Besides what could be said of Jesus, the Bible does speak of necromancers. I would separate Jesus’s healings in two major ways:

  1. They came from God
  2. The resurrected came back to a physical form (John 11)

The most famous account of what would be traditional necromancy in the Bible is found in 1 Samuel 28. King Saul, now having dealt with an evil spirit for years, hunting David endlessly only to give up when he begins to live among heathens, and at the end of the rope; surrounded by the Philistine army, turns to prophets, the Urim, and finally necromancy to hear from God what to do.

Perhaps to everyone’s shock, the necromancer does actually bring back (or at least sees) the spirit of Samuel. Samuel has no kind words and repeats that Saul was already dethroned by God in favor of David for his hastening of God’s timing. In fact, Samuel caps this off by saying he and his sons would die the next day.

What can we learn from this? Well, a lot, actually! Not so much in the way of necromancy but the larger theme.

Moses, when he struck the rock a second time, was punished for hastening God’s time. Saul, too, for rushing a sacrifice before going to battle. There resides a clear message: wait on the LORD. David, in contrast, had two opportunities to kill Saul and claim the throne that was rightfully his; rather, he spares Saul that God may receive the glory. David being a man after God’s own heart, this is an attitude we should strive to emulate.

Secondly, we see that when God raises the dead, it proclaims Jesus and glorifies God. When humans raise the dead, curses and death follow. While the act itself, I think we could say, does not appear to be a sin, the way it is done, the intention of doing it, and the timing of it can absolutely be worthy of death!

Links:

Lazarus resurrection the rock

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