Happy Halloween! Before we begin, you may want to refresh your memory with information about the historical background of Halloween here.
No matter where Halloween originated, in many religious traditions it is a time of year generally reserved for remembering the dead. Some even believe that visitations from those dead may occur, which could be good thing or a bad thing. Ghostly tales abound.
What about ghosts and the spirits of the departed in the bible? I did a little research and found a few interesting facts:
- The King James translation is quite liberal with the word ghost, using the phrase he "gave up the ghost" many times in the Old And New Testaments, in reference to dying. The original Hebrew wording refers only to the physical act of dying, no ghosts involved. Other translations render the passage with people expiring, passing away, and just plain dying. Now, imagine you have never read or heard any other translation but the KJV. What might you believed happened when people died? Where did those ghosts who left those bodies go? Maybe they were still roaming around on earth, waiting for judgement day or bothering their relatives.
-The New Living Translation and the International Standard Version of the bible sometimes translated ruined or desolate areas into "ghost towns." That is not the meaning of the original manuscript words.
-The books of Isaiah and Psalms suggest that the spirits of the dead reside underground in a place called Sheol, which is pretty much a boring place just for dead people to hang out.
-We've already seen in Leviticus that it is forbidden to consult mediums or people who talk to the spirits of the dead, but in 1 Samuel, Saul consults one anyway. The medium conjures up the spirit of Samuel the priest. He comes out of the ground as the ghostly figure of an old man wearing a robe, or at least that is what she tells Saul. He cannot see Samuel but he believes her. He can't hear Samuel either. The medium relays the message, just like mediums today. Imagine that.
-Isaiah calls mediums people who chirp and mutter.
-Various "wicked people" in the Old Testament (enemies of the Jews) are said to have resorted to using mediums to contact spirits, along with other foul deeds.
-In Matthew and Mark, Jesus's disciples thought he was a ghost when he walked on water.
-After the supposed resurrection, Jesus materializes and disappears suddenly, even in locked rooms. But, he says he is not a spirit because he has a body, and spirits don't have bodies.
-As far as I can tell with what little study I've done on this subject, there are no ghostly hauntings in the bible, only figurative hauntings of Jackals, foxes, owls, and dragons, depending on which translation you read.
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