1 Samuel 28: The Anathema of the King of Israel
1 Now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, “You assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men.” 2 So David said to Achish, “Surely you know what your servant can do.” And Achish said to David, “Therefore I will make you one of my chief guardians forever.” 3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land.4 Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.”
“‘And it came to pass in those days,’ when Saul’s sin was now grown ripe and ready for the sickle, and David as a weaned child was now fitted for the kingdom, ‘that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel.’ And Achish said unto David, ‘You assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men.’ And David said to Achish, ‘Surely you know what your servant can do.’ But whether for Achish or against him, he saith not. ‘And Achish’- understanding this as his support- said to David, ‘Therefore I will make you one of my chief guardians’— keeper of mine head or captain of my bodyguard. Wicked men will sooner trust the saints, than those that are graceless.” (Trapp)
“‘Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city’— as stated before in 1 Samuel 25:1. ‘And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land’ of Israel, as directed by the Samuel. He had “by an edict banished them, or had given orders that neither witches nor wizards should abide in the land; but should be taken up, and prosecuted according to the law of God…” (Gill) in Leviticus. “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God.” (Lev 19:31)—
“And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.” (Lev 20:6)— "A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.” (Lev 19:27) It was the seeker of such mediums, as well as the practitioner of such wickedness, who were to be killed and considered anathema in Israel. “Do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’” (1 Cor 6:15-16)- as in the spiritual.
When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, his heart trembled greatly.— “Sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling has seized the godless. Who among us can live with the consuming fire? He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, he who rejects unjust gain and shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; he who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil.” (Isa 33:14-15) “But Saul was none such. And therefore in his extreme fear he runneth from God to the witch, and from the witch to the sword’s point.” (Trapp)
"'And when Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.'—Three recognized modes of divine revelation (Jeremiah 23:25-28; Joel 2:28). A knowledge of God's will with reference to present duty, no less than to future events, was communicated in dreams sometimes to private persons (Genesis 20:3; 28:12; 37:5-11; 40:5-21; 41:1-32 : cf. Daniel 4:5-17), at other times by means of the high priest's Urim (Exodus 28:29-30; Leviticus 8:5-9; Numbers 27:21) and by prophets (Numbers 12:6; Isaiah 29:10). The latter two modes are specified as distinct from the former. But in consequence of Saul's persistent rebellion and apostasy, these privileges were all withdrawn from him. No vision from the Lord was given him in trance or dream (1 Samuel 19:24); no announcement of the divine will could be obtained by Urim, because the high priest's family had been barbarously massacred, and Abiathar, the only survivor, who carried an ephod with him in his flight from Nob (1 Samuel 22:20; 23:6), was associated with David's exiled followers; and no prophet was there to guide and support him, because Samuel, his faithful counselor, had sorrowfully left him to himself, and was now dead.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
“The reason why the LORD did not answer Saul is to be sought for in the wickedness of Saul, which rendered him utterly unworthy to find favour with God. Instead of recognising this, however, and searching his own heart, Saul attempted to obtain a revelation of the future in ungodly ways.”( Keil & Delitzsch) He commanded his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, etc.” “Saul then proceeded to try to obtain information about the future, specifically about his imminent encounter with the Philistines, from another supernatural source.” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable)
1 Samuel 28: Saul’s Consults the Medium
7b And his servants said to him, “In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor.” 8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.” 9 Then the woman said to him, “Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?” 10 And Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, “As Yahweh lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.”
Saul tells this medium that no punishment would come upon her for helping him— not by his hand but surely it will come by the hand of the King of kings, as it is written:
”When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you.” (Deut 18:9-12)
The fact that mediums were still in land means that many people had adopted the pagan belief "that the souls of the dead had a separate existence, and that some of them further believed they might be brought up from Sheol for purposes of divination. This offence constituted a prominent part of the sin of ‘witchcraft,' or' dealing with familiar spirits ;' punishable with death… They [these idolators] thought that a part [of man] survived [death] in Sheol…. In the times of the Judges the same belief prevailed… [Yea, even the king of Israel here]… thought that by consulting the witch of Endor it was possible to enter into consultation with the spirit of Samuel now departed.” (Edward White in “Life in Christ: A Study of the Scripture Doctrine on the Nature of Man, etc”) But the truth of the matter, according to the law is that the whole man sleeps and can only be awakened by Christ, who holds the keys to death and hades. “Solomon judges that the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lied there accompting neither days nor years, but when are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute.”("An Exposition of Solomon's Book, called Ecclesiastes" by Martin Luther)
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” 13 And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.” 14 So he said to her, “What is his form?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.” And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down. 15 Now Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” And Saul answered, “I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do.” 16 Then Samuel said: “So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? 17 And the Lord has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
The Bible describes the intermediate state between death and resurrection as an unconscious sleep, from which good people, as well as the evil one must be awakened for judgement. “This story seems to contradict that theology, but it really does not. If this was really a revival of Samuel [and perhaps it was], it was a miracle of God. The medium herself was surprised to see him (12). She probably expected a demon pretending to be him. Note that she did not see Samuel descend from heaven. She said she saw him ‘coming up out of the earth’ (13). Samuel’s question to Saul was not ‘why have you interrupted my bliss in heaven and brought me down’? It was ‘why have you disturbed me by bringing me up’? (15). These are the words of an old man aroused from a deep sleep. If Samuel had been in heaven, why did he tell Saul ‘tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me’ (19)?
Was God judging Saul for his disobedience, and then accepting him in heaven anyway? If that was the case, why did that lead to such fear for Saul? Death is not the reward for which the believer seeks. We seek that reward in resurrection life. The story of the medium at Endor is the exception that proves the rule. LORD, we wait for you, not our deaths. You are our Rescuer and Redeemer. We long to put on our heavenly dwellings, our immortal bodies.’’” (Another Bible Commentary byJefferson Van) —
at the trump of God on the Last Day.
20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, and was dreadfully afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no food all day or all night. 21 And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was severely troubled, and said to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice, and I have put my life in my hands and heeded the words which you spoke to me. 22 Now therefore, please, heed also the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way.” 23 But he refused and said, “I will not eat.” So his servants, together with the woman, urged him; and he heeded their voice. Then he arose from the ground and sat on the bed. 24 Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she hastened to kill it. And she took flour and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread from it. 25 So she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.
Saul went for comfort but knowledge ended up making him more afraid. Then he receives comfort from man rather than from God. The unleavened bread here represents communion in the church- a form of goodliness, denying the power thereof, which is the food of the nominal church. He did not examine himself, as Paul admonished, before partaking of it. “Those that expect any good counsel or comfort, otherwise than from God, and in the way of his institutions, will be as wretchedly disappointed as Saul. Though terrified even to despair, he was not humbled. He confessed not his sins, offered no sacrifices, and presented no supplications. He does not seem to have cared about his sons or his people [leading them into sin], or to have attempted any escape; but in sullen despair he rushed upon his doom.” (Matthew Henry)