in the upper air.

It appears now to be universally admitted that, before the
exile, the Israelites had no belief in rewards and punishments
after death, nor in anything similar to the Christian heaven and
hell; but our story proves that it would be an error to suppose
that they did not believe in the continuance of individual
existence after death by a ghostly simulacrum of life. Nay, I
think it would be very hard to produce conclusive evidence that
they disbelieved in immortality; for I am not aware that there
is anything to show that they thought the existence of the souls
of the dead in Sheol ever came to an end. But they do not seem
to have conceived that the condition of the souls in Sheol was
in any way affected by their conduct in life. If there was
immortality, there was no state of retribution in their
theology. Samuel expects Saul and his sons to come to him
in Sheol.

The next circumstance to be remarked is that the name of
Elohim is applied to the spirit which the woman sees
"coming up out of the earth," that is to say, from Sheol.
The Authorised Version translates this in its literal sense
"gods." The Revised Version gives "god" with "gods" in the
margin. Reuss renders the word by "spectre," remarking in a note
that it is not quite exact; but that the word Elohim expresses
"something divine, that is to say, superhuman, commanding
respect and terror" ("Histoire des Israelites," p. 321).
Tuch, in his commentary on Genesis, and Thenius, in his
commentary on Samuel, express substantially the same opinion.
Dr. Alexander (in Kitto's "Cyclopaedia" s. v. "God") has the