refers to three individuals with the name Abimelech: one known by Abraham, another who was a brutal ruler and served as one of the judges of Israel, and the third who was the Philistine king of Gath known to David. The individual who was told by Edgar Cayce that he had been Abimelech was told “in Abraham’s day” (699-1), clearly identifying the specific identity.
With the premise that we might somehow glimpse aspects of the continuity of life by reviewing the soul histories of others, this volume presents an overview of those readings that identified the individual as having been a character from the Bible. It does not include case histories for those who were not directly or indirectly referred to in Scripture, nor does it include identities for those who were related to or simply associated with a biblical character; only those individuals who were given biblical identities themselves have been included.
BIBLICAL CHARACTERS MENTIONED
Abatha
Exodus 2:1-10Case 5373
According to the Book of Exodus, while the children of Israel were slaves in the land of Egypt there came a time when Pharaoh feared that the number of Hebrew men and boys had grown too vast. Fearing a possible slave uprising, Pharaoh ordered that all male children born to the Hebrews were to be killed. One Hebrew woman managed to hide her son for three months before deciding to set him adrift on the river in a cask made of bulrushes, in the hopes that he might find safety. The boy’s sister, Miriam, watched the floating cask to see what would happen to him. (See also “Miriam.”) Once adrift, the daughter of Pharaoh spotted the small craft while she was bathing. She sent her maid to fetch the basket and when they saw that the basket contained a child, Pharaoh’s daughter decided to call the child “Moses” because he had been drawn from the river. Although not named specifically in the Bible, Edgar Cayce stated that the young maid who had pulled the baby Moses from the river was called Abatha.
In 1944, a forty-eight-year-old woman seeking vocational advice was told that she possessed the talents of both a confidant and a counselor. Apparently, people were drawn to her and felt at ease telling her their problems. Her reading informed her that she could excel in research, in the gathering of data or statistics, as a teacher or even as a secretary.
Her most notable past lives included a trek in the Old West, where she had acquired her love for nature; living in the Holy Land, where she had been one of the children whom Jesus blessed; and a life in Egypt as a maid to Pharaoh’s daughter:
Before that we find the entity was in the Egyptian land when there were those beginnings of the preparation for the coming of the lawgiver. The entity was among those of the maids to the princess of Egypt, and the individual who waded into the river to bring the little ark or bassinet ashore with the babe in same … The name then was Abatha.
5373-1
Her reading went on to promise her some vocational and relationship changes within a year. Although Edgar Cayce’s secretary, Gladys Davis, asked the woman for an update in 1947, no follow-up reports are on file until 1950 when it was learned that [5373] was operated on for a brain tumor. The woman died within a couple of years of the operation.
Abimelech
Genesis 20, 21, 26Case 699
When Abraham journeyed into Gerar with his wife, Sarah, he was afraid that other men would want to possess her and would slay him in order to have his wife. As a result, he told the people that Sarah was his sister. Upon seeing Sarah, Abimelech, the king, wanted her and decided to take her into his harem. However, God warned the king in a dream that she was already married to Abraham. Fearful of retribution, Abimelech immediately returned Sarah to her rightful husband. The two men eventually exchanged gifts and made a covenant of friendship. Years later, Abimelech would again be faced with an almost identical situation when Isaac, Abraham’s son, tried to pass off his own wife, Rebekah, as his sister. This time, however, Abimelech quickly saw through the ruse.
Immediately after coming in contact with the Cayce work, a thirty-four-year-old physicist reported that he had finally found that for which he had always been seeking. He obtained a physical reading for a friend, procured his own life reading, and was present for a number of readings, including one in which he asked about the possibility of helping to manage the Cayce work.
In his reading, Cayce told [699] that he possessed broad vision and the capacity to acquire position, power, responsibility, and money. However, Cayce also stated that [699] was not likely to follow through on his true potential unless he held to his goals. Quick to act in all things, he also maintained a deep interest in spirituality and the mysteries of life. Because of his experiences in a number of previous lives, he possessed an innate fear regarding what others might say about his activities. In his most recent past life he had served as an assistant to Robert Fulton in the development of a steam engine. Previously, in England, he had served as a captain in the Crusades but had gained a deep respect for the Islamic faith as well as a tolerance for other people. It was in Palestine that he eventually befriended Abraham:
The entity then gained, even through those experiences and associations. Yet from those very activities there were brought those desires on the part of the entity, Abimelech, to bring to the knowledge of those who were as servants—or those whom the entity served in the capacity of the king of that land—that, “He that would be the greatest among all would be the servant of all.” While the entity had much in its experience and through that sojourn, that in the material and the moral life in the present would be questioned, yet the purposes, the aims, the desires, the activities were rather as the growth throughout that sojourn.
699-1
In an earlier incarnation in Egypt, he had served as a doctor, utilizing the forces of nature in his healing modalities.
In the present, [699] was encouraged to apply himself in the field of electrical therapeutics. If he did so, the reading stated, he would eventually work wonders and discover how to help restore health through physical regeneration.
According to the notations on file, [699] eventually referred a number of individuals to Edgar Cayce for readings. He also wrote the Cayce Association a number times during the 1950s describing his thankfulness for having been exposed to the Cayce information. However, no follow-up vocational reports are on file. The final notation is from 1968 when [699] wrote Edgar’s son, Hugh Lynn, and stated, “I am especially grateful for my life reading and the many visits I had with him [Edgar Cayce] in Washington.”
Abner
I Samuel 14, 17, 20, 26; II Samuel 2-4; I Kings 2; I Chronicles 26, 27Case 1815
Saul was the first king of Israel. His cousin and the valiant captain of his army was Abner. A number of battles against the Philistines began to mobilize the people of Israel and strengthen Saul’s rule. However, Saul soon befriended a young musician, David, who rose in popularity with the people. As a result, Saul became increasingly jealous of the fact that the people liked someone more than himself, and he swore to have David killed. It was Abner who was forced to follow through on many of Saul’s insane demands to track down David. David was successful in always eluding Saul’s armies. After Saul eventually committed suicide, David and Abner befriended one another, and Abner swore his own allegiance to David, the new king of Israel. Unfortunately, Joab, a ruthless soldier in David’s army, had Abner ambushed and killed in revenge for an earlier battle between the two. The death brought much sadness and regret to King David.
In 1939, a woman requested a reading for herself for a physical problem and a life reading for her fifteen-year-old son in order to help him with his education and development. Trained in musical composition, the boy liked the piano and wondered about being a music teacher. His mother, however, was concerned about his material success and felt that music would not help him to be as “self-supporting” as she desired him to be.
In