manner in which the Greeks and Romans sometimes confounded their hades or infernum, with the place of burial, will not think it improbable that a similar confusion of ideas may, now and then, occur among the Hebrew writers. In other passages, however, the reference is definite; as when the Psalmist represents the spirit of God reaching to the utmost extent, in height, in depth, in length and breadth: 'Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me,' 22 &c. Here, it is evident that Sheol is beneath, as heaven is above; and that the one is the lowest object conceivable, as the other is the highest. With this idea in view, we shall perceive the force of the following expression in Proverbs: Sheol and destruction are before the Lord; how much more, then, the hearts of the children of men': 23 even the profound depths of that hidden realm are open to the all-seeing eye; how much more the secrets of the human heart! It is a favorite hyperbole with the Psalmist, to call a relief from some imminent danger, or great affliction, a deliverance from Sheol; and this is probably the idea he means to express, when he says, 'Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.' 24 All these allusions indicate the extreme depth of Sheol. As to the condition of the dead there, both David and Solomon seem to have supposed them almost destitute of thought, as well as of activity. In death,' says the former, 'there is no remembrance [that is, celebration] of thee; in Sheol, who shall give thee thanks?' 25 And it is remarkable, that he never calls upon the dead to praise the Lord, even in those sublime, poetic strains, in which he apostrophizes the whole creation, animate and inanimate, angels, the heavens, sun, moon, and stars, the sea, kings and princes, young men and maidens, old men and children.26 The dead praise not the Lord,' says "Wilt thou he; neither any that go down into silence.' 27 show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known. in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?' 28 Solomon has a still stronger expression: Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.' 29 Indeed, so indistinct, so obscure, were his views of futurity, that notwithstanding he retained the common notion of a Sheol, and admitted that the dead went thither,30 it appears doubtful whether he fully believed in their consciousness. David, also, whose language is not so strongly negative, still represents them as in a state of darkness, silence and impotence. With him, to descend into Sheol, is, to go down into silence.' Of his enemies, he says, 'let them be silent in Sheol.' 31 'Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him...... He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.' Such is the darkness, as well as silence, in which he contemplates their abode. In another passage, comparing himself, on account of his trouble and dejection, to the dead in Sheol, he alludes to their powerless condition My soul is full of trouble, and my life draweth nigh unto Sheol. I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength; free among the dead,' 33 &c. 32 It must be evident, we suppose, from the views now presented of the condition of the deceased, that it was not regarded as a state of retribution. This inference is confirmed by the invariable silence which David and Solomon, in all their writings, maintain on the point.34 Whenever, on the other 27 Ps. cxv. 17. 28 Ps. lxxxviii. 10-12. See also cxlvi. 3, 4; xxx. 9. 29 Eccl. ix. 10, comp. ver. 5, and iii. 18-21. 30 See also Prov. i. 12; xv. 11; xxvii. 20; where the word translated grave, is Sheol. 31 Ps. xxxi. 17, comp. 13, 15. 32 Ps. xlix. 16-19. 33 Ps. lxxxviii. 3-5. 34 See Stuart's Exegetical Essays, &c. On Sheol, particularly On its Secondary signification, pp. 106 114. The Prof. does indeed labor to impute to David and Solomon the doctrine of future retribution; but the manner in which he does it, sets his want of proof in a light unusually striking. The course of his argument is as follows:- Sheol denotes primarily the under-world, the region of the dead, whither both the righteous and the wicked hand, they treat of rewards and punishments, it is of such only as are experienced in this world, or in the manner of one's death. The wicked are plagued, or do not live out half their days, and are suddenly cut off, or are cursed in their posterity; while the righteous are blest with long life, or rejoice in the promise of numerous and happy descendants. The Psalmist, on one occasion, describes, in the strongest terms, the prosperity which the ungodly sometimes appear to enjoy, and acknowledges that he had been perplexed, and even envious at the sight; but he solves the difficulty by the consideration that they were set in slippery places in order to be cast into destruction, that their desolation was brought upon them in a moment, and that they were utterly consumed with terrors. This he learned in the sanctuary; and was then astonished at his former stupidity.35 Solomon likewise takes up the same subject; and though he does not so fully satisfy himself, yet his conclusion is, that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him; but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow.36 So far only, did their views on this question extend. While we point out the fact, however, that they did not regard the state of the dead, as one of retribution, we should be careful to observe that they did not ascribe to it any positive happiness or suffering. Did they hold an ultimate deliverance from this state, either by a resurrection, or in any manner whatsoever? The queston is not, whether David, in some passages, using Sheol and the like terms figuratively for a condition of sorrow or danger in this life, speaks of a deliverance; meaning, literally, from that trouble or jeopardy: 37 this does not touch the subject. go, at their decease. And in this sense it is commonly used. Still, there are certain texts in which Sheol occurs, where it may indeed be explained, as usual, of the state of the dead universally, but where it may also be supposed to include the idea of a place of punishment there; that is, if we first take for granted that the respective writers held that there was such a place there.. - All this, to be sure, we admit, granting his premises; we admit still more: If all the writers who use the term Sheol for the state of the dead in general, believed that state to be divided in two parts, one of punishment, the other of rewards, then every time the word occurs, it comprehends both. Why should the Prof. select some passages as examples, and reject the rest? that is, granting his premises. 35 Ps. lxxiii. 36 Eccl. viii. 10-ix. 3. 37 As Ps. lxxxvi. 13: Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell; that is, from the greatest danger, as the next words show: 'O God, the proud are risen up against me, and the assemblies of violent men have |