SPEAKING WITH SPIRITS was strictly forbidden by God. This might seem to be a quaint and antiquated notion, but the fact that we encounter the prohibition three times in our reading today indicates that this was a serious issue in ancient Canaan.
FEEDING THE dead was an integral part of the world in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived.
We’ve previously discussed Abraham’s distress at not having an heir to provide for him in the afterlife; this week, we explain why Jacob’s father-in-law, Laban, was so upset about losing his teraphim, the small idols that represented dead ancestors who had to be summoned to a meal every month with a necromancy ritual called kispum.
That’s the beginning of our study on the Resurrection. We look at texts from the Old and New Testaments to explain that Christ’s resurrection is the template for what is in store for all who have accepted him as Lord and Savior.