“... The concern was not simply what was acceptable to so-called normative Yahwistic religion. Rather, the issue concerns a form of inquiry that competed with prophecy in ancient Israel. Like Isaiah 8:16-20 and Deuteronomy 18:9- 22, 1 Samuel 28:3 frames the question of inquiry as a form of appropriating information from sources that some pre-exilic prophets and Deuteronomists considered wrong. Indeed, necromancy competed with prophecy (Isa. 8:19- 20; 29:4; cf. Lev. 19:26). Later tradition understood the necromancy described in 1 Samuel 28 as an occasion of prophecy (Ben Sira 46:20). What is reflected in 1 Samuel 28:3 is either a later belief that Saul had banished necromancy or, less likely, a genuine pre-750 negative attitude toward necromancy.629 Like 1 Samuel 28:3, Psalm 106:28 and Numbers 25:2 have been taken as early criticisms of cult practices pertaining to the dead. Psalm 106:28 reads: “They yoked themselves to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead” (zibhê mētîm). This verse is dependent on Numbers 25:2,630 which does not condemn practices associated with the dead; rather, it forbids “sacrifices of their gods” (zibhê ’ělōhêhen). Psalm 106:28 condemns the sacrifices intended for the dead. Elsewhere the dead are called ’ělōhîm, “gods,” as in 1 Samuel 28:3 and Isaiah 8:19. KTU 1.6 VI 45-49 illustrates this usage. In these four lines, rp’im, “rephaim,” is parallel with ’ilnym, “divinities,” and ’ilm, “gods,” is parallel with mtm, “the dead.” The second and third terms are etymologically related to Hebrew ’ělōhîm, “gods.” Similarly, Akkadian ilu and Phoenician ’ln are used for the dead. Numbers 25:2 does not address the issue of sacrifices to the dead; only Psalm 106:28 does so. Psalm 106:40-47 refers to the Exile, indicating that this psalm was exilic or later.631 To be sure, it could be argued that verse 28 predates the Exile; nonetheless, it is unlikely that this verse is historically pertinent for examining practices with respect to the dead before the seventh century. ...”