This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Reis, P. T. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Eating the Blood: Saul and the Witch of Endor

8 Rockland Park, Branford, CT 06405, USA

This article re-examines the encounter between King Saul and the witch of Endor and demonstrates by a close reading of the text that the witch is not a solicitous hostess but an adroit strategist intent upon survival. The food she prepares for Saul is, firstly, a mantic sacrifice to the spirits of the dead entailing the stringently pro scribed eating of blood. Secondly, the shared meal is an unholy but legally effective covenant between God's anointed first king of Israel and a sorceress. Thirdly, the forbidden meal serves an apostasy that warrants Saul's consequent suicide; and lastly, it provides a scenario for the contrast of Saul's treachery with David's constancy in an analogous situation.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?