Endor

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Endor

Meaning - fountain of dwelling, "Spring of Dor"

A town in the territory of Issachar (Josh. 17:11) located about four miles south of Mount Tabor. It is closely associated with the Hill of Moreh, which lies two miles to the southwest of the spring.

Endor was a town assigned to the tribe of Manasseh but was never taken from the Canaanites (Josh 17:11,12). It is better known in the Bible (1 Sam. 28:7-25) as the place Saul consulted a local medium commonly referred to as the "witch of Endor". She was probably a Canaanite and feared the decree of Saul outlawing her practice of contacting the dead. Saul went to her the night before he was to face the Philistines in the Battle of Gilboa. He sought her out because the Lord no longer answered him (1 Sam 28:15) and therefore sought to communicate with Samuel, the deceased prophet of God.

It is obvious that this contact with the dead was not the work of the medium, but God allowed this to happen for His purpose in order that Saul may know that God meant what he said when Samuel had told him years earlier that the Kingdom had been torn from him and given to his neighbor, David (1Sam 15:28). This final episode of Saul's rebellion to God was used to inform him that he would meet his death the next day on the battlefield and also the defeat of Israel by the Philistines. This opened the door for David to become the next King of Israel, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

Scriptures

Joshua17:11

1Samuel 28:7

Psalms 83:10

References