1 Sa. 28: Witchy Woman

1 Samuel 28:15 "Samuel said to Saul, 'Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?'

'I am in great distress,' Saul said. 'The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.'"

Well, David's plan might finally get screwed up, as Achish tells David that they are preparing to go to war. Against Israel! EVERYBODY PANIC. David, cool as a cucumber, says, "Yeah, just watch what your servant can do." So that will be interesting to see what happens. Now for the cliffhanger...

Saul, seeing the Philistine army, tried everything to see what God would say, God was silent, as though he had turned a deaf ear to Saul. Or Saul had abandoned God. Anyway, Saul rationally and patiently confesses before God and repents. Just kidding. He consults the witch of Endor. Yeah. He banished all seers and witches previously, so this witch is a little leery of this disguised Saul. But anyway, she Abra-cadabras, and up comes Samuel. Apparently. Or someone she thinks is Samuel. She totally freaks, whether it finally actually worked, or because she knew Samuel and Saul's history.

Samuel asks the question of the hour. "Why have you disturbed me?" This is another piece to the afterlife puzzle, I think. Apparently it is rest. And apparently those who have crossed over do not want to be disturbed, especially by whiny prima donna kings. And Saul should have known Samuel was not going to have anything resembling good news for him. In fact, it's just about the worst news in the history of time. God has taken away your kingdom, you're going to lose, you and your sons are going to die, and Israelite army will be handed over the Philistines.

More about the afterlife. Samuel says Saul and his sons "will be with me." Now, Samuel was good. For the most part. Saul, not so much. Jonathan, good as far as we know. Other sons, we don't really know. So wherever these people are going, their righteousness in life apparently has no bearing.

And I wonder how much was revealed to Samuel. And to what degree. Did he remember what happened while he was still alive? What did God tell him? What was his walk with God like after death?

Just curious.

Ge. 5: Adam to Noah; and Enoch Disappears

We start out with the emphasis of how God created man in His image, blessed them, and called them man. Right after that, it talks about Adam having a son...you guessed it, "in his own image." This means more to me than, "Oh look, he's got his father's nose and sense of humor." If the same phrase (in his own image) is used to describe Seth, Son of Adam as Man, Son of God, then we all must be pretty important. We are like sons of God. We have the same value to God as a son should be beloved by his father. Image includes more than physical attributes. It's a love attribute.

Adam - DOB: 0 - 930
v
Seth - DOB: 130 - 1042
v
Enosh - DOB: 235 - 1140
v
Kenan - DOB: 325 - 1235
v
Mahalel - DOB:395 - 1290
v
Jared - DOB: 460 - 1422
v
Enoch - DOB: 622 - 987
v
Methuselah - DOB: 677 - 1646
v
Lamech - DOB: 864 - 1641
v
Noah - DOB: 1046 -

Not much is said here about these fellows, other than, "dude lived X years, had dude Jr., and then lived Y more years. Altogether, dude lived X + Y years."

There are a couple exceptions. Verrrrry interesting exceptions. The most interesting by far is Enoch. Enoch gave birth to the apotheosis of age, the epitome of elderly, the original old man, Methuselah. So that's pretty cool in it's own right.

However, the word of God says "After he became the father of Methuselah, , Enoch walked with God 300 years, and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." I guess that's the passage that blows my mind the most here.

At first glance, it doesn't really mean that much. When we say people die today, we say, "God took him," or "He is no more." But the passage, unlike those of the other bunch of men, does not say, "and then he died." No. Apparently, God just swung low, and gave Enoch a ride on the sweet chariot, taking him home. Enoch must have had some kind of crazy amount of faith, or found favor with God, that God wouldn't wait another minute to bring him into Heaven...or...wherever God dwelt.

I don't know what this means, only if I were a young Methusaleh (age 300) and saw my old man lift off like that, I would be dumbstruck. This occurence certainly isn't mentioned previously, so it would have been completely new.

To me, this reveals a part of God's nature in that He works outside the realm of death. He is not bound by life or death.

And Methuselah...969 years old. If a 969-year-old died today, he would have been born in 1038. I don't know. There's no significance to that year. It's just a long time ago.

Oh, and Lamech...I believe that's the same Lamech from chapter 4, bragging about how he killed or injured two people, and would be avenged 77 times, as opposed to Cain's 7 times, dies at age 777. Weird, man. God gave him 3 7s. I wonder if Lamech's Great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Adam got wind of him talking about his son Cain. Or did Adam die before that clownery.

So, then he has a son, Noah. In regard to Noah, Lamech says, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed." I'm not exactly sure what this is all about, but I'm guessing it has something to do with Noah's name. So Noah is seen by Lamech as a comforter. Does it mean that after 182 years of labor, Lamech can kick back finally, and let Noah do all the work? Or is this kind of a backhanded swipe at God? "Ohhh, God cursed the ground, I'll show him, I'll make Noah do all the work now. Take that, O Lord." The way Lamech acted about Cain, it would seem he's swiping.

Then Noah has Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Questions for God:
1. What's the deal with Enoch?
2. Did those first men in the Bible really live that long? Like our years long?