Some translations comment that, like the fourth man in the fire with the Hebrew Children, that it was the Angel of the L-RD, that Yeshua the Messiah accompanied Samuel and hence the witch’s expression of utter terror upon seeing Samuel.
The Biblical narrative seems to be clear that the woman saw Samuel but Saul inquired of the “form”, some translations say, “what does he look like.” Which could mean, as we mentioned in the legend, how is it that he is coming out of the ground, head first or feet first and what is he wearing. What age does he appear for perhaps he appears at an age when he was more favorable toward Saul? The witch seems to answer the all possible meanings of form. Seeing as he appeared as an “old man” when he was out of favor with Saul and knowing that Saul brought him up through forbidden means, Saul bowed in humility and fear.
As the epitaph “Rest in Peace,” Samuel asks Saul “why have you disturbed my rest!?” By the narrative and as alluded to in Legends, apparently, only Saul could hear Samuel.
This I’m sure answers many questions but causes more questions than it answers.
We know that the Torah is CRYSTAL CLEAR regarding contacting the dead, but what about the dead contacting you? I thought the Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the L-RD (II Cor. 5:8), so can the dead come back from the heavenly realms, Abraham’s Bosom or wherever they go?
First off, isn’t HaShem Omnipresent? Meaning His presence is everywhere, if so; when one is dead it doesn’t matter if their spirit is in the heavenly realm or the veil just beyond this earthly mortal realm is not G-d there too?
Psa. 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou [art] there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [art there].
Also did not Moses and Elijah come back from the dead to stand with Yeshua during Sukkot on the mount of transfiguration (Matt. 17)? It appears they came to Him and He did not call or conjure them up.
Also is not the righteous (Moses and Elijah), though their body be dead, are they not more alive than us!?
Matt. 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
And the unrighteous dead is more dead that a physical corpse. They are called doubly dead.
Rev. 20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev. 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
So can we not then conclude that, seeing that we know through Jewish Tradition and the Bible that angels and demons can take on our appearance and may appear unto others looking like us after we physically die?
One of my cousins was struck by lightning and dies in the Smoky Mountains while hiking and he was reported to be seen by people who knew him walking on the side of the road days after his death.
Can we not also safely conclude that witches, psychics and mediums usually and knowingly call up the demonic that takes on the appearance of the once mortal to fool people? This would explain why such people as Sylvia Brown and John Edward who claim to contact the dead that it seems EVERYONE is on the other side in “heaven” and is happy and with loved ones. After all the evil ones mission is to deceive and destroy.
John 8:44 Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
And with the presumed true story Yeshua told of Lazarus and the Richman the unrighteous dead could not return from that realm.
Luke 16:22-31 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that [would come] from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
But because Samuel, Moses and Elijah appeared after death and it was genuinely them, it appears that the righteous dead (who are really more alive than us) can go back and forth between this and the heavenly realm.
Though we cannot contact the dead, can the righteous dead, can they contact us? I think it is reasonable to say yes, they can.
I have heard of many believers tell them that their believing loved one delivered a message to them in a dream or via an apparition.
So if this happens to some one how can we tell if it is really them or not?
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1. Were they believers? If so it is possible it could be your loved one.
2. Did they die lost? Is so you are most likely encountering a demon in disguise. 2 Cor. 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
3. If you do see a believing loved one from beyond the grave in dream or apparition what is their message? Does it line up with Torah? If it does then it may indeed be your loved one. If it was an angel, they would be truthful and make the distinction that they are an angel and not your loved one. Does the message contradict Torah; it is a demon in disguise.
Many traditions, even Jewish tradition believes that our passed loved ones watch over us after death.
Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…
Yes, they are at peace and at rest, but who is not to say that they have assigned tasks from the L-RD once they pass from this realm into the next? Eden prior to the Fall was heaven on earth and yet Adam still had work to do by keeping and tending the Garden and naming the animals. And in Judaism it is taught that it is not a burdensome thing to carry out the work of Adonai, but a joy, privilege and honor. So in the beyond or in perfection work is considered a pleasure and is not laborious.
So I do believe a righteous spirit can return, attach itself to a living soul and impart help to someone and then return to the heavenly realms when the mission is complete or the crisis is over.
Now regarding the Dybbuk we must explore briefly the doctrine of Hell.
Hell; a very open ended, ambiguous word that has a variety of definitions depending on what religious group you ask.
This is my statement in my book “Get Back to The First Century” under the heading: “Eternal Punishment”
“I believe those who (knowingly and willingly) reject Yeshua Ha Moshiach, the Living Torah will spend eternity separated from Elohim in Hell, and ultimately the Lake of Fire with all senses in tact (Rev. 20:14-15).”
I will attempt to elaborate on this statement.
Today, attempting to find out what Orthodox Judaism believes about hell, you will be more successful in squeezing water out of a dry stump. You will get a vague ecumenical type answer that makes hell sound more like the Catholic Purgatory (a pagan concept taken from the Babylonian and Assyrian captivities of the Jewish people).
This was posted on an “Ask the Rabbi” type site:
“Hi Saul
The way most people (and religions) view Hell is a place of eternal damnation and punishment. Judaism does not believe in that concept.
We do believe in a purgatory process (called Gehinnom), meaning that a soul may have to undergo cleansing (which is not very pleasant) for a period of time before it can enter Heaven.
Regards,
Rabbi Ari Shishler”
The way most people (and religions) view Hell is a place of eternal damnation and punishment. Judaism does not believe in that concept.
We do believe in a purgatory process (called Gehinnom), meaning that a soul may have to undergo cleansing (which is not very pleasant) for a period of time before it can enter Heaven.
Regards,
Rabbi Ari Shishler”
The Jewish doctrine of Purgatory was conceived during and after the Jewish exile to Babylon, in that they felt G-d could never send anyone to “hell” but purges one from evil through punishment and thus making one able to be redeemed, likened unto exile. This was partially inspired by Babylonian doctrines concerning the place they call “hell”. The nutshell of a pagan hell is through refinement, correction and contemplation in the underworld one can eventually redeem oneself. It is like unto the concept of a debtor’s prison. Eventually this concept was picked up and adopted by the Catholic Church.
In the Scriptures there are four words to describe what we know as “hell”:
The Four Words For Hell1067 geena (gheh'-en-nah);
of Hebrew origin [1516 and 2011]; valley of (the son of) Hinnom; ge-henna (or Ge-Hinnom), a valley of Jerusalem, used (figuratively) as a name for the place (or state) of final punishment:
KJV-- hell.
5020 tartaroo (tar-tar-o'-o);
from Tartaros (the deepest abyss of Hades):
KJV-- cast down to hell.
7585 she'owl (sheh-ole');
or sheol (sheh-ole'); from 7592; Hades or the grave:
KJV-- grave, hell, pit.
86 haides (hah'-dace);
from 1 (as negative particle) and 1492; properly, unseen, i.e. "Hades" or the grave:
KJV-- grave, hell.
Sheol is better translated the grave, the good and bad are destine to go there (Gen. 37:35, Num. 16:30, Job 3:11-19). The positive side of Sheol is referred to in the Tanak as “Abraham’s Bosom”. Gehenna is better used as a description of the negative side of Sheol. Tartaros is used once in the Greek by Kefa (Peter) in II Pet. 2:4 to describe the place where the rebellious angels who copulated with human woman are held until the Day of Final Judgment. Hades is simply the Greek version of the Hebrew word Sheol.
Luke 16:19-31 Yeshua tells a true story (not a parable because he mentions names) about Lazarus and the Rich Man which reveals a bit of the first century doctrine of the Natsarim of the subject of “hell”.
We see that in this story we find possibly 3 compartments to Sheol (the Grave). Your body may be in the ground but the essence of who you are, your soul is either in one of two places.
1. Abraham’s Bosom: The positive side of Sheol where the righteous goes after death.
2. Gehenna: The negative side of Sheol where the wicked and unrepentant go after death to be punished.
3. The Gulf: Some believe this is the Abyss or as Kefa said in II Peter 2:4, the place where the rebellious fallen angels who cohabitated the daughters of men.
It says that the Rich Man looked up and could see into Abraham’s Bosom and that there was a gulf between them. So this denotes that Abraham’s Bosom was an elevated compartment of the Grave (Sheol) and apparently Gehenna, where the Rich Man found himself was a lower compartment of Sheol. The Gulf was seems to be a type of void, which is what the word Abyss means and Tartaros implies.
Gehenna is a place to which no one returns from because of their unbelief, disobedience and un-repentance. Gehenna is referring to the in ancient Israel as the valley of Hinnom where human burnt sacrifices were offered up to the pagan deity Molech. In the time of the Brit Chadasha (New Testament) it was converted to a perpetual burning garbage heap. Most all pagan places that were taken over by the Jews were tuned into a dumping ground or latrines. Yeshua said that they (the Rich Man’s Brothers) didn’t believe Moshe (Torah) and the Prophets, (which denotes disobedience and being unrepentant of it), that they wouldn’t believe one who rises from the dead; Yeshua hinting about Himself and His upcoming resurrection.
This story reveals that our bodies may be “asleep” a Hebraic idiom for death. Just as Yeshua referred to the Synagogues Presidents daughter who died as being asleep (Matthew 9:24). Yet clearly our soul does not sleep but continues a conscious existence beyond physical death. In the Talmud the Rabbi’s talk about sleep as being a certain percentage of death.
According to some Natsari Rabbis they believe we can gather from the Scriptures that when Yeshua died on the cross and He told the one theft that he would be with Him in Paradise (another name for Abraham’s Bosom), and that this was the Sheol, or the “hell” Yeshua descended too; because even if it was a higher level than Gehenna, you still had to descend to it (Eph. 4:7-10, Acts 2:23-36, I Pet. 3:18-20). In Judaism Abraham’s Bosom wasn’t up in the sky (heaven) and “hell” wasn’t under ground. Yeshua apparently preached to the souls in Abraham’s Bosom showing them that He was the promised Messiah and this at resurrection sometime after he met Mary at the tomb and when appeared in the upper room, he ascended to Shamayim (the heaven where G-d is) and presented those souls to the Father. Then at His ascension after he had been resurrected for quite some time, He took those that rose with him (Matthew 27:52-53) and presented them to the Father as a type of First Fruit offering. Thus Abraham’s Bosom was consumed by Gehenna and is no more, thus the reference to hell opening her mouth and enlarging (Isa. 5:14). Now the righteous goes directly to the Father upon death (I Cor. 5:3) and in the end Gehenna will be thrown into the Lake of Fire originally prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41), but when man fell, he became a little lower than the angels and by default inherited the Lake of Fire too (Rev.19:20, 20:10-15, 21:8).
Some Natsari Rabbi’s believe that the Scripture speaking of “the worm that dieth not” (Mark 9:43-48) is not referring to a literal worm but speaking in a Jewish idiom regarding the fallen, unrepentant soul of man.
The Scriptures does not condone or support the doctrine of purgatory, soul sleep or annihilation of the soul. Revelation says that the burning of those in Sheol that were thrown into the lake of fire, it says that their smoke will rise forever (Rev. 14:11). If there is smoke it means something is burning, so eternal smoke denotes eternal burning. If annihilation were true, the smoke would not be eternal. If there is an eternity for the righteous, there must be an eternity for the wicked. You cannot have the Yin without the Yang.
Yes, there is much speculation in regards to “hell” and even with the Scriptures the information we are given, it is as if G-d gives the subject to us on a need to know basis. All that we currently know about “hell” is all we need to know at this time.
Therefore regarding the Dybbuk, it can only be a demon impersonating an unrighteous dead person, for from what we just learned they cannot cross over from the hellish realm back to the earthly realm.
Many may ask, “What about the recollection of past lives, especially in young children?” Again, nothing more than the impartation of demons impersonating deceased human beings. One may ask next, why would a demon go through the trouble of such a charade? Well, because that is its mission, to steal, kill, destroy, confuse and deceive human beings so they can join the Rich Man in his torment and so the fallen angels will have company through all eternity in the Lake of Fire prepared for them.
What of the terms “new soul” and “old soul”? “New,” meaning the soul is new to the cycle of reincarnation and “old” in that the soul has been through many lifetimes. Some people claim that they can look at someone and tell if they are an old soul or a new soul and even some Kabbalistic Rabbi’s have claimed this. I think it has to do more with ones intelligence and personality that the “age of their soul” or how many times they have lived on this earth in other lives. If someone is highly intelligent, he may look to be an old soul, if one is lacking in the mental department they may seem infantile and thus appear to be a new soul. Regarding personality, some one can be a melancholy and depending on what kind of direction the melancholy takes they may look to others as a cry baby (new) or sad somber soul (old). A Choleric depending on what direction the personality takes can come off as bossy (new soul) or a natural born leader (old soul). A Sanguine is very social and can come off as over enthusiastic (new) or charming and likable (old). A Phlegmatic may come off as dull and therefore appear as a new soul or stoic and look to be an old soul.
I am sure I have probably incited more questions and have left some unanswered as well, but this essay is by no means an exhaustive look at the concept in reincarnation and Judaism; but from what we have weighed out through the Torah I think we can safely say that reincarnation is debunked does not exist and should not be held as a belief by the Natsarim.
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