Verse 13. (10) Saul "perceived" that it was Samuel (not by actual sight, but from the woman's description; for the Hebrew [ HEBREW CHARACTERSIN PRINTED TEXT ] and the Septuagint, [ GREEK CHARACTERS IN PRINTEDTEXT ] signify to know, or perceive, by an operation of the mind.)Verse 14. (11) The woman supposed it was Samuel; Saul supposed it was Samuel;and that personation is, then, by the law of appearance, spoken of, in whatever it said or did, as Samuel; as, "Samuel said to Page 54 Saul," etc. Verse 15. (12) Was Samuel really there as an immortal soul, a disembodied spirit, or as one raised from the dead -- No because (a) immortal souls do not come up out of the ground, wrapped in mantles, and complain of being disquieted and brought up; (b) Samuel was a holy prophet, and if he was conscious in the spirit world, he would not present himself at the summons of a woman who was practicing arts which God had forbidden; (c) God having departed from Saul and having refused to communicate with him on account of his sins, would not now suffer his servant Samuel to grant him the desired communication through a channel which he had pronounced an abomination; (d) Samuel was not present by a resurrection, for the Devil could not raise him, and God certainly would not, for such a purpose; besides Samuel was buried at Ramah, and could not be raised at Endor; (e) It was only the woman's familiar spirit, personating Samuel as he used to appear when alive -- an aged man clothed with a mantle. His object was to make both the woman and Saul believe it was Samuel, when it was not, just as communicating spirits to-day try to palm themselves off for what they are not. As a specimen of ancient Spiritualism, this case is no particular honor to their cause and as a proof of the immortality of the soul, and the conscious state of the dead, it is a minus quantity.
8. The Transfiguration. -- Jesus took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, apart into a Page 55 high mountain, and was transfigured before them; his face became as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, just as it will be in the future kingdom of glory, which this scene was designed to represent. And there then appeared Moses and Elias talking with Christ. But Moses had died in the land of Moab nearly fifteen hundred years before, and it is at once concluded that the only way to account for his appearance on this occasion, is to suppose that he was still alive in the spirit world, and could appear in a disembodied state, and talk with Jesus as here represented.
But such a conclusion is by no means necessary. Jesus was there in person, Elias was there in person; for he had not died, but had been translated bodily from this earth. Now it would be altogether incongruous to suppose that the third member of this glorious trio, apparently just as real as the others, was only a disembodied spirit; an immaterial phantom. Unless the whole scene was merely a vision brought before the minds of the disciples, Moses was as really there, in his own proper person, as Jesus and Elias.
But there is no way in which he could thus be present, except by means of a resurrection from the dead; and that he had been raised, and was there as a representative of the resurrection, is proved, first by his actual presence on this occasion, and secondly, by the fact that Michael (Christ, who is "the resurrection and the life," John 11: 25) disputed with the Devil (who has the power of death, Heb. 2: 14) about the body of Moses.
Jude 9. There could be Page 56 no other possible ground of controversy about the body of Moses except whether or not Christ should give it life before the general resurrection.
But Christ rebuked the Devil. Christ was not thwarted in this contest, but gave his servant life; and thus Moses could appear personally upon the mount. This makes the scene complete as a representation of the kingdom of God, as Peter says it was (2 Peter 1: 16-18); namely, Christ the glorified King, Elias representing those who will be translated without seeing death, and Moses representing those who will be raised from the dead. These two classes embrace all the happy subjects of that kingdom. This view of the matter is not peculiar to this book. Dr. Adam Clarke, on Matt. 17: 3, says:
"The body of Moses was probably raised again, as a pledge of the resurrection.' [2] And Olshausen says: "For if we assume the reality of the resurrection of the body, and its glorification,-- truths which assuredly belong to the system of Christian doctrine,-- the whole occurrence presents no essential difficulties. The appearance of Moses and Elias, which is usually held to be the most unintelligible point in it, is as easily conceived of as possible, if we admit their bodily glorification."Those passages which speak of Christ as the "first-fruits," the "first-born front the dead," the "first-born among many brethren," "of every creature,"etc., refer only to the chief and pivotal im- Page 57 portance of his own resurrection, as related to all others; and Acts 26:
23 does not declare that Christ should be the first one to be raised from the dead, but that he first, by a resurrection from the dead, should show light to the Gentiles. (See the Greek of this passage.) These scriptures therefore prove no objection to the idea that Moses had been raised from the dead, and as a victor over the grave, appeared with Christ upon the mount. Thus another supposed stronghold affords no refuge for the conscious-state theory, or for Spiritualism.
