Note to Brachot 18

On this page Shmuel, a sage from Babylon goes to the cemetery to talk to his dead father, to ask a question about the charity funds.

This story is parallel to King Shaul talking to the dead prophet Shmuel. Indeed, they were reincarnations: Sage Shmuel was the reincarnation of King Shaul, and the Father of Shmuel was the reincarnation of the prophet Shmuel.

This is why Shmuel is called, "Arioch, or King" - because he was the reincarnation of a King. This also explains why the dead at first refused to bring back the Father of Shmuel - in their earlier lives they also could not find the prophet Shmuel in the world of the dead.

The whole story of the dead taunting Shmuel is now explained as a Tikkun (fix), since in his earlier life, as King Shaul, Shmuel did not do it right by bringing back the dead prophet. So now he was getting a bit of a rebuke.

Art: Theodore Gericault - Head of a dead young man