28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown.5 In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums6 and magicians7 from the land.
tn The Hebrew term translated “mediums” actually refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits (see 2 Kgs 21:6). In v. 7 the witch of Endor is called the owner of a ritual pit. See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’ÔB̲,” JBL 86 (1967): 385–401. Here the term refers by metonymy to the owner of such a pit (see H. A. Hoffner, TDOT 1:133).
7
sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.